Numbers 5:11-31, What about the guy?

Question:
In Numbers 5:11-31, a ceremony is described to discover whether a woman is guilty of adultry. Why is this ceremony only to be conducted with a woman? Why doesn't it say "if a man or a woman...." We understand that times were different then, but God is just, so why would women be the only ones subjected to this kind of scrutiny?

Response:
The question raised is an excellent one and on the face of it presents quite a challenge for us in a culture and society that would perceive of this procedure lacking in justice. Some context is necessary from the outset. This is one of the Books of Moses. The Israelites are only into their second year in the desert after escaping from Egypt. Picture the responsibility of Moses and the leaders trying to manage upwards of two million Jews in the desert. There needed to be an organizing of tribes and clans, an army, service for the “tent of meeting” and the rituals and liturgies therein. With so much interaction among the peoples, structure and laws to maintain civil order and more importantly purity in the face of sin and idolatry had to be maintained to sustain harmony and faith within the people.

It is to the purity issue that this section of Scripture speaks. Various commentators allude to this portion of Numbers as “The Test for an Unfaithful Wife”, or “The Law of Jealousy”, etc. Chapter 5: 5-10 makes it clear that culpability for sin applies to men and women and there are consequences for same. Moses then cites perhaps the most egregious area of sin in terms of husbands and wives, i.e. adultery. On the face of it, it seems quite unjust that the woman is the only one to be held to account and from our perspective it is true. But consider the times, conditions, and patriarchal nature of society at that point. The NIV Bible Commentary has a good perspective:

On the one hand, the husband may shame his wife publicly and force her to a rigorous demeaning religious trial merely on the (unfounded) suspicion of marital unfaithfulness. She may have presented no evidence whatsoever. Further, there is no mention of the guilt, trial, and judgment of the man that this woman is supposedly involved with—all guilt, shame, trial and judgment rest on her shoulders.
On the other hand, there is limitation on the husband—a protection of the wife from his abusive hand. Were there not such a provision in a male-dominant culture, an angry, suspicious husband might strike out against his wife without any sure reason, harm her physically and mentally and even take her life. But God reaches out through Moses and has a means of escape for a woman under suspicion of unfaithfulness. The trial she is taken to is not a kangaroo court; it is in the precincts of the tabernacle, under the jurisdiction of the priests, in concert with a solemn sacrifice—she places herself in the hand of the Lord.

(Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary – An Abridgement of The Expositor’s Bible Commentary;Barker and Kohlenberger; Volume I, Old Testament, page 186)

This is but one step in a progression of steps proceeding up through Jesus and Paul wherein women in the Judeo-Christian tradition are placed in places of greater honor and more just and safer environs. Perfect? No. Better? Yes.

John 8:10-11
10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" 11 "No one, sir," she said. "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."
(from The Holy Bible: New International Version. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984, by International Bible Society)

Gal 3:28-29
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
(from The Holy Bible: New International Version. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984, by International Bible Society)