Nice punt, but you lost yardage. The "Belly swelling and thigh rotting" means what to you? The Hebrews considered the fetus as part of the "mother's thigh."
Well, once again, you would be wrong. I'll spend time addressing this only for the sake of someone else reading this thread who might think you actually might have a point. I do not expect my answer to change your mind... you think the Bible is a fairy tale and yet you claim enough authority in your interpetation of it to prove to your satisfaction that we Christians pro-lifers must be blind idiots. So for the sake of others who might be reading this, here goes:
1. The Numbers passage is about a test for infidelity, it is not instructions as to how to perform an abortion.
2. Even if it were saying that an abortion is justified in the case of infidelity, it would be God who is doing the killing, not a woman making a "choice about her reproductive rights." This would not support abortion on demand.
3. Nothing in the passage would indicate that the unborn is not a human being.
4. Pro-choicers should be uncomfortable interpreting this as Biblical justification for abortion since the husband and a male priest force the suspected woman into a test that could result in a miscarriage.....hardly a pro-choice situation.
5. It is not clear from the original Hebrew what "your thigh shrivel and your belly swell" means. It may refer to a miscarriage, but it may also mean that the woman would have a miscarrying womb and barrenness as a result of her infidelity. That would explain why 5:28b says that if she were not unfaithful, she "will be able to have children. (BTW, I can read Biblical Hebrew; can you pcl?)
So your Numbers passage does not support a Biblical view of abortion. Nor do any other passages pro-aborts like to drag forward in their cause.... I know, I've heard them all. If any lurkers have other questions, I would be happy to spend time answering them.
I hope this is helpful to you pcl.
Husband of Artist
The Jews have a long and extensive collection of extrabiblical writing: apocryphal, pseudopedigraphal, Mishnah, commentaries, histories, and whatnot. Please post the earliest known Jewish writing that, at the least, even hinted that the Numbers passage had anything at all to do with pregnancy or abortion.
Simply stating that the text refers to a pregnant woman does not make it so.
The clear exegesis of the passage shows it's simply a run-of-the-mill trial by ordeal of a woman suspected of infidelity, without any witnesses (obviously) to the infidelity.