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Spark+Echo co-founder Emily Clare Zempel created "Bitter Drink" based on Number 5:11-31, also known as "The Test for an Unfaithful Wife". This passage describes in detail the ceremony that must be followed when a husband suspects his wife of being unfaithful to him without proof, whether she is guilty or not.

Numbers 5:11-31

Bitter Drink

By 

Emily Clare Zempel

Credits: 

Music and Lyrics by Emily Clare Zempel
Musicians: Emily Clare Zempel, ukulele, voice; Jonathon Roberts, harmonica
Mixing by J Scott Hinkley
Film by Michael Markham (Kite Monkey Productions)
Mastering by Christopher Colbert
Location: Clocktower Lofts, Bronx, New York

Curated by: 

Jonathon + Emily

2012

Music

Image by Giorgio Trovato

Primary Scripture

Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
“Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them: ‘If any man’s wife goes astray, and is unfaithful to him,
and a man lies with her carnally, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and this is kept concealed, and she is defiled, and there is no witness against her, and she isn’t taken in the act;
and the spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife, and she is defiled: or if the spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife, and she isn’t defiled:
then the man shall bring his wife to the priest, and shall bring her offering for her: one tenth of an ephah of barley meal. He shall pour no oil on it, nor put frankincense on it, for it is a meal offering of jealousy, a meal offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to memory.
The priest shall bring her near, and set her before Yahweh;
and the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put it into the water.
The priest shall set the woman before Yahweh, and let the hair of the woman’s head go loose, and put the meal offering of memorial in her hands, which is the meal offering of jealousy. The priest shall have in his hand the water of bitterness that brings a curse.
The priest shall cause her to swear, and shall tell the woman, “If no man has lain with you, and if you haven’t gone aside to uncleanness, being under your husband, be free from this water of bitterness that brings a curse.
But if you have gone astray, being under your husband, and if you are defiled, and some man has lain with you besides your husband:”
then the priest shall cause the woman to swear with the oath of cursing, and the priest shall tell the woman, “Yahweh make you a curse and an oath among your people, when Yahweh allows your thigh to fall away, and your body to swell;
and this water that brings a curse will go into your bowels, and make your body swell, and your thigh fall away.” The woman shall say, “Amen, Amen.”
“‘The priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out into the water of bitterness.
He shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that causes the curse; and the water that causes the curse shall enter into her and become bitter.
The priest shall take the meal offering of jealousy out of the woman’s hand, and shall wave the meal offering before Yahweh, and bring it to the altar.
The priest shall take a handful of the meal offering, as its memorial, and burn it on the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water.
When he has made her drink the water, then it shall happen, if she is defiled, and has committed a trespass against her husband, that the water that causes the curse will enter into her and become bitter, and her body will swell, and her thigh will fall away: and the woman will be a curse among her people.
If the woman isn’t defiled, but is clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive offspring.
“‘This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, being under her husband, goes astray, and is defiled;
or when the spirit of jealousy comes on a man, and he is jealous of his wife; then he shall set the woman before Yahweh, and the priest shall execute on her all this law.
The man shall be free from iniquity, and that woman shall bear her iniquity.’”

Numbers 5:11-31

Emily, on the challenges of this passage:


This is such a difficult passage for me, which is why I chose it. At first read it is a strange exercise. It seems degrading to the woman to untie her hair and to force her to drink water mixed with dust from the floor. It also seems cruel and strange that a drink of this dusty water would not harm an innocent wife, but would cause a guilty wife to lose her ability to have children even as it causes her belly to swell as if pregnant.


Even after spending time with this passage, it is a hard passage to embrace. I do, however, think I see its purpose now. A jealous husband with no recourse for his wife’s supposed unfaithfulness might harm her as a result of his untamed emotion. This simple exercise will give him the answer he seeks, which could bring some relief to an innocent wife.


When writing this song I focused not on the merit of the ritual itself, but on the emotions of the wife that is being brought to it by her husband. I wanted to make this abstract woman into a real, living, breathing creature. As a wife myself, I thought of the trust between married partners, and how an accusation can break that trust as much as infidelity can. I also focused on some of the elements of “hands” and “holding”. She holds the offering and the priest holds the bitter water. The priest loosens her hair, and grabs a handful of grain. The ritual is physical.






Spark Notes

The Artist's Reflection

Emily Clare Zempel (Spark+Echo Arts Co-Founder) is an actor and musician based in Beacon, NY, who received her MFA from Brooklyn College. Favorite credits include Katherine in Love’s Labour’s Lost at Milwaukee Shakespeare, Ophelia in Hamlet at Baltimore Shakespeare Festival, and Wittenberg at Rep Stage, which was nominated for a Helen Hayes Award. She plays bassoon, ukulele, guitar, clarinet, and other assorted toys in Spark & Echo the Band, has co-created the original play Esther with Jonathon Roberts and Chris Cragin, and has a small obsession with running marathons.



Emily Clare Zempel

About the Artist

Emily Clare Zempel

Other Works By 

This work is part of the Spark+Echo Band's video album In the Clocktower.

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