3' The Journey Begins: Num 10:3314:45

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3. The Journey Begins Num 1033-1445

• BOT640/BHE640 Exegesis of Numbers

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1. The Beginning

• 1.0 How it was meant to be!
• Numbers 101-10 Trumpet
• Numbers 1011-28 - The Journey Begins
• Number 1029-32 Hobab (Jethro Hobab are the
  same person. Reuel is his father. See Exod 218
  Exod 18)
• The Wilderness of Paran

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Num 101-10 - Silver Trumpets
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Arch of Titus
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The Wilderness of Paran
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The Wilderness of Paran
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The Wilderness of Paran
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2. The Beginning the End

• Two Ark Snippets as Enclosures
• Numbers 1033-36
• Numbers 1439-45

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3. Theologies of the Ark

• 3.1 The Ark as a Box
• Deut 101-5 Accent on the Tablets
• Deut 3124-26
• Exod 2510-22 371-9
• 3.2 The Ark as a War Palladium
• Num 1035-36 Divine Warrior Motif (Ps 681,
  7-8, 11-12, 17-18 Judg 54-5 Deut 322-3 Hab
  33-6)
• Conquest Narratives Josh 3-4 6 830-35 the
  problem of 1 Sam 41-72

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3. Theologies of the Ark

• 3.3 The Kapporeth
• The Meaning of Kapporeth?
• Cover lid
• Greek hilasterion (Lev 16)
• Görg kp (n) rdwi sole of the foot or
  footplate
• 3.4 A Throne Footstool
• 1 Sam 44 (2 Sam 62, 18 78, 26, 27 Ps 247-10
• 1 Kgs 81-13
• Isa 61-3

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4. Murmuring in the Wilderness

• 4.1 Numbers 111-3
• What were the people complaining about?
• The possible Exod 1522-26 parallel Water.
• Paradigmatic?

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4. Murmuring in the Wilderness

• 4.2 Murmuring vs. Laments
• Laments Complaint, Confession of Trust,
  Petition, Vow to Praise
• Praise in a Minor Key B. Anderson
• Almost 50 of the Psalter (Individual Communal)

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Structure of 114-35

• A. Peoples Complaint Meat Num 114-10
• B. Moses Complaint Assistance Num 1110-15
• X. Gods Answer to Both Complaints Num 1116-24
• B. God Authorizes Elders Num 1124-30
• A. God Supplies Meat Punishes Complainers Num
  1131-34

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5. Peoples Complaint Meat Num 114-10

• Num 114 Rabble/Riffraff? . . . . strong
  craving fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions,
  garlic vs. manna
• Food in Egypt
• Fish Meat (fish wild poultry geese, ducks,
  quails, cranes, etc.)
• Bread
• Vegetables (beans, chick peas, lentils, green
  peas, leeks, Egyptian lettuce, and garlic)
• Fruit (figs, grapes, pomegranates, plums peaches )

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Fish Meat
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Bread
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Fruit
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Dairy Products Oils
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6. Moses Complaint Assistance Num 1110-15

• Num 1110b Yahweh was very angry, and Moses was
  distressed.
• . . . not found favor in your sight (Exod
  3312, 13, 16, 17 348)
• this people
• Nursing-father imagery
• If this is the way you are going to treat me,
  put me to death at once, if I have found favor in
  your sight and do not let me see my misery.

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7. Gods Answer to Both Complaints Num 1116-24

• 70 Elders to bear the burden with Moses take
  some of the spirit that is on you and put it on
  them
• Meat enough for a whole month Consecrate
  yourselves (Exod 1910-15)
• Num 1121-22 A further complaint by Moses
• Num 1123 A further Answer by Yahweh

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8. God Authorizes Elders Num 1124-30

• . . . and took some of the spirit that was on
  him and put it on the seventy elders and when
  the spirit rested on them, they prophesied.
• But they did not do so again or they did not
  cease . . . .
• Eldad Medad
• Would that all the people of Yahweh were
  prophets, and that Yahweh would put his spirit on
  them.

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8. God Authorizes Elders

• Prophet
• 1. Called
• 2. Messenger of Yahweh
• 3. Intercession
• 4. Worker of Miracles
• 5. Anointer of Kings Political leaders

• Priest
• 1. Hereditary
• 2. Cult functionary sacrifices, praise,
  atoning, etc.
• 3. Teach the Torah

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9. God Supplies Meat Punishes Complainers Num
1131-34

• . . . quails . . . two cubits deep on the
  ground
• But while the meat was still between their
  teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of
  Yahweh was kindled against the people, and Yahweh
  struck the people with a very great plague.
• Kibroth-hattaavah

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10. Miriam Aarons Complaint

• Num 121-5 Complaint of Miriam . . . and Aaron
• Num 126-8 Yahwehs Response
• . . . your prophets of Yahweh
• . . . my servant Moses he is entrusted with all
  my house.
• Num 129-15 Miriam becomes white
• Num 12.16 from Hazeroth in the Wilderness of Paran

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A Cushite Woman 18 Dynasty Egypt (1570-1320
B.C.)

• Queen Hatshepsut
• Queen Tiye, mother of Akhenanten
• Queen Nefertiti, wife of Akhenanten

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11. Overall Structure of Num 13-14

• A. The Scouts Expedition Num 131-24
• B. The Scouts Report Num 1325-33
• X. The Peoples Response Num 141-10a
• B. Yahwehs Response Num 1410b-38
• A. The Peoples Expedition Num 1439-45

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A. The Scouts Expedition Num 131-24

• 1. God decides on reconnaissance (and conquest)
  (vv. 1-2)
• 2. Moses chooses and instructs scouts (vv. 3-20)
• 3. Expedition fulfilled (vv. 21-24)
• a. All of Canaan (vv. 21)
• b. The Hebron area (vv. 22-24)

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B. The Scouts Report Num 1325-33

• 1. Majority report objective (vv. 25-29)
• 2. Calebs counter-report (v. 30)
• 3. Majority report subjective (vv. 31-33)

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Spy Stories

• "In addition to Numbers 13-14, there are other
  scouting expeditions attributed to Israel during
  the wilderness and conquest period at Jazer in
  Transjordan (Num. 2132), Jericho (Josh. 2), Ai
  (Josh. 72-5), Bethel (Judg. 123), and Dan
  (Judg. 18). Milgrom

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Ten Parallels with Judg 18

• Danites are an unsettled group, living in
  temporary encampments.
• Scouts selected from tribal notables are
  commissioned to gather intelligence in
  preparation for a military campaign.
• In deliberate contrast to Num 13, the Danite
  scouts bring in a unanimous, favorable report.

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Ten Parallels with Judg 18

• The Danites are momentarily hesitant, but they
  speedily proceed to the attack.
• The campaign is conducted in stages, employing
  the same vocabulary as Num 10-14.
• An entire ethnic grouping accompanies the
  soldiers, including women, children, the aged,
  and their cattle chattels.

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Ten Parallels with Judg 18

• Danites bring their cultic apparatus . . . .
• A Levite priest is engaged for oracular
  consultation.
• Levite priest is identified as Jonathan the son
  of Gershom the son of Moses . . .
• Places conquered and resettled are renamed . . . .

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X. The Peoples Response Num 141-10a

• 1. Majority response abandon project (vv. 1-5)
• 2. Joshua and Calebs counter-response (vv. 6-9)
• 3. Majority response stone opposition (v. 10a)

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B. Yahwehs Response Num 1410b-38

• 1. Destroy Israel except Moses (vv. 10b-12)
• 2. Moses intercedes (vv. 13-19)
• 3. God mitigates decree (vv. 20-35)
• a. Adults die save Caleb (vv. 20-25)
• b. Adults die except Joshua and Caleb (vv.
  26-35)
• -anticipation of fulfillment (death of spies)
  (vv. 36-38)

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Num 1418 vs. Exod 346-7

• The LORD! the LORD! a God compassionate and
  gracious, slow to anger, abounding in kindness
  and faithfulness,
• extending kindness to the thousandth generation,
  forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin
• yet He does not remit all punishment, but visits
  the iniquity of parents upon children and
  children's children, upon the third and fourth
  generations.

• The LORD! slow to anger and abounding in
  kindness
• forgiving iniquity and transgression
• yet not remitting all punishment, but visiting
  the iniquity of fathers upon children, upon the
  third and fourth generations.

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Num 1418 vs. Exod 346-7

• The major omissions in the first two sections
  deal with the nature of Moses plea. He did not
  ask for the cancellation of punishment but only
  for its postponement or for its executing as long
  as God would maintain His covenant with Israel.
  Milgrom
• Faithfulness, i.e. truth would deal with
  Gods justice and not appropriate for Moses
  plea.
• Sin quite often deals with inadvertent sin
  which is also not appropriate here.

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Forgiveness in Num 14

• First in the usual liturgical statement, h9esed
  is placed in parallelism with "merciful and
  gracious," and is coupled with "slow to anger."
  This does not mean that h9esed is simply equated
  with forgiveness, as it can still in other
  contexts be used to mean a particular act of
  deliverance. But since the word was repeatedly
  connected with attitudes which do not presume a
  quid pro quo relationship between God and Israel
  it would tend to shift in focus.

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Chesed

• 1. Introduction
• 1.1 Occurs over 250x
• 1.2 Three Important Factors
• 1.2.1 First, chesed is not associated with
  inanimate objects or concepts (contrast love
  ahab of silver or righteousness) it always
  involves persons.
• 1.2.2 Second, chesed is requested of or done for
  another with whom one is already in relationship
  the term does not appear in contexts where no
  relationship between the parties has been
  established.

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Chesed

• 1.2 Three Important Factors
• 1.2.3 Third, chesed in its most basic form is a
  specific action, but from a series of such
  actions the term may also be abstracted to refer
  to an attitude that is given concrete shape in
  such actions.

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Chesed

• 2. Secular Usage
• 2.1 Chesed between individuals
• 2.1.1 Chesed in intimately personal
  relationships, usually familial (Gen 20.13
  24.49 47.29 Ruth 3.10 2 Sam 3.8 16.17)
• First, the help of another is essential the
  person in need cannot perform the action.
• Second, help itself is essential the needy
  persons situation will turn drastically for the
  worse if help is not received.
• Third, the circumstances dictate that one person
  is uniquely able to provide the needed
  assistance there is no ready alternative if help
  is not forthcoming from this source.

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Chesed

• Fourth, the person in need has no control over
  the decision of the person who is in a position
  to help, and there are no legal sanctions for
  failure to provide help often no one else will
  even know of a negative decision. The potential
  helper must make a free moral decision, based
  essentially on commitment to the needy person
  within the relationship. While self-interest
  might occasionally encourage a positive response,
  the term chesed focuses the rationale for action
  on commitment to the other, not on advantage to
  the actor.

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Chesed

• 2.1.2 Chesed in Secondary, Non-intimate
  Relationships (Gen 40.14 1 Kgs 20.31 Jos
  2.12-14 Gen 21.23 2 Sam 10.1-2)
• In these narratives the person requesting chesed
  is careful to show that the relationship between
  the parties is in good repair, sometimes by
  pointing to an act of chesed done by the
  suppliant on a prior occasion when the relative
  circumstances of need of the parties were
  reversed. This overt emphasis on the quality of
  the relationship stands in contrast to the
  narratives featuring intimate personal ties,
  where requests for chesed are simply made and no
  reason for compliance is proposed the requests
  in such cases are based on the very nature of the
  relationship, which need not be mentioned.

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Chesed

• In the secondary relationships there is more
  frequently a potential for self-interest in an
  actors willingness to offer chesed (although the
  focus remains on commitment to the other) and in
  some of the examples the strength or even
  existence of a prior relationship between the
  parties has been disputed.
• The central features of critical situational
  need, unique opportunity to assist, and freedom
  of decision are common to chesed in both intimate
  and secondary relationships.

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Chesed

• 3. Theological Usage God's Chesed
• 3.1 Israel understood God to be committed to the
  community in covenant relationship as the One who
  provided for all needs, yet One also always free
  and uncoercible. The Hebrew term chesed compactly
  incorporates all three of these dimensions
  (commitment, provision for need, freedom) in a
  single word. This shorthand theological claim is
  given various emphases, however, in different
  streams of OT literature.
• 3.2 Key aspects of the concrete manifestations of
  Gods chesed (ranging from maintaining the
  created order to provision of descendants,
  sustenance, land, leadership, and especially
  forgiveness) . . . .

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Chesed

• 3.3 These are reinforced and supplemented by
  attention to the many references to divine chesed
  in the Psalter (over 70 times scattered through
  over 45 psalms). Most frequently associated with
  chesed is a plea for deliverance from enemies
  (e.g., Ps 177 14312) or thanksgiving for such
  deliverance (e.g., Ps 1382).
• 3.4 "For individuals as much as for the community
  corporately, Gods forgiveness as an act of
  chesed that continues the divine-human
  relationship is foundational to life itself and
  undergirds all other manifestations of chesed."

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Forgiveness in Num 14

• A second, indirect clue toward this shift to
  connection with forgiveness lies in the special
  usage of the expression "great of h9esed
  (rab-h9esed) in this same formula. This
  expression is restricted in use it refers only
  to Yahweh. This specialization may indicate that
  divine h9esed was recognized as qualitatively (or
  quantitatively) different from that of men in
  their interpersonal relationships, in that God is
  more willing than men to do acts of h9esed, even
  under circumstances in which his people are not
  morally deserving. Such an interpretation of
  rab-h9esed suggests that forgiveness could be
  understood as an act of h9esed (particular act)
  and at the same time an act grounded in h9esed
  (attitude which issues in act). The word never
  completely loses its action connotation, yet it
  takes on the sense of a basic attitude.

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Forgiveness in Num 14

• A third consideration in the shift of h9esed to
  connotations including forgiveness is its
  liturgical connection with the expression Xpw
  !w aXn, "forgiver of iniquity and
  transgression," here and in Ex 34. The connection
  is heightened in the usage in Num 14 because
  h9esed is again set alongside of aXn in the
  climax and recapitulation of Moses' plea in vs.
  19. In an unpublished paper, D. N. Freedman has
  shown that the verb aXn is used of God in three
  general ways (1) "bearing the burden of the
  people (sustaining, guiding, bearing with),"
  (2)"being gracious to his people (from the idiom
  'to lift up the face')," and (3) "forgiveness" of
  the people (especially obvious in idiomatic use
  when the object of the verb is !w ). In 1419
  the verb shows nuances of all three of the
  meanings Freedman points out, and it should be
  observed that h9esed likewise could be
  appropriately understood in connection with all
  three, especially the first and the last. The
  greatness (rab) of God's h9esed is evidenced by
  and concretized in his forgiveness of iniquity.

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A. The Peoples Expedition Num 1439-45

• 1. People decide on conquest (vv. 39-40)
• 2. Moses protests (vv. 41-43)
• 3. Expedition aborted (vv. 44-45)