The Torah lists three things a husband must provide for his wife: "she'eirah, kesuthah, and onathah" (Exodus 21:10). These three Hebrew terms are cryptic, and the Mekhilta preserves a detailed debate about what each one actually means.
Rabbi Yoshiyah identifies the three terms as food, clothing, and conjugal time, in that order. For "she'eirah," he demonstrates that the root she'er refers to food. The prophet Micah uses the same word: "and who eat the she'er of My people" (Micah 3:3), where it clearly means sustenance or flesh. The Psalmist confirms this usage: "He rained she'er upon them as dust" (Psalms 78:27), referring to the manna that God sent down as food in the wilderness. In both cases, she'er means something consumed for nourishment.
For "kesuthah," Rabbi Yoshiyah accepts the plain meaning without dispute. The word means "her clothing," from the common Hebrew root for covering or garment. This is the most straightforward of the three terms.
For "onathah," the interpretation is more delicate. Rabbi Yoshiyah identifies this as the wife's conjugal time, her right to physical intimacy with her husband. He derives this meaning from the root anah, which appears in (Genesis 34:2) in a context involving physical relations: "And he lay with her and ye'anehah." The verb connects the abstract noun "onathah" to the concrete realm of marital intimacy.
Rabbi Yoshiyah's reading establishes the order as food first, then clothing, then conjugal rights. This sequence matters in Jewish law because it defines the hierarchy of a husband's obligations. A wife's physical needs, sustenance and protection from the elements, come first. Her right to intimacy, while equally binding, follows the necessities of survival.