1' Introduction to the Book of Numbers

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1. Introduction to the Book of Numbers

• BOT640/BHE640 Exegesis of Numbers

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1.1 Literary Background Numbers and the
Pentateuch

• 1.1.1 The Content of the Pentateuch
• "The OT Pentateuch, or Torah, combines narratives
  and legal materials with occasional poetic
  sections. The narrative material tells the story
  of human history from Adam to Abraham, then
  recounts the fate of Abraham and his descendants
  (primarily the ancestors of Israel) until the
  period just before the conquest of the territory
  west of the Jordan River. The legal material
  primarily appears as two large blocks the
  revelations given while the people are encamped
  at Mt. Sinai (Ex 19-40 Lev Num 1.1-10.10) and
  Moses' proclamation of the laws in Moab just
  before the conquest (Num 22-36 and Deut). At
  other places, laws, commands, and legal
  ordinances appear (see Gen 1.28-29 9.1-7
  17.9-15 and throughout the journeys recorded in
  Num 10.10-21.35)." Hayes, An Introduction to OT
  Study, 157-8

• Genre
• Legal Material
• Narratives
• Poetry

• Story of Human History
• From Adam to Abraham
• From Abraham and his Descendants, until they
  reach the west bank of the Jordan River

• Two Major Blocks of Legal Material
• Exod 19-40, Lev Num 1.1-10.10
• Num 22-36 Deut

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1.1 Literary Background Numbers and the
Pentateuch

• 1.1.1 The Content of the Pentateuch
• "The generic variety that characterizes Numbers
  surpasses that of any other book of the Bible.
  Note these examples narrative (4.1-3), poetry
  (21.17-18), prophecy (24.3-9), victory song
  (21.27-30, pre-Israelite), prayer (12.13),
  blessing (6.24-26), lampoon (22.22-35),
  diplomatic letter (21.14-19), civil law
  (27.1-11), cultic law (15.17-21), oracular
  decision (15.32-36), census list (26.1-51),
  temple archive (7.10-88), itinerary (33.1-49).
  Milgrom, The JPS Torah Commentary Numbers, xii

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1.1 Literary Background Numbers and the
Pentateuch

• 1.1.1 The Content of the Pentateuch
• "The Pentateuch narrates God's dealings with the
  world especially with the family of Abraham from
  creation to the death of Moses." D. A. Hubbard,
  "Pentateuch," The New Bible Dictionary, ed. J. D.
  Douglas, 958

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1.1 Literary Background Numbers and the
Pentateuch

• 1.1.2 The Pentateuch . . . has six major parts
  Friedman, Pentateuch, ABD
• The Primeval History Gen 1-11
• The Patriarchs Gen 12-50
• Liberation from Egypt Exod 1.1-15.21
• (Interim 15.22-16.30)
• The Stay at Sinai/Horeb Exod 17-Lev
• The Journey Num
• Moses Farewell Deut

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1.1 Literary Background Numbers and the
Pentateuch

• 1.1.3 The Canonical Form Function
• The Five as Separate
• The Five as One

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1.1 Literary Background Numbers and the
Pentateuch

• 1.1.4 Pentateuchal Theme
• "The theme of the Pentateuch is the partial
  fulfillment - which implies also the partial
  non-fulfillment - of the promise to or blessing
  of the patriarchs. The promise or blessing is
  both the divine initiative in a word where human
  initiatives always lead to disaster, and a
  re-affirmation of the primal divine intentions
  for man. The promise has three elements
  posterity, divine-human relationship, and land.
  The posterityelement of the promise is dominant
  in Genesis 12-50, the relationshipelement in
  Exodus and Leviticus, and the land-element in
  Numbers and Deuteronomy. Clines, The Theme of
  the Pentateuch, 29

The theme of the Pentateuch is the partial
fulfillment - which implies also the partial
non-fulfillment - of the promise to or blessing
of the patriarchs.
The posterityelement of the promise is dominant
in Genesis 12-50, the relationshipelement in
Exodus and Leviticus, and the land-element in
Numbers and Deuteronomy.
The promise has three elements posterity,
divine-human relationship, and land.
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1.1 Literary Background Numbers and the
Pentateuch

• 1.1.5 The Literary Qualities
• Ambiguities "The Pentateuchal narrative is
  filled with ambiguities, seemingly intended,
  which have been fodder for a rich variety of
  interpretation over centuries.... such literary
  ambiguities, which do not have appearance of
  inexpert composition but, quite the contrary,
  beckon for decipherment and interpretation."
  Friedman, "Torah (Pentateuch)," ABD

• Ambiguities

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1.1 Literary Background Numbers and the
Pentateuch

• 1.1.5 The Literary Qualities
• Irony "The narrative is characterized by
  frequent occurrences of irony, particularly in
  the Jacob and Joseph sequences." Friedman,
  "Torah (Pentateuch)," ABD

• Irony

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1.1 Literary Background Numbers and the
Pentateuch

• 1.1.5 The Literary Qualities
• Character Development "There appear to be two
  classes of character development in the Torah.
  Most persons, both major and minor figures in the
  work, are essentially constant personalities.
  Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Aaron, and the
  Pharaoh do not grow and change dramatically from
  their first appearances in the narrative to their
  last. However, three figures in the Torah are
  pictured as changing through the course of events
  of their lives Jacob, Joseph, and Moses."
  Friedman, "Torah (Pentateuch)," ABD

• Character Development

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1.1 Literary Background Numbers and the
Pentateuch

• 1.1.5 The Literary Qualities
• Paronomasia Paronomasia is common, . . . as
  well. Friedman, "Torah (Pentateuch)," ABD

• Paronomasia

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1.1 Literary Background Numbers and the
Pentateuch

• 1.1.5 The Literary Qualities
• Unity and a collection of small unites "Perhaps
  most striking among the literary qualities of the
  Torah is the extent to which it is both a unit
  and a collection of small units. The units or
  episodes are united (a) by common themes
  (especially covenant), (b) by falling into a
  chronological flow of generations through
  history, and (c) by editorial connecting
  mechanisms (such as the book of generations, and
  the list of stations of the journey from Sinai

to the promised land). The result is that the
Torah can be read as individual stories or as a
continuous, meaningful narrative with pervasive
themes. Friedman, Torah (Pentateuch), ABD

• Unity and a collection of small unites

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1.2 Historical Background The Exodus Date
Numbers Chronology

• 1. First Half of 13th Century
• 1.1 Many Biblical scholars and archaeologist
  argue that the Hebrews entered Canaan about
  1230-1220 B.C.
• 1.2 Arguments for 13th Century Date
• Exod 1.11s store cites of Pithom and Raamses fit
  into Rameses IIs building program ca. 1300.

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1.2 Historical Background The Exodus Date
Numbers Chronology

• 1.2 Arguments for 13th Century Date
• Edom and Moab did not exist until ca. 1300.
• The Israel Stele of Merneptah indicated that
  Merneptah encountered Israel in Palestine in his
  fifth year, ca. 1220.

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1.2 Historical Background The Exodus Date
Numbers Chronology

• 2. Arguments for 15th Century Date
• According to Gen 1513, the time spent in Egypt,
  viewed in prospect, would be 400 years, or
  according to Exod 12.40, in retrospect, 430
  years. Thus, if the Exodus occurred in the first
  half of the thirteenth century, the descent into
  Egypt would have taken place during the first
  half of the seventeenth century - in the Hyksos
  period. The principal objection on biblical
  grounds is that this date does not fit the 480
  years that 1 Kgs 6.1 gives between the Exodus and
  the foundation of Solomons temple ca. 970. This
  calculation would place the Exodus in the
  mid-fifteenth century. LaSor, Hubbard Bush,
  Old Testament Survey, 127

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1.2 Historical Background The Exodus Date
Numbers Chronology

• 3. Historical Background
• 3.1 Israel moved into a very advanced and
  cosmopolitan world when they left Egypt. During
  the period of the Egyptian empire extensive and
  unprecedented international contacts occurred in
  the whole of the ancient Near East, producing the
  cultural diffusion and cross-fertilization that
  J. H. Breasted termed the First
  Internationalism. LaSor, Hubbard Bush

• First Internationalism

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1.2 Historical Background The Exodus Date
Numbers Chronology

• 2. Historical Background
• 2.2 Akkadian became the Lingua Franca.
• 2.3 Embassies established, international politics
  caused alliances and treaties, necessitating
  international law.
• 2.4 National religions were formed and introduced
  throughout by means of literature.

• Akkadian

• International Law

• National Religions

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1.2 Historical Background The Exodus Date
Numbers Chronology

• 2. Historical Background
• 2.5 The alphabet, developed shortly before 3000
  BC in both Mesopotamia Egypt moves from
  syllabic and ideographic cuneiform and
  hieroglyphic systems to an alphabet with less
  than 30 symbols.
• 2.6 The struggle for a world empire during this
  period ended in all parties dead or exhausted.

• Alphabet

• No World Empire

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1.2 Historical Background The Exodus Date
Numbers Chronology

• 4. Contextual Chronology
• Exodus 1 year
• Leviticus 1 month
• Numbers 38 years, 9 months
• Deuteronomy

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1.2 Historical Background The Exodus Date
Numbers Chronology

• 5. General Chronology In Numbers
• 1.1-10.11 19 days
• 21.10-36.13 the last 5 months of the total 40
  years
• 10.12-21.9 38 years, 4 months

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1.2 Historical Background The Exodus Date
Numbers Chronology

• 6. Chronological Displacement
• 2nd Year, 1st month 14th 2nd month
• Num 7.1 9.1 1.1

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1.3 Literary Foreground The Structure of the
Book of Numbers

• 1. Genre "A striking feature of Numbers is that
  law (L) and narrative (N) alternate regularly, as
  follows 1-10.10 (L) 10.11-14.45 (N) 15 (L)
  16-17 (N) 18-19 (L) 20-25 (N) 26-27.11 (L)
  27.12-23 (N) 28-30 (L) 31-33.49 (N) 33.50-56
  34-36 (L)." Milgrom

1. Genre
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1.3 Literary Foreground The Structure of the
Book of Numbers

• 2. Chronology The book of Numbers does indeed
  contain a sequence of chronological indicators.
  Using the month of the first Passover in Egypt as
  its starting point (cf. Ex 12.2), the book lists
  the year, the month and usually the day of the
  time elapsed since the first Passover at several
  points in the narrative (1.1 9.1 9.5 10.11
  20.1 33.3 33.38). The book begins "on the first
  day of the second month, in the second years
  after they had come out of the land of Egypt"
  (1.1). Num 9.1 and 9.5 indicate the date on which
  Israel celebrated the second Passover in
  commemoration of the first Passover a year
  before. In Num 10.11, the date is given for the
  inauguration of the march of Israel after being
  constituted as the holy people of God. A juncture
  occurs in 20.1 in which the only indication of
  time given is the month ("in the first month")
  with no year or day stated. Num 33.3 and 33.38
  are both in an itinerary which recapitulates the
  stages of Israel's journey from the first
  Passover in Egypt (33.3) through the wilderness
  wandering to the plains of Moab, including the
  date when Aaron died at Mount Hor (33.38).
  Olsen

2. Chronology
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1.3 Literary Foreground The Structure of the
Book of Numbers

• 3. Geographic Movement
• 1.1-10.10 In the wilderness of Sinai
• 10.11-22.1 From Sinai to Kadesh
• 22.2-36.13 On the Plains of Moab.

3. Geography
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Route from Goshen to Kadesh
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Kadesh to Jordon
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1.3 Literary Foreground The Structure of the
Book of Numbers

• 4. Census Lists
• Num 1.1-25.18 The End of the Old The First
  Generations of God's People out of Egypt on the
  March in the Wilderness
• Num 26.1-36.31 The Birth of the New The Second
  Generation of God's People out of Egypt As They
  Prepare to Enter the Promised Land

4. Census Lists
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1.4 Theological Foreground The Theological
Significance of Numbers

• 1. Census A Theology of the Numbers
• 1.1 The miraculous power of Yahweh to sustain
  such a throng in the wilderness for forty years
• 1.2 The utter dependence of this people upon this
  God
• 1.3 A fighting force of more than 600,000 men has
  been entirely cowed by the report of ten scouts.
• 1.4 The tribal gains and losses are theological
  Simeon loses (37,000 men) and thereby being equal
  with Levites at the bottom fulfilling Genesis
  49.5-7 Judah increases the most which follows
  all the blessing of Genesis 49.8-12 Manasseh
  raising over Ephraim is strange in light of the
  blessing of Genesis 48.13-22, but it seems the
  message is God's choice to bless and not to bless
  as the theme. See Harrelson, Guidance in the
  Wilderness.

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1.4 Theological Foreground The Theological
Significance of Numbers

• 2. God in Numbers Theology Proper
• 2.1 Numbers stresses the character of God as
  holy, present, gracious and constant.
• 2.2 The Promised land is God given.
• 2.3 Paul House gives the following captions The
  God who Guides and Inspires Israel (1.1-10.11),
  The God who Calls and Corrects (Numbers
  10.11-12.16), The God who Punishes and Renews
  (Numbers 13.1-20.13), The God who Sustains and
  Protects (Numbers 20.14-22.1), The God who
  Renews His Promises (Numbers 22.2-36.13).
  House, Old Testament Theology

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1.4 Theological Foreground The Theological
Significance of Numbers

• 3. Blessing Cursing in Numbers
• 3.1 The Priestly (5.23ff. 6.22-27)
• 3.2 Balaam (Chapters 22-24)
• 4. Murmuring Rebellion in the Wilderness
• 5. Sin, Judgment Forgiveness
• 5.1 The Spy story its consequence
• 5.2 The Baal or Peor Incident
• 6. Israel as a Community
• 6.1 Unified, Holy, Rebellious, and Blessed by
  Moses leadership