And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with the bitter water:
The verse belongs to the law for testing a wife suspected of unfaithfulness, where the bitter water was part of an offering that exposed hidden sin rather than an offering that made atonement for sin. If the woman was innocent the water did her no harm, but if she was guilty it brought a dreadful and swift death. To blot out means to wipe writing made in a book on parchment with a wet sponge, as the written curses were blotted out with the bitter water. Such blotting out was possible for writings in a book such as the ceremonial law written by Moses, but not for writing engraved in stone such as the Ten Commandments, which could not be wiped away with a sponge.
The blotting out of the handwriting of ordinances therefore means the removal of the ceremonial law, not of the Ten Commandments or the seventh-day Sabbath. The test shows sin is more than an outward act, because open transgression grows out of the inward condition of the heart and character. The chapter containing the verse reveals God's abhorrence of sin and leads readers to shun its destructive path and fearful end.
The verse belongs to the law for testing a wife suspected of unfaithfulness, where the bitter water was part of an offering that exposed hidden sin rather than an offering that made atonement for sin. If the woman was innocent the water did her no harm, but if she was guilty it brought a dreadful and swift death. To blot out means to wipe writing made in a book on parchment with a wet sponge, as the written curses were blotted out with the bitter water. Such blotting out was possible for writings in a book such as the ceremonial law written by Moses, but not for writing engraved in stone such as the Ten Commandments, which could not be wiped away with a sponge.
The blotting out of the handwriting of ordinances therefore means the removal of the ceremonial law, not of the Ten Commandments or the seventh-day Sabbath. The test shows sin is more than an outward act, because open transgression grows out of the inward condition of the heart and character. The chapter containing the verse reveals God's abhorrence of sin and leads readers to shun its destructive path and fearful end.