“The priest shall take sacred water in an earthenware vessel, and from the dirt that is on the floor of the Tabernacle the priest shall take, and he shall place it into the water” (Numbers 5:17). “The priest shall take” – this is Moses. “Sacred water” – for the sanctity of the Name of the Holy One blessed be He, as he went down “to the brook that descends from the mountain” (Deuteronomy 9:21). “In an earthenware vessel” – just as an earthenware vessel has no purification after it was impurified, so too, they, all those who strayed after the calf, have no remedy, as they were all eliminated.
“And from the dirt” – this is the gold dust that he ground, just as it says: “He ground it into a powder” (Exodus 32:20). “That is on the floor of [karka] the Tabernacle [hamishkan]” – as by means of the calf, the Israelites who worshipped it descended to the ground [lakarka] and were taken as collateral [nitmashkenu] in the hands of death. “The priest shall take” – this is Moses. “And he shall place it into the water” – just as it says: “I cast its dust into the brook that descends from the mountain” (Deuteronomy 9:21).
“The priest shall have the woman stand before the Lord, and he shall expose the woman’s head, and he shall place on her palms the meal offering of remembrance – it is a meal offering of jealousy; and in the hand of the priest shall be the water of bitterness that causes curse” (Numbers 5:18). “The priest shall have [the woman] stand” – this is Moses. “The woman…before the Lord” – just as it says: “Moses stood at the gate of the camp and said: Whoever is for the Lord, join me…” (Exodus 32:26).
“And he shall expose [ufara] the woman's head” – “Moses saw the people, that they were exposed [farua], as Aaron had exposed them [ferao]” (Exodus 32:25). At that moment, leprosy overcame them, just as it says: “And his head shall be unshorn [farua]” (Leviticus 13:45). “And he shall place on her palms the meal offering of remembrance” – he reprimanded them because of the Torah that they received. If they merit, they will have a [positive] remembrance of their name, but because they violated it, it was “a meal offering of jealousy.”
“And in the hand of the priest” – this is Moses. “Shall be the water of bitterness that causes curse” – the verse teaches you that by means of Moses, the brook turned into bad water.173This was water that examined the Israelites like the water of a sota. Those who were guilty suffered a fate similar to that of a sota.