The Suspected Adulteress ( śôṭâ ) as Sovereign Threat

This article explores the exceptional character of the law on the suspected adulteress (śôṭâ) within its literary context, the Pentateuchal Priestly History (P). Taking seriously the law’s self-presentation as divine speech, and analyzing it in light of P’s far-reaching commitment to Yahweh’s sovereignty, it provides a new and comprehensive understanding of the text at Num. 5:11–31. The article argues that the law’s outstanding features stem from Yahweh’s treatment of the suspected adulteress as a sovereign threat. In order to neutralize that threat, Yahweh puts in place a unique procedure where he (1) claims jurisdiction over the alleged criminal; (2) stages a choreographed confrontation between himself and the śôṭâ; and (3) stigmatizes the proven adulteress by inflicting on her a peculiar illness (dropsy) that symbolizes her crime and confirms her status as sovereign enemy. That Yahweh goes to such lengths to restrain, subdue, and reinscribe the suspected adulteress into the social order is a product of P’s radical take on the Near Eastern idea of the monarch as true possessor of knowledge and guardian of the patriarchal order.