On Sotah, if one is looking for the ideology behind the peshat, it would
be worthwhile reading the articles below. Even though not everything in
them fits an Orthodox perspective, the attempt to protect a suspected, but
not proved, adulterous is illuminating.
Milgrom, Jacob. 'The Case of the Suspected Adulteress, Numbers 5:11-31:
Redaction and Meaning', 475-486,
Frymer-Kensky, Tikva. 'The Strange Case of the Suspected Sotah'. 463-474.
Also, of interest is Fishbane, Michael. 'Accusations of Adultery: A Study
of Law and Scribal Practice in Numbers 5:11-31', 487-502.
All three articles are reprinted in Women in the Hebrew Bible: A Reader,
edited by Bach, Alice. New York: Routledge. 1999.
Jeremiah Unterman