I. FAITHFULNESS OF ISRAEL AT SINAI (1:1\u201310:10)<\/p>\n
The setting for the initial two cycles of material in the Book of Numbers is the Sinai Desert, with particular focus on the tabernacle, the epicenter of Israelite religious life.<\/p>\n
1. Sinai Cycle A: Census and Consecration of the Tribes of Israel (1:1\u20136:27)<\/p>\n
The first cycle introduces several key themes in the Book of Numbers: the twelve-tribe confederation of the descendants of the sons of Jacob, the special status of the priests and Levites, and the consecration of the nation via sacrifices, offerings, and vows. Numbers picks up where Exodus leaves off, in the region of Sinai desert and specifically at Mount Sinai, the paramount place of revelation. Numbers also continues the important theme of the Word of Yahweh, which dominates the Pentateuch.<\/p>\n
(1) Historical Setting: Prologue (1:1)<\/p>\n
1 The LORD spoke to Moses in the Tent of Meeting in the Desert of Sinai on the first day of the second month of the second year after the Israelites came out of Egypt. He said:
\n1:1 The Book of Numbers commences with one of the key phrases of the Pentateuch, way\u0115dabb\u0113r YHWH el-M\u014d\u0161eh \u2026 l\u0113\u02bem\u014dr, \u201c[Then] Yahweh spoke to Moses \u2026 saying.\u201d On the use of this verse to provide a Hebrew title to the book, see \u201cIntroduction: Title.\u201d
\nThe term way\u0115dabb\u0113r occurs at least sixty-one times in the book, of which fifty have Yahweh as the speaker. Of the other eleven occurrences, Moses is the speaker in nine, Miriam and Aaron in one, and on one occasion (21:5) the people speak against God in a passage that completes the cycles of rebellion. Seven times way\u0115dabb\u0113r functions as a major sectional divider, plus ten times as a minor division marker. Allen noted that divine speech is recorded \u201cover 150 times and in more than twenty ways.\u201d When Yahweh spoke, the words were always of paramount importance.
\nDivine speech commences in Scripture with the creative activity of God in Genesis 1. Creation of the cosmos serves as the basis for communication and the establishment of a relationship between God and man in Genesis 3. Though other ancient Near Eastern religions aspired to convey the communicative capabilities of their gods, in resounding polemics the former and latter prophets decried the foreign deities as speechless, motionless, and incapable of action. Precisely how this divine disclosure between the eternal God and his servant Moses transpired remains a mystery. Biblical writers such as Jeremiah (way\u0115h\u00ee d\u0115bar-YHWH \u02be\u0113l\u00ee l\u0113\u02bem\u014dr, \u201cthe word of the LORD was to me,\u201d or \u201cthe word of the LORD became a realization to me,\u201d 1:4) utilized varied expressions for the process. Theologians have probed this enigma for millennia, giving rise to varied theories of inspiration. But however this communication was accomplished, whether by audible human speech form, mental and spiritual impression and compulsion, or by intellectual impregnation of ideas, the prophet Moses became the instrument for divine illumination of humankind of the will and word of God. Communication is an essential element of any relationship and is paramount in the realm of divine-human intercourse. Of the essential tenets of Judaism set forth by Maimonides in the twelfth century A.D., the essence of divine communication and the preeminence of Moses among the prophets are fundamental. The wondrous miracle of revelation is that God could reveal himself to and through his chosen spokesmen in such a way that human language could express precisely that which God intended (2 Pet 1:19\u201321; 2 Tim 3:16\u201317).
\nThe NIV and many other versions translate the Hebrew Tetragrammaton YHWH as LORD. This revealed name of God (Exod 3:12\u201318; 6:1\u20138) describes his eternal existence and causative essence. Many modern scholars transcribe the name as Yahweh, though Jewish people long have considered the Name too sacred to pronounce or attempt to transliterate. Instead they substitute Adonai (\u02be\u0103d\u014dn\u0101y) in all recitations so as to avoid the remotest possibility of profaning the Name. Some earlier translations of the Old Testament, such as KJV, ASV, and NEB, employ the hybrid form Jehovah, derived from the consonants of the Tetragrammaton and the vowels of Adonai. Christian evangelical scholarship has used two divergent approaches in referring to YHWH. Some, such as K. L. Barker and R. B. Allen, prefer to use the transcribed Yahweh as the personal name of God in Scripture translation and recitation as well as in biblical research. Others, such as R. K. Harrison, hold that YHWH is not a personal name of God but a descriptive title of which the precise pronunciation is unproven. The former approach is preferred by the present author, though the translation LORD will be employed frequently.
\nThe \u201cTent of Meeting\u201d (\u02be\u014dhel m\u00f4\u02bf\u0113d) was the location of divine disclosure to Moses, where God and man met in revelatory communion and where Aaron made atonement for the nation on Yom Kippur. Several alternative expressions designate this movable worship center: \u201cthe tent of the testimony\u201d (\u02be\u014dhel ha\u02bf\u0113d\u00fbt), \u201cthe tabernacle of the testimony\u201d (mi\u0161kan ha\u02bf\u0113d\u00fbt), and \u201cthe tabernacle\u201d (hammi\u0161k\u0101n). The concept of a portable sanctuary or shrine is known from Egyptian sources, dating to as early as the Old Kingdom period (2700\u20132200 B.C.). Tent shrines with wooden pillars were depicted in ritual purification scenes on tomb murals.
\nPortable shrines were transported on conquest campaigns in Mesopotamia as early as the third millennium B.C. Several accounts of the capture of representative statues of deities are well known from Babylonian and Hittite records. Marduk, the patron deity of the city of Babylon, was taken captive by the Hittites under Mursilis II ca. 1590 B.C. and later in history abducted to Susa by the Elamites. Such tabernacles served as places of counsel and refuge for kings and military leaders, with protection afforded by the troops or peoples that surrounded the tent upon encampment. An additional parallel in biblical history is the account of the use of the ark at the battle of Ebenezer (1 Sam 4:1\u201311).
\nThe phrase \u201cDesert of Sinai\u201d locates the census taking in the rugged regions of the Sinai Peninsula. The precise location of the encampment of Israelites near Mount Sinai (Mount Horeb), the mountain of God, has been debated since at least as early as the fourth century A.D. The question of the identification of Mount Sinai is integrally related to the study of the location of (a) the specific area of the Sinai wilderness referenced, (b) Moses\u2019 earlier encounters with God, and (c) the route of the Exodus journey. Early Christian historians generally believed that Mount Sinai was located in the southern region of the Sinai peninsula, pointing to such grand peaks as Jebel Musa, Jebel Serbal, Jebel Katarina, or Ras es-Safsafeh, which dominate the regional terrain. Jebel Musa was the choice of Eusebius, according to his geographical Onomasticon. Aesthetics played as much a part in the decision making as detailed analysis of biblical and regional geography.
\nIn modern research, several other identifications have been suggested by historians and geographers. M. Noth, basing his decision on the location of the Midianite territory in which Moses sojourned for some forty years, placed the mountain on the East side of the Gulf of Aqaba (Eilat). This locale was followed generally by Abib Koury of the American University of Beirut and others. Profs. Menahem Har-El and George L. Kelm, proposing an Exodus journey through the central Sinai peninsula from the Bitter Lakes region to Ezion-geber and then to Kadesh-barnea, advance an identification of Mount Sinai with Jebel Sin-Bisher. Other suggestions include Har Karkom, Khirbet el-Qom, Jebel Helal, and Jebel Feiran. Ancient and modern Christian tradition has adhered to the location decided by the early church, where the Monastery of St. Catherine has endured for centuries.
\nChronologically, the scene of the census is set \u201con the first day of the second month of the second year\u201d after the Exodus, eleven months after Moses first ascended the mountain of revelation. An absolute chronological reckoning of this statement of relative chronology has long been debated by biblical scholars. Those who grant at least some historical credence to the Exodus in history have generally proffered dates ranging from 1570 B.C. to 1250 B.C., with ca. 1440 and ca. 1290 B.C. most commonly supported. The earlier dates would place the Exodus at the advent of or mid-eighteenth New Kingdom (Empire) in Egyptian history, the latter during the Ramesside nineteenth dynasty. The issue remains one of intense debate among evangelical scholars, needing further study in biblical, historical, literary, and archaeological research.<\/p>\n
(2) Military Conscription Census of the Twelve Tribes of Israel (1:2\u201346)<\/p>\n
CENSUS INSTRUCTIONS. (1:2\u20134)<\/p>\n
2 \u201cTake a census of the whole Israelite community by their clans and families, listing every man by name, one by one. 3 You and Aaron are to number by their divisions all the men in Israel twenty years old or more who are able to serve in the army. 4 One man from each tribe, each the head of his family, is to help you.
\n1:2\u20134 Directions for taking the census are given in an imperatival phrase, which translates the Hebrew \u201clift up the head\u201d (\u015b\u0115\u02be\u00fb \u02beet-r\u014d\u02be\u0161) and echoes the phraseology of Exod 30:12. In the Exodus passage, census taking is anticipated as a means of assessing a tariff for sanctuary (tabernacle) maintenance in the amount of one-half shekel per person. The method and boundaries of numbering all the congregation of Israel is \u201cby clans and families,\u201d literally \u201cby families and their fathers\u2019 households.\u201d The term \u201ctribe\u201d (ma\u1e6d\u1e6deh) is used in v. 4 with reference to those who would assist Moses and Aaron in making the assessment. Listing in the subsequent text is by tribal summary, with the figure given reflecting the total of clans and families within each tribe.
\nIn typical Hebrew fashion, the directions become more specific as the narrative progresses. The ultimate purpose of the census is to enumerate the male members who are at least twenty years of age and eligible for military service. The \u201cdivisions\u201d (l\u0115\u1e63ib\u02be\u014dt\u0101m, lit., \u201cby their armed divisions\u201d) are classified for the future need of mustering militia for the entry and conquest of the land of promise, a kind of draft enlistment process. The term \u1e63\u0101b\u0101\u02be is generally used in the context of military forces and in the divine appellation YHWH \u1e63\u0115b\u0101\u02be\u00f4t, often translated \u201cYahweh of hosts\u201d or \u201cYahweh of armies.\u201d No upper age limit is given, and several notable Israelite leaders served valiantly in their elder years (e.g., Moses). The work was to be accomplished under the direction of Moses and Aaron, with the assistance of one patriarchal leader (r\u014d\u02be\u0161 l\u0115b\u00eat \u02be\u0103b\u014dt\u00e2w, \u201chead of the household of his father\u201d) from each of the twelve tribes.<\/p>\n
CENSUS ASSISTANTS ENLISTED (1:5\u201316)<\/p>\n
5 These are the names of the men who are to assist you:<\/p>\n
from Reuben, Elizur son of Shedeur;
\n6 from Simeon, Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai;
\n7 from Judah, Nahshon son of Amminadab;
\n8 from Issachar, Nethanel son of Zuar;
\n9 from Zebulun, Eliab son of Helon;
\n10 from the sons of Joseph:
\nfrom Ephraim, Elishama son of Ammihud;
\nfrom Manasseh, Gamaliel son of Pedahzur;
\n11 from Benjamin, Abidan son of Gideoni;
\n12 from Dan, Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai;
\n13 from Asher, Pagiel son of Ocran;
\n14 from Gad, Eliasaph son of Deuel;
\n15 from Naphtali, Ahira son of Enan.\u201d<\/p>\n
16 These were the men appointed from the community, the leaders of their ancestral tribes. They were the heads of the clans of Israel.<\/p>\n
1:5\u201316 Verses 5a and 16 provide an inclusio for framing the enlisted aides in the assessment of the able militia for the nation of Israel. The word for \u201cassist\u201d in the Hebrew is \u02bf\u0101mad (\u201cto stand\u201d), for the elder statesman for each tribe was to stand as a spokesman in the registration of community members. The twelve names recorded here recur in 2:3\u201331 (tribal camp arrangements), 7:12\u201383 (tribal offerings for the sanctuary), and 10:14\u201327 (tribal divisions depart from Sinai), though in varying order. These men functioned as representatives for their ancestral tribes in matters of military conscription, worship leadership, and general administration. The Levites and their tribal leaders (Aaron and Moses) are not cataloged here, due to their nonmilitary function on behalf of the nation, but are added subsequently at the conclusion of the census. The order of the tribal patriarchs generally follows the birth order according to their mothers, as is true in Gen 29\u201330; 41; 46: (1) the sons of Jacob through Leah\u2014Reuben, Simeon, [Levi], Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, [Dinah] (Gen 29:31\u201335; 30:17\u201321); (2) the sons of Jacob through Rachel\u2014Joseph = Ephraim and Manasseh in reverse order and Benjamin, the youngest of all (Gen 30:22\u201324; 35:16\u201318; 41:50\u201352); (3) the sons of Jacob through Leah\u2019s handmaid Zilpah\u2014Gad and Asher (Gen 30:9\u201313); and (4) the sons of Jacob through Rachel\u2019s handmaid Bilhah\u2014Dan and Naphtali (Gen 30:4\u20138). In (3) and (4) Gad and Dan are reversed for some undetermined reason. Levi and Dinah are excluded from the list. Levi is considered separately for temple service, and Dinah was a woman \/ daughter and thus of unequal status with her brothers.
\nThe following are the appointed tribal leaders, with a suggested meaning of each name supplied. Caution should be taken against reading the derived meaning of a name into the character of the individual since these were given prior to any demonstration of personality trait. Appellations came by family tradition, birth circumstances, and special designation.<\/p>\n
Tribe
\nName
\nDerived Meaning(s)
\nReuben
\nElizur ben Shedeur
\n(My) God Is a Rock, Is Strong (God of Strength) \/ Shaddai Is a Flame (Fire, Light)
\nSimeon
\nShelumiel ben Zerishaddai
\n(My) Peace Is God \/ (My) Strength Is Shaddai, (My) Rock Is Shaddai
\nJudah
\nNahshon ben Amminadab
\nSerpent (My) People Are Noble
\nIssachar
\nNathanel ben Zuar
\nGift of God \/ Little One
\nZebulun
\nEliab ben Helon Joseph
\n(My) God Is Father \/ Rampart??
\nEphraim
\nElishama ben Ammihud
\n(My) God Hears, Has Heard \/ (My) People Are Majestic
\nManasseh
\nGamaliel ben Pedahzur
\nReward of God \/ Ransomed Rock, Strength
\nBenjamin
\nAbidan ben Gideoni
\n(My) Father Is Judge \/ (My) Hewer
\nDan
\nAhiezer ben Ammishaddai
\n(My) Brother Is a Helper \/ (My) People of Shaddai
\nAsher
\nPagiel ben Ocran
\nEncountered by God, Met by God \/ Troubled
\nGad
\nEliasaph ben Deuel
\n(My) God Has Added, Multiplied, Enriched \/ Knowing God
\nNaphtali
\nAhira ben Enan
\n(My) Brother Is Evil \/ One Who Sees<\/p>\n
The antiquity of the names of the tribal patriarchs and the leaders in the census taking has been acknowledged by many scholars. J. Milgrom has noted that sixteen of the twenty-four names never recur in biblical literature, and none contain the abbreviated theophoric element YH (for Yahweh), as is the case throughout the Book of Genesis. The theophoric elements El (\u02beel, \u201cGod\u201d), Ab (\u02beab, \u201cfather\u201d), Shaddai (\u0160hadday, \u201cAlmighty), Zur (ts\u00fbr, \u201crock\u201d), and Ezer (\u02bfezer, \u201cstrength\u201d) all date at least to the second millennium B.C., lending further credence to the antiquity of the list of names. Some of these recur through Israelite history, including the postexilic period, which led M. Noth to suggest that the so-called priestly source (P) cited \u201can old list of the nesi\u02be\u00eem of the twelve Israelite tribes.\u201d Noth believed these men were pre-Davidic officials and not simply those chosen for the occasion of a census. Gray, convinced that this text was a P-source creation, proffered the opinion that though some of the names were \u201cunquestionably ancient, the list is certainly unhistorical.\u201d He further betrays his bias against the actual antiquity of the historical text by absurdly suggesting that \u201ca late compiler might select only ancient names in composing a fictitious list.\u201d Both views of Noth and Gray are based on the idea of a self-justifying postexilic priesthood, but the tribal differentiation in the list would have little practical value in the limited territory of Jerusalem in the postexilic era. The historical, literary, and theological value of the lists in the present context and throughout the Pentateuch are more fitting in the patriarchal and premonarchial periods of Israelite history. Further credence to the historical antiquity of this list is found in the parallels cited in the Late Bronze Age (1550\u20131200 B.C.) texts from Mari, which contain the theophoric elements Shaddai and Zur.
\nOnly the leaders from the tribes of Judah and Ephraim figure significantly in the later history of Israel. Through the Judahite line of Amminadab and Nahshon came Boaz, who married Ruth and fathered the Davidic ancestry (Ruth 4:20\u201322) and consequently the Messianic line of Jesus Christ (Matt 1:4\u201316; Luke 3:23\u201333). Elishama ben Ammihud, through his son Nun, was the grandfather of Joshua (1 Chr 7:26\u201327), who succeeded Moses as the leader of Israel as the nation entered the land of promise.<\/p>\n
CENSUS DIRECTED BY MOSES (1:17\u201319)<\/p>\n
17 Moses and Aaron took these men whose names had been given, 18 and they called the whole community together on the first day of the second month. The people indicated their ancestry by their clans and families, and the men twenty years old or more were listed by name, one by one, 19 as the LORD commanded Moses. And so he counted them in the Desert of Sinai:<\/p>\n
1:17\u201319 Moses and Aaron faithfully heed the direction of the Lord to enlist the tribal leaders in accomplishing the task of gathering the \u201cwhole community\u201d together on the first day of the second month (1:1) for the purpose of assessing the number of men twenty years of age and older, those responsible and capable of serving in the armies of Israel. Families and clans were identified, and the men were enlisted one at a time by name until the entire assembly had been registered. The phrase \u201cin the Desert of Sinai\u201d acts as an inclusio for the section of vv. 1\u201319. Verse 19 serves as a summary statement, for which the details of the poll ensue. The resulting reiterative material renders a dramatic conclusion to this introduction, designed to show the tremendous growth of the nation under God\u2019s magnificent blessing. This text resonates with the Book of Exodus, which commences with a concise description of the plenteous multiplication of the descendants of Jacob\u2014Israel.<\/p>\n
CENSUS RESULTS BY TRIBAL HOUSEHOLDS (1:20\u201343)<\/p>\n
20 From the descendants of Reuben the firstborn son of Israel: All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, one by one, according to the records of their clans and families. 21 The number from the tribe of Reuben was 46,500.<\/p>\n
22 From the descendants of Simeon: All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were counted and listed by name, one by one, according to the records of their clans and families. 23 The number from the tribe of Simeon was 59,300.<\/p>\n
24 From the descendants of Gad: All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families. 25 The number from the tribe of Gad was 45,650.<\/p>\n
26 From the descendants of Judah: All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families. 27 The number from the tribe of Judah was 74,600.<\/p>\n
28 From the descendants of Issachar: All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families. 29 The number from the tribe of Issachar was 54,400.<\/p>\n
30 From the descendants of Zebulun: All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families. 31 The number from the tribe of Zebulun was 57,400.<\/p>\n
32 From the sons of Joseph:
\nFrom the descendants of Ephraim: All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families. 33 The number from the tribe of Ephraim was 40,500.<\/p>\n
34 From the descendants of Manasseh: All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families. 35 The number from the tribe of Manasseh was 32,200.<\/p>\n
36 From the descendants of Benjamin: All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families. 37 The number from the tribe of Benjamin was 35,400.<\/p>\n
38 From the descendants of Dan: All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families. 39 The number from the tribe of Dan was 62,700.<\/p>\n
40 From the descendants of Asher: All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families. 41 The number from the tribe of Asher was 41,500.<\/p>\n
42 From the descendants of Naphtali: All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families. 43 The number from the tribe of Naphtali was 53,400.<\/p>\n
1:20\u201343 All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families. The list of tribes does not adhere to the order given in 1:5\u201315, and in fact diversity occurs throughout the Book of Numbers. Note the following chart of variants.<\/p>\n
Tribal Lists in the Book of Numbers<\/p>\n
Num 1:5\u201315
\nNum 1:20\u201343
\nNum 2:3\u201331
\nNum 7:12\u201383=Num 10:14\u201328
\nReuben
\nReuben
\nJudah\u2014EAST
\nJudah
\nSimeon
\nSimeon
\nIssachar\u2014EAST
\nIssachar
\nJudah
\nGad
\nZebulun\u2014EAST
\nZebulun
\nIssachar
\nJudah
\nReuben\u2014SOUTH
\nReuben
\nZebulun
\nIssachar
\nSimeon\u2014SOUTH
\nSimeon
\nJoseph-Ephraim
\nZebulun
\nGad\u2014SOUTH
\nGad
\nJoseph-Manasseh
\nJoseph-Ephraim
\nEphraim\u2014WEST
\nEphraim
\nBenjamin
\nJoseph-Manasseh
\nManasseh\u2014WEST
\nManasseh
\nDan
\nBenjamin
\nBenjamin\u2014WEST
\nBenjamin
\nAsher
\nDan
\nDan\u2014NORTH
\nDan
\nGad
\nAsher
\nAsher\u2014NORTH
\nAsher
\nNaphtali
\nNaphtali
\nNaphtali\u2014NORTH
\nNaphtali
\nLevi=
\nMoses + Aaron
\nLevi 1:47\u201353 not counted
\nLevi 3:1\u20134:49 counted (2\u00d7)
\nLevi 8:5\u201326<\/p>\n
Tribal Lists in the Book of Numbers<\/p>\n
Num 10:14\u201328
\nNum 13:4\u201315
\nNum 26:5\u201351
\nNum 34:16\u201329
\nJudah
\nReuben
\nReuben
\nJudah
\nIssachar
\nSimeon
\nSimeon
\nSimeon
\nZebulun
\nJudah
\nGad
\nBenjamin
\nReuben
\nIssachar
\nJudah
\nDan
\nSimeon
\nEphraim
\nIssachar
\nManasseh (1\/2)
\nGad
\nBenjamin
\nZebulun
\nEphraim
\nEphraim
\nZebulun
\nManasseh
\nZebulun
\nManasseh
\nManasseh
\nEphraim
\nIssachar
\nBenjamin
\nDan
\nBenjamin
\nAsher
\nDan
\nAsher
\nDan
\nNaphtali
\nAsher
\nNaphtali
\nAsher
\nReuben (TJ)
\nNaphtali
\nGad
\nNaphtali
\nGad (TJ) Manasseh (1\/2TJ)
\nLevi=Moses
\n(no Levi)
\nLevi (26:57\u201362)
\nLevite Towns & Refuge Cities<\/p>\n
Each list serves a specific purpose within the book, though the reasons for the variants in the listing order may not always be clear. The function of each tribal listing is as follows: (1) 1:5\u201315\u2014listing of tribal leaders for the census-taking process, (2) 1:20\u201343\u2014census taking by tribe, (3) 2:3\u201331\u2014tribal organization around the tabernacle, (4) 7:12\u201383\u2014tribal presentations of offerings, (5) 10:14\u201328\u2014tribal order of departure from Sinai, (6) 13:4\u201315\u2014tribal representatives for the survey of the land, (7) 26:5\u201351\u2014second census taken according to tribes, with clans listed for future land allotment, (8) 34:16\u201329\u2014tribal leaders registered for land inheritance. In 17:1\u20138 the tribal names are not listed, but representatives from each tribe, this time including Levi, present their staffs before the Lord in the Tent of the Testimony for the purpose of establishing the priority of the Aaronic priesthood. In 31:3\u20136 one thousand men from each tribe are mustered for exacting vengeance against the Midianites.<\/p>\n
As to the variations from the tribal lists in the Book of Genesis, D. Olson suggests:<\/p>\n
Although the lists in Numbers display a somewhat altered form from the genealogies and tribal lists of the book of Genesis, they perform similar literary and theological functions. They mark major structural divisions. They make a theological claim about the continuity of the covenantal promises and laws given to the patriarchs for each succeeding generation. They make a theological claim for the inclusiveness of the covenant promises and laws for all Israel. Furthermore, the expanded segmented genealogies of Numbers 26 suggest a partial fulfillment of the promise of an abundance of descendants which was given to the patriarchs in the Genesis narrative.<\/p>\n
The results are presented according to a repetitive formula composed of the following elements: (1) tribal nomenclature, (2) military conditions of enlistment, (3) clan and familial basis, (4) tribal name reiterated, (5) tribal total. The recurrent pattern has been noted by numerous commentators and is often taken as indicative of the formulaic tendencies of the priestly editors of the text of the Pentateuch. Such repetitiveness can be observed in ancient texts, long predating even the time of Moses, and in and of itself is not an indicator of early or late antiquity. The totals for the twelve tribes counted in the two military conscription censuses, which exclude the Levites, are as follows:<\/p>\n
Tribe
\nFirst Census
\nSecond Census
\nReuben
\n46,500
\n43,730
\nSimeon
\n59,300
\n22,200
\nGad
\n45,650
\n40,500
\nJudah
\n74,600
\n76,500
\nIssachar
\n54,400
\n64,300
\nZebulun
\n57,400
\n60,500
\nEphraim
\n40,500
\n32,500
\nManasseh
\n32,200
\n52,700
\nBenjamin
\n35,400
\n45,600
\nDan
\n62,700
\n64,400
\nAsher
\n41,500
\n53,400
\nNaphtali
\n53,400
\n45,400
\nTOTAL
\n603,550
\n601,730<\/p>\n
All tribal totals are rounded off to the hundreds, with the exception of Gad\u2019s fifty. Interesting is the fact that there are no textual variants for the given numbers in the MT (BHS), LXX, and other major texts, which is also true for the equivalent numbers given in 2:1\u201332. The LXX places Gad after Benjamin, grouping together the four sons of Jacob\u2019s concubines Zilpah and Bilhah (cf. 1:5\u201315).<\/p>\n
CENSUS SUMMARY AND TOTAL (1:44\u201346)<\/p>\n
44 These were the men counted by Moses and Aaron and the twelve leaders of Israel, each one representing his family. 45 All the Israelites twenty years old or more who were able to serve in Israel\u2019s army were counted according to their families. 46 The total number was 603,550.<\/p>\n
1:44\u201346 The summary and total of the able fighting men of age among the tribes of Israel is set forth in formulaic structure and repeats several of the same phrases as the census instructions and individual listings. Verses 44\u201345 echo the wording of 17\u201318, and v. 46 presents the grand total of 603,550. This tremendous number, as well as the sizable figures tendered for each individual tribe, has posed the greatest dilemma for biblical interpreters since the Middle Ages. Many modern commentators summarily dismiss these numbers as hyperbolic or fictitious, while others provide a brief history of interpretation. Numerous suggestions have been proffered for comprehending these unbelievable sums, which would rival the greatest of the kingdoms of the ancient Near East. A summary of approaches is in order.<\/p>\n
Excursus: The Large Numbers in Numbers<\/p>\n
Biblical scholars of all theological and denominational backgrounds have observed problems in the interpretation of the large census numbers of chaps. 1\u20132 and 26 (cf. Exod 38:26) for centuries. The total population estimate that would result from applying the census totals of 603,550 (1:46) and 601,730 (26:51) seem astronomically large. The issue is not whether the population of Israelites could not have mathematically risen to such a figure during the four hundred plus year of Egyptian sojourn, or that God could or could not have provided ample food resources in the Sinai region in which only a few thousand people reside today. But internal and external problems with a simple literal reading of the extant text necessitate careful analysis in order to resolve seeming incongruity within the book and in relation to other Pentateuchal sources.<\/p>\n
Internal and External Difficulties<\/p>\n
Several problems need to be resolved before coming to a conclusion regarding the population of the Israelite company that hastily exited Egypt. The first is the sheer magnitude of the resultant population surviving in the rocky and mountainous desert and later occupying portions of the land of Canaan. If one takes the figure of 603,550 males conscripted for the Israelite army, which was probably only about 70 percent of the adult male population, and add equal numbers (probably more) of females, and then reckon another 25 percent for children, the total population could have been in the range of 2.0 to 2.5 million. The physical logistical problems resulting from having so many people symmetrically camped around the central shrine would have been immense, since they occupied minimally three to five square miles in extremely crowded conditions. Waste and garbage disposal and burial necessities would have been considerable. For Moses to have communicated with the entire assembly of Israel (Exod 16:6; Num 17:6) would have been a logistical nightmare. Ashley further notes that only two midwives are listed (Exod 1:15) as serving the Hebrew population in Goshen. Many hundreds would have been needed to attend to a population of two million or more, though these two women may have been listed simply as exemplars serving the Israelite population.
\nA second dilemma arises from the internal comparison of the male military totals with the census of the firstborn (22,273) and enumeration of the Levites (22,000) for the redemption of the firstborn (1:39\u201351). If we take the total male population over one month old (perhaps 700,000) and divide by the 22,273 total firstborn, there would have had to have been more than thirty males per family. Wenham remarks: \u201cThe average mother must then have had more than 50 children.\u201d Even bigamy could not account for this inconsistency, and this figure is far beyond imagination and inconsistent with the average number of males per family listed in the various genealogical records in the Bible in which the average is approximately 2.5 males per household.
\nThe third difficulty concerns the relationship between the census total and the biblical statements regarding Israel\u2019s potential inability to fully occupy the land (Exod 23:25\u201330; Deut 7:7\u201322). Until recent decades of extensive immigration of Jews into Israel from around the globe, the population was only slightly more than one million. In addition, because of their inability to drive out the Canaanites, the early Israelites subsisted in less than half of what is modern Israel and Palestine, occupying perhaps slightly more than the region of the West Bank. In addition the sizes of the armies utilized in the attacks on the cities in the Book of Joshua are much smaller than the 603,550 suggested. In the second attack on Ai and Bethel, the initial company sent at night is 30,000 followed by the second battalion of Joshua and the others, perhaps a total of 60,000 to 70,000 of \u201call the fighting men\u201d (8:3). The seemingly disastrous effects of the death of 36 men in the first attack on Ai by 3,000 Israelites implies the army was considerably smaller than 600,000. In the period of the judges of Israel, the military forces of the Danite tribe, which moved North and subdued Laish, numbered only 600 (Judg 18:11\u201317), compared to 64,400 in Num 26:42\u201343. An army of 603,550 would not likely have had any difficulty subduing the Canaanite population of perhaps 200,000 males (high end figure) or the Egyptian army, which they greatly feared (estimated at less than 20,000).<\/p>\n
Suggested Solutions<\/p>\n
1. The census figures may be literal and precise. God could have miraculously provided manna and quail for all of the attendant needs of the community of faith, whether it be 2,000 or 2,000,000. Keil interprets the census of the firstborn as reference to those males one month old or more who were born in the thirteen months after the Exodus. Shiphrah and Puah were just two of the many Hebrew midwives who shared Pharaoh\u2019s counsel with others. Likewise, the Israelites may have only sent representative forces into battle in the conflicts mentioned in Exodus through Joshua. Yet the combined problematic evidence above seems to argue against this kind of solution.
\n2. Some have considered the census figures to be literal and precise but to represent a later population total, such as during the Davidic kingdom, that have been retrojected into the Exodus era. This solution was offered by A. Dillman and W. F. Albright, but no evidence of these particular figures is afforded by the texts of Samuel or Kings. By the time of the monarchy, the distinctiveness of the Simeon tribe and its cities has been eclipsed, for they seem to have been assimilated into the more prominent Judah. Hence they would have been difficult to census in this obscurity.
\n3. The numbers have been interpreted as forms of gematria. Several scholars have offered solutions along the line of gematria, that is, mathematical calculation based on the Hebrew use of letters for numbers in calculations. This practice is common from the latter part of the Hasmonean period (167\u201363 B.C.) and became popular among certain groups of Medieval Jews such as the Karaites (eighth\u2013ninth century A.D.) and the early forms of Kabbalah in Hassidic Jewry (seventeenth century to present). G. Fohrer thus derived 603,551 from the phrase \u201csons of Israel\u201d (bny ysr\u02bel = 603) and \u201cevery head\u201d (kl r\u02be\u0161\u2014551, rounded to 550). But gematria cannot explain the individual tribal censuses, nor is there conclusive evidence of the use of gematria in the Old Testament era.
\n4. Some have offered as a solution variations on the meaning of \u02beelep, translated \u201cthousands\u201d in most English and European translations. Additionally, most numbers after the summation of \u201cthousands\u201d are rounded off to the hundreds between 200 and 700, with the exception of Gad at 650. None are rounded off to a low end 100 or a high end of 800 or 900. A couple of alternative solutions have been set forth based on the suggested meanings of the Hebrew term generally translated \u201cthousands\u201d or \u201cmyriads.\u201d One is to translate the term as \u201cclan,\u201d hence the census of Judah would be 74 clans numbering 600 (avg. 8 per clan) and the tribe of Dan having 62 clans totaling 700 men (avg. 11), and the totals for Numbers 1 would be 598 clans with 5,550 fighting men, and similarly 5,730 men from 596 clans in Numbers 26. The census totals of 603,550 and 601,730 would have then had to be later summations than the original tribal delineations, and there is no textual evidence in history to support such a variation. If Mendenhall\u2019s suggestion that the armies of Egypt numbered 20 to 25,000, then an Israelite military contingent of less than 6,000, with a total population of 20 to 25,000, would not have been perceived as such a threat as would a group considerably larger.
\nM. Noth suggested a variation of this method whereby the meaning of \u02beelep was applied figuratively to the size of military units (approximately ten in Numbers) and suggested that \u201cthousands\u201d would have been applicable during the Davidic monarchy as the population of Israel and its armies multiplied. Milgrom notes that the major difficulty with this interpretation \u201caside from the minuscule and variable size of \u02beelef, is that in the early texts \u02beelef stands for the entire clan and not just the fighting force (e.g., 1 Sam 23:23; Mic 5:1).\u201d Likewise, J. W. Wenham\u2019s suggestion that \u02belp be vocalized as \u02beall\u00fbp (\u201ctribal chieftain\u201d) faces a difficulty in the Levite census of Num 3:14\u201339 numbering all males who were at least one month old. Neither twenty-two groups of no persons, nor infant chieftains are tenable interpretations.
\n5. Some have argued that the numbers are symbolic. M. Barnouin advanced the theory that the numbers reflect the application of Mesopotamian mathematics and astronomy, whereby the tribal numbers are related to astronomical calculations of lunar years and planetary cycles. The number of the host of heaven, which are the armies of Yahweh, are equivalent to the magnitude of Israel\u2019s army, in a manner parallel to the earthly tabernacle being a reflection of God\u2019s heavenly abode (Exod 25:9, 22, 40). God told Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the heavens (Gen 22:17). Joseph had a dream concerning his brothers, the tribal ancestors delineated in Numbers 1 and 26, in the metaphor of the sun, moon, and stars (Gen 37:9). Barnouin\u2019s suggestion regarding a theological symbolism in the numbers has credence potentially, yet Ashley is perhaps correct in assessing that his system \u201cseems more clever than convincing.\u201d Would the Israelites have been familiar enough with this methodology to have constructed a census of the nation by tribal ancestry based on astronomical observations? Furthermore, the question remains regarding the census of the Levites, whose total is at odds with the system.
\n6. The numbers could be deliberate and purposeful hyperbole. The suggestion proposed by R. B. Allen was that \u201cthe large numbers in the census lists in the Book of Numbers are deliberately and purposefully exaggerated as a rhetorical device to bring glory to God, derision to enemies, and point forward to the fulfillment of God\u2019s promise to the fathers that their descendants will be innumerable as the stars.\u201d He hypothesizes that the military census figures in Exodus and Numbers have been magnified rhetorically by a factor of ten, yielding armies of 60,355 and 60,137 (total population approx. 250,000) that would best fit the social and demographic issues of the late second millennium B.C., \u201cwithout diminishing at all the sense of the miraculous and providential care of God.\u201d This number would have been a threat to cities the size of Jericho and Pi-Ramses, but not so large that they could not have ransacked the land of Canaan merely by physical rampage. The \u201cleast of the nations,\u201d compared to the Hittites, Egyptians, or even the city-state of Ugarit, would have been necessarily dependent upon their God in the process of inheriting the land God had promised to them. Allen notes that this smaller number does not lessen the miraculous but amplifies it.<\/p>\n
The supernatural increase of the people in Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea in one night, the gathering of the people at Mount Sinai, their daily provision in the desert, their entry into the Promised Land\u2014all was miracle!\u2026 But we can now envision a series of miracles that fits the geography, the topography, and the times.<\/p>\n
This total also fits the numbering of the firstborn, in that 22,000 firstborn among 60,355 males over twenty years old, an appropriate number considering the average of 2.5 to 3.0 males per household in the Old Testament. More recently D. Fouts has suggested that the hyperbolic use of numbers in the Book of Numbers presents a parallel to ancient Near Eastern texts from Mesopotamia that utilize large hyperbolic numbers in military conscription texts and other population counts.
\nIsrael\u2019s power was not in the size of their armies or their enormous population but in their God. He would send angels before them to fight their battles and confuse their enemies. The hyperbolic use of numbers was not for misrepresentation but for powerful demonstration of Yahweh\u2019s continuing blessing upon Israel in the past, multiplying seventy persons into more than sixty thousand or six hundred thousand or three million, and the numbers were a statement of confidence in a God who would continue to multiply his people like the stars of the heaven.<\/p>\n
RESPONSIBILITIES OF UNCOUNTED LEVITES (1:47\u201353)<\/p>\n
47 The families of the tribe of Levi, however, were not counted along with the others. 48 The LORD had said to Moses: 49 \u201cYou must not count the tribe of Levi or include them in the census of the other Israelites. 50 Instead, appoint the Levites to be in charge of the tabernacle of the Testimony\u2014over all its furnishings and everything belonging to it. They are to carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings; they are to take care of it and encamp around it. 51 Whenever the tabernacle is to move, the Levites are to take it down, and whenever the tabernacle is to be set up, the Levites shall do it. Anyone else who goes near it shall be put to death. 52 The Israelites are to set up their tents by divisions, each man in his own camp under his own standard. 53 The Levites, however, are to set up their tents around the tabernacle of the Testimony so that wrath will not fall on the Israelite community. The Levites are to be responsible for the care of the tabernacle of the Testimony.\u201d<\/p>\n
1:47\u201353 Based upon the zealous actions of the Levites at Mount Sinai subsequent to the making of the golden calf (Exod 32:26\u201329), the tribe of Moses, Aaron, and Miriam was set apart for special service in the Tent of Meeting. No longer would they be required to serve in a military capacity, but they would function as guardians, maintenance personnel, transporters, and intermediary cultic servants for the nation. Thus they were not to be counted among the potential military personnel of 1:17\u201346.
\nThe general description of being \u201cin charge of the tabernacle of the Testimony\u201d is set forth here, with further elucidation in chaps. 3 and 4 in which the various clans of Levites are given specific responsibilities. The descriptive phrase \u201ctabernacle of the Testimony\u201d (mi\u0161kan ha\u02bf\u0113d\u016bt, \u201cdwelling place of the testimony) refers to the covenant nature of the relationship of Israel to Yahweh, following its usage in Exod 38:21. The term \u201cTestimony\u201d (\u02bf\u0113d\u016bt) denotes the Ten Words inscribed on stone tablets (Exod 31:18; 32:15; 34:27\u201328), which were kept in the \u201cark of the Testimony\u201d (Exod 25:16\u201322; 26:33\u201334; 40:3, 20). The Ten Commandments served as the foundational elements from which all Israelite law was derived by interpretation. Hence later the term \u201ctestimony\u201d alluded to the Torah in general.
\nThe general responsibilities are delineated: (1) \u201ccarry,\u201d transporting of tent and furnishings until the sanctuary reaches its final destination; (2) \u201ctake care of\u201d (\u0161\u0101r\u0113t), keeping and guarding of all tabernacle furnishings and vessels; (3) \u201cencamp around\u201d (\u015b\u0101b\u00eeb lami\u0161k\u0101n ya\u1e25\u0103n\u00fb, \u201csurrounding \u2026 the tabernacle they shall camp\u201d), protection from outside defilement and proximity for service; (4) \u201ctake down,\u201d dismantle for transport; and (5) \u201cset up,\u201d erect after transport. For anyone else even to approach the tabernacle or its furnishings, usurping the holy duties of the Levites or violating the holiness of the tabernacle, was a grave and heinous act of defilement, punishable by death. As Aaron\u2019s sons Nadab and Abihu experienced, improper service by assigned personnel was an equally abominable act (Lev 10:1\u20135; Num 3:2\u20134). The threat of death for anyone who would violate the tabernacle or its furnishings and equipment for service reflects the absolute holiness of the Divine Presence. Only those set apart by God for the tabernacle service could participate in the performance of duties required for transportation, maintenance, guardianship, and service.
\nThe Levite clans were to encamp in formation surrounding the tabernacle, effectively establishing an outer perimeter of sacred space around the central holy place. The responsibilities of the Levites regarding their tabernacle service is presented in four stages in 1:47\u201353 and 3:1\u20134:33 with increasing specificity in Levite responsibility. These sections are followed by a concluding summary in 4:34\u201349, reflecting a typical Pentateuchal pattern of moving from the general to the particular in somewhat cyclical fashion. Each stage also contains a stern warning regarding violation of the sanctity of the tabernacle at its various levels. First (1:47\u201353), the general duties of the Levites as a whole are described. In the second passage (3:1\u201310), the first level of division among the Levites is highlighted, in the separation of the sons of Aaron as priests in the sanctuary service. Third (3:21\u201338), the positioning of each of the three clans plus the priests on the four sides of the tabernacle is outlined, with the Gershonites on the west, the Kohathites on the south, the Merarites on the north, and the priests on the favored east side. Under the discussion of each of the clans is the census of all males age one month or more for the purpose of the tabulation of the firstborn for Levite redemption, and a further delineation of each clan\u2019s duties. Fourth (4:1\u201349), the duties of each of the three Levite clans are detailed regarding that portion of the tabernacle over which each has responsibility. Each of these final sections also contains a census of those males age thirty to fifty. These individuals of aged maturity would carry out the actual duties delineated previously.
\nThe Israelite tribes were to camp around the tabernacle, equally distributed on each of the four sides according to the troop alignments delineated in 2:1\u201331, with each person lining up according to the tribal division or flag (degel). Rabbi Rashi suggested a colored flag according to the color of stone in the high priest\u2019s breastplate (Exod 28:17\u201321). Gray proposed simply \u201ccompany\u201d based upon a parallel Aramaic usage in the Septuagint, Elephantine papyri, Peshitta, Targums, and the War Scroll of Qumran. The Septuagint translates the term as dunamei, referring to military troop strength. In the postbiblical era the term came to mean a garrison of one thousand troops who lived in the encampment with their wives and children. Most of these translations derive from late first millennium B.C. usage, whereas in the bronze ages of the second millennium B.C. the Akkadian cognate verb dagalu refers to something \u201cseen\u201d such as a flag, emblem, or banner. The context could allow for either interpretation, with the degel referring either to the tribal unit or some identifying visible marker.<\/p>\n
CENSUS CONCLUSION: FAITHFUL OBEDIENCE (1:54)<\/p>\n
54 The Israelites did all this just as the LORD commanded Moses.<\/p>\n
1:54 The statement of Israel\u2019s obedience to Yahweh\u2019s commands through Moses is one of the keys to understanding the theological structure of the Book of Numbers. In the two Sinai cycles of 1:1\u201310:10, obedience is a hallmark of the community of faith and its leadership, whereas in the three cycles that ensue rebelliousness is the central organizing theme, affecting almost everyone in the community\u2014even Moses. The theological-geographical context is that of the departure from Sinai, the mountain of God and the locale of the receiving of the Commandments of God in revelation.<\/p>\n
(3) Holy Arrangement of the Israelite Camps (2:1\u201334)<\/p>\n
1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron: 2 \u201cThe Israelites are to camp around the Tent of Meeting some distance from it, each man under his standard with the banners of his family.\u201d<\/p>\n
3 On the east, toward the sunrise, the divisions of the camp of Judah are to encamp under their standard. The leader of the people of Judah is Nahshon son of Amminadab. 4 His division numbers 74,600.
\n5 The tribe of Issachar will camp next to them. The leader of the people of Issachar is Nethanel son of Zuar. 6 His division numbers 54,400.
\n7 The tribe of Zebulun will be next. The leader of the people of Zebulun is Eliab son of Helon. 8 His division numbers 57,400.
\n9 All the men assigned to the camp of Judah, according to their divisions, number 186,400. They will set out first.<\/p>\n
10 On the south will be the divisions of the camp of Reuben under their standard. The leader of the people of Reuben is Elizur son of Shedeur. 11 His division numbers 46,500.
\n12 The tribe of Simeon will camp next to them. The leader of the people of Simeon is Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai. 13 His division numbers 59,300.
\n14 The tribe of Gad will be next. The leader of the people of Gad is Eliasaph son of Deuel. 15 His division numbers 45,650.<\/p>\n
16 All the men assigned to the camp of Reuben, according to their divisions, number 151,450. They will set out second.<\/p>\n
17 Then the Tent of Meeting and the camp of the Levites will set out in the middle of the camps. They will set out in the same order as they encamp, each in his own place under his standard.<\/p>\n
18 On the west will be the divisions of the camp of Ephraim under their standard. The leader of the people of Ephraim is Elishama son of Ammihud. 19 His division numbers 40,500.<\/p>\n
20 The tribe of Manasseh will be next to them. The leader of the people of Manasseh is Gamaliel son of Pedahzur. 21 His division numbers 32,200.
\n22 The tribe of Benjamin will be next. The leader of the people of Benjamin is Abidan son of Gideoni. 23 His division numbers 35,400.
\n24 All the men assigned to the camp of Ephraim, according to their divisions, number 108,100. They will set out third.<\/p>\n
25 On the north will be the divisions of the camp of Dan, under their standard. The leader of the people of Dan is Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai. 26 His division numbers 62,700.
\n27 The tribe of Asher will camp next to them. The leader of the people of Asher is Pagiel son of Ocran. 28 His division numbers 41,500.
\n29 The tribe of Naphtali will be next. The leader of the people of Naphtali is Ahira son of Enan. 30 His division numbers 53,400.
\n31 All the men assigned to the camp of Dan number 157,600. They will set out last, under their standards.<\/p>\n
32 These are the Israelites, counted according to their families. All those in the camps, by their divisions, number 603,550. 33 The Levites, however, were not counted along with the other Israelites, as the LORD commanded Moses.<\/p>\n
34 So the Israelites did everything the LORD commanded Moses; that is the way they encamped under their standards, and that is the way they set out, each with his clan and family.<\/p>\n
INTRODUCTION (2:1\u20132)
\n2:1\u20132 With the military census of the twelve tribes complete and the Levite responsibility introduced, the orderly arrangement of the children of Israel is introduced by the standard revelatory formula of the Book of Numbers. Here Aaron is included with Moses as the receptor of the instruction, a construction often found in priestly contexts.
\nThe arrangement of the twelve tribes in symmetrical fashion around the central sanctuary reflects the orderliness of a unified community that is faithfully following the commands of the Lord. Allen describes this setting as expressing \u201cthe joy of the writer in knowing the relation of each tribe to the whole, each individual to the tribe, and the nation to the central shrine\u2014and to the Lord Yahweh.\u201d As wonder and beauty are reflected in the order of creation, so the unity and symmetry of the chosen people of his creation evoke splendor and awe. The wondrous sentiment is echoed in the words of Balaam\u2019s third oracle, recounted as the spirit of God came over him as he observed \u201cIsrael encamped tribe by tribe\u201d in the plains of Moab:<\/p>\n
How beautiful are your tents, O Jacob,
\nyour dwelling places, O Israel!
\nLike valleys they spread out,
\nlike gardens beside a river;
\nlike aloes planted by the LORD,
\nlike cedars beside the waters. (24:5\u20136)<\/p>\n
Each man is to camp according to the standard which signifies his ancestral house, around and out and away from the tabernacle. The terms degel (\u201cstandard\u201d) and \u02be\u014dt\u014dt (\u201csigns\u201d) refer to some kind of banner or flag that has some identifiable insignia or color that specifies the given tribal unit (see above 1:52). In the War Scroll from the Qumran caves, distinguishable standards were to be carried by each division within the ancestral tribe. The structure of v. 2 emphasizes the individual in relationship to the larger Israelite community of faith. Allen notes: \u201cThe people of Israel were a community that had their essential meaning in relationship to God and to one another. But ever in the community was the continuing stress on the individual to know where he belonged in the larger grouping. Corporate solidarity in ancient Israel was a reality of daily life; but the individual was also very important.\u201d
\nThe general instructions are provided in 2:2, followed by the more specific delineation of the tribal encampments. The census figures of chap. 1 are utilized in the setting forth of the grouping of three tribes on each of the four sides of the tabernacle, with each group of three having a leading tribe in the coming march from Mount Sinai. The listing of the chieftains from each of the tribes is also repeated. The symmetrical pattern of the four encampments, with mention of the Levites between the second and third groups, is as follows:<\/p>\n
Direction from Tabernacle
\nTribe\u2014Leader w\/Standard\u2014Military Census
\nTribe\u2014Leader\u2014Military Census
\nTribe\u2014Leader\u2014Military Census
\nSummation of Census<\/p>\n
EAST SIDE, SOUTH SIDE, WEST SIDE, AND NORTH SIDE ENCAMPMENTS (2:3\u201331)
\n2:3\u201331 The outline of the four three-tribal encampments begins with the east side, the direction of sunrise and toward which the door-curtains of the tabernacle opened. The order then rotates clockwise around the tabernacle. Led by the tribe of Judah, whose ancestral head had supplanted both the firstborn Reuben and the favored Joseph in importance, the group of Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun is listed first through third rather than in fourth through sixth positions in 1:20\u201343. Reuben, Simeon, and Gad move from first through third to fourth through sixth. Otherwise the order of the tribes remains the same as the previous military census. The role of Judah in the coming history of the nation is augmented by the fact that through the fourth son of Jacob and Leah and the eighth son of Jesse the royal line would be established (Gen 29:31\u201335; 1 Sam 16:6\u201313; 2 Sam 7:12\u201317). The supplanting of the firstborn according to God\u2019s sovereign choosing is a prominent theme in the Hebrew Bible, with such examples as Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, Ephraim and Manasseh highlighting the divine direction for transcending the common tradition of the ancient Near East.
\nThe structure of the tribal encampments and the order of their marching through the wilderness is as follows:<\/p>\n
THE TRIBAL ENCAMPMENTS OF ISRAEL<\/p>\n
EAST
\nJUDAH
\nNahshon ben Amminadab
\n74,600
\nIssachar
\nNethanel ben Zuar
\n54,400
\nZebulun
\nEliab ben Helon
\n57,400
\nCAMP OF JUDAH
\n186,400
\nSOUTH
\nREUBEN
\nElizur ben Shedeur
\n46,500
\nSimeon
\nShelumiel ben Zurishaddai
\n59,300
\nGad
\nEliasaph ben Reuel
\n46,650
\nCAMP OF REUBEN
\n151,450<\/p>\n
TABERNACLE AND LEVITES<\/p>\n
WEST
\nEPHRAIM
\nElishama ben Ammihud
\n40,500
\nManasseh
\nGamaliel ben Pedahzur
\n32,200
\nBenjamin
\nAbidan ben Gideoni
\n35,400
\nCAMP OF EPHRAIM
\n108,100
\nNORTH
\nDAN
\nAhiezer ben Ammishaddai
\n62,700
\nAsher
\nPagiel ben Ochran
\n41,500
\nNaphtali
\nAhira ben Enan
\n53,400
\nCAMP OF DAN
\n157,600
\nGRAND TOTAL
\n603,550<\/p>\n
The total of all of the encampments, not including the Levites, is equivalent to the total given in 1:46. As in chap. 1, the Levites are exempt from military conscription and are reserved for special service of the tabernacle. The organization of the tribes according to their units and standards was accomplished according to God\u2019s commands, as were all the acts of Moses, Aaron, the priests, and the people through the first cycle of events in Numbers. In the marching forth from Mount Sinai, the tribes dutifully and faithfully adhere to these instructions for orderly encampment, assembly and disassembly of the tabernacle, and disembarkment on the journey through the wilderness.<\/p>\n
TRIBAL ENCAMPMENTS AROUND THE TABERNACLE<\/p>\n
Asher DAN Naphtali Merari-Levites
\nBenjamin
\nIssachar
\nEPHIRAIM Gershon-Levites
\nTENT OF MEETING
\nAaronic Priests JUDAH
\nManasseh
\nZebulun
\nKohath Levites Gad REUBEN Simeon<\/p>\n
CONCLUSION: FAITHFUL OBEDIENCE (2:32\u201334)<\/p>\n
2:32\u201334 The concluding phraseology recounts the theme of the Sinai cycles, that Israel under Moses\u2019s leadership is following faithfully the instruction of Yahweh their God. Harmony, symmetry, and purity highlight this responsive relationship between God and people.
\nThe conclusion and complement to the census of the Israelite tribes and the structural delineation of the faithful community is the census of the Levites and the delineation of the roles of their clans within that community. Structurally the cycle development and Levitical elements merge to heighten the emphasis on the priestly tribe. In content chaps. 3\u20134 parallel chaps. 1\u20132, which set forth the census of the other twelve tribes and the structural organization of the larger community. The section divides into seven parts in the following structural pattern:<\/p>\n
A Genealogical Listing: Aaronic Line (3:1\u20134)
\nB Responsibilities of the Levites (3:5\u201310)
\nC Dedication of the Levites for the Firstborn (3:11\u201313)
\nA\u00b4 Genealogical Listing: Levitical Clans (3:14\u201320)
\nB\u00b4 Responsibilities and Census of the Levite Clans (3:21\u201339)
\nC\u00b4 Dedication of the Levites for the Firstborn (3:40\u201351)
\nB\u00b4\u00b4 Responsibilities and Census of the Levite Clans: Age 30\u201350 (4:1\u201349)<\/p>\n
This pattern of repetition with expansion is paralleled several times in Leviticus, such as in the delineation of the purification rituals of Yom Kippur (16:1\u201334).<\/p>\n
(4) Responsibilities and Census of the Levite Clans (3:1\u20134:49)<\/p>\n
INTRODUCTION: GENEALOGY OF AARON AND MOSES (3:1\u20134)<\/p>\n
1 This is the account of the family of Aaron and Moses at the time the LORD talked with Moses on Mount Sinai.
\n2 The names of the sons of Aaron were Nadab the firstborn and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. 3 Those were the names of Aaron\u2019s sons, the anointed priests, who were ordained to serve as priests. 4 Nadab and Abihu, however, fell dead before the LORD when they made an offering with unauthorized fire before him in the Desert of Sinai. They had no sons; so only Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests during the lifetime of their father Aaron.<\/p>\n
3:1\u20134 The introduction to chaps. 3 and 4 contains the standard genealogical introductory formulae, \u201cThis is the account of the family of\u201d and \u201cthe names of \u2026 were,\u201d more literally \u201cthese are the generations [toledot] of X,\u201d and \u201cthese are the names,\u201d paralleled by the genealogies of Genesis. In chap. 1 the census process is organized around the toledoth of each of the tribal patriarchs. The recitation of one\u2019s ancestral genealogy remains an important part of family tradition in the Middle East.
\nWithin the cultural framework of the ancient Near East, genealogical records served several purposes: (1) to provide historical connection and foundation of one\u2019s existence in the present in relation to the past, (2) to preserve familial community and organization within the larger societal structure, (3) to justify one\u2019s position within the present structure, and (4) to provide future generations with a source of pride and presence. The larger literary structures in the Bible that contain genealogies often have two parts. First is the recounting of the names of the ancestors, and second is an account of the role of the ancestors in the family history.
\nThe positioning of the account of the Aaronic line in the introduction of this section emphasizes the centrality of the priesthood within this ancestral tribe. The family lineage of Levi was delineated previously in Exod 6:16\u201325, recounting the role of Moses and Aaron in leading the children of Israel out of Egypt. Moses is included because of his position as brother of Aaron and his station next to Aaron in the Israelite camp. More often Moses appears first in the pair in contexts of revelation or leadership narratives. But here the Aaronic priesthood is in focus in relation to the larger Levitical tribe, and Aaron was the firstborn of Amram. The setting of the genealogical recitation is in the context of the second trip of Moses up to Mount Sinai, presumably after the Levites demonstrated their devotion to Yahweh in the incident of the golden calf (Exod 32:1\u201329).
\nThe names of the sons of Aaron are listed in traditional genealogical form, beginning with the firstborn, Nadab, followed by Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. The repetition of the phrase \u201cthese are the names\u201d heightens the role of the sons of Aaron as \u201cthe anointed priests\u201d (hak\u014dh\u0103n\u00eem hamm\u0115\u0161u\u1e25\u00eem) for the Israelite community. The consecration by means of oil and blood anointing is described variously as to the general description (Exod 28:1\u201329:35) and ritual inauguration (Lev 8:1\u20139:24). God\u2019s blessing upon Aaron and his sons was demonstrated by the fire of his glory, which consumed the sacrificial offerings. Aaron functioned as the first anointed high priest for the desert sanctuary in the ceremony of the Day of Atonement (Lev 16:1\u201334). Harrison notes that a Middle Bronze (2200\u20131550 B.C.) Mari text parallel to the phraseology of ordination, which means literally to \u201cfill their hand\u201d (mill\u0113\u02be y\u0101d\u0101m), \u201cprobably referred to offerings placed in the priests\u2019 hands during the consecration ceremony, which conferred upon them the authority to discharge priestly functions in the Tabernacle.\u201d
\nThe consecration of individuals such as kings (1 Sam 16:13; Isa 45:1) and prophets (1 Kgs 19:15, 16), via the anointing with purified olive oil in ritual ceremony, set apart these persons as special servants of Yahweh. In the postexilic era the term began to be used as a more technical designation for God\u2019s future leader and deliverer. The usage in the Dead Sea Scrolls reflects the full progression of the term\u2019s development, where priestly and royal roles are in focus. Hence the Greek form Christos was applied to Jesus by early Christians in recognition of him as Messiah, God\u2019s ultimate anointed servant. According to the writer of Hebrews, his high priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek exceeds that of the Aaronic order, and he serves in a \u201cgreater and more perfect sanctuary\u201d than the tabernacle in the wilderness and the temples of Solomon, Zerubabbel, and Herod the Great (Heb 7:11\u20139:15). In Jesus the Messiah the shadowy imperfection of the Israelite sacrificial system was made complete and transcended by Jesus\u2019 function as the perfect High Priest, offering himself as the ultimate unblemished sacrifice\u2014once for all eternity, in a perfect heavenly sanctuary before the throne of God. By this he accomplished salvation and sanctification for the community of faith so that they might encourage one another to love and good works (Heb 10:5\u201325).
\nAaron and his four sons had been anointed as priests, but his two oldest sons died (Lev 10:1\u20132) dramatically by fire that emerged from the presence of the Lord in the sanctuary. Aaron\u2019s sons had violated cultic code in offering an unholy censer of incense, perhaps usurping the authority of their father as high priest, whose sole authority it was to offer the incense via censer on the Day of Atonement. Neither improper nor innovative ritual activity was permissible. In the context of the ultimate sanctity of the inner sanctuary, the profaning of God\u2019s holiness warranted rapid retribution. The continued context (10:8) of the original account in Leviticus may indicate a further breach of conduct by Nadab and Abihu in rendering tabernacle service while intoxicated, an infraction punishable by death.
\nThe account served as a reminder to future generations of priests that violation of the precise ritual of the sanctuary would result in severe punishment. These special servants were to function as exemplars of holiness to the people of God, who were to be holy because their God was holy. In the present context of the delineation of duties and the taking of the census of the Levites, the passage serves to inform the priestly reader of the seriousness of their task. Also, not only were Nadab and Abihu terminated, but they left no sons to carry on their lineage. This judgment left the high priestly lineage in the hands of Eleazar and Ithamar, who continued to serve faithfully as priests in the service of their father Aaron and the Lord.<\/p>\n
LEVITE CONSECRATION TO SERVICE (3:5\u201310)<\/p>\n
5 The LORD said to Moses, 6 \u201cBring the tribe of Levi and present them to Aaron the priest to assist him. 7 They are to perform duties for him and for the whole community at the Tent of Meeting by doing the work of the tabernacle. 8 They are to take care of all the furnishings of the Tent of Meeting, fulfilling the obligations of the Israelites by doing the work of the tabernacle. 9 Give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they are the Israelites who are to be given wholly to him. 10 Appoint Aaron and his sons to serve as priests; anyone else who approaches the sanctuary must be put to death.\u201d<\/p>\n
3:5\u201310 This section and the following (vv. 14\u201339) are introduced by the key structural announcement formula in Numbers, \u201cAnd the LORD spoke\u201d (way\u0115dabb\u0113r YHWH), pointing again to the theological focus on the revelatory nature of divine speech. As compared to 3:1, only Moses is the receptor, though Aaron, his sons, and the three clans of Levi are the primary subjects.
\nMoses is commanded to \u201cbring \u2026 and present\u201d the Levites before Aaron, and both terms carry cultic connotations in this context. In ceremonial fashion the Levites are dedicated to the service of providing assistance to Aaron the high priest, guarding and maintaining the various furnishings of the Tent of Meeting, and serving the cultic needs of the entire community. The term \u201cassist\u201d (\u0161\u0113rt\u00fb) denotes a subservient ministry the Levites have on behalf of the Israelite people. Twice the Hebrew verbal phraseology sequence w\u0115\u0161\u0101mr\u00fb \u2026 la\u02bf\u0103b\u014dd \u02beet-\u02bf\u0103b\u014ddat (lit. \u201cand they shall guard \u2026 to serve the service of\u201d), translated \u201cthey are to perform duties \u2026 by doing the work\u201d (v. 7) and \u201cthey are to take care \u2026 by doing the work\u201d (v. 8), describes the responsibilities of guarding and safekeeping the tabernacle. In 1:50\u201353 the positioning of the Levites around the Tent of Meeting provided a kind of sacred barrier around the worship center so as to perform the sacred service of the sanctuary and ensure the safety of the laity of the other tribes. Encroachment upon the sacred space by anyone but a priest or Levite was a capital crime. Thus the priests and Levites were to be set aside as (1) special cultic servants of the Aaronic priesthood, the people, and God; (2) transportation and maintenance personnel of all of the physical elements of the tabernacle; and (3) guardians of the sanctity of the Holy Place.
\nThe Levites are dedicated totally (\u201cGive \u2026 to be given wholly,\u201d n\u0101tat\u00e2 n\u0115t\u00fbnim n\u0115t\u00fbnim) as the only Israelites who can function in the cultus. A further special appointment (tipq\u014dd) of Aaron and his sons as priests over the Tent of Meeting, carries a restrictive aspect in that only the anointed priests may provide the cultic service of the inner sanctum of the sanctuary. Abrogation of this law constitutes a capital offense. The particular responsibilities of the three clans of Levites are delineated later in this chapter.<\/p>\n
LEVITE REPLACEMENT OF THE FIRSTBORN (3:11\u201313)<\/p>\n
11 The LORD also said to Moses, 12 \u201cI have taken the Levites from among the Israelites in place of the first male offspring of every Israelite woman. The Levites are mine, 13 for all the firstborn are mine. When I struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, I set apart for myself every firstborn in Israel, whether man or animal. They are to be mine. I am the LORD.\u201d<\/p>\n
3:11\u201313 The context describes the substitutionary purpose of the Levites in dedication to God on behalf of the other twelve tribes, which is to serve in place of the firstborn of the people whom might otherwise be appointed to such a task in the patriarchal structure of the community. The background of the replacement by the Levites of the firstborn males of the Israelite women is that of the dedication of the firstborn set forth in Exod 13:2, 11\u201316; 22:29\u201330; 34:19\u201320. The first issue of the womb of every female\u2014human and animal\u2014belonged to the Lord. From the flocks and herds, even including the donkey that was redeemed with a lamb, the people were to present the animals to the priests on the eighth day after their birth. The designation of the firstborn male of the Israelite female is paralleled by the account of the firstborn of Abraham through Sarah (Gen 21:1\u20137), and serves as the precedent for subsequent delineation of the firstborn of Israel and the Jews, as well the tracing of Jewish lineage through history. The explanation for the dedication is found in the context of the Exodus account in which God brought death to the firstborn of Egypt while he delivered the firstborn of Israel. This was to be like a sign on their hand and a symbol on their foreheads, indicative of their status as servants of Yahweh their God who brought them out of Egypt (Exod 13:14\u201316). Animals were sacrificed and humans were dedicated, hence the consecration of the Levites as special servants of Aaron and the priests of Yahweh.<\/p>\n
GENEALOGICAL DELINEATION OF THE LEVITE CLANS (3:14\u201320)<\/p>\n
14 The LORD said to Moses in the Desert of Sinai, 15 \u201cCount the Levites by their families and clans. Count every male a month old or more.\u201d 16 So Moses counted them, as he was commanded by the word of the LORD. 17 These were the names of the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath and Merari. 18 These were the names of the Gershonite clans: Libni and Shimei. 19 The Kohathite clans: Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel. 20 The Merarite clans: Mahli and Mushi. These were the Levite clans, according to their families.<\/p>\n
3:14\u201320 Instructions in the Levite census taking are given to Moses in a divine directive, the third occurrence of way\u0115dabb\u0113r YHWH in this chapter. The setting is that of the Desert of Sinai, in the context of the Israelites in transit, as they were following the cloud pillar by day and the fire pillar by night. Guardianship, transportation, and the process of assemblage and dismantling are in view.
\nThe first Levite census entails all males age one month or more and their positioning on the four directional sides of the tabernacle, whereas the second Levite census (4:1\u201349) counts only those age thirty to fifty who would be eligible for sacred service. The minimum age of one month also varies from the twenty-year-old minimum of the military conscription census in chap. 1. The lower age was no doubt necessary to procure a number of Levites sufficient to approximate the number of firstborn among the Israelite families. The command to \u201ccount the Levites\u201d comes by divine directive to Moses, notes Milgrom, emphasized by the fact that \u201cthis reference to the Lord\u2019s oracle and command occurs seven times in chapters 3 and 4.\u201d The census of the Levites is therefore carried out with divine assistance. Moses faithfully would complete the task according to the Lord\u2019s instruction, which exemplifies the loyal devotion of the Israelites in the Sinai context as depicted in the two cycles of material in Num 1:1\u201310:10.
\nIn a highly structured genealogical pattern, the family groups in the lineage of the three sons of Levi are listed in the same order as in Exod 6:16\u201319. The genealogical formula \u201cthese are the names\u201d (\u02bf\u0113leh \u0161\u0115m\u00f4t) introduces \u201cthe sons of Levi\u201d in Exod 6:16, whereas the formula introduces in a collective distributive construction the sons of Gershon (v. 18), the sons of Kohath (v. 19), and the sons of Merari (v. 20). The passage concludes with a formula variation, \u201cthese are the clans of the Levites by their ancestral house[s].\u201d<\/p>\n
CENSUS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE LEVITE CLANS (3:21\u201339)<\/p>\n
21 To Gershon belonged the clans of the Libnites and Shimeites; these were the Gershonite clans. 22 The number of all the males a month old or more who were counted was 7,500. 23 The Gershonite clans were to camp on the west, behind the tabernacle. 24 The leader of the families of the Gershonites was Eliasaph son of Lael. 25 At the Tent of Meeting the Gershonites were responsible for the care of the tabernacle and tent, its coverings, the curtain at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, 26 the curtains of the courtyard, the curtain at the entrance to the courtyard surrounding the tabernacle and altar, and the ropes\u2014and everything related to their use.
\n27 To Kohath belonged the clans of the Amramites, Izharites, Hebronites and Uzzielites; these were the Kohathite clans. 28 The number of all the males a month old or more was 8,600. The Kohathites were responsible for the care of the sanctuary. 29 The Kohathite clans were to camp on the south side of the tabernacle. 30 The leader of the families of the Kohathite clans was Elizaphan son of Uzziel. 31 They were responsible for the care of the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altars, the articles of the sanctuary used in ministering, the curtain, and everything related to their use. 32 The chief leader of the Levites was Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest. He was appointed over those who were responsible for the care of the sanctuary.
\n33 To Merari belonged the clans of the Mahlites and the Mushites; these were the Merarite clans. 34 The number of all the males a month old or more who were counted was 6,200. 35 The leader of the families of the Merarite clans was Zuriel son of Abihail; they were to camp on the north side of the tabernacle. 36 The Merarites were appointed to take care of the frames of the tabernacle, its crossbars, posts, bases, all its equipment, and everything related to their use, 37 as well as the posts of the surrounding courtyard with their bases, tent pegs and ropes.
\n38 Moses and Aaron and his sons were to camp to the east of the tabernacle, toward the sunrise, in front of the Tent of Meeting. They were responsible for the care of the sanctuary on behalf of the Israelites. Anyone else who approached the sanctuary was to be put to death.
\n39 The total number of Levites counted at the LORD\u2019S command by Moses and Aaron according to their clans, including every male a month old or more, was 22,000.<\/p>\n
3:21\u201339 The presentation of the census and duties of each of the Levite clans follows the traditional order. The Gershonite family groups of Libni and Shimei totalled 7,500 males one month old and up, and they were to camp on the west side of the tabernacle, that is on the back side opposite the entryway. The patriarchal leader (n\u0115\u015b\u00ee\u02be b\u00eat-\u02be\u0101b, \u201cprince of the father\u2019s household\u201d) of the clans of Gershon was Eliasaph ben Lael, under whom the clans administered the caretaking of the tabernacle and the Tent coverings and curtains. The tabernacle was composed of ten curtains of finely twisted blue, purple and scarlet linen, each twenty-eight by four cubits, with cherubim woven into them. They were attached to the framing by gold clasps attached to blue loops (Exod 26:1\u20136). The Tent was composed of eleven goat-hair curtains, each thirty by four cubits, with an additional covering made of ram skins dyed red and hides of sea cows (Exod 26:7\u201314). Assumed under their duties were repairs, refurbishing, and cleansing. Under the Davidic monarchy the Gershonite descendants in the family of Asaph were renowned musicians and treasurers of the Temple.
\nMilgrom notes that whereas Mesopotamian and Egyptian temples had statues of divine emissaries as guardians for their various temples, Israel knew of no such demonic entities in their prophetic religion. There was but one true power in the universe, the God of Israel, and his sanctuary must be protected and secured from the intrusion or defilement by \u201cthe only remaining adversary\u2014man.\u201d Samuel guarded the sanctuary as Eli was growing blind. Sources from Mari and Hattusas depict specially assigned temple guardians.
\nThe Kohathite family groups of Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uziel numbered 8,600. They were to camp on the south side of the tabernacle and carry out their duties under the leadership of Elizaphan ben Uzziel. The Kohathites were guardians and transporters of the various articles of the tabernacle, including the ark of the covenant, the table for the shewbread, the seven-tiered lampstand, the other tools and articles needed to administer the service of the sanctuary, and the sacred curtain, which was placed over the ark. Their duties commenced only after Eleazar and his brothers the priests covered each of the items properly for transportation as the Lord would lead the people through the wilderness. The Kohathites were not allowed to handle the actual furnishings The expanded delineation of the Kohathite responsibilities is found in 4:24\u201326. Some Kohathites under the rebellious leadership of Korah would later challenge the authority of Moses and Aaron over the Israelite community (Num 16:1\u201350). Like the Gershonites, Levites from the clans of Kohath served as musicians during the Davidic monarchy (1 Chr 6:33\u201338).
\nThe Merarite family groups of Mahli and Mushi numbered 6,200 of age one month or older. They were to camp on the north side of the tabernacle and serve as caretakers and transporters of the support structures for the tabernacle and the Tent. These included bases, posts, frames, and equipment needed to erect and dismantle the structures. Like the Gershonites and Kohathites, Levites from the clans of Merari served later as musicians during the Davidic monarchy (1 Chr 6:44\u201347).
\nOn the east side of the sanctuary, the preeminent position of entry and the direction of the sunrise, were camped Aaron and his sons the priests. There they guarded the angle that was most vulnerable to intrusion. The Hebrew construction may have dual directions in view, protection from the intrusion by a rebellious or unwitting nonpriestly Israelite and protection for the people from divine punishment that would result. Encroachment upon or within the Holy Place was punishable by death. Symbolically God\u2019s holiness and purity, depicted in the degrees of sacred space descending from the Holy of Holies to the perimeter of the tabernacle, were protected by the positioning of the clans of Levi, the tribe consecrated for divine service.
\nThe total of the census of the three family groups of the Levites was 22,000 of age one month or older. This total agrees with the sum of the individual clans, when one adopts the preferred Septuagint reading of 8,300 as the census of the Kohathites. Otherwise the total comes to 22,300, and the five-shekel redemption of each of the excess firstborn of Israel, who numbered 22,273 (v. 43), would have been unnecessary.<\/p>\n
Comparison of Levite Census Texts<\/p>\n
Levite Tribal Clan
\nMT
\nLXX
\nSuggested Totals
\nGershonites (v. 22)
\n7,500
\n7,500
\n7,500
\nKohathites (v. 28)
\n8,600
\n8,600
\n8,300
\nMerarites (v. 34)
\n6,200
\n6,050
\n6,200
\nTOTAL
\n22,300
\n22,150
\n22,000<\/p>\n
DEDICATION OF THE LEVITES IN FIRSTBORN REDEMPTION (3:40\u201351)<\/p>\n
40 The LORD said to Moses, \u201cCount all the firstborn Israelite males who are a month old or more and make a list of their names. 41 Take the Levites for me in place of all the firstborn of the Israelites, and the livestock of the Levites in place of all the firstborn of the livestock of the Israelites. I am the LORD.\u201d
\n42 So Moses counted all the firstborn of the Israelites, as the LORD commanded him. 43 The total number of firstborn males a month old or more, listed by name, was 22,273.
\n44 The LORD also said to Moses, 45 \u201cTake the Levites in place of all the firstborn of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites in place of their livestock. The Levites are to be mine. I am the LORD. 46 To redeem the 273 firstborn Israelites who exceed the number of the Levites, 47 collect five shekels for each one, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs. 48 Give the money for the redemption of the additional Israelites to Aaron and his sons.\u201d
\n49 So Moses collected the redemption money from those who exceeded the number redeemed by the Levites. 50 From the firstborn of the Israelites he collected silver weighing 1,365 shekels, according to the sanctuary shekel. 51 Moses gave the redemption money to Aaron and his sons, as he was commanded by the word of the LORD.<\/p>\n
3:40\u201351 Following the census of the Levite clans, the Lord instructs Moses to take a census of the firstborn males by listing the names of the Israelites who were one month old and up. The variant form of the introductory formula for divine speech, wayy\u014d\u02bemer YHWH \u02beel M\u014d\u0161eh (\u201cThen Yahweh said to Moses\u201d), occurs here; and the twice-stated refrain, \u201cI am the LORD,\u201d in vv. 41 and 45 accentuates their divine ownership in the dedication. The total was 22,273, leaving an excess of 273 unredeemed firstborn males beyond the census of the 22,000 Levites. The instructions in Exod 13:7\u201322; 22:29\u201330; 34:19\u201320; and Num 3:12\u201313 were to substitute the Levites for the firstborn in service to the Lord. In addition, the livestock of the Levites also would be dedicated to the Lord in place of the firstborn of the livestock belonging to the Israelites.
\nThe term \u201credemption\u201d (p\u0115d\u00fby\u00ea, root p\u0101da) has its origins in the Akkadian literature, where in Babylonian legal texts the cognate term pad\u00fb denotes a form of monetary payment equivalent to the market value of an object or person, remitted in order to transfer property from one party to another. Property yielded in payment of debt could be redeemed at an agreed price. Persons who were slaves or indentured servants due to indebtedness could be freed from bondage by payment of the redemption fee. Israel was indebted to God for the deliverance of their firstborn, who were saved from death by the painting of the lamb\u2019s blood on the doorposts and lintels of their households when the angel of death passed over. Redemption for the nation was gained via the sacrifice of the paschal lamb, whose blood signaled the angel of death to deliver the faithful Israelite households from his mission of death. Therefore the firstborn males of the children of Israel belonged to God as his servants, but they could now be redeemed by (1) the rendering of the Levites as substitutionary payment or (2) the payment of the redemption fee of five shekels for those unaccounted for in the Levite census. Harrison notes:<\/p>\n
Redemption was always described in terms of some kind of a cost factor. God was obviously not discharging a debt to someone by redeeming His elect at the time of the Exodus. But at that period, and on all subsequent occasions when the firstborn were redeemed, God made it clear that the price of a life was another life. The original cost factor subsisted in the effort that a loving, provident God made to redeem His chosen people by \u201cpassing over\u201d the firstborn of Israel when He instituted the final plague upon Egypt.<\/p>\n
Redemption in the New Testament is an expansion on the Old Testament theme, whereby Jesus Christ became our Paschal Lamb, whose blood in his death has brought deliverance from death due to our sin. In the context of Peter\u2019s exhortation for Christians to live in holiness and obedience and not to conform to the ways of this world, he reminded them: \u201cFor you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect\u201d (1 Pet 1:18\u201319).
\nThe price for the redemption of the excess firstborn of the Israelites was five shekels, or about 2.1 ounces of silver per person according to the twenty-gerah sanctuary shekel. The sanctuary shekel was mentioned previously in Exod 30:11\u201316 in the context of the half-shekel (beqa\u02bf) atonement price for each of the Israelites delivered from Egyptian bondage. Five shekels was the standard price of a slave in the Late Bronze Age in Egypt and Mesopotamia and amounted to six months\u2019 wages for the average day laborer.
\nThe repeated statement in vv. 42 and 51 that Moses was obedient in faithfully carrying out the commands of the Lord is one of the keys to understanding the theological structure of the Book of Numbers. In the two Sinai cycles of 1:1\u201310:10, obedience is a hallmark of the community of faith and its leadership, whereas in the three cycles that ensue, rebelliousness is the central organizing theme, affecting almost everyone in the community\u2014even Moses. The theological-geographical context is that of the departure from Sinai, the mountain of God and the locale of the receiving of the commandments of God in revelation.<\/p>\n
FURTHER RESPONSIBILITIES AND CENSUS OF LEVITES FOR SERVICE (4:1\u201349)
\nIn moving from the general to the specific, observable in the structural outline of chaps. 3 and 4 above, details concerning the specific responsibilities of each of the three clans of the Levites are delineated herein. An additional census is taken of the males of each of the clans who are of such maturity (ages thirty\u2013fifty) so as to assume and discharge the sacred tasks as outlined. The order of the tribes shifts from Gershonite priority to that of the Kohathites, and the second-born son is elevated to a preferred position over his older brother in the handling of the holy things. Patriarchal parallels include the exalting Isaac over Ishmael, Jacob over Esau, and Joseph over Reuben. R. Allen states that such texts evidence \u201cthe grace of God that reaches out in sovereign selection, bringing blessing to whom he chooses to bring blessing, elevating whom he desires to elevate, for reasons of his own will.\u201d
\nTwo of the three passages detailing the priestly clan responsibilities commence with the standard revelatory introduction formula, those for the Kohathites and the Gershonites. The Merarite segment simply begins with the command to \u201cCount the Merarites.\u201d In the section regarding the Kohathites, the introductory formula is used a second time in the delineation of the actual hands-on care for the holy things. Special instructions were needed since the Kohathites were not permitted to actually touch the holy vessels of the tabernacle, lest they die.<\/p>\n
Kohathite Service Detailed (4:1\u201320)<\/p>\n
1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron: 2 \u201cTake a census of the Kohathite branch of the Levites by their clans and families. 3 Count all the men from thirty to fifty years of age who come to serve in the work in the Tent of Meeting.
\n4 \u201cThis is the work of the Kohathites in the Tent of Meeting: the care of the most holy things. 5 When the camp is to move, Aaron and his sons are to go in and take down the shielding curtain and cover the ark of the Testimony with it. 6 Then they are to cover this with hides of sea cows, spread a cloth of solid blue over that and put the poles in place.
\n7 \u201cOver the table of the Presence they are to spread a blue cloth and put on it the plates, dishes and bowls, and the jars for drink offerings; the bread that is continually there is to remain on it. 8 Over these they are to spread a scarlet cloth, cover that with hides of sea cows and put its poles in place.
\n9 \u201cThey are to take a blue cloth and cover the lampstand that is for light, together with its lamps, its wick trimmers and trays, and all its jars for the oil used to supply it. 10 Then they are to wrap it and all its accessories in a covering of hides of sea cows and put it on a carrying frame.
\n11 \u201cOver the gold altar they are to spread a blue cloth and cover that with hides of sea cows and put its poles in place.
\n12 \u201cThey are to take all the articles used for ministering in the sanctuary, wrap them in a blue cloth, cover that with hides of sea cows and put them on a carrying frame.
\n13 \u201cThey are to remove the ashes from the bronze altar and spread a purple cloth over it. 14 Then they are to place on it all the utensils used for ministering at the altar, including the firepans, meat forks, shovels and sprinkling bowls. Over it they are to spread a covering of hides of sea cows and put its poles in place.
\n15 \u201cAfter Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy furnishings and all the holy articles, and when the camp is ready to move, the Kohathites are to come to do the carrying. But they must not touch the holy things or they will die. The Kohathites are to carry those things that are in the Tent of Meeting.
\n16 \u201cEleazar son of Aaron, the priest, is to have charge of the oil for the light, the fragrant incense, the regular grain offering and the anointing oil. He is to be in charge of the entire tabernacle and everything in it, including its holy furnishings and articles.\u201d
\n17 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, 18 \u201cSee that the Kohathite tribal clans are not cut off from the Levites. 19 So that they may live and not die when they come near the most holy things, do this for them: Aaron and his sons are to go into the sanctuary and assign to each man his work and what he is to carry. 20 But the Kohathites must not go in to look at the holy things, even for a moment, or they will die.\u201d<\/p>\n
4:1\u201316 The clan of the Kohathites are given priority among the Levites in the care for the most holy things. Aaron is included in the counting of the Kohathites with whom he and his sons the priests would work most closely in guarding the sanctity of the holy items of the tabernacle. The service (\u02bf\u0103v\u014dda, physical labor) charged exclusively to the sons of Kohath was the physical transport of the sacred components, but they would handle the items only after the Aarononic priests had wrapped each separate object in the appropriate coverings. These would be carried on their shoulders, but the objects themselves were never to be touched.
\nThe first step for Aaron\u2019s sons was to take down the shield curtain, or veil, separating the sanctuary from the holy of holies containing the ark of the covenant, and then cover the ark with that veil. The veil was made of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn with figures of cherubim finely woven into it (Exod 26:31\u201333). Thus the curtain served continuously to preserve the sanctuary of the ark. Additional coverings were added, including \u201chides of sea cows\u201d or \u201cdolphins\u201d that were yellow-orange in color, followed by a solid blue garment-like (beged) covering. The blue color (t\u0115k\u0113let) was actually a royal violet, that was also woven into the tassels (\u1e63\u00ee\u1e63it) of the undergarments worn by Israelite males (Num 15:37\u201340) and the robes worn by the high priest (Exod 28:6\u201333). This violet dye was produced from the gland of the varieties of murex snails found in abundance along the Mediterranean coast from Greece around the coast of Asia Minor to Phoenicia. After the three coverings have been installed over the ark of the covenant, the gold overlayed wooden poles made for transporting it were inserted in the gold rings. Once set in place, the poles were not to be removed (Exod 25:10\u201316; 37:3\u20135).
\nThe table of the Presence, made of gold overlaid acacia wood and upon which were set the twelve loaves of bread\u2014one for each of the tribes, was to be covered with a fitted garment of violet cloth. The bowls, jars, jugs, utensils, and bread were set on the cloth. These showbread loaves were replaced every Sabbath by the priests and were symbolic of God\u2019s provision and presence\u2014he is the nation\u2019s bread of life (Exod 24:5\u20139; 25:30). Other nations utilized the altar as a table for providing food and drink for the gods, but in Israel\u2019s system the provision of bread and wine were consumed by Yahweh\u2019s intermediaries the priests. Over the cloth, bread, and implements a scarlet garment-like cloak was placed, followed by a yellow-orange covering of skins similar to the middle of the coverings over the ark of the covenant. Only the ark and the table of the Presence had three layers of covering, indicating their higher level of sanctity, whereas other sacred objects had only two. Like the ark, the table was fitted with rings for transportation by gold overlaid wooden poles.
\nThe seven-tiered golden lampstand, symbolic of God as light to the world (Exod 25:31\u201340), and the golden altar for incense burning (Exod 30:1\u201310) were covered successively with a violet (t\u0115k\u0113let) cloth and then a yellow-orange covering of hides. The lampstand, its lamps, and its accompanying implements were set into a carrying frame. The altar was fitted with rings like the ark and the table.
\nThe focus in the dismantling process turns to the large bronze sacrificial altar that was situated in the courtyard of the tabernacle. Ashes of earlier sacrifices were removed and disposed of, and the altar was covered with a purple (\u02bearg\u0101m\u0101n) cloth. The previous cultic objects were to be covered with violet (t\u0115k\u0113let) garments, reserved for the most sacred of components. As with the table of the Presence and the lampstand, the accompanying utensils were placed upon the cloth, followed by a covering of yellow-orange skins.
\nThe Samaritan Pentateuch and the Septuagint add the bronze laver at the conclusion of v. 14 that is missing from the MT (Exod 30:17\u201321, 25\u201329). Washing the feet and the hands with the basin\u2019s waters was essential to purification before fully entering the Tent of Meeting and attending the cultic activity upon the bronze altar.
\nAt the conclusion of the priestly preparation for transporting the tabernacle and its cultic elements, the Kohathites would enter the area and man the carrying poles and frames. The coverings and poles served to preserve the sanctity of the various objects from human contamination or defilement. The warning is issued against contact with the objects themselves by anyone but the ritually pure priests, lest the penalty of death be enacted. The absolute holiness of God is to be maintained symbolically via the maintenance of the sanctity of those things that serve to worship him. The apostle Paul encouraged Christians to present their bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, indeed as implements of holiness that should remain undefiled (Rom 12:1\u20134). Likewise, the apostle Peter urged Christians to be holy, purified by the obeying of the truth instead of being conformed to the evil desires of this world (1 Pet 1:13\u201323).
\nThe responsibilities of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, are twofold: oversight of the ingredients utilized with the various sacred objects and oversight of the entire tabernacle complex, with its previously delineated furnishings. Hence Eleazar supervised the priests and the Kohathites in the preparation and porterage of the sacred objects, as well as the Gershonites and Merarites in the fulfillment of their respective duties. The particular sacrifice described as the \u201cregular grain offering\u201d is unspecified, though the daily grain offering that is offered by the priests and burned completely (Lev 6:14\u201323[Hb. 7\u201316]) seems the most likely.
\n4:17\u201320 In typical Pentateuchal pattern the last section is an expansion on a previous theme of the profound yet perilous task of the Kohathites in the porterage of the covered sacred objects. The sacrilege of violating the holiness of any of the holy objects, whether furnishings, vessels, or implements, made one culpable of being cut off from the nation by divine wrath. Aaron and his sons the priests were to maintain close oversight of the Kohathites lest they experience death in their service. Hence individual assignments were made by the Aaronic priests for careful and proper performance of duties. The solemnity of the service gives rise to the specification that the census be limited to mature adult males, aged thirty to fifty. Even a casual glimpse at the actual holy objects could bring such an immediate and untimely death. The use of the term \u201choly things\u201d (haqq\u014dde\u0161, \u201cthe holy\u201d) in 4:4 and 4:20 forms an inclusio, highlighting the primary theme of this section. As noted above, extensive measures were taken to insure the absolute holiness of the tabernacle and its furnishings, which were symbols of God\u2019s presence with and for his people.<\/p>\n
Gershonite Service Detailed (4:21\u201328)<\/p>\n
21 The LORD said to Moses, 22 \u201cTake a census also of the Gershonites by their families and clans. 23 Count all the men from thirty to fifty years of age who come to serve in the work at the Tent of Meeting.
\n24 \u201cThis is the service of the Gershonite clans as they work and carry burdens: 25 They are to carry the curtains of the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, its covering and the outer covering of hides of sea cows, the curtains for the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, 26 the curtains of the courtyard surrounding the tabernacle and altar, the curtain for the entrance, the ropes and all the equipment used in its service. The Gershonites are to do all that needs to be done with these things. 27 All their service, whether carrying or doing other work, is to be done under the direction of Aaron and his sons. You shall assign to them as their responsibility all they are to carry. 28 This is the service of the Gershonite clans at the Tent of Meeting. Their duties are to be under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron, the priest.<\/p>\n
4:21\u201328 The delineation of the service responsibilities of the Gershonites and the Merarites is less extensive though no less important. The census instructions to Moses concerning the Gershonites, to count the mature adult males of ages thirty to fifty, reiterates the basic content of 4:1\u20133, with minor variations. The introduction to the Merarite service lacks the introductory formula of divine speech. In summary, the Gershonites were responsible for the dismantling and reassembling of various curtains of the tabernacle and tent; and the Merarites, the framing structure and supports. After their service of packing was completed, those elements were then placed on oxcarts for transportation.
\nThe service of the Gershonites involved the taking down and packing of six different sets of tabernacle fabrics. The tabernacle had ten curtains, made in two groups of five and hung with gold clasps through the fabric support loops (Exod 26:1\u20136). The tent covering consisted of eleven curtains of goat hair, assembled in two groups of five and six, hung with bronze clasps through the fabric support loops. A red-dyed ram skin cloak covered the tent covering, which was in turn followed by a covering of the yellow-red skins (Exod 26:7\u201314). The woven entrance curtain included finely twisted linen along with violet, purple, and scarlet yarn, supported by gold hooks on five gold-overlayed acacia wood posts (Exod 26:36\u201337). As with the Kohathite service, the Gershonite work of dismantling these curtains and coverings was supervised by Aaron and his sons the priests, who would make individual assignments to these Levites. In particular, Aaron\u2019s fourth son Ithamar had direct charge over the Gershonites.<\/p>\n
Merarite Service Detailed (4:29\u201333)<\/p>\n
29 \u201cCount the Merarites by their clans and families. 30 Count all the men from thirty to fifty years of age who come to serve in the work at the Tent of Meeting. 31 This is their duty as they perform service at the Tent of Meeting: to carry the frames of the tabernacle, its crossbars, posts and bases, 32 as well as the posts of the surrounding courtyard with their bases, tent pegs, ropes, all their equipment and everything related to their use. Assign to each man the specific things he is to carry. 33 This is the service of the Merarite clans as they work at the Tent of Meeting under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron, the priest.\u201d<\/p>\n
4:29\u201333 The service of the Merarites involved the dismantling of the tabernacle and tent framework after the Gershonites had removed the curtains and coverings. Vertical posts, crossmembers, socket bases, and pegs for supporting the posts using cords were labeled and listed so as to assure ease in reassembly. Four oxcarts were needed to transport the numerous objects. As with the Gershonite work, the Merarite service was supervised by Aaron\u2019s son Ithamar.
\nOnce more the first Sinai cycle themes of orderliness and holiness are maintained, even through the process of dismantling for transportation as God would lead the nation through the wilderness. Organization through priestly oversight, the order in which the tabernacle elements were disassembled and prepared for transport, priestly covering of the sacred objects that then are carried by the Kohathites, and the labeling of the complex of frames all contribute to this theme.<\/p>\n
SUMMARY CENSUS OF LEVITES (4:34\u201349)<\/p>\n
34 Moses, Aaron and the leaders of the community counted the Kohathites by their clans and families. 35 All the men from thirty to fifty years of age who came to serve in the work in the Tent of Meeting, 36 counted by clans, were 2,750. 37 This was the total of all those in the Kohathite clans who served in the Tent of Meeting. Moses and Aaron counted them according to the LORD\u2019S command through Moses.
\n38 The Gershonites were counted by their clans and families. 39 All the men from thirty to fifty years of age who came to serve in the work at the Tent of Meeting, 40 counted by their clans and families, were 2,630. 41 This was the total of those in the Gershonite clans who served at the Tent of Meeting. Moses and Aaron counted them according to the LORD\u2019S command.
\n42 The Merarites were counted by their clans and families. 43 All the men from thirty to fifty years of age who came to serve in the work at the Tent of Meeting, 44 counted by their clans, were 3,200. 45 This was the total of those in the Merarite clans. Moses and Aaron counted them according to the LORD\u2019S command through Moses.
\n46 So Moses, Aaron and the leaders of Israel counted all the Levites by their clans and families. 47 All the men from thirty to fifty years of age who came to do the work of serving and carrying the Tent of Meeting 48 numbered 8,580. 49 At the LORD\u2019S command through Moses, each was assigned his work and told what to carry.
\nThus they were counted, as the LORD commanded Moses.<\/p>\n
4:34\u201349 Each of the clans was counted by Moses, Aaron, and community leaders according to the Lord\u2019s instructions. Harrison describes the four elements that characterized the census: \u201c(1) registering of eligible males, (2) statement of age groups enrolled, (3) total number of males counted, and (4) closing formula for each of the three groups stressing the divine source of the census instructions and the human vehicle by which they were implemented.\u201d
\nOf the 22,000 Levites counted in the previous census (3:39), the following totals are derived:<\/p>\n
Levite Clans
\nCensus of Age One Month
\nCensus of Age Thirty to Fifty
\nKohath (S)
\n8,300
\n2,750
\nGershon (W)
\n7,500
\n2,630
\nMerari (N)
\n6,200
\n3,200
\nTotals
\n22,300
\n8,580<\/p>\n
The rounding of the numbers is evidenced in the difference between the 22,000 Levites of 3:39, the 22,273 firstborn males of 3:43, and the 22,300 of the sum of 3:22, 28, 34.<\/p>\n
(5) Purification Laws for the Faithful Community (5:1\u201331)<\/p>\n
The first four chapters of the Book of Numbers have set forth the collective nation of Israel and established the cultic leadership of this chosen and abundantly blessed people. The camp has been numbered and organized with the Levites constituting the first level of the congregation in service to Yahweh. Chapters 5 and 6 contain treatises on four areas of purification and sanctification, whereby the holiness of the camp is maintained or ensured: (1) separation of unclean persons from the camp of the holy (5:1\u20134), (2) restitution for wrongdoing against another person (5:5\u201310), (3) ensuring marital fidelity through the ordeal of jealousy (5:11\u201331), and (4) individual sanctification through the Nazirite vow (6:1\u201321). This section concludes with the Priestly Benediction, a blessing confirming the Lord\u2019s blessing upon the camp of the holy and faithful.
\nThe holiness of God and the assertion that the collective people of God must maintain standards of purity and holiness are emphasized severally in the Pentateuch, usually in the context of standards of cleanness and uncleanness (the sacred and the profane) with regard to dietary restrictions (Exod 22:31; Lev 11:44; Deut 14:2) and matters of idolatry and immorality (Lev 20:7, 26). Though special restrictions are placed upon those holding a priestly office in the community, ultimately the entire community was to function as a kingdom of priests (Exod 19:6) who could function as God\u2019s priesthood on behalf of world kingdoms, calling all nations to the One True God and to holiness. Priests had the responsibility of teaching the Torah to the peoples (Lev 10:11). Likewise Peter calls upon the church as the people of God to be a holy priesthood on behalf of the world by living lives free from all forms of impurity and defilement:<\/p>\n
You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.\u2026 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.\u2026 Dear friends, I urge you as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. (1 Pet 2:5, 9, 11, 12)<\/p>\n
Concentric circles define the sacred space, from the holiest place surrounding the ark of the covenant (d\u0115b\u00eer), to the court of the desert sanctuary (h\u00eak\u0101l), and extending to the camp (mah\u0103neh). Restrictions regarding the types of uncleanness set forth in chap. 5 have been addressed previously in Exodus and Leviticus.
\nM. Douglas posits that humans developed social distinctions of conformity and disunity based upon their observations of natural forces. She defines \u201cdirt\u201d or \u201cuncleanness\u201d as that which is \u201cout of place\u201d in society and \u201choliness\u201d as that which is in harmony with nature, having \u201cwholeness and completeness.\u201d With regard to biblical purity she highlights the human understanding of Levitical legislation as denoting an ideal for humanity. But the Hebrew Bible provides even further distinction between the common and the unclean, as well as between the holy and the pure. Douglas sees in Numbers and Leviticus a \u201cparadox in so far as they legislate against impurity without designating any social category as inherently impure \u2026 or liable to contaminate others.\u201d But the Torah in fact legislates against any kind of class system, even to the point of giving resident aliens status in worship and purification under the same matrix of law as the Israelite. Ethical and moral distinctions, not class systems, play a significant role in the understanding of these distinctions. Hence Douglas observes: \u201cThe Judaism of Leviticus and the book of Numbers is not among the exclusive religions, nor do its commands weigh heavily upon its congregation. Purification is easy, and open to all who wish for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
CULTIC ISOLATION OF VARIOUS DISEASE CARRIERS (5:1\u20134)<\/p>\n
1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 \u201cCommand the Israelites to send away from the camp anyone who has an infectious skin disease or a discharge of any kind, or who is ceremonially unclean because of a dead body. 3 Send away male and female alike; send them outside the camp so they will not defile their camp, where I dwell among them.\u201d 4 The Israelites did this; they sent them outside the camp. They did just as the LORD had instructed Moses.<\/p>\n
5:1\u20134 The placement of cultic laws at this point in the structure of the Book of Numbers serves to further define the faithful community in the first cycle of material. The army of Israel has been counted, setting forth the holy host that would be launched by Yahweh into the Promised Land (chap. 1). The tribes have been organized around the central shrine, with its center being the Holy of Holies, the epicenter of God\u2019s presence and holiness (chap. 2). The attendants to this holy place have been counted, and their roles and responsibilities have been delineated (chaps. 3\u20134). Now the holiness of the community is defined in terms of certain restrictions on persons whose lives evidence some unholy state.
\nThe chapter commences with the introductory formula of divine speech, way\u0115dabb\u0113r YHWH el-M\u014d\u0161eh l\u0113\u02bem\u014dr, providing continuity with the previous revelatory introductions. The repetition of this phrase, carrying with it one of the key themes of the Book of Numbers, is designed to reinforce the serious nature of maintaining the purity of the congregation of the chosen people of God. The first laws address the issue of restricting persons from the inner circles of holiness who have contracted one of three serious physical infirmities: (1) any infectious skin disease (\u1e63\u0101r\u00fba\u02bf, \u201ceruption\u201d), (2) any discharge (z\u0101b), or (3) any contamination from a corpse (t\u0101m\u00ea\u02be l\u0101n\u0101pe\u0161, \u201cuncleanness from the dead body\u201d). Such persons were to be sent away by the priests, who were charged with the responsibility of maintaining the purity of the camp and its inhabitants (Lev 10:10\u201311). Likewise, the priests were assigned the task of assessing the purity of an individual who had become unclean by any such means.
\nScholars have debated extensively the meaning of \u1e63\u0101r\u00fba\u02bf, often translated \u201cleprosy\u201d in earlier versions. Some have stated that the form of leprosy known today as Hansen\u2019s disease was unknown in the ancient world. Harrison and G. Wenham argue for the inclusion of Hansen\u2019s disease among the varieties of infectious skin diseases that might render one impure. The extensive description of the disease, its effects, treatment, the purification process after having had the disease, and the adjudication by the priest at the conclusion of the purification rituals all evidence a disease similar to Hansen\u2019s. Other serious skin infections, perhaps like psoriasis or eczema, may also be included in this ritual exclusion.
\nThe discharges denoted by the term z\u0101b are those emitted by male and female genitalia, such as gonorrhea. This and other such diseases are more extensively addressed in Lev 15:1\u201333. Isolation from the larger community of persons having contracted such highly infectious sexually transmitted diseases would reduce further contamination, but more importantly this practice preserved the sanctity of the sanctuary of the Most Holy God in the midst of his people. This meaning is derived from the phrase in v. 3, \u201cSend them outside the camp so that they will not defile their camp, where I dwell among them.\u201d
\nAnyone contaminated by contact with dead persons (t\u0101m\u00ea\u02be l\u0101n\u0101pe\u0161, defiled by the body\/corpse), an issue addressed more extensively in Num 19:1\u201322, must also be separated from the holy community. Once again, though hygienic reasons may have played a part in such legislation, ritual purification and separation from the center of holiness in the community is the focus of this passage. Male and female members of the community are treated alike; separation from the holiness of the community has no gender preferential treatment. Similarly, those who voluntarily take a Nazirite vow (Num 6:1\u201321) must refrain from touching a corpse, lest they become defiled and go through the specified process of purification. The pericope concludes with one of the focal themes of Num 1:1\u201310:10, that of the obedience of Moses and the people in following God\u2019s commands on this issue. Likewise, the holiness of God, his sanctuary and the community, harmony and order within the community, and ritual purity are recurrent themes in this pericope.<\/p>\n
RESTITUTION FOR WRONGS DONE (5:5\u201310)<\/p>\n
5 The LORD said to Moses, 6 \u201cSay to the Israelites: \u2018When a man or woman wrongs another in any way and so is unfaithful to the LORD, that person is guilty 7 and must confess the sin he has committed. He must make full restitution for his wrong, add one fifth to it and give it all to the person he has wronged. 8 But if that person has no close relative to whom restitution can be made for the wrong, the restitution belongs to the LORD and must be given to the priest, along with the ram with which atonement is made for him. 9 All the sacred contributions the Israelites bring to a priest will belong to him. 10 Each man\u2019s sacred gifts are his own, but what he gives to the priest will belong to the priest.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
5:5\u201310 The second of the three camp purification pericopes commences with the introductory formula for divine instruction, emphasizing the revelatory nature of the content. Responsibility for reparation because of wrong done against another individual falls equally upon the human genders; man and woman are equally accountable before God for their sin. Anyone who sins against another person effectively commits a sacrilege against God. The term for sin (\u1e25a\u1e6d\u1e6d\u0101\u02bet) is the standard term for \u201cmissing\u201d a standard of practice or \u201cbreaking\u201d a covenant command, which in this case effects harm to another person or that individual\u2019s property. This text clearly states that wrongs committed against another person or that one\u2019s property are sins against the Lord of the covenant community. Such a covenant breach incurs culpability for the \u02be\u0101\u0161\u0101m, or guilt offering, which entails full restitution plus a penalty of one-fifth. The setting of such sins is more extensively delineated in Lev 6:1\u20137. In addition to the restitution of property to an individual, Leviticus addresses the matter of cultic reparation by which one brings an atonement offering of an unblemished lamb.
\nHarrison describes the structure of the pericope: (1) protasis of the conditional situation, involving the breach of God\u2019s law (5\u20136); (2) the apodosis, in which the procedure leading to forgiveness is described (7); (3) a special contingency and the provision for it (9\u201310); and (4) the priest\u2019s portion. This passage differs from the Leviticus legislation in that additional casuistic clause is delineated, the community issue of the person wronged being deceased. If the person originally wronged by the transgressor has no relative (g\u014d\u02be\u0113l, \u201ckinsman redeemer\u201d) who may receive the restorative payment, then the \u02be\u0101\u0161\u0101m shall be rendered unto the priest along with the atonement offering of the ram. Leviticus and Numbers presume a relative monetary value for personal property, whereby the 20 percent penalty may be applied. Milgrom suggests that this law may refer back to an \u201colder, premonarchial tradition\u201d in that the property does revert to the royal state by \u201ceminent domain,\u201d as did Naboth\u2019s vineyard in the case of Ahab\u2019s expropriation of the land (1 Kgs 21:15).
\nConsistent with the theme of Num 1:1\u201310:10, the harmony, wholeness and holiness of the community are of considerable concern. The individual as part of the community has certain responsibilities within the larger context, and sin has a deleterious effect on both. Therefore, the sanctity of the individual, community, and sanctuary must be maintained. Societal consonance for ancient Israel, as well as for all human society, is assured in such cases through repentance, restitution, and (ritual) restoration.<\/p>\n
THE CASE OF A SUSPECTED ADULTEROUS WIFE (5:11\u201331)<\/p>\n
11 Then the LORD said to Moses, 12 \u201cSpeak to the Israelites and say to them: \u2018If a man\u2019s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him 13 by sleeping with another man, and this is hidden from her husband and her impurity is undetected (since there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act), 14 and if feelings of jealousy come over her husband and he suspects his wife and she is impure\u2014or if he is jealous and suspects her even though she is not impure\u201415 then he is to take his wife to the priest. He must also take an offering of a tenth of an ephah of barley flour on her behalf. He must not pour oil on it or put incense on it, because it is a grain offering for jealousy, a reminder offering to draw attention to guilt.
\n16 \u201c \u2018The priest shall bring her and have her stand before the LORD. 17 Then he shall take some holy water in a clay jar and put some dust from the tabernacle floor into the water. 18 After the priest has had the woman stand before the LORD, he shall loosen her hair and place in her hands the reminder offering, the grain offering for jealousy, while he himself holds the bitter water that brings a curse. 19 Then the priest shall put the woman under oath and say to her, \u201cIf no other man has slept with you and you have not gone astray and become impure while married to your husband, may this bitter water that brings a curse not harm you. 20 But if you have gone astray while married to your husband and you have defiled yourself by sleeping with a man other than your husband\u201d\u201421 here the priest is to put the woman under this curse of the oath\u2014\u201cmay the LORD cause your people to curse and denounce you when he causes your thigh to waste away and your abdomen to swell. 22 May this water that brings a curse enter your body so that your abdomen swells and your thigh wastes away.\u201d
\n\u201c \u2018Then the woman is to say, \u201cAmen. So be it.\u201d
\n23 \u201c \u2018The priest is to write these curses on a scroll and then wash them off into the bitter water. 24 He shall have the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and this water will enter her and cause bitter suffering. 25 The priest is to take from her hands the grain offering for jealousy, wave it before the LORD and bring it to the altar. 26 The priest is then to take a handful of the grain offering as a memorial offering and burn it on the altar; after that, he is to have the woman drink the water. 27 If she has defiled herself and been unfaithful to her husband, then when she is made to drink the water that brings a curse, it will go into her and cause bitter suffering; her abdomen will swell and her thigh waste away, and she will become accursed among her people. 28 If, however, the woman has not defiled herself and is free from impurity, she will be cleared of guilt and will be able to have children.
\n29 \u201c \u2018This, then, is the law of jealousy when a woman goes astray and defiles herself while married to her husband, 30 or when feelings of jealousy come over a man because he suspects his wife. The priest is to have her stand before the LORD and is to apply this entire law to her. 31 The husband will be innocent of any wrongdoing, but the woman will bear the consequences of her sin.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
5:11\u201331 Marital fidelity is foundational to societal wellbeing, and for the community of faith that is called by Yahweh God of Israel, sanctity in regard to the marriage relationship is essential. The third case for ensuring community purification is that which concerns a woman suspected by her husband of having an adulterous affair. The pericope begins as the previous two cases with the introductory formula for divine instruction, highlighting the revelatory nature of the content.
\nThe case commences with a wife who has had an adulterous affair with another man that she hides from her husband. There have been no witnesses to this abrogation of marital sanctity, so the two have not been caught. Basic Levitical law prescribed death as a penalty for both partners in an adulterous relationship (Lev 20:10). Men and women are equally accountable before God for sexual relationships outside of marriage. Only later does the husband suspect that his wife has been unfaithful, based upon some observed but here undefined circumstances. The case presumes the guilt of the woman in the initial section, whereas the summary allows for the perceived jealousy of the husband in initiating the procedure. The case assumes that an innocent woman, unjustly accused by her husband, need not be apprehensive of the outcome and will be able to live free of guilt and condemnation. The case law addresses the issue of the adjudication of the other man with whom the woman was involved. On the opposite gender side of the issue, the wife has no reciprocal proviso for bringing charges against a suspected unfaithful husband. Several Pentateuchal passages address issues in which women have legal recourse against men. In Deut 25:5\u201310 a woman could bring a case against a brother-in-law who failed to fulfill his role in levirate marriage. A violated virgin would be especially provided for by the abusive male (Deut 22:25\u201329).
\nThe test for the unfaithfulness of the suspected wife involves a trial by ordeal for the woman before a chosen priest of the sanctuary. The following steps are taken in addressing the potential covenant abrogation:<\/p>\n
Stage 1
\n1. Husband Takes Wife to Priest
\n(15)
\nGrain offering for jealousy (min\u1e25at q\u0115n\u0101\u02be\u014dt)
\n+ 1\/10 ephah of barley flour on her behalf (no oil or incense)
\n= REMINDER offering\u2014Draw attention to the guilt
\n2. Priest Presents Woman to the Lord
\n(16\u201322a)
\nTakes HOLY WATER in clay jar
\nAdds DUST from tabernacle floor to water
\nLoosens woman\u2019s hair
\nPlaces REMINDER offering in her hands
\nHolds bitter water
\nPriest puts woman under oath:
\n\u201cIf no other man has slept with you and you have not gone astray.\u2026 May this water not harm you\u201d
\nBut, \u201cIf you have \u2026 may the water swell \/ waste \u2026\u201d
\n(curse of a barren and miscarrying womb)
\n3. Woman responds \u201cAmen, So be it\u201d
\n(22b)
\nStage 2
\n1. Priest Writes the Curse on a Scroll, Then
\n(23\u201326a)
\nWashes off words into the bitter water
\nPrepares the water of cursing, bitter suffering
\nTakes the reminder offering from her hands
\nWaves offering before the Lord,
\nBrings to the Altar
\nBurns one handful on altar as memorial offering
\n2. Woman Drinks WATER w\/DUST & WORDS OF CURSE
\n(26b\u201328)
\nResults
\nIf guilty >> Barrenness, miscarriage, accursed
\nIf not guilty >> Clear from guilt, able to conceive
\nSummary
\nLaw of Jealousy
\nTwo Circumstances:
\nAdultery of Wife Presumed or Unknown Husband Suspects Wife of Adultery<\/p>\n
Milgrom has discerned a chiastic structure in the fuller pericope, where the crux of the case is the \u201coath imprecation\u201d of vv. 19\u201324, giving unity to the text as a whole. Many modern scholars such as Levine, Budd, and Gray interpret the repetition in the text representing a conflation of two or more sources. Through recent literary studies, such repetition has been demonstrated to frame the literary structure of the biblical text. This artistry was part of the Hebrew narrative style and not the result of some editorial assemblage of suggested sources.<\/p>\n
A The Case [Presented] (vv. 11\u201314)
\nB Preparation of the Ritual Ordeal (vv. 15\u201318)
\nC The Oath-Imprecation (vv. 19\u201324)
\nB\u00b4 Execution of the Ritual Ordeal (vv. 25\u201328)
\nA\u00b4 The Case [Summarized] (vv. 29\u201331)<\/p>\n
Hence the central moment comes when the woman takes an oath before the priest and before God, who is the only one who knows the truth of the situation and the one who must ultimately mete out the appropriate justice.
\nThe grain offering brought by the husband on behalf of the wife was similar to the grain offering of consecration in Lev 2:1\u20133; 6:14\u201323, except that in the present case cheaper and coarser barley flour is utilized instead of finely ground wheat flour, and the barley flour is not to be mixed with oil or incense. The offering also parallels the sin offering of one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour brought by a poor person, which likewise is not mixed with oil or incense (Lev 5:11\u201313). The text describes this grain offering as a \u201creminder offering,\u201d which sets the case as a meeting place between God and the individual. The event is consecrated as the woman holds the barley flour in her hands, the priest burns a portion of it on the altar, and then the woman drinks the water-dust mixture. The sacral water was probably taken from the bronze laver in the tabernacle courtyard, used by the priests for ritual purification (Exod 30:17\u201321). Hence the waters combined with dust from the floor of the holy place, and the sacred words of the curse become either a means for purification and relief from guilt or waters of condemnation and the means of the curse of barrenness. The phrase translated \u201cnot harm\u201d in the NIV, namely hinn\u0101q\u00ee, would better be rendered \u201cinnocent,\u201d hence \u201cfree from the waters of bitterness\u201d and cursing. Harrison notes, \u201cThe ritual relied for its efficacy upon the psychological suggestion interacting with a revived memory, as the person stood in Israel\u2019s sacred place before God.\u201d The mind and heart of the woman would be either vindicated in the presence of God and the priest if she were innocent or terrified to the point of marital disgrace before them, with God being ultimately responsible for her death if she were guilty.
\nThe loosened hair of the woman can signify remorse (Lev 10:6; 21:10; Ezek 24:17) or uncleanness (Lev 13:45), both of which carry a servile status. The dust (\u02bf\u0101p\u0101r) from the floor of the sanctuary is presumed to be ritually pure, derived from the inner sacred space. It carried no intrinsic deleterious effect, but such activity has parallels in the literature from Mari and Babylon. Dust from the gate area, which were protected by great deific figures, was consumed with water from the river and used in water ordeals in several judicial cases. The suspected individual was then thrown into the river or required to swim a given distance from the shore. If the person survived, he was innocent; if he drowned, he was guilty. In the present case the woman stands in a position of servility or contrition, with her personal offering in her hands, echoing an oath recited by the priest, and drinking a potentially potent potion. Her fate lay in God\u2019s hands.
\nThe oath notably begins with a statement of nonculpability if she has been faithful, followed by the antithesis, unlike the statement of the case in v. 12. This oath of cursing (\u0161\u0115b\u016b\u02bfat h\u0101\u02be\u0101l\u0101h) has efficacy if the woman has been unfaithful, for it renders her abdomen swollen and barren. The meaning of the physical effects of the curse has been debated by scholars. The phrase la\u1e63b\u00f4t beten w\u0115lanpil y\u0101r\u0113k has been rendered \u201ccausing the belly to distend and the thigh to sag\u201d (NJPS), \u201cyour abdomen enlarges and you suffer miscarriage\u201d (Harrison), \u201cmake your abdomen swell and your thigh waste away\u201d (NASB). Milgrom suggests that the \u201cthigh\u201d may be a euphemism for the procreative organs (e.g., Gen 24:2, 9) and thus refers to the physical inability to beget children. Furthermore, she would experience societal pressure of denouncement and shame. The woman in her barren state would be physically hindered from experiencing an essential element of the Abrahamic covenant of blessing, that of multitudinous progeny. The woman then takes this potential burden upon herself by confirming the oath with the twofold \u201cAmen, Amen.\u201d This is the first occurrence of the term in the Bible, used here to enhance the veritability of the oath taken by the woman.
\nIf the woman is proven innocent through this trial by ordeal, she is rendered ceremonially cleansed and free from accusation and guilt. Her innocence is established by her continued health and ability to bear children (lit. \u201cbear seed\u201d). Childlessness in the societies of the ancient Near East was believed to be a curse from the gods and subjected one to shame and ridicule, embarrassment and reproach from others.
\nIn most cultures of the ancient Near East, adultery was believed to be a \u201cgreat sin\u201d or \u201cweighty sin\u201d against the gods and goddesses of the cult, as well as a threat to societal stability. Mesopotamian law codes of the Middle Bronze Age have revealed some parallels to this trial by ordeal involving potential adultery. The Code of Hammurabi reads:<\/p>\n
131. If a man\u2019s wife is accused by her husband, but she was not caught while lying with another man, she shall make an oath by the god and return home. 132. If a finger has been pointed at a man\u2019s wife because of another man, but she has not been caught lying with the other man, she shall leap into the River for the sake of her husband.<\/p>\n
Drawing from this parallel, one might assume that in the biblical case the husband\u2019s suspicion leading to jealousy has been aroused by a hint of infidelity rising from a third individual, which may or may not be the case in the biblical account.
\nThe summary of the case law (lit. \u201cThis the Torah of the jealousies\u201d) rehearses the essentials of the judicial process in dealing with marital infidelity of one\u2019s wife. Examples of text and law summary abound in the Book of Numbers and throughout the Pentateuch. First, the two circumstances out of which the case arises are delineated, as noted above. The variation from the introduction is that of the man who initiates the judicial process out of his own feelings of jealousy. The man is free from correction or punishment if the wife is proved innocent. If the woman is proved guilty, the punishment lies solely in the hands of God. The second element in the recapitulation is the ritual standing before God and the priest in the procedure. Third, the status of the husband in the adjudication is stated. He is innocent of any iniquity, regardless of the outcome of his wife\u2019s case, but his wife will suffer punishment if she is guilty (lit. \u201cshe will bear her iniquity\u201d). Though Harrison suggests that the woman found guilty might be subsequently put to death\u2014since the Torah demands that adulterers be cut off from the nation (Lev 18:20, 28; 19:20; 20:10\u201321; Deut 22:22\u201327)\u2014the text does not demand such judgment. More likely the case is as Milgrom notes:<\/p>\n
Finally, that the suspected adulteress is not put to death either by man or God provides the necessary clue to explaining how an ordeal\u2014with its inherent magical and pagan elements\u2014was allowed to enter the legislation of the Torah, or to answer the paradox as it was phrased by Rambam: This is the only case in biblical law where the outcome depends on a miracle. The answer, I submit, is inherent in the ordeal. It provides the priestly legislator with an accepted practice by which he could remove the jurisdiction over and punishment of the unapprehended adulteress from human hands and thereby guarantee that she would not be put to death.<\/p>\n
The purity and sanctity of the community are thereby assured, so that the nation may be prepared to move forth from Sinai to the Promised Land and experience God\u2019s fullest blessing. The three purification issues point to key issues in community life: physical purity, right interpersonal relationships, and marital fidelity. Additionally, as the great Rambam (Nachmanides) put it, this is the sole example in biblical legal literature where the adjudication of a case rests upon God\u2019s ability to perform a miracle.<\/p>\n
(6) The Sacred Nazirite Vow (6:1\u201321)<\/p>\n
The prescriptions and descriptions of the Nazirite vow complete the first Sinai cycle of preparation of the Israelite people for the adventurous journey to the Promised Land. Following the section on the purification laws for the camp due to individual uncleanness and unfaithfulness, Moses delineates the means for the laity, both male and female, to dedicate themselves totally for service to the Lord. The priestly and Levitical functions have been outlined, and now the general Israelite population is provided a means for voluntary separation and devotion to a life of holiness. Parallel to the holiness portrayed in the distinctive priestly regulations, here the tribes are bestowed the opportunity to become the \u201ckingdom of priests and a holy nation\u201d (Exod 19:6).
\nThe language of the text reflects that Naziritism was an existing institution, in that the concept of a n\u0101z\u00eer is assumed as known to the reader, and thus the purpose of this pericope is to delineate the guidelines and regulate the practice. The present text offers no indication of the impetus for entering into the vow other than personal desire for consecration. Yet the biblical and Near Eastern examples evidence an expanded purpose for the Nazirite vow as well as for other classes of vows.
\nVows from the context of the culture of the ancient Near East have been examined by T. Cartledge in Vows in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East. Mesopotamian, Hittite, and Ugaritic vows suggest the following pattern: (1) the vow grows out of a situation of need or distress, (2) is made by a human to the gods, (3) generally is conditional in nature, and (4) a responsive votive offering is offered publicly at a shrine at some point during or at the completion of the vow conditions. Vows in the Hebrew Bible reflect close parallels in form and general content with those of the Old Testament world.
\nThe Nazirite vow contexts of the births of Samson and Samuel demonstrate the needs of barren women, the making and fulfilling of vows, and the offering of sacrifices at the conclusion of the vow period when the conditions have been fulfilled. Though the time span of the vows of the parents was limited, both young men were dedicated to the Lord for their whole lives. Though the only specifically prescribed restriction for the vow taken on behalf of Samson was that his hair remain uncut, Crenshaw has demonstrated that the matters of vineyards and wine consumption and of touching the dead are integral to the account of Samson\u2019s digression from the elements of his consecration. The concern of Numbers 6 is with the consecration and maintenance of the vow rather than with the various conditions, settings, or kinds of Nazirite vows that one may enter. Rather than the lifelong type of vows indicated by the Samson and Samuel accounts, Numbers 6 focuses on the restrictions and purification aspects of the vow.
\nMilgrom has discerned a chiastic structure in the fuller pericope:<\/p>\n
A Introduction (vv. 1\u20132)
\nB Prohibitions (vv. 3\u20138)
\nX Defilement (vv. 9\u201312)
\nB\u00b4 Completion (vv. 13\u201320)
\nA\u00b4 Summary (plus voluntary offerings) (vv. 21)<\/p>\n
The crux of the chiasm is the matter of potential defilement, whereby a Nazirite rendered unclean due to exposure to a corpse must be made pure in order to continue service in the community of faith. Hence this section is a continuation (with expansion) of the purification legislation of 5:1\u201331, which is then concluded by the priestly blessing.<\/p>\n
INTRODUCTION (6:1\u20132)<\/p>\n
1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 \u201cSpeak to the Israelites and say to them: \u2018If a man or woman wants to make a special vow, a vow of separation to the LORD as a Nazirite,<\/p>\n
6:1\u20132 The chapter commences with the familiar introductory formula of divine speech, way\u0115dabb\u0113r YHWH el-M\u014d\u0161eh l\u0113\u02bem\u014dr, which provides continuity with the previous revelatory introductions. The repetition of this phrase, one of the key themes of the Book of Numbers, is designed to reinforce the serious nature of maintaining the sanctity and purity of the congregation of the chosen people of God. Though issues related to women are often subsumed under the heading of man (=humankind), the context explicitly emphasizes the potential of women entering into this consecration service to Yahweh. Women could not serve as priests in the Israelite cultus, but this manner of service was open to them and could fulfill their desire for holiness and special service to the Lord. A special Hebrew term, yapl\u012b\u02be from the root p\u0101l\u0101\u02be, is used to relate the avowal process, a term most often used in connection with God\u2019s wondrous works and miracles.<\/p>\n
PROHIBITIONS (6:3\u20138)<\/p>\n
3 he must abstain from wine and other fermented drink and must not drink vinegar made from wine or from other fermented drink. He must not drink grape juice or eat grapes or raisins. 4 As long as he is a Nazirite, he must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, not even the seeds or skins.
\n5 \u201c \u2018During the entire period of his vow of separation no razor may be used on his head. He must be holy until the period of his separation to the LORD is over; he must let the hair of his head grow long. 6 Throughout the period of his separation to the LORD he must not go near a dead body. 7 Even if his own father or mother or brother or sister dies, he must not make himself ceremonially unclean on account of them, because the symbol of his separation to God is on his head. 8 Throughout the period of his separation he is consecrated to the LORD.<\/p>\n
6:3\u20138 Three areas of restriction for one entering into this special period of service are delineated: (1) abstaining from the vineyard and its products, as well as various intoxicating drinks, (2) refraining from cutting one\u2019s hair, and (3) avoiding uncleanness that comes through proximity to a dead body. Only the third restriction, which presumably could happen accidentally in one\u2019s household, is addressed in terms of purification ritual to rectify the state of uncleanness. The others would involve voluntary abrogation.
\nAll forms of intoxicating beverage are off limits at all times to the Nazirite for the duration of the vow. This restriction is more extensive than the prohibition placed upon priests, who are limited from consumption of such drinks only during the period of tabernacle or temple service (Lev 10:9). Yet not only is a Nazirite restricted from consuming wine (yayin) and fermented drink (\u0161\u0113k\u0101r), but that individual also cannot partake of wine vinegar (\u1e25\u014dme\u1e63 yayin), vinegar from other fermented liquids (\u1e25\u014dme\u1e63 \u0161\u0113k\u0101r), unfermented grape juice, grapes, raisins, grape seeds, and hulls, or anything else derived from the vineyard. The reference to seeds and hulls is probably hyperbolic, emphasizing the total abstinence from the vineyard. The vineyard restriction is paralleled by the Rechabite tradition that forbade the planting of vineyards, an indication of a sedentary lifestyle. Abstaining from the vineyard and related products was a personal and generally private act of special devotion of one\u2019s life and mind to the Lord.
\nThe vineyard and its produce thus can have an antithetical usage in the Bible. On one hand vineyards are evidence of Yahweh\u2019s great blessing upon the land (Isa 5:1\u20132, 7a; Jer 2:21). A large cluster of grapes was brought back by the team of spies who explored the land of Canaan prior to Israel\u2019s rejection of the land (Num 13:23\u201324). Wine is combined with various elements in the sacrificial system for worshiping God and making atonement (Num 15:5, 7, 10; 28:7\u201310, 14). Israelites living far from Jerusalem were even encouraged to purchase wine and strong drink along with sheep and cattle with money from their tithes, and then they would eat and drink these in the presence of the Lord with rejoicing (Deut 14:24\u201327). However, excessive consumption is condemned categorically (Prov 20:1; 23:30\u201331; 31:4; Isa 28:7). In the New Testament limitations regarding wine consumption are listed among the requirements for overseers and deacons, and drunkenness is the antithesis to being filled with the Spirit (Eph 5:18; 1 Cor 6:10).
\nRefraining from trimming the hair was the most visible evidence of an individual\u2019s decision to become a Nazirite. Holiness is associated with the length of the hair, the crowning glory of the Nazirite. Milgrom suggests that this characteristic was more important than the other two, since it is the one reason to avoid corpse contamination. Men would regularly trim or shave the hair on their heads, but women were less likely to do so. Allen suggests that the women, who would not regularly cut their hair, may have left their hair unkempt as a sign of their Nazirite consecration. Special rituals of shaving of the head and the body were performed in pagan cults in contrast to the Nazirite practice. Harrison compares the Nazirite\u2019s life to that of the unpruned vine of the jubilee year left undisturbed to allow the full maturity of the fruit.
\nThe avoidance of contact with a dead body parallels a similar restriction put upon the high priest (Lev 21:11). Both are to avoid a dead body, even that of a member of the immediate family. A corpse carried with it ritual uncleanness that would restrict a priest from service or a Nazirite from maintaining his or her vow. Upon entering into the Nazirite vow, one would not know the potential of a member of one\u2019s family passing away and the subsequent demand upon one\u2019s psyche being unable to go through the grief process. Jesus alludes to this aspect of the dedication of his disciples when he admonished them to \u201cFollow me, and let the dead bury their own dead\u201d (Matt 8:21\u201322).<\/p>\n
PURIFICATION FROM CORPSE DEFILEMENT (6:9\u201312)<\/p>\n
9 \u201c \u2018If someone dies suddenly in his presence, thus defiling the hair he has dedicated, he must shave his head on the day of his cleansing\u2014the seventh day. 10 Then on the eighth day he must bring two doves or two young pigeons to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. 11 The priest is to offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering to make atonement for him because he sinned by being in the presence of the dead body. That same day he is to consecrate his head. 12 He must dedicate himself to the LORD for the period of his separation and must bring a year-old male lamb as a guilt offering. The previous days do not count, because he became defiled during his separation.<\/p>\n
6:9\u201312 A particular case of uncleanness gave rise to special delineation of ritual purification for the Nazirite. Should a Nazirite become ritually contaminated accidentally by contact or undue proximity to a corpse, such as when an individual dies in the house or even in the arms of the consecrated person, what recourse was there to resume the period of voluntary consecration? Under normal circumstances, touching a dead body rendered one unclean for seven days (Num 19:11), and the ritual purification of the priests lasts seven days (Lev 8:33).
\nThe rededication of the Nazirite involved four steps: (1) shaving the head, (2) offering two small birds as sin and burnt offerings, (3) consecration of the head in rededication, and (4) offering a lamb as a guilt offering. On the seventh day the cleansing process commenced with the shaving of the hair, the final visible evidence of the vow. But whereas the ordinary person could be purified by the pouring of the sacred water mixed with the ashes of the red heifer, the resanctification of the Nazirite was more extensive. The following day two doves or pigeons were presented to the priest for sacrifice, one for a sin offering for the inadvertent abrogation of the vow and a second for a burnt offering in the ritual reconsecration of the person to God\u2019s service. The next rite in the ritual purification sequence was the consecration of the head, whereby the individual dedicates himself for the given period of time for which he had originally dedicated himself. Because of the defilement, the original vow has been annulled and must be completely reinstituted. None of the previous period counts toward the fulfillment of the vow. Finally, a year-old male lamb for a guilt offering is presented to the priest. Hence the normal order for expiation outlined in Leviticus is followed, sin offering (expiation), burnt offering (consecration), and the guilt offering (reparation).<\/p>\n
COMPLETION RITUALS OF THE NAZIRITE VOW (6:13\u201320)<\/p>\n
13 \u201c \u2018Now this is the law for the Nazirite when the period of his separation is over. He is to be brought to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. 14 There he is to present his offerings to the LORD: a year-old male lamb without defect for a burnt offering, a year-old ewe lamb without defect for a sin offering, a ram without defect for a fellowship offering, 15 together with their grain offerings and drink offerings, and a basket of bread made without yeast\u2014cakes made of fine flour mixed with oil, and wafers spread with oil.
\n16 \u201c \u2018The priest is to present them before the LORD and make the sin offering and the burnt offering. 17 He is to present the basket of unleavened bread and is to sacrifice the ram as a fellowship offering to the LORD, together with its grain offering and drink offering.
\n18 \u201c \u2018Then at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the Nazirite must shave off the hair that he dedicated. He is to take the hair and put it in the fire that is under the sacrifice of the fellowship offering.
\n19 \u201c \u2018After the Nazirite has shaved off the hair of his dedication, the priest is to place in his hands a boiled shoulder of the ram, and a cake and a wafer from the basket, both made without yeast. 20 The priest shall then wave them before the LORD as a wave offering; they are holy and belong to the priest, together with the breast that was waved and the thigh that was presented. After that, the Nazirite may drink wine.<\/p>\n
6:13\u201320 At the conclusion of the self-prescribed period of the Nazirite vow, that individual would bring the following sacrifices for presentation before the Lord at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting: (1) a year-old unblemished male lamb for a burnt offering, (2) a year-old unblemished female lamb for a sin offering, (3) an unblemished ram for a fellowship (peace) offering, (4) a basket of unleavened cakes (mats\u00f4t) and unleavened wafers. The three animal sacrifices were to be accompanied by the requisite grain and libation offerings, as described in Num 15:1\u201312.<\/p>\n
Sacrifice
\nElement
\nGrain + Oil
\nLibation
\nBurnt offering
\nMale Lamb
\n1\/10 eph + 1\/4 hin
\n1\/4 hin wine
\nSin offering
\nFemale Lamb
\n1\/10 eph + 1\/4 hin
\n1\/4 hin wine
\nFellowship offering
\nRam
\n2\/10 eph + 1\/3 hin
\n1\/3 hin wine<\/p>\n
The order in which the sacrifices are offered by the priest to Yahweh is slightly different from the restoration sequence outlined in vv. 9\u201312 and the listing in vv. 14\u201315. The sin offering (1) is sacrificed, followed by the burnt offering (2), and then the fellowship offering (3). The basket of cakes and wafers (4) are presented to the Lord, probably by setting them in front of the altar. Later the cakes and wafers are eaten by the priest and the Nazirite.
\nThe Nazirite then shaved off his consecrated hair, the sign of his devotion, and burned it in the fire upon which the fellowship offering had been placed. The hair was burned so as not to defile that which had been consecrated in the vow and hence in the burning was rendered totally unto God, the true source and possessor of holiness. The priest then took the boiled shoulder section (z\u0115r\u014da\u02bf) of the ram and placed it in the hands of the offerer along with one of the unleavened cakes and one of the wafers. The z\u0115r\u014da\u02bf as a portion of the fellowship\/peace offering belonging to the priests is only mentioned elsewhere in Deut 18:3. Normally the breast and the upper portion of the right hind leg were reserved for priestly consumption. A parallel to this practice has been observed in Egyptian, Mesopotamian, and Hittite texts and murals in which the right thigh was choice portion for presentation to their various deities. The boiling of sacrifices is known from pre-Israelite Lachish and from Shiloh during the premonarchial period (1 Sam 2:13\u201314).
\nThe Nazirite handed the elements back to the priest, who lifted and waved them before the Lord in symbolic celebration of God\u2019s faithful provision and faithfulness in enabling the Nazirite to complete this special period of holy service. The priests then ate their portions in communal fashion, and the former Nazirite (and probably other members of the family) would eat the other portions of the ram in joyous celebration in the presence of God, thus symbolizing union between God, priests, and people. At that joyful and delectable occasion, the former Nazirite also could resume drinking wine, from which he has been abstained for the given period.<\/p>\n
SUMMARY (6:21)<\/p>\n
21 \u201c \u2018This is the law of the Nazirite who vows his offering to the LORD in accordance with his separation, in addition to whatever else he can afford. He must fulfill the vow he has made, according to the law of the Nazirite.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
6:21 The section concludes with a summary statement parallel to other legislation in the Book of Numbers and elsewhere in the Pentateuch. Because 5:5\u20136:21 contains more general legislation and does not arise out a particular historical case in the context, the usual Numbers clause, \u201cThey did just as the LORD commanded Moses,\u201d is not employed. The conclusion does state that the offerings presented by the Nazirite at the conclusion of the vow are the minimal requirements. Additional sacrificial gifts may be made according to that which may have been committed by the individual at the commencement of the vow, as well as those possible with respect to the person\u2019s financial capability.
\nIn Acts 21:22\u201327, which describes Paul\u2019s journey back to Jerusalem, Luke describes the vow that Paul and four other men had taken that involved purification rites of shaving the head, seven days of cleansing, and living in obedience to the Torah. Luke also notes that Paul appealed for help for the four men in \u201cpaying their expenses,\u201d presumably for the sacrifices in completion of the Nazirite vow. The Mishnah describes the practice of wealthy individuals paying for the vow completion requirements for poor persons. Later, when brought before Felix in Caesarea, Paul was accused by Ananias the high priest and others of inciting riots and desecrating the temple. Regarding the matter of the temple, Paul offered in his defense his taking of the vow as proof of his being ceremonially clean when he entered the courts (Acts 24:1\u201321). To gain an audience with his people the Jews, he wanted to demonstrate his faithfulness to God and the Torah as a means of sharing a more excellent Way in the Law of Christ.<\/p>\n
THE PRIESTLY BLESSING (6:22\u201327)<\/p>\n
22 The LORD said to Moses, 23 \u201cTell Aaron and his sons, \u2018This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:
\n24 \u201c \u2018 \u201cThe LORD bless you
\nand keep you;
\n25 the LORD make his face shine upon you
\nand be gracious to you;
\n26 the LORD turn his face toward you
\nand give you peace.\u201d \u2019
\n27 \u201cSo they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.\u201d<\/p>\n
6:22\u201327 The conclusion to the first cycle of the Book of Numbers, and the purification and priestly section of the cycle, is an anticipatory benediction to be pronounced by Aaron and his sons over the people of Israel. Allen notes that whereas the Nazirite vow is a rite restricted to individuals, the words of the priestly blessing \u201care expansive and gracious, and they are inclusive of the whole community.\u201d The poetic style of the passage facilitated memory and provided an aesthetic dimension to the priestly legislation.
\nThat this blessing was important in the lives of ancient Israelites is attested in the copy of it found in the excavations of Ketef Hinnom to the southwest of Mount Zion and the Old City of Jerusalem. In digging within the compound of the Scottish St. Andrew\u2019s Church on the western slope of the Hinnom Valley in 1979, the expedition led by archaeologist G. Barkai unearthed a late seventh to sixth century B.C. burial complex. Among the remains recovered was a phylactery containing two silver scrolls the size of a small cigarette, upon which were written two versions of the priestly blessing. These had been used as amulets during the lives of the individuals interred there or as burial pendants. The text on the larger one is nearly identical to that of the Masoretic text, and an abbreviated version of the second and third blessings was written on the smaller. As such they attest the authenticity and antiquity of the Priestly Benediction. These texts also contain the oldest attestation to the Tetragrammaton found to date in Jerusalem. The text of the blessing had become a standardized liturgical form no later than the end of the preexilic period, with shortened forms in use by the same era. Ancient Near Eastern texts from the second millennium B.C. contain parallels to the themes of divine countenance, the lifting up of the face, and the blessing of well-being (\u0161alem).
\nThe poetic verbal and rhythmic structure of this short benediction has been delineated by several scholars. D. N. Freedman observed the following metric structure:<\/p>\n
1
\n3 wds
\n12 sylls
\ny\u0115b\u0101rek\u0115k\u0101
\nYHWH
\nv\u0115yi\u0161m\u0115rek\u0101
\n2
\n5 wds
\n14 sylls
\ny\u0101\u02be\u0113r
\nYHWH
\np\u0101n\u0101yw \u02be\u0113l\u00eak\u0101 w\u00ee\u1e25unnek\u0101
\n3
\n7 wds
\n16 sylls
\nyi\u0161\u0101\u02be
\nYHWH
\nYHWH p\u0101n\u0101yw \u02be\u0113l\u00eak\u0101 w\u0115y\u0101\u015b\u0113m l\u0115k\u0101 \u0161\u0101l\u00f4m<\/p>\n
The conclusion extends the expanding text in outlining the results of the benediction:<\/p>\n
4
\n8 wds
\n18 sylls
\nv\u0115\u015bm\u00fb \u02beet-\u0161\u0115m\u00ee \u02bfal-b\u0115n\u00ea yi\u015br\u0101\u02be\u0113l wa\u02be\u0103n\u00ee \u02be\u0103b\u0101r\u0103k\u0113m.<\/p>\n
The thrice-mentioned YHWH, which grammatically need not be repeated, and the final resounding \u201cI will [surely] bless you,\u201d serve to heighten the emphasis that the God of Israel is the source of all grace, blessing, hope, and peace. This passage reiterates the great covenant blessing of Gen 12:1\u20133, thereby providing continuity with that Pentateuchal foundational element. Wenham notes that \u201cas the lines of the blessing lengthen, their content becomes richer, producing a crescendo that culminates in the word peace (26). Each line has the LORD as its subject and is followed by two verbs, the second of which expands on the first.\u201d P. Miller adds that \u201cthe first clause of each line [invokes] God\u2019s movement towards his people, the second clause his activity on their behalf.\u201d The first and final words of the benediction are both forms of brk, forming a beautiful poetic inclusio. M. Fishbane observes that Malachi\u2019s diatribe against the priests in 1:6\u20132:9 provides a \u201ccounterexample\u201d of this blessing while utilizing the language of the benediction.
\nMay YHWH Bless You and Keep You. Blessing in the Pentateuch and more particularly in the Book of Numbers includes numerous descendants, fruitful land, good health, long life, protection from enemies, and God\u2019s abiding presence. The people also lived under the protective umbrella of his mighty hand and outstretched arm. They had experienced his deliverance from the terrible bondage of Egypt, as well as his provision and protection thus far through the wilderness, and that aspect of his blessing would guard them throughout their lives for generations to come.
\nYahweh\u2019s blessing upon his faithful people Israel was in turn to be an instrument of blessing upon the nations of the world (Gen 12:3; 22:18). From the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to their children\u2019s children, and to the ends of the earth, the purpose of Yahweh\u2019s blessing of Israel was a worldwide mission of blessing and hope. Psalm 67:1\u20132 provides an extension of this theme of blessing in the Book of Numbers:<\/p>\n
May God be gracious to us and bless us
\nand make his face shine upon us,
\nthat your ways may be known on earth,
\nyour salvation among all nations.<\/p>\n
May YHWH Shine His Face upon You and Grace You. The metaphor portraying God\u2019s face as light shining upon his people occurs in numerous biblical and extrabiblical texts. In Psalm 80 the phrase \u201cRestore us, O God [Almighty]; \/ make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved\u201d functions as a refrain in a context of a plea for God to deliver his people from oppression. In Ps 44:3 the psalmist praises God for victory that was accomplished over the enemies of God\u2019s children \u201cby your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, for you loved them.\u201d The imagery of the shining of the divine countenance occurs in several Mesopotamian and Ugaritic contexts, in which the gods bestow gifts and extend mercy to individuals or nations.
\nThe shining of Yahweh\u2019s face upon his people, by which his good pleasure and good acts will be exerted on behalf of his precious possession, is enhanced by the invoking of his grace (w\u00ee\u1e25unnek\u0101\u0304, \u201cand may he be gracious unto you\u201d). God\u2019s grace is an important theme throughout the Old Testament. Ashley notes, \u201c \u2018Grace\u2019 describes the attitude that issues in kindly action of a superior party to an inferior one in which the inferior has no claim on the superior.\u201d Humanity cannot earn his grace by obedience; that would be a form of compensation. Nor can God\u2019s grace be annulled by one\u2019s unfaithfulness. God extends his graciousness out of his steadfast covenant love (\u1e25esed) and self-determined will to bless whom he desires (Exod 33:19).
\nMay YHWH Lift His Face toward You and Give You Peace. The third and final colon of the Priestly Benediction invokes in a consummate expression God\u2019s grace and beneficence. Yahweh\u2019s lifting of his face, observes M. Gruber, is an expression referring \u201cto an appearance of the countenance expressive of pleasure and affection, functionally equivalent to \u2018smile.\u2019 \u201d The majestic smile of God upon the community of faith and each constituent individual will bring abiding and ultimate peace. Harrison notes that \u201cthe Lord\u2019s presence is radiating divine favor in the midst of His people\u201d and that as a result \u201cthey can confidently expect Him to pour out His covenant mercies upon them.\u201d This peace can be described variously as completeness, unity, well-being, prosperity, health, security, and wholeness.
\nThe peace that is bestowed upon redeemed humanity by the light of God\u2019s countenance surpasses finite human comprehension. The ultimate expression of peace for humanity came through Jesus Christ, who brought us peace with God through his suffering (Isa 53:5). The announcement of the host of angels at the birth of Christ brought a message of peace to those upon whom God\u2019s favor rests (Luke 2:14). In the context of the promise of the Holy Spirit, Jesus reminded his disciples of the kind of peace God shines upon his children: \u201cPeace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and be not afraid\u201d (John 14:27).
\nSo They Will Put My Name on the Israelites, and I Will Bless Them. The pronouncement of the prayer by the priests will confer the Name of Yahweh upon the children of Israel. As Allen states, \u201cThe prayer is designed to help the people experience the reality of the blessing of the Lord whose delight is to bring that blessing near; his promise is that he will do just that very thing.\u201d The Name Yahweh carries with it the covenantal promise of his divine presence with his people, even through the deserts of Sinai, Paran, and Zin, and into the Promised Land. In the land of his blessing, which Israel will inherit as his possession, the people will experience the fullness of his blessing of security, prosperity, wholeness, and well-being.
\nHence the first Sinai cycle concludes with a reminder of the relationship Yahweh has with his people Israel. The coalescing themes of identity and relationship, blessing and abundance through his Name are echoed by the words of Deut 28:8\u201311, where the blessing turns outward toward the nations:<\/p>\n
The LORD will send a blessing on your barns
\nand on everything you put your hand to.
\nThe LORD your God will bless you
\nin the land he is giving you.
\nThe LORD will establish you as his holy people,
\nas he has promised you on oath,
\nif you keep the commands of the LORD your God
\nand walk in his ways.
\nThen all the peoples on earth will see
\nthat you are called by the Name of the LORD,
\nand they will fear you.
\nThe LORD will grant you abundant prosperity\u2014
\nin the fruit of your womb,
\nthe young of your livestock
\nand the crops of your ground\u2014
\nin the land he swore to your forefathers to give you.<\/p>\n
The blessings of Deut 28:1\u201314 were set in the context of diligent obedience to the covenant stipulations. The benediction of Numbers 6 concludes a cycle of material focused on the faithful, unified community of God\u2019s people, with the symbolic presence of God in the tabernacle as center. The fullness of this blessing in the experience of Israel\u2019s future history would come as a result of their continued faithfulness, though not always directly dependent in a cause-effect sequence upon their dutiful obedience. God\u2019s grace will be manifested numerous times in the rebellion cycles of Numbers as when God promises to bless his people in the land (15:1ff.), in spite of the fact that they had just rejected it (13:28\u201314:28). Throughout Israel\u2019s history God\u2019s grace and longsuffering will be evidenced, even in the midst of his people\u2019s disobedience.
\nEzekiel tells of how Israel went on to profane the Name among the nations by their unfaithfulness, which led to exile in Assyria and Babylon. But the Lord promised to show himself holy to Israel and the nations by restoring the nation, giving the people a new heart and a new spirit and pouring out his blessing again upon the land of his inheritance (Ezek 36:22\u201330).
\nIn the New Testament, Jesus said that he came in the Father\u2019s Name (John 5:43) and performed miracles in his father\u2019s name (John 10:25), living out the Name to the fullest. To the apostles the Name of Jesus was the ultimate transcending name (Phil 2:9), the source of salvation (Rom 10:13), and the power of health and healing (Acts 3:6; 4:9).<\/p>\n
2. Sinai Cycle B: Tabernacle and Celebration (7:1\u201310:10)<\/p>\n
The second of the two Sinai cycles may be outlined as follows:<\/p>\n
Sinai Cycle B: Tabernacle Celebration (7:1\u201310:10)
\n1. Historical Reference\u2014Tabernacle Completion (7:1)
\n2. Tabernacle Offerings\u2014Tribal Lists (7:1\u201389)
\n3. Menorah Lamp Arrangement\u2014Light (8:1\u20134)
\n4. Levites\u2019 Installation (8:5\u201326)
\n5. The Second Passover: New Delineations (9:1\u201314)
\n6. Pattern of the Journey: The Lord in the Cloud (9:15\u201323)
\n7. Trumpets for Marching and Celebration (10:1\u201310)<\/p>\n
(1) Offerings of the Leaders of the Israelite Tribes (7:1\u201389)<\/p>\n
The first cycle focused God\u2019s bountiful blessings on the delivered people and on their wholeness and holiness. The priests and Levites were assigned tasks in service of the sanctuary, matters of purification within the community were delineated, and a special form of dedicatory service was defined for the laity. The cycle concluded with the Priestly Benediction, which pronounced God\u2019s plan to watch over his people and bless them with grace and peace. Through God\u2019s blessing they would demonstrate to the nations all that was represented in his wondrous name.
\nThe theme of the second Sinai cycle is the celebration of God\u2019s presence. Note the following outline:<\/p>\n
1. Historical Setting
\nAfter the completion of the tabernacle (7:1; 9:15)
\nPassover in the second year (9:1)
\n2. Twelve Tribe Listing
\nRepresentatives of the twelve tribes bring offerings (7:2\u201389)
\n3. Cycle Development
\nTabernacle Celebration: Offerings, Menorah Lamps, and Cloud (7:2\u201389; 8:1\u20133; 9:15\u201323; 10:1\u201310)
\n4. Priests and Levites
\nInstallation of Levites for tabernacle Service (8:5\u201326)
\n5. Law and Purification
\nPassover Celebration\u2014Second Month Alternative (9:1\u201314)<\/p>\n
In deviating from the form outline, emphasis on the primary theme of tabernacle celebration in the cycle development is conveyed throughout. Two historical settings are provided: (1) tabernacle offerings at the completion of the tabernacle on the first day of the first month of the first year (7:1; 9:15) and the second Passover celebration beginning on the fourteenth day of the first month (9:1\u20132).
\nThe twelve-tribe listing is integrated into the offerings for the tabernacle, thus reflecting the unity and harmony of the people of God in worship. The repetitiveness of the offerings provides a continuously resonant reminder of the total tribal support for the worship center (the tabernacle), the worship leadership (the priesthood), the worship process (sacrifice), and the worshiped God (Yahweh, who gives graciously to his special creation). In cycles three through five, this fellowship will be shattered by rebellion against God, Moses, and Aaron and the priesthood, refusal of the gracious gift of the Promised Land, and rejection of the tribal harmony represented in this section.
\nThe Levites are installed via purification ritual for their declared purpose of serving as God\u2019s intermediaries in the worship process. Further matters of law are set forth in relation to the necessary purification for the celebration of God\u2019s salvation in the Exodus. The law makes provision for persons rendered unclean for various reasons to celebrate the Passover. The section concludes with the instruction for the people to move out from Sinai and into the larger wilderness in harmony with the symbol of God\u2019s presence, following the divine cloud as heralded by the priests on the silver trumpets.<\/p>\n
HISTORICAL SETTING AND INTRODUCTION (7:1\u201311)<\/p>\n
1 When Moses finished setting up the tabernacle, he anointed it and consecrated it and all its furnishings. He also anointed and consecrated the altar and all its utensils. 2 Then the leaders of Israel, the heads of families who were the tribal leaders in charge of those who were counted, made offerings. 3 They brought as their gifts before the LORD six covered carts and twelve oxen\u2014an ox from each leader and a cart from every two. These they presented before the tabernacle.
\n4 The LORD said to Moses, 5 \u201cAccept these from them, that they may be used in the work at the Tent of Meeting. Give them to the Levites as each man\u2019s work requires.\u201d
\n6 So Moses took the carts and oxen and gave them to the Levites. 7 He gave two carts and four oxen to the Gershonites, as their work required, 8 and he gave four carts and eight oxen to the Merarites, as their work required. They were all under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron, the priest. 9 But Moses did not give any to the Kohathites, because they were to carry on their shoulders the holy things, for which they were responsible.
\n10 When the altar was anointed, the leader brought their offerings for its dedication and presented them before the altar. 11 For the LORD had said to Moses, \u201cEach day one leader is to bring his offering for the dedication of the altar.\u201d<\/p>\n
7:1\u201311 The initial historical setting for this section is the conclusion of the construction of the tabernacle in the Sinai Desert at the foot of God\u2019s mountain, described in Exod 40:17 as the first day of the first month of the second year. The following synchronous table shows the sequence of events from Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers:<\/p>\n
Chronology of Events in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers<\/p>\n
Date
\nScripture
\nEvent
\n1.14.1
\nExod 14:6, 30\u201331
\nExodus from Egypt
\n3.14.1
\nExod 19:1
\nIsraelites arrive at Sinai
\n1.1.2
\nExod 40:2, 17
\nTabernacle erected with Tent of Meeting
\nLev 8:1\u201336
\nPriestly sanctification begins
\nLev 1:1\u20137:38
\nAltar offerings commence
\nNum 7:1, 3
\nTribal offerings begin
\nNum 9:15
\nCloud covers tabernacle
\n1.8.2
\nLev 9:1
\nPriestly sanctification concluded
\n1.12.2
\nNum 7:78\u201383
\nTribal offerings completed
\n1.14.2
\nNum 9:1
\nSecond Passover
\n2.1.2
\nNum 1:1\u20132
\nFirst census commences
\n2.14.2
\nNum 9:11
\nSecond Passover for the Unclean
\n2.20.2
\nNum 10:11
\nCloud moves\u2014Israel departs Sinai<\/p>\n
The first day of the second year after the Exodus was a momentous day that saw the completion of the tabernacle, the commencement of sacrificial offerings, gifts for worship service from the tribe of Judah, provision from the tribes of carts and oxen for tabernacle transport, and the settling of the cloud of the presence of God. A people in communion with God was ready to worship in harmony and experience his abiding presence.
\nThe narrative preterite form way\u0115h\u00ee introduces a new narrative section that resets the historical setting in the context of Moses\u2019 completion of the tabernacle construction and sanctification. It also introduces the general overview of the chapter in 7:2\u201311 and marks the division of the chapter in v. 12, where the daily presentation of offerings by each of the tribes commences. An inclusio utilizing the term yaqr\u00eeb\u00fb (\u201cthey brought near\u201d) brackets the section, thereby emphasizing the process of approaching the altar, the point of mediation with God, with various gifts. Coppes observes that this common technical term in the cult \u201cconnotes every step man performs in presenting his offering to God.\u201d Nominal and verbal forms of q\u0101rab occur thirty-five times in this chapter.
\nAt the completion of the tabernacle construction, Moses carries out the ritual purification of the structure and its furnishings via anointing with oil (m\u0161\u1e25) and consecrating (qd\u0161) rites, thus setting them apart for special service by the priests and Levites in the center of Yahweh worship. Attention then is turned to the altar toward and upon which the tribal offerings will be brought and sacrificed and the various utensils employed. The same anointing and consecrating rites were exercised in the dedication of the altar. The initial collective gifts of carts and oxen for transportation of the tabernacle and its goods are donated equally by the leaders of the tribes. The two carts and four oxen presented by Moses to the Gershonites were for carrying the various curtains and coverings for the tabernacle (4:21\u201328), and the four carts and eight oxen presented to the Merarites provided the necessary means for transporting the poles, bases, crossbars, ropes, and other framing structures (4:29\u201333). Ithamar the priest was appointed as overseer of the activities of these two clans of Levites. None of the carts and oxen were granted to the Kohathites, since they were to transport the ark and other implements of worship on their shoulders with the poles. Moses plays the role of mediator and facilitator in accepting the carts and oxen from the tribal leaders and formally presenting them to the Levites.
\nNotable is the fact that these gifts, as well as the plenteous vessels and offerings that follow in vv. 12\u201388, were presented by the tribal leaders spontaneously (rather than by divine command) as the people responded to God\u2019s graciousness and faithfulness. In harmonious concert the tribal leaders, as representatives of the larger population of Israelites, voluntarily initiated these acts of service of the God who brought them forth from Egypt, constituted them as a nation, and provided them the Torah. The Lord desires all his people to respond to his faithfulness by harmonious service and willful giving of themselves and their abundance. By doing so they offer complete worship.<\/p>\n
TRIBAL GIFTS DELINEATED (7:12\u201383)<\/p>\n
12 The one who brought his offering on the first day was Nahshon son of Amminadab of the tribe of Judah. 13 His offering was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; 14 one gold dish weighing ten shekels, filled with incense; 15 one young bull, one ram and one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; 16 one male goat for a sin offering; 17 and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old, to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering. This was the offering of Nahshon son of Amminadab.<\/p>\n
18 On the second day Nethanel son of Zuar, the leader of Issachar, brought his offering. 19 The offering he brought was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; 20 one gold dish weighing ten shekels, filled with incense; 21 one young bull, one ram and one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; 22 one male goat for a sin offering; 23 and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old, to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering. This was the offering of Nethanel son of Zuar.<\/p>\n
24 On the third day, Eliab son of Helon, the leader of the people of Zebulun, brought his offering. 25 His offering was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; 26 one gold dish weighing ten shekels, filled with incense; 27 one young bull, one ram and one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; 28 one male goat for a sin offering; 29 and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old, to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering. This was the offering of Eliab son of Helon.<\/p>\n
30 On the fourth day Elizur son of Shedeur, the leader of the people of Reuben, brought his offering. 31 His offering was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; 32 one gold dish weighing ten shekels, filled with incense; 33 one young bull, one ram and one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; 34 one male goat for a sin offering; 35 and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old, to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering. This was the offering of Elizur son of Shedeur.<\/p>\n
36 On the fifth day Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai, the leader of the people of Simeon, brought his offering. 37 His offering was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; 38 one gold dish weighing ten shekels, filled with incense; 39 one young bull, one ram and one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; 40 one male goat for a sin offering; 41 and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old, to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering. This was the offering of Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai.<\/p>\n
42 On the sixth day Eliasaph son of Deuel, the leader of the people of Gad, brought his offering. 43 His offering was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; 44 one gold dish weighing ten shekels, filled with incense; 45 one young bull, one ram and one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; 46 one male goat for a sin offering; 47 and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old, to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering. This was the offering of Eliasaph son of Deuel.<\/p>\n
48 On the seventh day Elishama son of Ammihud, the leader of the people of Ephraim, brought his offering. 49 His offering was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; 50 one gold dish weighing ten shekels, filled with incense; 51 one young bull, one ram and one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; 52 one male goat for a sin offering; 53 and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old, to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering. This was the offering of Elishama son of Ammihud.<\/p>\n
54 On the eighth day Gamaliel son of Pedahzur, the leader of the people of Manasseh, brought his offering. 55 His offering was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; 56 one gold dish weighing ten shekels, filled with incense; 57 one young bull, one ram and one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; 58 one male goat for a sin offering; 59 and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old, to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering. This was the offering of Gamaliel son of Pedahzur.<\/p>\n
60 On the ninth day Abidan son of Gideoni, the leader of the people of Benjamin, brought his offering. 61 His offering was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; 62 one gold dish weighing ten shekels, filled with incense; 63 one young bull, one ram and one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; 64 one male goat for a sin offering; 65 and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old, to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering. This was the offering of Abidan son of Gideoni.<\/p>\n
66 On the tenth day Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai, the leader of the people of Dan, brought his offering. 67 His offering was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; 68 one gold dish weighing ten shekels, filled with incense; 69 one young bull, one ram and one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; 70 one male goat for a sin offering; 71 and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old, to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering. This was the offering of Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai.<\/p>\n
72 On the eleventh day Pagiel son of Ocran, the leader of the people of Asher, brought his offering. 73 His offering was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; 74 one gold dish weighing ten shekels, filled with incense; 75 one young bull, one ram and one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; 76 one male goat for a sin offering; 77 and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old, to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering. This was the offering of Pagiel son of Ocran.<\/p>\n
78 On the twelfth day Ahira son of Enan, the leader of the people of Naphtali, brought his offering. 79 His offering was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; 80 one gold dish weighing ten shekels, filled with incense; 81 one young bull, one ram and one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; 82 one male goat for a sin offering; 83 and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old, to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering. This was the offering of Ahira son of Enan.<\/p>\n
7:12\u201383 In resounding fashion each of the twelve tribal leaders brings corresponding contributions of cultic vessels and sacrificial offerings, presented before the altar for the community worship of Yahweh, God of Israel. G. Wenham notes that the presentation offerings by representatives from each of the tribes \u201cset a precedent and demonstrated that the worship was for every tribe and supported by every tribe.\u201d For twelve successive days, beginning on the first day of the first month, a tribal head would present his assortment of gifts before Aaron and Moses in the outer court where the altar had been placed. No one tribe superseded another in the type or magnitude of the offerings, thereby echoing the unity and harmonious effort of the community through its designated leaders.
\nThe pattern of the text for each of the tribal presentations is as follows: (1) day of presentation, (2) identity of the tribal leader, (3) vessel offerings, (4) sacrificial offerings, (5) inclusio of the identity of the tribal leader. Levine describes chap. 7 as \u201cprimarily an administrative record\u201d of the priestly cultic tradition. Following the traditional pattern of temple records of the ancient Near East, Levine suggests that the original text was a tabular list, \u201cintended to be read both horizontally and vertically.\u201d The textual structure of the first three days reflects a progressive compression of the introductory formula for describing the presentation, after which the pattern is consistent in vv. 24\u201383. Levine states: \u201cThe system of numeration employed in Num 7:12\u201388 is perhaps the most revealing feature of all, because it directly links biblical records to known methods of ancient Near Eastern accounting. In Num 7:12\u201388 the sequence of numeration is (a) item, (b) numeral (quantity); for example, b\u0101q\u0101r \u0161\u0115nayim, \u2018oxen\u20132.\u2019 \u201d G. Wenham claims, however, that the repetitive nature of the material is primarily theological. He writes: \u201cIt seems likely that a theological purpose underlies his wordiness: to emphasize as strongly as possible that every tribe had an equal stake in the worship of God, and that each was fully committed to the support of the tabernacle and its priesthood.\u201d Actually both may have played a part in the form of the text as it now stands. The original accounting by Moses, Aaron, and his sons the priests may have been in tabular form after the manner of ancient Near Eastern accounting. Then fully incorporated into the narrative form of the text. The various vessels in the tabular account are listed in descending order by weight, as are the various animals sacrificed under each category. The list for each of the twelve tribal leaders is as follows:<\/p>\n
Item
\nWeight
\nContents
\n1 Silver Plate
\n130 shekels
\nfine flour + oil (grain offering)
\n1 Silver Bowl
\n70 shekels
\nfine flour + oil (grain offering)
\n1 Gold Dish
\n10 shekels
\nincense
\nOffering Type
\nAnimals
\nConsecration: Burnt (\u02bf\u014dl\u00e2)
\n1 young bull 1 ram 1 lamb (yr old male)
\nAtonement: Sin offering (\u1e25a\u1e6d\u1e6d\u0101\u02be\u0101t)
\ngoat (male)
\nCommunion: Peace\/well-being
\n2 oxen 5 rams 5 goats 5 lambs (yr old male) (\u0161\u0115l\u00f4m\u00eem)<\/p>\n
The craftsmen of the three types of utensils used the sanctuary shekel, a measurement used in the cultic context for weighing gifts and sacrifices or determining their monetary value. The term shekel was used throughout the Levant and Mesopotamia as a standard weight measure, generally ranging from ten to thirteen grams. Milgrom and Wenham compute the resultant weights of the objects as approximately three pounds for the large silver plate, two pounds for the silver basin, and four ounces for the small gold ladle for the incense.
\nThe order of the offerings in each of the tribal presentations reflects an administrative setting rather than the normal functional order within the cult. A. F. Rainey noted that the grain and oil offerings are listed within the context of the vessels in which they are administered in the cultic practice rather than in conjunction with the various animal offerings they accompanied in the actual sacrificial procedures. Only the guilt offering (Lev 5:14\u20136:7; 7:1\u201310) is not mentioned in this context of consecration and celebration. As Wenham notes, \u201cThe guilt offering was not a part of the normal round of official sacrifices. It was reserved for serious sins, such as sacrilege, the abuse of oaths, adultery with a slave girl, or breach of the Nazirite vow.\u201d No specific covenant abrogation is outlined in this context of celebration, and the sin offerings presented are those that are necessary for general atonement prior to consecration and fellowship sacrifices. The normal ritual sequence of the sacrifices was atonement\/sin\u2014consecration\/burnt\u2014communal\/peace, as is evidenced in the ordination and inauguration of the Aaronic priesthood (Lev 8:1\u20139:21). Hence, the order presented is for administrative purposes rather than for setting the prescribed sequence for each of the offerings. The overarching purpose of the text in the Book of Numbers is the setting forth of a theology of worship and celebration that emphasizes the collective unity and harmony of the people of God, the abundant sacrificial giving of the people, the equal status of all offerers, the role of representative leadership, and the responsiveness of God, who provides for and communes with his faithful servants.<\/p>\n
Tribal Order of Presentation<\/p>\n
1. JUDAH
\nNahshon ben Amminadab (7:12\u201317)
\n2. ISSACHAR
\nNathanel ben Zuar (7:18\u201323)
\n3. ZEBULUN
\nEliab ben Helon (7:24\u201329)
\n4. REUBEN
\nElizur ben Shedeur (7:30\u201335)
\n5. SIMEON
\nShelumiel ben Zurishaddai (7:36\u201341)
\n6. GAD
\nEliasaph ben Deuel (7:42\u201347)
\n7. EPHRAIM
\nElishama ben Ammihud (7:48\u201353)
\n8. MANASSEH
\nGamaliel ben Pedahzur (7:54\u201359)
\n9. BENJAMIN
\nAbidan ben Gideoni (7:60\u201365)
\n10. DAN
\nAhiezer ben Ammishaddai (7:66\u201371)
\n11. ASHER
\nPagiel ben Ocran (7:72\u201377)
\n12. NAPHTALI
\nAhira ben Enan (7:78\u201383)<\/p>\n
The order of the tribes is the same as in 2:2\u201331, which outlines the organization of the tribes around the central sanctuary and the order of the march through the wilderness. The account in Num 10:14\u201328 also reflects the tribal order of the first march from Sinai. These same patriarchal princes of the tribes, who led the way in bringing the offerings, would be appointed (in different order) to conduct the first census at the beginning of the second month, or two and one-half weeks after the completion of the offering presentations. Again the unity and harmony of the people of God in worship and service are emphasized in the text.<\/p>\n
SUMMARY OF OFFERINGS PRESENTED (7:84\u201388)<\/p>\n
84 These were the offerings of the Israelite leaders for the dedication of the altar when it was anointed: twelve silver plates, twelve silver sprinkling bowls and twelve gold dishes. 85 Each silver plate weighed a hundred and thirty shekels, and each sprinkling bowl seventy shekels. Altogether, the silver dishes weighed two thousand four hundred shekels, according to the sanctuary shekel. 86 The twelve gold dishes filled with incense weighed ten shekels each, according to the sanctuary shekel. Altogether, the gold dishes weighed a hundred and twenty shekels. 87 The total number of animals for the burnt offering came to twelve young bulls, twelve rams and twelve male lambs a year old, together with their grain offering. Twelve male goats were used for the sin offering. 88 The total number of animals for the sacrifice of the fellowship offering came to twenty-four oxen, sixty rams, sixty male goats and sixty male lambs a year old. These were the offerings for the dedication of the altar after it was anointed.<\/p>\n
7:84\u201388 In the characteristic Pentateuchal pattern, a summary total of all of the offerings is delineated. Again the phrase \u201cdedication of the altar when it was anointed\u201d provides the literary bracketing (inclusio) for the section of the text, connecting the summary with literary symmetry to the introduction in vv. 1 and 11. The repetition of the phrase \u201cdedication of the altar\u201d (\u1e25\u0103nukat hammizb\u0113a\u1e25) in another inclusio likewise provides unity to the literary subunit of vv. 84\u201388. Totals of the cultic items and offerings are as follows:<\/p>\n
Item
\nWeight
\nTotal
\n12 Silver Plates
\n130 shekels
\n1,560 shekels
\n12 Silver Bowls
\n70 shekels
\n840 shekels
\nSilver total 2,400 shekels
\n12 Gold Dishes
\n10 shekels
\n120 shekels
\nOffering Type
\nTotal Animals
\nConsecration: Burnt (\u02bf\u014dl\u00e2)
\n12 young bulls 12 rams 12 lambs (1 yr. male)
\nAtonement: Sin offering (\u1e25a\u1e6d\u1e6d\u0101\u02be\u0101t)
\n12 goats (male)
\nCommunion: Peace\/well-being
\n24 oxen 60 rams 60 goats 60 lambs (1 yr. male) (\u0161\u0115l\u00f4m\u00eem)
\nConclusion: Dedication Offerings for the ALTAR after anointed
\nCf. to cleansing of the Holy Place on Yom Kippur<\/p>\n
YAHWEH SPEAKS WITH MOSES (7:89)<\/p>\n
89 When Moses entered the Tent of Meeting to speak with the LORD, he heard the voice speaking to him from between the two cherubim above the atonement cover on the ark of the Testimony. And he spoke with him.<\/p>\n
7:89 The conclusion to this concert of celebration in the presentation of gifts and offerings is revelation, which fulfills the promise of Exod 25:22, \u201cThere, above the cover [mercy seat] between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites.\u201d Earlier Moses is described as meeting with Yahweh in a tent outside the camp, and the people worshiped God as they observed the cloud descending upon it. The Tent of Meeting had been set up in the tabernacle on the first day of the first month (Exod 40:2\u201317), but Moses was not able to enter the Tent at that time when the cloud covered the Tent and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle (Exod 40:34\u201335). But now, with the completion of the tabernacle and the twelve days of consecration, Yahweh meets with Moses in the midst of his people, revealing himself in a new setting. The ultimate fulfillment and demonstration of this image is expressed by the apostle John when he declared: \u201cThe Word became flesh and made his dwelling [\u201ctabernacled\u201d] among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth\u201d (John 1:14).
\nMany critical scholars take this passage as an unrelated appendage to the story of the tabernacle consecration. Davies succinctly epitomizes this viewpoint: \u201cThis verse is clearly an isolated fragment bearing no obvious connection with what precedes or with what follows.\u201d From a slightly different vantage point, Levine describes the import of this verse as \u201cphenomenological,\u201d designed to bring together two source traditions: (1) to \u201cacknowledge the function of the tabernacle as an oraculum\u201d (Elohist) and (2) cult and sacrificial role of the tent (Priestly).\u201d The sequence of this passage following the tabernacle celebration, however, closely parallels that of Lev 8:1\u20139:24. After the instructions to offer the same set of sacrifices for priestly ordination\u2014namely sin, burnt, and fellowship\u2014Moses and Aaron entered and exited the Tent of Meeting (9:23); and then the glory of the Lord appeared to the people. Joy and worship ensued. In Num 7:89 divine disclosure followed the bringing of sacrifices. As Harrison summarizes, \u201cThe Lord is communicating through Moses to the people and by implication making Himself available to the Israelites when they need an intermediary through whom they can present petitions to him.\u201d Additionally, the following chapter may contain a portion of the word received from the Lord in this setting.<\/p>\n
(2) Menorah Lamp Arrangement (8:1\u20134)<\/p>\n
1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 \u201cSpeak to Aaron and say to him, \u2018When you set up the seven lamps, they are to light the area in front of the lampstand.\u2019 \u201d
\n3 Aaron did so; he set up the lamps so that they faced forward on the lampstand, just as the LORD commanded Moses. 4 This is how the lampstand was made: It was made of hammered gold\u2014from its base to its blossoms. The lampstand was made exactly like the pattern the LORD had shown Moses.<\/p>\n
8:1\u20134 In the continuing celebration focus of the second cycle of the Book of Numbers, this passage provides further clarification of the positioning of the lamps on the tabernacle menorah so as to provide ample light for the altar of incense and the table of the bread of the presence. The placement of this passage in the present cycle sequence serves two purposes. (1) Since in chap. 7 the heads of the twelve tribes bring offerings for the tabernacle celebration, in chap. 8 the head of the tribe of Levi is provided instruction for the proper arrangement of and attendance to the lampstand, which enables the celebration to continue within the tabernacle enclosure. (2) It provides continuity and expansion of previous tabernacle and priestly related material. The lampstand was previously mentioned in 3:31 and 4:9 among the articles covered, placed on a frame, and transported by the Kohathites. The Menorah was necessary to ensure the proper lighting for various cultic activities within the tabernacle. As Milgrom states: \u201cOnly when God began to speak to Moses from the Holy of Holies, after the consecration of the tabernacle, did Moses receive the final instructions concerning the operation of the menorah.\u201d
\nThe passage commences with the familiar introductory formula of divine speech, way\u0115dabb\u0113r YHWH \u02beel m\u014d\u0161eh l\u0113\u02bem\u014dr, providing continuity with the previous revelatory sectional introductions and with the tabernacle setting of 7:89. The repetition of this phrase echoes one of the key themes of the Book of Numbers, God revealing himself to his people. Another complementary theme evidenced twice here is obedience to the Lord\u2019s commands. This theme will recur throughout this cycle and into the beginning of the following section.
\nInstructions are given through Moses for Aaron to place the seven individual lamps that sat upon the seven tiers of the tabernacle menorah in such a way that they project light \u201ctoward the front\u201d (\u02beel-m\u00fbl) of the lampstand. Previously, instructions were given for its construction (Exod 25:31\u201340), its provision of oil for continuous burning (Exod 27:20\u201321), and its construction process (Exod 37:17\u201324). Inasmuch as the menorah was placed near the southern wall of the tabernacle (Exod 26:35), this positioning of the bowl-shaped vessels would cast the light more efficiently northward across the front of the veil separating the holy of holies.
\nThe golden menorah was shaped after the pattern shown Moses on the mountain. It took the form of a seven-branched flowering tree. Emphasis is placed upon the extent to which the menorah was made from hammered gold, for the text reads literally, \u201cNow this is the making of the menorah, hammered gold even from its base and to its blossom[s] hammered it was.\u201d Milgrom notes that the term \u201cblossom\u201d (pirch\u0101h) \u201cis a collective noun for the 22 floral projections on the central stem and on the six branches of the menorah (see Exod 25:31\u201336).\u201d This tree of light recalls the tree of life of Gen 2:10; 3:22\u201324, crafted with seven tiers, symbolic of perfection, and, as Ashley summarizes, \u201cThe whole menorah might be said to symbolize God\u2019s perfect presence and life illuminating his sanctuary and, through Moses, his people.\u201d The writer of Hebrews reminds us that the earthly tabernacle was but a shadowy imitation of the heavenly sanctuary, \u201can illustration for the present time\u201d (9:9). But the fullness of light dawned \u201cwhen Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, and he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves, but he entered the Most Holy place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption\u201d (9:11\u201312).<\/p>\n
(3) Installation of the Levites (8:5\u201326)<\/p>\n
This passage outlines the purification and ordination of the Levites who assisted the Aaronic priests in guarding and transporting the tabernacle and its furnishings. The conclusion (8:15\u201326) contains several recurring motifs that were presented in the initial passages outlining the roles and responsibilities of the Levites. In the two Sinai cycles, a progressive expansion of and detailing of matters relating to the Levites is evidenced in the following structural outline.<\/p>\n
The Role of the Levites in the Sinai Cycles<\/p>\n
A (1:47\u201354)
\nSeminal Instructions to Levites
\nAppointed in Charge of Tabernacle Guard\u2014Encamp around It\u2014Transport Did as YHWH Commanded (1:54)
\nB (3:5\u201310)
\nPresentation of the Levites to the Aaronic Priesthood
\nAssist Priests\u2014Guard
\nPerform the Service (la\u02bf\u0103b\u014dd \u02beet-\u02bf\u0103b\u014ddat, 3:7, 8)
\nC (3:11\u201313)
\nLevites as Firstborn
\nBelong to Yahweh
\nD (3:14\u201339)
\nLevite Census (22,000\u20131 Mo.+)
\nDuties Expanded\u2014Encampment Order
\nGershon\u2014Kohath\u2014Merari
\nE (3:40\u201351)
\nIsraelite Firstborn Census (22,273)
\nLevites and Firstborn Redemption
\nD\u00b4 (4:1\u201349)
\nLevite Census for Service (Thirty\u2013Fifty Yrs.)
\nDuties Detailed
\nKohath\u2014Gershon\u2014Merari
\nB\u00b4 (8:5\u201314)
\nPurification and Sanctification of the Levites
\nCleanse by Sprinkling w\/ Waters of Purification
\nSacrificial Offerings\u2014Burnt (Bull) and Sin (Bull)
\nPresentation to Israel as Wave Offering
\nA\u00b4 (8:15\u201326)
\nSummary of Levitical Roles
\nPerform the Service (la\u02bf\u0103b\u014dd \u02beet-\u02bf\u0103b\u014ddat 3:7, 8; 4:23, 30, 47\u20138:11, 19, 22)
\nGiven Wholly to YHWH (3:9\u20138:14, 16)
\nFirstborn Substitute (3:11\u201313, 41\u201351\u20138:16, 18\u201319
\nPrevent Death of Israelites (3:10, 38\u20138:19)
\nDeliverance from Egypt Motif (3:12\u201313\u20138:17)
\nDid as YHWH commanded (1:54; 3:16, 39, 42, 51; 4:37, 41, 45, 49\u20138:20\u201322)
\nPriests and Levites 18:1\u201332
\n18:1\u20137
\nPriests Duties: Responsibility for Offenses versus Sanctuary
\nLevites Duties: Assist and Perform Service of Tent of Meeting
\n18:8\u201320
\nSacrificial Provisions for the Priests (18:8\u201320)
\n18:21\u201324
\nGeneral Responsibilities of the Levites (18:21\u201324)
\n18:25\u201332
\nLevite Tithes and Offerings (18:25\u201332)<\/p>\n
At the nexus of this chiastic structure are the dual roles of the Levites as the firstborn substitute for Israel and the organization of the group for service, by census and the delineation of duties in service of Yahweh in the tabernacle. The present pericope recapitulates the major themes of the entire Levitical corpus in the Sinai cycles.
\nMilgrom has discerned an additional chiastic structure in Num 8:5\u201322 that has a similar focus:<\/p>\n
A Introduction (8:5\u20136)
\nB Prescriptive Procedure (8:7\u201313)
\nX The Rationale (8:14\u201319)
\nB\u00b4 Descriptive Procedure (8:20\u201322a)
\nA\u00b4 Conclusion (8:22b)<\/p>\n
In the \u201cRationale\u201d Milgrom delineates four elements: (1) separates Levites for God, (2) qualify Levites for sanctuary labor, (3) replace firstborn with Levites, and (4) ransom Israelites from sacrilege of encroachment.<\/p>\n
RITUAL CLEANSING (8:5\u20137)<\/p>\n
5 The LORD said to Moses: 6 \u201cTake the Levites from among the other Israelites and make them ceremonially clean. 7 To purify them, do this: Sprinkle the water of cleansing on them; then have them shave their whole bodies and wash their clothes, and so purify themselves.<\/p>\n
8:5\u20137 The ceremonial installation of the Levites involved several ritual acts: (1) purification via sprinkling of the \u201cwater of cleansing,\u201d (2) shaving of the body, (3) washing of clothes, (4) selection of sacrificial animals, (5) presentation of the Levites before the Israelites at the Tent of Meeting, (6) laying on of hands, (7) presentation of Levites to Yahweh as a wave offering, (8) sacrifice of the bull of the sin offering then the bull of the burnt offering for Levite atonement, (9) presentation to Yahweh as a wave offering.
\nThe source of the water is unspecified, though most interpreters have suggested either the water from the bronze laver or the water and ash mixture used in purification of those exposed to the dead. Milgrom relates the \u201cwaters of cleansing\u201d in 8:7 (m\u00ea-\u1e25a\u1e6d\u1e6d\u0101\u02bet, lit. \u201cwater of sin\u201d) to the \u201cwater of cleansing\u201d in 19:1\u201322 (m\u00ea nidd\u00e2-\u1e25a\u1e6d\u1e6d\u0101\u02bet hiw\u02be, lit. \u201cwater for impurity, sin [offering] it is\u201d or simply m\u00ea nidd\u00e2, \u201cwater for impurity\u201d) utilized for the ritual cleansing of an individual after having made contact with a dead person (19:1\u201322). Levine, on the other hand, suggests that this \u201cidentification is improbable.\u201d The specific phraseology of 8:7 occurs only here in the Old Testament, suggesting a unique ritual and cleansing element for ceremonial Levitical purification at the point of their installation. Whatever the source, the ritual purification via sprinkling of the water, followed by shaving the body and washing the clothes, symbolically removed any potential ceremonial defilement that might prevent them from fulfilling their roles as gift to Yahweh and the Aaronic priests and service agents for the tabernacle.
\nThe shaving of the body is somewhat parallel to the practice of Egyptian priests, who shaved their bodies every three days as a means of purification. Shaving was part of the purification process for Nazirites (the head, 6:9, 18) and for lepers (Lev 14:9). Washing the clothes likewise was performed in the purification ritual for persons having various skin diseases, such as lepers (Lev 13:6\u201354; 14:9), persons having various bodily discharges (Lev 15:5\u201327), persons exposed to or eating from a dead human or animal carcass (Lev 11:25; 17:15\u201316; Num 31:23\u201324), including those involved in the rituals of the red heifer sacrifice (Num 19:7\u201321), and persons involved in the Day of Atonement rituals (Lev 16:26\u201328). Bathing the body was also prescribed for the cleansing of lepers (Lev 14:9), persons having or those exposed to those having various bodily discharges (Lev 15:5\u201327), the priests involved in Day of Atonement rituals (Lev 16:4, 26\u201328), one exposed to the dead (Num 19:19), and one eating from the carcass of a dead animal (17:15\u201316). The purification ritual sequence of shaving, bathing, and washing (clothes) was practiced among Mesopotamian cultures. The cleansing process ensured ritual purification (\u1e6d\u0101h\u0113r), so that a level of holiness be maintained for those in service for the Lord. A slightly higher level of holiness could be maintained for the priests, for they received new clothes when they were consecrated for service (Lev 8:12\u201313).<\/p>\n
PRESENTATION OF LEVITES WITH SACRIFICES (8:8\u201311)<\/p>\n
8 Have them take a young bull with its grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil; then you are to take a second young bull for a sin offering. 9 Bring the Levites to the front of the Tent of Meeting and assemble the whole Israelite community.
\n10 You are to bring the Levites before the LORD, and the Israelites are to lay their hands on them. 11 Aaron is to present the Levites before the LORD as a wave offering from the Israelites, so that they may be ready to do the work of the LORD.<\/p>\n
8:8\u201311 Instruction concerning the consecration sacrifice of the burnt offering (\u02bf\u014dl\u00e2), with its accompanying grain and oil elements, is delineated first, followed by the sin offering (\u1e25a\u1e6d\u1e6d\u0101\u02bet). In each case a bull was to be sacrificed, in parallel to the requirement that a bull be sacrificed for the priest (Lev 4:3; 8:2, 14; 16:3, 6, 11). By the laying of their hands upon the Levites, the leaders or elders of the Israelite tribes conveyed identification with them, since the Levites functioned as the substitution for the Israelite firstborn in the service of the sanctuary. Identity for the purpose of sacrificial substitution was accomplished in the Israelite ritual of laying of one\u2019s hands upon a sacrificial animal, whereby the rendering of the life of the animal signified the rendering of one\u2019s life unto God in consecration, atonement, or celebration (see below).
\nThe presentation of the Levites as a wave offering (8:13) at the entrance to the tabernacle and before the priests and the Israelite congregation fulfills the complement of the three types of sacrifices prescribed in Leviticus: atonement (sin purification), consecration (burnt), and communal (wave). In this setting, instead of the priests offering an animal on behalf of the Levites, the Levites themselves became the wave-fellowship offering in the full display of the community triunity of priests, Levites, and people. The theme of unity and harmony in community is a major emphasis in the two Sinai cycles. As the Levites were servants of God and the priests, so Christians are called to be living sacrifices as servants of Jesus Christ to carry out his will and purpose (Rom 12:1\u20132).<\/p>\n
OFFERING OF SACRIFICES (8:12\u201314)<\/p>\n
12 \u201cAfter the Levites lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, use the one for a sin offering to the LORD and the other for a burnt offering, to make atonement for the Levites. 13 Have the Levites stand in front of Aaron and his sons and then present them as a wave offering to the LORD. 14 In this way you are to set the Levites apart from the other Israelites, and the Levites will be mine.<\/p>\n
8:12\u201314 The instructions outlined in the previous section were carried out faithfully. The laying of the hands by the Levites upon the heads of bulls symbolized their identification with the sacrifices offered on their behalf. Hence the rendering of the lives of the animals before God symbolized the surrendering of the lives of the Levites for service in the tabernacle. With the Israelite community in worshipful celebration, the two bulls were slaughtered in their proper order on behalf of the Levites so that they would be able to serve the Lord and the people in a state of purification and consecration. The bull of the sin offering was slaughtered first for purification, followed by the burnt offering for consecration, both of which accomplished the atonement (l\u0115kapp\u0113r) for the Levites. The term kipper has been translated variously as \u201cransom,\u201d \u201cmake atonement\u201d (KJV, NIV, Harrison, Ashley), \u201cmake expiation\u201d (Milgrom), \u201cserve as redemption\u201d (Levine), and \u201cgive protection\u201d (Budd). Milgrom posits that the sequence of purification rituals in 8:5\u201322 are designed to accomplish physical and moral cleansing and that furthermore, \u201cThe purification offering is required to purge the sanctuary of the impurities caused by any of the Levites\u2019 moral (and physical) lapses.\u201d
\nWenham has observed a chiastic pattern within the delineation of the responsibilities of the Levites in 8:12\u201319.<\/p>\n
A To Make Atonement for the Levites (8:12)
\nB To Do Service at the Tent of Meeting (8:15)
\nC Given to Me (8:16)
\nD Instead of the Firstborn Male (8:16)
\nE Every Firstborn Mine, Man or Animal as in Exodus from Egypt (8:17)
\nD\u00b4 Instead of the Firstborn of Israel (8:18)
\nC\u00b4 Given to Aaron and His Sons (8:19)
\nB\u00b4 To Do Service at the Tent of Meeting (8:19)
\nA\u00b4 To Make Atonement for Israel (8:19)<\/p>\n
Concerning this structure, Wenham notes: \u201cThis chiastic pattern (A B C D E D C B A) helps to underline the points made explicitly in the text \u2026 [and] draws attention to item E at the centre, which recalls the great redemption from Egypt when the firstborn Egyptians died in the last great plague while God passed over the firstborn Israelites (Exod 11\u201313).\u201d The historical reference to the first Passover in the great salvation event of the Exodus paves the way for the following chapter, which outlines the second Passover in the history of the nation.<\/p>\n
LEVITE SUBSTITUTIONARY ROLE (8:15\u201319)<\/p>\n
15 \u201cAfter you have purified the Levites and presented them as a wave offering, they are to come to do their work at the Tent of Meeting. 16 They are the Israelites who are to be given wholly to me. I have taken them as my own in place of the firstborn, the first male offspring from every Israelite woman. 17 Every firstborn male in Israel, whether man or animal, is mine. When I struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, I set them apart for myself. 18 And I have taken the Levites in place of all the firstborn sons in Israel. 19 Of all the Israelites, I have given the Levites as gifts to Aaron and his sons to do the work at the Tent of Meeting on behalf of the Israelites and to make atonement for them so that no plague will strike the Israelites when they go near the sanctuary.\u201d<\/p>\n
8:15\u201319 Clearly the Levites\u2019 role in the tabernacle service was multifaceted. For the physical facilities they functioned as guardians, service and maintenance agents, and transporters under the direction of Aaron and the priests. For the community of faith they functioned in the exclusive position as specially dedicated personnel for the sanctuary service, metaphorically the firstborn of the Israelites. According to Israelite tradition, the firstborn of animals and plants belonged to the Lord. The Feast of the Harvest (Exod 23:16), also described as the Feast of Weeks (Shavuoth) or Pentecost, was a time for dedication of the firstfruits of the grain harvest. Firstfruits were also offered at Passover (Lev 23:9\u201314). According to Exod 22:29b\u201330, God claimed ownership of the firstborn males of the people, as well as cattle and sheep: \u201cYou must give me the firstborn of your sons. Do the same with your cattle and your sheep. Let them stay with their mothers for seven days, but give them to me on the eighth day\u201d (Exod 22:29b\u201330). The firstborn animals were sacrificed, and the firstborn sons were to be redeemed (Exod 13:11\u201316). The Levites became the substitute redemption price for all Israelite firstborn because of their demonstrated faithfulness to Yahweh during the golden calf incident (Exod 32:26\u201329; Num 3:13). Numbers 18 recounts the notion that the Levites are the redemption price for the firstborn of Israel and states how provision is made for them through the tithes and firstborn gifts of the flock and the field.
\nThe status of dedicatory firstborn was conveyed by the laying on of the hands and the sacrificing of the bulls. As Milgrom has observed, the phraseology of this transference in 8:10, 12, and 19 is parallel, with the implication that \u201cthe Levites, unlike the priests, do not perform kippur, rather kippur is performed with them.\u2026 And our text, 8:19, would then imply that the Levites are ransom for Israel, a lightning rod to attract God\u2019s wrath upon themselves whenever an Israelite has encroached upon the sancta.\u201d The priests guarded the inner sanctum and the holy things of the tabernacle from encroachment by the Levites or the Israelites, and according to Num 18:1\u20133 they were to bear the responsibility for offenses against the sanctuary and against the priesthood.<\/p>\n
SUMMARY OF THE LEVITE DEDICATION (8:20\u201322)<\/p>\n
20 Moses, Aaron and the whole Israelite community did with the Levites just as the LORD commanded Moses. 21 The Levites purified themselves and washed their clothes. Then Aaron presented them as a wave offering before the LORD and made atonement for them to purify them. 22 After that, the Levites came to do their work at the Tent of Meeting under the supervision of Aaron and his sons. They did with the Levites just as the LORD commanded Moses.<\/p>\n
8:20\u201322 A summary of the section contents is presented in the standard structural pattern. Moses (the leader-prophet), Aaron and the Levites (the priests and their assistants), and all Israel (the people) are pictured in harmony as they fulfill God\u2019s commands concerning the dedication of the Levites. Ritual purification, washing clothes, wave offering presentation, and atonement sacrifices are carried out in accordance with God\u2019s will.<\/p>\n
POSTLUDE: THE LEVITE RETIREMENT (8:23\u201326)<\/p>\n
23 The LORD said to Moses, 24 \u201cThis applies to the Levites: Men twenty-five years old or more shall come to take part in the work at the Tent of Meeting, 25 but at the age of fifty, they must retire from their regular service and work no longer. 26 They may assist their brothers in performing their duties at the Tent of Meeting, but they themselves must not do the work. This, then, is how you are to assign the responsibilities of the Levites.\u201d<\/p>\n
8:23\u201326 This section is introduced by the standard introductory divine speech formula, marking it as an additional legislative section. The age of the Levite for service was increased from the earlier thirty to fifty years of age (Num 4:2) to limits of twenty-five to fifty years. A census of Levites thirty to fifty years of age was taken during David\u2019s reign, and assignments were outlined for various groups (1 Chr 23:2\u20135). Yet later in David\u2019s reign (1 Chr 23:24\u201327), during the reign of Hezekiah (2 Chr 31:16\u201317), and in the early postexilic community, Levites twenty years of age and older were counted and enlisted for Temple service. R. K. Harrison, following A. Noordzij, suggests that the three variants evidence three different historical settings: (1) an age thirty minimum was established for tabernacle transport and service (Num 4:1\u201349, such as the 38,000 counted for Temple service in 1 Chr 23:2\u20135), (2) age twenty-five for service in the Tent of Meeting, and (3) the younger age of twenty was after there was no longer a need for transporting the tabernacle.
\nAshley suggests the age limit may have been reduced from thirty to twenty-five due to the deaths of Nadab and Abihu. Ashley writes: \u201cThis terrible event might well have caused the age limit to be raised more fully to insure against an immature individual assuming the (at least potentially) dangerous role of Levite.\u201d A surplus of Levites to carry out the various duties may also have led to the revision. Wenham estimates that this age limit adjustment would have reduced the ranks by about 20 percent. In the LXX the texts in chap. 4 apparently were harmonized to the lower limit.
\nThe focus in the present context is not upon the age of entry into tabernacle service but upon the age of retirement and supplementary service, which came after age fifty. They would no longer dismantle and transport the tabernacle and its furnishing, but they could continue to serve as guards, insuring the sanctity of the holy place.<\/p>\n
(4) The Second Passover: With New Delineations (9:1\u201314)<\/p>\n
1 The LORD spoke to Moses in the Desert of Sinai in the first month of the second year after they came out of Egypt. He said, 2 \u201cHave the Israelites celebrate the Passover at the appointed time. 3 Celebrate it at the appointed time, at twilight on the fourteenth day of this month, in accordance with all its rules and regulations.\u201d
\n4 So Moses told the Israelites to celebrate the Passover, 5 and they did so in the Desert of Sinai at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. The Israelites did everything just as the LORD commanded Moses.
\n6 But some of them could not celebrate the Passover on that day because they were ceremonially unclean on account of a dead body. So they came to Moses and Aaron that same day 7 and said to Moses, \u201cWe have become unclean because of a dead body, but why should we be kept from presenting the LORD\u2019S offering with the other Israelites at the appointed time?\u201d
\n8 Moses answered them, \u201cWait until I find out what the LORD commands concerning you.\u201d
\n9 Then the LORD said to Moses, 10 \u201cTell the Israelites: \u2018When any of you or your descendants are unclean because of a dead body or are away on a journey, they may still celebrate the LORD\u2019S Passover. 11 They are to celebrate it on the fourteenth day of the second month at twilight. They are to eat the lamb, together with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 12 They must not leave any of it till morning or break any of its bones. When they celebrate the Passover, they must follow all the regulations. 13 But if a man who is ceremonially clean and not on a journey fails to celebrate the Passover, that person must be cut off from his people because he did not present the LORD\u2019S offering at the appointed time. That man will bear the consequences of his sin.
\n14 \u201c \u2018An alien living among you who wants to celebrate the LORD\u2019S Passover must do so in accordance with its rules and regulations. You must have the same regulations for the alien and the native-born.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
9:1\u201314 Legislation generally arises out of new circumstances in society or from the need for clarification of an existing law. In this cycle the legislative section is set within the context of the celebration of the second Passover, which was the first Passover celebrated following Yahweh\u2019s dramatic redemption of Israel from Egyptian oppression. According to Exod 12:14\u201320, Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were to be celebrated during the first month throughout their subsequent history. The Passover pilgrimage was a holy assembly necessitating ceremonial purity. But a new circumstance occurred when some of the Israelites were unable to observe the holy day because contact with the dead had rendered them ceremonially unclean.
\nThe passage begins with the standard introductory divine speech formula, and the historical setting is the Sinai desert, a year after the Exodus from Egypt. After the Lord instructs Moses and Moses obeys in instructing the Israelites to celebrate the Passover, the Israelites obey the word of the Lord through Moses in holding the commemorative celebration. Then the sequence digresses to an issue of ritual purity and the consequent loss of privilege to celebrate the Passover. After seeking counsel from the Lord, Moses returns with the special instructions for those who are in a state of uncleanness on the fourteenth of Abib (Nisan). This word is also introduced with the divine speech formula, marking it as an additional legislative section. In the instruction that follows, two supplementary issues are addressed, the case where one might be on a distant journey on that date and unable to return in time and the case of the resident alien.
\nThe importance of celebration in the national history of God\u2019s work on behalf of his people is heightened by the fact that a proviso is made for an alternative celebration for unclean and distant individuals. Passover was the time to remember in every generation the wondrous salvation work of God in the Exodus, especially in the teaching of God\u2019s redemption to one\u2019s children (Exod 12:14, 24\u201328). Consistent with the response of the people in the first Passover, as \u201cthe Israelites did just what the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron\u201d (Exod 12:28), so the second Passover was celebrated in accord with its original instructions, \u201cjust as the LORD commanded Moses\u201d (Num 9:5). Harmony among the people of God and obedience to his instructions are key motifs in the Sinai cycles of the Book of Numbers. As these themes are applied to the Passover celebration and the ensuing passage in which the presence of the Lord and his directing of his faithful people through the cloud of smoke by day and fire by night, the passage presents a glorious picture of God and his community in communion together, responding to his commands and ready to move forth into the world to spread his message of redemption and peace.
\nExtensive instructions were given to Moses regarding the ritual observance of the Passover. The guidelines delineated in Exod 12:1\u201328 include: (1) the date and timing of the ritual activity (fourteenth of the first month Abib); (2) directions for preparing, sacrificing, cooking, and eating the Paschal lamb; (3) the eating of the accompanying elements of the unleavened bread (to be eaten for seven days) and bitter herbs; (4) removal of yeast from the household; (5) matters related to resident aliens; and (6) instructions for telling the story of God\u2019s great redemption to the children throughout their generations. In Lev 23:4\u20138 matters of the sacred assemblies and the first and seventh day Sabbaths are added. The phraseology of the sacred assembly (miqr\u0101\u02be\u00ea q\u014dde\u0161, \u201cassemblies of holiness\u201d or \u201cof [the] holy\u201d) implies a state of ritual purity for the celebrants during the days of the celebration. Hence the concern in the present legislation is that some Israelites found themselves unable to celebrate this sacred festival because of uncleanness caused by contact with a corpse, and they knew failure to keep the Passover would be a breach of the covenant instructions.
\nOne key to understanding this quandary the people experienced is the recurrent phrase \u201cpresenting the Lord\u2019s offering at its appointed time\u201d in vv. 7 and 13. The second citation indicates that failure to carry out the paschal sacrifice at the appointed time and place, unless unavoidably hindered, made one subject to death or banishment from the community. Milgrom notes that the construction of the verse implies that the \u201cpenalty applies only to the nonobservance of the fixed Passover\u201d during the first month, but not to the second month alternative. That the Festival of Unleavened Bread was not included as a part of this second month observance is evidenced by the departure of the Israelites from Sinai on the twentieth day of the second month, before the possible completion of a second month Unleavened Bread celebration. Inclusion of the Feast of Unleavened Bread with the second month Passover, however, must have been permissible, as is evidenced by the following example.
\nHistorically, the application of this second month alternative Passover occurred during the reign of Hezekiah (2 Chr 30:1\u201327). After the reestablishment of service in the Temple, emissaries were sent throughout Judah and the Israelite territories to the North inviting the Israelites of all tribal origins to celebrate the Passover. Matters of purification and distance are both cited in the text as the reason the people were unable to celebrate these festivals in the first month. An adequate number of ritually pure priests was not available to carry out the ritual activity, and many people were so remote when the invitation was sent out that they were yet unable to assemble in Jerusalem. Thousands of celebrants gathered in Jerusalem, and the Levites were enlisted to carry out the obligation for those who were not ritually pure. Hezekiah prayed that the Lord would be merciful to those who ate the Passover in a state of impurity, and God responded positively.
\nResident aliens were permitted to commemorate the Passover if they satisfied the essential requirements outlined in Exod 12:43\u201349. Males had to be circumcised, accepting this as a sign of the covenant relationship to Yahweh and to the Israelite community. This law applied to the native Israelites as well. In the first Passover celebrated in the land after the crossing of the Jordan and establishing the worship center in Gilgal, the men who had been born during the wilderness journey had to be circumcised.<\/p>\n
(5) Pattern of the Journey: The Lord and the Cloud (9:15\u201323)<\/p>\n
15 On the day the tabernacle, the Tent of the Testimony, was set up, the cloud covered it. From evening till morning the cloud above the tabernacle looked like fire. 16 That is how it continued to be; the cloud covered it, and at night it looked like fire. 17 Whenever the cloud lifted from above the Tent, the Israelites set out; wherever the cloud settled, the Israelites encamped. 18 At the LORD\u2019S command the Israelites set out, and at his command they encamped. As long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they remained in camp. 19 When the cloud remained over the tabernacle a long time, the Israelites obeyed the LORD\u2019S order and did not set out. 20 Sometimes the cloud was over the tabernacle only a few days; at the LORD\u2019S command they would encamp, and then at his command they would set out. 21 Sometimes the cloud stayed only from evening till morning, and when it lifted in the morning, they set out. Whether by day or by night, whenever the cloud lifted, they set out. 22 Whether the cloud stayed over the tabernacle for two days or a month or a year, the Israelites would remain in camp and not set out; but when it lifted, they would set out. 23 At the LORD\u2019S command they encamped, and at the LORD\u2019S command they set out. They obeyed the LORD\u2019S order, in accordance with his command through Moses.<\/p>\n
9:15\u201323 Following the Passover considerations, which commenced around the fourteenth day of the first month of the second year (9:1\u20135), the ensuing section reverts back to the time frame of 7:1 and Exod 40:2, the first day of the second month of the second year the sanctuary construction was completed. The present pericope expands upon the description in Exod 40:34\u201338, but in a rhythmic fashion that hints of an earlier song of praise about the Lord\u2019s presence in the cloud and his providing direction through the wilderness. Perhaps this cadence was echoed in song along the stages of the journey when the people joyfully responded to the Lord\u2019s leading. As is true throughout this second Sinai cycle, the atmosphere is one of celebration by a community of faith in communion with its incomparable God, by a community following his commands in jubilant obedience.
\nWenham has observed the rhythmic character of this passage, particularly in vv. 17\u201323. He suggests that \u201cthe irregularity of the lines show this is not true poetry: rather it is elevated prose, expressing the excitement of the occasion.\u201d The pattern of the phraseology, with its occasional cadence and repetition, echoes that of ancient epic poetry of the second millennium B.C., such as that found in the Ugaritic epic of Keret. Harrison notes: \u201cThe repetitions in the text, a feature of both Hebrew and Ugaritic literature, give coherence both to the narratives themselves and to the spiritual attitude of the Hebrews that the sources reflected. The people were one in faith, obedience, and action, in a recapitulation of the covenant ratification events at Sinai (Exod 24:6\u20137) that was to become increasingly less frequent as the months passed.\u201d Rhythmic overtones are replete within the passage, as the following literal rendering evidences:<\/p>\n
15 In the day
\nit was erected
\nthe tabernacle
\nit covered the cloud
\nthe tabernacle to the Tent of Testimony
\nand from evening
\nit was upon the tabernacle
\nas the appearance of fire until morning.
\n16 Thus it was continually the cloud covering it
\nand the appearance of fire at night.<\/p>\n
17 So at a word
\nit went up the cloud
\nfrom upon the Tent
\nand after which
\nthey departed
\nthe children of Israel
\nand in the place which
\nit dwelled there
\nthe cloud
\nthere
\nthey encamped
\nthe children of Israel
\nREFRAIN
\n18 At the word of Yahweh
\nthey departed the children of Israel
\nAt the word of Yahweh
\nthey encamped
\nAll the days which
\nit was dwelling
\nThe cloud upon the tabernacle they encamped<\/p>\n
19 So when it remained
\nthe cloud
\nupon the tabernacle
\nmany days
\nthen they observed
\nthe children of Israel
\nthe watch of Yahweh
\nAnd so they did not depart<\/p>\n
20 So it was that it was
\nthe cloud
\na few days
\nupon the tabernacle
\nREFRAIN
\nAt the word of Yahweh they encamped
\nAt the word of Yahweh they departed<\/p>\n
21 So it was that it was
\nthe cloud
\nfrom evening until morning
\nand it was lifted up
\nthe cloud
\nin the morning
\nand they departed
\nwhether day or night
\nit was lifted
\nthe cloud
\nthen they departed
\n22 whether 2 days\/month\/days
\nwhen it remained
\nthe cloud upon tabernacle to dwell upon it
\nthey encamped
\nthe children of Israel
\nthen they did not depart
\nBut when it rose up
\nthey departed<\/p>\n
REFRAIN AND CONCLUSION
\n23 At the word of Yahweh
\nthey encamped
\nAt the word of Yahweh
\nthey departed
\nthe watch of Yahweh
\nthey observed
\nAt the word of Yahweh
\nby the hand of Moses<\/p>\n
The above structuring of the text highlights the repetitive phraseology and the parallel developments within the content.
\nIn Exod 40:34\u201338 the focus is upon the glory of Yahweh filling the tabernacle and Tent of Meeting upon the completion of the tabernacle construction. Clearly the text emphasizes God\u2019s presence. Note the following phraseology from Exod 40:34b\u201335:<\/p>\n
The cloud
\ncovered
\nthe Tent of Meeting
\nand the glory of Yahweh
\nfilled the tabernacle
\nBut Moses was not able to enter into
\nthe Tent of Meeting
\nfor the cloud
\nsettled upon
\nit
\nAnd the glory of Yahweh
\nfilled
\nthe tabernacle.<\/p>\n
This kind of A B C A\u00b4 B\u00b4 chiastic structure evidences a mild emphasis on the limitations placed upon entry into the holy of holies in the tabernacle complex. These limitations apply even to Moses. The parallelism of the passage equates the glory of Yahweh with his presence in the cloud covering the tabernacle. Numbers 9:15\u201323 emphasizes the theme of God\u2019s leadership. Journeying and camping are highlighted in Exod 40:36\u201338 and in Num 33:1\u201349. The latter passage focuses on the full victory march itinerary that reached from God\u2019s demonstrated victories in Egypt to the staging point for the movement across the Jordan River and the commencement of the process of possessing their promised inheritance.<\/p>\n
(6) The Silver Trumpets (10:1\u201310)<\/p>\n
One final step in the preparation for the journey from Sinai was required. Before the momentous departure, two silver trumpets were to be manufactured for calling the people to break camp and line up in their prescribed order to follow the leading of the Lord via the cloud pillar, which symbolized his presence. The movement of the cloud was the divine directive; the sounding of the trumpets was a call for human response.
\nThe text initially lists two purposes for the trumpet sounding: to call an assembly and to announce the departure of the camps. In typical Pentateuchal style, an introductory outline is set forth (10:2), followed by detailed expansion (here twice in 10:3\u20137 and again 10:8\u201310). The first set of directions applied to the Israelites in their wilderness setting. The second set of instructions applied to the entrance into the Promised Land and the future celebration of God\u2019s blessings therein.<\/p>\n
GATHERING AND DISEMBARKING THE CAMPS (10:1\u20137)<\/p>\n
1 The LORD said to Moses: 2 \u201cMake two trumpets of hammered silver, and use them for calling the community together and for having the camps set out. 3 When both are sounded, the whole community is to assemble before you at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. 4 If only one is sounded, the leaders\u2014the heads of the clans of Israel\u2014are to assemble before you. 5 When a trumpet blast is sounded, the tribes camping on the east are to set out. 6 At the sounding of a second blast, the camps on the south are to set out. The blast will be the signal for setting out. 7 To gather the assembly, blow the trumpets, but not with the same signal.<\/p>\n
10:1\u20137 This section is introduced by the divine revelatory formula, which once again serves as a major structural and theological marker in the Book of Numbers. References to Yahweh as the revealer of the Law (10:1) and hence the God of Israel (10:10) function as an inclusio for bracketing the section and highlighting the theme of the passage and one of the themes of the two Sinai cycles (1:1\u20136:27; 7:1\u201310:10). As the God of the people he is their Instructor in truth and righteousness, their Guide through the wilderness and into the Promised Land, their Savior from all enemies, and their Center of Life in joyous worship.
\nThe silver trumpets\u2019 (ha\u1e63\u014d\u1e63\u0115r\u00f4t) function sometimes is different from the ram\u2019s horn (\u0161\u00f4p\u0101r), yet at other times it is similar. The \u0161\u00f4p\u0101r announced the Day of Atonement throughout the land (Lev 25:9) and later was employed in the march around Jericho (Josh 6:2\u201321). The bright pitch of the silver trumpet called the people to march through the wilderness, and it was blown by the priest Phinehas in the battle against Midian (Num 31:6). These trumpets likely were styled after those known from Egypt during the Late Bronze Age, examples of which were found among the remains in King Tutankamun\u2019s tomb. These instruments were about two feet long with very narrow tubes, and when blown in certain patterns, they emitted a bright and piercing sound that would communicate clearly to the people the desired intent.
\nThe trumpets were blown with varying tones and lengths of blast. The two likely were of slightly different size and produced varying tones, such that when two were sounded for the purpose of calling the whole community together, both could be distinguished. Two lengths of blast were also prescribed, the short blast (t\u0101qa\u02bf t\u0115r\u00fb\u02bfa) for alerting the camps to break camp and disembark on the journey (vv. 5\u20136) and the long blast (t\u0101qa\u02bf) for calling the assemblies together (vv. 3\u20134). The variant purposes of the two sounds are distinguished clearly in v. 7, in which the assembly is called together by the long blast (titq\u0115\u02bf\u00fb), but not short sounds (w\u0115l\u014d\u02be t\u0101r\u00ee\u02bf\u00fb).
\nAs the cloud pillar would begin to move from the camp location, the priests would sound the short blast of the trumpet, signaling the eastern encampment of the tribes of Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun to disembark on the next stage of the journey. A second short blast alerted the southern tribal camps of Reuben, Simeon, and Gad to follow the Kohathite clan of the Levites. The final two tribal groups would follow: the Gershonites leading the western camps of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin and the Merarites leading the northern tribes of Dan, Asher, and Naphtali.<\/p>\n
RALLYING FOR BATTLE AND REJOICING IN FESTIVAL OFFERINGS (10:8\u201310)<\/p>\n
8 \u201cThe sons of Aaron, the priests, are to blow the trumpets. This is to be a lasting ordinance for you and the generations to come. 9 When you go into battle in your own land against an enemy who is oppressing you, sound a blast on the trumpets. Then you will be remembered by the LORD your God and rescued from your enemies. 10 Also at your times of rejoicing\u2014your appointed feasts and New Moon festivals\u2014you are to sound the trumpets over your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, and they will be a memorial for you before your God. I am the LORD your God.\u201d
\n10:8\u201310 The blowing of the silver trumpets was limited to the Aaronic priests throughout the history of Israel. In the Dead Sea War Scroll, a major role of the Levites and priests in the great eschatological battle was to sound the trumpets, which were inscribed with such phrases as \u201cGod\u2019s battle formations for avenging his wrath against all the sons of darkness\u201d and \u201cPeace of God in the camps of his holy one.\u201d This section has a future orientation. It describes the time when the people would be in the land, battling against their enemies for occupation and control of the territory God had granted them. There they would celebrate the bounty of God\u2019s blessing and the wonder of his salvation activities of the past. Whole burnt offerings for consecrative atonement and peace offerings for community celebration were accompanied by the long blast of the silver trumpets during the pilgrimage festivals of Passover, Pentecost (Shavuoth), and tabernacles (Booths), and during the monthly New Moon rites.
\nIn the context of battle, the trumpets served as a prayer by which the covenant relationship between God and Israel was invoked, and thus they reminded soldiers that God remembers and delivers his people. The covenant themes of remembrance, deliverance, and blessing provide continuity with other portions of the Pentateuch. These themes appear from Noah (Gen 8:1; 9:1\u201317), to Abraham (Gen 19:29), to Rachel (Gen 30:22), to the Israelites in Egypt (Exod 2:24), and even into the realm of exile (Lev 26:40\u201345). The connection between festival rejoicing and battling against one\u2019s enemies echoes the words of the covenant reiteration in Exod 34:22\u201324.
\nThe concluding phrase of the Sinai cycles, \u201cI am Yahweh your God,\u201d sets forth in profoundly plain terms the sovereignty of God over the nation. As Harrison notes, \u201cHe is the supreme Lord and ruler of His people Israel. The nation is the visible expression of His existence, personality, and saving power. Without Him they are meaningless, but they have been chosen specifically out of His abundant love to be a witness to the surrounding nations because of their constitution as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exod 19:6).\u201d<\/p>\n
II. THE REBELLIOUS GENERATION IN THE WILDERNESS (10:11\u201325:18)<\/p>\n
Part two of the first volume of the Book of Numbers commences with the departure from Mount Sinai, the setting of revelation to the faithful community, and concludes with the nation at Abel-Shittim in Transjordan, a place of idolatry and immorality. This section contains the heart of the wilderness experience of Israel (from which the Hebrew title of the book, b\u0115midb\u0101r, \u201cin the wilderness,\u201d derives) and presents not merely a geographical movement from Sinai but a theological movement away from God during a period of continual rebellion. Unity turns to disunity, righteousness to rebellion, order to disorder, holiness to harlotry, and hope to despair. The people of God reject his lordship, his land, and his leader.
\nThe rebellion of Israel is presented in three movements: (1) from Sinai to Zin, containing four rebellions and climaxing with the rejection of the land, (2) in the Zin Wilderness, highlighting the rebellion of Korah and Reubenites against the Aaronic priesthood, and (3) from Zin to the Moabite plain, during which Moses rebels, Balaam brings blessing upon Israel, and the people again falter in their idolatry. This extended section, juxtaposed between the two cycles of faithfulness and harmony on one side (1:1\u201310:10) and the two cycles that look forward to the Promised Land (27:1\u201336:13), contains two climactic failures, the rejection of the land and the rebellion of Moses. These accounts serve to warn the people that if they continue to reject Yahweh\u2019s leadership and that of his prophets as they prepare to enter the Promised Land, their end will be destruction like that of the wilderness generation. On the other hand, if they will serve him faithfully and pursue righteousness and holiness, God will bring great blessing upon his people in and through the land. The Balaam oracles provide an amazing demonstration of God\u2019s sovereignty in that even if all the people rebel, including their great prophet Moses, God will work to bring blessing to his chosen ones and manifest his dominion over the nations.<\/p>\n
1. Rebellion Cycle A: From Sinai to Zin\u2014Decline and Fall of the First Generation (10:11\u201315:41)<\/p>\n
The first rebellion cycle is structured as follows:
\n1. Historical Setting\u2014The Movement from the Sinai Wilderness to the Wilderness of Paran (10:11\u201313, 29\u201332).
\n2. Twelve Tribes\u2014Departure from Sinai (10:14\u201336), Spies Sent into the Land (13:1\u201316).
\n3. Cycle development\u2014Four Rebellions: Grumbling, Quail, Leadership, Land (11:1\u201312:16; 13:17\u201314:45).
\n4. Laws Relating to the Community of Faith: Offerings from the Land, Sin, and Garment Tassels (15:1\u201341).
\nThis cycle does not contain a separate section dedicated to the priests and Levites and their roles in the community; however, the subsequent cycle has as its major focus the priests and Levites.
\nThe compounding of insurrection accounts would have a resounding effect on future readers and listeners as they heard the text move from the beginning of the victorious march to the successive complaints about general hardships, food supply, leader, and land. Such rebellion leads to judgment, hardship, and even death. Yet the cycle concludes with a promise and a portentous warning: God will bring them into the land eventually and bless them abundantly, but though unintentional sins may be atoned, outright rebellion and rejection of God\u2019s commands will result in severe judgment.<\/p>\n
(1) Historical Reference: From Mount Sinai to the Paren Desert (10:11\u201313)<\/p>\n
11 On the twentieth day of the second month of the second year, the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle of the Testimony. 12 Then the Israelites set out from the Desert of Sinai and traveled from place to place until the cloud came to rest in the Desert of Paran. 13 They set out, this first time, at the LORD\u2019S command through Moses.<\/p>\n
10:11\u201313 The introductory historical reference in the cycle outlines the time frame, the parameters of the geographical movement, and the initial response of the people in journeying in obedience to the Lord\u2019s command. A triple inclusio (using way\u0115h\u00ee, wayyis\u02bf\u00fb, and \u02bf\u0101n\u0101n) brackets the full context of 10:11\u201336. The introductory way\u0115h\u00ee (\u201cand it came about\u201d) extends to 10:35 (first word), with transition into the following section in 11:1. The contexts of these occurrences provide a considerable contrast in spirit and purpose. In the first the people depart Sinai in following the Lord\u2019s leadership in the cloud, which was before them and over them. In the second the people are complaining about the hardships of the desert. The bracketing of the journey commencement with wayyis\u02bf\u00fb (\u201cand they set out\u201d) in 10:12, 28 exhibits a people faithfully responding in tribal unity to the Lord\u2019s command through Moses. The cloud (\u02bf\u0101n\u0101n) provided direction for the people in their journey and protection from the harshness of the sun. After the dialogue between Moses and Hobab, the use of the term in 10:33 reiterates this theme. Then the three terms converge in 10:34\u201335, \u02bfanan YHWH \u02bf\u0103l\u00eahem \u2026 b\u0115n\u0101s\u02bf\u0101m \/\/ way\u0115h\u00ee binsoa\u02bf (\u201cand the cloud of YHWH was over them \u2026 when they set out \/\/ and it came about when they set out\u201d), thereby adjoining the themes of God\u2019s presence, God\u2019s leadership, and the journey of the faithful children of Israel.
\nThe departure from the Sinai Desert takes place on the twentieth day of the second month of the second year after the departure from Egypt, or about a month after the celebration of the Passover described in 9:1\u201314 and less than two months after the initial setting up of the tabernacle (Exod 40:17). They had camped there for almost a year, seen Moses ascend and descend the mountain, built and dedicated the tabernacle, taken a military census before beginning their victory march toward the Promised Land, and celebrated God\u2019s great deliverance in the Passover.<\/p>\n
CALENDAR OF EVENTS FROM THE EXODUS TO THE PLAINS OF MOAB<\/p>\n
Year
\nMonth
\nDay
\nEvent
\nBiblical Reference
\n1
\n1
\n14
\nExodus: Departure from Egypt
\nExod 12:1\u201350
\n1
\n3
\n14
\nArrival in Sinai Desert
\nExod 19:1
\n2
\n1
\n1
\nTabernacle Erected
\nExod 40:17
\n2
\n1
\n1\u201312
\nIsraelite Tribe Dedication Offerings
\nNum 7:1\u201389
\n2
\n1
\n14\u201322
\nPassover & Unleavened Bread Celebration
\nNum 9:1\u201314
\n2
\n2
\n1
\nFirst Tribal Military Census
\nNum 1:1\u201346
\n2
\n2
\n14
\nPassover Alternative for Unclean and Distant
\nNum 9:6\u201313
\n2
\n2
\n20
\nDeparture from Sinai Desert
\nNum 10:11
\n2
\n2
\n23
\nKibroth Hattaavah (Quail)
\nNum 10:33; 11:34
\n2
\nSpies Sent from Kadesh in Paran Desert
\nNum 13:3, 26
\n40
\n1
\nMiriam Dies in Kadesh in Zin Desert
\nNum 20:1
\n40
\n5
\n1
\nAaron Dies
\nNum 20:22\u201329; 33:37\u201339
\n40
\n11
\n1
\nMoses Speaks to the People
\nDeut 1:3<\/p>\n
The geographical parameters of this initial movement are the Sinai and Paran Deserts (midb\u0101r, \u201cwilderness, desert\u201d). According to the cycle progression and the travel itinerary (33:16\u201318), the Israelites camped at Taberah (11:3), Kibroth Hattaavah (11:34\u201335), and Hazeroth (12:16) on their way to the Paran Desert. As with defining precisely the Sinai Desert and the mountain of Horeb or Sinai, the perimeter of the Paran Desert is difficult to outline. No cartographic mapping remains from this period identifying these regions. From the data described in biblical usage, Paran was west of Midian, east of Egypt, extending southward (or southwestward) toward Mount Sinai, northward toward Kadesh (Barnea), and eastward to the Arabah. Kadesh is associated with both the Paran (13:26) and Zin (20:1) Deserts. Paran seems to encompass a broader geographical area, which would include in its northeast quadrant, the Zin Desert, which is more narrowly defined by the Nahal Zin and its water drainage basin. Hence, the text shifts from the general Paran Desert region (10:17; 13:26) to a context in which greater specificity is needed, as in the listing of the itinerary of the spies (13:21) and the rebellion of Moses (20:1\u201313; 27:14).
\nMilgrom notes that in the manner in which the Lord leads the people during the wilderness experience, \u201cthe Lord renews the wonders of the Exodus: manna (Num 11:7\u20139; Exod 16:14\u201336), quail (Num 11:31; Exod 16:11\u201313), water from the rock (20:2\u201313; Exod 17:1\u20137). And the victories in the Negeb and Transjordan anticipate those in Canaan.\u201d Milgrom also notes that 10:11\u201312:16 functions as a literary unit bracketed by an inclusio regarding the geographic context of the Desert of Paran (10:12 and 12:16). The full context of the cycle within the overarching framing of the Book of Numbers is defined by an inclusio built on the concept of obedience to the Lord\u2019s commands, in 10:13; 13:3; 14:41 (negative-disobedience); and 15:40. The net literary structure of the cycle is as follows:<\/p>\n
A. Triumphal March from Sinai Begins in Tribal Array (10:11\u201336)
\n\u201cSet out at the Lord\u2019s command through Moses\u201d
\nB. Three Rebellions: The People Complain against God (11:1\u201312:16)
\nGeneral Complaint
\nTaberah
\nBurning Fire
\nFood Supply
\nKibroth Hattaavah
\nGraves of Craving
\nLeadership
\nMiriam\u2019s Disease
\nC. Fourth Rebellion Climax: Rejection of the Promised Land (13:1\u201314:45)
\nSending out the Twelve Spies \u201cat the Lord\u2019s Command\u201d
\nReport of the Spies
\nRebellion and Judgment of the People
\nD. Sovereign Promise: Offerings from the Land for Yahweh (15:1\u201341)
\nOfferings of Consecration and Communion
\nOfferings for Sin
\nGarment Tassels: Identity of the People of the Covenant
\n\u201cI am the Lord your God!\u201d<\/p>\n
(2) The Departure from Sinai (10:14\u201336)<\/p>\n
THE ISRAELITE TRIBES DEPART IN ORDERLY ARRAY (10:14\u201328)<\/p>\n
14 The divisions of the camp of Judah went first, under their standard. Nahshon son of Amminadab was in command. 15 Nethanel son of Zuar was over the division of the tribe of Issachar, 16 and Eliab son of Helon was over the division of the tribe of Zebulun. 17 Then the tabernacle was taken down, and the Gershonites and Merarites, who carried it, set out.
\n18 The divisions of the camp of Reuben went next, under their standard. Elizur son of Shedeur was in command. 19 Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai was over the division of the tribe of Simeon, 20 and Eliasaph son of Deuel was over the division of the tribe of Gad. 21 Then the Kohathites set out, carrying the holy things. The tabernacle was to be set up before they arrived.
\n22 The divisions of the camp of Ephraim went next, under their standard. Elishama son of Ammihud was in command. 23 Gamaliel son of Pedahzur was over the division of the tribe of Manasseh, 24 and Abidan son of Gideoni was over the division of the tribe of Benjamin.
\n25 Finally, as the rear guard for all the units, the divisions of the camp of Dan set out, under their standard. Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai was in command. 26 Pagiel son of Ocran was over the division of the tribe of Asher, 27 and Ahira son of Enan was over the division of the tribe of Naphtali. 28 This was the order of march for the Israelite divisions as they set out.<\/p>\n
10:14\u201328 The first rebellion cycle commences with the orderly departure of the tribes of Israel from the Sinai Desert. The names of the tribal leaders are the same as those delineated as assistants for the census taking in 1:5\u201315, but in the order of the tribal march outlined in 2:1\u20133:38. The entire marching order was as follows:<\/p>\n
ISRAELITE MARCHING ORDER<\/p>\n
Tribe
\nLeader
\nPriestly\/Levitical Division
\nMOSES, AARON, AND PRIESTS
\nJudah
\nNahshon ben Amminadab
\nIssachar
\nNethanel ben Zuar
\nZebulun
\nEliab ben Helon
\nGershonites and Merarites (carry tabernacle parts)
\nReuben
\nElizur ben Shedeur
\nSimeon
\nShelumiel ben Zurishaddai
\nGad
\nEliasaph ben Deuel
\nKohathites (carry holy articles of tabernacle)
\nEphraim
\nElishama ben Ammihud
\nManasseh
\nGamaliel ben Pedahzur
\nBenjamin
\nAbidan ben Gideoni
\nDan
\nAhiezer ben Ammishaddai
\nAsher
\nPagiel ben Ocran
\nNaphtali
\nAhira ben Enan<\/p>\n
Seven groups in all followed the cloud\/pillar as they journeyed from Mount Sinai into the surrounding wilderness. The order and symmetry of the beginning of the journey from the mountain of God, the place where the nation has been constituted, to the Promised Land, where the fulfillment of that nationhood was to be confirmed, echo the essential themes of the first two cycles of the Book of Numbers: unity and harmony, purity and faithfulness. The people of God move out in harmonious accord, faithful to the Lord\u2019s leading through the cloud pillar and the ark of the covenant, the symbols of his presence with them in a miracle of nature and in the focal point of the relationship between God and his people. The ark of the covenant was the place of ultimate mediation between God and humanity, symbolized in the ritual activity of the Day of Atonement (Lev 16:1\u201334) and in the verbal expression of the covenant in the two tablets placed within the chest covered by the mercy seat. Revelation through the natural world and through his word have been essential elements in the relationship between God and man since the creation, when God conversed with Adam in the garden. Despite Israel\u2019s rebellion, God continued to reveal himself in nature and through history in his prophetic revelation to bring about the ultimate promise of redemption in Christ Jesus.<\/p>\n
HOBAB: DEPARTURE OR GUIDANCE IN THE WILDERNESS? (10:29\u201332)<\/p>\n
29 Now Moses said to Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses\u2019 father-in-law, \u201cWe are setting out for the place about which the LORD said, \u2018I will give it to you.\u2019 Come with us and we will treat you well, for the LORD has promised good things to Israel.\u201d
\n30 He answered, \u201cNo, I will not go; I am going back to my own land and my own people.\u201d
\n31 But Moses said, \u201cPlease do not leave us. You know where we should camp in the desert, and you can be our eyes. 32 If you come with us, we will share with you whatever good things the LORD gives us.\u201d<\/p>\n
10:29\u201332 Both the content and the placement of this passage in the narrative raise several questions for the reader and interpreter. The first concerns the identity of Hobab ben Reuel in light of other passages in Exodus and Judges. The second concerns the literary function(s) of the pericope in the Book of Numbers. The third concerns why Hobab finally agreed to journey with Israel to the land of Canaan. The fourth pertains to the relationship between Israel and the Midianites in Numbers and the Pentateuch.
\nHobab is identified by the typically full Hebraic threefold description, \u201cson of Reuel\u201d (ben R\u0115\u02bfu\u02be\u0113l), \u201cthe Midianite\u201d (hammidy\u0101n\u00ee), \u201cfather-in-law of Moses\u201d (\u1e25\u014dt\u0113n M\u014d\u0161eh). The construct relationship of these three elements, however, raises several question when passages from Exodus and Judges are considered. What is the relationship between Jethro, Reuel, and Hobab? Milgrom has noted three potential solutions: (1) Hobab and Jethro are the same person and Reuel is their father, taking father and daughter in Exod 2:16, 18 to mean grandfather and granddaughter; (2) the term \u1e25\u014dt\u0113n means a relation of the bride, hence father-in-law as well as brother-in-law; and (3) Reuel is a clan name, making Hobab the young desert scout of the Midianite clan of Reuel, Moses\u2019 son-in-law.
\nThe title \u201cson of Reuel\u201d can mean that he was the direct \u201coffspring\u201d of Reuel or that he belonged to the \u201cclan\u201d of Reuel. The latter definition of clanship is preferred here. The relationship of Reuel to Moses as \u1e25\u014dt\u0113n, usually translated as \u201cfather-in-law\u201d is echoed in Judg 1:16 and 4:11, in which these relatives of Moses by marriage are also identified with the Kenites. By comparison with Exod 2:18\u20133:1, where Reuel is also called Jethro, who is also called the \u1e25\u014dt\u0113n M\u014d\u0161eh, here he is obviously the \u201cfather-in-law\u201d of Moses. Mitchell has demonstrated that the term \u1e25\u014dt\u0113n refers to a \u201crelation by marriage.\u201d
\nThe dual identification of Reuel and Hobab as both Midianite and Kenite evidences that the Midianites were not a single clan. As Milgrom notes, they were a \u201cconfederation of peoples, one of which is the Kenites.\u201d Some earlier scholars took the use of the two names Jethro and Reuel as an indication that Exod 2:18 and 3:11 were from different Pentateuchal sources. But the use of dual names in the Bible and ancient Near Eastern texts has been demonstrated by C. H. Gordon and others to be a common practice in poetic and prose contexts. Wenham\u2019s summary provides the simplest solution: \u201cthat Moses invited his brother-in-law Hobab to accompany Israel on their journey through Canaan. His father-in-law Reuel or Jethro had earlier given Moses valuable advice about organizing the people.\u201d
\nMoses appealed to Hobab\u2019s experience in the desert regions of Sinai and Paran to provide valuable assistance to the Israelites in the harsh conditions they would face during the coming journey. This setting provides a model of shared human leadership under the ultimate direction of God through the cloud and the positioning of the ark of the covenant. Moses functioned as the director of the people (\u201cby the Lord\u2019s command through Moses,\u201d v. 13), Hobab provided the desert tracking services (\u201cyou know where we may camp in the desert, and you can be our eyes,\u201d v. 31), and the Lord led the way (\u201cthe ark of the covenant went before them,\u201d v. 33).
\nThe positioning of the Hobab dialogue raises several questions about the narrative flow of Numbers. It provides additional background to the historical setting of the cycle, but the content relating to the Midianites also provides another function. A dimension of polarity in the overarching structure of the three rebellion cycles can be observed. On the one hand, the Midianite Hobab can become a participant in and a recipient of the good things Yahweh has promised to his people Israel. The fruit of this promise is evidenced in the later Judges narratives. But on the other hand, another Midianite, the woman Cozbi, would be instrumental in bringing evil through plague and death to Israelites. She was among those (Moabites as well) who enticed many Israelite men into idolatrous worship of the Baal of Peor in the Shittim region near the Jordan River (Num 25:1\u201318). In the final cycle of Numbers, retribution against the Midianites is carried out because they had been instrumental in leading Israel into idolatry at the instigation of Balaam of Pethor.
\nAnother literary function of the position and content of the present narrative is the close juxtapositioning of the statements regarding God\u2019s beneficence (\u201cthe Lord has promised good things [hat\u00f4b, \u2018the good\u2019] for Israel\u201d v. 29) and his promise of victory (\u201cRise up O Lord, May your enemies be scattered!\u201d v. 35) opposite the people\u2019s rebelliousness in the initial phraseology of chap. 11 (\u201cNow the people complained about their hardships [ra\u02bf, \u201cevil\u201d]).
\nThe open-ended question raised by the narrative, Will Hobab acquiesce to Moses\u2019 request and help lead Israel through the wilderness? provides another literary element to the narrative flow of Numbers in light of the coming events. Will Hobab and this generation of Israelites faithfully follow the Lord through the wilderness to the place that the Lord had said, \u201cIt (the Promised Land) I am giving to you\u201d? Or will they grumble, complain, and rebel against God and experience his judgment? Yahweh is willing to lead them and bless them, but will they experience the fullness of his blessing by being his special and unique people and obeying faithfully his commands? The answer would surface in the following chapter.<\/p>\n
FIRST STAGE OF THE JOURNEY (10:33\u201336)<\/p>\n
33 So they set out from the mountain of the LORD and traveled for three days. The ark of the covenant of the LORD went before them during those three days to find them a place to rest. 34 The cloud of the LORD was over them by day when they set out from the camp.
\n35 Whenever the ark set out, Moses said,
\n\u201cRise up, O LORD!
\nMay your enemies be scattered;
\nmay your foes flee before you.\u201d
\n36 Whenever it came to rest, he said,
\n\u201cReturn, O LORD,
\nto the countless thousands of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n
10:33\u201336 Just over thirteen months had transpired since God demonstrated his love through the fulfillment of the promise to deliver them from bondage and oppression in Egypt in the Exodus. As they set out on this initial stage of the victory march to the Promised Land, they would travel for three days under the leadership of the Lord through the cloud and the ark of the covenant. Moses functioned as their human commander. The ark moves from the center of the camp (2:17) to the front of the march. As Ashley notes, \u201cThe new stage of the journey would have not only the continuity of the old cloud, but also the development of the ark\u2019s leadership, symbolizing Yahweh on his throne, to assure people of the divine leadership in the days ahead.\u201d The cloud also would serve as shade to protect them through the harshness of the late spring in the Sinai region, where May temperatures rise to 90\u2013100 degrees.
\nThe phraseology \u201cthree days\u2019 journey\u201d (derek \u0161\u0115lo\u0161et yam\u00eem) is similar to the \u201celeven days journey\u201d in Deut 1:2 that describes the distance from Mount Horeb (Sinai) to Kadesh Barnea. This kind of phraseology was commonly used in the ancient Near East to indicate distance traveled by armies or caravans, in which the average distance was about fifteen miles per day. Various groups may have traveled more or less than that distance in a given number of days, hence an \u201celeven days\u2019 journey\u201d (=about 165 miles) may take as little as nine or ten days or perhaps as much as eighteen to twenty days, depending on the progress of the group. Hence, the Israelites probably traveled forty to forty-five miles on this initial leg.
\nThe sense of joyous excitement and the hope of victory in the march echoed through the air as the great prophet shouted what R. Allen calls the \u201cBattle Cry of Moses.\u201d Fifteen verses later (11:14\u201315) Moses\u2019 victory shout would turn to lament before God because of the rebelliousness of the meat-hungry crowd. Verses 34\u201336 in the Hebrew text are enclosed in special signs called \u201cinverted nuns,\u201d which has been taken by many scholars as an indication that the contents were believed by the Massoretes to be out of their original context and possibly to be transposed. However, the dual acclamations fittingly conclude not only this section of the Numbers narrative but the entire Sinai narrative that began in Exodus 19. There they had witnessed God\u2019s miraculous power and experienced the revelatory relationship in the establishment of the nation in the Mosaic covenant. The words proclaimed at the outset of each stage of the journey announced that Yahweh as Lord of the armies of Israel and the heavens would shatter and scatter the enemies of God. In the second colon of the poem in the NIV, the phrase \u201cmay your foes flee before you\u201d translates the Hebrew w\u0115y\u0101n\u016bs\u00fb m\u0115san\u02be\u00eak\u0101 mipp\u0101n\u00eak\u0101, \u201cmay they flee\u2014the ones who hate you\u2014from before you,\u201d a phraseology that reflects the holy war motif in passages such as Ps 68:1.
\nThe final refrain\u2014\u201cReturn, O Lord, to the myriads of thousands of Israel!\u201d\u2014bespeaks the magnitude of the forces of Israel as they prepare to launch into the victory march leading to holy war against Canaan. The parallelism of the dual declarations strikingly proclaims that Yahweh God of Israel is not only Lord of the armies of the heavens but also Lord of the innumerable armies of the children of Israel. Together they are an invincible force as long as they act in unity, harmony, purity, and faith.
\nJust when things look the brightest and most promising, with the Lord leading the people by the cloud of his presence in a glorious march from the mountain where they have encountered him toward a Promised Land of abundance and freedom, the story takes a dramatic turn. The children of Israel have departed Sinai just forty days after taking the census for the military conscription. Less than a month had transpired after having celebrated God\u2019s great deliverance in the Exodus from Egypt during the feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread and less than a week after the observance of the second month Passover (9:11) for those who had been unclean during the first month celebration. Then suddenly the story veers from victorious march to grievous grumbling and rebellious resistance to God\u2019s plan for blessing and fulfillment of promise.<\/p>\n
(3) First Rebellion: General Murmuring (11:1\u20133)<\/p>\n
1 Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the LORD, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the LORD burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. 2 When the people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the LORD and the fire died down. 3 So that place was called Taberah, because fire from the LORD had burned among them.<\/p>\n
11:1\u20133 The initial rebellious incident cited in the text sets the stage and pattern for the successive acts of sedition. As noted previously, this method of introducing a section with a formative case is typical of the Book of Numbers and other Pentateuchal texts. As Milgrom notes, \u201cThis short section of three verses contains all of the essential elements of all the subsequent narratives describing Israel\u2019s complaints: complaint (11:4\u20135; 12:1\u20132; 14:1\u20134; 17:6\u20137; 20:3\u20135; 21:5), divine punishment (11:33; 12:9\u201310: 14:20\u201337; 16:32; 17:11; 21:7), and immortalizing the incident by giving a name to the site (11:34; 20:13; 21:3; Exod 15:23; 17:7).\u201d This pattern is parallel to the complaint patterns of Exodus and Judges. In most cases Moses also acts as an intercessor before the Lord on behalf of the people.<\/p>\n
Direct apposition of 11:1\u20133 is made with 10:29\u201336 through linguistic and chiastic features. The first word in the Hebrew text of 11:1, way\u0115h\u00ee (\u201cand so it happened\u201d) is also the first word in 10:35. In the earlier text the focus is on the ark of God leading the people out from Sinai with the promise of \u201cgood things to Israel\u201d (10:29\u201332). In the present text the people are complaining continually about the \u201chardship\u201d (lit. \u201cevil,\u201d ra\u02bf) of the desert. Hence the following chiastic (contrastive) outline is presented:<\/p>\n
A Yahweh has promised good things (t\u014db) for Israel (10:32)
\nB way\u0115h\u00ee So it happened that the ark set out (10:35)
\nC Rise up, O Lord (10:35b)
\nC\u00b4 Return, O Lord (10:36)
\nB\u00b4 way\u0115h\u00ee So it happened that the people complained (11:1)
\nA\u00b4 Evil (ra\u02bf) in the hearing of Yahweh (11:1)<\/p>\n
The murmuring and complaining by the people of the hardships of the wilderness had been a continuous character trait since the initial stage of their departure from Egypt. They complained when the Egyptians approached just before the sea was parted before their eyes (Exod 14:10\u201318). They grumbled at Marah because of the bitterness of the waters (Exod 15:22\u201326). Additional parallels have been noted by Milgrom in that the grumbling at Marah occurred after a three-day march from Egypt, followed by the quail incident (Exod 16:1\u201336). The Taberah grumbling occurred after a three-day march from Sinai, then followed by the quail provision and judgment (11:4\u201334). The people complained soon after they had seen God\u2019s miraculous work in the crossing of the Red Sea and again soon after leaving the place where they had encountered him and entered into a special covenant relationship with him. In the Book of Numbers this action constitutes a shift in the structural and theological movement of the book from one of unity, faithfulness, holiness, and celebration to one of discord, rebellion, and dissatisfaction with who they were as the people of the covenant. The text translates literally \u201cand so the people became like those murmuring evil in the ears of Yahweh.\u201d God had promised goodness and blessing; the people responded with rebellious complaints.
\nThe Lord was merciful in sending his purging fire only to the perimeter of the Israelite camp. Many could have been consumed had the judgment been meted out in the midst of the encampment. The outskirts of the camp were where uncleanness and ceremonial impurity were relegated. A judgment of fire from the Lord often comes by means of lightning, though the mode of igniting the fire is not specified. This form of judgment parallels that meted out against Nadab and Abihu (Lev 10:1\u20133), though that fire came out from the midst of the tabernacle.
\nFaced with the potential disastrous circumstances of an all-consuming fiery judgment, the people quickly shifted from complaining before God to pleading with Moses to intercede with God on their behalf. The verb wayyitpall\u0113l, translated \u201cand he prayed\u201d in the NIV, denotes intercessory prayer that was a continuous action on the part of God\u2019s chosen leader. The Lord in his mercy was responsive to the fervent prayer of this righteous man, whom Milgrom calls the \u201carchetype of prophetic intercessor,\u201d and the fiery judgment abated (lit. \u201csank down,\u201d ti\u0161qa\u02bf). Further destruction and death were diverted from the people, who were saved by the mercy and grace of God.
\nThe place was memorialized as Taberah (\u201cburning\u201d or \u201cit [the fire] burns\u201d) because the fire of Yahweh had burned the outskirts of the camp in judgment against his people. The site is mentioned again only in Deut 9:22, in the context of Moses\u2019 recounting the history of Israel\u2019s unfaithfulness in a challenge to the people to fear the Lord and to obey, serve, and love him (Deut 10:12\u201313). Taberah is omitted in the journey itinerary of Numbers 33:16\u201317, perhaps being subsumed under the heading of Kibroth Hattaavah in the subsequent context.<\/p>\n
(4) Second Rebellion: Complaint about Food (11:4\u201335)<\/p>\n
Complaints about food and water supply were among the most common reasons for the dissatisfaction that festered among the people and led to outright rebellion against God and his appointed leader Moses. The present passage closely parallels both Exod 16:1\u201336 and 18:15\u201326, the former in the provision of manna after the entire community voiced its discontent concerning their lack of food in the Sin Desert just a month after their Exodus from Egypt, and the latter in the appointment of leaders to aid in dealing with legal matters among the people. In Exodus 16 food came as a blessing from God after the murmuring of the people; however, in Numbers 11 the provision of the quail after the inordinate craving of the people was a form of punishment. In Num 11:10\u201330 the seventy elders are endowed with the Spirit of God and prophesy as a result, whereas in Exodus 18 the focus is on the need for settling legal disputations.
\nThe structure of the chapter, with the intertwining of the two themes of food supply and leadership, has presented a challenge to interpreters. The material has been analyzed variously in recent studies. Ashley has outlined the material of Num 11:4\u201312:15 in three cycles of three basic thematic elements in the structure of the story. Using the designations A = Food Theme, B = Leadership, T = Transition, he outlines the section as follows:<\/p>\n
A 11:4\u201313
\nA\u00b4 11:18\u201320
\nA\u00b4\u00b4 11:31\u201334
\nT 11:14\u201315
\nT\u00b4 11:21\u201323
\nT\u00b4\u00b4 11:35
\nB 11:16\u201317
\nB\u00b4 11:24\u201330
\nB\u00b4\u00b4 12:1\u201315<\/p>\n
Milgrom presented a basic chiastic structure to 11:4\u201334 in his \u201cExcursus 24: The Structure of Chapters 11\u201312.\u201d God\u2019s answer to the complaints of the people and Moses was discerned as the focal point of the chiasm.<\/p>\n
A People\u2019s Complaint: Meat (11:4\u201310a, b)
\nB Moses\u2019 Complaint: Assistance (11:10b\u201315)
\nX God\u2019s Answer to Both Complaints (11:16\u201324a)
\nB\u00b4 God Authorizes Elders: Diminishes Moses (11:24b\u201330)
\nA\u00b4 God Supplies Meat: Punishes Complainers (11:31\u201334)<\/p>\n
An alternative structural analysis of the text, however, evidences a slightly different focus for the pericope: a crisis of belief in the dialogue between Moses and Yahweh over the nature of the people and the ability of the Lord to supply the needs of his people. The following chiastic outline gives rise to this central element. Highlighted are several of the Hebrew terms derived from the root \u02be\u0101sap (\u201cto gather\u201d), which are keys to understanding the structure and interpreting the content of the passage. Note the following outline of usage: (1) a \u201cgathered group\u201d of people (11:1) instigate the murmuring; (2) Yahweh instructed Moses to \u201cgather\u201d seventy elders (11:16) who were spiritual leaders; (3) at the crux of the chiasm, Moses uses the term in a rhetorical question regarding the inadequacy of \u201cgathering\u201d all the fish in the sea to satisfy the cravings of the people; (4) Moses faithfully \u201cgathered\u201d the seventy elders (11:24); and (5) the term is used twice to describe the gluttonous group who \u201cgathered\u201d no less than thirty-eight bushels of quail per person. A second key term is ta\u02be\u0103w\u0101h (\u201ccraving, desire\u201d), used in v. 4 to describe the intense desires of the people, and in vv. 34 and 35 for the naming of the site. One might call this form of derived nomenclature a talionic toponym, in which the name matches the form of judgment and the original sinful desires of the people.
\nA second factor contributing to this interpretation is the larger balancing of the elements that compose the larger chiastic structure of the combined three cycles of rebellion. The complaint and disbelief of Moses in this chapter finds its chiastic parallel in Numbers 20. In the latter passage Moses\u2019 frustration, evidenced throughout his travels with the Israelites, turns to outright rebellion in which he violates the holiness of God. Furthermore, the Miriam and Aaron rebellion in Numbers 12 is paralleled by the death of both brother and sister of Moses in Num 20:1 and 22\u201329.<\/p>\n
Chiastic Structure of the Second Rebellion: A Crisis of Belief for Israel and Moses<\/p>\n
A Complaint of the People (h\u0101\u02besaps\u016bp): Craving (hit\u02beaww\u016b ta\u02be\u0103w\u00e2) Meat (vv. 4\u20136)
\nB Yahweh\u2019s Former Provision: Manna Quality (vv. 7\u20139)
\nC Moses\u2019 Complaint about People: Why Trouble (h\u0103r\u0113\u02bf\u014dt\u0101) Your Servant? (vv. 10\u201315)
\nD Yahweh Responds: Assemble (\u02beesp\u00e2) Seventy Elders (vv. 16\u201317)
\nE Preparation for Provision of Meat: Purification and Confession (vv. 18\u201320)
\nF Moses Expresses Disbelief to Yahweh (vv. 21\u201322)
\nF\u00b4 Yahweh Responds to Moses\u2019 Disbelief (v. 23)
\nE\u00b4 Preparation for Blessing: Elders Assembled (wayye\u02be\u0115s\u014dp) (v. 24)
\nD\u00b4 Yahweh Sends Spirit upon the Seventy Elders (vv. 25\u201327)
\nC\u00b4 Moses Responds to Joshua\u2019s Complaint (vv. 28\u201330)
\nB\u00b4 Yahweh\u2019s Fresh Provision of Meat (wayya\u02beasp\u016b \u2026 \u02be\u0101sap) (vv. 31\u201332)
\nA\u00b4 Plague upon the People (qibr\u014dt hata\u02be\u0103w\u00e2, \u201cGraves of Craving\u201d) (vv. 33\u201334)<\/p>\n
THE RABBLE\u2019S COMPLAINT (11:4\u20136)<\/p>\n
4 The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, \u201cIf only we had meat to eat! 5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost\u2014also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. 6 But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!\u201d<\/p>\n
11:4\u20136 The second rebellion was instigated by an assembly (h\u0101\u02besaps\u016bp) of those who had departed from Egypt along with the Israelites, and the discontent spread rapidly through the camp of the children of Israel. The initial term used to describe this mutinous group is a hapax legomenon built on the verb \u02be\u0101\u015bap, \u201cto gather.\u201d This faction seems to be distinguished in the text from the Israelites. The group\u2019s offense is described as an intense craving (lit. \u201cthey were craving a craving\u201d) for meat and other produce that they had eaten in Egypt. In the midst of their austerity in the desert setting, they had become nostalgic over their former food supply while forgetting the bondage and oppression from which the Lord had so dramatically delivered them. The failure to remember God\u2019s grace and faithfulness was the second aspect of their rebellion.
\nGoshen in the eastern Nile delta was practically the breadbasket of Egypt, lush with vegetation and abounding with natural and man-made canals whose waters teemed with fish and were replete with nutrients for abundant crop production. The foods listed were among the most commonly grown in the region, namely cucumbers (qi\u0161\u0161\u016b\u02be\u00eem), melons (\u02be\u0103ba\u1e6d\u1e6di\u1e25\u00eem), leeks (\u1e25\u0101\u1e63\u00eer), onions (b\u0115\u1e63\u0101l\u00eem), and garlic (\u0161\u00fbm\u00eem). All require ample amounts of water via irrigation for abundant crop production. But now the arid desert setting was taking its toll on the people, for their bodies were becoming dehydrated. The Hebrew phrase nap\u0161\u0113n\u00fb y\u0115b\u0113\u0161\u00e2, translated in the NIV as \u201cwe have lost our appetite,\u201d is better translated \u201cour bodies are dried up\u201d or \u201cour lives are vanquished.\u201d The claim that they saw nothing but manna was perhaps an exaggeration, considering the goods that were brought from Egypt. But the description of manna that follows in the text demonstrates that their claims were spurious.<\/p>\n
YAHWEH\u2019S PROVISION OF MANNA (11:7\u20139)<\/p>\n
7 The manna was like coriander seed and looked like resin. 8 The people went around gathering it, and then ground it in a handmill or crushed it in a mortar. They cooked it in a pot or made it into cakes. And it tasted like something made with olive oil. 9 When the dew settled on the camp at night, the manna also came down.<\/p>\n
11:7\u20139 Over against the people\u2019s lustful yearning for a variety of foods, the reader is reminded of God\u2019s faithful provision of the life-sustaining manna, which he had commenced providing just a month after their departure from the land of bondage. Concerning this inclusion, Milgrom has noted, \u201cThis botanical and culinary description of the manna was deliberately inserted here to refute each point in the people\u2019s complaint.\u201d The manna, which had been God\u2019s gracious gift to his people, had now become detestable to them.
\nPrecise identification of the substance called manna with known agricultural products of ancient or modern times is somewhat tentative. The association with coriander seed is likely, since the seed is used for flavoring similar to sesame or poppy seeds. Physical description seems to be intended in the comparison to bdellium, a loan word in English from the Semitic root budulchu (Akk.) via the Greek bedellion, generally associated with a pale yellow or white aromatic resin. Generally manna has been associated with a by-product of the tamarisk tree found in northern Arabia. B. Childs notes: \u201cThere forms from the sap of the tamarisk tree a species of yellowish-white flake or ball, which results from the activity of a type of plant lice (Trabutina mannipara and Najococcus serpentinus). The insect punctures the fruit of the tree and excretes a substance from this juice. During the warmth of the day it (the substance melts), but it congeals when cold. It has a sweet taste. These pellets or cakes are gathered by the natives in the early morning and, when cooked, provide a sort of bread. The food decays quickly and attracts ants. The annual crop in the Sinai Peninsula is exceedingly small and some years fails completely.\u201d The present passage also assumes prior knowledge of the substance based upon their initial and continuing experience, first described in Exod 16:4\u201335. Whether this known modern food source is or is not equivalent to the manna of the Israelite desert sojourn experience, the provision for the host of Israel was a miraculous gift of God, an outpouring of his gracious, loyal love for his people.
\nThe hardened resinous manna could be ground on millstones or in a mortar, typically made from basalt or very hard limestone, and then boiled and formed into cakes. The taste is compared to the rich creamy olive oil that comes from the upper layer of the first pressing of the olives. In Exod 16:31 the taste of manna cakes is compared to honey. As in Exodus 16 the manna appeared in the early morning, blown in from the heavens (sky) during the night so that enough could be gathered for the daily consumption after the morning dew had evaporated.<\/p>\n
MOSES\u2019 COMPLAINT ABOUT THE PEOPLE (11:10\u201315)<\/p>\n
10 Moses heard the people of every family wailing, each at the entrance to his tent. The LORD became exceedingly angry, and Moses was troubled. 11 He asked the LORD, \u201cWhy have you brought this trouble on your servant? What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me? 12 Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land you promised on oath to their forefathers? 13 Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me, \u2018Give us meat to eat!\u2019 14 I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me. 15 If this is how you are going to treat me, put me to death right now\u2014if I have found favor in your eyes\u2014and do not let me face my own ruin.\u201d<\/p>\n
11:10\u201315 Upon hearing the cries of dissatisfaction from the people, God was considerably angered, and Moses was distressed (lit. \u201cand in the eyes of Moses evil\/contemptible\u201d). The widespread nature of the discontent is highlighted by the phrase \u201cevery family wailing,\u201d as the initial grumbling of the rabble spread like wildfire through the camp. Moses is incensed at the people for making his role as a leader an unbearable one and toward Yahweh for assigning him this overwhelming burden of leadership. His reaction is pointed primarily toward God, challenging the divine decision to place him in the parental role of providing for this nation. It was not he who gave birth to the nation, and hence it was not he who bore the responsibility for their welfare.
\nR. Allen calls this passage \u201cMoses\u2019 Lament\u201d and outlines the poetic character of the verses. But the words of Moses reflect more than standard lament; they contain the emotive effusion of discontent, despair, and even the seeds of rebellion. In most psalms of lament, expressions of faith and hope come forth out of the midst of desperation. Here Moses has lost sight of God\u2019s greatness and grace, of his ability to provide for the needs of his people. The Hebrew phraseology of Num 11:11 is the same as that of Exod 5:22, except there Moses evidences a selfless concern for his oppressed brethren. Now the focus is on his own misery. The usage of pronouns and pronominal suffixes in these verses heightens the effect of Moses\u2019 disavowing of his perceived role of a nurse caring for an unweaned child:<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy have You brought this evil (h\u0103re\u02bf\u014d\u0304t\u0101) upon Your servant? (v. 11)
\nWhat have I done to displease You,
\nThat You put the burden of all this people on Your servant?
\nDid I conceive (h\u0101r\u00eet\u00ee) all these people? (v. 12)
\nDid I give them birth??
\nWhy do You tell me to carry them in my arms as a nurse carries an infant,
\nto the land You promised on oath to their forefathers?
\nWhere can I get meat for all these people? (v. 13)
\nThey keep wailing to me, Give us meat.
\nI cannot carry all these people by myself, the burden is too heavy for me! (v. 14)
\nIf this is how You are going to treat me, (v. 15)
\nPut me to death right now
\nIf I have found favor in Your eyes,
\nthen do not let me face (\u02beer\u02beeh) my own ruin (b\u0115r\u0101\u02bf\u0101t\u0131\u0302).<\/p>\n
The movement starts with Moses emphatically blaming God (you, your) for bringing evil upon his servant, moves to him disavowing any relationship to his fellow Israelites (these, them), and ends with him desiring that Yahweh take his life (I, me, myself) so that he would not have to face further tribulation. Note also how the twofold use of forms of the Hebrew ra\u02bf (\u201cevil, calamity, ruin\u201d) in the subsection vv. 11 and 15 form an internal inclusio.
\nMoses\u2019 despair concerning his life\u2019s lot parallels those of other notables in Israel\u2019s history. Job cursed the very day of his birth in the midst of his season of suffering, and Jeremiah likewise bemoaned his conception and birth in the midst of the shame he experienced in being beaten and imprisoned by Pashhur in Jerusalem. At this point in his leadership ministry, Moses faced a crisis of faith and dependency, preferring death as a favor from God rather than continue to have the responsibility of directing such a rebellious rabble. The Lord responds with grace and yet also with judgment. Moses would get some relief, but in the long run this was just the beginning of troublesome years to come.<\/p>\n
YAHWEH RESPONDS: ASSEMBLE SEVENTY ELDERS (11:16\u201317)<\/p>\n
16 The LORD said to Moses: \u201cBring me seventy of Israel\u2019s elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people. Have them come to the Tent of Meeting, that they may stand there with you. 17 I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take of the Spirit that is on you and put the Spirit on them. They will help you carry the burden of the people so that you will not have to carry it alone.<\/p>\n
11:16\u201317 The Lord instructed Moses to appoint seventy elders from among the leaders who were also officers among the Israelites. The Hebrew term \u0161\u014dt\u0113r (\u201cofficial\u201d or \u201cscribal assistant\u201d) is attested in the Akkadian \u0161at\u00e2ru, \u201cto write,\u201d and Aramaic \u0161\u0115t\u0101r\u0101h, \u201cdocument,\u201d suggesting a kind of official with scribal function within a given group. The term is also used of the Israelite foremen whose responsibility it was, under the pharaoh\u2019s taskmasters, to meet the daily quotas of mudbrick production in Egypt (Exod 5:14\u201319). These men probably would have had a recording function in their service for maintaining records of production. Harrison has suggested that the \u0161\u014dt\u0115r\u00eem were responsible for the compilation of the Book of Numbers from smaller sections of scroll material. Seventy of these men, a number suggestive of a full complement of persons, would be endowed with the Spirit of God for assisting Moses in bearing the burdens of the people as spiritual leaders. The spiritual dimension differentiates this group from those appointed for administrative and judicial tasks in Exod 18:25\u201326.
\nMoses\u2019 role was to gather (\u02beesp\u00e2) the seventy elders and present them before the Lord at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the standard place for revelatory activity from the Lord and where priests and Levites were anointed and commissioned for service. The Lord would then descend in the cloud and speak to Moses, the key individual in the revelatory activity of Yahweh. In the process he would impart to them some of his spirit, which heretofore had been endowed only upon Moses. The descending of the Lord to speak with his servant face-to-face is described in Exod 33:9\u201311, when the cloud pillar would settle on the Tent of Meeting that Moses originally pitched outside the Israelite camp.<\/p>\n
PREPARATION FOR PROVISION OF MEAT: PURIFICATION AND CONFESSION (11:18\u201320)<\/p>\n
18 \u201cTell the people: \u2018Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow, when you will eat meat. The LORD heard you when you wailed, \u201cIf only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!\u201d Now the LORD will give you meat, and you will eat it. 19 You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days, 20 but for a whole month\u2014until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it\u2014because you have rejected the LORD, who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, \u201cWhy did we ever leave Egypt?\u201d \u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
11:18\u201320 After instructions for Moses\u2019 appointment of the elders, directions for the larger populace ensued. Consecration was required prior to receiving the blessing from the Lord, but this blessing would have dreadful repercussions. Milgrom notes that the Hebrew term hitkadd\u0115sh\u00fb (\u201csanctify yourselves\u201d) is a \u201ctechnical term used by the nonpriestly texts for the process of purification through bathing in order to receive the presence of the Lord the following day in the sanctuary or in a theophany.\u201d Ritual purity was necessary before offering sacrifices, or as preparation for celebrating festivals like Passover, the wondrous memorial to God\u2019s deliverance of the people from bondage in Egypt. Now many wanted to return there. In this context ritual bathing and clothes washing were the obligatory prerequisites for theophany. The same manner of preparation was carried out by the people when they readied themselves for God\u2019s descending upon Mount Sinai and the Ten Commandments were issued (Exod 19:10\u201311).
\nThe contrast between the true source of blessing is heightened further when the people ascribe \u201cgoodness\u201d to their situation in Egypt. When the people were preparing to leave Sinai, Moses told Hobab that God had promised good things to Israel. God was Israel\u2019s true source of goodness, but now they claimed things were better for them in Egypt (lit., \u201cFor goodness is for us in Egypt\u201d). To attribute goodness to the land of bondage, oppression, and despair was blasphemous, evidence of their brazen rebellion against God; they had rejected his goodness. Now he would turn that which was formerly a means of great blessing, the abundant provision of quail for their meat supply, into a means of cursing and plague. The supply from God would be far more than abundant, lasting for a whole month. The pattern in the dialogue comes to a dramatic climax in the intensifying sixfold enumeration of the supply period for the quail\u2014not one, two, five, ten, or even twenty days, but for an entire month (over twenty-nine days) they would experience the oxymoronic fullness of God\u2019s wrathful blessing. The savory meat they so lusted after would become loathsome to them. The nature of the punishment would echo their rejection of God.<\/p>\n
MOSES EXPRESSES DISBELIEF TO YAHWEH (11:21\u201322)<\/p>\n
21 But Moses said, \u201cHere I am among six hundred thousand men on foot, and you say, \u2018I will give them meat to eat for a whole month!\u2019 22 Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?\u201d<\/p>\n
11:21\u201322 The dialogue between Moses and Yahweh continues, with the servant prophet despairing over both the magnitude of the crowd of people that must be fed with this promised supply of quail and the inability to satisfy the continuous craving and grumbling, even if God himself is the supplier. First Moses reminds the Lord concerning the matter of the six hundred thousand footsoldiers, plus the women, children, Levites, and others, a potential total of two to two and a half million people. An overabundance of meat for a month for twenty thousand would have been an unbelievably miraculous phenomenon in the midst of the Sinai desert, where occasional quail runs may number ten thousand or more in a season. For over two million such a surfeit of poultry would have been an even greater incomprehensible and astronomical quantity. But the fact was that the people were simply looking for an opportunity to complain about their lot in life. Moses noted that even their full cattle, sheep, and goat supplies that they had brought forth out of Egypt, as well as the totality of the fish in the sea, would not have been sufficient to quench the lustful and ravenous appetites of this company.<\/p>\n
YAHWEH RESPONDS TO MOSES\u2019 DISBELIEF (11:23)<\/p>\n
23 The LORD answered Moses, \u201cIs the LORD\u2019S arm too short? You will now see whether or not what I say will come true for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
11:23 In his dolor and disbelief Moses had challenged God\u2019s ability to meet the needs of the people in the wilderness. He had questioned God\u2019s essential beneficent nature. But the Lord responds quickly and succinctly to the disputation with a rhetorical question, \u201cIs the hand of the Lord shortened?\u201d Has somehow the right hand and arm of Yahweh, which delivered the Israelites from the bondage of Egypt and brought them through the sea on dry ground, been reduced in power and capacity? Absolutely not! So now the reluctant Moses and the recalcitrant people were about to experience once more the magnitude of God\u2019s power of blessing and the veracity of his promise to supply the needs of his people. In spite of the numerous life illustrations the Israelites and the assembly had experienced, they had not yet come to the realization of the promise the apostle Paul later echoed in Phil 4:19, \u201cMy God will supply all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n
PREPARATION FOR BLESSING: ELDERS ASSEMBLED (11:24)<\/p>\n
24 So Moses went out and told the people what the LORD had said. He brought together seventy of their elders and had them stand around the Tent.<\/p>\n
11:24 Though Moses had serious doubts about the outcome of the events ahead, he responded in obedience and followed through with the first stage of the instructions the Lord had given him (11:16). He instructed the people in that which the Lord had instructed him. The term used is wayy\u0115dabb\u0113r, which when used with Yahweh as speaker means \u201crevelatory instruction\u201d and with Moses as speaker indicates his faithful obedience in relating those instructions to the people. He presumably went out from the entrance to the tabernacle to gather a group of seasoned assistants. In contrast to the ravenous assembly (h\u0101\u02besaps\u016bp), that insatiable assembly who incited rebellion throughout the camp, a group of devout elders was assembled (wayye\u02be\u0115s\u014dp) who would aid Moses in the spiritual oversight of the people.<\/p>\n
YAHWEH SENDS SPIRIT UPON THE SEVENTY ELDERS (11:25\u201327)<\/p>\n
25 Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke with him, and he took of the Spirit that was on him and put the Spirit on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did not do so again.
\n26 However, two men, whose names were Eldad and Medad, had remained in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but did not go out to the Tent. Yet the Spirit also rested on them, and they prophesied in the camp. 27 A young man ran and told Moses, \u201cEldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.\u201d<\/p>\n
11:25\u201327 The promise of the sharing of the Spirit of God with the seventy elders, as delineated in v. 17, is now fulfilled. With Moses in his traditional position at the entrance to the tent, the place of revelatory activity, and with the elders of the people stationed around the Tent of Meeting in close proximity, the symbolic presence of the Lord in the form of the cloud descends and speaks with Moses. As the Lord conversed with his special servant, he apportioned some of his Spirit with which he had endowed Moses among the surrounding elders. The language of the Hebrew text evidences that this distribution of the Spirit was carried out by God and as such did not diminish that portion of the Spirit that had rested upon Moses previously. The elders\u2019 authority was derived through Moses, and as such they functioned as an extension of the ultimate authority endowed upon Moses by the Lord. It was God\u2019s Spirit who was disseminated among the seventy elders, not that of Moses, and thus not lessened. This impartation was a unique gift of God upon the leaders and scribes that would enable them to assist Moses in giving spiritual oversight and supervision to this large rebellious congregation.
\nThe immediate impact of the impartation of the Spirit of God that came to rest upon the seventy elders was an outpouring of prophetic activity by its recipients. The meaning of the term \u201cprophesy\u201d (wayyitnab\u0115\u02be\u00fb) in this verse has been interpreted variously. Many scholars take it as an example of the early form of ecstatic prophetic activity, parallel to 1 Sam 10:6\u201313 and 19:18\u201324, when Saul (and his men) was endowed with the Spirit of God and began to prophesy in such a manner that was identifiable as prophetic activity. Some \u201cabnormal\u201d behavior resulted when the Spirit of God came upon Saul, whereby he stripped off his clothes, prophesied in some fashion, and then fell asleep in that condition and remained so all that night (19:23\u201324). The immediate behavior of the seventy elders upon receiving the Spirit, whereby they could be identified as prophets, soon subsided. The text itself does not give an indication of ecstatic activity or any other clear picture of the behavior that accompanied their engaging in prophetic utterance. After that one occasion in which spiritual endowment resulted in a prophetic manifestation, the text says they did not continue to exhibit that activity. That is not to say that their newly appointed role of spiritual leadership was discontinued, but only that this identifiable evidence of their spiritual anointing was not repeated.
\nThe process of the bestowing of the Spirit and the response of the seventy reflects a pattern of God\u2019s working that is carried out in ultimate fashion in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon those who were gathered in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost. When the manifestation of the Spirit in what appeared to be tongues of fire came to rest upon the believers, they began to speak ecstatically in a number of foreign languages that were understood by the mixed multitude of Diaspora Jews who were gathered for this pilgrimage festival.
\nThe efficacy of this impartation of the Spirit was realized when two of the men who had been registered among the seventy elders, yet who had not joined the others when they gathered around the Tent of Meeting, were also empowered and prophesied in the same manner. Why they remained in the camp is not revealed in the text, but the inclusion of this account evidences the power of God in accomplishing his purposes among his people. Eldad and Medad became witnesses to the larger community of the manifestation of the Spirit among the elders. An unknown young man (perhaps Joshua, who voices the complaint of v. 28) gave witness of this phenomenon back to Moses, who was still gathered at the Tent with the other sixty-eight. Since a young person was able to observe and report the prophetic activity of Eldad and Medad, undoubtedly many others in the neighborhood of their tents were witnesses to the event. Eldad and Medad apparently had been registered (bakt\u016bb\u00eem, \u201camong those written\u201d) among the chosen elders who were appointed to this position of spiritual leadership. The outward manifestation of the Spirit validated their appointment, evidenced their anointment, and evoked an announcement.
\nThe Hebrew terminology used to describe the movement in this passage has led a number of scholars to posit that the Tent of Meeting was a separate facility outside the camp from the tabernacle, which stood in the center of the camp. In v. 26 Eldad and Medad were said to have not \u201cgone out\u201d to the Tent but remained \u201cin the camp\u201d (bamma\u1e25\u0103neh), where they prophesied. At the conclusion of the episode, Moses and the elders returned to the camp. Based upon source-critical interpretation, Gray suggested that the combined evidence of vv. 24, 27, and 30, paralleling Exod 33:7\u201311, \u201cimplies that the tent was outside the camp.\u201d Yet in Exodus 33 the placement of the Tent of Meeting outside the camp preceded the construction of the tabernacle (Exod 40:1\u201338) and the organization of the Israelite camps around the combined tabernacle and Tent of Meeting (Num 2:1\u20133:38). In v. 24 Moses \u201cwent out\u201d (wayy\u0113\u1e63\u0113) from his encounter with the Lord and told the people of the coming intervention, which seems to view the encounter as taking place at a point of revelation within the camp. In summary, the Hebrew verb y\u0101\u1e63\u0101\u02be describes the movement \u201cout of\u201d one context into another, and not necessarily toward the inside or outside of the camp.<\/p>\n
MOSES RESPONDS TO JOSHUA\u2019S COMPLAINT (11:28\u201330)<\/p>\n
28 Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses\u2019 aide since youth, spoke up and said, \u201cMoses, my lord, stop them!\u201d
\n29 But Moses replied, \u201cAre you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the LORD\u2019S people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!\u201d 30 Then Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp.<\/p>\n
11:28\u201330 Joshua ben Nun was introduced as a leading warrior in the first battle against the Amalekites (Exod 17:8\u201314). When Moses met with the Lord at the Tent of Meeting, which was at first outside the camp of Israel (Exod 33:7\u201311), the young Joshua remained at the Tent even after Moses had departed. Only a few months later Joshua acted as an assistant to Moses when the Spirit came upon the seventy elders. He became defensive when the report came concerning Eldad and Medad\u2019s prophetic activity, for he presumably felt he was acting on behalf of Moses, the Lord, and the elders gathered at the Tent, defending the exclusivity of this divine act. Calling for his master Moses to force Eldad and Medad to cease and desist their prophesying, Joshua perhaps sees these two men who were not directly under Moses\u2019 supervision as a threat to Moses\u2019 leadership.
\nMoses\u2019 resonant response to Joshua contrasts considerably with that of his earlier expressions of complaint and despair. Instead of condoning his servant\u2019s zeal in defending his position of authority, Moses commends the Lord\u2019s movement among the two elders and expresses the desire that all the people would be so endowed with his Spirit. In doing so they would evidence the aspirations of a closer relationship to God. An undercurrent in Moses\u2019 response may be his own desire for further relief from the heavy responsibility of leadership. Centuries later the prophet Joel would echo the words of Moses as he proclaimed to the people of Judah concerning the coming Day of the Lord:<\/p>\n
I will pour out My Spirit on all people,
\nYour sons and your daughters will prophesy,
\nYour old men will dream dreams,
\nYour young men will see visions.
\nEven on my servants, both men and women,
\nI will pour out My Spirit in those days. (2:28\u201329)<\/p>\n
Peter recalled these words in his sermon in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost when the Spirit was poured out on the believers gathered (Acts 2:16\u201321). Later the apostle Paul would seem to reiterate Moses\u2019 sentiment when he shared with the struggling church at Corinth that Christians would \u201ceagerly desire the greater gifts,\u201d especially the gift of prophecy (1 Cor 12:27\u201331; 14:1\u20135). Had the people of Yahweh been responsive to the Spirit of God rather than to their sinful appetites, the wilderness journey would have taken on a totally different atmosphere.<\/p>\n
YAHWEH\u2019S FRESH PROVISION OF MEAT (11:31\u201332)<\/p>\n
31 Now a wind went out from the LORD and drove quail in from the sea. It brought them down all around the camp to about three feet above the ground, as far as a day\u2019s walk in any direction. 32 All that day and night and all the next day the people went out and gathered quail. No one gathered less than ten homers. Then they spread them out all around the camp.
\n35 From Kibroth Hattaavah the people traveled to Hazeroth and stayed there.<\/p>\n
11:31\u201332 As a divinely ordained gale had blown across the sea, bringing deliverance to the Israelites and destruction to the pursuing Egyptian army, so now a wondrous wind brought a quintessential quantity of quail to blow across the camp, bringing sustenance to the faithful but destruction to the craving. A strong east wind parted the sea, and now an east wind and a south wind from the heavens descended upon the camp with mounds of meat. The psalmist described in greater detail the account:<\/p>\n
He let loose the east wind from the heavens,
\nand led forth the south wind by his power.
\nHe rained meat down on them like dust,
\nlying birds like sand on the seashore.
\nHe made them come down inside their camp,
\nall around their tents.
\nThey ate till they had more than enough,
\nfor he had given them what they craved.<\/p>\n
But before they turned from the food they craved,
\neven while it was still in their mouths,
\nGod\u2019s anger rose against them,
\nhe put to death the sturdiest among them,
\ncutting down the young men of Israel. (Ps 78:26\u201331)<\/p>\n
The passage builds upon the parallel usage of the Hebrew r\u00fba\u1e25 as spirit or wind. The Spirit of God had blessed the seventy elders with prophetic gifts, and now the wind of God would bless the people with food provisions. The magnitude of the two forms of blessing was copious. God had previously supplied his people with quail in the early days of their journey from Egypt to Mount Sinai (Exod 16:13). Now in the early days after their departure from the mountain of God, he supplied them with an even greater outpouring of his power than they imagined or wanted. Writers throughout history have described the movement of quail across the Sinai generally northward in the spring, as we have in the present context, and southward in the fall. Arabs earlier in this century are known to have had between one and two million quail in the autumn migration of these small birds, known by the genus coturnix coturnix or coturnix vulgaris. The extraordinary quantity of quail were swept in from the sea, probably from the Gulf of Aqaba (Elath) if the wind were from the east, and then downward toward the encampment of Israel.
\nThe magnitude of the quail is measured in three ways: the breadth of distribution, the depth of the piles, and the amount of individual collection. The wind left behind (wayyi\u1e6d\u014d\u0161, \u201cleave, let lie\u201d) the quail that fell upon the camp and its environs for a day\u2019s journey in each direction. The phrase \u201ca day\u2019s journey\u201d (k\u0115derek y\u00f4m) defines a distance of about twelve to fifteen miles, hence the flurry of quail spread over an area of more than four hundred square miles. The reference to a height of \u201cabout three feet (two cubits) above the ground\u201d (k\u0115\u02beamm\u0101tayim \u02bfal-p\u0115n\u00ea h\u0101\u02be\u0101re\u1e63) may refer to the height of the birds\u2019 flight\u2014two cubits above the face of the ground\u201d\u2014or the depth of the piles of quail\u2014two cubits upon the face of the ground. The latter is to be preferred on the basis of context, which seems to have the intent of portraying the volume of small fowl, and the former demands that the verb be repointed as wayyi\u1e6do\u015b from the rare Hebrew verb \u1e6d\u00fb\u015b, meaning \u201cflutter,\u201d as in the flight pattern of the birds. Each person gathered at least ten homers of the birds over a two-day period, a volume estimated at between thirty-eight and sixty-five bushels. The homer, which was composed of ten ephahs, was the largest dry volume measure in the Hebrew vocabulary. Some of the birds were eaten right away, while most of them were spread out around the camp, presumably for drying the meat after cleaning and salting them. The Greek historian Herodotus described the Egyptian practice of salting and laying the fish and fowl out on the sands in the hot sun for drying the meat.<\/p>\n
PLAGUE UPON THE PEOPLE: WITH MEAT IN THEIR MOUTHS (11:33\u201334)<\/p>\n
33 But while the meat was still between their teeth and before it could be consumed, the anger of the LORD burned against the people, and he struck them with a severe plague. 34 Therefore the place was named Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had craved other food.<\/p>\n
11:33\u201334 While the people were processing and eating the quail, the Lord\u2019s anger burned against many of the rabble (h\u0101\u02besaps\u016bp, v. 4) who had gathered (wayya\u02beasp\u00fb, v. 31) too much, and many were struck by a severe plague and died. While the meat was still between their teeth and the supply most plenteous, they were struck down with a disease, probably food poisoning, since the derived toponym of the site (Kibroth Hattaavah) was based on the term used to describe their sinfulness (ta\u02be\u0103w\u00e2, \u201ccraving\u201d). Talionic justice, judgment fitting the offense, was the portion of those who had protested against the Lord. Like so many places in Israel\u2019s history, place names reflected their experience with their God. As Bethel (\u201chouse of God\u201d) derived from Jacob\u2019s encounter with God in the central hill country, and Taberah (\u201cburning\u201d) reminded the Israelites of Yahweh\u2019s fiery holocaust, so now the graves of the ravenous would become a didactic memorial to the results of rebellion against Yahweh their God.<\/p>\n
SECOND STAGE OF THE JOURNEY: KIBROTH HATTAAVAH TO HAZEROTH (11:35)<\/p>\n
11:35 The rebellion cycles in the Book of Numbers recall the process of the Israelite journey from their close encounter with God at Mount Sinai to the plains of the Jordan Valley across the river from Jericho and the Promised Land. The next stop in the story of rebellion would be Hazeroth, where the brother and sister of Moses would challenge his divine authority. The precise location of either site is conjecture, and both are dependent upon the location of Mount Sinai. If Mount Sinai is located at Jebel Musa in south central Sinai peninsula, then the location of Hazeroth might be associated with the Wadi Hudeirat region, forty miles northeast of Jebel Musa. If Mount Sinai is to be located at Jebel Sin Bisher or the environs, then Kibroth Hattaavah and Hazeroth would be situated along the route eastward across the central Sinai region toward Elath and Mount Seir.
\nThe reverberating succession of rebellion narratives in this first cycle of insurrections against God continues with a challenge to the leadership authority and the special character and calling of the prophet Moses. Milgrom even suggests that \u201cthe uniqueness of Moses is the sole theme of this chapter.\u201d The first rebellion was a general complaint against God in the setting of the wilderness, and the second was a protest over the quality of the food supply God had so faithfully provided in that austere desert location. Now the protest becomes more narrowly focused. Now it is a struggle within the family of Moses concerning his position within the community and his unique relationship with God. If the event recounted in this chapter follows in chronological order that of the previous chapter, the physical setting is at Hazeroth, on the way from Mount Sinai to the Wilderness of Paran, in the northeast quadrant of the Sinai peninsula.
\nThe narrative begins in a manner reflecting the typical human attempt to camouflage one\u2019s true intent by stating an issue that might gain a more sympathetic hearing. Complaints about ethnicity were presented to hide the true challenge to the authority of God\u2019s chosen leader, a rebellion that was ultimately a challenge to the sovereignty of God over the affairs of humanity. The initial stated basis of the complaint was an ethnic question concerning Moses\u2019 wife and perhaps the issue of the purity of the Israelite community. This pretense of a principle of purity might gain a more sympathetic hearing from God, Moses, and the people, especially in light of the previous context of rebellion, in which a mixed multitude (11:4) of Israelite and non-Israelites instigated the insurrection that resulted in numerous deaths from a severe plague brought by the Lord. Their perception that ethnic purity might have been the key issue in this previous instance might have led them to believe that they had spiritual insight equivalent to that of their younger brother. Another connection between this and the previous chapter is the example provided by Eldad and Medad receiving prophetic insight directly from God and independent of Moses (11:26\u201327). But the real reason for their disputation was a deeper one with potentially more grave consequences.<\/p>\n
(5) Third Rebellion: Challenge to Moses\u2019 Authority (12:1\u201316)<\/p>\n
MIRIAM AND AARON\u2019S CHALLENGE OF MOSES (12:1\u20133)<\/p>\n
1 Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. 2 \u201cHas the LORD spoken only through Moses?\u201d they asked. \u201cHasn\u2019t he also spoken through us?\u201d And the LORD heard this.
\n3 (Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.)<\/p>\n
12:1 The section begins with the feminine singular form of the verb wat\u0115dabber, implicating Miriam as the leader in this endeavor. As noted numerous times in the earlier chapters, the masculine singular form way\u0115dabber is used regularly to refer to the process of divine instruction from Yahweh, or of Moses\u2019 response in subsequent instruction of the people. Hence the very use of verb form draws the attention of the reader\/hearer to that which is distinctive or out of the ordinary in the flow of the narrative. The literary structure of this passage is highlighted by the variant use of the preposition b- with the verb dibber, which can be translated \u201cspeak with\u201d or contrastingly, \u201cspeak against\u201d depending upon the context. She was backed by her brother Aaron, who previously had supported the seditious acts of the people in the erection and worship of the golden calf. Wenham notes that this protest \u201cwas not just a case of petty family jealousy, for Aaron, Moses\u2019 brother, was also the high priest, and therefore a supreme religious leader and most holy man in Israel; while Miriam, his sister, was a prophetess and thus head of the spirit-filled women (Exod 15:20f.). Here, then, is an alliance of priest and prophet, the two archetypes of Israelite religion, challenging Moses\u2019 prophetic position as sole revelatory mediator between God and Israel.\u201d
\nMiriam\u2019s questioning the Cushite origin of Moses\u2019 wife was but a smokescreen for her central concern, but the ethnic issue was a timely one for the Israelites. The rabble of mixed origins had instigated a rebellion that led to considerable loss of life for the community. Miriam may have been suggesting that a little ethnic cleansing might be beneficial to the survival of the Israelites. The identity of this Cushite woman has been debated by scholars. First, on the basis of Gen 2:13; 10:6; Ps 68:31; and Isa 18:1, Cush, the first son of Ham, is identified with Nubia (or perhaps Ethiopia), which bordered ancient Egypt on the south. If this connection is assumed, Moses\u2019 Cushite wife would have been a woman other than Zipporah, his Midianite wife from the clan of Jethro and Reuel. Some have suggested that Zipporah had died, and the Cushite wife was of a recent marriage. On the other hand, the synonymous parallel cola in Hab 3:7 would evidence an association of Cushan with the Midianites, giving credence to the identity of the Cushite woman with Zipporah. A third suggested possibility is that the term Cushite refers to distinguishable physiological features that would have made her distinctive, in which case the deeply tanned Midianites from northwest Arabia could be implied by the text. Whichever was intended in the case raised by Miriam, the questioning of Moses\u2019 exclusive right as Israel\u2019s leader was at the heart of the issue, though based on a questioning of his wife\u2019s ethnicity. Milgrom suggests that the k\u00ee be taken as introducing direct speech, hence the words from Miriam are a quote, perhaps emphatically, \u201cHe married a Cushite woman!\u201d Milgrom further states, \u201cRegardless of whether Moses\u2019 wife was Ethiopian or Midianite, the objection to her, it is to be implied, was ethnic (Lev 24:10).
\nEthnic purity was an important issue in ancient Israel, as is evidenced in the commands to drive out and\/or annihilate the Canaanites from the Promised Land and later in the instructions of Ezra to the formerly captive Israelites to separate themselves from their pagan foreign wives because they potentially could lead their husbands into idolatry. Throughout the Pentateuch, however, there are explicit instructions that there was to be one code of law for the native Israelite and the sojourning foreigners in the land. In Num 9:14 aliens living among the Israelites could even celebrate the Passover if they did so according to the statutes related to its commemoration, including that of circumcision as an indicator of that individual\u2019s coming under the covenant relationship with the God of Israel. Zipporah had of course circumcised her son on the way from Midian to Egypt, bringing him under the covenant umbrella. It also would seem strange for Miriam to bring up a case against Zipporah after so much time had transpired, yet humans with a contentious mind will look far and wide in time and space to find something on which to base their grievances. Again, Miriam\u2019s complaint against Moses on the basis of ethnicity is undermined further, supporting the view that this was not the real reason for her objections to Moses.
\n12:2 The primary reason for Miriam and Aaron\u2019s complaint was now clearly stated in the resonant parallel rhetorical questions, \u201cHas the Lord spoken only through Moses? Hasn\u2019t he also spoken through us?\u201d The Hebrew text is emphatic regarding this matter of exclusivity that is being raised by Moses\u2019 siblings:<\/p>\n
h\u0103raq
\n\u02beak-b\u0115m\u014d\u0161eh
\ndibber
\nYHWH
\nHas only
\nindeed\u2014by Moses
\nspoken
\nYahweh
\nHas not
\nalso\u2014by us
\nspoken
\n(He)
\nh\u0103l\u014d\u02be
\ngam-b\u0101n\u016d
\ndibb\u0113r
\n\u2014<\/p>\n
Should only Moses hold the position of leadership in the prophetic community of Israel as well as the community at large? Should he hold such a unique status while yet having a foreign wife? That Miriam and Aaron possessed prophetic gifts was not the issue. Both are described in prophetic terms in the Old Testament. In the ancient Near East a number of professions like that of prophetic counsel and priestly oversight were handed down within families, much as in craft and trade skills.
\nThe gravity of Miriam and Aaron\u2019s objections is amplified in the terse ominous conclusion to the verse. With two Hebrew words the reader or hearer is called upon to take seriously the challenge being raised against Israel\u2019s divinely appointed leader. The Lord always hears, and in this case one is assured that he will respond in judgment in his own time. The parenthetic note of v. 3 adds to the dramatic effect being created in this passage, as the divine silence reverberates. The expected reaction of anger from the Lord is withheld until v. 9.
\n12:3 A parenthetic statement by the narrator concerning the character and quality of Moses as a man and as a leader of Israel is interjected into the flow of the narrative, heightening the dramatic effect of the passage. The position of the first term v\u0115h\u0101\u02be\u00ee\u0161 (\u201cnow the man\u201d) in the Hebrew text emphasizes Moses\u2019 humanity, but as an ordinary human being he had demonstrated extraordinary character in the area of humility. The term \u02bf\u0101n\u0101w used is not the normal Hebrew word for humility, meekness, or weakness but one that conveys an individual\u2019s devout dependence upon the Lord. It may also describe a state one must experience before one is honored by God or man. In his first encounter with the Lord at Horeb in the burning bush, Moses realized his human limitations\u2014\u201cWho am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?\u201d (Exod 3:11). But with the assurance of the divine presence\u2014\u201cI will be with you\u201d (Exod 3:12)\u2014he went forth by faith, even though initially reluctant, and was used by God in ways that far surpassed human comprehension. His humility in this manner far exceeded that of any other person on the earth. Ashley notes further that \u201cMoses himself would probably have let this challenge go unanswered. It was Yahweh who heard it and who took it upon himself to answer it.\u201d<\/p>\n
GOD SPEAKS TO MOSES, AARON, AND MIRIAM (12:4\u20138)<\/p>\n
4 At once the LORD said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, \u201cCome out to the Tent of Meeting, all three of you.\u201d So the three of them came out. 5 Then the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud; he stood at the entrance to the Tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When both of them stepped forward, 6 he said, \u201cListen to my words:
\n\u201cWhen a prophet of the LORD is among you,
\nI reveal myself to him in visions,
\nI speak to him in dreams.
\n7 But this is not true of my servant Moses;
\nhe is faithful in all my house.
\n8 With him I speak face to face,
\nclearly and not in riddles;
\nhe sees the form of the LORD.
\nWhy then were you not afraid
\nto speak against my servant Moses?\u201d<\/p>\n
12:4\u20135 The Lord interjected himself into the dispute suddenly and awesomely. Allen describes the Lord\u2019s entrance into the situation as \u201can abrupt response of the Lord that was pregnant with terror.\u201d All three siblings are summoned to come out to the Tent of Meeting, probably to the entrance of that central locale of divine revelation.
\nSome scholars have suggested that the terminology in v. 4 (\u1e63\u0115\u02be\u00fb from y\u0101\u1e63a\u02be, \u201ccome out\u201d) gives credence to an alternative tradition that there was a Tent of Meeting outside the encampment of Israel, as well as the one in the center of the tribal assembly (Num 2:1\u20133:38). In the use of the Hebrew term y\u0101\u1e63a\u02be in the Old Testament, however, the outward direction of movement is often a matter of whose perspective is being envisioned in the text. In the tribal military conscription census of Num 1:20\u201345, those counted were the ones who were able to kol y\u014d\u1e63\u0113\u02be \u1e63\u0101b\u0101\u02be, which could be translated \u201ceveryone going out to war\u201d or \u201ceveryone entering the army,\u201d the latter preserving better the meaning of \u1e63\u0101b\u0101\u02be as \u201chost\u201d or \u201carmy.\u201d Hence, one can envision Yahweh speaking to Moses, Miriam, and Aaron from the context of the Tent of Meeting, summoning them to come out from that first circle of encampment in which the priests and Levites dwelled and to come in toward the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, a meeting place for divine instruction.
\nThe hearing took place in the context of the visible evidence of the presence of the Lord, for the cloud pillar descended and stood erect at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. From the cloud pillar the Lord called forth the dissident sister and brother for a special revelatory session. The Lord normally spoke only with Moses (v. 8), but this time he directed his words toward the prophetic challengers to Moses\u2019 authority. The two of them stepped forward.
\n12:6\u20137 In poetic proclamation the Lord affirms Moses\u2019 position as the uniquely commissioned confidant of Yahweh. The poetic form and style augment the effect of the words. The chiastic structure of the passage has been noted by several scholars, here presented with my own translation:<\/p>\n
A Introduction: Hear my words (6)
\nB If your prophet is of Yahweh,
\nC In a vision to him I make myself known
\nD In a dream I speak to him.
\nE Not so my servant Moses (7)
\nE\u00b4 In all my household he is trustworthy
\nD\u00b4 Face to face I speak with him (8)
\nC\u00b4 And in a presence that is not in riddles
\nB\u00b4 And the form of Yahweh he beholds
\nA\u00b4 Rhetorical Conclusion: How then were you not afraid, To speak against my servant Moses?<\/p>\n
At the focal point (E-E\u00b4) of the literary structure one can seen the emphasis in the passage is on the uniqueness of Moses as a prophet of Yahweh, a man who stands above the others among the Israelites, such as the recently endowed seventy elders, as well as above Miriam and Aaron. His calling was to a unique role as the mediator of the covenant. He elucidated the relationship between God and his people. He was the spokesman of instruction and revelation from God to the nation and the one who related to God in a uniquely clear way. Other prophets among the Israelites might receive revelation through visions (Isaiah or Ezekiel) or dreams and their interpretation (Joseph or Daniel), or they might express themselves through ecstatic utterance (Saul) or hymnic recitation (Miriam); but Moses transcended all of those types of prophets in the manner subsequently delineated.
\nMoses is distinguished as a unique prophet of God first in his character role as a trustworthy servant of God and second in the straightforward manner in which God revealed himself to him. Calling Moses \u201cmy servant\u201d puts him in a limited category of persons in biblical history. When the Lord conferred the promise of multitudinous descendants to Isaac as he had made to his father Abraham, the Lord refers to the founding patriarch as \u201cmy servant.\u201d Caleb is called \u201cmy servant\u201d by God in 14:24 because of his faithful spirit and wholehearted devotion to God\u2019s instruction to enter and inherit the Promised Land. In the Servant Songs of Isaiah 42\u201353, Yahweh\u2019s servant was one whom God would strengthen by his Spirit to bring justice, righteousness, and salvation to the nations. To be called a faithful or trustworthy servant by God is the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a child of God, indeed upon any human being.
\n12:8 The three lines at the beginning of the verse provide a picture of the unique relationship between Yahweh and Moses within which the faithful prophetic servant encountered some visible manifestation of the presence of God. The terminology related to the \u201cform\u201d (t\u0115m\u016bnat) of Yahweh used here is echoed also in Exod 20:4 (=Deut 5:8) of the iconographic form the Israelites were forbidden to make of their God. Similarly in Deut 4:12, 15\u201316, 23, 25 it describes that form of God that the people had not seen, as had Moses, and therefore should not fashion as a visible representation of their God. Yet David, in a state of righteous yearning, prayed that he might see this likeness of his God (Ps 17:15). Moses had indeed been graced with a special relationship with the Lord, to see that which Isaiah saw only in the smoky trail of his glory in his visionary temple call experience (Isa 6:1\u20132). Moses had seen plainly and openly, more than any other human had ever envisioned, that which God had allowed of himself to be observed. In Exod 33:11 the Lord is said to have spoken to Moses \u201cface to face, as a man speaks to his friend.\u201d This does not mean that Moses literally saw God\u2019s face, for if he had done so he would have surely died (33:20). Earlier in v. 9 the communication between God and Moses is seen in the process of the cloud descending upon the tent and God talking with Moses. Later in that context Moses is said to have seen the back side of God\u2019s glory as he passed over Moses, who was positioned in the cleft of the rock (vv. 17\u201323). Only Jesus, the Incarnate Son of God, had seen the Father in his fullness of glory. He became that which even Moses would have longed to see. Those who seek him and learn from him partake of the Bread of Life (John 6:44\u201351).
\nThe encounter closes with the same language (dabb\u0113r b-, \u201cspeak against\u201d) of the original complaint in 12:1. Since God spoke \u2018to\u2019 and \u2018with\u2019 Moses, how could Miriam and Aaron dare to speak \u201cagainst\u201d him. To speak against God\u2019s servant in this case was tantamount to speaking against God himself, and he surely would respond.<\/p>\n
THE JUDGMENT AGAINST MIRIAM (12:9\u201313)<\/p>\n
9 The anger of the LORD burned against them, and he left them.
\n10 When the cloud lifted from above the Tent, there stood Miriam\u2014leprous, like snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had leprosy; 11 and he said to Moses, \u201cPlease, my lord, do not hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed. 12 Do not let her be like a stillborn infant coming from its mother\u2019s womb with its flesh half eaten away.\u201d
\n13 So Moses cried out to the LORD, \u201cO God, please heal her!\u201d<\/p>\n
12:9\u201310 The immediate response of the Lord to Miriam was one of anger, followed by withdrawal. The terminology of the heated response of God to the situation parallels that in 11:1 and 33. The Lord had revealed himself to Miriam and Aaron in a special way at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. His presence in the encounter was not only one of revelation, but also one of protection while the countercharges were outlined in the indictment. The charges against the plaintiff Moses had been dismissed with resounding affirmation of his character by the ultimate Judge of all of humanity. Now the judgment against the false accuser would be meted out. When the cloud of God\u2019s presence withdrew from over and from within the Tent of Meeting, Miriam and Aaron stood in alarmed disbelief at what they observed.
\nAs the billowing cloud lifted, Moses and Aaron witnessed the horror that had spread over the body of their beloved sister, the dreaded skin disease that would require her withdrawal from the proximity of the tabernacle and from the environs of the community itself. The Hebrew \u1e63\u014dra\u02bfat was used to designate a class of serious cutaneous diseases that cause a white flaking of the skin. Harrison probably is right in suggesting that \u201c\u1e63\u014dra\u02bfat is a generic term for a group of pathological conditions and serves the same sort of function as the term cancer, which covers a wide range of degenerative tissue states.\u201d Several modern diseases have been suggested that would be similarly described, including psoriasis, leucoderma, shingles, or leprosy, the modern Hansen\u2019s disease (Hansen\u2019s bacillus). The latter would have been the more chronic of the potential identifying afflictions, though the skin deformity in leprosy is seldom \u201cwhite as snow\u201d in its manifestation. Leprosy in the ancient Near East and in the Bible was often seen as punishment for offenses against God (or the gods).
\nThat Miriam rather than Aaron was plagued by the disease reinforces the gender specific implication of the initial verb in v. 1 that Miriam was the chief instigator of the dispute. That this is not the biased statement of a male-dominant society, reflected in what some might call a \u201cman-God wrath against women,\u201d is proven by Aaron\u2019s appalled response upon observing his stricken sister and Moses\u2019 impassioned plea to God for her healing. Whatever the actual skin disease was that Miriam contracted, she would become an outcast from society, forced to live outside the holy camp of Israel. The laws regarding various skin diseases required the afflicted to live on the outskirts of the camp or town so as to not defile the purity of the community. Indeed the interior of the community was where Yahweh dwelled in their midst, and its sanctity of purity and holiness was to be maintained. Knowing this, Aaron\u2019s reaction may have been a combination of his dismay at Miriam\u2019s physical disfigurement, his realization that she would have to be separated from Moses and himself, and his fear that he might subsequently be struck with this heinous disease and suffer the same disgrace from the community.
\n12:11\u201312 With deep emotion Aaron immediately apologized to Moses, addressing him as lord and submissively confessing his sin of rebellion. He who had opposed Yahweh\u2019s servant so presumptuously, promptly placed himself in the servant position under that very same individual. Perhaps attempting to lighten the potential judgment against himself, he characterized his transgression as foolishness. The Hebrew y\u0101\u02beal is a rare term used in Isa 19:13 and Jer 5:4 and 50:36 to refer to a person who acts in a delusional manner as a result of ignorance, of one lacking knowledge of God and his ways. As such his offense could be expiated through a propitiatory act of intercession. Intentional rebelliousness was punishable by banishment or death by stoning. Out of concern for his stricken sister, he begged Moses not to hold Miriam culpable for their sin, by which she might be afflicted even further with chronic leprosy. He asked that God not afflict Miriam such that she might have the appearance of a stillborn child, whose scaly flesh would sometimes peel off with the amniotic fluids when handled after birth. The Hebrew phrase at the beginning of v. 12 literally reads, \u201cPlease do not let her be like the dead,\u201d which heightens Aaron\u2019s appeal; he realized that if she continued in this state, she might die.
\n12:13 Like Aaron\u2019s distressed appeal, Moses turns to the Lord with a great emotive entreaty, \u201cO God, please heal her!\u201d Faced with the dilemma of letting Miriam suffer the consequences of her rebellion against him or pray for her restoration, Moses graciously becomes the intercessor on behalf of his accuser. The close familial ties are evidenced in his response. The urgency of his plea is reflected in this terse request through his use of the short form El in referring to God and the imperative verb form in pleading for her physical restoration. The prayer is stated in monosyllables and in an introverted structure in the Hebrew text: \u02be\u0113l n\u0101\u02be r\u0115p\u0101\u02be n\u0101\u02be l\u0101h, with the pivotal focus being on the term for healing (r\u0115p\u0101\u02be).<\/p>\n
GOD\u2019S REPLY TO MOSES, MIRIAM, AND AARON (12:14\u201315)<\/p>\n
14 The LORD replied to Moses, \u201cIf her father had spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Confine her outside the camp for seven days; after that she can be brought back.\u201d 15 So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on till she was brought back.<\/p>\n
12:14\u201315 Grace and mercy are evidenced in the Lord\u2019s response to Moses, for Miriam survives the ordeal. With chronic leprosy she would have been banished from the community for life. She would have to endure, however, the consequences of her rebellion: public humiliation and isolation from the camp of the community for seven days. The Lord raises an apparent analogous case law from which to draw her due discipline. This punishment would be equal to that which she would have experienced if her father had spat on her face in contempt. The seven days of separation were the standard period for the purification process for a leper. Although we are not informed about whether other elements of the cleansing ceremony outlined in Lev 14:1\u201332 were followed, such as animal sacrifice, ritual sprinkling, bathing, and shaving of the head, one might assume this standard practice was followed.
\nWhile Miriam was going through her required period of separation and ritual purification, the Israelite camp remained at Hazeroth. This delay was perhaps out of some respect or admiration for Miriam and her noble place within the community leadership. But also Israel would not disembark on the next stage of the journey to the Promised Land until the Lord would lead them by the cloud. Hence the seriousness of the rebellion of one of Israel\u2019s leaders is magnified, and the consequences of such an act would affect the entire community. They must all wait upon the Lord until he leads them. In the period of Israel\u2019s entrance into Canaan under Joshua, the sin of one man\u2019s (Achan) family resulted in their being defeated in the strategic battle at Ai (Josh 7:1\u20135). Only after the restoration of one of their key leaders would the people of Israel be allowed to move toward their final destination, the promised Holy Land.<\/p>\n
THIRD STAGE OF THE JOURNEY (12:16)<\/p>\n
16 After that, the people left Hazeroth and encamped in the Desert of Paran.<\/p>\n
12:16 After the fulfillment of Miriam\u2019s seven days of separation and purification, the Israelite community departs from Hazeroth and moves on to the Wilderness of Paran in the modern southern Negev, or northeast Sinai region. The Paran Wilderness was the goal of the first phase of the journey (10:11), and from that area the spies were to be sent to explore the Promised Land (13:3).<\/p>\n
(6) Fourth Rebellion: Rejection of the Promised Land (13:1\u201314:45)<\/p>\n
Following three successive seditious actions by the people of Israel, each resulting in dramatic judgment from God, the first rebellion cycle reaches its climax in the people\u2019s rejection of the land God had promised since he called them into being through a promissory oath to Abraham. Ashley has noted that in each case the punishment was \u201crelated directly to the words of the people involved.\u201d The previous sections provide the general historical context of rebelliousness without noting the specific time frame of each. They function as precursors to the fait de compli that ensues: the rejection of the Promised Land and the rejection of God\u2019s leadership through Moses.<\/p>\n
Excursus: The Literary Structure of Numbers 13\u201314<\/p>\n
These two chapters constitute a literary unit that is based upon the following factors: (1) utilization of chiastic structures, (2) repetition and wordplay on several key terms and phrases, and (3) narrative dialogue involving Yahweh, Moses, and the people. Milgrom has outlined one such structural analysis of the passage that is based on broad thematic and discourse developments within the text (with details omitted):<\/p>\n
A The Scouts\u2019 Expedition (13:1\u201324)
\nB The Scouts\u2019 Report (13:25\u201333)
\nC The People\u2019s Response (14:1\u201310a)
\nB\u00b4 God\u2019s Response (14:10b\u201338)
\nA\u00b4 The People\u2019s Expedition (14:39\u201345)<\/p>\n
The key question in the literary analysis of a complex unit such as this is that of the center of the chiasmus. What is the focal turning point and hence the central theme of the pericope? Is it the people\u2019s response, God\u2019s intervention, or the contrast between the responses of the faithful minority (Joshua, Caleb, Moses, and Aaron) and the unfaithful majority? The answers to these and other questions are the goals of the literary analysis.
\nThe literary outline below highlights the key terms and themes that are the vehicles through which the theological developments within the passage are emphasized. Each theme or subtheme has a positive and a negative development and result.
\nThe Land as Gift. First is the theme of God\u2019s blessing in the gift (\u02be\u0103n\u00ee n\u014dt\u0113n, \u201cI am giving,\u201d 13:2) of the Promised Land, the Land of Canaan. Even though the first generation would reject the Promised Land, the promise would not be nullified. He would promise the land to the children of that rebellious generation (14:31), and then bless their land abundantly, as Num 15:1\u201321 evidences. A subtheme related to the giving of the land is that of its quality. Under the instructions from Moses and the Lord, the scouts were sent to evaluate the quality of the land and assess the cities and their inhabitants. The essential question regarding the land was whether it was good (h\u0103t\u00f4b\u00e2) or bad (\u02beim-r\u0101\u02bfa). When the scouts returned, they described the land as good, describing it as flowing with milk and honey, a key phrase used throughout the Old Testament to characterize the quality and productivity of the Promised Land. The tenor of the report, however, suddenly shifted from one of prospective prosperity to one of foreboding fear as the majority of the scouts announced the seeming insurmountability of the people and their heavily fortified cities (13:28\u201329). This fear turned to rebellion when they described the land in terms of death, hence evil or bad, and described a potential return to Egypt as \u201cgood\u201d (13:31\u201314:4).
\nSending the Scouts. Second is the theme of the sending of scouts to explore the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land. Moses sends them (\u0161\u0101la\u1e25) to explore (t\u00fbr) the land, and they ascend (\u02bf\u0101l\u00e2) into the hill country under the direction of the Lord (13:2\u201325). These terms are repeated several times in the narrative, which portrays the scouts as faithfully following the commands of God through Moses. But when they attempt to ascend into the hill country on their own, they are soundly defeated (14:40\u201345).
\nLeadership. Third is the theme of leadership in the persons of Moses and Aaron, Joshua and Caleb, as well as and in contrast to the scouts, who were all leaders from their respective tribes. Moses received instruction from the Lord concerning the reconnoitering of the land, which he then relates to the twelve scouts (13:1, 17; 14:5). Note that Hoshea (Joshua) is highlighted in the delineation of the names of the tribal scouts, for his name recurs at rhetorically important points in the account, such as in his support of Moses and Caleb and in his assertion of the need to go up into the land and inherit what the Lord has given Israel (13:8; 14:6\u20139, 30). The other ten scouts who were sent to explore the land go up obediently, but then at the pivotal point in the narrative, they rebelliously counter Caleb\u2019s report and lead the people to fear entry into the land and the peoples living therein (14:31\u201333). In the end they are judged severely for their sedition (14:36\u201337). Only the faithful visionary scouts, Joshua and Caleb, who believed in God\u2019s ability to bring the nation in and bless them abundantly, would survive to experience the promise. Only two of the countless thousands who were counted in the military conscription census of 1:1\u201346 would live to see the handiwork of the Lord (14:38; Josh 1:2; 14:6\u201315; 19:49\u201350).
\nMoses exemplified his leadership ability through his role as intercessor in this account. When faced with the potential annihilation of the people he had led out of bondage in Egypt, Moses appealed to God on the basis of God\u2019s glory, including his reputation among the nations. He appealed to God\u2019s forgiving nature, and the imminent disaster was averted for the moment. He also fulfilled his prophetic leadership role as one who forewarns the people of impending judgment when he advised them not to try to enter the land after their entry had been denied. A true prophetic leader must evidence a close relationship to God and a thorough knowledge of his word, whereby he or she understands God\u2019s full nature. Then out of that understanding that person may speak for him a message of forgiveness and love and\/or judgment and justice in a given situation.
\nNature of God. Following the first three rebellion cycles, each of which begins with a statement of the rebellious activity of the persons involved, this cycle commences with divine instruction and obedient responsiveness of the people. The scouts go forth to search out the Promised Land, which God had promised to the descendants of Abraham. The nature of God as divine beneficiary to his people is in view (the land is called \u201cexceedingly good\u201d by Joshua and Caleb), and the fulfillment of that promise of a homeland was anticipated. When the majority of the scouts return with a negative report, however, and lead Israel to rebel and reject the land, another side of God\u2019s nature is evidenced. In rejecting the Promised Land, the people reject the God of the promise, and hence they are subject to his judgment. When the people ascribe death and destruction to God by suggesting that he had led them purposefully into the wilderness to die, they disparage his essential life-giving character. When Joshua and Caleb warn the people that they should not rebel against the Lord or be fearful of the inhabitants of the land, he characterizes the Lord as One who would lead them into the land, give the land to them, and protect them by manifesting his presence with them during the process of gaining their inheritance. But when the people turn against their leaders and try to stone them, the Lord intervenes in a dramatic way.
\nThe glory of the Lord appears in the form of a fiery cloud over the Tent of Meeting, which is visible to the entire assembly, bringing the message that God\u2019s justice in judgment is to be meted out against a rebellious people. Communication of this desire comes through Moses, who is challenged to exercise his role as revelatory intercessor. In intervening on behalf of the people, he appeals to God\u2019s attributes of love and forgiveness, as well as his long-suffering nature. Moses notes that God\u2019s glory as displayed through the miraculous signs in Egypt, the deliverance of the nation from bondage, the crossing of the sea, and provisions for the people in the desert is at stake in this endeavor. The balance between God\u2019s love and God\u2019s justice and judgment must be maintained in theological tension. God\u2019s love and long-suffering would be preserved in his allowing the rebellious generation to survive in the wilderness for forty years, wherein he would still provide for them faithfully. But this was also their judgment, in that all those of the former generation would eventually die in that desolate world and not inherit the Promised Land or experience the fullness of God\u2019s blessing.
\nRebelliousness of the People. This passage marks the fourth stage of rebellion among the people in this third cycle of the Book of Numbers, coming in rapid succession and producing a hammering staccato effect upon the hearer or reader. If one takes into account the parallel passage in Deut 1:19\u201346, the idea of sending scouts originated with the people as they were situated on the southern edge of the Amorite hill country. The idea seemed good to Moses, and the Lord then laid out the instructions for reconnoitering the region, by utilizing leaders from each of the tribes of Israel.
\nSome early tension is created in the account with the very question of whether the land was good or bad, since the land has been previously characterized as good and flowing with milk and honey. The scouts returned with an initial report about the goodness of the land, but they instigated rebelliousness and fear by describing the people of the land as more powerful than Israel. Caleb and Joshua knew that the power of Israel lay not in their military might and the numbers of their armies but in the power of their God. But fear of the world and its seemingly insurmountable power caused Israel to lose sight of the vision and promises of God. The scouts described the people of the land as descendants of the Nephilim. The majority of ten scouts led the congregation to reject the gift of the land and mutiny against its leaders (Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb) and against God himself. In their grievous grumbling they despised God and his beneficent deliverance by ascribing goodness to the land from which they had been delivered and by outwardly stating their preference for death over life. One of the hallmarks of a life of sin and rebellion is a person calling \u201cevil\u201d what God has deemed as good and calling \u201cgood\u201d that which is inherently evil, which amounts to a confusion of ultimate reality. (In following outline, words in bold print evidence the thematic emphases outlined.)<\/p>\n
STRUCTURAL OUTLINE OF NUMBERS 13\u201314<\/p>\n
Intro: Yahweh Instructs Moses: Send the Scouts to Explore the Land (13:1\u20132)
\nMoses Instructs and Sends Scouts (13:3\u201320)
\nA Intro: Moses Instructs and Sends at the Word of Yahweh [\u02bfal-p\u00ee YHWH](13:3) Paran Wilderness
\nB Tribal Scout Leaders Enlisted: \u201cThese Are the Names\u201d Inclusio (13:4\u201316)
\nHoshea => Joshua
\nC Moses Instructs\/Sends Scouts: \u201cGo Up Thru Hill Country\u201d (13:17)
\na See What Land Is Like
\nb What People Are Like: Strong\/Weak, Few\/Many
\nc What Land Is Like: Good or Bad
\nb\u00b4 What Cities Are Like: Unwalled or Fortified
\na\u00b4 What [Land] Soil is Like: Fertile or Poor Sample: Trees or Not\u2014Bring Back Some Fruit
\nD Scouts Explore the Land: Zin [S] to Rehob [N] (13:21\u201325)
\na Went Up and Explored the Land: Geographical (13:21)
\nb People of the Land: Anakites of Hebron (13:22)
\nb\u00b4 Land\u2019s Fruit: Grapes, Pomegranates, Figs (13:23\u201324)
\na\u00b4 Return after Forty Days from Exploring the Land (13:25)
\nC\u00b4 Moses, Aaron, and Congregation Receive the Report (13:26\u201329) Report at Kadesh in Paran Wilderness (Geographical) (13:26)
\na Land: Fruit Shown\u2014Milk and Honey Description (13:27)
\nb But on the Other Hand (\u02beepes) (13:28)
\nPeople Powerful
\nCities Large and Fortified\u2014Anakites There
\nPeople
\nAmalekites\u2014Negev (13:29)
\nHittites, Jebusites, Amorites\u2014Hill Country
\nCanaanites\u2014Coastal and Jordan Valley
\nB\u00b4 CALEB: We Are Able to Go and Take Possession (13:30)
\nOTHERS: We Are Not Able\u2014They Are Mightier (13:31\u201333)
\nBAD REPORT of the Land\u2014Devours the Living
\nNephilim of the Anakim\u2014We Are Like Grasshoppers
\nC\u00b4\u00b4 Congregational Response to the Report (14:1\u20134)
\nPeople Mourn\u2014Raise Voices and Weep
\nGrumble against Moses and Aaron
\nWhy Is Lord Bringing Us to Land to Die?
\nBetter (Good) to Go Back to Egypt
\nChoose a Leader and Go Back to Egypt
\nB\u00b4\u00b4 Leadership Response to the People (14:5\u201310a)
\nMoses and Aaron Fall on Their Faces
\nJoshua and Caleb\u2014Tear Clothes
\nLand Is Very, Very Good
\nYahweh Will Lead Us into That Land\u2014
\nLand of Milk and Honey
\nHe Will Give It to Us
\nDo Not Rebel versus Yahweh
\nPeople of the Land: Do Not Be Afraid of Them
\nWe will Swallow Them Up
\nTheir Protection Is Gone
\nYahweh Is with US
\nDo Not Be Afraid of Them
\nA\u00b4\u00b4 God Intervenes: Glory of Lord Appears (14:10b\u201312)
\nPromise of Destruction
\nPeople Talk of Stoning Leaders
\nGLORY OF LORD Appears at Tent of Meeting
\nYahweh: (\u02bfad-\u02be\u0101n\u00e2) How Long Will They Treat Me with Contempt? (14:11)
\nB\u00b4\u00b4\u00b4 Moses Intercedes with Yahweh for the People (14:13\u201319)
\nPlea Basis: God\u2019s Reputation [=Glory] (14:13\u201316)
\na Egyptians Will Hear
\nb You Brought Them out by Your Power
\na They (Egypt) Will Tell Inhabitants of the Land
\nThe (Inhabitants of the Land) Have Heard
\nb\u00b4 You Are with Them
\nYou Meet with Them Face-to-Face (\u201cEye-to-Eye\u201d)
\nYou Are a Cloud over Them\u2014Pillar before Them
\na\u00b4\u00b4 Nations Who Heard Will Say\u2014Lord Is Not Able
\nb\u00b4\u00b4 May Lord\u2019s Strength Be Displayed (14:17\u201319)
\nLord Is Slow to Anger\u2014Loving\u2014Forgiving
\nNot Leave Guilty Unpunished\u2014Third\/Fourth Generation
\nMoses: Forgive Them by Your Love
\nYou Pardoned Them before, Now Do So Again
\nA\u00b4\u00b4\u00b4 Yahweh Responds: Promises Forgiveness and Judgment (14:20\u201335)
\nYahweh Forgives Them as Moses Asked (14:20\u201325)
\nSwears by Himself and His Glory
\nNone Who Saw MY GLORY in Egypt and Desert
\nThey Tested\/Condemned Me Ten Times (Disobeyed)
\nNone Will See the Land I Promised to Their Forefathers
\nAll Those Who Had Contempt for ME
\nNone Will See It
\nB\u00b4\u00b4\u00b4 Leaders: Caleb My Servant Will Live (14:24)
\nI Will Bring Him into the Land He Went Into ++ Descendants
\nAmalekites and Canaanites Are There\u2014Turn Back to Way of Red Sea (14:25)
\nA\u00b4\u00b4\u00b4\u00b4 Yahweh Continues: Community Will Die (14:26\u201335)
\na How Long (\u02bfad-m\u0101tay) Will the People Grumble against Me?
\nb I will Do What You Said
\nc People of Israel: Your Bodies Will Fall in the Desert
\nNone Will Enter the Land I Promised
\nc\u00b4 Except Caleb and Joshua
\n(a) Of Your Children You Said Would Be Plundered
\n(b) I Will Bring Them into the Land
\n(a\u00b4) Your Children\u2014Shepherds Forty Years (One Year\/Day)
\nb\u00b4 I Am Against You
\nI Yahweh Have Spoken
\na\u00b4 A? Not Long\u2014They Will Meet Their End in the Desert
\nB\u00b4\u00b4\u00b4\u00b4\u00b4 Leaders: Joshua and Caleb versus Others Sent (14:36\u201338)
\nThose Sent Who Gave BAD REPORT\u2014Death
\nJoshua and Caleb (Good Report)\u2014Survived
\nConclusion: Moses Reports Judgment\u2014Israel Mourns (14:39\u201345)
\nPeople Mourn
\na Attempt to Go Up into Hill Country\u2014We Sinned
\nTo Place Yahweh Promised
\nMoses: Why Disobey Yahweh? (\u02bf\u0101bar \u02beet-p\u00ee YHWH)
\nb Do Not Go Up\u2014Yahweh Is NOT with You
\nAmalekites and Canaanites Will Defeat You
\nb\u00b4 You Have Turned away from Yahweh\u2014He Will NOT Be with You
\nYou Will Fall by the Sword
\na\u00b4 Attempt to Go Up into Hill Country\u2014Defeat
\nMoses and Ark of Covenant Remain in Camp
\nAmalekites and Canaanites of Hill Country Defeat Israel
\nBeaten to Hormah<\/p>\n
INSTRUCTIONS FROM YAHWEH TO EXPLORE THE PROMISED LAND (13:1\u20133)<\/p>\n
1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 \u201cSend some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders.\u201d
\n3 So at the LORD\u2019S command Moses sent them out from the Desert of Paran. All of them were leaders of the Israelites.<\/p>\n
13:1\u20133 The literary form of the instructions to search out the Promised Land are given in the same manner as previous directives, utilizing the introductory formula of divine speech. The revelatory nature of God\u2019s interaction with Moses and other Israelite leaders has been observed as a major theological theme throughout the Book of Numbers, as well as being the key literary structural element. God revealed himself through Moses in the dynamic of that faithful relationship, and when the nation acted in harmonious response to God\u2019s instructions, life would go well for them. They would live in freedom in the Promised Land and experience the abundance of this land \u201cflowing with milk and honey.\u201d When they grumbled or rebelled against his commands, however, dire consequences came to pass. The phrase \u201cat the Lord\u2019s command\u201d (\u02bfal-p\u00ee YHWH, \u201cby the mouth [=word] of Yahweh\u201d) recalls the journey hymn in Num 9:17\u201323. It is repeated in semantic parallels in 14:28 (n\u0115\u02be\u016bm YHWH) and 14:41 (\u02beet-p\u00ee YHWH) in contexts of judgment and warning.
\nIn light of Moses\u2019 rehearsal of the sequence of events in the sending of the spies in Deut 1:19\u201346, in which we learn that the initiative to spy out the land came from the people, not from God, one should likely put the instruction from the Lord to \u201csend some men to explore\u201d subsequent to the initial request of the people. Moses thought well of the idea and chose the men for the reconnaissance mission under God\u2019s direction. In retrospect he realized that the Lord was also angry with him because of this incident (Deut 1:37\u201338). A second reason for this prohibition is provided in Num 20:2\u201313, where Moses strikes the rock in contempt and impiety toward God (and the people) in the place where God promised to supply water and again demonstrate his providential care for Israel.
\nIn the earlier generations this land was a promised inheritance; now it was about to become a reality as possession, for the text emphasizes using the present participle: \u201cThe land of Canaan which I (myself) am giving to the children of Israel.\u201d But though the promise of land is never rescinded, possession of and prosperity in the land will be highly dependent on Israel\u2019s faithfulness. The geographical setting of the instructions was the Wilderness of Paran, that large desert expanse in northeast Sinai, which as noted above probably included the region around the Nahal Zin and its wilderness area, as well as Kadesh Barnea to the west. The more precise locale of Kadesh is provided at the conclusion of the mission as the place where the spies make their report to Moses and the nation.<\/p>\n
TRIBAL SCOUTS ENLISTED (13:4\u201316)<\/p>\n
4 These are their names:
\nfrom the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zaccur; 5 from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori; 6 from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh; 7 from the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph; 8 from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun; 9 from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu; 10 from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi; 11 from the tribe of Manasseh (a tribe of Joseph), Gaddi son of Susi; 12 from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel son of Gemalli; 13 from the tribe of Asher, Sethur son of Michael; 14 from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vophsi; 15 from the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Maki.
\n16 These are the names of the men Moses sent to explore the land. (Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun the name Joshua.)<\/p>\n
13:4\u201316 In his usual faithful manner in responding to God\u2019s commands, Moses commits to sending representative leaders from each of the twelve tribes to search out the territory God had promised to their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The standard phraseology for introducing a group of ancestral leaders or a genealogical record, \u201cthese are the names,\u201d is utilized in vv. 4 and 16, thus marking the passage off as an inclusio, bracketing the beginning and end of the section. The names of those enlisted vary from those enlisted to aid in the census taking in chaps. 1\u20132, where the clan chieftains are called \u201chead of their fathers\u2019 household\u201d (r\u014d\u02be\u0161 l\u0115b\u00eat-\u02be\u0103b\u014dt\u0101yw). Because of the nature of the task laid before them, these men probably were from among those listed in the military conscription of chap. 1 and hence able to go to war in the coming conquest of the land.
\nAdditional emphasis is evidenced in the overall structure of the Book of Numbers since this listing of the twelve tribes is the second such occurrence within the first rebellion cycle. The first (10:14\u201329) is in the delineation of the tribal departure from Mount Sinai, and the phrase \u201cat the LORD\u2019S command\u201d (\u02bfal-p\u00ee YHWH) occurs there also (10:13). As representatives of their respective ancestral tribes, they were to provide direction for the nation. In this case their assigned responsibilities were military in nature.<\/p>\n
Scout Leaders from the Israelite Tribes<\/p>\n
Tribe
\nName
\nFather
\nReuben
\nShammua
\nben Zaccur
\nSimeon
\nShaphat
\nben Hori
\nJudah
\nCaleb
\nben Jephunneh
\nIssachar
\nIgal
\nben Joseph
\nEphraim
\nHoshea (=Joshua)
\nben Nun
\nBenjamin
\nPalti
\nben Raphu
\nZebulun
\nGaddiel
\nben Sodi
\nManasseh
\nGaddi
\nben Susi
\nDan
\nAmmiel
\nben Gemalli
\nAsher
\nSethur
\nben Michael
\nNaphtali
\nNahbi
\nben Vophsi
\nGad
\nGeuel
\nben Maki<\/p>\n
At the conclusion of the list of the scouts\u2019 names, emphasis is given to the person of Joshua, whose former name was Hoshea. The inclusion here serves several purposes in the narrative: (1) to highlight his role as a leader, (2) to portend his role as a spokesman for God, and (3) to provide a structural marker for the chiastic rhetorical structure of the passage in which contrast is made between the faithful leaders\u2014Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb\u2014and the faithless ten scouts who held sway over the Israelite congregation.<\/p>\n
MOSES INSTRUCTS THE TRIBAL SCOUTS (13:17\u201320)<\/p>\n
17 When Moses sent them to explore Canaan, he said, \u201cGo up through the Negev and on into the hill country. 18 See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. 19 What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? 20 How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees on it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.\u201d (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)<\/p>\n
13:17\u201320 Moses faithfully reiterated to the tribal scouts the instructions given him by the Lord. They were directed to explore the land of Canaan from which their ancestral tribal leaders had journeyed some four hundred years earlier during a time of famine. They were to head northward through the hill country regions later to be known as Judah, Samaria, and Galilee (\u201cgo up\u201d) starting in the Negev (\u201csouthlands\u201d). They would reach as far north as Rehob of Lebo-Hamath in southern Lebanon. Biblical texts indicate that the Negev region stretched southward from Hebron (Qiryat Arba) into the Zin Wilderness region, whereas in modern times the term denotes the region from Arad and Beersheba southward to Elat on the Gulf of Aqaba.
\nThe scouts\u2019 primary objective was to reconnoiter the land to provide the answers to a series of questions Moses posed concerning the quality and productivity of the land and the military strength of its inhabitants. Though the specific time (day\/month) frame is not provided, seasonal data was noted in the instructions and in the produce brought back by the scouts. This was the time of the first harvest of the vineyards (v. 20), hence late summer or early fall (late July to early September), several months after the departure from Mount Sinai in early spring. The questions move from general to specific in a pattern of pairs that focus on the land and its peoples. As noted above, the very questions portend the possibility of a negative response. The land as a gift from God would surely be good, as suggested by the phrase \u201cflowing with milk and honey.\u201d At the center of the chiasm, noted in the \u201cStructural Outline of Numbers 13\u201314\u201d in the above excursus, was the question, \u201cIs it good or bad (evil)?\u201d Their response at the conclusion was one of both\/and rather than either\/or. The land is good, but the people are bad news.<\/p>\n
SCOUTS EXPLORE THE LAND (13:21\u201325)<\/p>\n
21 So they went up and explored the land from the Desert of Zin as far as Rehob, toward Lebo Hamath. 22 They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, lived. (Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) 23 When they reached the Valley of Eshcol, they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates and figs. 24 That place was called the Valley of Eshcol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut off there. 25 At the end of forty days they returned from exploring the land.<\/p>\n
13:21\u201325 The account begins with a summary statement and concludes likewise: The scouts went up to explore the land from the Wilderness of Zin and returned from exploring after forty days. The language is consistent with the instructions God gave to Moses and Moses gave to the scouts, indicating initial faithfulness to their assigned task.
\nTheir mission took them from the Zin Wilderness, in the northeastern corner of the larger Paran Wilderness, to the vicinity of Rehob of Lebo-hamath. They would return to make their report to Moses and the Israelites at Kadesh in the northwestern region of the Paran Wilderness. The exact location of this Rehob is unknown, though the region of Lebo Hamath suggests a site in southern Lebanon, such as Beth Rehob near Tel Dan on the southern flank of Mount Hermon. This would distinguish the site from other sites named Rehob, such as Rehob in the Jordan Valley, located four miles south of Beth-Shean. Lebo Hamath (or perhaps \u201cLebo of Hamath\u201d) has generally been identified with modern Lebweh on the Orontes River, on the southern border of the ancient kingdom of Hamath, and about fourteen miles north-northeast of Baalbek. Lebo is recounted as a city on the northern border of the Promised Land (Num 34:7\u20138) and later of the Israelite kingdom of David and Solomon (1 Kgs 8:65).
\nParticulars of the scouts\u2019 journey begin with the Negev region, which they travel through on the way to Hebron. The ancestry of the Hebronites is highlighted by the mention of three clans of the Anakim or Anakites, namely Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai. These names are Semitic in origin, reflecting the fact that the inhabitants of the land spoke a Semitic dialect, though they might have necessarily been of Semitic ancestral stock. The name Anak was associated with a people famed and feared for their great size and military prowess and may also be associated with the ethnic phrase Iy-\u02bfanaq found among the Egyptian Execration Texts of the early second millennium B.C. In v. 33 in the Septuagint the term was translated as \u201cgiants,\u201d and they were associated with the Rephaim in Deut 2:11. Remnants of these giants survived into the time of the Judges and the beginning of the Israelite monarchy. In Josh 12:21\u201322 the Anakim were noted as having lived in the Hebron region, as well as to the west in the Shephelah in such cities as Gath, and in the coastal plain in Gaza and Ashdod. Some have suggested that the famous Goliath, who was defeated by David, was one of the surviving descendants of these exceptionally tall individuals. Four others were killed by David\u2019s men in a battle recounted in 2 Sam 21:15\u201322. Though the three names of the Anakites are not mentioned again in the biblical text, they were no doubt heads of prominent Anakite clans to have been included at this point. Caleb and his army drove the three clans out of Hebron, according to the account in Josh 15:14. Later in the scouts\u2019 report to Moses the Anakites were associated with the Nephilim, the descendants of offspring that resulted from the illicit union between the \u201csons of God\u201d and the \u201cdaughters of men\u201d in Gen 6:4.
\nA geographical and historical parenthesis is set forth concerning the historical context of the building of Hebron in relationship to the construction of Zoan in Egypt. Hebron was said to have been fortified seven years before Zoan, which was in the eastern Nile delta, about one hundred miles northeast of Cairo. The Hebrew Zoan is the equivalent of the Egyptian Dja\u02bfnet (or d\u02bfnt), which was vocalized by the Greeks as Tanis. Hebron, formerly known as Qiryath \u02bfArba, is located about twenty miles south of Jerusalem in the central hill country, and it must have been a prominent city at this time due to its comparison with the Egyptian stronghold of Zoan.
\nThe scouts explored the area west or north of Hebron, known as the Nahal Eshkol, from which they brought back the exemplary produce of the region, a voluminous cluster of grapes, along with a complement of pomegranates and figs. The name of the valley, Eshkol, means \u201ccluster (of grapes)\u201d and was also the name of the brother of Mamre the Amorite, an associate of Abraham and the one for whom the town on the northwestern outskirts of Hebron was named (Gen 14:13). Hence the valley may have been named originally according to the family name of Eshkol, and then developed as a prime region for viticulture. On the other hand, the Valley of Eshkol may have been so named by the scouts who explored the region somewhere north of Hebron according to the magnificent clusters of grapes that were growing there. The duration of the scouts\u2019 exploration of the land was recounted as forty days, the approximate time it would have taken for such a journey on foot, assuming the men kept a good pace throughout the expedition. The number forty often is used in the Bible for an indefinite period in excess of a month. Having trekked from the Zin Wilderness, through Hebron and the central hill country, all the way to Lebo Hamath and back again, would mean that they would have covered a minimum of three hundred and fifty miles and perhaps as much as five hundred miles in their lateral movement in reconnoitering the hill country and valleys.<\/p>\n
REPORT OF THE SCOUTS (13:26\u201333)<\/p>\n
26 They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 They gave Moses this account: \u201cWe went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. 28 But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.\u201d
\n30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, \u201cWe should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.\u201d
\n31 But the men who had gone up with him said, \u201cWe can\u2019t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.\u201d 32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, \u201cThe land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33 We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Group Report
\n13:26\u201329 In typical Hebrew literary pattern, the report begins with a summary statement utilizing three verbal concepts. They came back to the camp that was now at Kadesh in the Paran Wilderness; they reported (\u201cbrought back to them a word\u201d) their findings; and they showed them the grape cluster, figs, and pomegranates they had brought from the land. So the first part of their report focused on matters related to the land and its productivity, followed by matters related to the people and their military capabilities. Their accounting of the quality of the land was a faithful representation of that which they had seen and partaken from the regions into which they had been sent. It was indeed an exceptionally fertile land, worthy of being described as \u201cflowing with milk and honey.\u201d But as quickly as they gloried over the produce of the land, they began to grumble about the power of the people of the land. The solemn report turned sour; the wondrous picture turned piteous; the glorifying words became gloomy.
\nThe contrastive report concerning the people of the land marks a major turning point in the narrative and is introduced by the emphatic and restrictive Hebrew adverbial phrase \u02bfepes k\u00ee, which could be translated as \u201chowever, on the other hand,\u201d or \u201cbut.\u201d The divergent context is further emphasized by the placement of the noun for strength, \u02bfaz, at the beginning of the nominal clause: \u201cstrong are the people who inhabit the land.\u201d Furthermore, their cities were described as extremely well fortified, seemingly impregnable to these unbelieving observers. This portion of the report concludes with a listing of the various Semitic and non-Semitic tribes living throughout the country. The Amalekites and the Canaanites, who later would defeat the Israelites in their attempt to enter the land against God\u2019s will, lived in the Negev (\u201csouthlands\u201d) and coastal plains respectively. The power of the Canaanites, who controlled many cities in the valleys and plains at the conclusion of the conquest under Joshua and during the period of the Judges, would later be acclaimed in referring to their possession of \u201ciron chariots.\u201d The Semitic Amorites and Jebusites lived in the hill country, along with some of the non-Semitic Hittites who had migrated into the region from eastern Anatolia. The term Amorite can refer in general to a number of the inhabitants of the Levant, including those in areas known today as Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, and Palestine. It may also refer more specifically to ethnic descendants of Canaan as delineated in Gen 10:16. The Jebusites lived in Jerusalem, as they had throughout the Middle Bronze Age (2000\u20131550), and would remain in control of the city through most of the early history of Israel until the time of the Davidic conquests.<\/p>\n
Caleb\u2019s Rejoinder
\n13:30 The faithful servant Caleb promptly spoke out against the negative report in the face of the people\u2019s grumbling. Speaking firmly with a visionary declaration to the Israelite audience, Caleb issued a trifold emphatic challenge: \u201cLet us indeed go up,\u201d (as the scouts had done initially), \u201cand we will possess it\u201d (as God had promised), \u201cfor we are certainly capable of it\u201d (by God\u2019s power). As noted above, Caleb here serves as the spokesman in the narrative for the faithful leadership represented by Moses, Aaron, and Joshua. His faithfulness in this circumstance will earn him and his descendants a special allocation of land when the Israelites would finally enter it, as well as the assurance that he would survive, unlike all of the others but Joshua, to see the fulfillment of God\u2019s promise.<\/p>\n
The Majority\u2019s Surrejoinder
\n13:31\u201333 As readily as Caleb had challenged the people to mount a campaign to conquer the land, the other ten scouts debunked the idea that they could be successful against the formidable foes of Canaan. They used the same terms as Caleb but negated them. Caleb had emphatically said, \u201cLet us indeed go up \u2026 for we are certainly capable of it.\u201d But the majority responded with fear and trepidation, \u201cWe are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are!\u201d Their words stood in direct opposition to not only the words of the faithful servant Caleb but against Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and ultimately against God. They renounced God\u2019s promise to accompany them with his awesome presence, to grant them decisive victory in what seemed, humanly speaking, to be overwhelming odds, and henceforth to confer upon them their rightful inheritance as the people of God\u2014a homeland of abundant prosperity. But the full possession of the Promised Land in freedom and fortune was, and would always be, dependent upon the people\u2019s faithfulness.
\nTheir message of apprehension and distrust was disseminated throughout the Israelite camps that surrounded the tabernacle, the central sanctuary and symbol of Yahweh\u2019s faithful presence. Focusing fearfully upon the outward feasibility in the face of the world\u2019s power rather than upon their inward faith in God\u2019s omnipotence, they lost perspective of the boundless possibilities that awaited them. Suddenly all of the peoples of the land were acclaimed to be like that limited group of descendants of the Anakim who were abnormally large. They began to see themselves as lowly insects, as grasshoppers to be stepped upon on the ground or pinched from the stalks of the fields of the land, to be easily beaten by those inhabitants like the giant Nephilim. Like the later Israelites who trembled before the colossal Goliath and the Philistines, until a devoted youth named David stepped forth to answer the challenge, the Israelites saw themselves being consumed rather than being conquerors through their God.<\/p>\n
CONGREGATIONAL RESPONSE TO THE REPORT (14:1\u20134)<\/p>\n
1 That night all the people of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. 2 All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, \u201cIf only we had died in Egypt! or in this desert! 3 Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn\u2019t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?\u201d 4 And they said to each other, \u201cWe should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.\u201d<\/p>\n
14:1\u20134 The Israelite community reacted to the majority report with fear and frenzy, discounting totally the credibility of Caleb\u2019s minority report and his visionary challenge to go forth and conquer the land with God\u2019s power and presence. The collective congregation of the tribes of Israel and the accompanying non-Israelite rabble (11:1) now moaned vociferously against the divinely ordained leadership of Moses and Aaron, precipitating an all-night session of weeping and wailing because of their perceived plight. Looking only through the eyes of their human frailty, they felt they had nowhere to turn. They had departed Egypt under dramatic circumstances, but now they somehow thought slavery would be better than facing Canaan, which seemed like a mighty invincible fortress, or simply dying in the wilderness.
\nThe outcries of the people were dramatic, and the language of the first verse heightens the effect. Two standard Hebrew expressions for the lifting of one\u2019s voice are conflated, watti\u015b\u015b\u0101\u02be kol-h\u0101\u02bf\u0113d\u00e2 wayyitt\u0115n\u00fb \u02beet-q\u00f4l\u0101m, followed by a clause describing their intense mourning. Normally one of two synonymous expressions would be used, either that of \u201cthey raised their voice\u201d (watis\u0101\u02be \u02beet-q\u00f4l) or \u201cthey uttered their voice\u201d (wayyit\u0115n\u00fb \u02beet-q\u00f4l). Both are used in contexts of lament in the Old Testament. The former phrase is used of Hagar lifting her voice as she wept over the potential death of Ishmael, after they had been driven into the desert by Sarah (Gen 21:26); and it is used of Esau\u2019s bitter outcry after he found out that his brother Jacob had received the family blessing from Isaac (Gen 27:34\u201338). The latter phrase is employed in Joseph\u2019s weeping before his brothers when he revealed his identity to them in Egypt (Gen 45:2), as well as Jeremiah\u2019s lament over the wicked reign of Jehoiakim (Jer 22:20). In the present context the two phrases are merged into one expression of intense lament as the people bemoaned their situation, brought upon themselves by their unbelief in God\u2019s promise and power.
\nThe intensity of the lament was heightened further by their stated preference for a return to Egypt, where they might have preferred to die in a state of subjection and oppression. The very people who had seen first hand the marvelous and miraculous demonstration of God\u2019s omnipotence against one of the most powerful nations of the second millennium B.C. now longed to return to a world of bondage rather than believe a word of blessing. The sinful human tendency, even among Christians, to lapse back into the addictive ways of sin and despair after having seen the outward demonstration of God\u2019s working on their behalf was evidenced in this setting. Often in a state of rebellion against God, one loses the benefit of spiritual mooring, whereby wisdom and discernment become elusive and proper decision making is made extremely difficult. Worry and fear dominate one\u2019s thought patterns. The Israelites had thus renounced and rejected God\u2019s beneficence, by now suggesting that a return to Egypt would be a good thing rather than marching into a land that even the cynical scouts deemed as good. Further evidence of their stupefaction can be seen in the statement in v. 3, where they suggested that God might have led them into the desert to die. They made the God of life and hope to be one of death and despair. Wenham notes: \u201cBy this time they actually propose returning to Egypt, thereby rejecting the whole plan of redemption. From Exodus 1 to the mission of the spies is but one plot: how Israel was brought out of Egypt to the borders of Canaan. Now within sight of their goal they suggest giving it all up.\u201d
\nIn order to return to Egypt, they would need to choose new leadership to replace Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb. They now could only remember the good food they ate in Egypt, like the cucumbers, leeks, melons, and onions. They seemed to forget the tyrannous oppression they had so long experienced at the hand of its pharaonic leadership. As noted in the previous structural outline, the recurring theme of leadership and the correlative followship of the people are keys to understanding the development of the narrative. They had rejected Caleb\u2019s word, and now they must reject their divinely appointed leader, Moses, in order to accomplish this reversal of goals. Their godly leaders, however, would not simply stand by in silence while the program of promise collapsed; they had to respond with every fiber of their physical and spiritual beings to try to thwart this potential disaster.<\/p>\n
LEADERSHIP RESPONSE TO THE PEOPLE (14:5\u201310a)<\/p>\n
5 Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there. 6 Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes 7 and said to the entire Israelite assembly, \u201cThe land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. 8 If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. 9 Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them.\u201d
\n10 But the whole assembly talked about stoning them.<\/p>\n
14:5\u201310a The righteous leadership of the nation responded in exemplary fashion. The prophetic and priestly leaders, Moses and Aaron, fell facedown upon the ground in humble submission before God and in merciful propitiation before the people. Then in concerted response to their leaders\u2019 self-humiliation, the two faithful scouts Joshua and Caleb ripped open their cloaks in an act of great remorse and contrition, and then exhorted the people to focus upon the beneficence of God in provision of the Promised Land and to abandon this evil notion of rebellion and jettison their fears of the people of the land. The rending of one\u2019s garments was practiced widely in cultures of the ancient Near East as an outward expression of mourning for the dead, of expressing deep lament over disaster or plague, or of prefacing a prophetic message of judgment to an individual or a nation. According to Wenham, this act may presage the mourning for the death of the unfaithful scouts and the generation that would die in the wilderness.
\nAt this point in the narrative Joshua chimes in and corroborates the positive witness of Caleb regarding the exceeding goodness of the land they had scouted and the powerlessness of the peoples of the land before the faithful people of God. The reminder that Joshua and Caleb were among the scouts serves the narrative purpose of connecting them with the earlier events\u2014the scouting theme as these two men had witnessed the same land that the other ten had\u2014and of emphasizing their role in the present context. For the first time in the narrative all four of the faithful leaders are mentioned together, and the antithesis between the righteous few (remnant) and the innumerable nation of rebels is heightened. In a rare expression of ultimate value, the land is emphatically deemed \u201cexceedingly good,\u201d or literally \u1e6d\u00f4b\u00e2 h\u0101\u02be\u0101re\u1e63 m\u0115\u02be\u014dd m\u0115\u02be\u014dd, \u201cgood is the land exceedingly exceedingly.\u201d The basis of the scouts\u2019 optimistic declaration is clarified by the prophetic proclamation of faith that Yahweh was the One who would lead them into this exceptionally good land and grant it to them as an inheritance, thus also reiterating the theme of the gift of the land. But the statement has a qualifier: the granting of the gift can come only as a result of his pleasure (\u1e25\u0101p\u0113\u1e63). God takes pleasure in an individual or a community who evidences an intimate knowledge of him, who exercises loving-kindness, justice, and righteousness in holding fast the covenant and ultimately doing his will (Isa 56:4; Jer 9:24; Ps 40:7). He was not, is not, and will not be pleased with those who do evil and who bring sacrifices and gifts with unclean hearts (Isa 1:11; 65:12; Mal 2:17). Hence the warning, \u201cDo not rebel against the LORD.\u201d
\nThe statement regarding the impotence of the Amorites and Canaanites before a faithful Israel was accompanied by a dual challenge to stand fearless before their foes and a statement of confidence in the Lord\u2019s presence, by which victory would be gained. A series of contrastive statements with emphatic elements highlight the literary structure of vv. 9\u201310. The Hebrew accentuation might be translated into English (in bold-face type) in the following chiastic pattern:<\/p>\n
Only against Yahweh
\nYou must not rebel
\nYou must not fear the people of the land
\nFor our food are they
\nTheir shade has disappeared from over them
\nIndeed Yahweh is with us!
\nYou must not fear them
\nThen the whole congregation said to stone them with stones (rebellion)
\nBut the Glory of Yahweh appeared in the Tent of Meeting to all the Israelites.<\/p>\n
Instead of the land devouring the people, as the unfaithful scouts had threatened, Israel and God would consume those giants and occupy their land, for the time of the Amorites was at hand. But instead of reaching out for this opportunity for victory, they reacted ominously. Fear of the world was the foundation of their rebellion. Confidence in a faithful covenant God was their only hopeful recourse.
\nThe Israelites chose insurrection over submission as they passed the word to gather stones to kill their faithful leaders in whom they had lost faith. Their fomenting fear erupted in a riotous act of attempted murder, for they intended to stone Joshua and Caleb and Moses and Aaron. Death by stoning was prescribed in Leviticus for those offering idolatrous sacrifices (20:2), practicing bestiality (20:16), engaging in divination (20:27), speaking blasphemy against the Lord (24:14, 23) or one\u2019s father and mother (Deut 21:21), and in Numbers for the violation of the Sabbath (14:35). Later in the Book of Numbers the point is made that murder defiles the land in such a way that no atonement was possible (35:33\u201334). The people were about to defile their land, their leaders, and ultimately their Lord; thus only God himself could intervene to rectify the situation. He did so in such a dramatic way that it defied the rebellious to do anything but stand in true fearful awe.<\/p>\n
GOD INTERVENES: GLORY OF LORD APPEARS (14:10b\u201312)<\/p>\n
Then the glory of the LORD appeared at the Tent of Meeting to all the Israelites. 11 The LORD said to Moses, \u201cHow long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them? 12 I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they.\u201d<\/p>\n
14:10b\u201312 At pivotal points in the Bible, when humanity\u2019s sinful rebellion reached an uncontrollable crisis, God would intervene through wondrous means to demonstrate his power and glory, and then manifest his justice and grace by endeavoring to draw his crowning creation back to himself. From Noah and Abraham, to Moses and Elijah, and finally and incomparably in Jesus, the story of his redemptive power has resonated through his word to challenge those whom he desires to call his own to faith and fulfillment. But redemption often was prefaced by judgment, so from the cloud of the Lord\u2019s presence came the revelation that God intended to ravage the Israelite nation with plague and destruction and rebuild a new and greater kingdom through Moses. This potential of starting over through Moses had been raised by Yahweh when the people constructed the golden calf soon after the Exodus (Exod 32:10).
\nStructurally, this section concludes the first chiastic cycle, which focused on the scouting of the Promised Land and concluded with the responses of the people to their leaders, but it also commences the second cycle in which the focus is on the judgment against the unfaithful scouting leaders. In the larger pericope of 13:1\u201314:45, this is the pivotal point of the narrative, for here God intervenes and interacts with his appointed leaders. The message of destruction was introduced by the repeated rhetorical question, \u201cHow long?\u201d (\u02bfad-\u02be\u0101n\u00e2, twice), which evidenced God\u2019s long-suffering nature and attitude toward his recalcitrant people. How long will they revile me? How long will they not trust in me? The question would continue to be asked throughout Israel\u2019s history. How many times would God\u2019s people reject him in spite of the wonders that were performed before their very eyes and on their behalf? Why would Solomon, who was granted exceptional wisdom and who built the Temple, later pursue the gods and idols of the surrounding nations, even to the point of building temples to worship the false deities on the hills opposite the temple to the One True God? Why was there not a great revival of Yahweh worship after the dramatic demonstration of God\u2019s power on Mount Carmel in the days of Elijah\u2019s ministry? Eventually God\u2019s perseverance and long-suffering nature must be balanced by his justice in the form of judgment. And but for the intercessory activity of Moses as the leader of the nation, the people might have perished.
\nThe \u201cmiraculous signs\u201d (h\u0101\u02be\u014dt\u00f4t) by which their faith should have been founded and confirmed were the plagues upon Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea, and the provision of food and water in the arid desert. Though expressions of faith are not as explicitly common in the Old Testament as they are in the New Testament, such as Heb 11:1\u201312:2, they were intrinsically implicit throughout the words of Moses, the prophets, and the poets. Faith in God and his word was a fundamental presupposition underlying all of the actions, attitudes, and aesthetic reflections of faithful biblical persons. To believe God was to accept his precepts, his teachings, and his general revelation in nature, and then to act accordingly in obedient faith. This was what it meant for Israel to be the people of God on an individual or community basis, so that in the midst of social, political, and economic endeavors in an unbelieving world they might fully be a blessing to the nations. To live in blessing and to be a blessing was what God had intended for this people when he called forth into being this new nation through his faithful servant Abraham. Would he now start the process over?<\/p>\n
MOSES INTERCEDES WITH YAHWEH FOR THE PEOPLE (14:13\u201319)<\/p>\n
13 Moses said to the LORD, \u201cThen the Egyptians will hear about it! By your power you brought these people up from among them. 14 And they will tell the inhabitants of this land about it. They have already heard that you, O LORD, are with these people and that you, O LORD, have been seen face to face, that your cloud stays over them, and that you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. 15 If you put these people to death all at one time, the nations who have heard this report about you will say, 16 \u2018The LORD was not able to bring these people into the land he promised them on oath; so he slaughtered them in the desert.\u2019
\n17 \u201cNow may the Lord\u2019s strength be displayed, just as you have declared: 18 \u2018The LORD is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.\u2019 19 In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now.\u201d<\/p>\n
14:13\u201316 The narrative takes another sharp turn as Moses again carries out his role as intercessor for the people before Yahweh, and the prayer by which he did so evidences the depth of his knowledge of God and his ways. This role had been exercised previously in 11:2, when fiery judgment came down from the skies, and in 12:13, when Miriam was struck with a leprous disease. In the quail incident (11:4\u201334) his leadership was reflected in a different way in a dialogue with the Lord concerning the heavy load of responsibility that had been laid upon his shoulders. The key issue of Moses\u2019 initial appeal was that of God\u2019s reputation among the nations, a question of how God\u2019s dealing with his people might be misconstrued by the Egyptians and the surrounding nations. This would continue to be an age-old question of how a benevolent God can bring harsh judgment upon his people and still maintain his reputation with honor. The prophet Habakkuk would ask a similar question centuries later about how God could use an evil nation to chasten and humiliate Israel, who had been so unfaithful. The question remains a vital one today as to how a beneficent God could allow atrocious treachery and heinous violence to continue sometimes unabated in our world, upon which the atheistic and agnostic forces in our world question the very existence of such a God. But God\u2019s attributes cannot be juxtaposed against each other; they must remain in balance. His love and faithfulness cannot be pitted against his justice and righteousness, such that sin and rebellion might ultimately go unanswered and unpunished.
\nRhetorically, the threefold use of the second person pronoun in emphatic position echoes Moses\u2019 depth of passion in his appeal to God concerning his present and future reputation among the peoples of Egypt and Canaan, saying: You are in their midst, You appear to them and over them, and You go before them day and night. These expressions brilliantly portray the intimacy of the relationship between God and his people, through his abiding presence, his providential protection, and his power. With such mighty deeds renowned among the nations, Moses beseeched the Lord to allow his vengeance to acquiesce to his forgiveness based upon the possibility that defamation might come to his Name. To allow the Israelites to suffer great loss or be annihilated in one fell swoop of vengeance might convey to the nations that Israel\u2019s God was unable to bring them into the Promised Land, casting a detrimental reflection on his character rather than on the real problem, an insolent nation. The terminology of ability here (y\u0101k\u00f4l) reminds the reader of similar usage in the contrasting reports of Caleb (y\u0101k\u00f4l n\u00fbkal, \u201cwe are surely able\u201d) versus the ten other scouts (lo\u02be n\u00fbkal, \u201cwe are not able\u201d). The Egyptians would echo the words of the unfaithful spies who were deserving of judgment rather than continue to stand in awe of Yahweh because of his continued miracle working on behalf of his people. God might be seen as unfaithful to his people.
\n14:17\u201319 With this foundation laid, Moses takes his entreaty to a second level now based upon God\u2019s attributes of long-suffering, faithfulness, loyal love, and forgiveness, while still maintaining the balance with his justice and righteousness. Moses understood that God\u2019s strength could be magnified through the balanced application of his attributes to their current situation. On one hand he recalled the words of the Decalogue, which spoke of God\u2019s judgment of idolatry lasting to the third and fourth generations of the rebellious, while his loyal love would endure to a thousand generations of the faithful (Exod 20:5\u20136). Additionally, he remembered that Yahweh was a gracious God, who through His compassion, abundant love, and long-suffering could forgive the sinful and rebellious (Exod 34:6\u20137). So often the God of the Old Testament has been presented errantly and misguidedly as a God of wrath and destruction, while asserting that the God of the New Testament in Jesus was one of mercy and love. The present appeal of Moses demonstrates that the opposite was and is true. It furthermore evidences that Moses\u2019 understanding of God and his nature had advanced to a level of keen discernment that can only come as a result of an intimate relationship with him.
\nMoses then requested that God forgive this rebellious generation in the manner that he had pardoned them in the past. From the murmurings about water supply at Rephidim (Exod 17:1\u20137) and the incident of the making of a golden calf (Exod 32:1\u201335), to the more recent complaints about food supply and shared leadership (Num 11:4\u201334), Moses had witnessed God\u2019s grace in not bringing immediate judgment upon this rebellious generation. The term for \u201cforgive\u201d had not been used in responses of God to previous Israelite instances of discontent and rebellion, but Moses had intervened several times and seen the Lord relent from bringing destruction to the entire nation by punishing only the instigators of the insurrections. The present text (vv. 18\u201319) shares a number of similarities with Exod 34:6\u20137, indicating that Moses drew directly from the revelation in the previous incident with the golden calf. God had said he would forgive iniquity, transgression, and sin, though not leaving the guilty unpunished. The Exodus passage contains as well the challenge to obedience for the people to be faithful to the Lord so that they might see his wondrous works in driving out the inhabitants of Canaan (Exod 34:10\u201314).<\/p>\n
YAHWEH RESPONDS TO MOSES\u2019 PRAYER (14:20\u201323)<\/p>\n
20 The LORD replied, \u201cI have forgiven them, as you asked. 21 Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the LORD fills the whole earth, 22 not one of the men who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I performed in Egypt and in the desert but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times\u201423 not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their forefathers. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it.<\/p>\n
14:20\u201323 The Lord responded graciously and in concert with the theological tenets proffered by Moses\u2019 plea for forgiveness for the intractable Israelites. But forgiveness based upon God\u2019s grace and covenant love does not imply that divine retribution has been or will be dismissed fully. By God\u2019s grace the annihilation of the rebellious nation was alleviated, but by his justice they must be recompensed for their sins. The phraseology for forgiveness here, s\u0101la\u1e25t\u00ee kidb\u0101rek\u0101, \u201cI have forgiven [them] according to your word,\u201d utilizes the normal verb for forgiving or pardoning sin or the sinner; but in context it does not carry the meaning of total absolution from sin. God forgives, but he does not forget the long history of the waywardness of his people and simply exculpate them. God spoke of the Israelites testing him \u201cthese ten times,\u201d an expression that denotes consistent action over a long period of time. Though the Babylonian Talmud delineated ten specific occasions of Israelite sedition, the number probably was used figuratively and in contrast to the ten plagues that God brought against the Egyptians. Indeed those were the ten signs by which their deliverance and redemption was accomplished. None of that generation who experienced firsthand the incomparable miracles of God would survive the wilderness experience to see firsthand the provision of God in the Promised Land. So the answer comes to the question asked rhetorically by Yahweh in 14:11, \u201cHow long will this people treat me with contempt?\u201d This people, those who over and over treated me with contempt, will no longer do so! That generation would experience firsthand the justice-through-judgment side of Yahweh\u2019s character through a form of talionic justice. They rejected the land, so they will not see the land.<\/p>\n
CALEB MY SERVANT WILL LIVE (14:24\u201325)<\/p>\n
24 But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it. 25 Since the Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the valleys, turn back tomorrow and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea.\u201d<\/p>\n
14:24\u201325 Only Caleb and Joshua did not join in the rebellion in rejecting the land, but instead they had pleaded with the people to go forth into the land and claim their inheritance. Only these two will see the fulfillment of the promise from among the thousands who were counted in the military conscription census of Num 1:1\u201346 and among the twelve tribal representatives who explored the land. In this reiteration of the leadership theme, the faithful Caleb is acclaimed by God as his servant. Up until this time, only Moses had been afforded this prestigious honor by having the Lord bestow upon him the epithet \u201cMy servant.\u201d A true servant of God is one who believes in God and trusts his word implicitly, who speaks of God and for God words of deliverance and hope to the peoples and who carries out the will of God even in the face of a world that denies and defies him. The text literally reads, \u201cBut my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit within him, and he remained loyal to me, so I will bring him into the land wherein he entered, and his seed will inherit it.\u201d
\nCaleb would be granted a tract of land within the tribal allocation for the Judahites, in the region of Hebron, the town mentioned explicitly in the text as the abode of the giant Anakites and the area near where the enormous cluster of grapes was procured. This promise came to fulfillment in the allocation of territory for the tribe of Judah (Josh 15:13\u201319) and in the later conquest narrative (Judg 1:9\u201315). Joshua would be included specifically in this statement of blessing and assurance in vv. 30 and 38. Caleb had spoken up first (13:30), and hence Caleb would receive the blessing first.
\nThis section of Yahweh\u2019s speech to Moses concludes with an instruction to turn back, literally to \u201cturn the face around and depart,\u201d and head back down in the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea. In that the same phraseology, \u201cWay of the Sea of Reeds,\u201d is used in this directive, Milgrom has suggested that this geographical reference \u201cillustrates the measure for measure principle\u201d [talionic justice].\u2026 If Israel desires to return to Egypt (v. 4), then it should turn back\u2014but only to die in the wilderness (vv. 28\u201329).\u201d The usage may carry this force on a literary level, since in Exod 13:18 this is the \u201cway\u201d or route they followed when they departed from Egypt. But it is also a geographical statement in that the Way of the Red Sea Wilderness was the name of a road through the wilderness, connecting the northwestern corner of the Red\/Reed Sea (Migdol\/Pi-hahiroth area above the Gulf of Suez) with the town of Ezion Geber on the northeastern corner of the Red\/Reed Sea, as well as the road from Kadesh Barnea in the Zin Wilderness to Ezion Geber on the Gulf of Aqaba.<\/p>\n
YAHWEH SPEECH: THE UNFAITHFUL COMMUNITY WILL DIE IN THE WILDERNESS (14:26\u201335)<\/p>\n
26 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron: 27 \u201cHow long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites. 28 So tell them, \u2018As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you the very things I heard you say: 29 In this desert your bodies will fall\u2014every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me. 30 Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. 31 As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected. 32 But you\u2014your bodies will fall in this desert. 33 Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the desert. 34 For forty years\u2014one year for each of the forty days you explored the land\u2014you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.\u2019 35 I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against me. They will meet their end in this desert; here they will die.\u201d<\/p>\n
14:26\u201335 The third section of the Yahweh speech begins with the standard revelatory formula used throughout the Book of Numbers, way\u0115dabb\u0113r YHWH, indicating divine instruction for the leadership of the faithful community. This is the first time the phrase has been employed in the narrative since 13:1. Now the divine adjudication concerning the case of the rebellious Israelites is spelled out to Moses the prophet and Aaron the priest with alarming clarity. As noted in the earlier outline of the literary structure, these verses are set forth in a chiastic structure in which the central theme is the survival and deliverance of the faithful scouts Joshua and Caleb (14:30) in contrast to the male militia whose bodies will all fall in the wilderness from whence they were sent.
\nA reiteration of the rhetorical questions asked in 14:11 introduces the second cycle of response, in which the answers provided expand upon the previous statement. This literary style of expanding layers or cycles of material, in which additional details are provided concerning a given issue, is a common literary style in the Pentateuch. Source critics claim that this section from the supposed P source (Priestly author) breaks the flow of the narrative between vv. 25 and 36. The continuous flow of the narrative in the parallel passage in Deut 1:40\u201341 is posited as support of this hypothesis. P. Budd, for example, called vv. 26\u201338 \u201ca major elaboration of the tradition by the priestly author.\u201d The reiteration of the material and themes within this section, however, need not be seen as extraneous but as a vital part of the rhetorical structure of the account, since it emphasizes with reverberating clarity the message of obedience and faith for this and future generations. The Hebrew phrase \u02bfad m\u0101tay (\u201cHow Long??\u201d) would be used by Elijah (1 Kgs 18:21) in the ninth century B.C., Hosea (8:5) and Isaiah (6:11) in the eighth century, and Habakkuk of the sixth century, with each asking the \u201chow long?\u201d question concerning the duration of the patient and long-suffering nature of God before judgment comes.
\nThe Lord then swore by himself and his very nature as the One True Living God that every one of those men twenty years of age and older would perish in the wilderness. The phraseology of avowal, \u201cAs surely as I live!\u201d which often introduced a divine oracle, speaks of God as the Living One, from whom life flows and to whom all life belongs. On the other hand, all of those enlisted according to the military conscription census of 1:1\u201346, indeed every one of those recruited to conquer the land but who were now guilty of rejecting the generous geographical gift, would die. Israel rejected their ultimate source of livelihood in rejecting the gift of the land, choosing the way of death instead. The wages and consequences of sin and rebellion are death and destruction, whereas the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom 6:23).
\nThe theme of faithful leadership is again reiterated, and this literary ploy of repetition would reverberate vibrantly in the ears and hearts of the hearers for generations to come. Only Caleb ben Jephunneh and Joshua ben Nun from among the Israelite troops would survive the judgment of a slow death in the desert. God promises a reward to the two faithful scouts who gave a good report concerning the quality of the Promised Land and challenged the people to enter it with vision and faith. Caleb will be granted a tract of land in the vicinity of Hebron, and Joshua will receive an inheritance in the hill country of Ephraim at Timnath-Serah, north of Mount Gaash. The others will die in the desert. The term used here for their dissipated bodies is pigr\u00eakem, which often is used to describe human corpses that would be scattered on the ground after a great battle.
\nIn the present situation most would die not as a result of a battle against the nations but as the result of their contending with God. The actual number included in this judgment, however, might be smaller. Milgrom noted that in the delineation of those who would die in the desert, the text specifies those age twenty and older who were eligible for military service. Therefore the Levites were not counted in the census or represented among the tribal leaders who scouted out the land. This selective meting out of the punishment may be followed if within the larger pericope of 14:20\u201338 the movement is from the general statement to the more particular, a common literary technique in the Pentateuch. Such a progression would develop in three stages as follows: (1) none of those who saw God\u2019s miracles in Egypt and the desert and treated him with contempt would see the land (14:21\u201324), (2) none of the men who were conscripted in the military census would enter the land (14:29\u201330), and then (3) the men sent into the land for exploration but who returned with a bad report died of a plague (14:36\u201337). Yet in v. 35 the judgment is enlarged again in a manner similar to that of part (1) above\u2014\u201cI will surely do these things to this whole wicked community.\u201d And though there is no suggestion in the account that the Levites supported the minority report of Caleb and Joshua, in several subsequent texts the extent of the punishment of Israel in the wilderness was specified in terms of that entire generation of fighting men. In the second rebellion cycle of Numbers 16\u201319, some of the Levites from the Korah clan were punished severely because of their rebellion. The 250 who led the mutinous effort died in fiery judgment, and thousands of others died in a plague in the aftermath of a rebellion against Moses and Aaron (Num 16:1\u201350).
\nAs with Caleb and Joshua, the Israelite children would not perish in the wilderness; they would be punished less severely. They would suffer deprivation and various temptations in the austerity of the desert. Punishment for the sins of the fathers could last for generations, as noted before in the Moses and Yahweh speeches. Those whom they thought would be taken into slavery in the wars against the Canaanites and Amalekites would instead continue in the traditional role of pastoral nomads, shepherding their flocks of sheep and goats in the austerity and barrenness of the Paran Wilderness. The children of the unfaithful Israelites would bear this lengthy punishment for the gross infidelity of their fathers. The term used to describe this infidelity is z\u0115n\u00fbt\u00eakem, which is normally used in the context of sexual immorality and (metaphorically) for idolatry. The text reads literally, \u201cThey [your children] shall bear your fornications [harlotries],\u201d a form of guilt Milgrom called the \u201cconsequential asham.\u201d Bearing the guilt of their fathers\u2019 spiritual adultery meant that the forty years in the wilderness was the necessary reparation or punitive consequence of their rebellion.
\nAnother talionic element in the judgment is reflected in the statement of the length of time that the Israelite community would have to endure the harshness of the desert because of their rejection of Yahweh and the land. A year of punishment would be meted out for each day of the injurious journey of the scouts, an assessment utilized later in the history of God\u2019s dealing with Israel in prophetic judgment oracles. The number forty also carried with it the connotation of the general length of a generation, though the specific length of the judgment was thirty-eight years according to Deut 2:14.
\nThe next statement by Yahweh reveals one of the harshest realities of this judgment pericope. If God is for us, who could stand against us? But if God is against us, there is no hope. Israel was about to learn what it meant to have God against them, a situation where even the feeblest of foes would triumph over the armies of Israel.<\/p>\n
JUDGMENT AGAINST THE LEADERS: THE TEN VERSUS JOSHUA AND CALEB (14:36\u201338)<\/p>\n
36 So the men Moses had sent to explore the land, who returned and made the whole community grumble against him by spreading a bad report about it\u201437 these men responsible for spreading the bad report about the land were struck down and died of a plague before the LORD. 38 Of the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh survived.<\/p>\n
14:36\u201338 Once again in the cycles of this lengthy pericope a comparison is made between the unfaithful ten scouts and the faithful Joshua and Caleb, only this time the contrast included the final judgment against the obstinate majority. The treasonous acts were rehearsed once more in a succinct repetitive and chiastic fashion before the punishment was administered. The reiterated phrase, which brackets the focal point of the chiasmus, focuses on the act of spreading a bad report about the land. The center of the statement was the death of the spies. Note the following literary structure, which represents the Hebrew word order in the translation:<\/p>\n
A The Men Sent by Moses to Explore the Land
\nB Who Returned and Made the Congregation Grumble
\nC And Spread Defamation concerning the Land
\nD They Died (by a Plague before YHWH)
\nC\u00b4 The Men Who Spread Defamation of the Land\u2014for Evil
\nB\u00b4 Joshua and Caleb Lived
\nA\u00b4 Of the Men Who Went to Explore the Land<\/p>\n
Those ten died almost immediately from a plague. The wicked community that had banded together in an attempt to overthrow their divinely appointed leaders by stoning them to death (14:10a) experienced an untimely death in the desert. Those whom they sought to slay, the steadfast Joshua and Caleb, would survive.<\/p>\n
CONCLUSION: Moses Reports Judgment\u2014ISRAEL MOURNS (14:39\u201345)<\/p>\n
39 When Moses reported this to all the Israelites, they mourned bitterly. 40 Early the next morning they went up toward the high hill country. \u201cWe have sinned,\u201d they said. \u201cWe will go up to the place the LORD promised.\u201d
\n41 But Moses said, \u201cWhy are you disobeying the LORD\u2019S command? This will not succeed! 42 Do not go up, because the LORD is not with you. You will be defeated by your enemies, 43 for the Amalekites and Canaanites will face you there. Because you have turned away from the LORD, he will not be with you and you will fall by the sword.\u201d
\n44 Nevertheless, in their presumption they went up toward the high hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the LORD\u2019S covenant moved from the camp. 45 Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and attacked them and beat them down all the way to Hormah.<\/p>\n
14:39\u201345 The account ends with a reversal of the fortunes for Israel due to their rejection of God and the resultant divine punishment. In the introduction Yahweh instructed Moses (way\u0115dabb\u0113r m\u014d\u0161eh) to send scouts into the land to explore that which he had promised their forefathers. Moses sent the scouts according to the command of the Lord (\u02bfal-p\u00ee YHWH, \u201caccording to the word\/mouth of Yahweh\u201d), and the phraseology used means this leader of the people was following in faithful obedience. Now the same Moses instructs (way\u0115dabb\u0113r m\u014d\u0161eh) the people concerning the judgment of the Lord against the ten unfaithful scouts. After their response of remorse to this revelation, they attempt to enter the land against the command of the Lord (\u02bf\u014db\u0115r\u00eem \u02beet-p\u00ee YHWH, \u201ctransgressing the word of Yahweh\u201d). To attempt to advance into the land of blessing without the Lord\u2019s blessing is to set a course for failure.
\nThe conclusion is replete with antithetical statements in relationship to the initial instructions given by God and Moses. In Yahweh\u2019s instruction to Moses, he stated that he was giving them the land; but now when they attempt to enter \u201cthe place the Lord promised,\u201d they are warned against doing so. Moses instructed the Israelites to \u201cgo up\u201d into the land (13:17); now they are commanded, \u201cDo not go up!\u201d In earlier episodes of rebellion, Israelite remorse often led to Moses interceding with Yahweh to withdraw his punishment of the nation or at least to lighten its effect. But in this case the prophet proclaimed further warning if the people should respond rebelliously again and attempt to conquer the land. In the end the Amalekites and Canaanites, whom they would have easily conquered with Yahweh the Divine Warrior on their side, would soundly defeat them.
\nThis passage follows a simple chiastic style: A B \/ B\u00b4 A\u00b4\u00b4:<\/p>\n
A Attempt to Go up into Hill Country\u2014We Sinned
\nTo Place Yahweh Promised Moses: Why Disobey Yahweh? (\u02bfbar \u02beet-p\u00ee YHWH)
\nB Do Not Go up\u2014Yahweh Is NOT with You Amalekites and Canaanites Will Defeat You
\nB\u00b4 You have Turned away from Yahweh\u2014He Will NOT Be with You You Will Fall by the Sword
\nA\u00b4 Attempt to Go up into Hill Country\u2014Defeat Moses and Ark of Covenant Remain in Camp Amalekites and Canaanites of Hill Country Defeat Israel in the Land<\/p>\n
As Ashley notes, \u201cThe children of Israel rose up early in the morning, that is, the day in which they had been commanded to turn and depart into the wilderness by the way of the Reed Sea (v. 25). They have disobeyed God once again and mistaken the seriousness of his judgment for something amenable to change if only they will do what was originally commanded.\u201d Sometimes the consequences of sin and rebellion are irreversible, and one must endure the experience of God\u2019s judgment before a new course of action brings blessing. Sometimes those consequences endure for a lifetime, but even in those settings we must continue in faith so that our lives reflect redemption rather than further reproach.<\/p>\n
(7) Offerings from the Land of Promise: Covenant Hope (15:1\u201341)<\/p>\n
The material in chap. 15 addresses three key subjects in relationship to the previous material within the first rebellion cycle; hence it holds a strategic contextual position in the cyclical thematic outline of the Book of Numbers. The covenant relationship between Yahweh God and his people Israel is in full view. Many scholars have noted the puzzling abrupt transition from the rebellious spy incident of chaps. 13\u201314 and the Korah rebellion of chap. 16, yet few have considered the broad structural outline in this assessment. Gray simply stated: \u201cWhat reasons induced the editor to refer this particular group of laws, like those of c. 19, to the period of wandering cannot be determined.\u201d The same positional question derives from the placement of priestly instructions in chaps. 5\u20136; 19; 28\u201329. As noted previously in the \u201cIntroduction: Structural Outline and Contents,\u201d each of the offerings sections functions within the sequential outline to focus the reader and hearer on the proper relationship between God and humanity in the context of the preceding material of the given cycle.
\nBecause of the priestly nature of the material, most source critical scholars have dated the compilation of this chapter to the postexilic period, partially on the basis of a comparison with the parallel content of Ezek 46:3\u201315. There in the context of the New Jerusalem and the New Temple, the burnt offerings for the Sabbath, feast days, and other occasions are delineated with their accompanying grain and oil sacrifices. Gray presumed that the Numbers 15 scale of grain and oil accompaniments to the various animal sacrifices were more recent than those of Ezekiel 46, because Ezekiel\u2019s legislation addressed public offerings and those of Numbers 15 applied to private as well as public offerings. Yet later in the same discussion Gray acknowledges the antiquity of the general content of Numbers 15, stating, \u201cConsiderably more ancient than the exact regulation of the amounts to be offered was the practice of associating meal, wine, and oil with animal offerings.\u201d P. Grelot dated the extension of the legislation to the resident alien to the latter half of the fifth century B.C. M. Noth suggested that this section may be one of the latest pieces of legislation in the Pentateuch. More recently Levine dated the Priestly source as having its initial impetus in the late sixth century B.C.E. and continuing well into the postexilic era. As will be argued separately below, however, each piece of legislation included in Numbers 15 fits well within the milieu of the original wilderness setting. Though the final edited form of the text as we have it may date to later in the preexilic period, the content has parallels in the art and literature of the ancient Near East of the second millennium B.C. in locations like Ugarit and the Hittite capital of Hattusas.
\nThe first section (vv. 1\u201321) delineates the various offerings to be presented to the Lord when the covenant people enter the Promised Land rejected in the previous chapter. By way of divine directive, the rejection of the land by the majority of the spies and the people will be surmounted. God will bring them into the land of promise (15:2\u20133, 18\u201319) in spite of their rebellious rejection of that gracious gift, and he will bless them so abundantly that they will in turn bring multitudinous sacrifices and offerings with which to honor and worship him. The accompaniment of animal sacrifices with grain and oil offerings, plus the wine libations, were quite appropriate considering the previous setting of the land exploration. The scouts examined the quality of the agricultural produce of the land and even brought back a spectacular sample from the vineyard. The vineyard was often a symbol of God\u2019s richest blessing upon the land. The offerings from the grain fields were to be of the firstfruits, the earliest and choicest of the crops the Lord bestowed. The issue behind the singular requirements for the bringing of these offerings by either a native Israelite or a resident alien (vv. 13\u201316) may be presented at this point in the context of the mixed multitude or rabble who instigated the uprising over food supply (11:4).
\nThe second section (vv. 22\u201336) contains rules pertaining to purification rituals in the context of unintentional sins and the ultimate punishment for intentional or defiant sins. This material is presented in response to the defiance of the people, especially the ten unfaithful scouts. They provide the means for symbolically addressing the issue of failing to follow God\u2019s instruction. Unintentional sins require restitution or reparation offerings, but flagrant, overt rebellion against God carries dire consequences, even death. Hence, in vv. 32\u201336 an example of intentional sin and its consequences is recounted. Since the Sabbath was a sign of the covenant relationship between God and man, the inclusion here is emphatic in light of the breach of the covenant in the immediate context. In the larger context this section would remind the people of the consequences of rebellion against the covenant commandments, namely judgment and loss of the land. For generations to come they would hear the story of the loss of a whole generation of their forefathers because of rebellion and sin. The abuse of the Sabbath would be decried throughout the history of Israel, especially by the latter prophets such as Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. At the end of the history of the Southern Kingdom of Judah, Jeremiah would prophesy the destruction of Jerusalem because of the breaking of the Sabbath.
\nThe chapter concludes (vv. 37\u201341) with instructions regarding the tasseled garments that were to be worn as a reminder of the covenant stipulations, whereby they might live in an obedient, faithful relationship to the God of the covenant. They set forth a means (garment fringes) for having a constant physical reminder of the special relationship between God and his people so they might not defy him as the generation represented by the ten timid spies had done. In Deuteronomy that outward sign of the covenant between God and man was the wearing of phylacteries bound to the forehead and forearm, which were symbols of their subservience in the covenant relationship to God. The epilogue to the chapter presents the great covenant proclamation of Yahweh as the Sovereign Lord, who delivered his people from slavery and oppression. The people must acknowledge him as their rightful King by being obedient to his commands.
\nLike many sections of the Torah, this chapter contains a key word that provides a unifying element to the entire chapter, namely the verb \u02bf\u0101s\u0101h, meaning \u201cto make\u201d or \u201cto perform.\u201d After the introduction in vv. 1\u20132, the Israelites were instructed to make various fire offerings to the Lord, and the verb is used eleven times in vv. 3\u201316 in delineating the sacrificial elements or in describing the process by which they were offered. It does not occur in the section dealing with the presentation of the firstfruits of the dough (vv. 17\u201321), though in the following expansion of laws related to inadvertent and defiant sins (vv. 22\u201336) the term is employed six times. In the final section (vv. 37\u201341) the Israelites were instructed concerning the \u201cmaking\u201d of the garment tassels as a covenant reminder.<\/p>\n
OFFERINGS FROM THE LAND (15:1\u201316)<\/p>\n
1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 \u201cSpeak to the Israelites and say to them: \u2018After you enter the land I am giving you as a home 3 and you present to the LORD offerings made by fire, from the herd or the flock, as an aroma pleasing to the LORD\u2014whether burnt offerings or sacrifices, for special vows or freewill offerings or festival offerings\u20144 then the one who brings his offering shall present to the LORD a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a quarter of a hin of oil. 5 With each lamb for the burnt offering or the sacrifice, prepare a quarter of a hin of wine as a drink offering.
\n6 \u201c \u2018With a ram prepare a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a third of a hin of oil, 7 and a third of a hin of wine as a drink offering. Offer it as an aroma pleasing to the LORD.
\n8 \u201c \u2018When you prepare a young bull as a burnt offering or sacrifice, for a special vow or a fellowship offering to the LORD, 9 bring with the bull a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with half a hin of oil. 10 Also bring half a hin of wine as a drink offering. It will be an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the LORD. 11 Each bull or ram, each lamb or young goat, is to be prepared in this manner. 12 Do this for each one, for as many as you prepare.
\n13 \u201c \u2018Everyone who is native-born must do these things in this way when he brings an offering made by fire as an aroma pleasing to the LORD. 14 For the generations to come, whenever an alien or anyone else living among you presents an offering made by fire as an aroma pleasing to the LORD, he must do exactly as you do. 15 The community is to have the same rules for you and for the alien living among you; this is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You and the alien shall be the same before the LORD: 16 The same laws and regulations will apply both to you and to the alien living among you.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
15:1\u20132 The chapter divides into three sections of divine instruction, similar to Lev 6:1\u201330, with each commencing with the familiar revelatory phraseology found throughout the Book of Numbers. The first verse begins with the full Hebrew version of the didactic introduction, \u201cThen Yahweh instructed Moses, saying: \u2018Instruct the children of Israel, and thus you shall say to them.\u2019 \u201d Typically this extended formal introduction is found in specific priestly legislation, though it also occurs in the introductions to the two challenges to enter the Promised Land and drive out its inhabitants. In this one chapter it was utilized three times, thus adding further emphasis to the content in light of the contextual situation.
\nThe content of the instruction stands in deliberate contrast to the previous context of rebellion in which the land was rejected. Note the following comparative emphases in this amplified translation: \u201cWhen you shall enter the land of your habitations [which you have so recently rejected] which I myself am giving to you [as I have promised time and time again], then you shall perform a fire offering to the Lord [from the abundant produce of flock and field with which I myself shall bless you\u2014and in spite of your recent rebellion].\u201d The Hebrew phrase \u02be\u0103\u0161er \u02be\u0103n\u00ee n\u014dt\u0113n l\u0101kem (\u201cwhich I am giving to you [Israelites]\u201d) exactly duplicates the message in 13:2 in the instructions to send scouts to explore the land. In commenting on this remarkable introduction, Allen notes: \u201cThe grace and mercy of the Lord are magnified as he points to the ultimate realization of his ancient promise to Abraham (Gen 12:7) and his continuing promise to the nation that they would indeed enter the land.\u201d The land belonged to the Lord, and he would grant it to Israel as an inheritance according to his unconditional promise to Abram. But he would not allow a recalcitrant and rebellious generation of his people to experience the fullness of his blessing; that would be left to the next generation.
\n15:3\u201312 When the next generation of leadership (those under the military conscription age of twenty years old plus Joshua and Caleb) would enter the land, work it, and reap its blessings from God, then they would sacrifice offerings from the land in celebration of their relationship to God. The offerings noted are those made by fire, namely the whole burnt offering (\u02bf\u014dl\u00e2) or sacrifice (zeba\u1e25), for fulfilling a vow (l\u0115pall\u0113\u02be neder), the freewill offering (n\u0115d\u0101b\u00e2), or the festival offerings (m\u014d\u02bf\u0103d\u00eakem). Notably excluded are the purification or sin offering (\u1e25at\u0101\u02beat) and the reparation or guilt offering (\u02be\u0101\u0161\u0101m). According to Lev 22:17\u201325, animals for such offerings were generally of unblemished quality and taken from the cattle, sheep, or goats. The whole burnt offering (\u02bf\u014dl\u00e2) was presented to the Lord in an act of consecration or general atonement by which one entered into or maintained a quality relationship with God. In the ritual process an individual laid his hand upon the head of the sacrificial animal, achieving identification with the animal, which then would be offered in its totality upon the altar as a symbol of the offerer\u2019s rendering his life to God in relationship and service. The peace, vow, and freewill offerings were of the communion type, in which certain portions of the animals were offered to God and the remainder provided for the priests and the offerer, who consumed them in the communal setting of the tabernacle or Temple. Hence the totality of the Israelite community, composed of God, the priests, and the people, would engage in a corporate meal that celebrated the unity of the community of faith. Such would be needed desperately in the context of Israel\u2019s woeful rejection of their inheritance, both now at Kadesh and in the future days of rebellion.
\nEach of the sacrificed animals was to have an accompanying offering of a portion of fine flour mixed with oil, plus a proportional wine libation (nesek) that would be poured out as unto the Lord during the ritual process. Procedures are minimal in this passage, and the people presumably would have followed those methods or steps delineated in Lev 1:1\u20133:17; 6:8\u201323; 7:11\u201338. Instead the focus is upon the produce of the land that the Lord would grant as an inheritance to the second generation. The picture of a burning sacrifice is presented in anthropomorphic terms, whereby the combined elements would render a sweet-smelling sacrifice into the symbolic nostrils of God. Certain portions of the animal, such as the entrails, might produce a pungent odor, but the accompanying cakes and wine would mollify such smells and produce a pleasant fragrance. Three times, the number of completeness, the phraseology \u201can aroma pleasing to the LORD\u201d is used in the delineation of the various offerings, and then twice more in the discussion of the equal application of the law to both native born Israelites and resident aliens in the land. That such sacrifices were to be presented by the offerer out of a faithful, humble, and subservient heart is evidenced by the later prophetic condemnation of the detestable multitude of sacrifices that were brought before the Lord by a morally and ethically corrupt people.
\nThe proportions of grain and oil offerings as well as the wine libations are listed as follows, with comparative amounts delineated in Ezekiel 46:<\/p>\n
Num 15:1\u201316
\nEzek 46:4\u201315
\nAnimal
\nGrain + Oil
\nWine
\nGrain + Oil (only)
\nLamb
\n1\/10 ephah + 1\/4 hin
\n1\/4 hin
\n1\/6 ephah + 1\/3 hin
\nRam
\n2\/10 ephah + 1\/3 hin
\n1\/3 hin
\n1 ephah + 1 hin
\nYoung Bull
\n3\/10 ephah + 1\/2 hin
\n1\/2 hin
\n1 ephah + 1 hin<\/p>\n
Comparative weights and measures (approx.)
\nEphah (~ 1 bushel) 1\/10 eph = 2 qts 2\/10 eph = 4 qts liters
\n3\/10 eph = 6 qts
\nHin (~ 1 gallon)
\n1\/4 hin = 1 qt
\n1\/3 hin = 1.3 qts
\n1\/2 hin = 2 qts<\/p>\n
The antiquity of this practice of proportional grain and wine offerings is evidenced in 1 Sam 1:24, where Hannah brought a three-year-old bull along with an ephah of flour and a skin of wine for a dedication offering to the Lord on behalf of her son Samuel. Hence, the legislation presented here need not be dated to the postexilic age, as is assumed by many literary source critics. The section concludes with a summary statement regarding the number of animals offered and the number of accompanying grain and wine sacrifices. Each separate animal is to be presented to the Lord with its own grain and oil cakes and its own wine libations.
\n15:13\u201316 Throughout the Torah emphasis is given to the principle of equal application of halakhic statutes to the native Israelite (\u02beezr\u0101\u1e25) and the resident alien (g\u0113r). Earlier in Numbers the celebration of Passover was extended to resident aliens who sought identity with Israel and their God through following the festival statutes, such as ritual purification (Num 9:6\u201313) and circumcision (Josh 5:2\u201311). According to Lev 19:34 the alien was to be treated as a native Israelite, to be loved as oneself, remembering that the Israelites were once strangers in Canaan and Egypt. The use of the term \u02beezr\u0101\u1e25 here points to the time when Israel would be settled in the land, an experience reserved for the second generation Israelites and their progeny. Each person in the company of Israel, present and future, was to have equal access to God within the prescribed manner of sacrificial worship.
\nThe proper extension of justice and righteousness to the resident alien was an important element of Israel\u2019s existence as a unique people of God and of their calling to be a source of blessing and light to the world (Gen 12:3; Isa 42:6; 49:6). A variety of non-Israelites had come out from the bondage of Egypt with the descendants of the sons of Jacob, and though some of them (among the \u201crabble,\u201d Num 11:4) had helped instigate the rebellious murmuring concerning their food supply, the opportunity for repentance under the umbrella of the covenant relationship would always be there. After all, there were no \u201cnative-Israelites\u201d\u2014that is, those born in the land\u2014when God delivered his people from bondage and oppression. So the door was always to be open to proselytes who would desire to identify with Israel, their faith, and their God.<\/p>\n
OFFERINGS OF THE FIRSTFRUITS (15:17\u201321)<\/p>\n
17 The LORD said to Moses, 18 \u201cSpeak to the Israelites and say to them: \u2018When you enter the land to which I am taking you 19 and you eat the food of the land, present a portion as an offering to the LORD. 20 Present a cake from the first of your ground meal and present it as an offering from the threshing floor. 21 Throughout the generations to come you are to give this offering to the LORD from the first of your ground meal.<\/p>\n
15:17\u201321 The second section of divine instruction begins as the first, with the expanded version of the revelatory formula. As noted earlier, this chapter is replete with emphasis, such that even a short five-verse section dealing with a special grain offering is pregnant with meaning. Emphases in both content and style within the pericope and in the larger context include: (1) reiteration of the divine promise to bring the children of Israel into the Promised Land (13:2; 15:2), (2) that Yahweh will bless them with abundant grain fields from which they may bring their offerings, (3) that the law of the firstfruits as a gift to God\u2014and hence for the priests\u2014extended even to the very first kneaded dough of the season, and (4) the resounding staccato effect of the repetition of the terms t\u0115r\u00fbm\u00e2 (\u201ccontribution, [elevation] offering\u201d) four times and t\u0101r\u00eem\u00fb (\u201cyou shall lift up, you shall set aside\u201d) three times. Even the most seemingly mundane daily practice of kneading dough for making bread was to be a time of worship and celebration of God\u2019s benevolence and faithfulness. The first or choicest dough (r\u0113\u0161\u00eet \u02bf\u0103ris\u014dt\u0113kem) made from the first coarsely ground flour of the season was set aside for honoring God. Bread was the essential food staple of life, and hence a sacred sacrifice was rendered back unto God as the giver of life and the provider of grain from which the bread was made. Similarly, wine as well as grapes from the vineyard, olive oil as well as olives from the orchard, and fruit juices from the fall fruit harvest were offered to God. According to Num 18:11\u201316, all firstfruits and products brought in devotion to the Lord were supplied to the priests.
\nIn the previous two chapters, issues concerning the quality of the land and its produce were central to understanding the nature of God\u2019s promises to Israel and their rebellious response to him. Now he takes the promise one step further by vowing to take action to bring them into the land. His grace and mercy became a causative reality in the life of the nation that had recently rejected this blessing. Further, God gives Israel the food, or produce, of the land. The land \u201cflowing with milk and honey\u201d (13:27; 14:8), meaning that which was abundantly productive, would be the resource by which God would bless the faithful inhabitants. A holistic continuum in the relationship between God and humanity is in view here: God supplied the land and blessed it with abundant productivity; man responded in faith by honoring God with the first and choicest of its produce and by keeping the covenant stipulations; God continued to bless the land and the nation. Disobedience, however, such as exemplified in the recent rejection of God and his gift of the land, would break the continuum.
\nThis practice of honoring God with the first of the dough from the kneading bowl was meant to be an object lesson throughout the history of Israel. Gratefully honoring God with this offering becomes one of the means of reminding every generation of the goodness and faithfulness of God.<\/p>\n
OFFERINGS FOR INADVERTENT VERSUS INTENTIONAL SINS (15:22\u201336)<\/p>\n
22 \u201c \u2018Now if you unintentionally fail to keep any of these commands the LORD gave Moses\u201423 any of the LORD\u2019S commands to you through him, from the day the LORD gave them and continuing through the generations to come\u201424 and if this is done unintentionally without the community being aware of it, then the whole community is to offer a young bull for a burnt offering as an aroma pleasing to the LORD, along with its prescribed grain offering and drink offering, and a male goat for a sin offering. 25 The priest is to make atonement for the whole Israelite community, and they will be forgiven, for it was not intentional and they have brought to the LORD for their wrong an offering made by fire and a sin offering. 26 The whole Israelite community and the aliens living among them will be forgiven, because all the people were involved in the unintentional wrong.
\n27 \u201c \u2018But if just one person sins unintentionally, he must bring a year-old female goat for a sin offering. 28 The priest is to make atonement before the LORD for the one who erred by sinning unintentionally, and when atonement has been made for him, he will be forgiven. 29 One and the same law applies to everyone who sins unintentionally, whether he is a native-born Israelite or an alien.
\n30 \u201c \u2018But anyone who sins defiantly, whether native-born or alien, blasphemes the LORD, and that person must be cut off from his people. 31 Because he has despised the LORD\u2019S word and broken his commands, that person must surely be cut off; his guilt remains on him.\u2019 \u201d
\n32 While the Israelites were in the desert, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day. 33 Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly, 34 and they kept him in custody, because it was not clear what should be done to him. 35 Then the LORD said to Moses, \u201cThe man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp.\u201d 36 So the assembly took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the LORD commanded Moses.<\/p>\n
This passage breaks down into five sections: (1) introduction (vv. 22\u201323), (2) offerings for inadvertent sins of the community (vv. 24\u201326), (3) offerings for inadvertent sins of the individual (vv. 27\u201329), (4) penalty for defiant sin (vv. 30\u201331), and (5) application of the penalty for defiant sin\u2014the breaking of Sabbath law (vv. 32\u201336). In a succinct manner this section restates the sacrifices required for atonement for inadvertent sins delineated in Lev 4:1\u20135:19. Unmitigated violation of God\u2019s commandments, however, could not be atoned for through sacrifice. Anyone who performed such an act of defiance against God would bear the penalty for his sin by being cut off from the community of faith. Maintaining the unity and holiness of the community is a key theme of the Book of Numbers.
\nFor several reasons this section is somewhat of a continuation of the previous context. First, a form of the verb \u02bf\u0101\u015b\u00e2 recurs in the introduction and an additional five times in this pericope. Second, there is a connection between the antecedent to the definite pronoun in the phrase, \u201cthese commandments,\u201d and the contextual background of the conditional particle w\u0115k\u00ee (\u201cNow if \u2026\u201d), which introduces the case law. If \u201cthese\u201d does not refer to the immediately preceding context, then it must refer to some other unknown corpus of halakhic legislation, and the referent has been lost in antiquity. A third indication of the continuity is the reference in v. 24 to the \u201cprescribed grain offering and drink offering,\u201d which were to accompany the sacrifice of a young bull for a burnt offering. The amounts were specified in 15:9\u201310 as three-tenths ephah of fine flour mixed with one-half hin of oil, plus one-half hin of wine as a libation (drink) offering. The legislation is distinguished from the previous context by the addition of the sin offering given for inadvertent failure by the community or an individual to keep the covenant stipulations. Third, certain phrases speak of the continuous application of the law throughout their generations to both native Israelites and resident aliens.
\n15:22\u201323 The introduction to this section can be translated literally, \u201cIf you sin inadvertently in that you do not perform all these commandments which Yahweh spoke to Moses.\u201d One must ask What was the context of unintentional or inadvertent sin? What did it mean that an accidental mistake was made in ritual observance? Leviticus 4:1\u20135:19 gives several examples of these unintentional abrogations of covenant stipulations. Several settings are envisioned, including: (1) sin of an anointed priest due to lack of knowledge of proper cultic procedures or a lack of knowledge of some facet of covenant law, (2) intentional act by the community or an individual in which they are made aware of the breach of law subsequent to the act by another individual or by the priests who had been given the responsibility of teaching the law to the community (Lev 10:11), (3) accidental act by which an individual or group is rendered impure by cultic standards, through touching unclean animals, human or animal corpses, (4) accidental death or manslaughter (Num 35:11), or (5) through the violation of the priestly protocol or sanctity of the Tent of Meeting. These were expiable through proper sacrificial ritual of atonement, conveying the general principle that neither ignorance of the law nor inadvertent breaking of the law is entirely excusable. Such acts were contrasted with the intentional rebellious acts for which no atonement was feasible.
\nThe purification ritual was to be applied not only to the recently delineated commands concerning the burnt offerings, communion offerings, and first dough offerings covered under this heading of sinful acts, but to any commandment God had issued through Moses since the beginning of his prophetic ministry. Such would be the case for the remainder of the history of Israel, hence the time frame phraseology, \u201ccontinuing throughout your generations.\u201d Not only were the priests given the responsibility of teaching the statutes and commandments of God to the present and future generations of the community of faith, but so also were the fathers of the various households. This is particularly emphasized in Deut 6:1\u20139, a foundational passage for the educational responsibilities of the family.
\n15:24\u201326 The community setting of an inadvertent infraction is described as one in which the wrongful act was done by a group of people outside the notice of the larger congregation or literally \u201caway from the eyes of the congregation\u201d (\u02beim m\u0113\u02bf\u00ean\u00ea h\u0101\u02bf\u0113d\u00e2). Such an infraction also might have occurred by the unwitting activity of the entire assembly. The priest was to perform the ritual sacrifice of the young bull with its accompanying grain and wine libation offerings, and thus atonement (kipper) was accomplished. One is left to assume that the amounts of grain, oil, and wine were the same as those delineated in 15:8\u201311, though these additions are not included in the ritual descriptions of Leviticus 4.
\nThe normal order for the various types of offerings is the purification or sin offering first, followed by the burnt offering of consecration, and then consequently the communion offering when desired. Here the normal order for the burnt and sin offerings is reversed, though this sequence is not unknown. The present order may be to emphasize the additional grain, oil, and wine supplements, which would be presented to the Lord out of the bountiful produce of the Promised Land. That was the very land that the nation had just rejected but which God had promised again as a gift and had purposed to bring them into as a testimony to his grace and mercy.
\nThe Hebrew verb kipper was the standard term for the atonement achieved through the offering of a sacrifice for sin or for some other form of ritual impurity. Its usage ranged from that which was accomplished on the Day of Atonement to purification ritual after being healed from some skin disease. Though the idea of propitiation, or the appeasement of God\u2019s wrath or punishment, may be in view in several texts in which kipper is used, the predominant usage of the term is for expiatory purposes, signifying the removal of sin or impurity. Thus with the proper atonement ritual, and presumably with the proper attitudinal response of the community, forgiveness was achieved. As in the earlier legislation of vv. 13\u201316, the efficaciousness of the ritual act was extended to the resident alien as well as the native Israelite, for the community of faith is viewed holistically and harmoniously rather than ethnically divided.
\n15:27\u201329 In typical Hebraic style, the legislation moves from the general to the particular, from the community infraction to the individual who has committed some inadvertent breach of the statutes and laws of the covenant. The sacrificial requirement in this case for the average individual in the community of faith, whether native Israelite or resident alien, was one female goat. This is similar to the stipulation outlined in greater ritual detail in Lev 4:27\u201331. Two variations in the present context are notable. In the present context the age of the goat is specified as a \u201cyear-old\u201d animal or, more precisely, a goat in its first year (\u02bf\u0113z bat-\u0161\u0115n\u0101t\u0101h, \u201cgoat [that is] a daughter of her [first] year\u201d), a detail not specified in Leviticus. One would assume that the requirement that the goat be unblemished, or \u201cwithout defect,\u201d was in effect since this was a sin offering. Also no burnt offerings are mentioned as in the previous case of the community infraction. In the sacrificial process the priest acted on behalf of the sinful person who would thus have come in a state of uncleanness to the Holy Place.
\n15:30\u201331 The thrust of the entire passage reaches its climax in the broader context of Israel\u2019s rebellion in rejecting the Promised Land and hence rejecting God. The nation\u2019s defiance was an example of a sin of \u201ca high hand\u201d in that they had symbolically raised their fists in defiance of God, and for this there was no means of sacrifice that could deliver them from judgment. In the previous contexts of inadvertent infractions of the law by the community as a whole or by the individual, forgiveness was attainable through prescribed ritual sacrifices. But in the case of outright and deliberate rebellion, nothing could compensate for the people\u2019s sin, nothing could remove the impurity except the manifestation of the grace and mercy of God.
\nThe introduction to this section varies slightly from the parallel in 15:27, but builds on the conditionality stated there, \u02beim nepe\u0161 \u02bea\u1e25at te\u1e25\u0115\u1e6d\u0101\u02be, \u201cif one person should sin.\u201d In this case the protasis is stated simply as follows: w\u0115hanepe\u0161 \u02be\u0103\u0161er-ta\u02bf\u0103\u015beh b\u0115y\u0101d r\u0101m\u00e2, \u201cbut the person who acts with a high hand.\u201d The raised right hand with the outstretched arm was a common symbol of strength and power in ancient Near Eastern literature and iconography. Two further qualifiers follow in the text, thereby clinching the indictment against the person or persons who would sin in such a manner. First is the phrase \u02beet-YHWH h\u00fb\u02be m\u0115gadd\u0113p (\u201cYahweh he blasphemes\u201d) in which the name of God is placed in the initial emphatic position. Second is a pair of phrases exhibiting poetic style in perhaps a formal accusation form, with each having the object of the offense in the emphatic position: k\u00ee d\u0115bar-YHWH b\u0101z\u00e2, \u201cfor the word of Yahweh he has despised,\u201d and w\u0115\u02beet-mi\u1e63w\u0101t\u00f4 h\u0113par, \u201cand his commandment(s) he has violated.\u201d Concerning the depth of resolution toward sin expressed by such a person, Ashley notes, \u201cThis kind of rebellion therefore differs from the intentional sin described in Lev 5:20\u201326[Eng. 6:1\u20137] for which a reparation offering may be made, \u2018when the offender feels guilty\u2019 (5:23, 26[Eng. 6:4, 7]).\u201d The sinner with a high hand feels no guilt; therefore the offense is not sacrificially expiable.\u201d The one who sins defiantly may not feel the guilt of his violation, but he is nonetheless guilty before God and man.
\nSuch a defiant person must suffer the ultimate of judgment, the karet. Such a form of judgment, by which God would eradicate an offender\u2019s line of descendants or deny a person\u2019s life in the hereafter, was reserved for the most heinous or sacrilegious offenses. Milgrom delineates five categories of infractions in which the karet was meted out: (1) violation of sacred time, as in the neglect of certain holy days, (2) violation of sacred substance, such as in the consumption of blood, (3) neglect of purification ritual, such as circumcision, (4) illicit worship, such as idolatry or sorcery, and (5) illicit sexual activity, such as incest or bestiality. In some cases the community would carry out the death penalty via stoning.
\n15:32\u201336 The passage concludes with an exemplary adjudication of the case law delineated in vv. 30\u201331, which relates to a deliberate violation of Sabbath statutes. This case is pregnant with meaning for the community in the wilderness and for the communities of faith for generations to come. First, all forms of work and creative activity were prohibited on the Sabbath. Not even one\u2019s servants or animals could do work on this holy day, and the penalty for transgression of Sabbath was death (Exod 35:2; Deut 5:13\u201315). The holiness of the Sabbath was established by God on the basis of creation, and this one day of the weekly cycle was to have been set aside as a day for celebration of God and his creative activity by ceasing from one\u2019s own creative activity (work), even as God did (Gen 2:2\u20133; Exod 20:8\u201311). Gathering wood for building a fire was just such a form of work and a deliberate violation of the covenant. Second, the Sabbath was also a day to remember the covenant relationship between Yahweh and Israel and was the ultimate example of God\u2019s faithfulness in delivering the people from Egypt (Deut 5:15).
\nIn the earlier chapters of the Book of Numbers, emphasis was placed upon several themes, including covenant faithfulness, holiness, and purity among the members of the community. The unclean and the adulterous were to be restricted from the sanctity of the community gathered by tribes around around the tabernacle as the holy epicenter. God in the tabernacle, which reflected his presence and providence, was the focal point of the community life in work and worship. Now the nation stood at the crossroads of faith and futility. They had not done as Yahweh had commanded in their rejection of the Promised Land (13:1, 31\u201332; 14:9\u201311). Korah and his followers would violate the holiness of the sanctuary with their presumptuous attempt to usurp the priesthood (chaps. 16\u201317). Disharmony ran rampant when the rabble started the camp murmuring (11:4), when Aaron and Miriam challenged Moses\u2019 authority (12:1\u20132), and then the majority of the scouts incited the people to rebel against Joshua and Caleb, Moses and Aaron, and reject the land (13:30\u201314:10). The penalty for the leaders of the rebellion was death by plague (14:37), and for the generation of followers it was destitute life in the wilderness.
\nTherefore the inclusion at this point of an exemplar of adjudication in the case of a key covenant violation was most appropriate. This juxtapositioning of material in chaps. 11\u201314 with that of chap. 15 would serve to remind the younger generation that survived the forty-year desert experience and the many future generations that God would bless abundantly the faithful and obedient people of God, but the rebellious would experience only hardship and death. This same implicit challenge would be issued explicitly by Joshua after the land had been divided among the various tribes, when he proclaimed boldly: \u201cFear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness.\u2026 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose this day whom you will serve\u201d (Josh 24:15).<\/p>\n
COVENANT EPILOGUE: GARMENT TASSELS AND GROWING FAITH (15:37\u201341)<\/p>\n
37 The LORD said to Moses, 38 \u201cSpeak to the Israelites and say to them: \u2018Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel. 39 You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by going after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes. 40 Then you will remember to obey all my commands and will be consecrated to your God. 41 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the LORD your God.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
15:37\u201341 Humans often need physical reminders of matters of spiritual importance. Essentially all religions possess outward forms of dress, adornment, or iconography that serve the purposes of self-identity, stimulation of faith, and solemn witness to outsiders. Sometimes these manifestations identify group members in other geographical settings who otherwise would not be easily distinguished from those outside the group. For Orthodox Judaism such identifiers and reminders of the faith include the side curls and dress codes of the Hassidic communities, the phylacteries worn on the head and the tefillin on the wrist or forearm during special prayer times, and the mezuzot symbols of the Decalogue placed on doorposts. In the ancient Near East as well, special garments were made for priests and royalty that identified them within their communities and to the outside world. The appendage of a section dealing with just such an outward reminder of the covenant relationship between Yahweh and his people was thus a fitting conclusion.
\nThe passage commences with the familiar phraseology of divine instruction in its expanded form, which was noted earlier as a structural and theological key to understanding the entire canonical book as well as the present chapter. The second connecting element to the immediately preceding context is the use of the verb \u02bf\u0101\u015b\u00e2, which was used eighteen times in the previous thirty-six verses and three times more in the present pericope. The first occurrence appears in the plural imperative form, \u201cMake for yourselves tassels\u201d (v. 38), followed by two second-person plural perfect forms (vv. 39\u201340). In the chiastic structure of vv. 38\u201339 (see . below) the first perfect form carries equal didactic and compulsory force as the imperative \u201cyou shall make them [the tassels],\u201d and the second usage transitions into the function of the tassels, \u201cand you may obey [do] all my commandments.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chiastic Structure of Num 15:37\u201341<\/p>\n
A Divine Instruction (vv. 37\u201338a)
\nB Holiness Object Lesson: Violet Thread in Each Tassel (v. 38b)
\nC Threefold Purpose of the Tassels (v. 39a) See Tassels\u2014Remember Commandments\u2014Do Them
\nD Threefold Antithesis >> Not go: (v. 39b) After Your Heart\u2014After Your Eyes\u2014Prostituting after Them
\nC\u00b4 Purpose Reiterated (v. 40a) Remember and Do All My Commandments
\nB\u00b4 Holiness of the Community (v. 40b)
\nA\u00b4 Divine Proclamation: I am Yahweh Your God (v. 41) I am Yahweh Your God
\nI brought you forth from the land of Egypt\u2014To be for you God
\nI am Yahweh Your God<\/p>\n
At the center of this structure is one of the central themes of the Book of Numbers, the struggle of the people of God to be obedient to the instructions from God in the midst of a world that would constantly lure them into idolatry and rebellion. The reference to the heart and the eyes is a Hebrew way of describing the full realm of human cognitive and emotive being. The first generation of Israel that had seen and experienced the most dramatic display of God\u2019s nature and power had failed to follow through on this most basic of precepts. The same challenge lay ahead for the next generation, who would again see God\u2019s handiwork in the conquest of the land as they had seen his power demonstrated in the Exodus when they were but children. Would they be obedient to God and see the fullness of his blessing? Or would they suffer hardship like their forefathers due to their own disobedience? God would remain faithful and long-suffering with his people. Would they be faithful?
\nThe purpose of the tassels was to remind the people to be obedient to Yahweh\u2019s covenant commandments, including its laws, statutes, precepts, and principles. The violet color, often associated with royalty (Esth 1:6; 8:15), here denotes holiness as well in the context of the extensive use of violet in the construction of the tabernacle, including the protective veil at the entrance to the Holy of Holies.
\nBy noticing them continuously and remembering who they were as a people of God, they would recall why they were there: to be lights in a world of darkness. Only then could they preserve the holiness of God in and amongst themselves, thereby fulfilling the requirement of \u201cbeing consecrated\u201d to the Lord, their only true source of salvation, hope, and fulfillment. In Lev 11:44\u201345 the nation was instructed to be holy even as their God was holy, abstaining from all forms of iniquity, idolatry, and impurity.
\nMilgrom concludes:<\/p>\n
To recapitulate: The tsitsit are the epitome of the democratic thrust within Judaism, which equalizes not by leveling but by elevating. All of Israel is enjoined to become a nation of priests. In antiquity, the tsitsit (and the hem) were the insignia of authority, high breeding, and nobility. By adding the violet woolen cord to the tsitsit, the Torah qualified nobility with priesthood: Israel is not to rule man but to serve God. Furthermore, tsitsit are not restricted to Israel\u2019s leaders, be they kings, rabbis, or scholars. It is the uniform of all Israel.<\/p>\n
The section and cycle conclude with the acclamation of Yahweh\u2019s Lordship over the nation of Israel, whom he had delivered from bondage to Egypt. The Exodus was the miracle by which the Lord laid claim upon Israel\u2019s allegiance and thankfulness. Now at the end of this cycle of material, which recounted the people\u2019s repeated rebellion against God and the abrogation of that covenant allegiance, the nation is reminded of that unique position they held by God\u2019s grace. The verse commences and concludes with the profound and emphatic statement of God\u2019s existence and his relationship to Israel, \u02be\u0103n\u00ee YHWH \u02be\u0115l\u014dh\u00eakem, \u201cI am Yahweh your God,\u201d the very words that conclude the two Sinai cycles in Num 10:10. These words also echo the promise of deliverance of Exod 6:2\u20138, which they experienced with such marvelous signs and wonders. That promise had included the pledge to bring the people into the land of Canaan, so as to fulfill the promise made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Yet the marvel of God\u2019s grace was that though this first generation had rejected the promised gift, the promise had not been nullified. God would again demonstrate his Lordship by bringing to culmination Israel\u2019s inheritance of the land.<\/p>\n
2. Rebellion Cycle B: Korah and Company Challenge Moses (16:1\u201319:22)<\/p>\n
Excursus: Source Critics and Numbers 16\u201319<\/p>\n
Recent source critics typically have assigned most of the material of chaps. 16\u201319 to the Priestly school, revising and expanding an original core of Yahwistic-Elohistic tradition. G. B. Gray discerned multiple strands of priestly and non-priestly tradition, based on the overarching priestly emphasis and the variant lists of rebels found within and without the Book of Numbers. Reasoning that since only Korah is referred to in Num 27:3, and in Deut 11:6 only Dathan and Abiram appear, these texts represent variant sources. Such a dissection of the texts results in the following components:<\/p>\n
JE
\n16:1b, 2a, 12\u201315, 25, 26b, 27b\u201332a, 33\u201334 Reubenites>>Dathan and Abiram instigated the rebellion versus Moses
\nPg
\n16:1a, 2b, 3\u20137a, 18\u201324, 26a, 27a, 35, 41\u201317:13 Layman Korah
\nPs
\n16:1a, 7b\u201311, 16\u201317, 32b, 36\u201340 Levites protesting Aaron\u2019s high priesthood<\/p>\n
Positing a more complex segmentation of the account, Budd suggests a creative literary history of the Korah rebellion: (1) Pre-Yahwistic tradition of Dathan and Abiram refusal to enter Canaan from the South (v. 12), (2) Yahwist tells the story from Transjordan as unwillingness to wait on Moses, tantamount to an overt challenge to his leadership, which results in the ground swallowing them up (vv. 1b, 21, 12\u201315, 25, 27b\u201331, 33a), (3) some elaboration of the disaster (vv. 32a, 33b, 34), (4) early priestly story about 250 laymen who were refused opportunity to offer incense is integrated into the tradition (vv. 2b, 4\u20137, 18, 35), (5) the author of Numbers introduces Korah as a rebel of Levite lineage to distinguish Aaronic priests from the Levites (vv. 1a, 3, 8\u201311, 16\u201317, 19\u201324, 26\u201327a, 32b, 33b).
\nMore recently Levine has espoused a simpler approach than Gray\u2019s dual priestly conflict traditions. He outlines the source-critical makeup as follows:<\/p>\n
JE\u2014Num 16:1\u20132 (rewritten by P), 12\u201315, 25\u201334
\nP\u2014Num 16:3\u201311, 16\u201324, 35, and chap. 17<\/p>\n
Ashley discerned two concurrent stories of rebellion, one of Korah and the Levites and the other of Dathan, Abriam, and On, which were interwoven by the narrator in the movement from scene to scene. The resultant complex of narrative has unity as a whole with the common theme of the primacy of the Aaronic priesthood from both the Levitical and lay standpoints. The two standpoints and physical settings necessitate some repetition and result in some superficial \u201cinconsistencies,\u201d which are interpreted by critical scholars as representing separate literary sources. For example, Gray states: \u201cCertain features in the story, such as the redundance in vv. 32\u201334 and the presence of distinctive marks of both J and E, make it probable that it is in itself a composite.\u201d Levine sees the statement in 16:35 (from what he and others call the P source) that fire from the Lord consumed the 250 men as \u201cindirect contradiction to the account of JE (16:25\u201334).\u201d Several of the so-called inconsistencies are simply the result of the Hebraism of representing the whole and the parts, whereby partial lists of individuals or practices represent the whole as set forth elsewhere in the narrative. For example, Korah\u2019s fate in particular is not noted until Num 26:11, in which he is said to have died in the fire from the Lord that killed 250 of his cohorts.<\/p>\n
Cycle Outline<\/p>\n
16
\nHistorical Reference: The Korah Rebellion
\n17
\nCycle Development: Vindication of Aaron\u2019s Priesthood (Includes Twelve Tribe Statement: Twelve Staffs)
\n18
\nPriests and Levites: Provisions and Further Responsibilities
\n19
\nCommunity Laws: Purification for Exposure to the Dead<\/p>\n
The second rebellion cycle focuses on issues of the priesthood and the roles of the priests as leaders and teachers of Israel. If they are faithful in their service to the Lord and the people, the nation will flourish and prosper in the fullness of God\u2019s blessing. Hope for the future in the wilderness as well as the land of promise will be bright, thus fulfilling the purpose for which Yahweh called them forth from Egypt and adopted them as his unique creation. But should the children of Israel continue to manifest a rebellious attitude toward God and his appointed leaders, the disastrous consequences of rebellion experienced thus far only portend a future of struggle and deprivation for this fledgling nation.
\nThis cycle commences with a rebellion led by Korah, of the Kohathite Levitical clan, with the support of dissident leaders from Reuben and other tribes. The text provides no specific time reference as to how long after the report of the spies and the failed attempt to attack the land from the south that this rebellion occurred. Yet the Korah rebellion serves structurally as the historical setting of the cycle outline, providing also the basis for the cycle development. The focus of the cycle is the challenge to the leadership of Moses and Aaron in the Israelite community and the confirmation of the divine appointment of the Aaronic priesthood. This insurrection ultimately contests God and his sovereignty in choosing Aaron and his progeny as cultic leaders, and hence God acts miraculously to validate his choice before the tribal leaders and ultimately the nation. After the judgment is meted out against the leaders of the rebellion, the primacy of the Aaronic priesthood by divine election is vindicated in the very setting of the tabernacle. Chapter 17 ends on a somber note with a question concerning the survival of the people in the aftermath of their continued rebelliousness.
\nThe section on matters relating to the priests and Levites (chap. 18) contains several elements deriving from the previous context: (1) the role of the priests as guardians of the holiness of the sanctuary, (2) provisions for the priests and the Levites from the tithes and offerings from the larger Israelite community, and (3) the responsibility of the priests and Levites in tithing from their provisions in the manner of the community as a whole. The cycle concludes with laws relating to impurity derived from proximity with the dead, juxtaposed with the context of the Levites and Israelites who died in the Korah rebellion (chap. 19). God\u2019s holiness cannot tolerate the impurity of death and sin, and graciously he provides a means of cleansing and purification from that which would separate a person from fully experiencing God\u2019s blessing within the context of the faithful community.<\/p>\n
(1) Rebellion of Korah and the Reubenites (16:1\u201350)<\/p>\n
KORAH INSTIGATES REBELLION VERSUS MOSES AND AARON (16:1\u20133)<\/p>\n
1 Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and certain Reubenites\u2014Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth\u2014became insolent 2 and rose up against Moses. With them were 250 Israelite men, well-known community leaders who had been appointed members of the council. 3 They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, \u201cYou have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the LORD\u2019S assembly?\u201d<\/p>\n
16:1\u20133 The cycle is introduced in an unusual way for the Book of Numbers, for it commences with a preterit form of the verb laqa\u1e25 (\u201cto take\u201d) and without an object of the verb to follow. A survey of the Hebrew text of the cycle evidences the key role this term plays in understanding the movement and theological import of the section. Korah desired to take control of the Israelite camp with the aid of his associates Dathan, Abiram, and On, usurping the roles of both Moses and Aaron. In vv. 6, 17, and 18 the 250+ rebellious leaders take up censers at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting as instructed by Moses. After the disastrous judgment is meted out by the Lord, Eleazar took the 250+ censers left by the dead insurgents and had them hammered into an additional overlay for the altar of the tabernacle (16:39, 46, 47). Then Aaron took the true priestly censer and used it to bring atonement and purification on behalf of the Israelite camp so that the plague brought on by the insurrection could be averted. Further demonstration of the primacy of the Aaronic priesthood is accomplished when Moses, in obedience to the Lord, took staffs from the twelve tribes and placed them in the tabernacle. In 18:6 the Lord said to Aaron, \u201cI myself have selected [taken] your fellow Levites from among the Israelites as a gift to you.\u201d This verse, which echoes the theme of divine choice, stands then in opposition to the \u201ctake control\u201d attitude of Korah in the rebellion. Korah was not only challenging Moses and Aaron but God himself. Additional atonement is accomplished when the priest takes the red cow and sacrifices and burns it for the purification offering for uncleanness caused by contact with the dead (19:2b, 4, 6, 17, 18).
\nAs a prominent leader Korah\u2019s lineage is traced back fully through three major figures in the Levitical line. As a Kohathite, Korah was among the favored clan of the Levites whose responsibility it was to transport the sacred furnishings of the tabernacle after they had been packed by the Aaronic priests (Num 4:1\u201320). As indicated by the use of the term lq\u1e25, Korah attempted to usurp authority from Moses and Aaron, aided by three prominent leaders from the tribe of Reuben, namely Dathan, Abiram, and On. Apart from this singular text, On is not mentioned in the Book of Numbers or elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible. These three men cultivated a following of 250 Israelites from the various tribes of Israel. Harrison suggests that Korah\u2019s motives \u201cmay have been the product of jealousy because his cousins Moses and Aaron had been appointed to the highest positions in the covenant community.\u201d Reubenites such as the three mentioned may have joined the rebellion in seeking preferential status for the firstborn of the tribe of Jacob. But according to Gen 49:3\u20134, Reuben had forfeited the birthright due to his impetuous and power-wresting act of sleeping with his father\u2019s concubine Bilhah, who gave birth to Dan after being provided by Rachel in her unfruitful state. Kohathite and Reubenites alike were attempting a power play against God\u2019s appointed leaders (Exod 3:1\u20134:17; 28:1\u20134), attempting to usurp authority they perhaps felt theirs by right of lineage. Hence, the rebellion was not only against Moses and Aaron, but against God and his divine right to choose and anoint whom he so desires.
\nThe common assertion of this mutinous assembly of leaders against Moses and against Aaron was, \u201cYou have gone too far!\u201d (rab-l\u0101kem) or literally, \u201cYou have [too] much!\u201d Milgrom describes this proclamation of the holiness of the entire congregation as \u201ca clever application of the command to \u2018be holy\u2019 \u201d that is found at the conclusion of the previous cycle. The Israelites had been instructed to wear garment tassels as a reminder of their covenant relationship to the Lord, so they might keep his commandments and live holy lives before God and the world. In addition Yahweh had said at Sinai that the children of Israel were to be \u201ca kingdom of priests and a holy nation\u201d (Exod 19:6). But those words were based on the faithful obedience to the covenant stipulations and not an unconditional promise. The rejection of the Promised Land in the previous cycle was evidence enough of the people\u2019s forsaking of the special covenant relationship it was to have enjoyed. The group furthermore asserted that Moses and Aaron were self-appointed rather than divinely ordained, an accusation far more true of those registering the complaint. But whereas sanctification in 15:40 was related to the people\u2019s obedience to all God\u2019s commands over against their seeking to fulfill their own lusts and desires, their rebelliousness had blinded them to their own lack of holiness. As a result this congregation of rebels who rose up in unison would die together, for the earth would soon consume them.<\/p>\n
MOSES\u2019 INITIAL RESPONSE: YAHWEH WILL DEMONSTRATE (16:4\u20137)<\/p>\n
4 When Moses heard this, he fell facedown. 5 Then he said to Korah and all his followers: \u201cIn the morning the LORD will show who belongs to him and who is holy, and he will have that person come near him. The man he chooses he will cause to come near him. 6 You, Korah, and all your followers are to do this: Take censers 7 and tomorrow put fire and incense in them before the LORD. The man the LORD chooses will be the one who is holy. You Levites have gone too far!\u201d<\/p>\n
16:4\u20137 As was so often the case, Moses\u2019 response before this band of rebels was that of a true servant prophet. He fell upon his face before the people as he prayed for wisdom from above, surrendering his will to that of his God. His response to Korah came after an unspecified period of time, but when he arose his words were poignant. Moses would leave it up to God to vindicate the relative holiness of the various parties through an experimental test involving a priestly ritual, a function to which the insurgents aspired. Only one whom God himself deemed qualified to serve in the priestly role would be granted access to serve in the capacity of an incense bearer. Any attempt by one who is not holy to perform such cultic ritual resulted in grave consequences. According to Lev 10:1\u20132, even the priests (Nadab and Abihu, sons of Aaron) who offered incense improperly were subject to judgment by death.
\nMoses\u2019 words are introduced (v. 5) with the preterite form way\u0115dabb\u0113r, \u201cthen Moses spoke to \u2026\u201d, so often used in the introduction of divine instruction, after which Moses speaks (wayy\u014d\u02bemer) twice to Korah (vv. 8, 16) and then again way\u0115dabb\u0113r to the congregation in relating the instruction given him by God. Twice before Moses\u2019 speech to the congregation Yahweh speaks (way\u0115dabb\u0113r) to Moses [and Aaron], giving instructions to be relayed to the Israelites concerning the coming judgment. Moses concludes with a retort using the same words Korah used against Moses and Aaron, \u201cYou have [too] much [rab-l\u0101kem], you sons of Levi!\u201d<\/p>\n
MOSES\u2019 CONFRONTATION WITH REBELLIOUS LEADERS (16:8\u201315)<\/p>\n
8 Moses also said to Korah, \u201cNow listen, you Levites! 9 Isn\u2019t it enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the Israelite community and brought you near himself to do the work at the LORD\u2019S tabernacle and to stand before the community and minister to them? 10 He has brought you and all your fellow Levites near himself, but now you are trying to get the priesthood too. 11 It is against the LORD that you and all your followers have banded together. Who is Aaron that you should grumble against him?\u201d
\n12 Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab. But they said, \u201cWe will not come! 13 Isn\u2019t it enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the desert? And now you also want to lord it over us? 14 Moreover, you haven\u2019t brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of these men? No, we will not come!\u201d
\n15 Then Moses became very angry and said to the LORD, \u201cDo not accept their offering. I have not taken so much as a donkey from them, nor have I wronged any of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
16:8\u201315 Moses\u2019 second address to Korah confronts the Levites among the rebellious lot. He strikes at the heart of the matter, pointing to the Levites\u2019 desire for position, power, and prestige instead of being satisfied with the special role God had granted them previously. The Levites had been set apart (hibd\u00eel) from the other tribes to perform the service of the tabernacle and to be a special possession of the Lord (Num 8:14). Moses asks Korah rhetorically if this special appointment was so insignificant a function that he felt he should aspire to a higher position, which highlights the fact that Korah was acting out of selfish ambition rather than holy intentions. Ultimately, Korah\u2019s company of Levites, Reubenites, and others had joined forces not against Moses and Aaron but against God himself, who had delineated the various appointments to position and responsibility for the Aaronic priests and the Levite assistants. God had \u201cbrought them near\u201d\u2014given them the privileged access to the tabernacle in their special services\u2014but they desired to seize control of the priesthood.
\nTheir response enraged Moses. The generation that had experienced the dramatic and miraculous wonder of God\u2019s deliverance from the enslavement and harsh cruelty of Egypt now reflects with blind nostalgia on their past situation, deeming it one of blessing and abundance. Their minds now confused the place of despair and death with the quality land God had promised and they had rejected. Disobedience in refusing to enter and inherit the Promised Land had resulted in death and defeat, and now they sought to blame Moses for their current situation instead of accepting the responsibility themselves\u2014so common a human sinful trait. The ploy in their retort, \u201cWill you gouge out the eyes of these men?\u201d was an attempt to equate Moses\u2019 leadership with deliberate deception, for this Hebrew idiom is tantamount to our modern sayings \u201cto pull the wool over their eyes\u201d or \u201cto hoodwink\u201d one\u2019s opponents. Dathan and Abiram were saying they would not be fooled by Moses\u2019 leadership, perhaps even a veiled reference to the days of Moses\u2019 status as a prince in Egypt, during which he killed an Egyptian. They would continue their support of the rebellion from a distance, perhaps remembering the judgment meted out against Nadab and Abihu.<\/p>\n
MOSES\u2019 FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS TO KORAH (16:16\u201319)<\/p>\n
16 Moses said to Korah, \u201cYou and all your followers are to appear before the LORD tomorrow\u2014you and they and Aaron. 17 Each man is to take his censer and put incense in it\u2014250 censers in all\u2014and present it before the LORD. You and Aaron are to present your censers also.\u201d 18 So each man took his censer, put fire and incense in it, and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. 19 When Korah had gathered all his followers in opposition to them at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the glory of the LORD appeared to the entire assembly.<\/p>\n
16:16\u201319 The challenge of vv. 6\u20137 to perform the priestly function of incense burning is reiterated to Korah. He and his 250 rebellious supporters are ordered to appear at the entrance to the tabernacle, each carrying a bronze censer, and to stand there with Moses and Aaron. Milgrom notes that in v. 18 the men put fire and incense into the censer, but the fire was not taken from the altar. Therefore they \u201cwere guilty of offering \u02be\u0113\u0161 z\u0101r\u00e2, \u2018unauthorized fire,\u2019 not from the altar\u2014the sin of Nadab and Abihu (Lev 10:2). It is hardly accidental that when Moses asks Aaron to offer incense on a fire pan he specifies that the fire be taken from the altar (16:46 [Hb. 17:11]).\u201d
\nAs the scene unfolds with the rebellious gathered in a stance of opposition to Moses and Aaron and the entire congregation of Israel within sight, the glory of the Lord appeared to the entire congregation. As the wonder and splendor of God\u2019s presence was revealed in that moment, the full assembly became aware of his eminence and soon the imminence of the judgment that awaited them. Such a display of God\u2019s glory had earlier resulted in the death of those who counseled the people to reject the gift of the Promised Land and the promise of death to the generation that heeded their unfaithful words (Num 14:10\u201337).<\/p>\n
YAHWEH\u2019S JUDGMENT AND MOSES\u2019 APPEAL (16:20\u201322)<\/p>\n
20 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, 21 \u201cSeparate yourselves from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once.\u201d
\n22 But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and cried out, \u201cO God, God of the spirits of all mankind, will you be angry with the entire assembly when only one man sins?\u201d<\/p>\n
16:20\u201322 Moses and Aaron were to distance (h\u0113\u02bf\u0101l\u00fb miss\u0101b\u00eeb, \u201cgo up from around\u201d) themselves from Korah, his allies, and the larger assembly so that the Lord could dispense immediate judgment upon the unholy challengers and their many followers. But again Moses and Aaron, the true prophetic and priestly leaders of the Israelites, instead of seeking offense against their opposition, humbled themselves as servants by interceding with God on behalf of the people. They pleaded with God not to destroy the entire assembly because of the rebellious leadership of one man, namely Korah. Numerous times the community seemed easily swayed by the outward cries of a small minority, but now the humble supplications of two men would save the majority from annihilation. Similar counsel was echoed much later by Caiaphas, who advised the Jewish leaders that it would be better for one man to die, namely Jesus of Nazareth, than the whole nation to perish (John 11:50; 18:14).
\nMoses appealed to Yahweh by addressing him as \u201cO God, God of the spirits of all mankind\u201d (\u02be\u0113l \u02be\u0115l\u014dh\u00ea h\u0101r\u00fb\u1e25\u014dt l\u0115kol-b\u0101\u015b\u0101r\u2014\u201cO God, God of the spirits [breath] of all flesh\u201d). The appositional title is found only here and in Num 27:16 in the Hebrew Bible, though in the latter the name Yahweh appears instead of \u02beEl, the generic Semitic term for God. This form of address in Moses\u2019 prayer emphasizes that God is the creator, giver, sustainer, and sovereign Lord over all flesh, especially the humanity whose lives were suspended over the fulcrum of life and death due to their sinful actions (cf. Isa 42:5; Zech 12:1). Moses\u2019 subsequent plea therefore was an appeal to God\u2019s mercy, longsuffering, pardoning grace, and forgiveness (cf. Num 14:17\u201320).<\/p>\n
YAHWEH\u2019S RESPONSE AND MOSES\u2019 WARNING: JUDGMENT IS IMMINENT (16:23\u201330)<\/p>\n
23 Then the LORD said to Moses, 24 \u201cSay to the assembly, \u2018Move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.\u2019 \u201d
\n25 Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. 26 He warned the assembly, \u201cMove back from the tents of these wicked men! Do not touch anything belonging to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins.\u201d 27 So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing with their wives, children and little ones at the entrances to their tents.
\n28 Then Moses said, \u201cThis is how you will know that the LORD has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my idea: 29 If these men die a natural death and experience only what usually happens to men, then the LORD has not sent me. 30 But if the LORD brings about something totally new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the grave, then you will know that these men have treated the LORD with contempt.\u201d<\/p>\n
16:23\u201330 This time Moses and Aaron were instructed to tell the people to distance themselves from the tent compounds of the leaders of the rebellion. As a Kohathite, Korah would have been living in close proximity on the southern side of the tabernacle with the Reubenites, such as Dathan and Abiram, who were in the adjacent camp (Num 2:16). They refused Moses\u2019 earlier summons and remained in the vicinity of their tents. So Moses and the Israelite elders went out to the tents of these rebellious leaders to warn the Israelites to flee from that area surrounding the \u201ctents (\u02beoh\u0103l\u00ea) of these evil men\u201d and away from the dwelling place (mi\u0161kan, tabernacle) of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. The people in the vicinity were directed, \u201cDo not touch anything belonging to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins!\u201d Contact with unclean articles, those belongings rendered impure by the sinfulness of the fathers Dathan and Abiram, would incur uncleanness and render the people culpable of the same punishment about to come upon the leaders\u2019 households. Continued support for the mutinous rebels would result in their being \u201cswept away with all their sins\u201d (tiss\u0101p\u00fb b\u0115kol-\u1e25a\u1e6d\u1e6d\u014d\u02bet\u0101m). Then the test was explained further by Moses as one in which God himself would judge between the calling and authority of Moses and Aaron and that of the challengers.
\nThe people responded immediately and moved up and away (cf. 24) from the area surrounding the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. The two men who earlier had refused Moses\u2019 summons came to the entrances to their tents along with their families to confront Moses. Similar to vv. 5\u20137 and 16\u201317, Moses proposed a test to demonstrate the legitimacy of his divine calling over against the opposition. His pointed words were qualified by the phrase \u201cthat [it is] not from my heart\u201d (k\u00ee-l\u014d\u02be millibb\u00ee), meaning that he had not acted on his own accord or out of personal desire for power or prestige but because God had directed him and given him words to speak. The negative side, from Moses\u2019 standpoint, of the test is presented first. That Moses acted on his own would be evidenced by the men surviving to die by natural causes (lit. \u201clike of death of all humanity\u201d) or by some other \u201cvisitation\u201d such as was common to men. But if Yahweh were to do something new and totally different (lit. \u201ccreate a creation,\u201d b\u0115r\u00ee\u02be\u00e2 yibr\u0101\u02be) than what might normally occur, such as the earth swallowing up the rebels, then the evidence would be overpowering in favor of Moses. The obverse of this is presented clearly, that the death of the opposition would demonstrate absolutely that they had rejected Yahweh, God of Israel, inasmuch as they had rebelled against the leadership of his servants, Moses and Aaron.<\/p>\n
YAHWEH\u2019S JUDGMENT (16:31\u201335)<\/p>\n
31 As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart 32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, with their households and all Korah\u2019s men and all their possessions. 33 They went down alive into the grave, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community. 34 At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled, shouting, \u201cThe earth is going to swallow us too!\u201d
\n35 And fire came out from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense.<\/p>\n
16:31\u201335 As Moses concluded his address to Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, the prophetic words resonated with cataclysmic consequences. As Harrison notes, \u201cThe tension must have been overwhelming when the earth shook and split open beneath the rebels. Verse 32 emphasizes the scope of the calamity from the standpoint of an eyewitness, describing the demise of Korah and his confederates. Their descent alive into the grave (\u0161\u0115\u02be\u014dl), and immediate entombment, was a fate the Israelites had never witnessed before.\u201d Sheol at this point in Israel\u2019s history seems to have been the grave, or perhaps a shadowy, unknown realm where one was gathered to his fathers at death. Normally one would place the dead in a cave or man-made tomb where the body slowly deteriorated, and then later the bones of the more recently deceased were added or gathered to those of one\u2019s ancestors in the ancestral burial site. But in this incident the bodies of the rebels and perhaps their families as well as their possessions plummeted into the gaping abyss that soon closed over them with collapsed dirt and rock of the desert terrain. Though Korah\u2019s name is not mentioned here in the judgment, the second census informs us that his fate was the same as that of Dathan and Abiram (26:10).
\nThe awe-struck Israelites fled in horror, frightened for their very lives as they frantically reflected on Moses\u2019 words about being near or touching that which belonged to the rebels. Fire burst forth from the Lord and consumed the 250 national leaders who had sought priestly status in burning incense before the Lord. This death was similar to that which befell Nadab and Abihu, who though being Aaronic priests offered incense using an unclean or impure fire source, a prime example of talionic justice (Lev 10:1\u20132).<\/p>\n
YAHWEH\u2019S INSTRUCTION TO THE PRIESTS (16:36\u201340 [17:1\u20135])<\/p>\n
36 The LORD said to Moses, 37 \u201cTell Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest, to take the censers out of the smoldering remains and scatter the coals some distance away, for the censers are holy\u201438 the censers of the men who sinned at the cost of their lives. Hammer the censers into sheets to overlay the altar, for they were presented before the LORD and have become holy. Let them be a sign to the Israelites.\u201d
\n39 So Eleazar the priest collected the bronze censers brought by those who had been burned up, and he had them hammered out to overlay the altar, 40 as the LORD directed him through Moses. This was to remind the Israelites that no one except a descendant of Aaron should come to burn incense before the LORD, or he would become like Korah and his followers.<\/p>\n
16:36\u201340 In the English Bible this passage is the natural conclusion of the Korah rebellion, and hence chap. 16 continues, whereas in the Hebrew Bible 17:1 (= 16:36 English) begins a new chapter that includes the making of the hammered bronze covering for the altar from the material of the 250 censers and the final test to confirm the Aaronic priesthood. In both cases there is continuity in the narrative ample to warrant either division. Both the Hebrew and the English chapters commence with the familiar introductory phrase of divine speech, way\u0115dabb\u0113r YHWH \u02beel-m\u014d\u0161eh l\u0113\u02bem\u014dr, one of the key phrases for the organization and the theology of the entire biblical book. Divinely ordained instruction is given to the priestly leadership through the prophetic servant Moses, whose position and authority have just been vindicated. Now the time has come for the full confirmation of the Aaronic priesthood.
\nEleazar, eldest surviving son of the high priest Aaron, was given the responsibility of collecting the bronze censers that were left in the aftermath of the inferno that swept through the entrance to the tabernacle and consumed the 250 rebels who had joined with Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. At this point Eleazar began assuming some of priestly duties in place of his father, under divine direction through Moses. Eleazar\u2019s service would also prevent the high priest Aaron from becoming unclean due to contact with the dead. Because the bronze censers had been utilized in a cultic ritual act, and perhaps purged of impurity by the divine judgment, the material could be utilized in forming a special bronze covering for the sacrificial altar that stood in the court of the tabernacle. Each of the 250 censers was hammered into thin sheets of bronze and then molded by hammer to the shape of the altar.
\nThe outer casing would serve as a reminder of the sanctity of the tabernacle, the supremacy of the Aaronic priesthood, and the seriousness of encroaching upon the holy sanctuary. Any attempt at profaning the holiness of the sanctuary, whether by unrighteous acts (Nadab and Abihu) or by unqualified personnel would be judged severely. How this covering fit in relation to the original bronze covering (Exod 27:2; 38:2) remains unexplained. But the object lesson is self-evident, as are others in the Book of Numbers: tassels on garments were a reminder to be obedient to the commandments of God (Num 15:37\u201341), Aaron\u2019s rod was a sign not to grumble against the Lord and his anointed (Num 17:10), and the bronze serpent was a sign for deliverance from snakebite (21:4\u20139).
\nThe coals from the collected censers were scattered outside the camp so as to not render others impure by contact with the remnants of the dead. In chap. 19 purification from ritual uncleanness brought about by contact or proximity to the dead is addressed. Many Israelites in the aftermath of this judgment would need ceremonial cleansing to be able to come before the Lord.<\/p>\n
PEOPLE\u2019S RESPONSE: GRUMBLING (16:41\u201343 [17:6\u20138])<\/p>\n
41 The next day the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. \u201cYou have killed the LORD\u2019S people,\u201d they said.
\n42 But when the assembly gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron and turned toward the Tent of Meeting, suddenly the cloud covered it and the glory of the LORD appeared. 43 Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the Tent of Meeting,<\/p>\n
16:41\u201343 Amazing as it seems, the Israelites failed to comprehend fully the gravity of rebellion for even twenty-four hours. The very next day after the dramatic demise of Korah and his friends, the whole congregation was back grumbling against Moses and Aaron that they were responsible for the deaths of these they called \u201cthe LORD\u2019S people\u201d (\u02bfam YHWH). Their complaint was similar to that of Korah and company. They maintained their own holiness and put the responsibility and blame for the deaths of more than 250 leaders upon Moses rather than acknowledge that Yahweh himself had brought judgment upon those mutinously sinful men.
\nThis second complaint of the people brought a second theophany as they gathered at the entrance to the tabernacle. The glory of the Lord descended upon the sanctuary for the second successive day. Milgrom suggests that the pillar of fire within the cloud, which continually covered the sanctuary when it was stationary, intensified so as to be seen in its brilliance during the daytime, since the fire was normally visible during the night. The cloud that had directed them thus far through the desert, giving hope for the future, now became an ominous sign of what was about to occur.<\/p>\n
YAHWEH DISPENSES JUDGMENT (16:44\u201350 [17:9\u201315])<\/p>\n
44 and the LORD said to Moses, 45 \u201cGet away from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once.\u201d And they fell facedown.
\n46 Then Moses said to Aaron, \u201cTake your censer and put incense in it, along with fire from the altar, and hurry to the assembly to make atonement for them. Wrath has come out from the LORD; the plague has started.\u201d 47 So Aaron did as Moses said, and ran into the midst of the assembly. The plague had already started among the people, but Aaron offered the incense and made atonement for them. 48 He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped. 49 But 14,700 people died from the plague, in addition to those who had died because of Korah. 50 Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, for the plague had stopped.<\/p>\n
16:44\u201350 As Moses and Aaron went to the entrance to the tabernacle, the Lord instructed Moses to get away (lit. \u201crise up from the midst\u201d) from the vicinity of the defiant crowd so that he could annihilate them. Yet as before (16:20\u201321), Moses instead fell upon his face in subservience and prayer before the Lord, always a true servant of the people. By this action he also was putting himself at risk of judgment, but God is continually mindful and willing to respond to the submissive hearts of his faithful servants. While in this posture Moses directed Aaron to take (qa\u1e25) the censer and place fiery coals from the altar in it and add incense so as to make atonement (kapp\u0113r) for the sinful murmuring of the people, thus attempting to avert the imminent destruction of all of those assembled. Here the term kpr clearly means \u201cpropitiation\u201d or \u201cappeasement of the wrath of God.\u201d In the cultic contexts of the ancient Near East, incense often was offered to pacify or appease the wrath of gods and goddesses and soothe their spirits. Incense enhanced the sweet smelling aroma of burning sacrifices that ascended into the heavens, symbolically entering into the nostrils of God (or the gods).
\nJudgment in the form of a plague had started when Aaron returned with the censer full of burning coals and incense. Though the kind of plague is unspecified, Aaron\u2019s role in averting the resultant onslaught of death is clear. He physically stood between the living and the dead, though as high priest he would normally avoid all possible contact with the dead (Lev 21:11). But for the sake of the survival of the living, he humbled himself and was willing to sacrifice his ritual purity and his own life for the sake of the people. He was a true intercessor. This image of a priestly intercessor had its ultimate expression in the work of Christ, who as a Priest of a higher order\u2014Melchizedek\u2014sacrificed his own life and took upon himself the sin of humanity through his death on the cross, for the sake of gaining life eternal for a rebellious human race.
\nPrior to Aaron\u2019s intercession the plague had taken its toll on the seditious Israelites. The account totals 14,700 in addition to the more than 250 leaders who died in the judgment against Korah and his associates. At the conclusion of the plague, Aaron returned to join Moses at the entrance to the tabernacle. The literary form highlights the physical movement in the account and the role of Aaron as intermediary, with the inclusio of the Tent of Meeting bracketing both ends (vv. 42, 50). Note the symmetry and literary developments in the following chiastic inclusio:<\/p>\n
A Gathering at the Tent of Meeting (v. 42a)
\nB Glory of the Lord Appears (vv. 42b\u201343)
\nC Move Away Instructions (v. 45)
\nD Censer Preparation Instructions (v. 46a)
\nE Aaron to Hurry into the Assembly (v. 46b)
\nF Make Atonement for the Plague (v. 46c)
\nE\u00b4 Aaron Ran into the Assembly (v. 47)
\nD\u00b4 Incense Offered for Atonement (v. 47b)
\nC\u00b4 Stood between Living and Dead (v. 48a)
\nB\u00b4 Plague Stopped with 14,700 Dead (vv. 48b\u201349)
\nA\u00b4 Aaron Returned to the Tent of Meeting (v. 50)<\/p>\n
One more demonstration of the position and role of the Aaronic priesthood would answer the questions of the people once and for all.<\/p>\n
(2) Aaron\u2019s Budding Staff: Primacy of the Aaronic Priesthood Reconfirmed (17:1\u201313)<\/p>\n
Following the rebellion against Moses and Aaron, led by Korah and three men of the tribe of Reuben and supported by 250 Israelite community leaders, the need emerged for demonstrating the divine sanction of the priestly leadership of Aaron and the Levites. Judgment had been meted out against the seditious instigators and their supporters, and confirmation of God\u2019s selection was in order. Furthermore, the manifestation was intended to subdue the grumbling, complaining, and unruly nature that had become a habitual characteristic of the people of God. Numbers 17 contains the third and climactic account of the vindication of the Aaronic precedence.
\nThe Hebrew text order varies from the English and Septuagintal translations. The MT 17:1\u201315 is equivalent to the English 16:36\u201350, following the tradition of the LXX, and therefore the English 17:1\u201313 contains the MT 17:16\u201328. The purpose in the MT sequence is to link without a major break Korah\u2019s rebellion and the Lord\u2019s response in setting forth this conclusive demonstration. Based on the sequence of the key revelatory forms way\u0115dabb\u0113r, \u201cThe LORD\/Moses spoke\u201d (vv. 1, 6) and wayy\u014dmer, \u201cThe LORD\/children of Israel said\u201d (vv. 10, 12), the pericope divides as follows: (1) commands and purpose of the test, (2) compliance of leaders and results of the test, (3) charge and compliance of Moses, (4) consternation and fear of the people.<\/p>\n
REQUIREMENTS: INSTRUCTIONS AND COMMANDS (17:1\u20135 [17:16\u201320])<\/p>\n
1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 \u201cSpeak to the Israelites and get twelve staffs from them, one from the leader of each of their ancestral tribes. Write the name of each man on his staff. 3 On the staff of Levi write Aaron\u2019s name, for there must be one staff for the head of each ancestral tribe. 4 Place them in the Tent of Meeting in front of the Testimony, where I meet with you. 5 The staff belonging to the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid myself of this constant grumbling against you by the Israelites.\u201d<\/p>\n
17:1\u20135 Moses\u2019 administrative leadership and Aaron and the Levites\u2019 priestly priority had been challenged on several fronts, from the case of the report of the spies (13:2) to the Korah rebellion (16:1\u20132). The Lord saw the need to establish finally and ultimately the preference and preeminence of Aaron as high priest and the Levites as the curators of the Israelite cult. The divine directive to Moses is delineated in the threefold imperatival instructions, which together provide emphasis to the process:
\nSpeak >>> Get \u2026 Write \u2026 Place.
\nEach of the twelve tribal leaders\u2019 staffs (ma\u1e6d\u1e6deh ma\u1e6d\u1e6deh, \u201ctribal staff\u201d) was symbolic of the larger tribe and the authority of its possessor, and the name of the current tribal leader was to be carved on the wooden rod. The double entendre in use of the term \u201crod, staff\u201d is intentional and key to the account. This instruction would enable the heads of the clans to distinguish the one whom God had set apart, demonstrating the Lord\u2019s sovereign selection and allaying the objections of the others. Aaron\u2019s name, for example, was carved on the rod representing the tribe of Levi, rather than that of Moses, the younger brother. The others were quite possibly those listed in 1:5\u201315, where the tribe of Levi is not recorded. With the given total of twelve, the two tribes of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh must have had one representative leader\u2019s staff.
\nThe twelve staffs were to be brought \u201cin front of the Testimony,\u201d inside the Tent of Meeting (tabernacle). That these rods were to be placed inside the Holy of Holies, in front of the ark, which represented the very presence of the Living God, bespeaks the solemnity and seriousness of the occasion. Only Moses or Aaron could enter without the consequence of immediate death. Moses would carry out the ritual test, to ensure no tampering by his brother. The object lesson of the divine trial would be evidenced in the manifestation of the sprouting to life of a dead wooden staff. Only God can impart life to that which is dead, and this test would show to the combined tribes of Israel that Yahweh had conferred a special blessing upon the tribe whom he would choose. The resultant intent was the alleviation of the grumbling spirit and open criticism that had so characterized the Israelites. Kaiser notes:<\/p>\n
The true nature of this murmuring is seen in that it is an open act of rebellion against the Lord (Num 14:9) and a stubborn refusal to believe God\u2019s word and God\u2019s miraculous works (Num 14:11, 22, 23). Thus the right attitude in real difficulty is unconditional acceptance and obedience.<\/p>\n
READY COMPLIANCE OF THE PEOPLE AND MOSES (17:6\u20137 [17:21\u201322])<\/p>\n
6 So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and their leaders gave him twelve staffs, one for the leader of each of their ancestral tribes, and Aaron\u2019s staff was among them. 7 Moses placed the staffs before the LORD in the Tent of the Testimony.<\/p>\n
17:6\u20137 Moses faithfully complies with the Lord\u2019s instructions and the twelve staffs are placed \u201cbefore the Lord\u201d (=\u201cin front of the Testimony\u201d of v. 4) in the \u201cTent of the Testimony.\u201d This phraseology is an abbreviated variant form referring to the ark of the covenant, which housed the two tablets of the law. The law upon the tablets also is referred to as the \u201ctestimony\u201d (Exod 31:18; 34:29). This setting was the seat of revelation (Exod 25:22), and thus the outcome of the test was to be interpreted as divine revelation.<\/p>\n
RESULTS OF THE TEST (17:8\u20139 [17:23\u201324])<\/p>\n
8 The next day Moses entered the Tent of the Testimony and saw that Aaron\u2019s staff, which represented the house of Levi, had not only sprouted but had budded, blossomed and produced almonds. 9 Then Moses brought out all the staffs from the LORD\u2019S presence to all the Israelites. They looked at them, and each man took his own staff.<\/p>\n
17:8\u20139 The evidence of divine disclosure and designation surpassed even Moses\u2019 expectations. The following morning Moses entered the inner Tent of the Testimony and observed the miraculous handiwork of the Lord in demonstrating his sovereignty over nature and humanity in resounding fashion. In literary response to the threefold instructions of vv. 2\u20134, a fourfold manifestation of God\u2019s power over nature is displayed, as Aaron\u2019s almond wood staff matured through the production cycle: sprouted \u2192 budded \u2192 blossomed \u2192 produced almonds.
\nThe almond tree, chosen by Aaron to fashion his tribe\u2019s staff, may have been a symbol of the Levite clan. The almond is one of the earliest trees to bud and blossom in the spring, and the fruit ripens in early to midsummer. But for a formerly dead limb to sprout, bud, blossom, and produce ripe almonds overnight was a remarkable wonder, a natural process with supernatural timing. The almond branch in Israelite art and literature was a symbol of life that derived from their Maker. For Jeremiah it was a symbol of God\u2019s guarding his word so as to bring it to pass and accomplish his purpose (Jer 1:11\u201312). The bud and flower were shaped so elegantly that the three golden bowls on each side of the tabernacle lampstand were patterned after them (Exod 25:31\u201340).
\nMoses subsequently returned with the twelve staffs from the Tent of God\u2019s presence so that the Israelites might observe the results. The term translated \u201clooked\u201d (yir\u02be\u016b from r\u0101\u02be\u00e2, \u201cto see\u201d) often means \u201clook with discernment, understanding.\u201d Those scrutinizing the rod Moses displayed and then distributed, each one to its tribal representative, could readily see the manifestation of the divine selection. The priority of the Aaronic priesthood had been vindicated, and the other tribal leaders must have acknowledged the outcome, some with shame who earlier had rebelled and some with humble submission to God.<\/p>\n
RENEWED INSTRUCTIONS (17:10\u201311 [17:25\u201326])<\/p>\n
10 The LORD said to Moses, \u201cPut back Aaron\u2019s staff in front of the Testimony, to be kept as a sign to the rebellious. This will put an end to their grumbling against me, so that they will not die.\u201d 11 Moses did just as the LORD commanded him.<\/p>\n
17:10\u201311 The subsequent set of divine instructions to Moses would establish a symbolic memorial to God\u2019s sovereign decision. Aaron\u2019s produce-yielding almond staff was to be placed in front of the ark of the Testimony as a sign to the present and future generations of this significant encounter with the Almighty. The rod, like the manna in Exod 16:33\u201335, resulted from a rebellious situation and would serve as a testimony to God\u2019s provision for his people in the Aaronic priesthood. The priests and the Levites represented the people before God in the cult and facilitated their worship of him, and this intermediary role demanded holiness and faithfulness. The succeeding chapter outlines the tithe and offering provisions for this distinct class of religious leaders.
\nAaron\u2019s budded staff would serve also as a sign to the rebellious, literally \u201cthe sons of rebellion,\u201d so they would no longer murmur and complain against God and thereafter reap the disastrous consequences that had been experienced in previous circumstances. Moses\u2019 compliance as a faithful prophet and servant is no minor response in the structural scheme of the Book of Numbers. This is the last time the phrase is used of Moses before the great lawgiver himself joins the Israelites in their rebelliousness (20:2\u201313). Eight times previously Moses had carried out the Lord\u2019s commands in faithful adherence to the stipulations. Later at Kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin, the loyal servant would succumb to the temptation to react in an unholy manner toward his God.<\/p>\n
RHETORICAL RESPONSE OF THE ISRAELITES (17:12\u201313 [17:27\u201328])<\/p>\n
12 The Israelites said to Moses, \u201cWe will die! We are lost, we are all lost! 13 Anyone who even comes near the tabernacle of the LORD will die. Are we all going to die?\u201d<\/p>\n
17:12\u201313 Realization of the gravity of the issue of rebellion and the questioning of God\u2019s anointed reverberated in the hearts and minds of the people. Their obstinacy was turned to despondent cries for mercy, exhibiting a tone that implies anything but hope or confidence in God\u2019s forbearing compassion. They believed they were about to perish at the hand of a holy God. The Hebrew verbs reflect the people\u2019s certainty of their ensuing demise, a hopeless situation with a futile future. The Hebrew text reads h\u0113n g\u0101wa\u02bfn\u00fb \u02be\u0101badn\u00fb k\u016bl\u0101n\u00fb \u02be\u0101b\u0101dn\u00fb (lit., \u201cBehold we expire, we perish! All of us perish!\u201d). The mortal danger of merely approaching the tabernacle would likely discourage further dissension or insurrection. The unanswered final question of the people concerning their fate will be resolved in the following two chapters, which contain the instructions from the Lord concerning a proper approach to a holy and just God.
\nReference is made in the New Testament (Heb 9:4) to the placement of Aaron\u2019s budded staff in front of the ark of the covenant. The writer of Hebrews outlines the ultimate preeminent priesthood, that of Jesus Christ, the High Priest of the \u201cgreater and more perfect tabernacle\u201d and the Mediator of the new covenant. Whereas the Lord formerly restricted entry into the Holy of Holies to the Aaronic high priesthood, so only Jesus could enter the Most Holy Place of the heavenly tabernacle and bring reconciliation between mankind and God, setting forth himself as the quintessential sacrificial offering. Furthermore, the stipulation of Jesus concerning those who would desire entry into the presence of God is explicitly recorded in the Gospel of John (14:6): \u201cI am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.\u201d<\/p>\n
(3) The Priests and the Levites: Additional Responsibilities and Provisions (18:1\u201332)<\/p>\n
The second rebellion cycle concludes with two chapters that complement the distress and harsh realities recounted in chaps. 16\u201317. Following the Korah rebellion and the judgment upon its leaders and followers and the threefold public vindication of the Aaronic priesthood, additional responsibilities of and provisions for the priests and Levites are outlined in the present chapter. The final chapter in the cycle (chap. 19) contains the essential purification ritual for expurgating the uncleanness associated with the dead, as was necessary when the 14,950+ perished in the Korah rebellion. These chapters complete the cyclical structure of the second rebellion cycle. Chapter 18 reconfirms the Aaronic priestly leadership as demonstrated in chap. 17 and the service roles of the Levites as presented in chaps. 3 and 4. At the same time this material sets forth principles that provide the foundation for answering the open rhetorical question at the conclusion of chap. 17 regarding the potential death of the rebellious congregation. One additional purpose is within the larger framework of the Book of Numbers. The extensive description of offerings brought by the Israelites, and which would be used in support of the priesthood, stands parallel to chap. 15 in that there is implicit assurance that Yahweh will bring his people into the Promised Land and abundantly supply their needs\u2014in spite of their continued rebelliousness.
\nThe present chapter readdresses and expands the role of the Levites as guardians of the tabernacle. They were to preserve the sanctity of the holy place and to prevent encroachment from Israelites outside the Levitical line, as well as from rebellious and unclean Israelites even from within, such as Korah and his associates. If impure or unauthorized persons were allowed by the Levites to enter the sanctuary, they would suffer blame and retribution for neglect of duty. Thus it answers the question about the protection and survival of the people in the face of potential judgment before God. Violation of the holy precinct by unauthorized persons was punishable by death. Even the Levites, as delineated in chaps. 2; 4; 8, and demonstrated in chaps. 16\u201317, were not permitted to enter the Tent of Meeting proper. Only the Aaronic priesthood and Moses were eligible for that sacred privilege.
\nThe phraseology \u201cthey shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary\u201d emphasized this point. In a very real sense, the gift of the priesthood was a gift of grace to the nation of Israel, whereby they might live in holiness and righteousness in their relationship to God and not suffer death as a result of violating his holiness. As Milgrom has noted, the Levites functioned as a \u201clightning rod to attract God\u2019s wrath upon themselves whenever an Israelite has encroached upon the sancta.\u201d Hence, they functioned as both physical and spiritual intermediaries between God and the people.
\nM. Douglas has outlined the Book of Numbers in a cyclical structure, which is based on alternating sections of story and law, to be read in \u201crungs\u201d of faith-defilement, holy times, and purification. The law sections, such as chaps. 15; 18\u201319, develop in parallel fashion the theme of the constitution of the nation as a holy and undefiled people and define its prophetic destiny as the people of God in the midst of a defiled world. As a general overview, the parallel structure is outlined as follows:<\/p>\n
Numbers 15
\nStructural Theme
\nNumbers 18\u201319
\n15:1\u201321
\nA. Holy things for priests and Levites
\n18:1\u201332
\n15:22\u201329
\nB. Purification from unintended sin
\n19:1\u201319
\n15:30\u201336
\nC. Intention: deliberate sinners cut off
\n19:20
\n15:37\u201341
\nD. A statute forever\u2014perpetual
\n19:21\u201322<\/p>\n
This pattern analysis, however, does not address the intricate poetic and rhetorical devices employed throughout these and the surrounding chapters, which are addressed in the following commentary.<\/p>\n
Excursus: The Literary Structure of Numbers 18 and Its Meaning<\/p>\n
The chapter builds upon previous material related to the Aaronic priests and the Levites related in chaps. 3; 4; and 8, with an additional piece of legislation in the final section related to the Levite tithe of the tithe to the priesthood (vv. 25\u201332). At the conclusion of this chapter is a \u201cLiterary and Structural Outline of Numbers 18,\u201d which highlights the rhetorical emphases of each section within the overall structure of the chapter. Metrical calculations are included that further suggest that the passage has a poetic substructure that facilitated memorization and recitation of this passage.
\nIn Part I the structural emphasis is on the delineation of duties and responsibilities between the priests and the Levites, through which they bear the consequences of any iniquity, violation, or trespass against the sanctity of the Tent of Meeting. Protective service of the Levites extended only to the Tent, where they accompanied the priests but not to the holy objects within the Tent, which were under the full watchcare of the priests. Encroachment by any unauthorized person, whether by a non-Levite upon the sanctuary or by a Levite upon the holy objects, was punishable by death. Priests were also culpable of violating the sanctity of the Holy Place if they allowed an unauthorized person within its defined sacred space. Even the priests were prohibited from going beyond the veil and entering the Holy of Holies; only the high priest was permitted to enter that sanctum on the Day of Atonement.
\nIn Part II the various means of tribute support for the priesthood are outlined. Since neither the Levites nor the Aaronic priests would have territorial allocations within the Promised Land, having been set aside for the sacred service of the tabernacle, some means was necessary for providing for the well-being and sustenance of those in their households. The material is presented in cyclical fashion, moving from the general to the specific in typical Pentateuchal style of presenting stipulations. First the statement is made about the general tribute (v. 8), then to the various offering types by which the material would be received (vv. 9\u201310), and then to the specific plant, animal, and human elements that would be dedicated or contributed to the priests and Levites. Throughout this section emphasis is made on the fact that the tribute given to Yahweh was a gift from Yahweh and for the priests and Levites with the constant repetition of the respective phraseology. In a mere twelve verses the following tabulation of these indicative phrases emerges. That the gifts were presented to Yahweh is expressed seven times, usually l-YHWH. Yahweh\u2019s giving of the tribute, using a form of n\u0101tan is stated four times. The second person pronominal suffix abounds in such phrases as \u201cfor you\u201d (\u0115k\u0101 or l\u0101k, 15\u00d7), \u201cwith you\u201d (\u02beitk\u0101, 3\u00d7), \u201cfor your sons\u201d or \u201cdaughters\u201d (l\u0115b\u0101n\u00eak\u0101, libn\u014dt\u00eak\u0101, 6\u00d7), \u201cfor your household\u201d (b\u00eatk\u0101, 2\u00d7), and \u201cfor your offspring\u201d (l\u0115zar\u02bf\u0103k\u0101, 1\u00d7), for a total of twebty-seven times. The complete expression of this principle is found in the concluding verse of the section, \u201cAll of the holy presentation offerings, which the Israelites have presented to Yahweh, I have given for you, and for your sons, and for your daughters with you as an everlasting covenant.\u201d
\nIn the third section an inclusio is formed by statements concerning the Levite lack of a territorial inheritance in the Promised Land. Within the bracketed context the poetic narrative moves from the pronouncement that Yahweh was their share of the inheritance in the midst of the Israelites (vv. 20, 24b), and hence that which was his share via the annual tithe was to be their inheritance (vv. 21, 24a), to the focal point in the chiastic structure, that this gracious provision was in compensation for their guardianship service of the Tent of Meeting (vv. 22\u201323).
\nPart IV presents the new legislation regarding the Levite tithe of the tithe to the priesthood, via a concluding summary of tribute portions mentioned in the previous sections. At the center of the modified chiastic form is the highlighting of the fact that this special share was the best of the best of the tribute collected from the Israelite threshing floors and wine vats. The concluding verse of the chapter completes the chapter-long inclusio regarding the matter of bearing \u201cthe responsibility for offenses\u201d (lit., \u201ciniquity,\u201d \u02bf\u0101w\u014dn) against the sanctuary or not bearing the guilt (lit. \u201csin,\u201d \u1e25\u0113\u1e6d\u02be) of abusing the offerings brought by the Israelites.<\/p>\n
PRIESTS AND LEVITES: GUARDIANS OF THE SANCTUARY (18:1\u20137)<\/p>\n
1 The LORD said to Aaron, \u201cYou, your sons and your father\u2019s family are to bear the responsibility for offenses against the sanctuary, and you and your sons alone are to bear the responsibility for offenses against the priesthood. 2 Bring your fellow Levites from your ancestral tribe to join you and assist you when you and your sons minister before the Tent of the Testimony. 3 They are to be responsible to you and are to perform all the duties of the Tent, but they must not go near the furnishings of the sanctuary or the altar, or both they and you will die. 4 They are to join you and be responsible for the care of the Tent of Meeting\u2014all the work at the Tent\u2014and no one else may come near where you are.
\n5 \u201cYou are to be responsible for the care of the sanctuary and the altar, so that wrath will not fall on the Israelites again. 6 I myself have selected your fellow Levites from among the Israelites as a gift to you, dedicated to the LORD to do the work at the Tent of Meeting. 7 But only you and your sons may serve as priests in connection with everything at the altar and inside the curtain. I am giving you the service of the priesthood as a gift. Anyone else who comes near the sanctuary must be put to death.\u201d<\/p>\n
18:1\u20137 The section commences with the introductory formula for divine instruction, wayy\u014dmer YHWH, \u201cand Yahweh spoke,\u201d but this time the directions are addressed to Aaron alone. Following the vindication of the Aaronic priesthood, the role of the Aaronic priests and the Levites as guardians of the Holy Place takes on additional significance. The holiness and purity of the sanctuary may be at risk should a people become rebellious and attempt to usurp the power of the divinely ordained priesthood or endeavor to present impure or unclean sacrifices in the realm of the holy.
\nThis passage reiterates and builds upon certain aspects of the priestly regulations outlined previously in Numbers 3\u20134 (see also Lev 8\u201310). The basic responsibility is to bear the consequences of violations against the sanctuary or, in other words, be culpable or accountable for any potential sacrilege against the Holy Place. Levine defined the phrase \u02bf\u0103w\u014dn-hammiqd\u0101\u0161 (\u201coffenses against the sanctuary\u201d) and its proper adjudication as \u201cinfractions against the purity of the sanctuary.\u2026 Impurity was viewed as an external force which entered the person or attached itself to him. The primary purpose of expiation was, therefore, to rid oneself of this foreign force.\u201d
\nThe reference to \u201cyour ancestral tribe\u201d (lit. \u201cyour father\u2019s household\u201d) may narrow the application to the Kohathites, following Milgrom and the commentary of R. Rashi and Ibn Ezra, though this restriction is not self-evident. The phrase may refer to the collective clans of Kohath, Gershon, and Merari in the Levitical line, since the text moves progressively from the priesthood to the Levites. The detailed responsibilities of the three Levite clans were delineated in Num 3:5\u20134:33, and since the Numbers 3 passage begins with a reminder (vv. 2\u20134) of the consequences of profaning the sanctuary, there obtains here in v. 7 an implicit warning concerning any such abuses in the future. Since everyone but the priests is prohibited from entering the Holy Place beyond the veil, the priests must monitor themselves with respect to their service within the sancta. In v. 5 there is the added comment that \u201cwrath will not fall on the Israelites again,\u201d or more literally \u201cthere will not be any longer wrath upon the Israelites,\u201d which would recall the recent deaths of those who had violated the sanctuary restrictions among the Korah-led rebels and the sons of Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu.
\nThe terminology of the presentation of the Levites in service of the priesthood, namely that they be \u201cbrought near\u201d (haqr\u0113b) to accompany the Aaronic priesthood, is the same as that in which a person presents a sacrificial animal or other offering in the sanctuary. The Levites were a tribe of servants offered as a sacrifice from the Lord to the priests for carrying out the service of the Tent of Meeting. Even the Levitical Kohathites, however, who transported the holy vessels of the tabernacle during its mobile days in the wilderness (Num 3:31; 4:4\u201316), could not touch the vessels or the altar until they had been properly covered. Violation of this ordinance was punishable by death, as was the consequence for anyone who was not divinely ordained to serve in the priesthood.
\nThe Hebrew construction in v. 7 is difficult for a precise rendering of the translation, especially in the use of the verb and noun forms from ntn (\u201cto give, appoint\u201d):<\/p>\n
w\u0115\u02beatt\u00e2 \u00fbb\u0101n\u00eak\u0101 l\u02beit\u0115k\u0101
\nSo you and yours sons with you
\nti\u0161m\u0115r\u00fb \u02beet-k\u0115h\u016bnnatkem \/\/
\nshall guard your (pl) priesthood
\nl\u0115kol-d\u0115bar hammizb\u0113a\u1e25
\nin every matter of the altar
\n\u00fbl\u0115mib\u00eat lap\u0101r\u014dket\u2014wa\u02bf\u0103badtem
\nand beyond the veil\u2014you shall serve.
\n\u02bf\u0103b\u014ddat matt\u0101n\u00e2
\nThe service of the gift
\n\u02beet\u0113n \u030cet-k\u0115h\u016bnnatkem
\nI have given your priesthood
\nw\u0115hazz\u0101r haqq\u0101r\u0113b y\u00fbm\u0101t
\nBut the stranger who approaches shall die.<\/p>\n
The difficulties for the interpreters of the text have been the meaning of the phrase \u201cservice of the gift\u201d and \u201cI have given.\u201d Milgrom suggests that matt\u0101n\u00e2 implies subordination and that the priests are never set forth in such a subordinate position, hence the problematic phraseology. Neither are the priests ever assigned a service defined by the term \u02bf\u0103b\u014dda. It is also notable that in Num 4:5\u201320 the priests had extensive work responsibilities in preparing the various holy implements for transportation by the Kohathites, but these tasks are never described as \u02bf\u0103b\u014dd\u00e2.
\nThe priesthood was given as a gift to the Aaronic priests, and the Levites were given as a gift to the Aaronic priesthood. But the priests were not given to anyone or any group. Though perhaps improperly calling the phrase a gloss, Milgrom rightly concludes that the usage here is \u201cto anticipate the priests\u2019 matt\u0101n\u00e2 of \u2018gifts\u2019 (rather than \u2018dedication\u2019) and it would mean that the priests are rewarded with gifts (vv. 9\u201320) for incurring mortal dangers in their \u02bf\u0103b\u014dd\u00e2 of guarding the inner sancta, just as the Levites are rewarded with the tithes for their hazardous \u02bf\u0103b\u014dd\u00e2 in transporting the sanctuary.\u201d That the giving of this \u02bf\u0103b\u014dd\u00e2 in v. 7 has as its focus the offerings that follow in vv. 8\u201319 is supported by the function of the twice-used verbal form n\u0101tat\u00ee in v. 8. A similar phraseology to Num 18:1, 7 occurs in Exod 28:38, where Aaron is said to bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the Israelites consecrate in all the gifts of their holy things. The high priest was to wear a small golden plaque, engraved with the phrase \u201choliness to YHWH,\u201d that was tied to his forehead by a blue chord so that he could bear the iniquity of the holy things.
\nIn the wonder of the sacrificial system of ancient Israel, it was nothing short of amazing how in the presentation of sin and guilt offerings on behalf of the individual or the community, of that which was offered through an identification (laying the hand on the head) and substitutionary process on behalf of the offerer(s), could then bear the iniquitous consequences of the misdeed from the realm of the unholy and impure to the realm of holiness and purity. Sacrifices for sin and guilt were rendered as holy before the Lord. Hence only clean (proper type) and unblemished (proper quality) sacrificial elements were to be presented to the Lord in any kind of sacrificial setting, whether it be in communion, consecration, or atonement. Implied in the Levitical texts, but explicitly proclaimed throughout the prophets, proper representation of the gift for the offerer could only be efficacious if the offerer came with a clean heart and mind. Otherwise, the blood of bulls and rams and goats and lambs was an abomination to God.<\/p>\n
PROVISIONS OF TRIBUTE FOR THE PRIESTS (18:8\u201319)<\/p>\n
8 Then the LORD said to Aaron, \u201cI myself have put you in charge of the offerings presented to me; all the holy offerings the Israelites give me I give to you and your sons as your portion and regular share. 9 You are to have the part of the most holy offerings that is kept from the fire. From all the gifts they bring me as most holy offerings, whether grain or sin or guilt offerings, that part belongs to you and your sons. 10 Eat it as something most holy; every male shall eat it. You must regard it as holy.
\n11 \u201cThis also is yours: whatever is set aside from the gifts of all the wave offerings of the Israelites. I give this to you and your sons and daughters as your regular share. Everyone in your household who is ceremonially clean may eat it.
\n12 \u201cI give you all the finest olive oil and all the finest new wine and grain they give the LORD as the firstfruits of their harvest. 13 All the land\u2019s firstfruits that they bring to the LORD will be yours. Everyone in your household who is ceremonially clean may eat it.
\n14 \u201cEverything in Israel that is devoted to the LORD is yours. 15 The first offspring of every womb, both man and animal, that is offered to the LORD is yours. But you must redeem every firstborn son and every firstborn male of unclean animals. 16 When they are a month old, you must redeem them at the redemption price set at five shekels of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs.
\n17 \u201cBut you must not redeem the firstborn of an ox, a sheep or a goat; they are holy. Sprinkle their blood on the altar and burn their fat as an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the LORD. 18 Their meat is to be yours, just as the breast of the wave offering and the right thigh are yours. 19 Whatever is set aside from the holy offerings the Israelites present to the LORD I give to you and your sons and daughters as your regular share. It is an everlasting covenant of salt before the LORD for both you and your offspring.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since the priests bore the grave responsibility for maintaining the holiness of the sacred precinct and its various implements, special provisions were made for them via the tribute offerings brought by the Israelites. As noted in the discussion of 3:9\u201313, 38, the Levites provided guardianship and maintenance service for the sanctuary, to ward off potential offenders who might profane the sanctuary by encroachment or other unholy acts. Such offense was evident in the case of the rebellion led by Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. The pericope moves from the general statement concerning the offerings constituting compensation for the priests, to the specific types of offerings rendered, to the consumption by those among the priesthood.
\n18:8 The passage commences with a formal introduction, utilizing the formula for divine revelatory instruction, way\u0115dabb\u0113r YHWH \u02beel- (\u201cthen Yahweh instructed \u2026\u201d), here used in one of the rare occurrences where Moses is not included as one of the recipients of the instruction. Then in a general statement the responsibility and perquisite compensation for the priesthood is described. In a simple chiastic structure utilizing two common usages of the verb n\u0101tan (\u201cto give\u201d), emphasis is placed on the personal decision of the Lord to bless the Aaronic lineage with the keeping of his tribute, those contributions made to him by the Israelites. The first use of n\u0101tan carries the meaning of appointment or putting someone in charge of a specific responsibility. God had placed under the charge of the Aaronic priesthood all the holy things of the Israelites (kol-q\u0101d\u0115\u0161\u00ea b\u0115n\u00ea-yi\u015br\u0101\u02be\u0113l), that is, all of their sacred offerings. In the second use of n\u0101tan emphasis is placed on the giving of the tribute for compensatory provision for the priests, supplying their sustenance.
\nThe phrase used to describe the general responsibility of the priests in regard to these gifts is mi\u0161meret t\u0115r\u00fbm\u014dt\u0101w, generally translated \u201cservice of my presentation offerings.\u201d The question arises as to the nature of this service. Is it one of guardianship, preservation, oversight, or simply keeping? A variety of the derived meanings of the verbal form \u0161\u0101mar may apply at the various points in the process. In a general overview an individual or community group presented the tribute to the priests in the sanctuary, during which it came under their supervision. They performed or supplied oversight to certain required ritual acts with various portions of the given offering: assuring and guarding the sanctity of the offerer, offering, and sacred precinct, and then they were allowed to keep designated portions of many of the offerings as compensation for their services. Hence a broad range in usage may be in view.
\n18:9\u201310 The priestly tribute is divided into two levels of sanctity, the \u201cmost holy offerings\u201d (q\u014dde\u0161 haqq\u014fd\u0101\u0161\u00eem, \u201choly of the holy things,\u201d vv. 9[2\u00d7], 10) and the generally holy offerings, the t\u0115r\u00fbmat matt\u0101n\u0101m (\u201ctribute of their gifts,\u201d vv. 11\u201318). The particular holiest of the offerings, which were to be consumed by the priests, were all their dedicated offerings presented at the sanctuary for their cereal offerings, plus their sin (purification) and guilt (reparation) offerings. The cereal grain offering, as described in 2:1\u201313 and 6:14\u201323, was an unleavened mixture of fine flour, oil, and incense. A memorial portion was burned on the altar as a sweet aroma to the Lord, and the remainder was eaten by the Aaronic priests.
\nThe particular animals offered as sin or purification offerings, as described in 4:1\u201335 and 6:24\u201330, were specified according to one\u2019s ranking within Israelite society. They ranged from a bull sin offering for the high priest, as that which was sacrificed by the high priest for himself and his family on the Day of Atonement (16:3\u201314), to the two turtledoves or pigeons brought by a poor person (5:7\u201310), or even a tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a destitute individual (5:11\u201313). The guilt or reparation offering, brought as a result of the violation of someone\u2019s property or the inadvertent breaking of a covenant stipulation, usually consisted of a ram or its equivalent in silver shekels, plus a penalty of one-fifth of the value of the animal (5:14\u201319; 7:1\u201310). For the various animals the slaughtering and sacrificial process included the ritual slaughtering of the animal, the disposition of the drained blood upon the altar or its sides, the burning of assigned portions such as the fat and entrails upon the large bronze altar, and the setting aside and then consumption of priestly portions. In keeping with 6:29 and 7:6, only the males among the priests and their families were permitted to consume these most holy of offerings.
\n18:11\u201318 The second level of tribute consisted of the variety of firstfruits and firstborn of Israelite production. The first fruit from the trees and offspring from the womb were treated as special gifts from God that were to be returned to him. This section delineates the particular offerings from plants (vv. 12\u201314) and from animals and humans (vv. 15\u201318). Verse 19 offers a summary of the functions of the holy tribute as a gift to the priesthood and as a covenant of salt, which speaks of the pledge of permanence and preservation of this meritorious arrangement for the well-being of Israelite society. Because the other tribes supported the one tribe that provided oversight to the central Holy Place, the sanctity of the sanctuary and hence the holiness of God were preserved and elevated, and the ongoing blessed livelihood of the Israelite society could be a lighthouse to the nations of the holiness and goodness of their God.
\nThe contributions are translated in the NIV as that which was \u201cset aside from the gifts all of the wave offerings of the Israelites,\u201d literally rendered as \u201cthe tribute of their gifts, and of all the elevation offerings of the Israelites.\u201d First the tribute, or t\u0115r\u00fbmat, refers to the nonsacrificial gifts dedicated to the Lord outside the sanctuary, such as many of the firstfruit and tithe contributions. The elevation offerings, or t\u0115n\u00fbp\u014dt, were those sacrificial elements that were rendered to the Lord in a special presentation ceremony in which the offerer or priest lifted the representative elements as unto the Lord as part of a larger ritual process. Often the breast or right thigh of the animal was lifted as an elevation offering. This offering was associated with the peace offering (Lev 7:30, 34; 23:20), the consecration of the priests (Exod 29:26; Lev 8:29), the dedication of the Levites (Num 8:11\u201313, 21), and the purification ritual for the Nazirite (Num 6:20). In Lev 10:15 the thigh of the heave offering and the breast of the elevation offering were ordained as gifts for the Aaronic priesthood. Grain and oil offerings were also presented in this fashion, as in the consecration of the priests (Exod 29:23\u201324; Lev 8:27), cleansing ritual for lepers (Lev 14:12, 21, 24), and the sheaf of grain and two loaves for the Feast of Weeks (Lev 23:15, 17). The classification of these elements as a secondary level of qod\u0101\u0161\u00eem enabled them to be eaten by the female members of the priestly family as well as the male members, to whom the \u201choliest\u201d of the offerings were restricted.
\nThe three plant products specified under the qod\u0101\u0161\u00eem classification of offerings were literally the cream of the crop, namely the very finest of the olive oil, wine, and grain production. These first produced (r\u0113\u02be\u0161\u00eet) or processed offerings were distinguished from the normal first fruit (bikk\u00fbr\u00eem) offerings of the first ripe olives, grapes, and grain. The first yields of the production of oil from the olive crushing vats, newly pressed wine (t\u00eer\u00f4\u0161), and freshly ground flour from the choicest wheat were to be returned to the Lord, the owner and giver of all produce of the earth. The quality of the produce was deemed as the best or choicest (\u1e25\u0113leb, \u201cfat\u201d or \u201ccream\u201d) of the crops, hence the origin of the expression \u201cthe cream of the crop.\u201d Just as the fat of any animal sacrificed or otherwise slaughtered for consumption was not to be consumed, so the fat of the produce from field, orchard, or vineyard was not to be eaten but devoted to the Lord. Only the ritually pure or \u201cceremonially clean\u201d in the household of Aaron were allowed to partake of the holy offerings.
\nThe paramount type of offering for the Lord and the sanctuary was called the \u1e25\u0113rem or \u201cdevoted\u201d offering. Unlike many of the animal and human firstborn offerings delineated in vv. 15\u201318, anything that was presented as \u1e25\u0113rem could not be redeemed for payment or substitution. All \u1e25\u0113rem material reverted to the priests, whether a field, beast, or human (Lev 27:21, 28). The totality of the \u1e25\u0113rem of the fields or flocks was granted to the priests, and humans or unclean animals that were not sacrificed or consumed could be used in the service of the sanctuary.
\nThe discussion of these goods and their status as gifts to the Lord and to the priesthood assumes the Israelite occupation of Promised Land in which these are produced\u2014contra the rejection of the land in Numbers 14 and the challenge to the Aaronic priesthood in Numbers 16\u201317. The cycle of blessing in Israelite agricultural society, through which the fellowship between God and humanity in the community of faith found its continual expression, was as follows:<\/p>\n
Israelite Cycle of Blessing<\/p>\n
Blessing from God in Growth of Crops and Harvest In the Promised Land
\nFirstfruits and first ripe consumed by the priests after portions sacrificed to God
\nObedience of Israel to the Covenant in sowing and reaping rules
\nFirstfruits and first produce presented to the Lord special portions sacrificed on altar
\nReaping of the firstfruits
\nProduction of oil, wine, flour, etc.
\nPortions separated and dedicated to God<\/p>\n
If the cycle of blessing was broken by the unfaithfulness of the people or the impure acts of the priests, then the errant parties were subject to the penalty of profaning God\u2019s holiness, namely death. Later in the history of the Israelite kingdoms prophets such as Hosea illustrated the nation\u2019s unfaithfulness by using the imagery of abused firstfruits of the fig season that went to Baal Peor instead of Yahweh: \u201cI found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstfruits on the fig tree in its first season. But they went to Baal-peor, and consecrated themselves to that shame; so they became an abomination like the thing they loved\u201d (Hos 9:10). The cycle of blessing had been broken by the Israelites in rejecting the land, yet in v. 13 it is still called \u201ctheir land.\u201d The Lord still held to his promise, which he brought to pass in the next generation of Israel.
\nThe second part of the tribute list for the priests related to animals and humans brought to the sanctuary for offering or dedication. The firstborn were the first male issue from the womb of the mother (kol-peter re\u1e25em l\u0115kol-b\u0101\u015b\u0101r), whether human or animal. Animals defined by Levitical law as clean, such as cattle, sheep, and goats, were to be offered as sacrifices. Since humans could not be sacrificed physically, nor could unclean animals be sacrificed, a redemption price was established by which a substitutionary value was rendered to the priesthood. In the simple chiasmus of v. 15b, the language of human firstborn redemption is emphatic (p\u0101d\u014dh tipdeh), whereas the language used to describe the redemption of the animals is simply \u201cyou must redeem\u201d (tipdeh). Milgrom states that human firstborn redemption was mandatory, whereas animal firstborn redemption was optional, thus reading the imperfect as permissive rather than imperative. According to Exod 34:19 the unclean donkey could be redeemed with a lamb, otherwise its neck was to be broken. Other unclean animals are not discussed, probably because they were of little use to the priesthood or the average Israelite. Animals sacrificed or redeemed were always those that had the potential for human usage or consumption. The process of human and animal redemption had a didactic purpose of reminding the Israelites of their redemption from Egypt, an object lesson of history that could be rehearsed in every generation so that the people might not forget the Lord\u2019s benevolence and the heavy price that was paid for their deliverance unto freedom and blessing.
\nBased on the principle of Exod 11:1\u201310 and 13:2, 11\u201316, namely that Israel was redeemed and delivered from Egypt through the death of the firstborn men and animals (Exod 12:29), the firstborn of all of Israel, whether man or beast, were to be consecrated to Yahweh. In the census taken in preparation for the journey from Mount Sinai to the Promised Land, the firstborn of Israel\u2019s tribes who were at least one month old were counted and then redeemed via a man-for-man substitution by the Levites. The excess number of 273 firstborn males of the Israelite community beyond the number of the Levites were redeemed via the set redemption price of five shekels each (Num 3:40\u201350). The same phraseology of 3:37 is used in this passage in establishing the redemption price for future firstborn in Israel at the same price and age.
\nAfter setting forth the firstborn human redemption price, the instructions move to the produce of the herds and flocks of which Israel would be blessed in the Promised Land. Cattle, sheep, and goats were sacrificeable, and hence not redeemable. Appropriate to all animal sacrifices, the blood was to be tossed or sprinkled upon the altar or its sides, the physical focal point of divine-human mediation, since the blood was representative of the life of the animal. In that the life of the flesh was in the blood, it was always to be rendered back to God, the source, sustainer, and owner of all life. The fat and other set portions were to be burned with fire on the altar, producing that sweet-smelling aroma with which Yahweh was pleased, if of course the offerer brought the sacrifice in a state of ritual, moral, and ethical purity. This subsection concludes with a simple chiastic reiteration of the Levitical law concerning priestly ownership of the breast and thigh from the sacrificial animal offerings.<\/p>\n
So its flesh\u2014belongs\u2014to you
\nLike the elevated breast
\nLike the right thigh
\nTo you\u2014it belongs.<\/p>\n
18:19 In summary fashion, utilizing an inclusio framing that brackets the overall chiastic structure of vv. 8b\u201319, the emphasis is placed again on the fact that the tribute from Israel was a gift from God for the priestly families, both male and female. This perpetual statute concerning the tribute donation for priestly support is deemed a \u201ccovenant of salt\u201d (b\u0115r\u00eet mela\u1e25). Though the origin of this phraseology is unknown, the concepts of preservation and permanence are conveyed by the function of salt in ancient Near Eastern society. Salt as a preservative ensured the quality of the meat or other consumable or nonconsumable goods, as well as enhancing the taste when used in cooking. Salt, which accompanied many Israelite sacrifices, was used physically in the seasoning of the elements, but it also contributed to the quality of the covenant relationship between humanity and God (Lev 2:13). In Ezra 4:14 the Sanballatide leaders in Samaria pledged their loyalty to the Persian government by using the expression \u201cwe have salted the salt of the palace.\u201d With these concepts in mind, the covenant of salt between Yahweh and the Aaronic priesthood emphasized the quality and permanence of the relationship. That relationship was evidenced outwardly through the perpetual statute of the Israelite supplying of tribute to Yahweh, which then provided the means of sustenance for the priests and their families.<\/p>\n
PROVISIONS FOR THE LEVITES (18:20\u201324)<\/p>\n
20 The LORD said to Aaron, \u201cYou will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any share among them; I am your share and your inheritance among the Israelites.
\n21 \u201cI give to the Levites all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance in return for the work they do while serving at the Tent of Meeting. 22 From now on the Israelites must not go near the Tent of Meeting, or they will bear the consequences of their sin and will die. 23 It is the Levites who are to do the work at the Tent of Meeting and bear the responsibility for offenses against it. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. They will receive no inheritance among the Israelites. 24 Instead, I give to the Levites as their inheritance the tithes that the Israelites present as an offering to the LORD. That is why I said concerning them: \u2018They will have no inheritance among the Israelites.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
Note that the text has been divided here between vv. 19 and 20, whereas many translations, following the division in the Masoretic Text, separate between vv. 20 and 21. As was argued in the \u201cIntroduction: Structure and Outline of the Book of Numbers,\u201d the phraseology of divine revelatory instruction, namely way\u0115dabb\u0113r YHWH and wayy\u014dmer YHWH constitute major organizational markers in the Book of Numbers and in most cases introduce new instructions or legislation. In the present chapter these expressions are used four times in alternating sequence, perhaps for lexical variety, but in each case they introduce new material. The matter at hand, the issue of the tithe inheritance over against the noninheritance of land, applies to the entire tribe of the Levites, of which the Aaronic priesthood was a distinctive part. The term \u201cinheritance\u201d (na\u1e25\u0103l\u00e2) is one of the key words of this section. Verse 20 could function as a concluding colophon for the material in vv. 8\u201319 and thereby provide a transitional verse into the following material. Perhaps that is the reason for the Masoretic division, but the use of the introductory phraseology seems to argue for the section division as followed presently.
\nAs noted in the \u201cLiterary and Structural Outline\u201d below and the following chiastic outline, the focal point of the passage is the weighty responsibility the Levites carried in bearing the consequences of sin and trespass against the sanctuary. Bracketing the section on the Levite service are the pair of dual declarations that the Israelite tithes are their compensatory inheritance (vv. 21, 24a) and that this inheritance is a substitute for the territorial inheritance promised to the other tribes of Israel. This balanced outline provides additional support for the verse division examined above.<\/p>\n
H No Inheritance of Land (v. 20b)
\nI Tithe Inheritance for the Levites (v. 21)
\nD\u00b4\u00b4\u00b4 Levite Service (vv. 22\u201323)
\nI\u00b4 Tithe Inheritance for the Levites (v. 24a)
\nH\u00b4 No Inheritance of Land (v. 24b)<\/p>\n
This section builds off the introductory material set forth in vv. 2\u20136 of Part I, which addressed the matters of Levite service under the supervision of the Aaronic priesthood. In Part II the priestly provisions were delineated, and now in Part III the Levites are recompensed.
\n18:20 Following the introductory phrase wayy\u02be\u014dmer YHWH, which marks the beginning of a new section, the subject matter of this pericope is set forth with a general statement concerning the Levite and priestly inheritance. Their inheritance was not one of territorial ownership like that which would be apportioned to the other tribes of Israel. Their estate was a holy one, and the Lord of the covenant was their inheritance. This is not to say that the priests and Levites somehow owned Yahweh, but instead what physically accrued to Yahweh from the territorial inheritance of the Israelites would belong to them. The tangible evidence of this relationship was the tribute brought by the Israelites. These gifts became their birthright in the land instead of territorial grant. This restriction on the priests and Levites concerning land ownership does not confute the allocation later of forty-eight cities and their surrounding areas for the Levites support. They would be granted these for constructing their dwellings and pasturing their herds and flocks, as well as for providing geographical locations for the collection and distribution of the tithes, tribute, and devoted commodities offered by other twelve tribes of the Israelites. These allocations would quite literally be \u201cin the midst of the Israelites,\u201d but they would be owned by the sanctuary and not the individual priests or Levites.
\n18:21 The Levites are addressed specifically in the continued instruction directed to Aaron by the Lord, with reference to their receiving the tithes brought by the Israelites. The language is emphatic, \u201cBehold I have given,\u201d in Yahweh\u2019s designating all the tithes of Israel for Levite inheritance. They would not own property of land in the manner of the other Israelite tribes, but they would be granted a tenth of the produce from those tribal properties in exchange for their protection and transportation services rendered on behalf of the sanctuary and its priesthood. The tithe or \u201ctenth\u201d (ma\u02bf\u0103\u0161\u0113r) was the required percentage of the productivity of Israelite labors that was to be rendered to the Lord at the sanctuary. In Lev 27:30\u201332 the tithes are described as \u201cthe grain from the soil or fruit from the trees\u201d and \u201cof the entire herd and flock\u2014every tenth animal which passes under the shepherd\u2019s rod,\u201d all of which was holy to the Lord. Hence forth the Levites would have an ample supply of animal and plant products for their livelihood while performing their services for the sanctuary under the auspices of the Aaronic priesthood.
\nThe statutes on tithing and the relationship between the Levites and the other Israelites were expanded in Deut 12:17\u201319 and 14:22\u201329. When the Temple would be completed as the place which the Lord would choose for his name to abide, portions of the tithes of grain, oil, wine, and the firstlings of the flocks and herds would be consumed jointly by the Levites and the offerers in the vicinity of the sanctuary. Provision was made for those who might have to journey some length to bring their tithes to the city of God\u2019s choosing, later of course Jerusalem, whereby they could sell their titheable goods and bring the equivalent monetary value to the city, and then purchase that which they desired for the community tithing celebration. Again this presents a wondrous picture of the Israelites in communion with God and one another, in the context of the holy place that represented his presence on earth, rejoicing before the Lord who had so richly blessed them. This was the portrait of the community of faith in coordinated harmony and celebration set forth in Num 1:1\u201310:10 but which had been fractured by the series of rebellious acts. Due to continual complaints about God\u2019s provisions and challenges to his appointed leaders, Israel was floundering in discord and despair. But Yahweh was faithful to his promise to their forefathers. He would bring them into the land and bless them abundantly, so that this picture of joy and harmony might be restored in celebration of the relationship between God and humanity.
\nThe concept of the giving of a tithe is known from ancient Near Eastern sources from the Levant and Mesopotamia. Not only were agricultural goods tithed, but also various commodities such as metals and goods produced by craftsmen. The usage of the Ugaritic m\u02bf\u0161rt evidences a royal temple societal structure in which contributions to the given sanctuary could be utilized by the royalty. A kind of royal priesthood is evidenced in the account of Melchizedek in Gen 14:18\u201324. In Babylon of the sixth century B.C., cattle contributed as tithes were branded for the temple treasuries, and other goods were earmarked on storage jars and other receptacles. In the Iron II Israelite kingdom period goods collected for the royal provision were inscribed with the term lmlk (\u201cfor the king\u201d). Whether some of these might have been dedicated for the temple stores is unknown, but there is little doubt that some means of identifying the tithed goods was employed during the First Temple period.
\n18:22\u201323 At the focal point of this section is the reiteration of the critical and dangerous role the Levites served on behalf of the Israelite community. During the wilderness journey the three clans of the Levites and the Aaronic priests would camp in the immediate vicinity of the four sides of the sanctuary, between it and the three other tribes that were encamped on the perimeter. They acted first as a positional barrier between the holy geo-central position of the Tent of Meeting and the community at large, ensuring its sanctity by guarding against encroachment by unauthorized persons, including any unclean persons of their own Levite clans. As stated previously in vv. 2\u20135, they would bear the consequences of sin and iniquity against the sanctuary, so that no longer\u2014as had happened as a result of the recent Korah rebellion\u2014would anyone die because of such a violation of the holy precinct of the Tent of Meeting. This responsibility was to be a perpetual one, such that they were to be solely dedicated to the Lord and not encumbered by the territorial responsibilities of their Israelite brothers. This was their inheritance, as Yahweh\u2019s inheritance, in the present and in days to come, when Yahweh would bring Israel into the land of their inheritance.
\n18:24 The chiastic structure of this section is completed by the reiteration of the two statements of vv. 20 and 21 concerning the tithe being the Levite inheritance (v. 24a) instead of territorial allotment (v. 24b). The contributions of the Israelites to Yahweh were in turn his gifts to them for their dedicated service.<\/p>\n
TITHES AND OFFERINGS OF THE LEVITES (18:25\u201332)<\/p>\n
25 The LORD said to Moses, 26 \u201cSpeak to the Levites and say to them: \u2018When you receive from the Israelites the tithe I give you as your inheritance, you must present a tenth of that tithe as the LORD\u2019S offering. 27 Your offering will be reckoned to you as grain from the threshing floor or juice from the winepress. 28 In this way you also will present an offering to the LORD from all the tithes you receive from the Israelites. From these tithes you must give the LORD\u2019S portion to Aaron the priest. 29 You must present as the LORD\u2019S portion the best and holiest part of everything given to you.\u2019
\n30 \u201cSay to the Levites: \u2018When you present the best part, it will be reckoned to you as the product of the threshing floor or the winepress. 31 You and your households may eat the rest of it anywhere, for it is your wages for your work at the Tent of Meeting. 32 By presenting the best part of it you will not be guilty in this matter; then you will not defile the holy offerings of the Israelites, and you will not die.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
One new piece of legislation emerges from this section. The Levites would be responsible to tithe to the Lord and thus to the priesthood out of the tithes received from the Israelites as their regular tribute. Furthermore, the Levites are to contribute in this tithe of the tithe the very best of the best that was bestowed upon them as gifts to God from the Israelites and from God to the Levites. As noted in the commentary on Num 15:1\u201321 and v. 23 above, this material would serve as a reminder to the people of God\u2019s faithfulness. Together chaps. 15 and 18 resound in a kind of staccato effect in a crescendo of proclamation to all future generations that Yahweh will bring to consummation his promise of a land flowing with milk and honey, even if one generation should falter in its faithfulness. He was and always would be their God and they his people.
\n18:25 As with the three previous sections of chap. 18, the final portion commences with the extended introductory formula for divine instruction, way\u0115dabb\u0113r YHWH \u030cel-, but the recipient is Moses instead of Aaron. Milgrom suggests this was \u201cin order to avoid the conflict of interest that would result if Aaron were told to collect the tenth of the Levitical tithe assigned to him.\u201d In turn Moses instructed the Levites about the process of collection of the tithes from the Israelites and their duty of tithing the best and holiest to Aaron. These issues are at the focal point of the structure of this section.
\n18:26 Repetition of previous phraseology from this chapter abounds in this verse, with a few notable distinctions. The original tithe, which had been designated as the Levite inheritance in exchange for their service on behalf of the sanctuary, is treated like income similar to that which the average Israelite earned through his farming activities (vv. 21, 24a). Therefore that which God had enabled the Levites to appropriate through the compulsory tribute was subject to the tithe statute. That representative portion was contributed again to the Lord first, and secondarily to the Aaronic priests. The text is careful to make the distinction that the Levite tithe is rendered first to Yahweh and then to Aaron.
\n18:27, 30\u201331 These two verses bracket in a brief inclusio the focal point of the section, which is that the choicest of the choicest was to be the source of the Levite tithe that would support the Aaronic priests. Hence, they were accounted to the Levites as if they had produced them on their own. The Levites were a select tribe, set apart by the Lord for special services, and hence were the initial recipients of that which was the best of the Israelite productivity. The sons of Aaron, the priests, were the select clan from among the select tribe and hence would be due the tribute of only the very finest of that with which God had so blessed his people.
\nTwo key agricultural products, which were the result of processing the raw materials, were to be set aside by the Levites for this tithe, the best grain from the threshing floor and the finest juice from the wine vat after the initial pressing of the grapes. These two items are perhaps used as exemplars for the contributions of the Levites due to their special attributes evidenced throughout the Hebrew Scriptures as well as in the literature and iconography of the ancient Near East. From the painted wall murals of Egypt to the hewn murals of the Hittites in central and eastern Anatolia and the Assyrians of Mesopotamia, the activities and products of grain processing and wine production were esteemed as sacred aspects of human endeavor in utilizing these gifts from the gods. Rites associated with bread and wine held significant places in ancient cultic activities, as they did in ancient Israel. Cultic activities were associated with threshing floors and wine presses, as well as olive presses (see v. 12). In the Book of Numbers particular attention is given to the bread, oil, and wine accompaniments to a number of animal sacrifices.
\n18:28\u201329 At the center of this chiastic construction is the giving of the Levite tithe of their collected tithes to Aaron, the high priest and representative of the entire priesthood. The tribute from the Levites was from the very best, literally \u201cits fat\u201d (\u1e25\u0113leb), the same word used to describe the best of the oil, grain, and wine processing in v. 12. Thus only the creme de la creme was fitting for the Levite contribution to the priesthood. All of the tribute described in this chapter was deemed \u201choly\u201d (vv. 8, 9, 17), and thus the best was also the holiest.
\n18:32 The conclusion is a reminder of the seriousness of the service laid before the priests and Levites. They were responsible for oversight of the holy sanctuary and the holy gifts, to ensure that no unauthorized or unclean person encroach upon the sancta or profane the holy gifts made to the Lord. Anyone violating the holiness of the sacred precinct or its paraphernalia would surely die. Additionally, the Levite rendering of the holiest of the holy tithed goods to Yahweh was to ensure that at the end of the tithing sequence only those goods of the ultimate quality would be rendered unto the Holy Lord and his holy servants. In following this stipulation, the holy gifts of the Israelite tribes to the sanctuary would not be profaned. A loss of quality control could lead to the loss of life by one of Yahweh\u2019s faithful servants.
\nIn the New Testament the principle of support for ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ obtains from this and other Old Testament examples. As any workman was worthy of his wages or provisions (Matt 10:9\u201310), so ought those who preach the gospel have their needs supplied (1 Cor 9:2\u201318). The calling to the gospel ministry is likewise a high and holy calling, worthy of the very best that an individual can render unto the Lord in following him faithfully, by giving one\u2019s life as a continual living sacrifice to God (Rom 12:1\u20132).<\/p>\n
Literary and Structural Outline of Numbers 18<\/p>\n
Part I: Service of Priests and Levites
\nA Introduction 1: Yahweh to Aaron
\nThen YHWH said to Aaron
\nB Priesthood: You\u2014and your sons\u2014and your father\u2019s household\u2014with you
\nYou shall bear\u2014the iniquity\u2014of the holy place
\nYou\u2014and your sons\u2014with you
\nYou shall bear\u2014the iniquity\u2014of your priesthood
\nC Levites: Your brothers\u2014the tribe of Levi\u2014the tribal-clan of your father
\nBring them near\u2014with you\u2014that they may accompany\u2014you
\nAnd they may serve you
\nYou\u2014and your sons\u2014with you
\nBefore (liphney, \u201cin service of\u201d) the Tent of Meeting
\nD Levite Service: They shall guard your service\u2014and the service of all the Tent
\nBut to all the holy things\u2014And to the altar\u2014they shall not come near\u2014
\nSo they shall not die\u2014Neither they\u2014nor you
\nC\u00b4 Levites: So let them accompany\u2014you (or join with you)
\nThat they may guard the service of the Tent of Meeting
\nFor all\u2014the service of the Tent
\nBut an unauthorized one\u2014shall not come near\u2014to you
\nD\u00b4 Levite Service: So you shall guard\u2014the service\u2014of the holy place\u2014and the service\u2014of the altar
\nSo there will not be\u2014anymore wrath\u2014upon the Israelites
\nC\u00b4\u00b4 Levites: But I\u2014Behold\u2014I have taken\u2014your brothers the Levites
\nFrom among\u2014the Israelites\u2014for you\u2014from the gift\u2014of things given\u2014to YHWH
\nTo serve the service\u2014of the Tent of Meeting
\nB\u00b4 Priesthood: But you\u2014and your sons\u2014with you
\nYou shall guard\u2014your priesthood and every matter of the altar\u2014and inside the curtain (veil)\u2014also you will perform
\nThe service\u2014of the gift\u2014I am giving\u2014your priesthood
\nBut the unauthorized person\u2014who comes near\u2014he will die.<\/p>\n
Part II: Tribute for the Priests
\nA\u00b4 Introduction 2: Yahweh to Aaron
\nThen Yahweh Instructed\u2014Aaron (spoke to Aaron)
\nE Tribute for Priests
\nIndeed I\u2014behold\u2014I have given you (put in charge of)\u2014the keeping (guarding)\u2014of my tribute for all the holy things\u2014of the Israelites\u2014
\nTo you\u2014(I am) giving (providing)\u2014as a compensatory portion
\nTo your sons\u2014as an everlasting statute
\nF Holiest Offerings: This\u2014will be\u2014for you\u2014
\nFrom the holiest\u2014of the holy things\u2014from the fire
\nAll of their offering\u2014and all of their cereal offering\u2014and all of their sin offering\u2014and all their reparation offering which they have rendered (returned) to me
\nHoliest of the holy things\u2014to you\u2014are they\u2014and to your sons
\nG Offerings Consumed
\nIn\/With the holy of the holiest things\u2014you shall eat it
\nEvery male\u2014shall eat it
\nholy it is to you
\nE\u00b4 Tribute Given
\nAnd This is for you\u2014every tribute of their gift
\n(For belong) every elevation offering of the Israelites
\nTo you\u2014I am giving them\u2014
\nTo your sons\u2014and your daughters\u2014with you\u2014an everlasting statute
\nEvery clean (ritually pure) person\u2014in your household\u2014shall eat\u2014it.
\nF\u00b4 Offerings Specified
\na Plants
\nAll the cream\u2014of the olive oil\u2014\/\/\u2014
\nAnd all the cream (best)\u2014of the new wine\u2014and grain
\nTheir firstfruits\u2014which they give\u2014to YHWH
\nTo you\u2014I have given them
\nThe firstfruits\u2014of everything which [is]\u2014in their land
\nWhich they bring\u2014to YHWH
\nFor you\u2014it shall be
\nG Offerings Consumed
\nEvery clean person\u2014in your household\u2014shall eat it
\nEvery devoted thing\u2014in Israel\u2014\/\/\u2014belongs\u2014to you
\nb Animals and Humans
\n(A) General Statement
\nEvery opening\u2014of the womb\u2014of all flesh
\nWhich they bring near\u2014to Yahweh
\nWhether from human\u2014or beast\u2014it belongs to you
\n(B) Exceptions for Redemption
\nExcept\u2014that you shall indeed\u2014redeem (2\u00d7)
\n\u2014the firstborn of the human
\n\u2014the firstborn of the unclean beast
\nYou shall redeem
\n(C) Redemption Price
\nIts redemption-price\u2014from one month old\u2014you shall redeem
\nBy your value\u2014of silver\u2014\/\/\u2014five shekels
\nBy the shekel of the sanctuary\u2014
\nTwenty gerahs each
\n(B\u00b4) Redemption Exceptions Specified
\nExcept\u2014Firstborn\u2014bull
\nOr firstborn lamb
\nOr firstborn goat
\nYou shall not\u2014redeem\u2014\/\/\u2014Holy are they
\nTheir blood\u2014you shall toss\u2014upon the altar
\nAnd their fat\u2014you shall burn
\nA fire of savory smoke\u2014to YHWH
\n(A\u00b4) Conclusion: Then its flesh\u2014belongs to you
\nLike the elevated breast\u2014
\nAnd like the right thigh
\nTo you\u2014it belongs
\nE\u00b4\u00b4 Tribute Summary: All the tribute\u2014of the holy things
\nwhich contributed\u2014the Israelites\u2014to YHWH
\nI have given\u2014to you
\nand to your sons\u2014and to your daughters\u2014with you for everlasting statute
\nA covenant\u2014of salt\u2014\/\/\u2014everlasting\u2014it is
\nBefore\u2014YHWH
\nTo you\u2014and to your seed (offspring)\u2014with you<\/p>\n
Part III: Levite Tithe Inheritance
\nA\u00b4\u00b4\u00b4 Instruction: Then Yahweh said to Aaron
\nH No Inheritance of Land for the Levites
\nIn their land\u2014you shall not inherit
\nA share (property)\u2014there will not be\u2014for you\u2014in their midst
\nI am\u2014your share\u2014and your inheritance
\nIn the midst of\u2014the Israelites.
\nI Tithe Inheritance for the Levites
\nNow for the sons\u2014of Levi
\nBehold\u2014I have given\u2014every tithe\u2014in Israel\u2014for an inheritance
\nIn return (exchange) for\u2014their service
\nWhich they\u2014are serving (rendering)\u2014service\u2014of the Tent of Meeting
\nD Levite Service
\nThey shall not come near\u2014any longer\u2014\/\/\u2014the Israelites
\nTo the Tent of Meeting
\nSo as to bear\u2014the sin (mistake\/error\/)\u2014to die (death)
\nSo he shall serve\u2014> the Levite
\nthe service of the Tent of Meeting
\nand they shall bear\u2014their iniquity (guilt)
\nAn everlasting\u2014statute\u2014to your generations
\nIn the midst of the Israelites\u2014
\nThey shall not inherit\u2014an inheritance.
\nI\u00b4 Tithe Inheritance for the Levites
\nFor\u2014the tithe\u2014of the Israelites
\nWhich they contributed\u2014to YHWH\u2014as tribute
\nI have given\u2014to the Levites\u2014as an inheritance
\nH\u00b4 No Inheritance of Land
\nOn account of this (therefore)\u2014I said\u2014to them
\nIn the midst of\u2014the Israelites
\nNot\u2014they shall inherit\u2014an inheritance.<\/p>\n
Part IV: Tithe of the Tithe
\nA\u00b4\u00b4\u00b4 Instruction: Then instructed\u2014YHWH\u2014Moses\u2014saying:
\nI\u00b4\u00b4 Tithe Inheritance
\nNow to the Levites\u2014you shall instruct
\nAnd you shall say\u2014to them:
\nWhen\u2014you take\u2014from the Israelites\u2014the tithe
\nWhich I have given\u2014to you\u2014from them\u2014as your inheritance
\nYou shall contribute\u2014from it\u2014the tribute\u2014of YHWH
\nA tithe\u2014from the tithe.
\nE Tribute from Grain and Wine
\nThus it will be accounted\u2014for you\u2014as your tribute
\nAs the grain\u2014from the threshing floor
\nAnd as the fullness\u2014of the wine vat
\nJ Contribution and Collection of the Levite Tithe
\nWhen you contribute\u2014even you\u2014\/\/\u2014the tribute of YHWH
\nFrom all your tithes\u2014
\nwhich\u2014you have taken\u2014\/\/\u2014from\u2014the Israelites
\nThen you will give\u2014from it
\nThe contribution\u2014of Yahweh\u2014\/\/\u2014for Aaron\u2014the priest
\nFrom all\u2014your gifts\u2014you shall contribute
\n(From) Every tribute\u2014of YHWH
\nFrom all its best (fattest)\u2014its holiest part\u2014from it
\nE Tribute from Grain and Wine
\nThus, you shall say\u2014to them
\nWhen you contribute\u2014its best\u2014from it
\nThen it shall be accounted\u2014for the Levites
\nAs the produce (yield)\u2014of the threshing\u2014floor
\nAnd as the produce (yield)\u2014of the wine-vat
\nG Offerings Consumed
\nThus you shall eat\u2014it\u2014in every place
\nYou\u2014and your household
\nFor a wage\u2014it is\u2014for you
\nExchange\u2014for your service\u2014
\nof the Tent of Meeting
\nA\u00b4\u00b4\u00b4\u00b4 Conclusion: But you shall not bear\u2014upon you\u2014the sin
\nwhen you contribute\u2014its best\u2014from it
\nand the holy things\u2014of the Israelites
\nNot\u2014you shall profane (pollute)\u2014\/\/\u2014& Not\u2014you shall die.<\/p>\n
(4) Red Heifer Ashes and the Waters of Purification (19:1\u201322)<\/p>\n
The conclusion to the second rebellion cycle, which focused on the rebellion of the Levites under Korah and the Reubenites, outlines special purification rites related to death. The ceremonial process of water purification rites outlined for the priests was extended to the common people in the subject of contact with the dead. Priests were rendered unclean by contact with the dead (Lev 21:1\u20133; 22:4\u20137), and Nazirites were restricted from contact with the dead (Num 6:6), lest they be rendered unclean and their period of sanctification be terminated. The common people became unclean if they touched anything ceremonially unclean, including a human corpse, and they were to live outside the camp during such periods of uncleanness (Lev 5:2\u20133; Num 5:2). Death carried a higher level of impurity, as is evidenced by the numerous ritual washings and bathings delineated both in the preparation phase and in the application procedures. Since death was such a common exposure for all persons, a special pragmatically feasible ritual was established for addressing this problem. Numbers 19 details the ritual purification process that would be continuously available to the people without having to sacrifice an animal every time there was a death in the family, so it facilitates the maintenance of a holy community of faith. Maintenance of purity and sanctity as a reflection of individual and community holiness in separation from the world\u2019s forces is important for all who desire a healthy relationship with a holy God. At this point in the history of revelation, the means of maintaining this relationship included a special ritual process.
\nThe positioning of this chapter after the challenge to the priesthood serves several purposes.
\nFirst, in chap. 18 the duties and responsibilities of priests and Levites were presented to ward off potential encroachment and sacrilege offenses against the Tent of Meeting. The present context outlines the select ritual for a specific source of uncleanness: that which results from the contact with a dead person or with property in the proximity of a recently deceased individual. In the overall structure of the Book of Numbers, the historical context of this ritual is that of the death of 14,700 in the plague that followed the Korah rebellion (16:36\u201340). Contact with or having proximity to the bodies of the nearly fifteen thousand dead would require a massive application of purification codes.
\nAnother connection between chap. 19 and chaps. 16\u201317 is the use of the key word l\u0101qa\u1e25, \u201ctake,\u201d in vv. 3, 4, 6, 17, 18. Korah had tried to take control of the priesthood with a group of rebels (16:1), but when they took their censers of burning incense to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, they were consumed by the earth (16:16\u201334). Then Aaron took his censer and stood between those being struck by the plague and the rest of the Israelites, preventing further death and destruction. In the confirmation of the priesthood, each of the representatives from the twelve tribes took their staffs and placed them in the Tent of Meeting, and the next day Aaron\u2019s staff had evidenced God\u2019s work on behalf of the Aaronic clan. In Yahweh\u2019s speech in 18:6 the divine directive is seen in the statement that he had taken the Levites from among the Israelites to serve the sanctuary and the priesthood. Then the Levites would take the tithe from the Israelites, which in turn God granted to them in compensation for their service. In the present chapter the Israelites are instructed to take a red heifer to Aaron (v. 2), who then gives it to Eleazar who slaughters it outside the camp and then takes some of the blood to be sprinkled at the entrance to the tabernacle. Then as the heifer is burning the priest takes the cedar, hyssop, and scarlet wool and tosses them on the sacrifice. Later in the ritual cleansing ceremony the priest takes some of the ashes and mixes them with water, and then a clean person takes some hyssop, dips it into the mixture, and sprinkles all the necessary household items and persons rendered unclean by exposure to death. Though some of these uses may seem mundane, collectively they present a contrast of usage between the initial usage in Korah\u2019s rebellious attempt to usurp the power of the priesthood and those occurrences that follow, each indicating the faithful response of the priests and people to the instructions from the Lord. Aaron and Eleazar have retaken control of the priesthood with divine imprimatur and impetus. As Ashley notes, \u201cThis chapter forms a fitting conclusion to the section on the causes and consequences of rebellion in chaps. 11\u201319. Death is the final consequence, but heirs of the promise may have fellowship with God by following the divinely given procedure here included.\u201d
\nSecond, in the cyclical structure of the Book of Numbers, this chapter provides the important section on \u201claws governing the community of faith.\u201d Later in Jewish history this passage would serve as the basis for a variety of applications of purification ritual beyond that of cleansing for the dead. A parallel passage is found in Deut 21:1\u201310, which details the community ritual for the expiation of sin and impurity caused by an unsolved murder or death. Third, this passage provided additional warning to future generations concerning the grave consequences of rebellion against the Lord, as their forefathers experienced in the wilderness.
\nLITERARY STRUCTURE. Scholars have traditionally divided the chapter into its two distinct movements, with the first focused on the ritual methods associated with the sacrifice of the red cow and the disposition of its ashes (chaps. 1\u201310) and the second on the application of the ashes in the ritual purification procedures (chaps. 1\u201322). Yet as Milgrom has rightly observed, literary analysis evidences a bifid or \u201cbinary\u201d structure, with the break in the text between vv. 13 and 14, with each section beginning with the phrase \u201cthis is the law\u201d (z\u014d\u02bet \u1e25\u016bqqat hatt\u00f4r\u00e2, \u201cthis is the statute of law\u201d in v. 2a, and z\u014d\u02bet hatt\u00f4r\u00e2, \u201cthis is the law\u201d in v. 14a). Note the following outline from Milgrom\u2019s \u201cExcursus 46: The Structure of Chapter 19\u201d:<\/p>\n
Panel A (19:2a\u201313)
\nPanel B (19:14\u201322)
\n\u201cThis is the ritual law\u201d (19:2a)
\n\u201cThis is the ritual\u201d (19:14a\/a)
\nPreparation of the ashes
\nTouching corpse or its derivatives
\nRenders impure (19:2b\u201310)
\nRenders impure (19:14\u201316)
\nPurification procedure (19:11\u201312)
\nPurification procedure (19:17\u201319)
\nPenalty for nonpurification (19:13)
\nPenalty for nonpurification (19:20)
\n\u201cLaw for all time\u201d (19:21a)
\n[Addition (21b\u201322)]<\/p>\n
Further parallel is seen in the concluding statements concerning the penalty for failure to adhere to the ritual requirements:<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026 does not cleanse himself
\n\u201c\u2026 fails to cleanse himself
\ndefiles the Lord\u2019s tabernacle
\nthat person will be cut off from the congregation
\nthat person will be cut off from Israel
\nfor he has defiled the Lord\u2019s sanctuary
\nSince the water of purification
\nThe water of purification
\nwas not dashed on him
\nwas not dashed on him
\nhe remains unclean\u201d (v. 13)
\nhe is unclean\u201d (v. 20)<\/p>\n
Several chiastic patterns are evident in both the micro and macro structures of this chapter, which both enhance the literary flavor of the material and contribute to the particular emphases made therein. Repetition of terms and phrases complete the stylistic features of this text. The following emphases emerge from the literary analysis. (1) Torah statute \/\/ perpetual statute: both sections of this chapter commence and are completed with equivalent phrases, highlighting that which was legally binding for both this generation in the wilderness and for the many generations to come. (2) Ritual ablutions: four types of cleansing and purification are outlined: sprinkling of blood, washing clothes, bathing of the body, sprinkling of unclean persons and objects. (3) Impurity of death: touching and even general proximity to the dead can render persons and objects unclean and therefore in need of ritual purification. If persons continue in their state of uncleanness, the sanctuary is in danger of defilement. Impurity is extremely pervasive. (4) Paradox of impurity: the handling of each element in the preparation of the ashes renders each person unclean until evening, yet ashes plus fresh water when sprinkled properly upon an unclean person renders them clean.
\nM. Douglas has outlined the Book of Numbers in a cyclical structure, which is based on alternating sections of story and law, to be read in \u201crungs\u201d of faith defilement, holy times, and purification. The law sections, such as chaps. 15; 18\u201319, develop in parallel fashion the theme of the constitution of the nation as a holy and undefiled people and define its prophetic destiny as the people of God in the midst of a defiled world. As a general overview, the parallel structure is outlined as follows:<\/p>\n
Numbers 15
\nStructural Theme
\nNumbers 18\u201319
\n15:1\u201321
\nA. Holy things for priests and Levites
\n18:1\u201332
\n15:22 29
\nB. Purification from unintended sin
\n19:1\u201319
\n15:30\u201336
\nC. Intention: deliberate sinners cut off
\n19:20
\n15:37\u201341
\nD. A statute forever perpetual
\n19:21\u201322<\/p>\n
This pattern of thematic analysis is fruitful, but it does not address the intricate poetic and rhetorical devices employed throughout these and the surrounding chapters, which are addressed in the following commentary.<\/p>\n
INTRODUCTION: DIVINE INSTRUCTION AND FIRST STATUTE (19:1\u20132a)<\/p>\n
1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron: 2 \u201cThis is a requirement of the law that the LORD has commanded:<\/p>\n
19:1\u20132a The chapter begins with an extended version of the introductory formula for divine instruction, way\u0115dabb\u0113r YHWH \u02beel-m\u014d\u0161eh w\u0115\u02beel-\u02beah\u0103r\u014dn l\u0113\u02bem\u014dr, \u201cand Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying \u2026\u201d \u201cThe inclusion of Aaron with Moses is most fitting in that the entire cycle has been devoted to matters of the priesthood and the tribe of Levi and in that chap. 19 focuses on matters related to purification. Further emphasis on the divine origin of this legislation is found in the second verse, with the statement that \u201cthis statute of Torah\u201d (z\u014d\u02bet \u1e25\u016bqqat hatt\u00f4r\u00e2) was commanded (\u1e63iww\u00e2) by Yahweh. The sequence of way\u0115dabb\u0113r and \u1e63iww\u00e2 is found elsewhere in the Book of Numbers to introduce some special legislation. The particular phrase z\u014d\u02bet \u1e25\u016bqqat hatt\u00f4r\u00e2 occurs only here and in 31:21, which addresses impurity from corpse contamination resulting from warfare. Exposure to death in warfare rendered one unclean for seven days. The abbreviated form, z\u014d\u02bet hatt\u00f4r\u00e2, introduces the latter section of this chapter, which deals with the application of the ordinances presented in the former.<\/p>\n
PREPARATION OF THE ASHES OF THE RED HEIFER (19:2b\u201310)<\/p>\n
Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without defect or blemish and that has never been under a yoke. 3 Give it to Eleazar the priest; it is to be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence. 4 Then Eleazar the priest is to take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the Tent of Meeting. 5 While he watches, the heifer is to be burned\u2014its hide, flesh, blood and offal. 6 The priest is to take some cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet wool and throw them onto the burning heifer. 7 After that, the priest must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water. He may then come into the camp, but he will be ceremonially unclean till evening. 8 The man who burns it must also wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he too will be unclean till evening.
\n9 \u201cA man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They shall be kept by the Israelite community for use in the water of cleansing; it is for purification from sin. 10 The man who gathers up the ashes of the heifer must also wash his clothes, and he too will be unclean till evening. This will be a lasting ordinance both for the Israelites and for the aliens living among them.<\/p>\n
19:2a\u20133 The process began with the selection of a quality red cow that was unblemished and that had never been harnessed with a yoke. The red cow (p\u0101r\u00e2 \u02be\u0103d\u016bmm\u00e2) was a roan or reddish brown color, the perfect quality of which was defined as \u201cunblemished\u201d and \u201cnever been under a yoke.\u201d Almost all sacrificial animals were required to be unblemished, having no observable physical deformities or surface defects that might indicate disease or genetic imperfection. The rabbinical interpretation extended the red and perfect (t\u0115m\u00eem\u00e2) characteristics to mean the cow in its entirety was of red color and not spotted, mottled, or blended with other colors. In the Israelite system all sacrificial animals had to be of such quality that they were potentially edible. In that the cow had never been yoked for farming or other physical tasks, it was probably young and strong. Ashley has suggested on the basis of 1 Sam 6:7 that the cow might have been previously calved, so the translation would not be entirely proper. Elsewhere the bull was sacrificed as a sin offering for the high priest and his family (Lev 4:3\u201312; 16:6, 11) or on behalf of the community as a whole (Lev 4:13\u201321), and so the female is specified here such that there be no confusion of purification agents or rituals. Additionally the cow would offer the maximum potential yield of purification ashes so the ritual need not be repeated as often. The redness of the cow reflected the color of blood, as did the other sacrificial elements burned with the cow. Finally, the female of a given species is usually indicated as the animal of choice for a sin offering by an average individual (Lev 4:27\u20135:6).
\nWhen the qualified cow had been selected, it was then presented to Eleazar, the priest and son of Aaron. Why would Eleazar be chosen instead of Aaron? Several reasons have been suggested. First, Aaron was the high priest, and all caution was taken to ensure that the high priest not become unclean so as to render him unqualified to perform regular ritual activities prescribed for him. The high priest was not to defile himself by going near a corpse, even that of his mother or father (Lev 21:11). Second, this ordinance was directed not only to the present but also to future generations. Aaron was now aging and would soon die in the latter stage of the forty-year wilderness experience (Num 20:22\u201329). Also this preparation took place outside the camp, the normal realm of uncleanness where persons having skin diseases and other infirmities were remanded. The high priest was prohibited from going outside the sanctuary, lest he potentially return with some unknown or inadvertent impurity (Lev 21:12). As the next in charge of the priestly corps, Eleazar escorted the cow outside the proximity of the tabernacle and then outside the camp of the twelve tribes of Israel to a designated area for the enactment of the ritual preparation. The cow was ritually slaughtered by another individual in the presence of Eleazar (l\u0115p\u0101n\u0101yw), thereby indicating priestly supervision of the slaughtering and other ritual preparation of the ashes.
\n19:4\u20136 As the blood dripped from the neck of the cow, Eleazar dipped his fingers into the blood and sprinkled it seven times in the direction of the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, which was often the location of revelatory activity (Num 12:5; 16:18). So from the eastern outskirts the priest would splash the blood toward the west with the flick of his fingers, and hence also toward the altar where blood was normally poured out or sprinkled. The repetition of the act seven times, the number of completeness, parallels this activity with other sin or purification offerings, such as the sprinkling of the blood inside the Holy Place on the Day of Atonement (Lev 16:14\u201319; cf. Lev 4:6, 17).
\nThe cow was burned in its entirety, including the \u201coffal\u201d or that which was contained within the stomach and intestines, but not including any excrement that might have exuded from the animal and thus have contributed contaminants to the offering or the procedures. This process and elements were very similar to that carried out on the bull of the sin offering of the priest or the community (Lev 4:11, 21) or in the cleansing of the leper in which the identical items are used in the sprinkling process but are not burned (Lev 14:3\u20139). Eleazar is commanded to take red cedar wood, crimson wool, and hyssop and cast them on the burning red cow. Only here in all of the offerings is the blood of the sacrificial victim burned on the altar. The burning of the blood with the remainder of the animal enhanced the purifying efficacy of the ashes, which were gathered from the ground after the total incineration of the carcass. The red, bloodlike color of the additional burned elements, the crimson red woolen material and the reddish cedar wood, also contributed to the visible imagery and hence to the detergent capacity of the ashes. The plant species translated \u201chyssop\u201d was probably not the Greek huss\u014dpos (from which the English was derived), which was not native to this region. The plant known in the Hebrew as \u02be\u0113z\u00f4b is believed to have been either marjoram, sage, or thyme, the leaves of which are very absorbent.
\n19:7\u20138 One of the repetitious features of the sacrifice of the red cow was the number of washings and bathings that took place during the ritual preparation process and later in the application of the ash and water mixture. This is paralleled by the number of ritual ablutions that took place on the Day of Atonement (Lev 16:4, 24, 26, 28). All persons involved in the preparation of the ashes, who had by prescription entered the process in a ritually pure state (\u1e6d\u0101h\u00f4r), had to bathe their bodies and wash their clothes because of contamination or impurity contracted during the performance of their assigned tasks. The priest (Eleazar) who carried out the slaughtering and sprinkling (v. 7), the assistant who burned the cow (v. 8), and the one who gathered and stored the ashes (v. 10) would be rendered unclean by their touching of this purification (sin) offering\u2014the red cow ashes. But this was a lesser state of uncleanness than one who would touch a dead body. After taking the prescribed ritual bath, they would remain unclean just until evening. After washing and bathing they were permitted to reenter the camp, though they would remain in a state of uncleanness until sundown. After sundown, their period of impurity satisfied, they could fully reenter the realm of the community purity and holiness.
\n19:9\u201310a The ashes were carefully collected by a ritually clean person into a clean vessel and stored in a clean location outside the camp for safe-keeping until they were needed. The term translated \u201ckept\u201d (mi\u0161meret) may have a more emphatic meaning here, that of \u201csafeguarding service\u201d similar to the usage in Num 3:28\u201338 and 4:27\u201332. Those responsible would ensure the purifying ashes were carefully stored in a ritually pure container, placed in a clean locale, and guarded against any contamination that would render them useless for further application.
\nThe ashes were safeguarded for use in the water of cleansing for purification from sin or other form of impurity. The \u201cwater of cleansing\u201d (m\u00ea nidd\u00e2, \u201cwaters of removal\u201d) would be made efficacious for ritual cleansing by the addition of the ashes of the red cow and other burned products that were also cleansing agents. In a very real sense the purification property of blood and other reagents was reconstituted when the fresh (\u201cliving\u201d) waters were added, making the mixture ready for sprinkling as a purification offering.
\n19:10b In future generations this purification offering and ritual would be one of the more commonly applied purification offerings because of the continual potentiality of becoming unclean due to the death of someone in the family, of a neighbor, or of a sojourner in the land. This statement is concluded by the phrase \u201cperpetual statute\u201d (\u1e25\u016bqqat \u02bf\u00f4l\u0101m), as is the second section of the book (v. 21). Hence the heretofore prescribed process of preparing the ashes was a perpetual statute for the future generations of Israel. As with other expressions of community faith, the ritual guidelines applied to both the native Israelite and to resident aliens. Previously in the Book of Numbers, other such legislation was equally applied in the areas of Passover celebration (9:14), offerings made by fire (15:14\u201315), offerings for inadvertent sins (15:26, 29), and sins of a high hand (15:30). Again the openness of Israelite ritual law to resident aliens who desired to identify with the community of faith stands in contrast to some other religious practices in the Ancient Near East. For example, Hittite temple ritual prohibited foreigners from bringing anything to the gods or even approaching the gods.
\nFinally, there are important parallels between the rituals associated with the dead outlined in Num 19:1\u201310 and Deut 21:1\u201310. In Deuteronomy the focus is on the absolution of community guilt in the case of an unsolved murder. The elders of the city nearest where the slain person was discovered would wash their hands over a heifer which was taken into a valley with flowing water and killed by breaking its neck. Note the following parallels:<\/p>\n
Deut 21:1\u201310
\nNum 19:1\u201310
\nAssociation with death
\nAssociation with death
\n1. Heifer \/ cow
\n1. Red heifer \/ cow
\n2. Without defect or blemish
\n2. Not worked nor worn the yoke
\n3. Never worn the yoke by Eleazar
\n3. Taken to flowing stream in valley
\n4. Taken outside the camp
\n4. Heifer killed\u2014elders break neck
\n5. Heifer sacrificed by Eleazar
\n5. Levitical priests oversee \/ bless \/ settle
\n6. Eleazar sprinkles blood seven times toward front of Tent of Meeting (tabernacle)
\n7. Heifer burned totally, including blood
\n6. Elders ritually wash hands over dead cow
\n8. Ritual bathing of priest and clothes, unclean
\n7. Pray God atone for innocent blood
\n9. Ashes of heifer stored later mixed with water for ritual purification of death<\/p>\n
GENERAL RULE FOR APPLING RED HEIFER ASHES (19:11\u201313)<\/p>\n
11 \u201cWhoever touches the dead body of anyone will be unclean for seven days. 12 He must purify himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third and seventh days, he will not be clean. 13 Whoever touches the dead body of anyone and fails to purify himself defiles the LORD\u2019S tabernacle. That person must be cut off from Israel. Because the water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on him, he is unclean; his uncleanness remains on him.<\/p>\n
19:11\u201313 In the customary Pentateuchal pattern, the halakhic legislation begins with a general statement of the guidelines for applying the purification offering of the red cow, and then details of the application procedures are delineated. The questions of Who? What? Why? How? and What if \/ if not? are set forth in rudimentary fashion.<\/p>\n
Who?
\nAnyone who comes into contact with a dead person\u2019s body
\nWhy?
\nRenders unclean, ritually impure for seven days
\nHow?
\nPurification with water of cleansing on third and seventh days
\nWhat if\/not?
\nFailure to comply renders one impure; defiles sanctuary Anyone who remains impure must be cut off from the community<\/p>\n
The literary structure of this section unfolds as follows:<\/p>\n
A Touching the dead renders one unclean seven days (19:11)
\nB Purification on third and seventh days makes one clean (19:12)
\nB\u00b4 Failure to purify on third and seventh days >> unclean
\nA\u00b4 One who touches the dead [=unclean] (19:13)
\nB\u00b4\u00b4 Failure to purify
\nC Defiles the sanctuary
\nC\u00b4 Must be cut off from Israel
\nB\u00b4\u00b4\u00b4 Failure to purify: Waters of cleansing not applied
\nA\u00b4\u00b4 Uncleanness remains<\/p>\n
Several key issues can be discerned from this structure. First, uncleanness that comes from contact with the dead carries with it a high level of impurity. As Ashley notes, \u201cThis double application of the waters may have indicated the seriousness of the pollution of contact with a corpse.\u201d The time period of the impurity states the common maximum length for persons who have become unclean. Yet with some forms of impurity, such as contact with the red cow during the preparation process, one is rendered impure only until sundown. Second, emphasis on matters related to uncleanness abounds. In these three verses the Hebrew term for \u201cunclean\u201d (\u1e6d\u0101m\u0113\u02be) occurs four times versus only two times for the term for \u201cclean\u201d (\u1e6d\u0101h\u00f4r). Third, the seriousness of this impurity is heightened by the focus of each of the chiastic structures in this section. The variant in the center of v. 12 is the issue of compliance or noncompliance with the purification rites. In the second cycle of v. 13 only the matter of noncompliance is addressed, and the focal point is that of the consequence for failure to undergo the ritual cleansing.<\/p>\n
SECOND STATUTE: APPLYING THE WATERS OF PURIFICATION FOR DEATH IMPURITY (19:14\u201322)<\/p>\n
14 \u201cThis is the law that applies when a person dies in a tent: Anyone who enters the tent and anyone who is in it will be unclean for seven days, 15 and every open container without a lid fastened on it will be unclean.
\n16 \u201cAnyone out in the open who touches someone who has been killed with a sword or someone who has died a natural death, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.
\n17 \u201cFor the unclean person, put some ashes from the burned purification offering into a jar and pour fresh water over them. 18 Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop, dip it in the water and sprinkle the tent and all the furnishings and the people who were there. He must also sprinkle anyone who has touched a human bone or a grave or someone who has been killed or someone who has died a natural death. 19 The man who is clean is to sprinkle the unclean person on the third and seventh days, and on the seventh day he is to purify him. The person being cleansed must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and that evening he will be clean. 20 But if a person who is unclean does not purify himself, he must be cut off from the community, because he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. The water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on him, and he is unclean. 21 This is a lasting ordinance for them.
\n\u201cThe man who sprinkles the water of cleansing must also wash his clothes, and anyone who touches the water of cleansing will be unclean till evening. 22 Anything that an unclean person touches becomes unclean, and anyone who touches it becomes unclean till evening.\u201d<\/p>\n
19:14a The second section of the chapter begins with the abbreviated form of the phrase that introduced the legislation in the chapter that defined the preparation of the ashes and the general guidelines governing its usage. \u201cThis is the Torah\u201d (z\u014d\u02bet hatt\u00f4r\u00e2, \u201cThis is the instruction\u201d) commences the specific areas of application of the purification offering of the ashes of the red cow. This section divides into four parts: (1) answers the questions as to who, what, and how uncleanness is contracted (vv. 14\u201316), (2) addresses the issue of procedure in rectifying the uncleanness state (vv. 17\u201319), (3) affirms the consequences of noncompliance (v. 20), and (4) asserts the matter of cleansing for the person who carries out the ritual cleansing process.
\n19:14b\u201316 The two realms of life in which this form of uncleanness may be contracted are examined, the interior, the tent or dwelling place and the exterior, the open field. Within the dwelling place, the tent being the most applicable in the wilderness setting, everyone and everything openly exposed to the death within the tent was rendered unclean for seven days. Those attending the person who died, anyone within the dwelling place, and anyone who enters while the dead body is lying within is rendered impure and must undergo the ritual cleansing process. Vessels containing food or other commodities that had been left uncovered when the person died or even opened after the death occurred contracted the impurity of death. This stipulation is parallel to that of Lev 11:32\u201334, which prescribes the destruction of a vessel and its contents, which have become unclean as a result of contact with a dead unclean animal.
\nIn the open field (lit. \u201cupon the face of the field\u201d) or perhaps simply \u201coutside,\u201d one may contract the uncleanness of death through one of the following means: (1) physical contact with someone who has been slain by a sword, (2) touching someone who has died in the open field while working or walking along a road or path, (3) handling bones (or even a single bone) from human remains of someone whose death and decay may have gone unnoticed for a considerable length of time, or (4) contact with a grave, whether it be a cemetery or cave. Contact may have been intentional, such as when a soldier or other person attended an injured person after a battle or when carrying a dead body to the proper burial site, or one may have stumbled accidently upon a body or bones while traveling through an overgrown field or through a forest. Each of the cases rendered the person or vessel unclean for seven days.
\n19:17\u201319 The purification procedures involved a three-stage process, the making of the purification mixture, the sprinkling of the unclean person, and the cleansing of the one performing the purification ritual. The person performing the ceremonial cleansing or decontamination process must simply be one who is ritually clean; it does not necessarily involve the application or oversight by a priest, who was a necessary attendant to the process of preparation of the ashes. The mixture of ashes from the red cow, hyssop, cedar, and crimson wool were placed in a bowl, and fresh (lit. \u201cliving,\u201d \u1e25ayy\u00eem) water was then added to the ashes making a muddy looking emulsion. The agent would then take some leaves of marjoram, dip it into the mixture, and then sprinkle it upon the tent exterior and interior, upon the open vessels that had been rendered unclean, upon the persons who were within the tent when the person died as well as those who entered afterward, and\/or upon the person who has come in contact with a dead body in a field. Emphasis is given to the manner of sprinkling by means of the waters over the items to be cleansed by the movement of the arm and hand, highlighted by the fourfold use of the preposition \u02bfal (\u201cupon\u201d), which is then followed by the fourfold list of the exterior contaminating contacts. Two Hebrew terms are used for describing the distribution of the waters of purification over the unclean person or objects, and they are used in vv. 13, 18, 19, 20 in chiastic structure, which emphasizes the sprinkling application. Note the order below in that the term z\u014draq is used for the sprinkling process in the exclusionary cases because of noncompliance, and hizz\u00e2 is used in the case of active sprinkling for purification:<\/p>\n
v. 13
\nz\u014draq, \u201csprinkling,\u201d exclusion because the waters were not \u201cpoured\/sprinkled\u201d on the unclean
\nv. 18
\nhizz\u00e2 purification by \u201csprinkling\u201d the waters upon persons and objects
\nv. 19
\nhizz\u00e2 purification by \u201csprinkling\u201d the waters on third and seventh days
\nv. 20
\nz\u014draq, \u201csprinkling,\u201d exclusion of defiled persons for not having waters \u201cpoured\/sprinkled\u201d on them<\/p>\n
This structure adds further emphasis to the need for carrying out the ritual sprinkling procedures. Presumably, those unclean vessels that were purified in the process would then be washed to complete their purification.
\nThe order of the exterior elements of v. 18, which repeat those from v. 16, create another simple chiastic construction as follows A B C D::D B A C:<\/p>\n
A pierced
\nB dead
\nC bone
\nD grave
\nC bone
\nA pierced
\nB dead
\nD grave<\/p>\n
The application of the waters of purification were to be performed on the third and seventh days of the period of uncleanness. Again the seven-day period of impurity parallels that prescribed for Nazirites who had become unclean by contact with the dead (Num 6:9) and for those having various skin diseases such as psoriasis or leprosy (Lev 13:5; 14:9; 15:13). Each of those, however, prescribed a sacrificial act on the eighth day following the week-long separation. Also unlike the purification rituals for the leper and one having a bodily discharge, this passage does not delineate a requirement that the person be separated from the community for the duration of their uncleanness. They would not be allowed to mingle regularly with the ritually pure public. In fact the family would generally mourn for at least the seven-day period, but it apparently was not required that they be excluded from the camp.
\nAt the conclusion of the ritual sprinkling of the ashes and water mixture, the previously clean person who had applied the purifying potion was to undergo the same ritual bathing process as the priest and his assistants who prepared and gathered the ashes (vv. 7, 8, 10). That person would wash his garments, then bathe himself with pure water, yet remain in a state of uncleanness until sundown. Then he could reclothe himself with the purified garments, and he could be deemed as clean and able to participate in the holiness of the community.
\n19:20 In parallel with v. 13, the gravity of noncompliance with the purification ritual requirements is emphasized by repetition. This pattern of setting forth casuistic law is common in Leviticus and Numbers. In v. 13 the excommunication and extermination penalty was exacted as being away from the nation Israel (miyyi\u015br\u0101\u02be\u0113l), whereas in v. 20 the exclusion from the midst of the congregational assembly (mitt\u00f4k haqq\u0101h\u0101l) is in focus. The parallelism in the literary structure and in the content of each of the verses would suggest these are equivalent statements. Death brings with it a heightened degree of impurity, but God provided a simple means of reconciliation through the sprinkling of water mixed with ashes. Failure to submit to his statutes in faith, simply by following the prescribed process outlined in this chapter, resulted in the continued defilement of the individual. The contamination also reached inward toward the tabernacle, which was at the heart and center of the community life and well-being.
\n19:21\u201322 A summary statement recapitulates the basic principles of uncleanness caused by contact with the purifying agents. It is introduced by the reiteration of the phrase found in the concluding statement of the first section of the chapter (v. 10b), that these stipulations remain a perpetual statute throughout the generations of Israel. The person who performed the ritual sprinkling and the one on whom the ritual was performed would wash their garments and then bathe themselves, but both would remain unclean until evening. In fact, anyone who would come into contact with the waters of purification would be rendered unclean and thus be required to undergo the ritual cleansing procedure. Any such persons rendered unclean, and who had endured the ritual cleansing process, would remain unclean until sundown. Furthermore, anything those persons touched prior to sundown would also become unclean, and so they would need to remain in a state of virtual isolation until sundown so as to not contaminate other persons or objects.
\nIn conclusion, the writer of the Book of Hebrews compared the cleansing a person received by application of the ashes of the red heifer to that of the cleansing efficacy of the blood of Jesus Christ, noting that the work of Christ ultimately superseded that of the Old Testament purification rituals. The ashes of the red heifer could only cleanse the outward man, \u201cfor the purifying of the flesh\u201d (NKJV), but the blood of Christ accomplished the cleansing of the conscience, the inward man. Jesus accomplished this purification act, once and for all, so that we might be delivered from that which leads to death, and instead live to serve him, the living God (Heb 9:13\u201314).<\/p>\n
LITERARY BIFID STRUCTURE OF NUMBERS 19<\/p>\n
Introduction: Divine Instruction (v. 1)
\nA \u201cThis is the statute of Torah\u201d (v. 2a) Which Yahweh commanded saying, \u201cSpeak to the Israelites.\u201d
\nA\u00b4 \u201cThis is the Torah\u201d (v. 14a)
\nB Preparation of the Ashes: Uncleanness (vv. 2b\u201310a)
\nPresentation and Slaughtering (vv. 2b\u20133)
\n1. TAKE\u2014They shall\u2014to you a perfect red cow (v. 2b) w\/o blemish\u2014which a yoke has not been put on it
\n2. You shall give it to Eleazar the priest
\n3. He will bring it outside the camp
\n4. He shall slaughter it before him
\nB\u00b4 Unclean Entities (vv. 14b\u201316)
\n1. A man\u2014who dies\u2014in a tent (v. 14) Any one\u2014who enters\u2014the tent Any one\u2014[who is] in the tent He shall be unclean for seven days
\n2. Any open vessel upon which no lid (v. 15) Unclean\u2014it is
\n3. Anyone\u2014who touches\u2014in open field (v. 16) One pierced by a sword
\nOr dead person or human bones
\nOr a grave
\nUnclean seven days
\nBlood and Burning (vv. 4\u20136)
\n1. Eleazar the priest shall take some blood w\/ his fingers (v. 4)
\n2. He shall sprinkle toward opening of Tent of Meeting some of the blood seven times
\n3. He shall burn the cow before his eyes (v. 5) with its hide, its flesh, its blood concerning its refuse he shall burn
\n4. The priest shall TAKE\u2014cedar, hyssop, scarlet wool (v. 6) and cast into the midst of the burning cow
\nBathing and Washing (vv. 7\u20138)
\n1. Then he shall wash\u2014his clothes >> the priest (v. 7) and bathe\u2014his flesh\u2014with water
\n2. Afterward he may enter the camp So unclean\u2014is the priest\u2014until evening
\n3. Also the one who burns it (v. 8) He shall wash\u2014his clothes\u2014with water Bathe\u2014his flesh (body)\u2014with water So he is unclean\u2014until evening
\nSafe-Keeping of the Ashes (v. 9)
\n1. Gather\u2014a clean (pure) man\u2014the ash of the cow
\n2. Set Aside\u2014outside of the camp\u2014in a place clean (pure)
\n3. So it Shall Be\u2014for the assembly of the children of Israel for it is service of the waters of purification for sin
\nBathing and Washing (abbreviated) (v. 10a)
\n1. So he will wash\u2014one who gathers the ashes\u2014his clothes and he is unclean until evening
\nC\u00b4 Specific Purification Procedures (vv. 17\u201319)
\n1. They shall take\u2014for the unclean one (v. 17) Some ash of burned purification offering Put on it living\/fresh water\u2014in a vessel
\n2. Then clean person shall take hyssop (v. 18)
\nDip in water\u2014\/\/\u2014and He shall sprinkle
\nUpon the tent
\nand upon all vessels
\nand upon the persons there
\nand upon one touching
\non bone(s)
\non one pierced
\non a dead person
\non a grave
\nC Perpetual Statute (v. 10b)
\n1. So it shall be\u2014for the children of Israel and for the sojourner sojourning among you For a perpetual statute
\nD General Rule: Purification Procedures (vv. 11\u201312)
\n1. One who Touches\u2014when dead\u2014any human body (v. 11) He shall be unclean\u2014seven days
\n2. He\u2014will purify himself\u2014on third day and seventh day\u2014he will be clean (v. 12)
\n2\u00b4. IF NOT\u2014he purifies himself\u2014on third day and seventh day NOT\u2014he will be clean
\n3. A Clean person shall sprinkle (v. 19) Upon the unclean person on third and seventh days and Purify him on the seventh day
\nHe shall wash his clothes
\nbathe with water
\nHe will be clean in the evening
\nE 1\u00b4 Anyone who Touches a corpse, a body that died (v. 13) and DOES NOT purify himself
\nThe sanctuary of YHWH\u2014he defiles
\nand that man SHALL BE CUT OFF\u2014from Israel
\nBecause waters of purification were not poured on him
\nUnclean\u2014he is
\nStill his uncleanness is in him
\nE\u00b4 BUT a man who is Unclean (v. 20) and DOES NOT purify himself
\nHe shall be CUT OFF from assembly
\nFor the sanctuary of YHWH\u2014he defiles
\nFor waters of purification were not poured on him
\nHe is unclean
\nD\u00b4 Perpetual Statute (vv. 21\u201322)
\nSo it shall be for them perpetual statute (v. 21)
\nOne who sprinkles the waters of purification he shall wash his clothes and one who touches the waters of purification
\nshall be unclean until evening and anyone who touches unclean is unclean (v. 22)
\nand the person who touches [it] is unclean until evening<\/p>\n
3. Rebellion C: From Zin to Moab\u2014The Rebellion and Replacement of Moses (20:1\u201325:18)<\/p>\n
The third rebellion cycle encompasses a wide variety of material with the most enigmatic structure of all seven cycles in the Book of Numbers. The historical setting involves a series of movements from the Wilderness of Zin to the borders of Edom and into the Plains of Moab, during which there are triumphs and tragedies as well as victories and defeats. Instead of referencing the nation by the usual listing of the twelve tribes, the Israelites are viewed en masse using a new phraseology, \u201cthe children of Israel, the whole congregation\u201d (20:1, 22). Matters related to the priests and Levites are subsumed under the priestly and prophetic activity of the prophet-diviner Balaam, that is, until the end of the cycle when Eleazar\u2019s son Phinehas rises to the occasion as a defender of the faith. A structured set of laws governing the community of faith is lacking, though implicitly a series of halakhic issues emerge out of the incident involving the bronze servant and the Balaam oracles. Rather, this cycle includes a series of blessings upon the community of faith through the oracles of Balaam.
\nBuilding upon Wenham\u2019s observation of a general pattern in the three travelogues of Exodus-Numbers, which recount the travels in stages from Egypt and the Red Sea to Mount Sinai (Exod 12:29\u201319:25), from Mount Sinai to Kadesh (Num 10:11\u201312:16), and from Kadesh to the Plains of Moab opposite Jericho (Num 20:1\u201321:35), the following structural outline results. The recurring pattern in these two chapters is as follows: (1) historical event, (2) people\u2019s murmuring, (3) God provides, and (4) persons punished. Parts (3) and (4) are reversed in chap. 21. The common elements include: victory over Israel\u2019s enemies; journey march in stages; complaints and grumbling of the people concerning food and water; songs of victory; manifestation of the Glory of God; miraculous provisions; judgment from God; leadership through Moses, Aaron, and Miriam; and the need for faith.
\nMilgrom has delineated the two parallel units of material in Num 20:1\u201329 and 21:1\u201335 to demonstrate the literary contrast being made between the \u201cFailure of the Leaders\u201d in the former and the \u201cFailure and Deliverance of the People\u201d in the latter. The pivotal point in these two chapters is when the people cry out to the Lord for deliverance and he grants great victory. Milgrom outlines the material as follows:<\/p>\n
Failure of the Leaders (chap. 20)
\nFailure and Deliverance of the People (chap. 21)
\nA Miriam\u2019s Death (v. 1)
\nB People murmur for water (vv. 2\u20136) and leaders rebel vs. God (vv. 9\u201311a)
\nC God provides water (vv. 11b, 7\u20138)
\nD Leaders punished (vv.12\u201329)
\n1. No entry (vv. 12\u201313)
\n2. No passage (vv. 14\u201321)
\n3. Aaron\u2019s death (vv. 23\u201329)
\nA\u00b4 Victory over the Canaanites (vv. 1\u20133)
\nB People murmur for water and they rebel vs. God (vv. 4\u20135)
\nC\u00b4 People punished (v. 6)
\nD\u00b4 God shows mercy to Israel (vv. 7\u201335)
\n1. He heals (vv. 7\u20139)
\n2. He provides water (vv. 16\u201318)
\n3. Three victories vs. Amorites (vv. 21\u201335)<\/p>\n
Each of these sections is bracketed by an inclusio; in the first it is death, and in the second it is victory. Concerning the arrangement of the material, Milgrom concludes that it \u201cis not haphazard but follows a structural scheme that is both aesthetic and logical. It reveals symmetry and purpose and, viewed as a whole and from a distance, satisfactorily resolves all the apparent problems that characterize the text when it is viewed from up close as a series of discrete parts.\u201d
\nA comparison of the three journey passages evidences very different development of themes and didactic purposes. In the Exodus narrative victories over the Egyptians and the Amalekites and the manifestation of the glory and power of God bring deliverance, hope, and blessing to Israel. Despite their complaints, God is gracious in faithfully providing for the needs of the people along their desert journey. Moses, Aaron, and Miriam provide dedicated leadership to the nation and challenge them to faithfulness in God. Yahweh the Warrior fought for Israel against the Amalekites, one of those peoples who would become one of the archenemies of God and his people. There is no judgment of the people until later in Exodus in the aftermath of the idolatry involving the gold calf. In the second journey narrative, the tenor is decisively different.<\/p>\n
Excursus: The Journey Motif in Exodus and Numbers<\/p>\n
Journey I
\nJourney II
\nJourney III
\nEgypt to Mount Sinai
\nMount Sinai to Kadesh
\nKadesh to Moab Plains
\nExod 12:29\u201319:25
\nNum 10:11\u201314:45
\nNum 20:1\u201321:35
\nV Vs. Egypt (12:29\u201342)
\nM Succoth\u2014Red Sea (13:17\u201314:9)
\nC Egyptian Army Advance (14:10\u201312)
\nL\/F Moses Appeals for Israel to Believe (14:13)
\nV Vs. Egypt (14:14\u201331)
\nG Glory of Lord Manifested in Pillar Cloud and Angel of God (14:19\u201325)
\nF Israel Saw and Believed (14:31)
\nS Moses and Miriam (15:1\u201321)
\nM Red Sea to Shur Desert (15:22)
\nC Bitter Waters\u2014Marah (15:22\u201324)
\nP Waters Made Sweet (15:25)
\nF Faith Challenge (15:26)
\nM Elim and Sin Desert (15:27\u201316:1)
\nC Food Supply (16:2\u20133)
\nG Glory of Lord in Cloud (16:10)
\nP Manna and Quail (16:11\u201336)
\nM Sin Desert to Rephidim (17:1)
\nC No Water (17:2\u20133)
\nL Moses Intercedes (17:4)
\nP Water at Meribah \/ Massah (17:5\u20137)
\nV Vs. Amalekites (17:8\u201316)
\nL Moses and Jethro (18:1\u201327)
\nM Rephidim to Mount Sinai (19:1\u20132)
\nG Glory of Lord at Mount Sinai (19:3\u201325)
\nM Mount Sinai to Paran Desert (10:11\u201334)
\nS Moses\u2019 Song of Victory
\nC General Complaint (11:1a)
\nJ Fiery Judgment (11:1b)
\nL Moses Intercedes\u2014Fire Recedes (11:2)
\nC Complaint about Food (11:4\u20139)
\nL Moses Intercedes w\/ Complaint (11:10\u201323)
\nG Lord Descends in Cloud\u2014Spirit upon Elders (11:24\u201330)
\nP Provision of Quail (11:31\u201333)
\nJ Plague Strikes\u2014Kibroth Hataavah (11:33\u201334)
\nM Kibroth Hataavah to Hazeroth
\nC Miriam and Aaron Vs. Moses (12:1\u20132)
\nL Moses Most Humble (12:3)
\nG Lord Descends in Cloud (12:4\u20135)
\nS Song about Moses (12:6\u20138)
\nJ Miriam Struck w\/Leprous Disease (12:9)
\nL Aaron to Moses, Moses to God (12:10\u201313)
\nP Healing but Isolation for Miriam (12:14\u201315)
\nM Hazeroth to Paran Desert (12:16)
\nL Moses Sends Spies (13:1\u201316)
\nF Assess the Quality of the Land (13:17\u201325)
\nF Report: Good and Bad Challenge of Faith (13:26\u201333)
\nC Fear of the Ten Spies and Israel (14:1\u20134)
\nL\/F Moses and Aaron, Joshua and Caleb Intercede; Faith Challenge (14:5\u20139)
\nG Glory of Lord Appears (14:10)
\nL Moses Intercedes (14:11\u201319)
\nG Glory of Lord Promised (14:20\u201322)
\nJ Judgment vs. Unfaithful (14:23\u201338)
\n*V* Defeated by Amalekites (14:39\u201345)
\nM Arrival at Kadesh (20:1a)
\nL Miriam Dies (20:1b)
\nC No Water (20:2\u20135)
\nL Moses and Aaron Intercede (20:6a)
\nG Glory of Lord\u2014Instructions Given to Speak to Rock (20:6b\u20138)
\nL Moses [and Aaron] Strikes Rock (20:9\u201311)
\nJ Judgment vs. Moses and Aaron (20:12\u201313)
\nM Journey through Edom Denied; Travel to Mount Hor (20:14)
\nL Death and Burial of Aaron (20:22\u201329)
\nV Vs. Arad (21:1\u20133)
\nM Mount Hor around Edom (21:4)
\nC No Food or Water (21:5)
\nJ Fiery Serpents (21:6)
\nF People Appeal and Repent to Moses (21:7)
\nL Moses Makes Bronze Serpent (21:8\u20139)
\nM Oboth to Land of Moab and Amorites (21:10\u201313)
\nS Songs of Victory in Transjordan (21:14\u201318a)
\nM Mattanah\u2014to Pisgah; Request Passage through Amorite Land (21:18b\u201320)
\nV Vs. Amorite Sihon of Heshbon (21:21\u201326)
\nS Song of Victory vs. Amorites (21:27\u201330)
\nM Journey to Bashan (21:31a)
\nV Vs. Og of Bashan (21:31b\u201335)
\nM Plains of Moab (22:1)
\nV God vs. Balaam: Cursing turned to Blessing (22:2\u201324:25)<\/p>\n
The account of the departure from Mount Sinai begins on a positive note, with Moses telling Hobab that God has promised good things for Israel, and Moses sings a song of the victory march with Yahweh leading the nation forth and vanquishing their enemies. But the account quickly turns sour as the people complain in an ever-increasing manner and rapidity. Each case then is followed by the meting out of judgment upon the rebellious lot. The first time the Lord descends upon the people, the results are beneficial, for the seventy elders are endowed with the Spirit and prophesy. Miriam and Aaron then contend with Moses over the leadership status held by the prophet, and judgment upon Miriam ensues. The second time the glory of God descends it is for judgment, bringing a message of death and destruction (14:10b\u201312). Moses rises to the occasion as the intercessor for Israel, and most of the people are saved from immediate death. God\u2019s glory, his reputation, among the nations is at stake, and the full manifestation of his glory would one day come. At the conclusion of this journey narrative, the Israelites are defeated by the Amalekites, a people they had defeated in the first journey account.
\nThe third journey narrative contains an admixture of gloom and hope. Miriam dies, Moses and Aaron rebel, and then Aaron dies. The Israelites are denied passage though the region east of the Arabah by Edom, yet they are victorious against the Canaanites at Arad, and then later against Sihon of the Amorites at Heshbon and against Og of Bashan. Songs are composed to declare God\u2019s fighting on behalf of his people Israel. Yet Moses\u2019 rebellion in striking the rock, violating the holiness of God, had reverberating repercussions through the extended narrative. He was denied entry into the Promised Land, punished like the rebellious first generation that rejected the land. God uses a pagan divination expert named Balaam, against the will of this prophet for hire, to pronounce gloriously the wonder of the God of Israel and his beneficence.
\nThe two key individuals of this cycle fall into the seditious pattern of the nation: Moses and Balaam. Moses\u2019 defiance in striking the rock, thereby violating the holiness of God, represents the final collapse of the seditious nation; the greatest of the prophets has joined in the rejection of God\u2019s sovereignty over the lives of his people. The pagan prophet Balaam on the other hand moves from a rebellious sorcerer to an obedient servant, even if against his own will and the will of his employer, Balak of Moab. In the beginning Moses\u2019 sister Miriam dies, and then following Moses\u2019 profaning act and Edom\u2019s denial of passage of Israel, Aaron dies. Only a few still remained from the aging adult generation of Israel that experienced God\u2019s dramatic saving activity in the Exodus. After a brief victory at Arad, the community repeats its pattern of rebellion, only to be saved by looking upon a bronze serpent mounted on a pole. But the journey motif quickly resumes, and they travel through the Plains of Moab, in which God gives victories over Sihon and Og of the Amorites in Heshbon and Bashan respectively. After these victories the scene changes dramatically.
\nBalaam, the pagan sorcerer of Mesopotamian origin, whom one might expect to rebel against the God of Israel (and he does), now becomes an unexpected spokesman for God. Moses is silent in the narrative. Yet even if the most faithful, devoted leader of the people of God should fall into sin, God will use whatever resource is necessary to communicate with and for his people. Jesus said in response to the Pharisees who requested that his disciples be rebuked, \u201cI tell you if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.\u201d That a donkey should be the most spiritually observant character in this section stands in sharp contradistinction to the nations and the individual leaders, a slap in the face toward any humanly originated means of conceiving of God and his ways. God will ultimately accomplish his will by whatever means and agency necessary. What echoes from the mouth of this most unusual servant of God are some of the most extraordinary words of praise for God and his purpose for his people. Reversal of fortunes reverberates through several episodes of the story: a persistent pagan prophet learns from a donkey, a Moabite king\u2019s desires are thwarted by God, and Balaam\u2019s intent to curse and bring condemnation upon Israel is turned by God into an opportunity to bring blessing beyond compare for the near and distant future. God reveals his character and his intent to bless abundantly all of humanity, both Hebrews and Gentiles.
\nThe third rebellion cycle concludes with another collapse of Israel\u2019s character, despite the wondrous revelation through the prophet Balaam. The account of the idolatrous activity at Shittim and its consequences, while standing at the doorstep of the land of promise, served several didactic functions: to show that God will continue to bring judgment on a sinful and rebellious generation, to warn that and future generations of the consequences of rejecting God\u2019s law, and to seal the status of the Aaronic priesthood as God\u2019s choice for spiritual leadership. Temptations toward idolatry would plague Israel throughout their future in the land. Lest one think that the Balaam of chaps. 22\u201324 turned toward this God who had used him so wondrously, we find out later that the illustrious prophet was the instigator of the means by which Israel fell. The story of the first generation ended in tragic judgment, and the new generation would continue to be faced with the issue of faithfulness to God, that which would determine the course of their future as either blessed or bedeviled, reverent or rebellious.<\/p>\n
(1) From Kadesh of Zin to Mount Hor: The End of an Era (20:1\u201329)<\/p>\n
The material in this chapter describes events in the northeast Sinai region during the advance from Kadesh in the Zin Wilderness to Mount Hor on the border of Edom. The time frame cited is simply the first month, which has traditionally been interpreted as the conclusion of the forty-year punishment of Israel in the wilderness. This section recounts the rebellion of Moses in response to the repeated grumbling of the people of Israel and the Edomite denial of passage for the Israelites. These two episodes come between the deaths of Miriam and Aaron. In the overall structure of the three rebellion cycles, this section is the counterpart to the rebellion of Miriam and Aaron against Moses in chap. 12. Only now the focus is on Moses, who rebels with some encouragement from Aaron. By the end of the chapter two of the three have died, and Moses has received a sentence not unlike that of the generation that rejected the land. Even the greatest of the prophets must endure the judgment of God when he rebels.<\/p>\n
HISTORICAL SETTING: KADESH OF ZIN AND THE DEATH OF MIRIAM DIED (20:1)<\/p>\n
1 In the first month the whole Israelite community arrived at the Desert of Zin, and they stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried.<\/p>\n
20:1 The historical and geographical setting provide a fitting conclusion to the story of judgment against the first generation that experienced the wonders of God\u2019s deliverance. Though the year is not specified, the mention of the first month brings the setting into conformity with the month of the deliverance from Egypt, the month in which they should have been celebrating the Passover and the Festival of the Unleavened Bread in the Promised Land. Instead they found themselves back at Kadesh after some forty years of wilderness nomadic shepherding, and again they grumbled about their water supply as that first generation had done soon after they had crossed the Red Sea (Exod 15:23\u201326; 17:1\u20137). At Kadesh the twelve scouts returned after a forty-day reconnaissance of the Promised Land (Num 13:26), but then the people were judged because of their rebellion against God and their rejection of the land. A group of ten who rebelled by giving a report about the land that was based on fear rather than faith affected an entire nation for an entire generation. They became an example for the future history writers and tellers of Israel, as well for Christianity, of the disastrous effects of unfaithful leadership on a community of faith.
\nNow the generation of those who were twenty years of age or more had nearly all passed away. Israel found themselves at Kadesh (\u201choly place\u201d) in the Zin Wilderness. In 13:26 the reference is made to Kadesh being in the Paran Wilderness, but as was argued earlier these references are compatible. The Zin Wilderness, which encompassed the area of the drainage basin of the Nahal Zin, was likely the designation for a northeastern subregion of the larger Paran Wilderness, which covered much of the northeastern Sinai peninsula. The reference to the Israelites as \u201cthe whole Israelite community\u201d (b\u0115n\u00ea-yi\u015br\u0101\u0113l kol-h\u0101\u02bf\u0113d\u00e2, \u201cthe children of Israel, the whole congregation\u201d) recalls the references in 13:26; 14:1, 2, 5, 10 where the same phraseology is used for the collective assembly that heard the report and rejected the land. Now the collective assembly would once again contend with their divinely appointed leader.
\nMiriam\u2019s death and burial is reported with simple reverence. She was a leader among the Israelites, a prophetess and songstress (Exod 15:20\u201321), sister of the divinely chosen high priest and prophetic leader of the nation, who demonstrated her compassionate character soon after Moses was born (Exod 2:4\u20139). Miriam was gone, the only woman whose death has been remembered from that generation. The love Moses had for Miriam was demonstrated when she was struck with a leprous skin disease after she challenged Moses\u2019 authority (Num 12:1\u201313). Appalled by what he saw affecting his beloved sister, he dramatically cried out for the Lord to heal her. Then in honor of Miriam, the nation delayed its march for the required period of seven days for her purification before it continued on its divinely led journey from Hazeroth to the Paran Wilderness. What effect Miriam\u2019s death had on Moses\u2019 rebellion in the verses that follow one can only speculate. I would suggest that these events are juxtapositioned purposefully in the text, and were thus at least a contributing factor to the prophet\u2019s demise. The death of Moses\u2019 dear sister Miriam may have caused the prophet to enter a period of depression or even despair, which might have led him to respond so negatively in the following account.<\/p>\n
MOSES\u2019 REBELLION AT MERIBAH KADESH (20:2\u201313)<\/p>\n
2 Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. 3 They quarreled with Moses and said, \u201cIf only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the LORD! 4 Why did you bring the LORD\u2019S community into this desert, that we and our livestock should die here? 5 Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!\u201d
\n6 Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of the LORD appeared to them. 7 The LORD said to Moses, 8 \u201cTake the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.\u201d
\n9 So Moses took the staff from the LORD\u2019S presence, just as he commanded him. 10 He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, \u201cListen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?\u201d 11 Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.
\n12 But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, \u201cBecause you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.\u201d
\n13 These were the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarreled with the LORD and where he showed himself holy among them.<\/p>\n
20:2\u20135 The general setting of Moses\u2019 rebellion was a familiar one, involving the recurring theme of a lack of water supply on the western side of the arid Zin Wilderness. The sequence of events in vv. 2\u20135 closely parallels those of Exod 17:2\u20133, though the wording of the need is slightly different. In both cases the people contended (wayy\u0101reb) with Moses, but in this case the complaint is more extensive. Not only did they ask the rhetorical question concerning whether they were brought out of Egypt to die in the wilderness, as they had asked before, but they also expressed the wish that they had died as their rebellious brethren had before and claimed that where the Lord had led them was \u201cthis evil place\u201d (hamm\u0101q\u00f4m h\u0101r\u00e2\u02bf hazzeh). The use of the term \u201cevil\u201d here recalls the evil grumbling of the people in 11:1, the bad report brought by the ten scouts in 13:19, 32, and the Lord\u2019s declaration that the generation that rejected the Promised Land was \u201cthis whole wicked community which has banded together against me\u201d (14:35). To ascribe evil to the place where God had guided them was dangerous ground for the people to tread.
\nTwo statements regarding the lack of water supply provide an inclusio (vv. 2, 5) for the people\u2019s complaint, which was directed against Moses and Aaron. A full complement of three issues were raised by the people, providing a comprehensive view of their rebellious and confused nature. Contradiction exuded from their words when they claimed that they would have preferred death over life. They blamed Moses and Aaron for their predicament. After all, how could their God have led them into this forbidden desert to die an untimely death? They were God\u2019s chosen people, the congregation of the Lord (q\u0115hal YHWH), and so it must have been Moses\u2019 fault that they faced this crisis of survival in a place with no grain, fruit, or water. The fruit listed were those very fruits that the scouts had brought back from the land forty years before (13:23). They still suffered from the same syndrome of unbelief. How easily they had forgotten the numerous times when God had miraculously provided them food, water, and shelter in the desert!
\n20:6 Moses and Aaron retreated to that sacred locale where God so often revealed himself, and they fell prostrate upon their faces in their usual position of entreaty and intercession. As they lay face down at the front of the Tent of Meeting, the glory of the Lord appeared to them in the form of the fire-encased cloud, demonstrating quite visibly the divine presence and imprimatur upon his servants. When one demonstrates the attitudes of humility and servanthood, God\u2019s presence and blessing are realized most fully.
\n20:7\u20138 Directions as to what rite to perform for the rocks to yield the needed water are introduced by the standard formula for introducing divine revelatory instruction, way\u0115dabb\u0113r YHWH \u02beel-m\u014d\u0161\u00ea l\u0113\u02bem\u014dr (\u201cso YHWH instructed Moses, saying \u2026\u201d). Though the contention with the people involved both Moses and Aaron, and later both Moses and Aaron acted unrighteously and suffered punishment, only Moses is addressed directly in the introduction. The instructions were threefold: take the rod, assemble the congregation, and speak to the rock. Though whose rod was intended to be used was not specified, v. 9 indicates that the rod or staff was taken \u201cfrom the Lord\u2019s presence\u201d (millipn\u00ea YHWH, \u201cfrom before Yahweh\u201d), suggesting that the rod was that of Aaron which budded, blossomed, and produced almonds in the divine confirmation of Aaron\u2019s priestly authority. It was to be kept before the ark of the testimony as a sign to any future grumbling rebels so that their murmurings might be summarily dismissed (Num 17:10). This interpretation probably would not have been challenged had not the rod Moses wielded in v. 11 been designated as \u201chis rod.\u201d Therefore Milgrom has suggested that \u201cit was more likely the rod of Moses which had been employed in the performance of God\u2019s miracles in the wilderness,\u201d especially in the case of Moses\u2019 striking of the rock to produce water in Exod 17:5\u20136. The stated purpose of the rod in 17:10, which coincides with the present context of the rod\u2019s usage, seems to argue for the identification with Aaron\u2019s rod. As Harrison notes, \u201cIf this was the case, it would presumably be meant to indicate that there was no dichotomy between the leadership functions of the two men.
\nTogether the prophet Moses and the priest Aaron were to gather the congregation of Israel in front of the rock, and then they were to speak to the rock that which the Lord had instructed them. Thus they would be agents of the miraculous provision of water, so that people and animals would be amply supplied. The human agency of the miracle is emphasized by the use of the second person singular pronoun in the two forms \u201cyou will bring forth\u201d (h\u00f4\u1e63\u0113\u02bet\u0101) and \u201cyou shall cause them to drink\u201d (hi\u0161q\u00eet\u0101).
\n20:9 In his usual faithful manner, Moses began by dutifully following the Lord\u2019s command by taking the rod (staff) from the presence of the Lord in the tabernacle. The phraseology \u201cjust as he commanded him\u201d has been employed numerous times through the Book of Numbers to this point to emphasize the faithful obedience of Yahweh\u2019s servant to his instructions. The scene was set for another demonstration of God\u2019s mercy, benevolence, and longsuffering, but the account would soon take a sudden tragic shift.
\n20:10\u201311 The faithful following of the Lord\u2019s instructions would continue in the second step with their joint gathering of the Israelite constituency in front of the rocky crag. The death of his dear sister Miriam was no doubt a contributing factor to his demise, but what Moses said, what he did, and how he did it were such that he was without excuse before God. Yet as Moses began to speak, the tenor of his speech changed dramatically, and he committed several rebellious infractions of his own. Instead of addressing the rock, he launched into a diatribe against the complaining community, calling them \u201crebels\u201d (hamm\u014dr\u00eem, \u201cones who behave obstinately\u201d). Retellings of the event use the same term to describe Moses\u2019 and Aaron\u2019s actions in this episode (20:24; 27:14). That which they declaimed of their adversaries they had become. Budd notes that the word for rebellion here (m\u0101r\u00e2) is always used in the Pentateuch of defiance against God. Moses earlier had shared his frustration with God concerning the implacable Israelites when they grumbled about the monotonous food supply (11:1\u201315). That time he complained to the Lord about the responsibility of overseeing thousands of continuously rebellious and complaining people. He felt God was afflicting him with this overwhelming burden, even to the point of asking the Lord to take his life rather than allow him to experience the shame and humiliation of failure. This time the fullness of his frustration was manifest before God and the whole assembled congregation. Moses did not simply call the people rebels, a mere statement of truth (though perhaps out of anger), but he took the Lord\u2019s instructions and used them as a means to justify his self-interest and self-pity. The Lord had said that Moses and Aaron would be the agents for the delivery of the water from the rock, but then the prophet\u2019s self-centered attitude erupted as he usurped the words of God for his own glorification, saying, \u201cShall we bring forth from this rock for you water?\u201d Such presumption would have the general effect, notes Budd, that \u201cthey have prevented the full power and might of Yahweh from becoming evident to the people, and have thus robbed him of the fear and reverence due to him.\u201d
\nMoses struck the rock not once but twice as he vented his anger and frustration over this ever-rebellious lot. As in previous circumstances of this kind, the rock was a symbol of God\u2019s mercy and benevolence, so striking the rock was in a sense a striking out against God. Moses had damaged severely the intimate personal relationship he had with God. His actions were detrimental to the maintaining of a reverence for God and his mercy in Israel. The trusted servant had fallen into the same trap as the many rebellious people he had complained about to God. Harrison calls Moses\u2019 actions \u201can unpardonable act of insubordination.\u201d
\nMilgrom has examined Moses\u2019 actions against the backdrop of Egyptian and Mesopotamian magicians and diviners as well as in the context of the nature of God revealed in the Pentateuch. Moses\u2019 actions were tantamount to that of an idolatrous pagan magician, and thus Milgrom notes, \u201cHere, in a direct address to his people, Moses ascribes miraculous powers to himself and Aaron. Indeed by broadcasting one word, n\u00f4\u1e63\u00ee\u02be, \u201cwe shall bring forth\u201d\u2014Moses and Aaron might be interpreted as having put themselves forth as God.\u2026 Israel had to be released from more than chains; it still had to be purged of its pagan background. In summary, Milgrom states, \u201cAgainst the backdrop of the Pentateuchal sensitivity to man\u2019s usurping of God\u2019s powers, Moses\u2019 act is manifestly shocking.\u201d The collapse of character was so critical that he would suffer severely for his actions and his attitudes. He would not experience the fullness of God\u2019s promise, the ultimate goal of his divinely ordained mission. He had been used dramatically and wondrously by God to bring his people Israel out of Egypt, but he would not bring them into the Promised Land.
\nGod\u2019s mercy and grace were evidenced when the waters gushed forth from the rocky crag, in spite of Moses\u2019 actions. He fulfilled his promise to provide ample water for the people, and Moses was used as an agent in the miracle. Geographers and biblical interpreters have written for years of the extensive aquifers that exist beneath the surface rock strata of the Sinai peninsula. The several oases such as at Serabit al-Khadem, Ain Hawarah, Ain Khadra, and Ain el-Qudeirat (Kadesh Barnea) are examples of such abundant water supplies. So at the moment of Moses\u2019 sin in striking the rock, God caused the water to erupt from underground water source, more than amply supplying the needs of the Israelite population. The Lord continued to demonstrate, as he continues to do today, his essential benevolent nature, fulfilling his promise to supply the needs of his people. Even the failure of his leaders would not thwart his will to bless his people. The rebellious, however, would fail to fully experience the abundance of his blessing.
\n20:12 The announcement of judgment against Moses and Aaron commences with the secondary formula for divine instruction, with the waw of the preterit form functioning as an adversative, wayy\u014d\u02bemer YHWH \u02beel-m\u014d\u0161eh w\u0115\u02beel-\u02beah\u0103r\u014dn (\u201cHowever, the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, \u2026\u201d). First the rationale for the punishment is stated, followed by the sentence itself. Moses and Aaron had failed to fully trust in the Lord\u2019s instructions in the situation at hand, whereby they would have demonstrated their faith before the people and addressed the rock. Instead they addressed the people harshly and intentionally struck the rock. This failure to follow instructions, coupled with a rebellious and invective attitude against God\u2019s people, was a violation of the holiness of God. In Exod 17:2\u20136 Moses was instructed by God to strike the rock in order to produce water, and he did so faithfully in the presence of the elders of Israel. He acted faithfully and God was glorified. This time the situation was similar, but the instructions and results were quite dissimilar. That Moses \u201cdid not trust in me enough to honor me as holy\u201d means that he had let the Lord down by his rash unfaithfulness and obstinate attitude toward the Lord and his people. The prophet who previously had been called \u201cmore humble than any other man on the face of the earth\u201d (Num 12:3) had acted haughtily; the servant of Yahweh who was the exemplar of faithfulness (12:7) had fallen; and the one who was said to have spoken with the Lord \u201cface to face\u201d (12:8) had brought defamation to his Lord.
\nEarlier the people had contended with Moses, Aaron, and God. The result of their rebellion was condemnation to live the rest of their lives in the desert and not see the Promised Land. But here near the end of the story of the nation\u2019s rebellions, the contentious words and actions of Israel\u2019s great prophet and priest lead to their experience of the same condemnation. The wording is pregnant with poignant and paradoxical implications. Moses and Aaron would not fulfill their original obligations or dreams of experiencing God\u2019s fullest blessing in the land. \u201cThis congregation\u201d whom they now seemed to loathe so deeply would enter the land that God was going to give them. These words reverberated with the glorious memories of the earlier promises of the gift of land that the Lord had spoken to Abraham and Isaac, Jacob and Joseph, and more recently Moses and Aaron. Moses would only be allowed to see the land from a distance, from the peak of Mount Pisgah in Transjordan. Aaron would not see it at all.
\n20:13 The spring produced by God at Kadesh became known as the Waters of Meribah, later described as the Waters of Meribah Kadesh in Num 27:14. As in Exod 17:7 the site was named Meribah (m\u0115r\u00eeb\u00e2) because the people contended (r\u00eeb) with the Lord. But there also Yahweh manifested his holiness, literally \u201cshow[ed] himself holy\u201d (wayyiqq\u0101d\u0113\u0161), among the congregation. He demonstrated that he indeed was God over the situation by abundantly supplying the needed water and by rightly bringing judgment against Moses and Aaron because of their sin.<\/p>\n
EDOM DENIES PASSAGE TO THE ISRAELITES (20:14\u201321)<\/p>\n
14 Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, saying:
\n\u201cThis is what your brother Israel says: You know about all the hardships that have come upon us. 15 Our forefathers went down into Egypt, and we lived there many years. The Egyptians mistreated us and our fathers, 16 but when we cried out to the LORD, he heard our cry and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt.
\n\u201cNow we are here at Kadesh, a town on the edge of your territory. 17 Please let us pass through your country. We will not go through any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the king\u2019s highway and not turn to the right or to the left until we have passed through your territory.\u201d<\/p>\n
18 But Edom answered:
\n\u201cYou may not pass through here; if you try, we will march out and attack you with the sword.\u201d<\/p>\n
19 The Israelites replied:
\n\u201cWe will go along the main road, and if we or our livestock drink any of your water, we will pay for it. We only want to pass through on foot\u2014nothing else.\u201d<\/p>\n
20 Again they answered:
\n\u201cYou may not pass through.\u201d
\nThen Edom came out against them with a large and powerful army. 21 Since Edom refused to let them go through their territory, Israel turned away from them.<\/p>\n
As the end of the forty-year period of judgment drew near, an alternate route around Southern Canaan was sought since they had been defeated by the Amalekites and Canaanites near Hormah in the biblical Negev (14:35). From Kadesh Barnea they decided to move eastward through the Nahal Zin basin in the Zin Wilderness, onward across the Arabah toward the realm of the Edomites. The Edomite territory extended from the Wadi Zered (mod. Wadi el-Hasa) on the north to the Gulf of Aqaba (Elath) on the south and to the Arabian Desert on the east. It was characterized by reddish-purple mountains in the south along the Arabah Valley, to intermittent sections of arable land in the northern half, extending from near Petra and the Wadi Musa to Bozrah and the Wadi Zered. Deep valleys such as the Wadi Rum provided east-west passage across the region. The Israelites might have been seeking passage from the south along the Kings\u2019 Highway from its beginning on the Gulf of Aqaba, and then northward through the Transjordan table lands of Edom and Moab. More likely their intentions were to enter the region from the Arabah near Tamar into the Edomite highlands through one of the wadis, such as the Wadi Feifa toward Zalmonah or Punon, and then past Bozrah, the Edomite capital city during the Iron Age. The exact route remains unknown. The request for safe passage was denied, despite an impassioned plea.
\nThat Edom should possess a king during this period in history has caused concern for interpreters since the publication of N. Glueck\u2019s definitive works on the settlement of Transjordan during the Bronze and Iron Ages. As a result of his surface surveys in the area while living as a spy among the bedouin of what is now southern Jordan between 1934 and 1940, he observed that there was a gap in the material remains during the MB to Iron IA periods, hence he and others concluded that the accounts about Edomite sovereignty mentioned in Numbers and Deuteronomy were retrojected into the Israelite wilderness period by later Israelite sources of the Iron II. More recent surveys and excavations in Transjordan, however, have yielded evidence of seminomadic and sedentary populations during the very periods Glueck suggested were unoccupied.
\nStill the question remains as to whether the Edomites could have been organized into what modern socio-political analysts would deem a \u2018nation\u2019 with a centralized monarchy, complete with bureaucratic structure. Ashley has observed that the use of the Hebrew term for king (melek) may range from a reference to the great internationally acclaimed kings of Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, or Persia of the ninth to fifth centuries B.C. to simply the rulers of lesser towns such as Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 14:2) or Jericho, Ai, Jerusalem, Yarmuth, Lachish, Debir, and others of the period of the Israelite conquest (Josh 1:1\u20135; 12:7\u201324). Edom seems to have been organized under chieftains at this time, the head of which might have been designated broadly as a king. Along this line Ashley notes that \u201ca diplomatic letter addressed to \u2018the king of Edom\u2019 could not fail in stroking the ego of a petty ruler in that territory.\u201d It is also true that the word may have a general meaning of \u201cruler\u201d here.
\nAlthough the text does not mention that a written document was involved in the communication process, the terminology, content, and structure of the sending of the messengers to the king of Edom follows classical Hebrew epistolary form and protocol. If the correspondence entailed only oral communication, the same protocol was utilized. Such correspondence usually was delivered by royal messengers and generally contained the following elements: introductory greeting, rehearsing of past relationship, current circumstances for the correspondence, the formal request, stipulations for the new relationship, and conclusion with the imprimatur of the sender. The adaptation of the form herein is outlined in the ensuing structure:<\/p>\n
A. Introduction
\n[Assumed: To the King of Edom]
\nB. Past Relationship
\nThus says your brother Israel (v. 14b)
\nC. Historical Setting \/ Present Circumstances
\nYou know the hardships that have come upon us, how our forefathers went down to Egypt
\nwe lived there many years
\nthe Egyptians mistreated us and our fathers
\nBut we cried out to the Lord:
\nHe heard our cry
\nHe sent an angel
\nHe brought us out of Egypt (vv. 14b\u201316a)
\nNow we are here at Kadesh, a town on the edge of your territory (v. 16b)<\/p>\n
D. Formal Request
\nPlease let us pass through your country (v. 17a)<\/p>\n
E. Stipulations Offered
\nWe will not go through any field or vineyard
\nWe will not drink water from a well
\nby the King\u2019s Highway we will travel
\nWe will not turn to right or to the left until we have passed through your territory (v. 17b)
\nF. Conclusion
\n[missing \/ Peace and Salutations]<\/p>\n
Several features are notable in this composition, which has all the earmarks of diplomatic correspondence but with distinctive Hebraic style. Analyzing the Hebrew syntactical structures, there are three sets of three elements in the communiqu\u00e9, giving emphasis to those portions. The recounting of the wondrous deliverance from Egypt is set forth in two triads, each presenting a terse but complete rehearsing of the past events in a pattern of physical movement: went down\/were mistreated; sent an angel\/brought us out; let us pass through. In the second of these two triads, the unique relationship between Yahweh and Israel is emphasized, in that Yahweh was a God who was not aloof but intensely interested in the well-being of his people. The movement of the text through the use of personal pronouns in chiastic form is artfully presented, providing further focus on the role of Yahweh, God of Israel. Note the resulting arrangement:<\/p>\n
A Your brother
\nB We \/ Us went down to Egypt \u2026 We cried
\nC He \/ Yahweh heard \u2026 he sent \u2026 he brought us out of Egypt
\nB\u00b4 We are at Kadesh
\nA\u00b4 Your territory (g\u0115b\u00fblek\u0101)
\nB\u00b4\u00b4 Let us pass through
\nA\u00b4\u00b4 Your land (\u02bear\u1e63ek\u0101)
\nB\u00b4\u00b4 We will not pass through \/ not drink \/ not turn right or left Until we have passed through
\nA\u00b4\u00b4\u00b4 our country (g\u0115b\u00fblek\u0101)<\/p>\n
Terms used in v. 17 to refer to the territory of Edom through which they desired to pass are also presented in a simple chiastic layout.
\n20:14 The statement of the prior relationship sets forth the basis upon which the request was made, brotherhood. The kinship went back to the days of Jacob and Esau, and as it was in the days of the two sons of Isaac, so it was throughout the history of the two nations. Sometimes they were friends and allies, but more often they were bitterest enemies. This relational basis of entreaty was more than simply kinship; it was also an egalitarian statement. Normally one would address the recipient of such a letter as \u201cservant,\u201d placing oneself in the subordinate position before the addressee. Moses makes a tacit assumption about the Edomite knowledge of Israel\u2019s past history of hardship, from the circumstance of famine that led the sons of Jacob to migrate to Egypt with their families, to the experience of slavery and bondage at the hands of the Egyptian taskmasters, and finally along the journey from Egypt to the wilderness.
\nThe use of the singular verb or pronoun to refer collectively to an ethnic group like Israel or Edom is common in Hebrew style. Thus Noth\u2019s suggestion that the changing of the singular to plural could be an example of \u201ccarelessness in the manner of expression,\u201d which was perhaps the result of unrefined conflation of the J (Yahwist) and E (Elohist) sources, is unfounded. Gray argues, \u201cThe personification of a whole class or people so that it is spoken of or represented as speaking in the singular is frequent in Hebrew. In these cases the pronouns referring to the class or person are naturally in the singular, as in the present passage (v. 19).\u201d Thus the personification of the collective Edom (=Esau) as the singular brother of Israel (=nation, or person Jacob) is quite natural, and not a sign of the editing of sources.
\n20:15\u201316 This brief sketch of Israel\u2019s suffering and deliverance became stylized through the history of recounting the story of God\u2019s great redemption of his people from Egypt. The kernel of the story would be recounted for the scores of generations up to the present time through the celebration of Passover, the pilgrimage festivals of Pentecost (Shavuoth) and tabernacles (Sukkoth), and the ancient ritual of the bringing of the firstfruits and in numerous hymns.
\nWhat emphasis was being placed in the mentioning of the agency of the angel of God in the deliverance of Israel is not explicitly evident. What theological concepts and responses might have been aroused among the Edomites through this correspondence? Might they have feared the power of angels or divine messengers, such that they might think twice of denying passage to a people blessed with angelic accompaniment? In the Exodus the angel acted on behalf of Israel and against Egypt in several ways. The angel went before Israel on the initial march and then went behind the people by the sea as the Egyptian army approached from the rear, first guiding and then protecting them (Exod 14:19). The angel led them through the wilderness and would lead them into the Promised Land (Exod 23:20\u201323). On a personal level one other contributing factor may be at work in the narrative. Moses had just rebelled and been judged for his failure to maintain the holiness of God before the people, so perhaps he was suffering some personal reticence about his leadership ability. Asserting the angelic accompaniment made the request a stronger one in his mind. The Israelites were poised to advance through their region, still marching with their angelic direction and authority. Finally, the introduction of the angel as a character at this point in the narrative would pave the way for the introduction of another angel, the angel of Lord in the Balaam account in Num 22:22\u201335.
\nThe citing of the point of origin for the letter at \u201cKadesh, a town on the edge of your territory,\u201d made the king of Edom aware of the immediacy of the need for passage. That Kadesh (interpreted as Kadesh Barnea on the western edge of the Zin wilderness) was on the border of the Edomite territory has been taken by some scholars in the past to suggest that this narrative is a later insertion, perhaps during the late eighth century B.C. or later, since the Edomites were not known to have exercised dominion over the lands west of the Arabah until well into the Iron II period. In response, Wenham has suggested that Kadesh of Num 20:16 (called Meribah Kadesh) lay further to the east than Kadesh Barnea, which was near the Arabah. Certainly this possibility is plausible, considering Kadesh, meaning \u201choly place,\u201d was a common toponym in the ancient Near East. This would also address the problem of Israel\u2019s general movement in returning in 20:1 to the exact same place where they were forty years earlier. Ashley takes a different approach to the issue, positing that the geographical statement need not carry the precision some interpreters claim for it. Instead, he notes, \u201cWhen Kadesh is called a city on the outskirts of your border it means no more than that the Israelites are near to Edom as opposed to far away from it.\u201d If indeed Edom was at a stage of transitioning from a seminomadic to sedentary culture, the defining of borders (or \u201coutskirts,\u201d Ashley) would have been rather fluid. Similar to the Midianite presence in the Sinai peninsula, Edomite clan incursions across the Arabah may have occurred during the end of the Bronze and into the early Iron ages.
\n20:17 The actual request carried three negative stipulations whereby the Israelites would be respective of Edomite dominion should passage be permitted. They would not pass through their fields or vineyards. If the timing of this request followed closely the previous account, it would have been springtime, and the grain fields would be at or near harvest time. Vine dressing for the summer and fall crops would have just begun. Water rights were of great concern in the ancient Near East, as they are even in present-day negotiations between the Israelis, Palestinians, and Jordanians. The Israelites would presumably bring their own water supply from Kadesh during their brief passage of perhaps two days through the Edomite highlands. Hence the appeal was predicated on Israel\u2019s not being a burden to Edom or disturbing their agricultural activities. They would journey straight through Edom in order to reach the Kings\u2019 Highway, not turning aside for any reason. The Kings\u2019 Highway was the famous passage that connected the Damascus trade center with Arabia, Sinai, and Egypt via a route through the Transjordan tablelands (Golan, Bashan, Gilead, Ammon, Moab, and Edom) and the southern mountains, paralleling the Arabah on the eastern side. Egyptian kings such as Thutmosis III passed along this road in their conquests of Transjordan and the eastern Levant. From southern Arabia the caravaneers brought the highly prized commodities of incense, spices, perfumes, and precious jewels, as well as copper from the Sinai and Paran Wilderness sources.
\n20:18 A derisive disapproval from the Edomite leadership came without any protocol or diplomatic subtlety. In spite of the Edomite rejection, the Israelites would explore again possible diplomacy even after the first rejection by the Edomite leader, but further approaches would receive increasingly hostile responses. Edom\u2019s initial refusal was accompanied by a threat of war. Edom at this point seems to have possessed no fear of Israel, their angelic overseer, or their God, despite the appeals contained within the initial message. The threat of war with Edom would lead to a second attempt at diplomacy rather than to a deployment of troops, since the Edomite region was not a part of the territory promised by God. Israel as yet had no dispute with Edom; besides, they were distant relatives of one another. Perhaps, as the rabbis much later suggested, Edom was exacting revenge for the earlier conflict between Esau and Jacob. The Esau-Jacob animosity served as the type scene for later Edomite-Israelite acrimony. The accusation of Amos 1:11 against Edom carries the same basic message, that God would judge Edom because \u201che pursued his brother with the sword.\u201d Some source critics have suggested that Num 20:18, 20 is dependent on Amos 1:11, which is viewed as supportive of an eighth century B.C. date for the present narrative. Rather, the Amos text seems more likely to be an abbreviated form of the account of Num 20:14\u201321, a terse form of an ancient rivalry used in the oracles against the nations surrounding Israel and Judah.
\n20:19\u201321 The attempt at diplomatic correspondence carried alternative stipulations, the only part of which is preserved in the text of v. 19. Israel again vowed to ascend into the mountainous territory of Edom by the most direct route, that of the \u201cmain road\u201d (bamsill\u00e2, \u201cby the highway, prepared road\u201d), that which was used by trade caravans and military troops. They swore they would recompense the Edomites for any water they might consume on the way, but the Edomites again flatly refused passage. The suggestion of payment for safe passage was in keeping with ancient Near Eastern protocol, as often tolls or tribute were exacted from trade caravans while traversing the regions of Mesopotamia and the Levant. Hence this was not an unusual request, though the response to the second appeal was out of the ordinary. The Edomites reacted with a show of military force, emphasized by the use of the phrase \u201cstrong hand,\u201d a symbol of power and judgment in the ancient Near East. Not wanting to engage in a battle over undesired territory, the Israelites decided to retract their offer and seek another route in which to circumnavigate the region of Mount Seir and Edom. Harrison aptly notes that in this account there is no directive from the Lord in regard to the diplomatic correspondence, though nothing is made of this issue in the text as it is in Josh 9:14\u201315 when Joshua failed to consult the Lord regarding entering into a treaty with the Gibeonites. But in that the rejection of Israel by Edom is couched between the two pericopes that highlight the rebelliousness of Moses and Aaron and the resultant punishment, this chapter would provide an awesome historical lesson to later Israel. Sin and rebellion will lead to rejection, denial, and defeat.<\/p>\n
THE DEATH AND BURIAL OF AARON (20:22\u201329)<\/p>\n
22 The whole Israelite community set out from Kadesh and came to Mount Hor. 23 At Mount Hor, near the border of Edom, the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, 24 \u201cAaron will be gathered to his people. He will not enter the land I give the Israelites, because both of you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah. 25 Get Aaron and his son Eleazar and take them up Mount Hor. 26 Remove Aaron\u2019s garments and put them on his son Eleazar, for Aaron will be gathered to his people; he will die there.\u201d
\n27 Moses did as the LORD commanded: They went up Mount Hor in the sight of the whole community. 28 Moses removed Aaron\u2019s garments and put them on his son Eleazar. And Aaron died there on top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain, 29 and when the whole community learned that Aaron had died, the entire house of Israel mourned for him thirty days.<\/p>\n
Following the introductory journey citation, this section focuses on the death of Aaron in initial fulfilment of God\u2019s judgment issued in 20:12. Moses\u2019 turn would come some months later. Moses\u2019 death, recorded in Deut 34:1\u201312, has several parallels. Both died in the mountains and were buried there. Moses accompanied Aaron on his last journey, but when Moses\u2019 time came, he made that trek alone. Out of respect for the persons and the positions, the death of Israel\u2019s first great high priest was marked by a period of thirty days of national mourning, as was the death of Moses (Deut 34:8). These deaths mark the transition of leadership from Aaron to Eleazar and Moses to Joshua (Deut 34:9). But the two death accounts serve different purposes in their given contexts. In the account of Aaron\u2019s death, the Lord provided instructions for preparation for the end with the passing of the priestly mantle to Eleazar, and he reminded them both of the reason for their not continuing on to fulfill the promise of the entry and conquest of the land of Canaan. The transition into the high priesthood of Eleazar, elder surviving son of Aaron, had already begun, for Eleazar supervised the disassembly and care of the tabernacle and its furnishings (Num 3:32; 4:16) and prepared the ashes of the red cow for purification rituals (Num 19:3\u20137). In the account of Moses\u2019 death on Mount Nebo, the reminder of the judgment is more implicit, with emphasis given to God\u2019s providing him a momentary glimpse of the wondrous Promised Land.
\nNow the process of handing over the symbols of authority of the priesthood make the transition complete. Furthermore, in the concluding episodes of this rebellion cycle another kind of priest will emerge at the behest of Yahweh, God of Israel. Balaam will become priest and prophet used by God to bless his people, though quite against his own will and the will of his employer Balak of Moab. But before the encounters of Balaam, there would be both blessing in victory and judgment through a plague of serpents.
\n20:22 The pericope commences with a geographical note concerning the journey from Kadesh to Mount Hor, whereby they circumnavigated the Edomite territory. Again the Israelites move en masse (\u201cthe whole Israelite community\u201d) to a mountainside whose location has eluded biblical geographers for centuries. The location of Mount Hor is dependent upon the defining of the route followed by the Israelites on their journey from Kadesh, around Edom, and eventually into the Plains of Moab. As with Kadesh (20:16), Mount Hor was on the border with Edom, according to Num 33:37, so the Israelite movement was skirting the territorial boundaries of the militant Edomites. Suggested mountains have included the traditional Islamic identity of Jebel Nebi Harun (\u201cMount of the Prophet Aaron\u201d) near Petra, Jebel Medra about six miles east-northeast of Kedesh, \u02bfImaret el-Khurisheh, about eight miles north of Kadesh, or Jebel Madurah about fifteen miles northeast of Kadesh Barnea. Jebel Nebi Harun fits neither the physical setting described in this pericope nor the territorial setting since it is located in the heart of ancient Edom. The Jebel Madurah suggestion has received the widest scholarly support because it is generally on the way from Kadesh Barnea to the Arabah along the route of the Atharim, and the surrounding terrain fits the general picture where the Israelites could observe the initial events from afar. In any case, absolute certainty concerning the precise location of this Mount Hor will remain an enigma, as will the identities of mountains like Sinai, Pisgah, and the Mount of the Temptation of Jesus.
\nA second factor in locating Mount Hor is interpreting the unusual toponymic phraseology utilized here, h\u014dr h\u0101h\u0101r (Hor the mountain), which if taken as a toponym would be the only case in which the name of the mountain preceded the word for mountain. Ashley offered a possible alternative that Hor was an archaic form of h\u0101r, based on the Old Canaanite shift from \u0101 to \u00f4, which may also provide the basis for the LXX reading of to oros to oros (\u201cthe mountain the mountain\u201d or perhaps \u201cthe summit of the mountain\u201d).
\n20:23\u201324 The instructions from the Lord as to the preparation for the death of Aaron are introduced by the short form of the alternative divine revelatory formula used throughout the Book of Numbers. The material is addressed to both Moses and Aaron, since both leaders of Israel would carry out the instructions accompanied by Eleazar, son of Aaron. Aaron was about to be \u201cgathered to his people\u201d in the manner of the biblical patriarchs. The death and burials of Abraham (Gen 25:8), Ishmael (Gen 25:17), Isaac (Gen 35:29), Jacob (Gen 49:29, 33), and then later Moses (Num 27:13; Deut 32:50) were described in this phraseology, which is unique to the Pentateuch. General gathering (or lack thereof) of one or more individuals upon death is seen in Jer 8:2; 25:33. Several concepts have been applied to this terminology in its interpretation. In general, the phrase conveys the idea of being reunited with one\u2019s ancestors who had entered the realm of Sheol previously, which is an intimation of immortality. One is not to be left unburied or \u201cungathered\u201d since that was viewed as an ignominious end of life, so the prophet Jeremiah used this imagery to convey condemnation upon the leaders of Judah (Jer 8:2). One hypothesis is that this process described the secondary burial, when one\u2019s bones were moved from the burial chamber to the ossuary chamber where earlier family members\u2019 bones had been gathered. But both Aaron and Moses were buried on separate mountains in a land that had not belonged to nor been promised to their forefathers because they had rebelled against the word of God. Hence Wenham takes the phrase to mean that Moses and Aaron were united with their ancestral families in Sheol, the place of the dead, which \u201cdescribes a central Old Testament conviction about life after death.\u201d And though the two great leaders of Israel would die and be buried outside the Promised Land because of their unholy rebellion at the Waters of Meribah, they would be honored in their deaths with all the status and dignity afforded the great patriarchs of Israel. Structurally, the use of the phrase in vv. 23 and 26 provides an inclusio bracketing the instructions.
\n20:25\u201326 Moses led (\u201cTake,\u201d qa\u1e25) Aaron and Eleazar up on the mountain and there presided over the public ceremonial transference of the high priesthood. Milgrom has suggested that this was done on the mountain rather than at the tabernacle so that Aaron would remain high priest until the final moments before his death. Aaron would not return to the community in his state of having had the high priestly investiture removed both physically and spiritually. This was a momentous and emotional occasion for the nation and for Eleazar as they observed from a distance the departure of their first great high priest, the preeminent mediator of the sacral life of the nation in its relationship to Yahweh their God. For Eleazar it was no doubt a moment filled with emotional upheaval, a literal and metaphorical mountaintop experience in being inaugurated as the new high priest; but on the other hand it was a familial nadir, since his honorable father was about to die. The old era was passing; the generation was nearly gone that had witnessed the numerous miracles of God in Egypt, in the Exodus, at the Red Sea, at Mount Sinai, and all along the journey through the wilderness. A new generation of leadership was taking the reins over the nation and under God, and prospects of the new life in the Promised Land were looming ever nearer. According to Num 35:25\u201332, in the generations to come a person who had sought asylum in one of the cities of refuge because he had committed manslaughter or unintentionally killed another person would be released from confinement within the city after the death of the high priest, providing a new lease on life for that individual.
\n20:27\u201328 As he so often had done before, Moses followed Yahweh\u2019s instructions faithfully, though no doubt this process was a heart-rending event as he removed the ceremonial priestly garments from his beloved brother. He removed the tunic, the ephod, and the bejeweled breastplate that Aaron wore to symbolize his role as intermediator on behalf of the twelve tribes of Israel. They ascended Mount Hor with the congregation observing the steps of the three men on this final journey before the passing of their high priest.
\nAaron died on the mountain, gathered to his people on the first day of the fifth month of the fortieth year after the Exodus, as the period of judgment for the first generation drew to a close. The date of his death and his age (123 years) as recounted in the journey itinerary in Num 33:38 coincide with the data given in Exod 7:7, which states that Moses was eighty years of age and Aaron eighty-three when they first spoke to the pharaoh in Egypt. The first high priest of Israel was an enigmatic figure in the Old Testament. On one hand he functioned as a spokesman for Moses before the pharaoh (Exod 4:14; 5:2\u20133; 7:6, 10); at the command of the Lord through Moses he held out his hand over the Nile River and a swarm of frogs emerged (Exod 8:5\u20139); he stretched out his rod and the dust turned to lice throughout the land (Exod 8:16\u201317). Later during the judgment against the rebellious gang led by the Levite Korah, Aaron literally stood wielding his censer between the living and the dead, acting as their exemplary mediator (Num 16:48; Heb 17:13). On the other hand he succumbed to the whims of the people in the production of the golden calf, which led to idolatrous worship and eventual judgment (Exod 32:1\u201335), and he followed Moses\u2019 example in the rebellion at the Waters of Meribah (Num 20:10). In the Book of Hebrews, Aaron serves as a prototype of the high priesthood of Jesus Christ, though his priesthood was deemed inferior to that of the Melchizedek typology that was applied to Jesus (Heb 7:1\u20139:28). As Harrison remarks, \u201cHuman types are necessarily imperfect, however, and so the Christian can rejoice in the sinless perfection of Jesus, who obtained our redemption on Calvary, not by the blood of bulls and goats but by his own blood (Heb 9:11\u201315).\u201d Aaron supervised an earthly priesthood and cult that was but a mere shadow of things to come, in which the sacrifice of animals and plants symbolized the rendering of the life of the offerer when the life of the element was presented to God. Christ\u2019s sacrifice was the ultimate and perfect example of life rendering by a perfect high priest, offering a perfect sacrifice of himself, not in the Temple in Jerusalem but once for all time in the perfect heavenly sanctuary, the ultimate Holy Place in the very presence of God. Thus he obtained for humanity salvation, deliverance, forgiveness, and freedom from the guilt of sin, the foundations of our joy and eternal hope.
\n20:29 When only Moses and Eleazar descended from the mountain, the assembled congregation of Israel knew that their beloved high priest was dead. They had not actually observed his death and burial, but they fully realized it when they saw Eleazar wearing the complete array of priestly garments and vestments. The period of mourning for the two greatest leaders of Israel was thirty days, whereas others were typically mourned for seven days. Concerning the impact of the death of Israel\u2019s first high priest on the nation, Milgrom cites the rabbinical tradition from Targum Jonathan: \u201cWhen Aaron\u2019s soul rested, the clouds of Glory moved away, on the first of the month of Av. And the entire congregation saw Moses descend from the mountain with rent garments. And he was weeping and saying, \u2018Woe is me for you, my brother Aaron, the pillar of Israel\u2019s prayer.\u2019 And they too wept for Aaron thirty days, the men and women of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n
(2) Victory over the Canaanites of Arad Hormah (21:1\u20133)<\/p>\n
1 When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming along the road to Atharim, he attacked the Israelites and captured some of them. 2 Then Israel made this vow to the LORD: \u201cIf you will deliver these people into our hands, we will totally destroy their cities.\u201d 3 The LORD listened to Israel\u2019s plea and gave the Canaanites over to them. They completely destroyed them and their towns; so the place was named Hormah.<\/p>\n
The divergence of material in this the third of the rebellion cycles is no more evident than in the present chapter. As is observable in the outline of thematic development in chaps. 20\u201321, there are both high and low points in these two chapters. But whereas the events of chap. 20 are rather somber, with the deaths of Miriam and Aaron bracketing the rebellion of Moses and Aaron and the rejection by the Edomites of Israelite passage, chap. 21 starts and ends on a more positive note. The rebellion of Israel concerning water supply on the way around Edom, which itself ends with a message of deliverance via the bronze serpent, is placed between the victories over Arad\/ Hormah (vv. 1\u20133) and those over Amorite kings of Sihon (vv. 21\u201331) and Og (vv. 32\u201335). God\u2019s leading the Israelites along a circuitous route around Edom is a reminder of his faithfulness in providing and protecting his people on their way to the Promised Land. In contrast to the rejection of Israelite passage around Edom and the turning away of Israel in their dejected state, when a similar response came from Sihon of Heshbon, Israel rose to the occasion and was victorious over the Amorite kings in the Transjordan highlands from the Arnon River to Gilead and Bashan. Though this region was not part of the original Promised Land (see Num 34:10\u201312), it would come under the control and settlement of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh (32:1\u201342).
\nMilgrom has delineated the two parallel units of material in Num 20:1\u201329 and 21:1\u201335 in order to demonstrate the literary contrast being made between the \u201cFailure of the Leaders\u201d in the former and the \u201cFailure and Deliverance of the People\u201d in the latter. The pivotal point in these two chapters is when the people cry out to the Lord for deliverance, and he hears them and brings healing (v. 9) and victory over their enemies (vv. 24\u201325, 32\u201335).
\nAfter the death of Aaron and the thirty days of mourning, the Israelites set out from Mount Hor to circumnavigate Edom along a route known as the Way of the Atharim. While the Israelites were on the journey, the King of Arad received word of Israel\u2019s advance and responded with his militia in the manner that the Edomites had responded to the second request for passage from Moses (20:20\u201321). The unnamed king of Arad was successful in capturing some of the Israelites, and this time they responded by asking for help from the Lord who granted them a convincing victory over their enemies. In the very locale where in a state of rebellion they had once suffered a resounding defeat at the hands of the Canaanites and Amalekites, at Hormah of the Negev (Num 14:45), now triumph was theirs because the Lord was with them rather than against them.
\n21:1\u20133 The references to Arad, Hormah, and the Way of the Atharim have provided biblical historians, geographers, and archaeologists considerable difficulties. If the reference to Arad means the city of Arad, as identified with Tel Arad in the eastern Negev, then the problem is quite perplexing. Tel Arad was a substantial urban center during the Early Bronze Age, destroyed ca. 2650 B.C., but then remained unoccupied until the early Israelite monarchy. Since no remains exist that might be identified with this Arad in the latter part of the Late Bronze Age (or early Iron I), many modern commentators have taken the reference to a King of Arad as a later gloss in the text based on Josh 12:14. Alternative suggestions have been made to solve this dilemma. First, the reference to the King of Arad may be a regional designation, like the aforementioned \u201cKing of Edom\u201d in Num 20:14, who may have ruled from the city of Hormah (v. 3) or even in the vicinity of Yeroham. Hormah has been identified by some with Tel Malhata (Tel el-Milh), a city of the Middle Bronze and Iron Ages about eight miles southwest of Tel Arad. Others simply place the city of Arad at the site of Tel Malhata at this point in history, in keeping with the occasional transference of a city name to another location, and then locate Hormah at Tel Masos (Kh. el-Meshash), three miles to the west of Tel Malhata. The occupational history of Tel Masos is similar to that of Tel Malhata. One must note that Hormah, meaning \u201cdestruction,\u201d is a name given to the site after the defeat of the Canaanites in this part of the Negev. Multiple cities (\u02bf\u0101r\u00eahem, \u201ctheir cities\u201d) are said to have been completely or utterly destroyed by the Israelite armies, and the use of the toponym Hormah in 21:3 may designate a single key city of this campaign or the region of the defeated towns.
\nThe \u201cWay of the Atharim\u201d (derek h\u0101\u02be\u0103t\u0101r\u00eem) was described by Y. Aharoni as \u201cleading from Kadesh-barnea to Arad,\u201d along which the fortresses of Bir Hafir, Oboda, and Aroer were built during the Israelite monarchy. The meaning and location of h\u0101\u02be\u0103t\u0101r\u00eem apparently were lost early in history, and the later Syriac and Targums took this as the \u201cWay of the Spies\u201d from t\u0101r\u00eem (\u201cthose who scouted, explored\u201d). This gave rise to the tradition that the Israelites under Moses tried to enter the land through the same route as the previous generation. But this identification is untenable on linguistic, historical, and literary grounds. An expansion of the term t\u0101r\u00eem to (h\u0101)\u02be\u0103t\u0101r\u00eem would have been highly improbable. Second, the naming of a trade route after a portion of the pathway taken by the scouts seems unlikely. If such a toponymic designation had occurred at such a dark moment in the wilderness journey of Israel, it most likely would have been recounted in history in the manner of such sites as Meribah, Kibroth Hataavah, Taberah, and here Horah. Third, the evidence is lacking for the tradition that Moses and the Israelites were attempting to enter the land from the Negev along the pathway in which they were thwarted nearly forty years before, or even that Moses was trying to enter the land from the South against the expressed will and judgment of the Lord (20:12), both on literal and literary readings of the text. There is no hint in the text of Moses even attempting to circumvent Yahweh\u2019s directive against him leading the Israelites into the Promised Land, though no doubt he would have desired to do so. Otherwise, after the Lord gave them a resounding victory at Hormah, it would have seemed quite natural to proceed northward into the upper reaches of the Negev (even to Arad itself) and into the central hill country. Instead, in the literary movement through the chapter, the victory over the Canaanites of Arad provided the new generation a foretaste of great things to come when they would enter the Promised Land under the power of God and the leadership of Joshua. The key statement in this passage is that the Israelites, when faced with the adversity of an ambush by the Canaanites, consulted the Lord and vowed to put their enemies under the destructive condemnation of holy war.
\nBudd has offered a better suggestion that the Way of the Atharim may be a reference to the road leading to Tamar, or Ein Tamar, located about ten miles south of the Dead Sea. Such a desert road from Kadesh would have followed a line east northeast across the southern Negev to the basin of the Nahal Avedat and the Nahal Zin, south of the Machtesh Gadol. Modern Israeli mapping has labeled a mountain along this route as Hor Hahar (Mount Hor, Num 20:22; 21:4) about eighteen miles southwest of Ein Tamar. Along this route the Canaanites of the Arad (and Arad Yerocham) region may have perceived that the Israelites were encroaching upon their territory and hence came down to attack them, perhaps also ascertaining that since they had defeated them a generation before (14:35), they would again seek to demonstrate their territorial control and sovereignty. According to Num 21:4 the Israelites journeyed from Mount Hor, via the Way of the Red Sea (derek yam-s\u00fbp), which Aharoni ascertained was the trade route extending from Elath on the eastern finger of the Red Sea in the Gulf of Aqaba northward through the Arabah to the Dead Sea. Hence the desert route would have them approaching the northern end of the Arabah from the west southwest, and then crossing the Arabah between Tamar and Zalmonah.<\/p>\n
(3) Rebellion and Judgment (21:4\u20139)<\/p>\n
4 They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; 5 they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, \u201cWhy have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!\u201d
\n6 Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, \u201cWe sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.\u201d So Moses prayed for the people.
\n8 The LORD said to Moses, \u201cMake a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.\u201d 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.<\/p>\n
21:4\u20135 Once more, as the Israelites journeyed along the Way of the Red Sea, going out of their way to circumnavigate the northwest corner of the territory of the Edomites, the people grew impatient and ungrateful for that which the Lord had provided them. As at Kibroth Hataavah (11:4\u201310), they openly expressed their soul-felt dissatisfaction to God and Moses about the monotonous diet of manna they had been eating and the lack of water during this lengthy journey through the deserts. This verse is one of the few times in the Book of Numbers that the verb form way\u0115dabb\u0113r is used with the people as the subject instead of God or Moses, which perhaps sharpens the seriousness of their rebellion. They described their food supply as \u201cmiserable\u201d (haqq\u0115l\u014dq\u0113l, \u201cworthless, contemptible\u201d), thereby deploring and degrading that which God had so graciously given to them for some forty years. When a person\u2019s heart is intent on rebellion and beset by discontent, even the best of gifts from the Lord can lose their savor; nothing will fully satisfy until the heart is made right. The structure of this pericope parallels the simplicity of the first rebellious incident in 11:1\u20133 and outlines as follows: (1) historical setting (v. 4a); (2) sin of the people (vv. 4b\u20135); (3) judgment from the Lord (v. 6); (4) response of the people (v. 7a); (5) intercession of Moses (v. 7b); (6) response of the Lord in deliverance (vv. 8\u20139). Unlike other rebellion accounts, no toponymic designation is made for identifying the site of the incident. This rebellion account structure closely parallels the accounts of the Israelite judgeships throughout Judges 3\u201316, and it is perhaps surprising that source critics have not ascribed this account to the supposed Deuteronomic historians and editors.
\n21:6 In response to the people\u2019s uprising, the Lord sent forth \u201cfiery serpents\u201d (hann\u0115\u1e25\u0101\u0161\u00eem ha\u015b\u015b\u0115r\u0101p\u00eem, \u201cburning snakes\u201d), whose poisonous venom soon resulted in death to the many who were bitten. Distinct from the previous protestation concerning the food and water supply, no impassioned response came from Moses, and the fierce anger of the Lord was embodied in the serpents. The adjective \u201cburning\u201d may refer to the burning sensation and pain brought about by the lethal injection of venom through the serpents\u2019 fangs. In comparing this phrase, however, with the usage of the term \u015b\u0101r\u0101p in v. 8, the reference may be to a specific species of snake whose bite caused such a burning sensation. Because the roots for the terms \u201cserpent\u201d (n\u0101\u1e25\u0101\u0161), \u201cenchantment\u201d (na\u1e25a\u0161), and \u201ccopper\/bronze\u201d (n\u0101\u1e25\u00fb\u0161 or n\u0115\u1e25\u014d\u0161et) are so closely related, this account has been taken by a number of source critical scholars as etiological, a didactic story built upon an event and\/or word association that may or may not have a basis in reality. Many of these scholars have interpreted this account in Numbers 21 as a retrojection from the late eighth century B.C. during the reign of Hezekiah, when the king began destroying the idolatrous worship centers through the realm of Judah. At that time the Judahites worshiped a bronze serpent called Nehushtan (2 Kgs 18:4). However, these two stories have quite the opposite impact on the people. Rather than being like the bronze iconographic serpent Nehushtan of the eighth century that had a disastrous effect on the people of Judah, the n\u0115\u1e25a\u0161 n\u0115\u1e25\u014d\u0161et (bronze serpent) Moses produced and mounted on a pole had a miraculous healing effect on those who looked upon it. More likely than retrojection from the monarchial period to the wilderness, the Nehushtan of Hezekiah\u2019s day was simply one of many forms of iconography the Israelites produced during periods of rampant idolatry that had their basis in the formative period of Israel\u2019s history. In a similar manner Jeroboam I of northern Israel revived a form of worship utilizing the imagery of a calf like the one produced by the Israelites and Aaron when Moses first ascended Mount Sinai (Exodus 32).
\nSeveral species of snakes have been posited as the possible identity of these fiery serpents. T. E. Lawrence described his encounters with horned vipers, puff-adders, cobras, and black snakes in eastern Jordan. The \u201ccarpet viper\u201d (Echis carinatus or Echis coleratus) is a highly poisonous viper known from Africa and the Middle East and thus is a likely candidate. Other suggestions for identity of the serpent include the puff-adder and sand viper, neither of which is as lethal as the carpet viper. R. J. Wolff advanced the idea that the serpentine creatures were nematodes known as Guinea worms that the Israelites contracted by drinking contaminated water in the desert, but his suggestion has not received scholarly support. On the identity as the carpet viper, Harrison concludes: \u201cSince the incident was a natural event actuated by supernatural considerations, the most poisonous desert reptile would be eminently suitable for inflicting divine punishment upon the rebellious Israelites.\u201d
\n21:7 Also unlike previous rebellion accounts, the Israelites respond with repentant hearts, confessing their sinfulness in speaking seditiously against God and Moses. Though driven in part by the desperate circumstances of facing death by snake bite, they seem to have realized genuinely the seriousness of their indiscretion. Having experienced several times through their history in the wilderness that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man like Moses avails much, they appeal to their divinely appointed leader to intercede with God on their behalf. Unlike the way he reacted with unrighteous anger at Keribah Kadesh (20:10\u201311), Moses responded to their penitent pleas with an equally humble heart and prayed (wayyitpall\u0113l) on behalf of the people.
\n21:8\u20139 The Lord graciously responded to the pleas of Moses and the people by giving instructions for preparing a homeopathic antidote for the snakes\u2019 venom. Yahweh\u2019s response commences with the secondary formula for divine instruction, wayy\u014d\u02bemer YHWH \u02beel-m\u014d\u0161eh, and the message was that Moses should produce a s\u0101r\u0101p (\u201cwinged serpent\u201d or \u201cfiery serpent\u201d) and mount it on a signal pole (n\u0113s, \u201csign, banner, placard\u201d) for people to see. Anyone who had been bitten by the snakes could then look at the serpent-bearing sign and would live rather than die. The verb translated \u201clook\u201d (r\u0101\u02be\u00e2) often carries with it the idea to see with belief or understanding, and it is to be so interpreted in this context. The function was a form of homeopathic and apotropaic ritual whereby a votive form of the source of the disease (homeopathic element) is used in a ritual to ward off evil (apotropaism), or in this case death from snake bite.
\nThe use of the copper or bronze serpent form in the worship context of the Sinai region has been attested through the excavated remains of a temple at Timna, located on the west side of the Arabah about fifteen miles north of Elat and Aqaba on the gulf. The Beno Rothenberg expedition carried out surveys and excavations in the area intermittently from 1959\u20131969. This Bronze and Iron Age copper mining site was exploited by the Egyptians, who left behind evidence of their activities in the mining shafts, smelting facilities, wall carvings, and a small cultic center dedicated to Hathor, the patron deity of Egyptian artisans. Among the remains in the temple unearthed in 1969 from the period of Midianite occupation was a five-inch long copper snake with a gilded head, no doubt representative of some deity in the local cult and of a typology of cultic activity well attested in Egyptian literature and iconography. An eight-inch-long coiled copper snake form was excavated at Tel Mevorakh in the northern Sharon Plain and has been dated to the Late Bronze Age. K. R. Joines notes that the Egyptians wore miniature models of serpents in order to prevent snake bite.
\nThe use of the mounted copper serpent by Moses and the people under the direction of the Lord carries a higher level of meaning and implication. Wenham noted several contrasting elements when comparing Num 21:7\u20139 with the verbal and visual records of the ancient Near East. First, the utilization of the mounted copper serpent was to take place after one had been bitten by a snake, not to ward off an attack. A person was in mortal danger if he neglected to look with faith upon the mounted serpent, literally standing between life and death at the point of decision to follow what might on the surface seem like a simple magic ritual. The repetition of the phraseology of life and death in vv. 8 and 9 emphasizes the crucial role the symbol held in the faith life of the people. Second, there existed a paradox of function here as was true in the case of most of animal sacrifices for sin and guilt in the Israelite system. Blood, which by contact could render one unclean, could on the other hand bring ritual purification. This paradox is no more vividly pictured than in the ritual of the red cow (Num 19:1\u201322), whereby purification is affected for a person made unclean by death through the sprinkling of that which has rendered everyone else impure. So looking with hope for salvation and healing upon a form of that which has rendered one in a position of living or dying was a wondrously paradoxical act of faith in a God who controlled all power over life or death.
\nIn the New Testament, Jesus used the imagery of the copper serpent to demonstrate that he must be lifted up on the cross in order to accomplish the salvation of humanity. Just as the people in the wilderness looked with faith upon an uplifted serpent so that they might live, so through the paradox of faith in the efficacy of the death and resurrection of Jesus, those who believe in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:14\u201316; 12:32\u201333).<\/p>\n
(4) Journey through Moab (21:10\u201320)<\/p>\n
10 The Israelites moved on and camped at Oboth. 11 Then they set out from Oboth and camped in Iye Abarim, in the desert that faces Moab toward the sunrise. 12 From there they moved on and camped in the Zered Valley. 13 They set out from there and camped alongside the Arnon, which is in the desert extending into Amorite territory. The Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. 14 That is why the Book of the Wars of the LORD says:
\n\u201c\u2026 Waheb in Suphah and the ravines,
\nthe Arnon 15 and the slopes of the ravines
\nthat lead to the site of Ar
\nand lie along the border of Moab.\u201d
\n16 From there they continued on to Beer, the well where the LORD said to Moses, \u201cGather the people together and I will give them water.\u201d
\n17 Then Israel sang this song:
\n\u201cSpring up, O well!
\nSing about it,
\n18 about the well that the princes dug,
\nthat the nobles of the people sank\u2014
\nthe nobles with scepters and staffs.\u201d
\nThen they went from the desert to Mattanah, 19 from Mattanah to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel to Bamoth, 20 and from Bamoth to the valley in Moab where the top of Pisgah overlooks the wasteland.<\/p>\n
This section contains two alternating genre of material from the journey motif, the march itinerary and songs from the journey, as recorded in the Book of the Wars of Yahweh, a document long lost in antiquity except for occasional excerpts included in canonical Scripture. The geographical movement is predicated on the material in 20:14\u201323, in which the Israelites are said to have traveled around Edom because their king refused Moses\u2019 request for passage through their territory. Concerning these verses Wenham writes, \u201cExtracts from the travel log interspersed with fragments of old poems convey the sense of elation as the goal of their wanderings comes into sight.\u201d
\n21:10\u201313 The journey motif resumes with the Israelites disembarking from the region of Mount Hor and the Way of the Atharim and setting up camp at Oboth, and then traveling on to Iye Abarim on the edge of the Moabite territory. According to the wilderness march itinerary of Num 33:41\u201344, intermediate encampments were established at Zalmonah and Punon before they reached Oboth.
\nThe intent of the narrative in 21:10\u201311 is to progress quickly through the region, circumnavigating Edom, arriving at the eastern side of Moab on the edge of the desert, and then proceeding on to the Amorite regions of Sihon of Heshbon and Og of Bashan. From there they moved northward along the perimeter of Moab to a camp in the Zered Valley and then the Arnon Valley. The upper reaches of the Arnon River were situated on the edge of the Jordanian desert and marked the frontier boundary between the Moabites to the south and the Amorites to the north. The fourfold verbal sequencing of terms meaning \u201cmoved on, set out\u201d (wayyis\u0115\u02bf\u00fb [2\u00d7] and n\u0101s\u0101\u02bf\u00fb [2\u00d7], \u201cthey set out, disembarked\u201d) and \u201ccamped\u201d (wayya\u1e25\u0103n\u00fb [4\u00d7]) recalls the words of the original song of the Israelite march as recorded in Num 9:17\u201323 that \u201cat the Lord\u2019s command the Israelites set out, and at his command then encamped.\u201d Having sought the Lord faithfully in the case of the bronze serpent, they were prepared to follow him faithfully on their journey through Transjordan and to experience again the joy of victory.
\nMost source critical scholars have long suggested that the itinerary stages of Numbers 20\u201321 are a conflation of sources, including JE and P and that chap. 33 is primarily of priestly origin. Verses 10\u201311 are described as P material, yet vv. 12\u201313 are identified as JE material, even though, as Ashley has pointed out, the vocabulary is essentially the same. The differences are largely geographical in terms of the number of campsite names preserved in a given region. Numbers 33 includes more of the sites between Kadesh and the border of the Amorite country (five vs. two), but Numbers 21 contains more names of cities within the Amorite region (seven vs. three). The differences are to be regarded as variations based on geographical and literary context and purpose rather than hypothetical sources, and in fact neither of the texts is exhaustive. The geographical movement and sites mentioned in Numbers 21 reflect a concern in the narrative of Israel moving from Mount Hor to the region, all to show how God fought for Israel in the Transjordan. Numbers 33 on the other hand is a travelogue of Moses recounting the victory march from Egypt to the Plains of Moab, the front door of the Promised Land. Hence it only summarily addresses the region of the Amorites in its literary groupings of itinerary stages.
\n21:14\u201315 The first song excerpt derives from the Book of the Wars of Yahweh, an ancient text heretofore unknown, though the second song excerpt in vv. 17\u201318 may have been drawn from it as well. The reason for this tribute from a book apparently dedicated to the great victories ascribed to Yahweh the God of Israel seems to be the geographical citations concerning the great gorge of the Arnon River and the border towns of the region of Moab, through which the Israelites were about to enter on their way to greater victories against the Amorites. The initial portion in vv. 14b\u201315a has no verb, only place names and geographical features. Thus the excerpt enhances the journey motif since it was God who was leading the Israelites through and around the terrain of the land of the Moabites. In the literary structure this song and the one quoted in vv. 17\u201318 are anticipatory of the great victory song of vv. 27\u201330 when Israel defeated the Amorite king Sihon of Heshbon. Together these three songs provide an overarching inclusio near the end of the rebellion cycles with the song Moses sang when Israel first departed Sinai (10:35\u201336). Indeed hymnic composition in conjunction with victory marches was a common tradition throughout the history of Israel. It seems to have begun with Moses and Miriam after the crossing of the Sea (Exod 15:1\u201321), continued with the marching and camping song when the Israelites were preparing to depart Mount Sinai (Num 9:16\u201323), and is evident in the numerous psalms composed by David in response to the great victories the Lord wrought on his behalf.
\nThe identity of Waheb in Suphah in the vicinity of the Arnon River is unknown, though the description of the ravines is quite similar to much of the Arnon Gorge as it stretches from the desert to about midway down the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. The plural form of ravines (hann\u0115\u1e25\u0101l\u00eem, \u201cthe wadis, brooks, rivers\u201d) probably refers to the entire drainage basin of the eastern Arnon system with its numerous tributaries. The upper reaches of the Wadi al-Wala, a northern tributary of the Arnon, could also be included in the picture. The deep gorge and precipitous ravines formed a very distinctive and formidable boundary for the northern part of Moab, though later the Moabites would expand into the tablelands, hills, and valleys in the area of Heshbon. Additionally some of the ravines led to the dwelling or seat of Ar, which was located near the Moabite border. This site probably is to be equated with Ar of Moab, a city (Num 21:28), district, or region (Deut 2:9; Isa 15:1). The complete original song may have included more geographical data, and hence a fuller context.
\n21:16\u201318a On the edge of the desert the Israelites came to a site named Beer (\u201cwell\u201d) that would be remembered throughout their history because of the Lord\u2019s gracious supply of water once more in an arid region. Though some commentators have equated this site with the Moabite Beer Elim of Isa 15:8, this term for well is used so generically that any such identification would at best be tenuous. The song that follows this note on the journey celebrates the wondrous gift of water provided by the Lord, this time without a preface of the people\u2019s rebellion. With such a long history of complaining about the lack of water, the celebration of God\u2019s granting of water by instruction to Moses marks another turning point in the narrative of God\u2019s dealing with Israel. The recent occasion of Moses gathering the people to see God supply their need ended in judgment and despair for the prophet (20:2\u201313). Death was meted out to the last group who grumbled (21:5\u20136). Now Israel was given further incentive to continue toward the goal of the Promised Land.
\nThe song reflects the quality leadership of the princes (\u015b\u0101r\u00eem) and nobles of the people (n\u0115d\u00eeb\u00ea h\u0101\u02bf\u0101m) who engaged in the digging of the well. The former term probably refers to the tribal chieftains or clan leaders, and the latter provides a poetic parallel to the princes, suggesting they willingly gave of themselves to engineer this worthy endeavor. Milgrom notes the work of A. Musil, who described the digging of wells or water pits by bedouins in the riverbed of the Wadi el-Thamad (W. eth-Themed), pits known in the Arabic as bir or biyar. J. Sturdy cites a Bedouin refrain that echoes similar sentiment about well digging:<\/p>\n
Flow water, spread abundantly; Wood, camel, do not scorn it!
\nWith sticks we have dug it.<\/p>\n
21:18b\u201320 In seven verbless clauses the epic narrative (or perhaps poem) continues the journey motif from this well of Beer and the desert regions to the sites of Mattanah (\u201cgift\u201d), Nahaliel (\u201criver of God\u201d), Bamoth (\u201chigh place, cultic center\u201d), the valley that is in the Moabite countryside, and the peak of the Pisgah mountains, which overlooks the wasteland (Jeshimon). Translators and commentators alike have faced the problem of whether these are place names or descriptive terms that should be translated. Translating several of the toponyms (e.g., Mattanah may be translated \u201cgift\u201d in v. 18b as part of the conclusion to the song, hence the phrase would further describe the gift of the well from God in the midst of the wilderness) yields the following versification of vv. 17b\u201320:<\/p>\n
\u201cSpring up, O well; Sing about it!
\nThe well dug by princes;
\nits excavation by the nobles of the people, with scepter and with staves;
\nfrom the wilderness a gift (Mattanah),
\nfrom a gift the river of God,
\nand from the river of God a high place;
\nfrom the high place the valley which is in the field of Moab,
\nthe top of the Pisgah [range], which is overlooking the face of the wasteland.\u201d<\/p>\n
Poised on the mountaintop of Nebo, the prominent peak of the Pisgah mountains, Moses would late be granted a glimpse of the Promised Land. For now the Israelite congregation celebrated with great joy the gift from God. The sites probably were remembered by these toponyms in the generations that followed, but by the postexilic period they were lost in antiquity.
\nMattanah has not been identified, though Khirbet el-Medeiyineh (Madaynah) has been suggested. Yet Y. Aharoni identified Kh. el-Medeiyineh with Iye Abarim (Iyyim). The mound is located about eleven miles northeast of Diban (or southeast of Madaba) and contains pottery from the end of the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron I. Likewise, Nahaliel has not been located, though this could be a reference to the Wadi Zerqa-ma`in that flows from the central highlands to the Dead Sea, about ten miles south of its northern end. Bamoth (\u201chigh places, cultic centers\u201d) has not been identified, though it could have been preserved in the longer form Bamoth Baal (Num 22:41) or Beth Bamoth of the later Mesha inscription. Bamoth was a toponym, often combined with names or titles of deities in the naming of important worship centers among Canaanites and Amorites. According to this poetic narrative, this Bamoth seems to have been located somewhere near Mount Nebo in the Pisgah range. The Pisgah peak provides an excellent vantage point over the wilderness areas on the northwestern, northern, and northeastern sides of the Dead Sea. On a clear winter day from the traditional Mount Nebo, one can see where the Jordan River flows into the Dead Sea, the northern end of the Judean wilderness and the Jericho oasis, as well as the regions to the north on both sides of the Jordan.
\nSeveral commentators have suggested that the valley mentioned in v. 20 should be identified with the Wadi \u02bfAy\u00fbn M\u00fbs\u0101, about two miles northeast of the corner of the Dead Sea. Finally, the term translated \u201cwasteland\u201d (hay\u0115\u0161\u00eem\u014dn) is also taken as a place name and identified by Y. Aharoni with Beth Jeshimoth, part of the realm of Sihon of the Amorites that was conquered by Israel (Josh 12:3). The Way of Beth Jeshimoth descended from Heshbon westward toward the Jordan River, through the region opposite Jericho and near which the Israelites later encamped.<\/p>\n
(5) Victory over the Amorites of Transjordan (21:21\u201335)<\/p>\n
A second attempt at diplomacy for gaining safe passage through the territories of Transjordan was undertaken by the Israelites in engaging the Amorites ruled by Sihon of Heshbon. The previous such endeavor at negotiation with their \u201cbrothers\u201d the Edomites had ended in rejection and intimidation, forcing the Israelites to circumnavigate the region of Mount Seir for fear of war (20:14\u201321). This time the story begins much the same, and the initial response of the Amorites was like that of the Edomites to the south, but the repartee of Israel and the final outcome are quite the opposite. Victory, conquest, and celebration became the allotment for Israel, especially when Yahweh their God gave them confidence and fought for them. This account became one of the most remembered victories in the history of Israel. The account of this campaign in Deut 2:24\u201337 details the direction Moses was given by the Lord before sending the messengers to Sihon, so the engagement that followed was not done without the Lord\u2019s blessing.<\/p>\n
VICTORY OVER SIHON OF HESHBON (21:21\u201331)<\/p>\n
21 Israel sent messengers to say to Sihon king of the Amorites:
\n22 \u201cLet us pass through your country. We will not turn aside into any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the king\u2019s highway until we have passed through your territory.\u201d
\n23 But Sihon would not let Israel pass through his territory. He mustered his entire army and marched out into the desert against Israel. When he reached Jahaz, he fought with Israel. 24 Israel, however, put him to the sword and took over his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, but only as far as the Ammonites, because their border was fortified. 25 Israel captured all the cities of the Amorites and occupied them, including Heshbon and all its surrounding settlements. 26 Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken from him all his land as far as the Arnon.
\n27 That is why the poets say:
\n\u201cCome to Heshbon and let it be rebuilt;
\nlet Sihon\u2019s city be restored.
\n28 \u201cFire went out from Heshbon,
\na blaze from the city of Sihon.
\nIt consumed Ar of Moab,
\nthe citizens of Arnon\u2019s heights.
\n29 Woe to you, O Moab!
\nYou are destroyed, O people of Chemosh!
\nHe has given up his sons as fugitives
\nand his daughters as captives
\nto Sihon king of the Amorites.
\n30 \u201cBut we have overthrown them;
\nHeshbon is destroyed all the way to Dibon.
\nWe have demolished them as far as Nophah,
\nwhich extends to Medeba.\u201d
\n31 So Israel settled in the land of the Amorites.<\/p>\n
21:21\u201322 Only a terse summary of the correspondence is preserved in this passage. Israel sent forth messengers (wayyi\u0161la\u1e25 yi\u015br\u0101\u02be\u0113l mal\u02be\u0101k\u00eem), or diplomatic envoys, to negotiate passage northward along the Kings\u2019 Highway in the Transjordan highlands and then westward down the hillsides to the shores of the Jordan River. The stipulations were essentially the same, with Israel promising neither to invade the farmlands of the Amorites for their own food supply nor access the wells along the way for their water. An additional request from this message was included in Deut 2:28, which was the opportunity to purchase food supplies while passing through the land.
\n21:23\u201326 Sihon\u2019s response was the same as the king of Edom, refusal of passage and the dispatching of troops to ward off Israel\u2019s advance (20:20\u201321). The account in Deuteronomy notes that the Lord had hardened the heart of Sihon in the manner of the pharaoh in Egypt so that the power of God might be demonstrated in the defeat of the Amorite king (2:30). The Amorite army launched an all-out military campaign against Israel, who was encamped near the edge of the wilderness of Kedemoth, and the armies met at a site named Jahaz. Though the identity of its locale is somewhat uncertain, the biblical and extrabiblical evidence locates it somewhere between Dibon and Madaba. It later became one of the Levitical cities in the tribal territory of Reuben. The armies of Sihon and the Amorites suffered a resounding defeat, with the Israelites carrying out the methodology of holy war as they \u201cput him to the sword\u201d\u2014utter destruction\u2014and \u201ctook over his land\u201d\u2014possession. The Amorite \u201ckingdom\u201d of Sihon is said to have spread from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River, a length of about forty-five to fifty miles, but it apparently was flanked by the fortified towns of the Ammonites on the eastern and northern sides. The early existence of the Ammonite kingdom seems evidenced by the discovery and excavation of a Middle to Late Bronze Age temple near the Amman airport as well as other sites in the region, such as Tel el-Umeiri, Hesban, Jalul, and Tell el-Jawa.
\nHeshbon was said to have been the key city of Sihon at the time of the Israelite conflicts, though remnants are meager from the Middle or Late Bronze ages at Tel Heshban, located about eleven miles southwest of Amman. Only a few LB potsherds and no architectural remains were uncovered at the site during the excavations carried out under the auspices of Andrews University in 1968\u201376. The archaeological record at Tel Hesban parallels that of Arad, Ai, Hebron, and other sites of the Israelite campaigns, which leads some critical scholars to deny the historicity of these events, suggesting that they have been retrojected into Israel\u2019s formative period by the JE authors from later victories by kings such as Omri. The name Heshbon, however, may have been used by the Amorites for another locale. S. Horn suggested that the Heshbon of Sihon could have been located at Jalul, and other nearby sites that have occupational strata from the LB period would be possible candidates. R. W. Younker has demonstrated the complexity of the social and political structures of early Moab, as well as the adjacent Ammonite and Amorite populations, and hence cautions against ascribing aspects of formal statehood to these early tribal oriented groups. Perhaps continued surveys and excavations in the Madaba Plains Project will clarify this situation in the near future.
\nAn earlier conflict between the Amorites of Sihon and the former king of the Moabites, by which Sihon gained control of this region, is alluded to in v. 26. The geopolitical history of the region between the Wadi Zered and the Jabbok River was a tumultuous one, with ever shifting boundary disputes and continual battles for territorial supremacy from the Late Bronze Age through the Iron Ages. The Egyptians, Moabites, Ammonites, Amorites, the Israelites of the tribes of Reuben and Gad, the later Israelites under Omri and Ahab, and the Arameans all waged war in this region. They were soon followed by the super powers of the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians. The earlier battle remembered in this text probably was one of those at the formative stage of these two peoples, who were still developing entities when Israel marched through the area.
\n21:27\u201331 The provenance of this song of victory has puzzled scholars of this century, and three distinct approaches have been delineated. As mentioned above, some source critical scholars have tended to set this song in the context of Omri\u2019s conquest of Moab in the first half of the ninth century B.C., while others have taken it as an even earlier song mocking Moab. Budd\u2019s recent comment is typical of this view, suggesting that \u201cthe Yahwist has taken up an old taunt song against Moab which was probably, though not certainly, of Israelite origin. The version available mentioned Heshbon as the city of Sihon. He took this Sihon to be an Amorite king and assumed that he had previously dispossessed the earlier Moabites. Since in his view this was Israelite territory, he constructs the story of the defeat of Sihon by the Israelites.\u201d Budd simply calls the song a \u201cliterary construct\u201d and suggests that the Book of Judges supports this proposition, since it seems to indicate that only small enclaves of settlers lived in the region (Judg 3:12\u201320; 8:4\u201317; 10:17\u201312:6). Thus for Budd the song need not be grounded in historical reality. Nothing in the present context, however, demands the kind of kingdom that was in existence in the ninth to eighth centuries B.C. that would necessitate placing the historical narrative into a later period. This kind of etiological interpretation disregards both the content of the song and its chronological and literary context. There is no known destruction of Heshbon by Omri, though he controlled Moab during the second quarter of the ninth century B.C. Instead the Mesha Stele was etched and erected in celebration of Moab\u2019s successful rebellion against Israel shortly after the death of Ahab (2 Kgs 3:4\u201327). Under Joram and Jehoshaphat many cities of Moab were destroyed, but their armies finally withdrew after Mesha sacrificed his son on the walls of Kir Hareseth. The song itself calls for the rebuilding of Heshbon, to be established as the city of Sihon\u2019s kingdom (v. 26). The woe oracle denounced the Moabites and their god Chemosh, who was supposed to be a protector of the people but who instead allowed Sihon to take the Moabite children captive. Israel, under the leadership of Yahweh their God, had defeated all the forces of the Amorites during this latter stage of the wilderness experience, and hence the song was composed and sung in the subsequent history of the nation.
\nThe traditional Jewish interpretation is that the song is of Amorite origin and that it was adopted and adapted by the Israelites to show their supremacy over the Amorites, who had earlier conquered Moab. The song had been sung by the Amorite bards, but their glorious victory had been shamed by the Israelite conquest of the Amorite territory. The song must be viewed in the literary context of the inclusio formed by the usage of the clauses \u201cIsrael dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites\u201d in v. 25 and \u201cThus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites\u201d in v. 31. Israel, by the hand of their God (Deut 2:31\u201333), had triumphed over the Moabite region the Amorites had conquered. The Amorite song of victory was used against them to bring shame and to discredit the once-powerful king. The account of the battle and the words of this song, which recalled the Amorite victory over Moab, would later give Jephthah his rationale for refusing to return peacefully the region of Gilead to the Ammonite king (Judg 11:13\u201333). Israel possessed the land not by confiscating it from the Ammonites or Moabites but by utterly conquering the Amorites who had previously dispossessed the former inhabitants. They had not entered the Ammonite or Moabite realms of that time period, only that of the stubborn and belligerent Sihon the Amorite. The mention of the territory and towns of Moab also prepares the reader for the Balaam oracles, set in the context of King Balak\u2019s ever-growing fear of the Israelites. Portions of this song also would be recounted in the prophets\u2019 oracles against Moab in the eighth to sixth centuries B.C., including Isa 15:1\u201316:14 and Jer 48:1\u201347.
\nThe song itself has all the earmarks of a classical epic lyric, with the summons to the Amorite audience to \u201ccome\u201d (b\u014d\u02be\u00fb) and rebuild Heshbon as the new capital of its lead conqueror Sihon. The fiery destruction that was Heshbon\u2019s extended all the way to Ar of Moab, mentioned also in 21:15 above. The translation of the final colon of this verse has been problematic, in that one would expect a parallel to \u201cit consumed\u201d (\u02be\u0101k\u0115l\u00e2) instead of \u201clords,\u201d which has no precedent or parallel. Several modern translations have followed the LXX translators, who apparently read the Hebrew ba\u02bf\u0103l\u00ea (\u201clords, masters\u201d) as b\u0101l\u02bf\u00e2 (\u201cit consumed\u201d). In the woe oracle against Moab, the lyricist denigrated the Moabites and their patron deity, Chemosh, saying boastfully that they had perished and that captives were taken from the young men and women for the use and abuse of the Amorites. The name Chemosh is recited twelve times in the Mesha stele, including in the appellation Ashtar-Chemosh, as the god who enabled Mesha to break the yoke of Israel\u2019s domination and recapture and rebuild a number of his cities, including Jahaz (L19 and Num 21:23) and Dibon (L21, also Dibon Gad in Num 33:45\u201346), Beth-diblathen (\u201cAlmon Diblathaim,\u201d NIV) (L30 and Num 33:46\u201347), and Madaba (L30 and Num 21:30). Interestingly Heshbon is not preserved in the Mesha inscription, though it remained a vital city of this period in Moab\u2019s history. Woefully the worship of Chemosh of Moab was brought into the environs of Jerusalem in the tenth century B.C., where the once-wise Solomon built a temple to Chemosh on the hill opposite that upon which the Temple of Yahweh was built earlier in his reign. The seeds of idolatry were planted in the city where the one true God was to have been worshiped exclusively.<\/p>\n
VICTORY OVER OG OF BASHAN (21:32\u201335)<\/p>\n
32 After Moses had sent spies to Jazer, the Israelites captured its surrounding settlements and drove out the Amorites who were there. 33 Then they turned and went up along the road toward Bashan, and Og king of Bashan and his whole army marched out to meet them in battle at Edrei.
\n34 The LORD said to Moses, \u201cDo not be afraid of him, for I have handed him over to you, with his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon.\u201d
\n35 So they struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army, leaving them no survivors. And they took possession of his land.<\/p>\n
21:32\u201335 Two subsequent victories over the Amorites are recounted as the Israelites continued northward through the region against Jazer and vicinity and finally against Og the king of Bashan. Moses is reintroduced into the text as the one who sent forth the spies to scout out the situation in Jazer, which was followed by another victory over the Amorites who were living there. The final clause of v. 32, \u201cthe Amorites who were there,\u201d may suggest that Jazer was not an Amorite town originally, but it may have come under Amorite dominion in the expansion efforts of Sihon or Og into the Ammonite region. Jazer was both the name of a region (Num 32:1) and its principal city (32:3). Noth suggested the land of Jazer was located in the valley of the Wadi Kefrein, which flows down toward the Jordan. The city was located by Simons with Khirbet Gazzir (Jazer), about ten miles west northwest of Amman.
\nThe account here of the victory over Og of the Bashan region reads quite similar to the beginning verses of the extended version in Deut 3:1\u201311, though Deuteronomy recounts the story in the first person voice of Moses. The battle does not seem to have been provoked initially by Israel, though their northward advance was perceived as a threat to Og\u2019s sovereignty over the region. Hence the armies were dispatched straightaway, and the battle ensued at Edrei, generally associated with modern Der\u02be\u0101 on the Syrian-Jordanian border and thirty miles east of the Sea of Galilee. The capital of the kingdom of Og of Bashan was located at Ashtaroth, situated on a northern tributary of the Yarmuk River (Deut 1:4). Later Edrei would be included in the tribal territorial allocation of the Machirites of the eastern half of the tribe of Manasseh (Josh 13:31). Though no other battles are recounted in Numbers, perhaps suggesting that the Israelites moved northward through Gilead uncontested, this need not be concluded. In Deut 3:4\u20136 it is noted that sixty cities from the kingdom of Og of Bashan were subjected to the stipulations of holy war.
\n21:34 The counsel from the Lord is introduced by the secondary introductory formula for divine instruction used in the Book of Numbers (wayyo\u02bemer YHWH \u02beel-m\u014d\u0161eh). The message from the Lord, that they should not fear the oncoming enemies, was the same one given to the people by Moses, Aaron, Caleb, and Joshua when they were faced with the prospects of entering the Promised Land, a task that seemed to them frightening and formidable (Num 14:9). To hesitate in fear would be to rebel against God, but to advance against a foe just like the one they had just defeated would afford evidence of their faith in a God who fights for them.
\n21:35 Only a brief summary of the complete conquest is provided here, for the more extensive version is recounted in Deut 3:3\u201311. The important feature to this account was that Moses and the Israelites faithfully obeyed the instructions from the Lord, and victory was theirs. Og\u2019s dynasty over Bashan had come to an abrupt end, and no descendant of the king would be there to take his rightful place on the throne. The concluding aspect of holy war, that of taking possession of the land, parallels the phraseology of v. 24. The concluding words of the chapter prepare the reader for the coming instructions in Num 33:50\u201353 and the concomitant warning not to retract in fear like the first generation. The series of victories in chaps. 20\u201321 would provide the Israelites with the foundation for a faith in Yahweh their God that would give them courage and hope as they would go forth across the Jordan River to the Promised Land.<\/p>\n
(6) The Book of Balaam (22:1\u201324:25)<\/p>\n
Introduction to the Balaam Oracles<\/p>\n
The stories of Balaam, his donkey, and his oracles of blessing upon Israel have both fascinated and intrigued readers young and old throughout history. Wenham remarked: \u201cThe charming naivete of these stories disguises a brilliance of literary composition and a profundity of theological reflection. The narrative is at once both very funny and deadly serious.\u201d For most scholars these accounts have seemed out of place, an anachronistic and puzzling legend of ninth or eighth century B.C. origin and retrojected into the conquest tradition for the purpose of showing God\u2019s care for his people and justifying their exploits against the Moabites. Yet, as has been argued in the \u201cIntroduction\u201d and expanded below, this material stands with amazing relevance to the structural and theological outline of the Book of Numbers. Balaam becomes for a brief moment the revelatory instrument of God, replacing Moses, who mysteriously is nowhere present. Israel is talked about and seen from a distance. The positioning of the Balaam oracles at the conclusion of the third cycle of Israel\u2019s rebellion presents a remarkable picture of God working on behalf of his people in spite of their almost complete failure to follow him faithfully. God will continue to reveal himself to and pronounce blessing upon his people, even if the instrument of blessing is a pagan divination expert of international reputation.
\nAs noted earlier the third rebellion cycle is the most enigmatic; here the rebellion cycles take a striking turn and come to a perplexing conclusion with implications for the rest of the book and for the future history of Israel. The historical setting is the Plains of Moab across the Jordan from Jericho following the deaths of Miriam and Aaron, the rebellion of Moses, and then the victories over the Amorites in Transjordan. Now only Joshua, Caleb, and Moses remain from the leadership that saw God\u2019s incomparable, mighty acts displayed in Egypt and the Exodus. Yet now Moses has fallen into the seditious pattern of the nation by his defiance of God in striking the rock, thereby violating the holiness of Yahweh. Moses now represents the final collapse of the seditious nation except for a remnant of the two faithful spies. The picture of God\u2019s sovereign and faithful intent to bless his people is striking in contrast to their almost total rebellion against him. His grace abounds against all attempts to thwart it.
\nBalaam, a pagan sorcerer of Mesopotamian origin, whom one might expect to rebel against the God of Israel\u2014and he does\u2014now becomes the unexpected spokesman for God. Moses is silent here, absent from the narrative. Yet even if the most faithful devoted leader of the people of God should fall into sin, God will use whatever resource is necessary to communicate with and for his people. The greatest of the prophets has joined in the rejection of God\u2019s sovereignty over the lives of the people, and the plot turns as God uses Balaam instead of Moses (and Aaron) to bestow blessing and glory upon his people as a prophet and to worship God with sacrifices and offerings as a priest. Jesus said that if the children of the faith were silenced, the stones would cry out (Luke 19:40; cf. Luke 3:8; Matt 3:9). The narrative arrangement creates discontinuity in the character plot yet continuity in the thematic developments. Balaam is a rebellious instrument of God, a paradoxical and oxymoronic character himself in the story.
\nThat a donkey should be the most spiritually observant character in this section stands in sharp contradistinction to the characterization of the nations and the individual leaders, a literary slap-in-the-face toward any humanly conceived means of defining God and his ways. God will ultimately accomplish his will by whatever means and agency necessary. What echoes from the mouth of this most unusual servant of God are some of the most striking words of praise for God and his purpose for his people. Reversal of fortunes reverberates through several episodes of the story: a persistent pagan prophet learns from a donkey; a Moabite king\u2019s desires are thwarted by God; and Balaam\u2019s intent to curse and bring condemnation upon Israel is turned by God into an opportunity to bring blessing beyond compare for the near and distant future. God reveals\u2014the central theme of the Book of Numbers\u2014his character and his intent to bring abundant hope and beneficence to all of humanity, indeed to the Jews and to the Gentiles.
\nThe third rebellion cycle concludes with another collapse of Israel\u2019s character, in spite of the wondrous revelation through the prophet Balaam. Idolatry at the doorstep of the land of promise serves to warn future generations of the consequences of rejecting God\u2019s law: judgment, plague, disease, and finally death. Temptations toward idolatry would plague Israel throughout their future in the land. Lest one think that the Balaam of chaps. 22\u201324 turned in faith toward this God who used him in such an amazing manner, we find that the illustrious prophet was the instigator of the means by which Israel would fall. The first generation ends in tragic judgment, and the new generation is faced with the matter of faithfulness to God, which will determine the course of their future.
\nIn the final rebellion cycle, Aaron has died and Moses has disregarded God\u2019s holiness. Ritual activity is performed only by a reluctant and antagonistic sorcerer. Yet as Balaam states in the second oracle:<\/p>\n
There is no sorcery against Jacob,
\nno divination against Israel.
\nIt will now be said of Jacob
\nand of Israel, \u201cSee what God has done!\u201d (23:23)<\/p>\n
Three times Balaam has seven altars built with seven sets of bull and ram sacrifices, followed by pronouncement of blessing upon Israel. A fourth oracle of ultimate blessing, the promise of a glorious messianic ruler, ensues without a concomitant ritual act as the Spirit of God comes upon him. The Balaam oracles stand as a testimony of God\u2019s faithfulness to Israel and his commitment to work on behalf of his people, even though they rebel against him. He will eventually bring them back to himself.<\/p>\n
Balaam in the Setting of the Ancient Near East<\/p>\n
From a variety of ancient Near Eastern texts from Mari, Babylon, and Anatolia have come cuneiform texts that illustrate the roles prophets and divination experts played in society during the Bronze and Iron Ages. From counselors to chiefs and kings to consultants for individuals and their families, these professional purveyors of portentous proficiency plied their skills in addressing matters that ranged from those of international importance to individual idiosyncrasy.<\/p>\n
Balaam: Prophet, Diviner, or Sorcerer?<\/p>\n
In the Old Testament certain forms of divination were permissible while other forms, especially that of sorcery, were summarily condemned. Sorcery was not only prohibited but was punishable by death (Exod 22:18; Lev 19:26; 20:27; Deut 18:10). Sorcery (ke\u0161\u0101p\u00eem) was a means of using black magic, incantations, necromancy, or manipulation of deity to affect change in the course of events set forth by God (or the gods). In the ancient Near East such a practice was predicated on the belief that the will of the gods and goddesses of one\u2019s pantheon could be manipulated by human activity whereby they would change their minds and accomplish the desired response. The God of Israel was no deity whose course of action was at the whim of human desire. Attempts to use God in this way were disastrous for the Israelites, as when they brought the ark of the covenant down into their battle against the Philistines (1 Sam 4:1\u201322). Yet certain forms of sorcery, such as casting an evil spell on someone that resulted in death, were also capital crimes. Divination on the other hand was a means of discerning the will of the gods via reading omens in nature, earthly and heavenly, and providing this information to inquiring individuals. Acceptable forms in the Old Testament of discerning the will of God include interpreting patterns of oil or water (Gen 44:5, 15) or casting lots (1 Sam 14:41\u201343). The most widely acceptable form was the consulting of the Urim and Thumim by the high priest who carried them on his ephod over his heart (Exod 28:30\u201335; 1 Sam 2:28; 14:3; 23:6, 9; 28:6; 30:7). In each of these cases the \u201cdiviner\u201d priest was attempting to discern the will of God in the given situation.
\nBalaam falls into the category of a diviner who emerges as a prophet. His initial oracles are derived after performing ritual sacrifice and other divining activities on the heights of the mountains, exercising the skills in which he was trained. Later his oracles come directly from the Lord without ritual preface. His expressed abilities include na\u1e25a\u0161, \u201cto seek an omen\u201d (23:23; 24:1) and qesem, \u201cdivination by casting lots\u201d or \u201cclairvoyance\u201d (22:7; 23:23). The method of na\u1e25a\u0161 was that practiced by Joseph during his leadership role in Egypt (Gen 44:5, 15); and qesem is known from the practice of visionary diviners among the false prophets of Israel (Ezek 12:9; Zech 10:2). Balaam gave no pretense of being a sorcerer who might actually change the will of the God (or even the gods); for he proclaimed, \u201cI could not do anything great or small to go beyond the command of the LORD my God\u201d (22:18), and again, \u201cI must speak only what God puts in my mouth\u201d (22:38). Balak\u2019s expectations were quite the contrary. He had hired Balaam expressly to change the course of Israel\u2019s pathway of God\u2019s blessing which they had heretofore experienced. What Balak wanted was a sorcerer\u2019s skill, but what he acquired was a diviner\u2019s Divine direction. In the end Balak became the recipient of that which he had intended for Israel, in fulfillment of the promise the Lord made to Abram, \u201cI will bless those who bless you, but whoever curses you I will curse\u201d (Gen 12:3). In this context Milgrom concludes, \u201cThus Israel\u2019s blessing moves from the present to the future, from a description of Israel\u2019s potential to its eventual fulfillment, reaching its crescendo in the full retribution it will exact from Balak (through his nation) for defying God by attempting to destroy Israel.\u201d
\nBut lest one think that Balaam became a faithful believer in Yahweh, God of Israel, one only has to look to the succeeding chapters of Numbers and additional texts from the Hebrew Bible and the Christian New Testament. Though his acclamation of \u201cYahweh my God\u201d in 22:18 might on the surface evidence such faith, the continuing saga of Balaam as the pagan diviner reveals otherwise.<\/p>\n
Balaam and the Texts from Deir \u02bfAlla<\/p>\n
While excavating the tel of Deir \u02bfAlla, which lay on the alluvial plain of the Ghor terrace where the Jabbok River flows into the Jordan River Valley, the Dutch excavation team under the direction of H. J. Franken uncovered a remarkable inscription recounting the activities of a Balaam son of Beor. The texts were written in red and black ink on a plastered wall or stele, possibly in a temple or other cultic context. On the basis of paleography and linguistics, as well as the stratigraphic context, the texts have been dated from the mid-eighth to the seventh century B.C. and hence several centuries after the events narrated in the Book of Numbers. The script is that of Aramaic and the language Ammonite at the point where the Ammonite Aramaic script was diverging from mainline Aramaic.
\nThe fragmented plaster sections have been pieced together into twelve combinations, only two of which are substantial enough to conjecture a translation. Though Combinations I and II have a number of lacunae, several conclusions can be drawn from the contents. One Balaam son of Beor, who is described as a \u201cseer of the gods\u201d (hzh \u02belhn), had a frightening night vision that he shared with his colleagues in the midst of his fasting and grief. He foretells a period of drought and darkness, of mourning and death, and in which the natural order is upended. Small birds like the swift and the sparrow attack larger ones like the eagle and the pigeon; the deaf hear at a distance, and fools have insightful visions. Balaam then perhaps exercises his prophetic-divination expertise to confront or curse the gods and goddesses who have brought on this calamity, and he implores the goddesses Ashtar (consort of Chemosh in Moab) and Sheger (known from Ugarit and Phoenician sources) to bring light, rain, and fertility to the land. Milgrom suggested that \u201cperhaps the temple on whose walls this inscription was written was founded to honor the gods (Sheger and Ashtar) who heeded Balaam\u2019s plea\/ sacrifice.\u201d
\nThe translation of Combinations I and II reads as follows with notes from Hackett (H) and Milgrom (M). Two types of gaps in the text are denoted; brackets ([ ]) mark reconstructions based on comparative texts, and three dots (\u2026) denote lacunae lacking sufficient data for reconstruction.<\/p>\n
Combination I<\/p>\n
1. The account of [Balaam son of Beo]r, a man who was a seer of the gods. The gods came to him in the night, and he envisioned (saw, H) a vision
\n2. like an oracle of El. Then they said to [Balaa]m, son of Beor: \u201cThus he will do [\u2026] afterward (in the future? M).
\n3. And Balaam arose on the next day [\u2026] from [\u2026] and he wept
\n4. deeply. And his people came to him [and said to] him[] \u201cBalaam son of Beor, why are you fasting and weeping?\u201d And he
\n5. said to them, \u201cSit down. I will tell to you what the \u0161adda[yin are about to do.] Come and see the wonders of the gods. The go[d]s gathered together
\n6. and the \u0161addayin stood in the assembly and said to \u0160[eger \u2026], \u2018Sew up; bolt up the heavens with your dark cloud; appoint darkness and not
\n7. eternal light, and set the dark [ cloud\u2019s se]al on your bolt, and do not remove it forever! For the swift shall
\n8. reprove the griffin-vulture (eagle, M), and the voice of the vulture shall sing out. [\u2026], the son of the na\u1e25a\u1e63 bird shall claw up young herons, and the swallow shall tear
\n9. at the pigeon, and the sparrow [\u2026] the staff; and at the place where the ewes are brought, the rabbits shall eat laurel branches (?wolf? H).
\n10. [\u2026] drink wine and hyenas listen to instruction. The whelps of the f[ox \u2026
\n11. \u2026] to the wise he takes you. The poor woman prepares myrrh and the priestess
\n12. [\u2026] for the prince a tattered loincloth. The esteemed person indeed esteems (others), and the one esteeming is es[teemed
\n13. \u2026] Deaf ones shall hear from a distance [
\n14. \u2026 the eyes of ] a fool shall see visions. Sheger and Ashtar for [.
\n15. \u2026] the leopard. The piglet chases the son of
\n16. [the \u2026]<\/p>\n
Combination II<\/p>\n
1. [\u2026]
\n2. ? to the \u0160add[ayin \u2026]
\n3. ? he has eaten [\u2026]
\n4. Young woman full of love [drink \u2026]
\n5. ? Why do the seed (offspring – M) and the firepit contain foliage(?) [\u2026]
\n6. El will be satisfied. Let him cross over to the house of eternity, the hou[se \u2026]
\n7. the house where the traveler does not go and the bridegroom does not go there, the house [\u2026]
\n8. and the worm from the tomb, from those who have arisen among human beings (H) and from the graves of [\u2026]
\n9. [\u2026] Will he not take counsel with you; or will he not take advice from one dwelling [\u2026]
\n10. [\u2026] You will cover him with a garment. If you are contentious with him, he will faint. If you [\u2026]
\n11. I will put [\u2026] under your head. You will lie down on your eternal resting place to perish, to [\u2026]
\n12. [\u2026] in their heart. The offspring sings in his heart [\u2026]
\n13. [with a he]art of gladness, kings will see visions [\u2026] Death will take the newborn child
\n14. [\u2026]? [\u2026]?? the heart of the offspring grows weary because he comes to [\u2026]
\n15. to his end [\u2026]?? [\u2026]? [\u2026] inquire of the king??
\n16. ? [\u2026] a distant vision [\u2026]? your inquiry, Why [\u2026]
\n17. to make known the account which he spoke orally to his people judgment and punishment
\n18. and I shall not drink (to the king?) [\u2026]<\/p>\n
Critical Scholarship<\/p>\n
For most literary and source critical scholars, the story of Balaam was one of the more ancient portions of the Pentateuchal narrative material derived from the early conflation of Yahwistic and Elohistic sources. Noth, for example, discerned a source variation in the Balaam oracles, suggesting that the \u201ctwo self-contained sections 22:41\u201323:26 and 23:28\u201324:19 present obvious doublets; the former, with two \u2018Balaam discourses,\u2019 forms the main part of the E-version, while the latter, again with two \u2018Balaam discourses,\u2019 forms the main part of the J-version.\u201d He found difficulty in discerning sources in chap. 22, ascribing the story of Balaam\u2019s donkey in 22:21\u201335 to the J-narrative and the remainder of the material in chaps. 22\u201324 to either the total conflation of J and E or later editorial insertions and additions. Gray assigned 22:2\u201322 to the Elohistic source, based primarily on what he described as the prevalent use of Elohim in reference to God in that section. Yet even critical scholars such as Noth and A. W. Jenks have pointed out that the divine names are used inconsistently in the Balaam accounts and should not be used to differentiate sources, as was noted earlier by W. F. Albright. Yet, as will be demonstrated below in the literary analysis of these chapters, the shifting between divine names is by no means inconsistent or arbitrary, but instead it functions as one of the elements in the development of the literary structure.
\nA second critical issue related to the Balaam accounts is the suggestion that this material, though from an ancient Pentateuchal source, is a late insertion into the flow of the narrative of the Book of Numbers, retrojected from the eighth or seventh century B.C. into the Late Bronze or Iron I historical context of the Israelite conquest tradition. Milgrom stated: \u201cClearly the rabbis believed that the Balaam story was composed independently and only later inserted into the Pentateuchal corpus. Indeed, these chapters are totally distinct from the larger context: Neither the personalities nor the events in them appear in the adjoining chapters.\u201d After the literary analysis section detailing the internal cohesion of the narrative and poetic portions, an outline of the recurrent themes in the Balaam oracles and the remainder of the Book of Numbers will be presented. I will also demonstrate how the Balaam material has been intricately interwoven into the adjoining chapters utilizing several basic Hebrew verbs.<\/p>\n
LITERARY ANALYSIS OF NUMBERS 22\u201325<\/p>\n
The following literary analysis will show the internal cohesiveness of the narrative, which includes the Baal Peor incident of chap. 25, and provide the foundation for demonstrating the continuity with the remainder of the Book of Numbers. This analysis will serve as the basis for addressing the parallels and developments in the areas of structure (both micro and macro levels), theme, narrative plot, characterization, and theology through the commentary on the Book of Balaam.<\/p>\n
OUTLINE OF THE BALAAM ORACLES<\/p>\n
GEOGRAPHICAL SETTING: Arabah of Moab along the Jordan across from Jericho (22:1)
\nCYCLE I: FIRST MESSENGERS SENT TO BALAAM (22:2\u201314)
\nBalak Fears Israel; Sends First Messengers to Balaam (22:2\u20137)
\nBalaam\u2019s Response to the Messengers (22:8)
\nGod\u2019s First Encounter with Balaam: Don\u2019t Go (22:9\u201312)
\nBalaam Refuses to Go to Moab (22:13)
\nBalak\u2019s Messengers Return Home to Moab (22:14)<\/p>\n
CYCLE II: SECOND SET OF MESSENGERS SENT TO BALAAM (22:15\u201321)
\nBalak Sends More Messengers to Balaam (22:15\u201317)
\nBalaam\u2019s Response to the New Messengers (22:18\u201319)
\nBalaam\u2019s Second Encounter with God: Go and Speak (22:20)
\nBalaam Departs with Messengers to Moab (22:21)<\/p>\n
CYCLE III: GOD\u2019S MESSENGER SENT TO BALAAM (22:22\u201340)
\nAngel of Yahweh Appears: Donkey Sees (22:22\u201323)
\nAngel of Yahweh Appears Second Time: Donkey Sees (22:24\u201325)
\nAngel of Yahweh Appears Third Time: Donkey Sees (22:26\u201327)
\nBalaam\u2019s Third Encounter with God (22:28\u201335)
\nYahweh Opens Donkey\u2019s Mouth (22:28\u201330)
\nYahweh Opens Balaam\u2019s Eyes (22:31\u201334)
\nYahweh\u2019s Message: Go and Speak (22:35)
\nBalaam Meets with Balak (22:36\u201340)<\/p>\n
CYCLE IV: FIRST ORACLE OF BALAAM (22:41\u201323:13)
\nBalak Takes Balaam to Cultic Site (22:41)
\nBalaam Prepares to Meet with Yahweh (23:1\u20133)
\nYahweh Meets with Balaam (23:4\u20136)
\nBalaam\u2019s First Oracle (23:7\u201310)
\nBalak\u2019s Response to Balaam (23:11\u201313)<\/p>\n
CYCLE V: SECOND ORACLE OF BALAAM (23:14\u201326)
\nBalak Takes Balaam to Another Cultic Site (23:14)
\nBalaam Prepares to Meet with Yahweh (23:15)
\nYahweh Meets with Balaam (23:16\u201317)
\nBalaam\u2019s Second Oracle (23:18\u201324)
\nBalak\u2019s Second Response to Balaam (23:25\u201326)<\/p>\n
CYCLE VI: THIRD ORACLE OF BALAAM (23:27\u201324:14)
\nBalak Takes Balaam to a Third Cultic Site (23:27\u201328)
\nBalaam Prepares to Meet with Yahweh (23:29\u201330)
\nBalaam\u2019s Third Oracle (24:1\u20139)
\nBalak\u2019s Final Response to Balaam (24:10\u201311)
\nBalaam\u2019s Final Response to Balaam (24:12\u201314)<\/p>\n
CYCLE VII: ORACLES FOUR\u2013SEVEN OF BALAAM (24:15\u201324)
\nBalaam\u2019s Fourth Oracle\u2014Future Leader Promised (24:15\u201319)
\nOracle against the Edomites
\nBalaam\u2019s Fifth Oracle\u2014Against the Amalekites (24:20)
\nBalaam\u2019s Sixth Oracle\u2014Against the Kenites (24:21\u201322)
\nBalaam\u2019s Seventh Oracle\u2014Against Asshur and Eber (24:23\u201324)<\/p>\n
CONCLUSION: BALAAM RETURNS HOMEWARD (24:25)<\/p>\n
BALAAM\u2019S COUNSEL: SIN OF THE SECOND GENERATION\u2014THE IDOLATRY AT BAAL PEOR (25:1\u201319)
\nSetting of Immorality and Idolatry (25:1\u20133)
\nMoses Receives Instruction from Yahweh (25:4)
\nMoses Instructs the Leaders of Israel (25:5)
\nExemplary Action and Faithful Response of Phinehas (25:6\u20138)
\nResults of Israel\u2019s Immorality (25:9)
\nPriesthood of Phinehas: Additional Instruction from the Lord (25:10\u201315)
\nInstructions Regarding the Midianites (25:16\u201318)
\nSetting for the New Generation (25:19)<\/p>\n
Excursus: Recurrent Themes and Literary Structures in the Balaam Oracles and the Book of Numbers<\/p>\n
Many source critical scholars, while acknowledging the relative antiquity of the poetics of the Balaam oracles, have suggested that the materials is discontinuous from the remainder of the Book of Numbers. Based upon their discernment of variant \u201chistorical\u201d sources in the narrative as compared to the preceding and succeeding materials, they have posited that Numbers 22\u201324 represent the conflation of the proposed Yahwistic (J) and Elohistic (E) sources with epic poetry, whereas most of the material in the Book of Numbers is said to have derived from the priestly source (P). Baruch Levine claimed, \u201cThe generic diversity of Numbers, when considered together with its varied sources, compounds the problem of establishing its coherence and makes Numbers the most loosely organized of all the Torah books.\u201d In the previous section I have attempted to demonstrate the internal coherence of this material on the basis of literary analysis. This section will outline the numerous theological themes, including the precise Hebrew wording, which are recurrent in the Balaam oracles when compared to other so-called P materials in the Book of Numbers, whereby showing the theological coherence in this pivotal book of the Torah.<\/p>\n
The Deliverance from Egypt<\/p>\n
The theme of Yahweh\u2019s miraculous deliverance of the Israelites from bondage in Egypt rings throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, including numerous allusions in the Book of Numbers. References are made in three contexts to this theme in the Balaam accounts, twice in the context of the initial correspondence between Balaam and Balak (22:5, 11), and in oracles two and three of Balaam (23:22; 24:8). These four verses are complemented by five explicit references to the Exodus in the Book of Numbers in the chapters preceding the Balaam material (1:1; 9:1; 14:23, 13\u201322; 15:41; 20:14\u201316), and then in two succeeding passages (32:11; 33:1\u20138). For Balak this reference serves as the historical setting of his request of the services of the divination prophet Balaam. In the second oracle the statement that \u201cGod brought them out of Egypt\u201d (23:22) is the chiastic center of the passage, serving as the basis for the proclamation that God was with Israel, and therefore no cursing or condemnation could be brought against such a powerful nation. In the third oracle, like the previous, God\u2019s deliverance provides the exemplar of his power in providing for his people. Israel under God\u2019s blessing was as powerful as the wild ox or the lion, able to conquer and devour any foe.<\/p>\n
The Nations\u2019 Fear of Israel<\/p>\n
Out of a dreadful fear Balak sent an entourage of elders from Moab and Midian to the renowned Mesopotamian prophet seeking divine assistance against the ominous hoard of the Israelites (22:2\u20133). That fear is reflected in the words of Balaam in the second oracle, when he described the sons of Jacob as rising \u201clike a lioness\u201d that \u201cdevours \u2026 prey and drinks the blood of \u2026 victims\u201d (23:23\u201324). A similar anxiety among the enemies of Israel is proclaimed by Moses when the Israelites first embarked on their journey from Sinai, \u201cRise up, O LORD! \/ May your enemies be scattered; \/ may your foes flee before you\u201d (10:35). However, the same fear could befall the people of God. When the Israelites became fearful of the inhabitants of Canaan after the scouts\u2019 report, the nations no longer were fearful of Israel, and the people suffered defeat at the hands of the Amalekites and Canaanites at Hormah (14:45) Likewise Edom, following the sins of Moses and Aaron at Kadesh, expressed no fear in rejecting the Israelite request to traverse their territory on the journey into Transjordan highlands (20:14\u201321). Later when the Israelite spies were sent into Jericho just prior to the crossing of the Jordan by the nation, Rahab recounted to them the terror that had gripped the town of Jericho since God had delivered the Israelites from Egypt and given over Sihon and Og to them in recent battles (Josh 2:9\u201313).<\/p>\n
The Vast Numbers of Israel<\/p>\n
One of the expressed fears of the Moabite king that served as a basis for his request for help from Balaam was over the vast population of Israel and the potential harm for his own people. The Israelites had defeated the formidable foes in Sihon of the Amorites and Og of Bashan, and Balak saw a similar fate for his armies and territorial dominion (22:2\u20134). Furthermore, in the first oracle of Balaam the prophet-diviner announces rhetorically, \u201cWho can count the dust of Jacob, or number a fourth of Israel?\u201d These words echo the theme of God\u2019s blessing delineated in Numbers 1\u20132, in which the census is described of the Israelite armies that came forth from Egypt. Later this theme is reiterated in the Book of Numbers in 26:1\u201362 and 31:4.<\/p>\n
Blessing and Cursing of Israel<\/p>\n
The several pronounced blessings of Israel via the prophet Balaam as the spokesman for Yahweh are simply the latest in the long line of accounts threaded through the Pentateuch. J. Sailhammer has noted that \u201ctheir placement at this point in the book is part of the writer\u2019s plan to develop a central theological thesis. The first planks of this thesis were laid down in Genesis 1, where the writer shows that the center in God\u2019s purpose for creating humankind was his desire to bless them.\u2026 Even after they fell away from God\u2019s protective care in the Garden of Eden, God let it be known that his plan for their blessing would not be thwarted by this act of disobedience.\u201d Even when the leadership of the nation fails, as in the case of Moses\u2019 sin of violating the holiness of God (Num 20:11\u201312), God will use whatever means necessary, even a pagan divination expert, to accomplish his desire of blessing the nation. The reversal of the plans of human agents such as Balak to bring cursing and destruction to the people of God is a theme that echoes throughout the pages of Scripture. Whether the enemy be personified in an Egyptian pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Haman the Agagite, or even the rebellious people of Israel in rejecting the gift of the Promised Land, God will act to accomplish his ultimate will for Israel and indeed for all of humanity. The ultimate example in the Bible is evidenced in the crucifixion of Jesus, in that what the Romans and Jews accomplished in putting to death the one they thought to be a seditious individual named Jesus brought about the ultimate good for all of humanity.
\nWithin the Book of Numbers the blessing and cursing theme in the ministry of Balaam is the focus of 22:12; 23:7\u201311, 13\u201326; and 24:1\u201319. The theme of blessing is evidenced likewise in the terminology of Num 6:24, 27, the priestly blessing, and in the general sense in the varied themes of the vast population of the Israelites that God delivered from Egypt, the gift of the Levitical priesthood, the supply of the needs of the people in the wilderness, the gift of the Promised Land, victory over their enemies, among others.<\/p>\n
Expressions of God\u2019s Anger<\/p>\n
When God confronted Balaam while he was on his journey to Moab, God was very angry with the prophet (lit., \u201cthe anger of God burned\u201d\u2014wayyi\u1e25ar-\u02beap \u02be\u0115l\u014dh\u00eem). Similarly Balaam turned his anger toward his donkey and beat him in the pathway when the animal lay down under him (22:22, 27). Later Balak expressed his anger with Balaam for pronouncing blessing over Israel rather than cursing (24:10). Only in 22:22 does the expression \u02beap \u02be\u0115l\u014dh\u00eem occur; in all seven other cases in the Book of Numbers \u02beap YHWH is employed in reference to God\u2019s anger. The alternative use of \u02be\u0115l\u014dh\u00eem in 22:22 rather than YHWH is due to the literary structure as noted above.<\/p>\n
God\u2019s Sovereignty over the Nations<\/p>\n
Throughout the Balaam oracles references are made to God\u2019s acts on behalf of Israel and against the nations that surrounded them. Yahweh brought forth the Israelites from the bondage of Egypt, and he would subdue any foreign power that sought to conquer or oppress his chosen people (22:5, 11; 23:22). The final prophecy over Israel speaks of the One who would rise out of Israel to conquer Moab (24:17), the immediate enemy in the historical context of the account, as well as Edom (24:18\u201319). The concluding oracles denounce a variety of enemies of Israel, including the Amalekites, Kenites, and Assyria (24:20\u201324). This theological tenet also relates to the above blessing and cursing theme, as God had promised since the time of the call of Abraham to bless those who would bless Israel and curse those who cursed them. This theme would be reiterated through the history of the nation, even in the context of God\u2019s use of peoples like the Amalekites (Num 14:45), Assyrians, and Babylonians to exact discipline upon his people. Israel would not be immune to this principle; they too would reap the curse of God if they rebelled against him (14:20\u201323, 26\u201338; 33:55\u201356).
\nElsewhere in the Book of Numbers God\u2019s dealing with the nations is seen in relationship to Egypt (noted above), the land of Canaan and its inhabitants (13:17\u201330; 21:1\u20133), and the Amorites (21:21\u201332) in the preceding chapters. In the concluding cycles of the Book of Numbers this theme is reiterated in the matter of the Midianites (31:1\u201311), the Egyptians (33:1\u20138), and in the challenge to drive out the Canaanites from the Promised Land (33:50\u201356).<\/p>\n
Sacrifices and Offerings<\/p>\n
Not only does Balaam functions as prophet in the narrative, but he also performs priestly duties in the sacrificing of animals prior to the pronouncement of the first three oracles (23:1\u20136; 14\u201317; 27\u201329). The burnt offerings of bulls and rams are mentioned specifically in each of the passages, which were typically offered as acts of consecration by priests on behalf of themselves, the king, or the nation as a whole (Lev 1:2\u201317; 4:3\u201331). Elsewhere in the Book of Numbers, references to burnt offerings are made in the context of the offerings in the land (15:3\u201312) and in the list of the various festival offerings (28:1\u201329:40).<\/p>\n
God Reveals Himself<\/p>\n
Expressions of God\u2019s revelatory encounters with Balaam utilize the same phraseology as that employed through the remainder of the Book of Numbers. In 22:8 Balaam responds to the emissaries from Balak in saying that he would only return with the message that God had spoken to him (ka\u02be\u0103\u0161er y\u0115dabb\u0113r YHWH \u02be\u0113l\u0101y, \u201cjust as Yahweh speaks to me\u201d). Similar phraseology using the verb dibb\u0113r (\u201che spoke, instructed\u201d) is used more than forty times in the book, providing one of the major organizing elements of the text. Introductory phraseology to God\u2019s speaking with Balaam, whether directly, through his messenger, the angel of Yahweh, or through the donkey, and which uses the alternate Hebrew verb \u02be\u0101mar (\u201che said\u201d), occurs in 22:9, 12, 20, 28, 30, 32, 35. The use of \u02be\u0101mar in this context continues the use of the same verb in the immediately preceding context following the rebellion of Moses and Aaron. In 20:7 Yahweh instructed Moses (way\u0115dabb\u0113r YHWH \u02beel-m\u014d\u0161eh), but after the irreverent striking of the rock, he spoke (wayy\u014d\u02bemer YHWH) with the prophet in 20:12, 23; 21:8, 16, 34. The use of \u02be\u0101mar continues in 25:4 but then is reversed in 25:10, using the more familiar way\u0115dabb\u0113r YHWH \u02beel-m\u014d\u0161eh following the faithful response of Phinehas in adhering to Moses\u2019 instruction to kill the unfaithful idolaters of Baal Peor. Thus the verb usage enhances the whole reversal theme of the accounts of Balaam within the larger context of the Book of Numbers. Note the layout of the use of the Hebrew verbs dbr and \u02bemr in \u201cAppendix A: The Use of dbr and \u02bemr in Num 19:1\u201326:1.\u201d
\nNow that the great prophet and leader had been restored, Yahweh revealed himself as he had done in the former times. But he would still suffer the consequences of his failure at the waters of Meribah Kadesh.<\/p>\n
GEOGRAPHICAL SETTING: ARABAH OF MOAB ALONG THE JORDAN ACROSS FROM JERICHO (22:1)<\/p>\n
1 Then the Israelites traveled to the plains of Moab and camped along the Jordan across from Jericho.<\/p>\n
22:1 The conclusion to the journey motif in the Book of Numbers also serves as a historical introduction to the Balaam oracles. The geographical setting of \u201cthe plains of Moab along the Jordan across from Jericho\u201d would be that of the remainder of the Book of Numbers, as well as that of Deuteronomy. The phraseology is repeated as the ending to the canonical book (36:13).
\nThe Book of Balaam is introduced with the historical and geographical setting that connects the narrative with the previous and succeeding material. Following Israel\u2019s traversing the land of the Moabites, which had been conquered earlier by Sihon of the Amorites, the Lord had delivered the great kings Sihon of Heshbon and Og of Bashan into the hands of Moses and the Israelites (Num 21:10\u201335). With the hill country from the Arnon to the Yarmuk Rivers then secured and the Moabites now freed from Sihon\u2019s dominion, the Israelites positioned themselves in the plains of Moab, having come through the mountains of Abarim (Num 33:48). The phrase \u201cplains of Moab\u201d (\u02bfarb\u00f4t m\u00f4\u02bf\u0101b) describes the southern Jordan Valley on the east side of the river opposite Jericho and just north of the Dead Sea. Geologically the potentially arable lands of the Jordan Valley between the Dead Sea and the Galilee has two levels due to the parallel fault lines running generally in a north-south direction. The lower terrace closest to the river is called in the Arabic the zhor, and the upper terrace is known as the ghor. Together these plateaus immediately opposite Jericho (lit., \u201cthe Jordan of Jericho\u201d) are about eight to ten miles wide, narrowing to the north to about four to five miles. Two towns in the area are noted elsewhere in Numbers, namely Shittim (25:1, or Abel Shittim in 33:49) and Beth Jeshimoth (33:49). While encamped on the northwestern corner of the Moabite territory, the leader of the nation senses a need to act expeditiously to address this potentially threatening mass of people. The phraseology recurs with some minor variations in 26:3; 33:48, 50 and as the conclusion to the book in 36:13.<\/p>\n
CYCLE I: FIRST MESSENGERS SENT TO BALAAM (22:2\u201314)<\/p>\n
2 Now Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites, 3 and Moab was terrified because there were so many people. Indeed, Moab was filled with dread because of the Israelites.
\n4 The Moabites said to the elders of Midian, \u201cThis horde is going to lick up everything around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field.\u201d
\nSo Balak son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time, 5 sent messengers to summon Balaam son of Beor, who was at Pethor, near the River, in his native land. Balak said:<\/p>\n
\u201cA people has come out of Egypt; they cover the face of the land and have settled next to me. 6 Now come and put a curse on these people, because they are too powerful for me. Perhaps then I will be able to defeat them and drive them out of the country. For I know that those you bless are blessed, and those you curse are cursed.\u201d<\/p>\n
7 The elders of Moab and Midian left, taking with them the fee for divination. When they came to Balaam, they told him what Balak had said.
\n8 \u201cSpend the night here,\u201d Balaam said to them, \u201cand I will bring you back the answer the LORD gives me.\u201d So the Moabite princes stayed with him.
\n9 God came to Balaam and asked, \u201cWho are these men with you?\u201d
\n10 Balaam said to God, \u201cBalak son of Zippor, king of Moab, sent me this message: 11 \u2018A people that has come out of Egypt covers the face of the land. Now come and put a curse on them for me. Perhaps then I will be able to fight them and drive them away.\u2019 \u201d
\n12 But God said to Balaam, \u201cDo not go with them. You must not put a curse on those people, because they are blessed.\u201d
\n13 The next morning Balaam got up and said to Balak\u2019s princes, \u201cGo back to your own country, for the LORD has refused to let me go with you.\u201d
\n14 So the Moabite princes returned to Balak and said, \u201cBalaam refused to come with us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The process of procuring the services of the renowned Balaam of Pethor is recounted in three cycles, with the first two focused on the dispatching of Moabite and Midianite emissaries to the prophet-diviner who receives direction from the Lord regarding his due response, and the final devoted to the encounter with the emissary from Yahweh (the angel of the Lord). As shown in the literary\/rhetorical outline of this material, the focal point of each chiastically structured pericope is the revelatory encounter between the Lord and Balaam. In the final ironic and satiric encounter Balaam is shown to be less perceptive than his donkey as the angel of the Lord appears to them on their journey to Moab, yet it is he who the Lord will use to pronounce resplendent blessing upon his chosen people Israel.<\/p>\n
Balak Sees\u2014Moab Fears the Numerous Israelites (22:2\u20134)<\/p>\n
22:2\u20134 In the beginning Balak is introduced simply as the son of Zippor who had observed the movement and success of Israel against the Amorites who had formerly controlled the Moabites during the reign of Sihon of Heshbon (21:26). He is only identified as the king of Moab at the end of this secondary inclusio, which structurally outlines as:<\/p>\n
So he observed Balak son of Zippor all that Israel had done to the Amorites
\nMoab dreaded greatly from before the people because they were numerous
\nMoab was alarmed from before the children of Israel
\nMoab allies with Midian (proverbial description)
\nNow Balak son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time.<\/p>\n
The description of Balak as king does not necessarily mean that Moab was organized as a national entity as this time, since the Hebrew term melek can refer to a tribal chieftain, the head of a city within a larger region of cities with common ethnic origin, or a national king.
\nOne of the keys in this passage is found in the use of the Hebrew verb r\u0101\u02be\u00e2, which means \u201cto see with understanding\u201d and \u201cto have a clear comprehension of the matters at hand.\u201d Balak has not only watched literally the movement of the vast population of the Israelites, but he has been made aware of the dramatic victories and potential threat of this people who were now encamped within the reaches of his fledgling domain. Balak\u2019s seeing of Israel is amplified by the two ominous verbs that follow, for Moab was filled with terror and dread as they were faced with the prospect of a fate similar to that of the kingdoms of Sihon and Og. Thus he saw as his only resort to reach beyond the confines of his kingdom and thus the realm of his god Chemosh and his consort Ashtar for obtaining divine intervention into his impossible situation. His gods had been ineffective against Sihon of the Amorites and would have thus been even less effective against the Israelites and their God Yahweh.
\nThe vast numbers of the Israelites and their potential to cause considerable damage to the peoples and economies of Moab and Midian is enhanced by the reciting of a proverbial figure concerning the effect of an ox upon the land. As the powerful ox consumes the grasses of the land, so Israel was occupying the fertile plateau of the Moabite plains along the east side of the Jordan opposite Jericho. The Moabites were concerned enough to share their need with the leaders of Midian, with whom we soon learn the Moabites were allied in sending for help from Balaam of Pethor. The effect of the alliance on Israel will recur in the Baal Peor incident of Numbers 25 in which both Moabite and Midianite women served to draw Israelite men into immorality and idolatry. That incident would then provide rationale for the retribution taken against the Midianites in Numbers 31, in which Phinehas functions as the priestly leader and Balaam is killed in the military engagement.<\/p>\n
First Messengers Sent (22:5a)
\n22:5a The language used of the sending of messengers is that of formal diplomatic correspondence, often including written communication. Hence, Balaam is a prophet-diviner of eminent proportion to have received this group of official emissaries from an alliance of peoples such as Moab and Midian. Through the history of interpretation, several attempts have been made to further denigrate the character of Balaam by suggesting an ignominious meaning to his name. Allen suggested the name was a corruption by the prophetic writers of the Old Testament, meaning \u201cdevourer of the people.\u201d But whether or not the name was originally of a pejorative nature, the evidence from the Deir \u02bfAlla inscription views him in a positive light as a seer of the gods.
\nBalaam is said to have resided in \u201cPethor, near the River\u201d (22:5), a site that has been identified with the city Pitru, situated almost thirteen miles south of Carchemish on the Sajur River tributary of the Euphrates. The NIV phraseology \u201chis native land\u201d translates \u02beere\u1e63 b\u0115n\u00ea-\u02bfamm\u00f4 (\u201cland of the sons of his people\u201d), which some have identified alternately as \u201cthe land of the sons of Amau.\u201d Though some scholars have posited the possibility that \u02bfamm\u00f4 may refer to the nearby region of Ammon, Deut 23:4 is quite explicit in placing Balaam\u2019s homeland in Aram Naharaim, the region of the upper Euphrates and its twin tributaries, the Khabur and the Balikh. The identification of Pethor with Pitru would make the journey between Moab and Pethor a distance of approximately 420 miles, probably taking twenty-two to twenty-five days each direction. Four such legs, with even brief time in between treks of the various entourages, would then mean that the correspondence process would have taken nearly four months minimum. Meanwhile the Israelites are inhabiting the valley plains within sight of several mountain peaks overlooking from the southeast.<\/p>\n
The Message: Curse the Mighty Israel (22:5b\u20136)
\n22:5b\u20136 Balak\u2019s correspondence with Balaam commences with a statement regarding Israel\u2019s deliverance from Egypt, a prominent theme of Numbers and the rest of the Old Testament, though his words do not acknowledge that it was the God of Israel who delivered them from bondage. That might indicate an affirmation of the existence and power of the Israelite deity. Israel is compared to a locust plague that is devouring the resources of the land (lit, \u201cconceals the eye of the land\u201d) on the northwestern perimeter of Moab. Similar phraseology is used in Exod 10:5, 15 to describe the imminent locust plague upon Egypt that Moses predicted should the pharaoh refrain from setting the Israelites free from bondage. Though in his entreaty Balak does not ascribe Israel\u2019s deliverance to their God, the assistance he seeks from Balaam has everything to do with the divine. He wants Balaam to invoke a divine curse upon Israel that would weaken both them and their God enough to allow him to gain victory and drive them from his territory.
\nAncient Near Eastern texts recount the power of priests and prophets to discern, intervene, and even manipulate the will of the gods through means of augury, special sacrificial rituals, and oral pronouncement of blessing or cursing. Knowledge of the ways, works, and the occasional whims of the divine and the skill at cajoling or manipulating these various deities into bringing benefit to the human realm (or detrimental effects toward one\u2019s enemies) was a highly prized craft. The power to curse one\u2019s enemies via ritual and oral pronouncement would be an invaluable gift whereby the upper hand could be gained on the divine level and military victory achieved in the human sphere. A parallel to the use here of the Hebrew \u02be\u0101rar (\u201cto pronounce a curse\u201d) is found in an Akkadian text, which reads:<\/p>\n
May the great gods of heaven and the nether world curse him (li-ru-ru), his descendants, his land, his soldiers, his people, and his army with a baneful curse; may Enlil with his unalterable utterance curse him with these curses so that they speedily affect him.<\/p>\n
Balaam had apparently achieved international fame for his ability to carry out such activity, and thus Balak could commend him in recognition of the effectiveness of his prophetic practice, saying, \u201cI know that those you bless are blessed and those you curse are cursed.\u201d This element of acknowledgment and praise for the one being entreated would often come earlier in the letter, but the direness of the situation warranted the presentation of the ominous circumstances. If Balaam could successfully invoke a curse upon Israel, his territory would be delivered from potential defeat and destruction, and the Moabites would have the freedom they enjoyed before being overwhelmed by Sihon of the Amorites.<\/p>\n
Elders of Moab and Elders of Midian Journey to Pethor to Meet Balaam (22:7)
\n22:7 The Moabite and Midianite elders journey to Pethor with the communiqu\u00e9 in hand in order to procure the services of Balaam. These men were somehow versed in divination or associated with this discipline, for the Hebrew phrase reads \u201cand divinations were in their hands.\u201d The NIV translation, \u201ctaking with them the fee for divination,\u201d may seem inappropriate since 22:37 and 24:11 indicate that Balaam was to be rewarded following his successful cursing of Israel. Milgrom suggested that these men possessed some skill or perhaps even divination instrumentation that might somehow help in the negotiations with Balaam. Ashley notes on the other hand that the Hebrew q\u0115s\u0101m\u00eem can mean either the divination practice or elements or the fees charged for the exercising of the trade. Gray suggested this was a form of remuneration that was to be offered as a down payment or, as he called it, \u201can earnest of what he might receive.\u201d The practice of divination was condemned summarily in Deut 18:10 along with a host of other practices, such as acts of sorcery, interpreting omens, engaging in witchcraft, casting spells, or conjuring up the dead. Fees for such activities, however, are generally called gifts (min\u1e25\u00e2), and the former suggestion of Milgrom is to be preferred. After the journey of several weeks, the elders met with Balaam and formally presented their message and case to him.<\/p>\n
Balaam\u2019s Response (22:8)
\n22:8 The initial meeting with Balaam is recounted in summary fashion with focal point. The actual details of such a meeting would have entailed the standard hospitality process of formal greetings, the sharing of preliminary gifts, the sharing of a meal, and probably an extended discussion of the events precipitating this visit, and then the formal presentation of the letter. However enticing the personal and professional opportunity might have seemed to Balaam, he evidences caution in responding to the elders of Moab and Midian. He must consult with the divine prior to answering their request, especially since the job would entail an encounter with the God of Israel.
\nAs noted above in the parallels between the Book of Balaam and the rest of Numbers, the terminology denoting the revelatory encounter closely resembles that used of Yahweh\u2019s revelatory encounters with Moses and the great prophet\u2019s faithful response to his God. The typical phraseology in Numbers for the Lord revealing himself to Moses is way\u0115dabb\u0113r YHWH \u02beel-m\u014d\u0161eh l\u0113\u02bem\u014dr (\u201cThen Yahweh spoke to [instructed] Moses, saying\u201d). In this verse Balaam utilizes the same verb-subject sequence in saying y\u0115dabb\u0113r YHWH \u02be\u0113l\u0101y (\u201cYahweh speaks to [instructs] me\u201d). Now Balaam as the substitute Moses encounters the One True God who reveals himself to mankind. The encounter is set in a simple chiastic form, with the revelatory clause at the focal point of the verse.<\/p>\n
Balaam said, Sleep here tonight and I will return to you
\nThe word according to that which Yahweh speaks (instructs) to me.
\nSo the princes of Moab dwelled with Balaam.<\/p>\n
Balaam was about to encounter deity in a way that would transcend any other manner he had experienced. References to Yahweh and divine speech have led some interpreters to believe that Balaam was a believer in Yahweh, the God of Israel, particularly in the phraseology of 22:18, \u201cI could not do anything great or small to go beyond the command of the LORD my God.\u201d Allen takes Balaam\u2019s words here and elsewhere as braggadocio. But the writer uses them to preface the idea that Balaam is about to become a somewhat unwitting instrument of God for revelation and blessing for Israel. It is also possible that the actual message sent from Balak via the elders of Moab and Midian may have been more extensive than the portion recorded in vv. 5b\u20136, including a reference to the God of Israel. Being a prophet who had encountered a variety of deities during his extensive career, Balaam may have been saying that he would seek an initial word from the deity whom the enemies of Balak worshiped. Though he names the name of Yahweh God of Israel, he is not a devotee of Yahweh but only his agent in the revelatory process. Thus Balaam became an instrument of the One True God who desires to reveal himself to humanity and to teach these non-Israelites something of his incomparable character. Later this prophetic-diviner would show his true colors by instigating the idolatrous immorality at Baal Peor, and for the rest of biblical history his name would be synonymous with moral and ethical degradation.<\/p>\n
God\u2019s Encounter with Balaam (22:9\u201312)
\n22:9\u201312 God comes to Balaam\u2014and not Balaam to God\u2014at the beginning of this revelatory relationship, and in the process of God revealing himself to Balaam, the name of God is always Elohim instead of Yahweh. Balaam again is a substitute for Moses, but not his replacement. The question posed to Balaam was rhetorical, since God obviously knew who these men were and why they were there. This method of commencing an encounter between God and man recalls similar expressions in Gen 3:9 between God and Adam and Gen 4:9 between God and Cain. Balaam\u2019s response to God echoes the words of the message sent by Balak of Moab, with only slight variation, such as in the use of two synonyms for cursing, namely \u02be\u0101r\u00e2 (\u201cto pronounce a curse\u201d) in v. 6 and in v. 11 q\u0101b\u00e2. Repetition of this type is quite common in Hebrew narrative.
\nGod\u2019s word to Balaam was to refuse the invitation of Balak\u2019s emissaries. Milgrom notes that three times in the Hebrew Bible God appears to non-Israelites \u201cin order to warn them not to carry out their intentions.\u201d The Israelites as descendants of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had been promised unending blessing by God through their history, and in the initial blessing by God in Gen 12:3, Abram was promised that any attempt to curse his future descendants would be reverted back to the one cursing. God himself would carry out retribution against any person, nation, or other entity who would endeavor to execrate or exterminate his people. He had rescued Joseph from prison and delivered this fledgling nation from the hand of the Egyptian pharaoh, the head of one of the most powerful nations on earth in that day. Time after time he would act faithfully to his promise in preserving, delivering, providing for, and blessing his people. What God has blessed, no human can curse.<\/p>\n
Balaam\u2019s Response of Refusal (22:13)
\n22:13 Like Balaam of the Deir \u02bfAlla texts, the prophet arose that morning after his encounter with God and returned with the essence of the word he had received from on high in that night dream. As in Balaam\u2019s initial response to Balak\u2019s emissaries, the prophet is said to have spoken the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel. He did not repeat the matters related to cursing or blessing but simply stated that Yahweh had refused to grant him permission to journey with them back to Moab.<\/p>\n
Messengers Return Home to Moab (22:14)
\n22:14 In the coordinating element with vv. 22:5a, 7 in the structure of this passage that forms an inclusio, the Moabite messengers whom Balak had sent to Balaam are seen returning dejectedly to their leader. They repeated the very words that Balaam had ascribed to Yahweh in his refusal to acquiesce to their request. Balaam responded obediently to the revelation granted him by God, but Balak knew only that the prophet had refused his invitation, not that it was Israel\u2019s God who had revealed himself to Balaam.<\/p>\n
CYCLE II: SECOND SET OF MESSENGERS SENT TO BALAAM (22:15\u201321)<\/p>\n
15 Then Balak sent other princes, more numerous and more distinguished than the first. 16 They came to Balaam and said:
\n\u201cThis is what Balak son of Zippor says: Do not let anything keep you from coming to me, 17 because I will reward you handsomely and do whatever you say. Come and put a curse on these people for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
18 But Balaam answered them, \u201cEven if Balak gave me his palace filled with silver and gold, I could not do anything great or small to go beyond the command of the LORD my God. 19 Now stay here tonight as the others did, and I will find out what else the LORD will tell me.\u201d
\n20 That night God came to Balaam and said, \u201cSince these men have come to summon you, go with them, but do only what I tell you.\u201d
\n21 Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab.<\/p>\n
Messengers Again Sent to Balaam (22:15\u201317)
\n22:15\u201317 Dissatisfied with the initial response from Balaam, Balak sends a second diplomatic corps of higher ranking officials from his administration. In the cyclical structure of the initial encounters with Balaam, this verse compares to v. 5 in which the messengers are deemed mal\u02be\u0101k\u00eem, the generic term for diplomatic couriers who would convey correspondence between kings or high ranking officials. These men are described as \u201chigh princes who were greater than these,\u201d that is, in comparison to the former envoy. The phraseology \u015b\u0101r\u00eem rabb\u00eem w\u0115\u0306nikb\u0101d\u00eem m\u0113\u02be\u0113lleh could be translated \u201cmore noble and honorable princes than these,\u201d meaning that they were honored (nikb\u0101d\u00eem) chieftains or leaders from the clans of Moab who were sent to offer Balaam exceedingly great honor (k\u00ee-kabb\u0113d \u02be\u0103kabbedk\u0101 m\u0115\u02be\u014dd, \u201cFor I will indeed bestow honor upon you greatly,\u201d v. 17), which would be conferred by Balak upon Balaam when the prophet had accomplished the desire of the king. The monetary implications of this honor is reflected in Balaam\u2019s response in v. 18. An abbreviated form of the original message requesting Balaam\u2019s expertise in pronouncing a curse upon Israel is reiterated here. The message commences with the phraseology often referred to as the messenger formula, \u201cThus says Balak,\u201d often used by the latter prophets in introducing an oracle from Yahweh.<\/p>\n
Balaam\u2019s Response to Balak\u2019s New Messengers (22:18\u201319)
\n22:18\u201319 In the succeeding narrative the diplomatic engagement of these honored officials with Balaam is now telescoped by comparison with the initial encounter, moving directly to Balaam\u2019s response. Balaam\u2019s initial answer addressed the issue of the honored reward offered by these nobles on behalf of Balak; the Moabite king\u2019s palace could not contain enough gold and silver to convince the prophet to prevail upon the command of Yahweh. He could do absolutely nothing that would transgress or violate the revelation he would receive from Yahweh. The phraseology used here to describe Balaam\u2019s inability to transgress the word or command of Yahweh, la\u02bf\u0103b\u014dr \u02beet-p\u00ee YHWH (lit., \u201cto cross over the mouth of Yahweh\u201d) compares exactly with that used in Num 14:41 of the Israelites who had disobeyed the Lord\u2019s command not to try to enter the land after they had rejected his gracious gift at the advice of the majority of the spies. In Num 24:13 the same terminology is used in a similar context of Balaam\u2019s inability to transgress the word of Yahweh. Similar phraseology, using the verb m\u0101r\u00e2 (\u201crebel\u201d), is used of Moses and Aaron\u2019s violation of the holiness of God in the striking of the rock at the Waters of Meribah. Thus Balaam\u2019s bold proclamation in 22:18\u201319:<\/p>\n
I would not be able to violate the word of the LORD (Yahweh) my God
\nIn doing little or much. So now you shall indeed stay here tonight,
\nAnd I will know what more Yahweh may instruct (speak to) me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several authors have suggested that the narrator\u2019s use of Elohim in contrast to placing the name Yahweh in Balaam\u2019s words is meant to convey the narrator\u2019s intent to denigrate Balaam\u2019s character. Noordzij saw the narrator\u2019s use of \u02be\u0115l\u014dh\u00eem when referring to a pagan god or the multiplicity of gods who were at Balaam\u2019s disposal as a polytheist, and thus Balaam\u2019s use of the name of Israel\u2019s God was one of fraudulent boasting. As Ashley rightly points out, however, the use of the intensive plural in forms such as \u02be\u0115l\u014dh\u00eem all occur in the construct state with suffixes or with reference to a person, a group of people, or a place. Ashley summarizes, \u201cHad the narrator intended to convey that Balaam was fraudulently claiming visions from Yahweh, while actually being inspired by a pagan \u2018evil spirit,\u2019 he could have been much plainer about it.\u201d Instead Balaam\u2019s words echo the reality that he had indeed had an encounter with the God of Israel, through which the true Elohim had confronted and revealed himself to the pagan diviner. Yahweh God of Israel will use whatever means he desires to reveal himself to humanity, even if it is an individual who seems the absolute antithesis of what kind of an instrument he would normally utilize. In the narrative he has become the substitute for the great prophet Moses, who had recently fallen. In a similar manner God had revealed himself to the Egyptian pharaoh in the days of Joseph (Gen 41:1\u201340) and later to Nebuchadnezzar (Dan 2:17\u201319, 45).<\/p>\n
God\u2019s Second Encounter with Balaam (22:20)
\n22:20 As was likely the case in the initial episode, the second encounter of God (\u02be\u0115l\u014dh\u00eem) with Balaam occurred at night, a time often recounted in the Hebrew Bible for revelations, dreams, visions. Such was the setting for Abimelech of Gerar (Gen 20:3\u20137), Laban (Gen 31:24), Nebuchadnezzar (Dan 2:1\u201330; 4:1\u20138), Daniel (Dan 2:19), and Zechariah (Zech 1:8), and the same is told of Balaam in the Deir \u02bfAlla inscriptions. The narrator again does not tell us what means if any Balaam might have used to attempt to engage Yahweh in this encounter. In the reverse of typical Hebrew Bible narration where stories, didactic, and halakhic materials are often told in expanding circles, the story here is abbreviated.
\nUnlike the result of the first encounter with God, this time Balaam is permitted to make the journey to the land of Moab, but his role will remain the same. He would be authorized only to speak the word God revealed to him. The NIV text loses the literary flavor of the repetition from vv. 8, 18\u201319. Note the wording parallels below:<\/p>\n
22:8
\nI will bring back to you the word according what Yahweh speaks to me
\n22:18)
\nI am not able to transgress the word (mouth) of Yahweh my God, to do
\n22:19)
\nI will know what more Yahweh speaks to me
\n22:20)
\nOnly the word which I speak to you, that you will do<\/p>\n
Balaam is and will be on the journey constrained by Yahweh to reveal and accomplish only that which the God of the blessed nation Israel will allow. At this point in the narrative the reader might ask the question, If God has relented on his prohibition of Balaam making the journey to Moab at the behest of Balak, might he now change his mind and permit Balaam to curse this nation he had punished in times past? As Ashley notes, \u201cThis kind of ambiguity maintains reader interest and prolongs the drive to the climax of the story (as does the story of the donkey that follows in vv. 22\u201335).\u201d<\/p>\n
Balaam Departs with Messengers (22:21)
\n22:21 In response to the newly revealed message from God, Balaam prepares for the journey of four hundred miles from Pethor to Moab in the southern Levant, a trek of perhaps three weeks\u2019 duration. This verse completes the second cycle of correspondence between Balak and Balaam involving diplomatic messengers, and it introduces the reader to the next key character in the story, that of his female donkey (\u02be\u0101t\u00f4n). As Ashley has observed, only in Judg 5:10 and 2 Kgs 4:22 are female donkeys described as riding animals, usually the male donkey (\u1e25\u0103m\u00f4r) was utilized. This element may also serve to heighten the irony and satire of the story to follow\u2014that a female pack animal is more attuned to the ways and means of Yahweh than one of the noblest of the world\u2019s prophetic divination experts.<\/p>\n
CYCLE III: GOD\u2019S MESSENGER SENT TO BALAAM (22:22\u201338)<\/p>\n
22 But God was very angry when he went, and the angel of the LORD stood in the road to oppose him. Balaam was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. 23 When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, she turned off the road into a field. Balaam beat her to get her back on the road.
\n24 Then the angel of the LORD stood in a narrow path between two vineyards, with walls on both sides. 25 When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she pressed close to the wall, crushing Balaam\u2019s foot against it. So he beat her again.
\n26 Then the angel of the LORD moved on ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no room to turn, either to the right or to the left. 27 When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she lay down under Balaam, and he was angry and beat her with his staff. 28 Then the LORD opened the donkey\u2019s mouth, and she said to Balaam, \u201cWhat have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?\u201d
\n29 Balaam answered the donkey, \u201cYou have made a fool of me! If I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now.\u201d
\n30 The donkey said to Balaam, \u201cAm I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?\u201d
\n\u201cNo,\u201d he said.
\n31 Then the LORD opened Balaam\u2019s eyes, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown.
\n32 The angel of the LORD asked him, \u201cWhy have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me. 33 The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If she had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared her.\u201d
\n34 Balaam said to the angel of the LORD, \u201cI have sinned. I did not realize you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now if you are displeased, I will go back.\u201d
\n35 The angel of the LORD said to Balaam, \u201cGo with the men, but speak only what I tell you.\u201d So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.
\n36 When Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him at the Moabite town on the Arnon border, at the edge of his territory. 37 Balak said to Balaam, \u201cDid I not send you an urgent summons? Why didn\u2019t you come to me? Am I really not able to reward you?\u201d
\n38 \u201cWell, I have come to you now,\u201d Balaam replied. \u201cBut can I say just anything? I must speak only what God puts in my mouth.\u201d<\/p>\n
Introduction: God\u2019s Anger with Balaam (22:22a)
\n22:22a Balaam\u2019s third encounter with the God of Israel commences with a statement of God\u2019s becoming angry with the prophet\u2019s going to Moab. Scholars for ages have attempted to understand the motive for God\u2019s anger with Balaam, since Balaam presumably was making the journey at the behest of God. Ashley and Milgrom offered a solution in taking the Hebrew particle k\u00ee as temporal, hence \u201cwhile he was going\u201d God became angry with him. Still the problem remains as to the cause of the anger. The phraseology (wayyi\u1e25ar-\u02beap \u02be\u0115l\u014dh\u00eem) recalls the expression of God\u2019s anger with persons in a rebellious state, as with the people at Taberah (11:1), with Miriam and Aaron (12:9), and later with the people at Abel Shittim in the Baal Peor incident (25:3). The rabbinical tradition in the Targumic literature interpreted this sequence as evidence of Balaam\u2019s personal rebelliousness in embracing the idea that he might eventually be successful in pronouncing a curse on Israel. Thus taking Ashley and the rabbis in tandem, the verse would refer to God becoming angry with Balaam while he was on the journey because he still thought he might curse the people of Yahweh. That Balaam was lacking spiritual insight at this point in the journey narrative is evident from the context that follows.
\nThat God would become angry and engage one of his servants on a journey directed by him follows the enigmatic pattern echoed in the Pentateuch in the lives of Moses on his way back to Egypt (Exod 4:24\u201326) and Jacob at Peniel (Gen 32:22\u201332). These incidents seem to serve the purpose of reminding these men that a holy God is in control of the situation and the lives of his people and that they as his servants should be faithful to the tasks assigned to them to carry out God\u2019s plans. Lest Balaam think he might ply his prophetic trade of his own accord and reap a considerable reward from the king of Moab, God confronted him in his rebellious state of mind\u2014that state of mind that prevented him from seeing God\u2019s emissary in the road three separate times. A female donkey, presumably the epitome of stupidity and stubbornness in that day, was more spiritually perceptive than this renowned prophet. That an angel with a sword would appear to Balaam and his donkey recalls the similar motif of the cherubim with the flaming sword in the Garden of Eden after the fall of man (Gen 3:24), of the emissary who confronted Joshua on the way to Jericho (Josh 5:13\u201315), and the angel sent to destroy Jerusalem and confront King David (1 Chr 21:14\u201330). These theophanies served to remind humanity of the absolute holiness of God and the subservient role of men before a sovereign deity.<\/p>\n
The Angel of Yahweh Appears (22:22b)
\n22:22b The emissary of Yahweh, the mal\u02beak YHWH, positioned himself in front of Balaam and his female donkey as an angelic adversary, \u015b\u0101\u1e6d\u0101n, wielding a sword in his hand. This is not an explicit or even veiled reference to the Satan of the heavenly court depicted in the Book of Job (Job 1:6\u20132:10) who questioned the faithfulness of men to God. Nor is this figure what Gray referred to as \u201ca temporary appearance of Yahweh in human form.\u201d Harrison rightly called him the \u201csurrogate for the Lord Himself,\u201d who is distinguished from God (v. 31). Yet clearly this messenger speaks the words of God as echoed in the familiar refrain in v. 35, \u201cThat which I speak to you, it shall you speak.\u201d Balaam was accompanied by two of his servants (\u00fb\u0161\u0115n\u00ea n\u0115\u02bf\u0101r\u0101yw, \u201cand two young men\u201d), the standard number of men who attended a leading individual on a long journey. Several critical scholars have suggested that the shift from the attendant \u201cprinces of Moab\u201d in v. 21 to \u201chis two servants\u201d in v. 22 represents a change in source materials, from the Elohist to the Yahwist. The diplomatic envoys from Balak have not disappeared; as accessory characters in the story they simply are not in focus at this juncture of the narrative. The key characters are Balaam, Balak, the donkey, Yahweh God, and his emissary the angel of Yahweh.<\/p>\n
The Donkey Responds (22:23)
\n22:23 Upon each of three occasions the donkey evidences clear perception of the appearance of the messenger from the Lord, and she turns aside presumably in fear of its life. Each time the pathway of diversion grows narrower, from an open road, to a rock-pile walled pathway through the vineyards, to a narrow passage in which there was no possibility of circumventing the divine emissary. There off the side of the road in open country the incognizant and self-absorbed prophet responds negatively to the astute animal by beating the animal with perhaps a rod, stick, or staff. A righteous man would care for the needs of his animal (Prov 12:10), yet Balaam would later threaten to kill the donkey with a sword (v. 29). An astute prophet who studied animal behavior should have realized that something extraordinary was happening. But his pride was severely injured in the presence of his young attendants, and he responded like an infidel.<\/p>\n
The Angel of Yahweh Appears Again (22:24)
\n22:24 The second cycle in the encounter between the emissary of Yahweh and the pagan diviner took place in the context of a vineyard, and hence a more arable region typical of the area near Pethor or in proximity to the Transjordan region of the southern Levant such as in the Golan\/Bashan region or the highlands of Gilead. These areas were known in ancient times, as they are today, for their vineyards and high quality wine production. Walls made of piled stones were created in the process of clearing the land for planting and also marked the boundaries between neighboring vineyards.<\/p>\n
Donkey Responds Again (22:25)
\n22:25 In this narrow passageway the donkey again rightly perceived the intent of the Lord\u2019s emissary blocking the further advance of the prophet. Having little room to avoid the sword-wielding angel, the donkey pressed against the rock wall to the point where Balaam\u2019s foot was squeezed severely between the side of the donkey and the stones. The prophet\u2019s raised ire resulted in a second whipping of the observant beast for what the injured Balaam perceived to be a case of progressive disobedience.<\/p>\n
The Angel of Yahweh Appears the Third Time (22:26)
\n22:26 As so often is the case in Hebrew narrative, stories are recounted in three cycles with the third receiving considerable expansion over the preceding contexts. In this case at the conclusion of the third encounter between God and Balaam stands the third encounter between the angel of Yahweh and Balaam with his donkey. The intensity of the narrative is heightened as this revelatory experience receives considerable expansion, revealing that only as a result of divine intervention is the prophet finally enabled to see Yahweh\u2019s emissary. God\u2019s intervention takes on extraordinary proportions through the opening of the heretofore unintelligible mouth of a lowly female donkey who is enabled to communicate with a human, and through the unveiling of the eyes of an incognizant prophet whose training and expertise in the ways of deity had not equipped him to see the divine representative standing directly in front of him.<\/p>\n
Donkey Responds the Third Time (22:27).
\n22:27 Unable to find even the slightest gap between the appearance of the angel of Yahweh and the sides of this narrow alleyway, the donkey collapses onto its knees and then to its belly and lay down with the prophet still mounted in his riding position. Now instead of Yahweh being angry with Balaam (v. 22), Balaam became extremely angry with the seemingly self-consumed animal. But it was Balaam who was focused on his own wants, desires, and problems and as a result was even more unseeing in the weightier issue of God\u2019s presence. He beat the animal a third time and now more severely, \u201cwith his staff.\u201d<\/p>\n
God\u2019s Third Encounter with Balaam (22:28\u201335)
\n22:28\u201335 The story of the revelatory process between God and Balaam then took a dramatic turn filled with ironic and comedic dimensions. Not only was the female donkey more observant spiritually, but her normally unintelligible braying mouth was opened in such a manner that as she spoke Balaam understood her. Harrison remarked, \u201cBalaam\u2019s insensitivity to the Lord\u2019s presence made it necessary for God to open the mouth of the donkey before Balaam\u2019s own eyes could be opened.\u201d As a result of this final encounter with God along the journey, Balaam would realize fully his role of speaking only that which Yahweh had revealed to him.
\nThis marvelous account of God using whatever means he so desires to reveal himself has enamored readers from the laity to the scholars, and the response to the occurrence has ranged widely. The interpretations generally fall into one of three categories as outlined below.
\n1. That the donkey\u2019s mouth was mobilized so as to speak in an audible human voice. Milgrom suggests that God \u201cgave the ass the power of speech\u201d in the manner that he empowered Ezekiel to speak after a period of silence (Ezek 3:27; 33:22) and Balaam himself later in the account.
\n2. That the donkey\u2019s normal process of braying was heightened such that it was perceived and interpreted by Balaam in a human verbal manner. In Harrison\u2019s opinion, \u201cAs the donkey brayed, she conveyed a message of anger and resentment that the seer understood in his mind in a verbal form and to which he quite properly responded verbally.\u2026 Through her opened mouth the braying animal retaliated against her undeserved treatment by uttering sounds that were unintelligible to the other onlookers but that Balaam was able to comprehend through processes of mental apperception that are not well understood.\u201d Harrison compared the phenomenon to the sound many perceived as thunder when the voice came from heaven confirming the coming glorification of the Father through the death of Christ (John 12:27\u201333), to that of early Christian charismatic speech, which was intelligible only through an interpreter (Acts 2:3\u201313; 1 Cor 12:10), and to the voice of Jesus as he spoke to Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:4).
\n3. That the story was a legendary account created for didactic purposes and as such has no basis in a factual event. In this case the phenomenon need not be explained.
\nEither of the first two options acknowledges the reliability of the event, since Balaam heard the voice of the donkey in a way that was interpretable in a verbal manner. Wenham suggested that \u201cit is immaterial to the story whether the donkey really spoke, or whether Balaam just imagined it talking.\u201d On the other hand he clearly states that \u201cif men were able to utter God\u2019s words, why should not the same be true of animals?\u201d
\nWenham emphasizes the threefold nature of the encounters: \u201cThe ass was caught three times between the angel\u2019s sword and Balaam\u2019s stick. Soon Balaam will find himself trapped three times between Balak\u2019s demands and God\u2019s prohibitions.\u201d Balaam\u2019s conversation with God via the donkey occurs in three stages, and in the third round the angel of the Lord commences his dialogue with the prophet by asking a question similar to that which the donkey posed in her first speech, \u201cWhy have you beaten your donkey these three times?\u201d The elements of reversal in the story are further enhanced by the statement that apart from the spiritual insight of this animal Balaam would have been the one killed rather than his donkey. The brief chiasmus in vv. 31\u201333 also enhances the narrative effect.<\/p>\n
Then Yahweh uncovered Balaam\u2019s eyes and said \u201cWhy?\u201d
\n(a) Behold I have come out as your adversary,
\n(b) The donkey saw me and turned away from
\n(a\u00b4) So now I should kill you, and yet let her live.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having had an authentic encounter with the truly Divine, Balaam responded in the manner that anyone who so meets with God is constrained to respond. He bowed his head and fell prostrate (wayyi\u0161ta\u1e25\u00fb l\u0115\u02beap\u0101yw, \u201cand he fell prostrate upon his face\u201d or \u201che worshiped\u201d) before the emissary of Yahweh as a servant would before his master. Once he had comprehended the full significance of this extraordinary situation, he confessed the error of his ways. Based on the nature of the usage of the Hebrew verb \u1e25\u0101\u1e6d\u0101\u02be and the statements of Balaam following this confession, one derives that Balaam was simply stating that he had made a mistake in not perceiving that Yahweh\u2019s emissary was positioned in front of him in the various pathways he had traversed. As in this case the confession need not carry with it connotations of moral or ethical turpitude from the expressed statement of the prophet, though we would make such an assessment of his character based upon his later actions in advising the Moabites in the idolatrous incident at Abel Shittim (Num 25).
\nThe words of the final instructions to Balaam by Yahweh\u2019s emissary are couched in a simple chiastic structure, which once again emphasize the role of the prophet as an instrument for divine revelation.<\/p>\n
(a) \u201cGo with the men;
\n(b) but only the word I speak to you, you shall speak.\u201d
\n(a\u00b4) So Balaam went with the princes of Balak<\/p>\n
Now having encountered the Lord in the daytime after two previous nighttime revelations and fully cognizant of his divinely ordained role in the coming days, Balaam dutifully continues his journey to meet with Balak. He has learned, as D. Olson has put it, \u201cthat the life of a prophet is like riding a donkey. Balaam\u2019s own personal ability to steer the course of history and see what lies ahead is minimal, less than the animal on which he rides. Lest Balaam have any thought he can make an end run around God, the angel teaches Balaam that he must lay down his own initiative in cursing or blessing Israel and allow God to use him as God sees fit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Balak Goes out to Meet Balaam (22:36\u201338)
\n22:36\u201338 Balak, having finally received word that the reluctant Balaam was nearing his kingdom, journeys out to meet and welcome the famous prophet at the town of Ir (or Ar) of Moab on the edge of his realm.
\nThe Arnon River gorge functioned as the classical northern limit of the ancient Moabite territory (21:26), though in the Iron II period, the Moabites expanded northward to Heshbon and beyond. Allen notes a comedic element in the story of Balak going out to meet the prophet. The sense of urgency is evident in Balak\u2019s rush to meet Balaam so that he can begin the job of cursing Israel, but he berates the prophet by his critical questioning concerning the delay. Balak\u2019s personal involvement in the greeting ceremony was a means of paying high honor to the visiting prophetic dignitary. He could have simply sent his servants to the territorial border to formally greet the party and then have them escorted into the king\u2019s presence in the capital city\u2019s royal residence. Instead Balak accompanied Balaam along the stages of the journey to the point where Balaam would begin performing his prophetic divination service.
\nBalak\u2019s greeting commenced with stern questions concerning Balaam\u2019s initial reluctance to come as a result of the diplomatic messengers sent in the first round of negotiations. The Moabite king\u2019s next question gave indication of his own interpretation of the prophet\u2019s turn down of his first offer. He believed that the issue of reward was at the heart of the matter, but in fact Balaam\u2019s real concern was that he speak on that which had been revealed to him by the God he was being asked to confer with regarding the Israelites.<\/p>\n
Now am I in fact able to speak anything?
\nThe word which God places in my mouth
\nThat I will speak.<\/p>\n
For the fourth time in the Book of Balaam, the prophet confesses that he could only speak that which Yahweh revealed (lit, \u201cthe word which God puts in my mouth, it I will speak\u201d; hadd\u0101b\u0101r \u02be\u0103\u0161er y\u0101\u015b\u00eem \u02be\u0115l\u014dh\u00eem b\u0115p\u00ee \u02be\u014dt\u00f4 \u02be\u0103dabb\u0113r). He apparently has now come to the full realization that he will simply be God\u2019s instrument of revelation; he will be a spokesman for this God of Israel and not one who could even attempt to manipulate him. He does not, however, inform Balak at this point of his earlier revelation, that God had said he could not curse Israel because they were to be the recipients of his blessing. Ordinarily he might think that with the right sacrifices, incantations, and cultic manipulations the desired result could be accomplished. But Yahweh God of Israel was a different kind of deity from any he had ever or would ever encounter in his ministry.<\/p>\n
PREPARATION FOR THE FIRST ORACULAR EVENT (22:39\u201340)<\/p>\n
39 Then Balaam went with Balak to Kiriath Huzoth. 40 Balak sacrificed cattle and sheep, and gave some to Balaam and the princes who were with him.<\/p>\n
22:39\u201340 Balaam and Balak journeyed to Kiriath Huzoth, where they prepared for the next divine encounter by which the Moabite king still expected the prophet to fulfill his commissioned duty of cursing Israel. Balaam still had not informed Balak of the content of the message he had first received from Yahweh, that he must not pronounce a curse upon Israel because they were a blessed people (22:12).
\nThe name and location of \u201cKiriath Huzoth\u201d (lit., \u201ccity outside [plazas]\u201d) presents an enigma in light of recent excavations from Tel Dan in northern Israel. In the excavations around the perimeter of the plaza of the Iron II gate area, the director A. Biran notes the discovery of several buildings that may have served the city in an official capacity, for oversight of daily commercial activity. Were these the offices of city officials who were overseers of the bartering and selling of agricultural goods and crafted wares in the gate courtyard? Were they smaller shops adjacent to the wider plaza? So was this a city of shops, bazaars, or just the proper name of a Moabite town whose toponymic derivation was that of its original function? Harrison suggested that the town probably was in close proximity to the Kir of Moab, the probable capital of Moab.
\nIn Kiriath Huzoth the king slaughtered cattle and sheep for the celebration, which would have been the normal hospitable practice for visiting dignitaries. The sacrifices probably were the peace offerings, which were of the communal type eaten by the worshiper, the priests, and any guests. Admittedly Ashley is correct in stating that \u201cthere is no proof \u2026 that the Moabite cult was anything like the Israelite cult in sacrificial matters\u201d; the slaughtering of animals for a ceremonial banquet was common to Semitic peoples. Peace offerings are known among the Northwest Semitic peoples of Ugarit and Aram, and because of the commonality of cultures these offerings were likely practiced among most of them. Similar hospitality practices are known in the New Testament in the study of the return of the wayward son in Luke 15:11\u201332.
\nAnother approach to the interpretation of the sacrifices has been taken by several scholars, that the sacrifices described in v. 40 were actually preparatory sacrifices for the divination process that would follow the next morning. Allen and Harrison have suggested that Balak delivered to Balaam and his attendants certain portions of the slaughtered animals, such as the liver or other entrails, which they could examine according to the principles of their profession. The context, however, does not necessarily warrant the importing of divination ritual into this setting. Those who were present with Balaam are called princes (\u015b\u0101r\u00eem), perhaps leaders from one of the sending peoples, the Moabites or Midianites, or even royal attendants and not necessarily priestly agents of Balaam or Balak. Part of the question lay in the function of way\u0115h\u00ee at the beginning of v. 41. If it functions disjunctively, since way\u0115h\u00ee often commences a new development in the story, then the connection between the sacrifices (or slaughtering) that evening and the rituals of the following day is lessened. If the function is one of succession, then perhaps a connection may be made between the two periods of action in the story. Preference here is for the sacrifices of Balak being a ceremonial meal of hospitality and the activities of the following day (NIV, \u201cThe next morning\u201d (lit. way\u0115h\u00ee babb\u014dqer, \u201cand it happened in the morning\u201d) were the commencement of the sacrificial activity to determine the will of God. In the former case only Balak is said to be slaughtering the animals, and Balaam would surely have overseen the ritual slaughtering of the bulls and rams if they were intended for prophetic use.<\/p>\n
BALAAM\u2019S FIRST ORACLE (22:41\u201323:10)<\/p>\n
41 The next morning Balak took Balaam up to Bamoth Baal, and from there he saw part of the people.
\n1 Balaam said, \u201cBuild me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.\u201d 2 Balak did as Balaam said, and the two of them offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
\n3 Then Balaam said to Balak, \u201cStay here beside your offering while I go aside. Perhaps the LORD will come to meet with me. Whatever he reveals to me I will tell you.\u201d Then he went off to a barren height.
\n4 God met with him, and Balaam said, \u201cI have prepared seven altars, and on each altar I have offered a bull and a ram.\u201d
\n5 The LORD put a message in Balaam\u2019s mouth and said, \u201cGo back to Balak and give him this message.\u201d
\n6 So he went back to him and found him standing beside his offering, with all the princes of Moab. 7 Then Balaam uttered his oracle:
\n\u201cBalak brought me from Aram,
\nthe king of Moab from the eastern mountains.
\n\u2018Come,\u2019 he said, \u2018curse Jacob for me;
\ncome, denounce Israel.\u2019
\n8 How can I curse
\nthose whom God has not cursed?
\nHow can I denounce
\nthose whom the LORD has not denounced?
\n9 From the rocky peaks I see them,
\nfrom the heights I view them.
\nI see a people who live apart
\nand do not consider themselves one of the nations.
\n10 Who can count the dust of Jacob
\nor number the fourth part of Israel?
\nLet me die the death of the righteous,
\nand may my end be like theirs!\u201d<\/p>\n
The oracular events in which Balaam responds to his encounter with Yahweh by speaking forth the message which has been revealed to him are recounted in three cycles with an epilogue of additional oracles completing this most dramatic revelatory event. The cyclical pattern of the three phenomenal occurrences follows a basic structure as outlined below:<\/p>\n
1. Balak takes Balaam to an observation point to view Israel (22:41; 23:13\u201314a; 23:27\u201328)
\n2. Balaam instructs Balak to offer sacrifices (23:1; missing; 23:29)
\n3. Balak obeys Balaam by sacrificing the prescribed animals (23:2; 23:14b; 23:30)
\n4. Balaam tells Balak to stand by his offering altars (23:3; 23:25; missing)
\n5. Balaam goes alone and Yahweh reveals himself (23:4\u20135; 23:16; 24:1\u20132)
\n6. Balaam returns to Balak, who is standing by his offering (23:6; 23:17; missing)
\n7. Balaam obeys Yahweh and speaks the oracle (23:7\u201310; 23:18\u201324; 24:3\u20139)<\/p>\n
The focal point of the structure of these three cycles is the revelatory encounter between Yahweh and Balaam. In 23:5 and 16 Balaam\u2019s central role as a spokesman for Yahweh reiterates that which has been spoken of previously in 22:8, 18\u201320, 35, 38. Balaam would be able to speak only that which Yahweh had spoken to him. In the third oracular cycle the complementary elements 4 and 6 are absent though the oracle itself is as long as that of the second event. Since the text tells us that Balaam no longer resorted to divination practices in the third period of preparation (24:1), the practice of \u201cstanding by the offering\u201d may have been part of the special ritual activity Balaam dispensed with on this third occasion. In the process and at the conclusion of these events, Balak king of Moab would discover that subservience to Yahweh the God of Israel was the key to success. Balak was obedient to Balaam in hope of gaining the desired response, but Balaam was in turn constrained to be obedient only to Yahweh, who reigns over all kings and kingdoms.<\/p>\n
Balak Leads Balaam to Bamoth Baal (22:41)
\n22:41 From an elevated location known as Bamoth Baal (b\u0101m\u00f4t b\u0101\u02bfal,\u201cthe cultic centers of Baal\u201d) from which he could observe the outer fringe (q\u0115\u1e63\u0113h h\u0101\u02bf\u0101m) of the populous Israelites, Balaam would commence his service of the king of Moab. Positioning himself at vantage point from which he could see the object of cursing ritual was necessary for the pronouncement to be efficacious. Some have associated Bamoth Baal with Bamoth of Num 21:19\u201320 from which the Israelites sent messengers to Sihon requesting permission to pass through his territory and with Bamoth Baal of Josh 13:17 in the territorial list of the tribe of Reuben. Whether or not this phrase is descriptive of the site of the proper name, the function is clear. The ubiquitous northwest Semitic deity Baal had been worshiped at the site for some time, and hence at a site dedicated to the veneration of a pagan deity, the pagan divination prophet Balaam and his royal beckoner Balak were about to learn of the ways and words of the One True Deity.<\/p>\n
Balaam Instructs Balak to Prepare Sacrifices (23:1)
\n23:1 Balaam provided instructions for Balak to construct seven altars to carry out the sacrifices that were preparatory for the encounter with the divine. The special significance of the number seven as a symbol of fullness or completeness is attested throughout the Scriptures, as well as in ancient Near Eastern and Greco-Roman literature. From the seven days of creation in Genesis 1\u20132 to numerous references to various groups of seven in Revelation, the number is prominent throughout the Bible. The building of multiple altars in a single setting is unattested elsewhere in the Old Testament, though a close parallel is known from Mesopotamian literature. R. Largement cites the reference to a Babylonian text in which a worshiper is instructed to \u201cerect seven altars before Ea, Shamash, and Marduk, to set up seven censers of cypress, and then pour out [as a libation offering] the blood of seven sheep.\u201d When these rituals had been performed, the worshiper then appeared before the deity and announced to him or her that the offerings had been properly presented. The deity or deities then were obliged to respond to the individual in whatever manner desired.
\nIn the Israelite sacrificial system, offering of bulls and rams represented the upper echelon of society. A bull was offered as a sin offering by a priest (including the high priest) who had committed an unintentional sin or on behalf of the whole Israelite community (Lev 4:3, 14), and guilt offerings included the sacrifice of an unblemished ram (Lev 5:14\u20136:6). The offering of seven bulls and\/or seven rams is paralleled in Gen 21:27\u201328; 1 Chr 15:26; Job 42:7\u20139; and Ezek 45:23. As in the present context, the sacrifices of Job 42 and Ezekiel 45 are deemed burnt offerings, those that were offered for consecration or sanctification of the presenting party.<\/p>\n
Balak Obeys Balaam (23:2)
\n23:2 Balak\u2019s faithful obedience to the instruction of Balaam, who is functioning now as a divine intermediary, recalls the same phraseology used of Moses and the Israelites responding to Yahweh\u2019s commands in Numbers 1\u201317. Balak had no idea that he was forwarding the cause of those whom he sought to destroy, abetting the pronouncement of blessing upon his enemies. Through the Balaam material, the prophet has said and would continue to say that he could speak only in accordance with what God had revealed to him. Now Balak too becomes an inadvertent agent of the God of Israel. The purpose of such offerings in the ancient Near East was twofold: to gain the favor of the deity by the performing of purification ritual and to obtain from the bodies of the sacrificial victims the portions necessary to determine the will of the gods. In that Balak and Balaam offered up a bull and a ram on each altar, the divination artiste would have had considerable animal entrails to examine in preparing to encounter the incomparable God of Israel. The Hebrew text does not provide the details of such divination activity, since biblical writers in general were reticent to offer such information on ritual incantation.<\/p>\n
Balaam to Balak: Stand Beside Your Burnt Offering (23:3)
\n23:3 The ritual of standing by one\u2019s offering is attested in the Mesopotamian \u0101pilu practice of having a proxy such as the king\u2019s representative \u201cstand by\u201d the slaughtered animal. In this case the king himself, since the king often functioned as high priest in Semitic cultures, offered the sacrifices on behalf of his people, whom he thought were threatened by the mighty Israel. As Balaam prepared to go off alone to a nearby locale in expectation of meeting with God, he spoke the words now all too familiar to the company of hearers: \u201cThe word which he reveals to me I will tell you.\u201d Earlier he had encountered God twice during the night while alone in his house and then later during the day through Yahweh\u2019s emissary. The use of the Hebrew particle \u02be\u00fblay (\u201cperhaps, perchance\u201d) denotes a degree of contingency in the words of Balaam, for he desired a meeting with Yahweh in the manner of his former encounters. But he had come to realize through the confrontation with his donkey and the angel of Yahweh that this God can reveal himself in some unexpected ways. The use of the niphal form of q\u0101r\u0101\u02be (\u201che met\u201d) also implies a degree of chance. Milgrom notes, \u201cIt is used deliberately here and in vv. 3, 15, 16 and in the context of a divine manifestation elsewhere only in Exod 3:18; 5:3, in an address to a foreigner whose encounter with God cannot be counted on.\u201d The text leaves the option of responding to Balaam in the hands of God.
\nWhere Balaam went after leaving the presence of Balak and the sacrifice-laden altars is somewhat of an enigma. The NIV reads \u201cbarren height\u201d in taking the Hebrew term \u0161ep\u00ee as singular of the plural term \u0161\u0115p\u0101y\u00eem used in Isa 41:18; 49:9; Jer 3:2, 21; 4:11 to describe desolate areas without vegetation, often arid hills in or near deserts. Some translators take the term to mean \u201calone\u201d rather than a geographical locale. But in fact the usage of the term may not refer to an elevated location at all, only a barren place. The poetic parallelism of Isa 41:18 would indicate that it could actually be an arid lowland.<\/p>\n
I will make rivers flow unto [upon] the \u0161\u0115p\u0101y\u00eem,
\nAnd springs within the valley;
\nI will turn the desert into pools of water,
\nAnd the parched ground into springs.<\/p>\n
If Balaam left Balak and moved toward the Israelite encampment in the valley, he could have moved to an even lower elevation.<\/p>\n
God Manifests Himself to Balaam (23:4\u20135)<\/p>\n
23:4\u20135 Balaam\u2019s somewhat tentative expectations were realized when God met him at this barren place. According to the ritual sequencing of his tradition, he announces to God that he has performed his ritual duty. The phraseology of Yahweh\u2019s revelation and instruction to Balaam, whereby he \u201cput a message in Balaam\u2019s mouth\u201d (wayy\u0101\u015bem YHWH d\u0101b\u0101r b\u0115p\u00ee bil\u02bf\u0101m) that he was return to Balak and speak (t\u0115dabb\u0113r), echoes the earlier statements by Balaam that he could not transgress the word of Yahweh (22:18) but speak only the word God put in his mouth (22:38). The cycle of material reflecting the preparation of the prophet to fulfill God\u2019s intention in proclaiming blessing upon his people was now complete. Note the following structural outline of the revelatory clauses up to this point.<\/p>\n
l\u014d\u02be \u02be\u00fbkal la\u02bf\u0103b\u014dr \u02beet-p\u00ee YHWH \u02be\u0115l\u014dh\u0101y (22:18)
\nI am not able to transgress the mouth of Yahweh my God
\nw\u0115\u02beak \u02beet-hadd\u0101b\u0101r \u02be\u0103\u0161er-\u02be\u0103dabb\u0113r \u02be\u0113leyk\u0101 \u02be\u014dt\u00f4 ta\u02bf\u0103\u015beh (22:20)
\nBut only the word that I speak to you, it shall you do
\nw\u0115\u02beepes \u02beet-hadd\u0101b\u0101r \u02be\u0103\u0161er-\u02be\u0103dabb\u0113r \u02be\u0113leyk\u0101 \u02be\u014dt\u00f4 t\u0115dabb\u0113r (22:35)
\nNothing but the word which I speak to you, it shall you speak
\nwayy\u0101\u015bem YHWH d\u0101b\u0101r b\u0115p\u00ee bil\u02bf\u0101m (23:5)
\nThen Yahweh put a word in the mouth of Balaam<\/p>\n
The idiom of having Yahweh put a word in the mouth of an individual, denoting the receiving of a direct revelation from Yahweh, is used of several of the Hebrew prophets. In Deut 18:18 it is used of prophets in general, and then specifically of Yahweh to Jeremiah (Jer 1:9) in his call experience. In Ezekiel an alternate form of this idiomatic expression is portrayed in the prophet\u2019s eating a scroll, after which he spoke God\u2019s message to the house of Israel (Ezek 3:1\u201311). The ultimate expression of this phrase is found in Num 12:8, where Yahweh describes his communication with the great prophet Moses as peh \u02beel-peh, \u201cmouth to mouth.\u201d In the Balaam material the phraseology of Balaam speaking the mouth of Yahweh is repeated in vv. 12, 16.<\/p>\n
Balaam Returns to Balak (23:6)
\n23:6 Upon his return Balaam finds Balak and his Moabite princes faithfully standing by their altars and their accompanying sacrifices, eagerly awaiting those longed-for words that Balaam has been able to pronounce a curse upon their enemy Israel, enabling them to mount a victorious attack against their dreaded foe. As Allen notes, however, \u201cThey received a word from heaven all right, but it was far from what they expected.\u201d<\/p>\n
Balaam Obeys Yahweh: Speaks the First Oracle (23:7\u201310).
\nEach of the oracles conforms to the following basic pattern: (1) introductory formula, \u201cBalaam took up his oracle,\u201d (2) statement of purpose, (3) message of the oracle\u2014blessings upon Israel in the first three oracles, transition in the fourth from blessing Israel to cursing Moab and Edom, followed by three oracles of cursing against the Amalekites, Kenites, and Assyrians. Each of the seven oracles is called a Hebrew m\u0101\u0161\u0101l, to perhaps distinguish these pagan-sourced pronouncements from the normal prophetic oracle. The term m\u0101\u0161\u0101l commonly denotes a proverb or short parable from the wisdom sources, such as the Book of Proverbs, but it is never used to designate the dicta from the biblical prophets of Yahweh. Gray has elucidated various usages of the term beyond that of the proverb, citing the use of the term to introduce lament in Job 27:1ff.; 29:1ff.; or to denote bywords or objects of taunting in Isa 14:4; Mic 2:4; Deut 28:37. In the present context the term denotes a prophetic figurative discourse in poetic form, which Noordzij describes as having \u201ca deep meaning or with more or less cryptic allusions, which is easily memorized by its form, and creates curiosity and stimulates reflection because of its content.\u201d
\nThe antiquity of the language of theses oracles has been argued since the landmark literary work of Albright in a 1944 in an article entitled \u201cThe Oracles of Balaam.\u201d Albright cited terms, literary structures, and grammatical nuances that would support the dating of the oracular material to the twelfth century B.C. and the final composition of the narrative framework by the end of the tenth century B.C., after a considerable period of oral transmission. Harrison, on the other hand, suggested that the Hebrew \u0161\u014d\u1e6d\u0115r\u00eem had probably collated the oral and written traditions and updated many of the expressions by the time of Samuel in the late twelfth to early eleventh centuries B.C. In a forthright statement Wenham summarizes the issues related to the antiquity of the material, \u201cThe archaic Hebrew spelling of these poems and their metre prove the early date of their composition.\u201d Freedman dates the present text of the Balaam oracles to the eleventh century B.C.
\nThe initial oracle is composed of seven lines of short parallel clauses, each having somewhat condensed content and poignant stylistic word order. The broad literary outline of the oracle is as follows:<\/p>\n
Literary Structure of the First Oracle of Balaam<\/p>\n
A Setting: Balak Summons Balaam to Curse Israel (23:7b)
\nB Balaam Cannot Curse what God (El) has not cursed. (23:8)
\nB\u00b4 Israel Incomparable among the Nations (23:9\u201310a)
\nA\u00b4 Balaam Longs to be like Israel (23:10b)<\/p>\n
The ensuing translation reflects the microstructure of the individual lines.<\/p>\n
1. From Aram
\nhe brought me
\nBalaq
\n(23:7b)
\nThe king of Moab
\nfrom the mountains of Qedem (the East)
\n2. \u201cCome
\ncurse for me
\nJacob
\n(23:7c)
\nand Come
\nDenounce
\nIsrael
\n3. How can I curse and How can denounce
\n[what is] not accursed
\n[what] has not denounced Yahweh
\nof God
\n(23:8)
\n4. For from rocky peaks
\nI see him
\n(23:9a)
\nand From the heights
\nI watch him
\n5. Behold a people
\ndistinctive
\nare dwelling
\n(23:9b)
\nand Among the nations
\nnot
\nis he reckoned
\n6. Who has counted
\nthe dust of Jacob
\n(23:10a)
\nOr numbered
\n[even] a fourth of Israel?
\n7. May it die
\nmy life (soul)
\nthe death of the upright
\n(23:10b)
\nand May it be
\nmy end
\nlike his!<\/p>\n
Structurally, the first couplet contains a brief chiasmus in complementary parallelism with the second line expanding on the first as to the geographical origin of Balaam. At the emphatic center is the beckoning king who instigated this whole episode. The second reflects synonymous parallelism, highlighting the word pair Jacob\/Israel, which is repeated in line six and then twice in the second oracle and once in each of the final two oracles. In the third line the rhetorical questions couched in explanatory synonymous parallelism highlight the prophet\u2019s inability to countermand the intent of God to bless Israel. These questions are a reprise of the original response received by Balaam from Yahweh when the messengers were sent to procure his services (22:12). In lines 4\u20136 the prophet declares in resounding fashion the distinctiveness of Israel among the nations as a result of his distant observation and his unique experience in receiving revelation from a most distinctive God. In the explanatory parallelism of the final stich the prophet proclaimed that he wished he could be as blessed as Israel.
\n23:7b Aram denotes the general region of the upper Euphrates from which Balaam has journeyed. The term is qualified in Scripture in the toponyms Aram Naharaim (\u201cAram of the Two Rivers\u201d), from which Rebekah was brought as a bride for Isaac (Gen 24:10), and Paddan Aram (\u201cField of Aram\u201d), the region where Rebekah\u2019s brother Laban resided (Gen 25:20). Balak has summoned Balaam from his homeland, perhaps some four hundred miles away, to pronounce a curse upon Israel and to denounce (z\u0101\u02bfam, \u201cindignant speech\u201d) them so that he might be victorious over them.
\n23:8 Balaam retorted rhetorically that the cursing of Israel was an utterly impossible proposition in light of the divine blessing Yahweh had bestowed upon his people. As Balak had noted in his original request to Balaam, this prophet-diviner was internationally renowned as one who was effective in exacting both blessing and cursing on individuals and groups. He would do so by sacrificial activity accompanied by imprecations and execrations through which the gods and goddesses might be conjured into accomplishing that which his employers desired. But now he had encountered an incomparable God who had promised to bless an unparalleled people.
\n23:9 As Balaam viewed the populous Israelites from his vantage point, he observed that they were a \u201cpeople who live apart\u201d (\u02bf\u0101m l\u0115b\u0101d\u0101d yi\u0161k\u014dn), which means that they lived apart from the other nations in safety and security as recipients of Yahweh\u2019s blessing. Israel\u2019s election by God to be his own demonstrated to the nations that they were a distinctive and peculiar people who belonged to a jealous God who was like none others from among the nations. According to the foundational covenant conditions recorded in Exod 19:5\u20136, Israel was Yahweh\u2019s treasured possession, who as a result of this election were to obey fully the stipulations of the covenant and be a holy nation and a kingdom of priests. Although they had endured the trials and tribulations as a consequence of their rebellions in the wilderness, God was intent on bringing the nation into the Promised Land and blessing them abundantly.
\n23:10a Evidence of God\u2019s election of Israel and the fulfillment of his promise to Abram to make a great nation through him and bless him was the dramatic growth of the population while enduring the hardship and oppression in Egypt (Gen 12:2\u20133; 13:16; Exod 1:7, 10; 12:37). This theological point is reiterated in the initial military census of Num 1:1\u201346 and 2:1\u201332, and again in the second census of Num 26:1\u201351. In the Book of Balaam this issue was initially raised by Balak in his message to Balaam (22:3\u20135). Now it has been confirmed by the prophet himself.
\nThe parallel clauses of counting the dust of Jacob and numbering the fourth part of Israel result from a minor emendation of the second colon of the Masoretic Text, which literally reads \u201cand the number of the fourth of Israel.\u201d The Samaritan Pentateuch (and the LXX) contain evidence of a variation from the Masoretic misp\u0101r, which is divided into two words with spr being read as a verb form rather than a noun (m\u00ee s\u0101p\u0101r, \u201cwho can number\u201d). Albright suggested that the text be further emended to read turba\u02bfat yisr\u0101\u02be\u0113l, \u201cthe sands\/dust-cloud of Israel,\u201d since the particle \u02beet does not elsewhere occur in ancient Hebrew poetry. Keil suggested that the Masoretic reference to the \u201cfourth\u201d part of Israel was an allusion to the fourfold division of the nation as described in Numbers 2. Balaam\u2019s ability to see the outskirts of Israel (22:41) would refer to one of the groups of three tribes and perhaps one of the corps of the Levites or the priests themselves. The point being made was that Israel was so numerous that one could not even count a small fraction (one-fourth) of their population since they raised a dust cloud during their trek through the Moabite plains.
\n23:10b In the final stich of Balaam\u2019s first oracle, consisting of a couplet in complementary parallelism, the prophet reflects upon his life in light of what he has observed and the revelation he has received. Noordzij has stated the matter most astutely: \u201cBalaam sees the divine blessing that rests on Israel as surpassing anything he has seen thus far; he would consider it his good fortune to die as the children of Israel can die, not only because his own death would then not be premature and violent (cf. Job 4:7), but also because he would then have the assurance that his offspring would belong to a blessed nation and would continue to live in safety and peace, a blessing that was even rarer then than it is in our own time.\u201d He dearly wanted what Israel possessed, but would he be willing to submit to the covenant stipulations and obey God fully? For a moment as he realized that he did not have Israel\u2019s number in order to condemn them, he may have thought of making a full commitment to this new deity. But we know that at the end of the story he was not willing to submit to God\u2019s plan for blessing, for he counseled the Moabite leaders to subvert Israel through idolatry and immorality (25:1\u201318). For this he would die the death of violence in retribution (31:8, 16) rather than the death of the upright as expressed in the present passage.<\/p>\n
BALAK\u2019S RESPONSE TO BALAAM AND THE REJOINDER (23:11\u201312)<\/p>\n
11 Balak said to Balaam, \u201cWhat have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but you have done nothing but bless them!\u201d
\n12 He answered, \u201cMust I not speak what the LORD puts in my mouth?\u201d<\/p>\n
23:11\u201312 Balak\u2019s furious response came as expected, since he as the king of Moab had spent so much time and money personally working toward the desired end of condemning Israel to destruction. He took Balaam\u2019s actions and words as a personal and professional affront, yet his words express the reality of the situation. God will accomplish the reversal of fortunes for any who would try to destroy his people. Balaam then reminded Balak of that which he had communicated from the beginning; what Yahweh instructs he must do. The phraseology of v. 12, lit., \u201cWhat he puts in my mouth I must be careful to speak,\u201d forms an inclusio with v. 5, completing the first cycle of oracular material and connecting this section to 22:18. The narration and poetic portions of the text have been meshed cohesively.<\/p>\n
BALAAM\u2019S SECOND ORACLE (23:13\u201326)<\/p>\n
13 Then Balak said to him, \u201cCome with me to another place where you can see them; you will see only a part but not all of them. And from there, curse them for me.\u201d 14 So he took him to the field of Zophim on the top of Pisgah, and there he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
\n15 Balaam said to Balak, \u201cStay here beside your offering while I meet with him over there.\u201d
\n16 The LORD met with Balaam and put a message in his mouth and said, \u201cGo back to Balak and give him this message.\u201d
\n17 So he went to him and found him standing beside his offering, with the princes of Moab. Balak asked him, \u201cWhat did the LORD say?\u201d
\n18 Then he uttered his oracle:
\n\u201cArise, Balak, and listen;
\nhear me, son of Zippor.
\n19 God is not a man, that he should lie,
\nnor a son of man, that he should change his mind.
\nDoes he speak and then not act?
\nDoes he promise and not fulfill?
\n20 I have received a command to bless;
\nhe has blessed, and I cannot change it.
\n21 \u201cNo misfortune is seen in Jacob,
\nno misery observed in Israel.
\nThe LORD their God is with them;
\nthe shout of the King is among them.
\n22 God brought them out of Egypt;
\nthey have the strength of a wild ox.
\n23 There is no sorcery against Jacob,
\nno divination against Israel.
\nIt will now be said of Jacob
\nand of Israel, l, \u2018See what God has done!\u2019
\n24 The people rise like a lioness;
\nthey rouse themselves like a lion
\nthat does not rest till he devours his prey
\nand drinks the blood of his victims.\u201d
\n25 Then Balak said to Balaam, \u201cNeither curse them at all nor bless them at all!\u201d
\n26 Balaam answered, \u201cDid I not tell you I must do whatever the LORD says?\u201d<\/p>\n
Following the failed first attempt at cursing Israel through means of divination at Bamoth Baal, the undeterred Balak perceived that perhaps the location was improper for carrying out the precise rituals that would bring him success against Israel. Another locale might bring them into closer proximity to the gods or goddesses who often were understood to have some topographical preferences or even geographical limitations. He thought perhaps a vantage point from which Balaam could observe a smaller portion of Israel might enable the prophet to gain the upper hand in this challenge to the divine. The Moabite king does not yet fully understand that the blessing of Yahweh upon Israel has no limitations by physical geography or prophetic manipulation. The structure of the introduction to the second oracle is patterned after that of the first, with the exception that Balaam does not need to instruct Balak to offer the necessary sacrifices. He understood his role in the ritual procedures.<\/p>\n
Balak Leads Balaam to Sedeh Zophim on Pisgah (23:13\u201314a)
\n23:13\u201314a The name Sedeh Zophim (\u201cfield of Zophim\u201d) derives from the topographical term \u015b\u0101deh (\u201cfield, pasture\u201d) and the plural participle of the verb \u1e63\u0101p\u00e2 (\u201ckeep watch over\u201d), hence a \u201cfield of watchmen.\u201d The site is not otherwise known from the Hebrew Bible. Several scholars interpret this locale as a known place for observing heavenly omens or making astrological observations. Pisgah was one of the prominent peaks in the Abarim range which extended from the northwest perimeter of the Moabite plateau to the region just northeast of the Dead Sea (33:47\u201348). In Num 21:20 Pisgah is described as overlooking Jeshimon (\u201cwasteland\u201d). Later in the Abarim mountains on Mount Nebo atop Pisgah, Moses would lay his hands upon Joshua and commission him to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land (27:12\u201323), and he would have the opportunity to see the land from the distant peak (Deut 3:21\u201328). There he would die and be buried (Deut 34:1\u201312). The verse follows a simple chiastic structure as outlined below:<\/p>\n
a Come with me to another place
\nb Where you may see them from there,
\nc But only its outer edge you will see,
\nc\u00b4 But all of it you will not see.
\nb\u00b4 Curse him for me from there.\u201d
\na\u00b4 He took him to Sedeh-zophim, to the top of the Pisgah<\/p>\n
Balak Sacrifices Animals on Seven Altars (23:14b)
\n23:14b In the cycles of introductory material this line compares to 23:2 and later 23:30. Balak dutifully offers sacrifices in the prescribed manner he perceives as necessary to gain the desired response from the object deity. Again Balak had no idea that he was forwarding the cause of those whom he sought to destroy, abetting the pronouncement of blessing upon his enemies. Again Balak becomes an inadvertent agent of the God of Israel.<\/p>\n
Balaam to Balak: Stand Beside Your Burnt Offering (23:15)
\n23:15 Balak performed his required duty of representing his people by standing by the sacrificial altars. Only now there is no contingency in the words of Balaam about whether Yahweh will appear. The prophet anticipates a fifth encounter with God and by now probably was anticipating a similar response from God. See the commentary on 23:3 above.<\/p>\n
God Manifested Himself to Balaam (23:16)
\n23:16 The narrative nearly duplicates the words of 23:4\u20135 as God again revealed himself to this pagan diviner. His ritual is abbreviated since he no longer feels the need to announce that he has performed the proper ritual sacrifices of his trade. Again as in the manner of Moses and the later Hebrew prophets, Yahweh put a word in the mouth of Balaam, denoting the receiving of a direct revelation from Yahweh (22:38; 23:5, 12). In the later oracles the revelation would come via the Spirit of God moving upon and within the prophet (24:2). See the commentary above on 23:4\u20135.<\/p>\n
Balaam Returns to Balak (23:17)
\n23:17 The wording of this verse follows closely that of 23:6. Balaam went back to where Balak had been waiting expectantly by the smoldering sacrificial altars, awaiting those longed-for words that Balaam has been able to pronounce a curse upon their enemy Israel. As he saw the prophet coming, he asked, \u201cWhat did Yahweh speak?\u201d Balak\u2019s question now echoed the revelatory elements Balaam had spoken from the very first encounter with the Moabite and Midian messengers while at home in Pethor, \u201cI will bring you back the answer the LORD give me\u201d (22:8). Balak realized that the whole situation depended exclusively on the will of Yahweh, whose name he had become accustomed to hearing. But he still did not realize that blessing was the only possible outcome of Balaam\u2019s second encounter.<\/p>\n
Balaam Obeys Yahweh: Speaks the Second Oracle (23:18\u201324)
\n23:18\u201324 The second oracle of Balaam enlarges upon the central theme of the first, that of the divine blessing upon Israel that has rendered them indomitable. The introduction to the oracle in v. 18a is the same as that of the first oracle. (See the commentary above on 23:7.) Again the oracle type denoted by m\u0101\u0161\u0101l is a prophetic figurative discourse in poetic form.
\nIn the literary structure of the second oracle as outlined below one can observe the general chiastic structure that focuses on the dynamic relationship between Yahweh and his people Israel. That relationship has had its most miraculous and irrefutable demonstration in the deliverance of the nation from bondage in Egypt. Therefore blessing has been Israel\u2019s destiny because no force on the earth or in the heavens could countermand that which God has established by his power and through his faithfulness. The oracle is composed of eleven lines of parallel cola, highlighted by the use of several word pairs common to Hebrew poetry, such as listen\/give ear, do\/ fulfill, observe\/see, misfortune\/trouble, augury\/divination, and lion\/lioness. The poetry contains synonymous, explanatory, and antithetical parallelism, as well as chiasmus on the micro- and macro-structural levels.<\/p>\n
Literary Structure of the Second Oracle of Balaam<\/p>\n
Introduction: Balaam Addresses Balak
\n(23:18)
\nArise
\nBalak
\nListen!
\nGive ear to me
\nSon of Zippor!
\nE God is Immutable
\n(23:19)
\nNo man
\n[is] God
\nthat He could lie!
\nNor son of man
\nthat He should be repentant!
\nHas He said
\nand not done?
\nOr spoken
\nand not fulfilled?
\nF God\u2019s Blessing Is Irrevocable
\n(23:20\u201321a)
\nBehold
\nTo Bless
\nI have received [command]
\nHe has blessed
\nand I cannot countermand it
\nThere is no observing
\nmisfortune in Jacob
\nand there is no seeing
\ntrouble in Israel
\nG God\u2019s Presence with Israel Means Victory
\n(23:21b\u201322)
\nYahweh his God
\nis with him
\nThe acclaim of a King
\nis in him.
\nGod (El)
\nbrings them out
\nfrom Egypt
\nLike the towering horns
\nof a wild ox
\nis [He] for him!
\nF\u00b4 God\u2019s Blessing Nullifies Divination
\n(23:23)
\nFor there is no augury
\nagainst Jacob
\nand no divination
\nagainst Israel.
\nNow it is said
\non behalf of Jacob
\nand on behalf of Israel
\nWhat God (El) has done!
\nE\u00b4 Israel is Like a Lion
\n(23:24)
\nBehold a people
\nlike a lioness
\nrises
\nLike a lion
\nhe raises himself up
\nHe does not rest
\nuntil he has devoured
\n[his] prey
\nand the blood of the slain ones
\nhe has drunk.\u201d<\/p>\n
23:18 Balaam hearkened Balak to attention as he commenced his oracle. The imperative verb q\u00fbm, translated \u201cArise!\u201d has the effect of calling the king to attention, since he was already standing beside his offerings. The ensuing word pair listen\/give ear complete a triple imperative statement, producing the maximum effect in Hebrew literary style. The prophet was endeavoring to prepare the Moabite king to receive the coming phenomenal pronouncement. The poetic parallelism of Balak son of Zippor derives from the introduction to the Book of Balaam in 22:2.
\n23:19 God is different and separate from mankind, transcendent beyond the realm of humanity with all of its tendencies toward falsehood, deceit, misfortune, and calamity. Therefore he has no need to repent of any moral or ethical turpitude or misdeed. God is immutable, and his word bespeaks his incomparable integrity. On the other hand, Balaam and Balak were the antithesis of God, men of banal character. Concerning this pagan prophet Allen remarks, \u201cHe is himself the prime example of the distinction between God and man.\u201d Balaam\u2019s words were ineffective before God, for as the prophet often explained, \u201cI can speak only what Yahweh speaks to me!\u201d On the other hand, God\u2019s word is entirely efficacious; what he says he will do, what he speaks he will accomplish.\u201d His word is never uttered into the void and never fails to produce what he intends (Isa 55:11).
\nThe word for God used here for the first of three times in this oracle is \u02be\u0113l, which derives from the basic word for deity in Semitic languages. Most often in the Hebrew Bible the term occurs in the plural form Elohim, denoting the power or majesty of the One True God (though occasionally of the multiple gods of the nations), or \u02be\u0113l\u00eem, the plural form often used in reference to the plethora of gods and goddesses of the nations. The short form \u02be\u0113l often occurs in epithets that highlight some aspect of the relationship between God and his people, such as \u02be\u0113l-\u0161adday (\u201cGod Almighty,\u201d Gen 17:1), \u02be\u0113l-\u02be\u0115met (\u201cGod of Truth,\u201d Ps 31:6). The present form \u02be\u0113l occurs by itself most often in the poetic materials of the wisdom, hymnic, and prophetic literature such as the Books of Job, Psalms, and Isaiah.
\n23:20\u201321a The recurrent theme of the Book of Balaam, that God has and will continue to bless Israel, now reverberates through the mouth of the prophet. God\u2019s blessing is so powerful and irrevocable that even the most renowned divination expert of the day could not counter its effectiveness. Only God could rescind his blessing upon Israel, and he would not because such an act would violate his character.
\nThe first part of v. 21 corresponds to the beginning of v. 23 in the literary structure, with each of the four cola beginning with the negative particle l\u014d\u02be (\u201cnot\u201d), outlined as follows.<\/p>\n
Not
\ndoes one observe
\nmisfortune
\nin Jacob
\n(21a)
\nNot
\ndoes one see
\ntrouble
\nin Israel
\nFor Not
\n[is there]
\naugury
\nin Jacob
\n(23a)
\nNor
\n[is there]
\ndivination
\nin Israel<\/p>\n
The term \u02be\u0101wen, translated \u201cmisfortune\u201d in the NIV and many other versions, often carries with it the implication of moral or ethical perverseness (Isa 1:13; Jer 4:14; Hos 6:8). In the prophets it is associated with the rites and iconographic forms used in worship of other gods (Isa 41:29; Hos 12:11). As found in the present context, the term \u02be\u0101wen is often paired with \u02bf\u0101m\u0101l (\u201ctrouble, sorrow, misery\u201d). Milgrom has suggested rightly that the connotations of moral evil and iniquity are not in view here because these have been evidenced often in Israel\u2019s wilderness experience. Yet in spite of Israel\u2019s rebelliousness, God has reiterated his purpose of blessing Israel by saving them from total destruction and vowing to bring them into the Promised Land (14:31, 38; 15:1\u20135; 16:47\u201350; 20:12). In the structural context this word pair is juxtapositioned with augury and divination, which Balaam practiced. Allen then is probably accurate in observing that these words \u201care not used to refer to moral issues but to mantic concerns. That is, God does not look on his people with \u201can evil eye\u201d or a hostile glance.\u2026 When Israel is presented in the context of a hostile environment, then it is the blessing of Israel that is maintained,\u201d The next section establishes the foundation for Israel\u2019s blessing, that Yahweh God was in their midst as the great and mighty and liberating King!
\n23:21b\u201322 What set Israel apart was not their population, their power, or their perseverance in the wilderness over the past forty years; what set Israel apart was their God. The statement that Yahweh God is with his people means that no form of opposition can overcome them. He was their invincible King and Warrior, who demonstrated his royal nature by delivering his people from bondage to one of the most powerful nations in the ancient Near East. Ashley notes that the present participle form of y\u0101\u1e63\u0101\u02be, typical of the hymnic context, meant that \u201cthe action of God\u2019s bringing Israel out from Egypt was not something that was completed historically until the conquest.\u201d In the broader scope of Israel\u2019s history, as would be demonstrated through the periods of the judges, kings, and prophets, God was and still is in the process of bringing his people out of bondage. This is the central theme of Israel\u2019s salvation history, as repeated numerous times through the Hebrew Bible.
\nThe power of Yahweh is compared to the wild ox, in particular the powerful and protruding \u201chorns\u201d of the animal. The Hebrew term here is t\u00f4\u02bf\u0103p\u014dt, a rare and obscure word used only here and in Num 24:8 (third oracle), Job 22:25, and Ps 95:4. Perhaps the idea of eminence, glory, or strength is in view here since it enhances the nature of Yahweh as the delivering King.
\n23:23 Israel did not need augurs, diviners, sorcerers, or magicians to have success against their various enemies. The term \u201caugury\u201d (na\u1e25a\u0161) refers to the practice of reading omens in the skies through clouds and movements of birds. \u201cDivination\u201d practices for the purpose of determining the will of the gods was often accomplished through the casting of lots via dice or darts, the consulting of teraphim, or in reading the patterns of entrails via hepatoscopy (liver dissection) or colonoscopy (intestinal examination). The first line of the verse corresponds to the second line of v. 21 in the chiastic structure of the oracle (see comment above).
\nThe disclaimer regarding Israel\u2019s possession or adherence to divination practices is remarkably juxtaposed with the positive acclamation of what God has done on behalf of Israel. The first line contains a simple stich of synonymous parallelism, using the terms \u201csorcery\u201d and \u201cdivination.\u201d The second line consists of two cola in simple chiasmus that build the crescendo of thought, erupting in the compelling confession, \u201cWhat God has achieved!\u201d God had done marvelous miracles for Jacob and for Israel because he is for his people.
\n23:24 In the concluding verse to the oracle, the imagery turns to that of the lion on the hunt for prey, but instead of Israel being the hunted they are the hunter. God brings a reversal of fortunes for the enemies of his people through his power and presence. This verse portends the more explicit statements in the third and fourth oracles (24:8\u20139, 17). Balaam advises Balak not to contend with Israel lest the Moabites be consumed by the ravenous lion of Judah and Israel, who was and would continue to be his nation\u2019s neighbor (Num 24:17; Isa 15:9; Jer 48:1\u201347; Mic 5:7). Yahweh God of Israel is also compared to a lion who would devour the enemies of Israel (Jer 49:19; Hos 5:14; Nah 2:12\u201313). In the chiastic structure this verse parallels v. 19, which in its effect emphasizes that Israel will be victorious against Moab only because God provides their lionlike power.
\nImagery of forcefulness and brute strength are conveyed through the use of terms for \u201clion\u201d in the Old Testament. The lion represents both raging power when it is on the hunt for prey, but it can also denote a firm but quiet force when pictured in a posture of repose. Iconographic forms of lions are prolific throughout the ancient Near East, from Ethiopia and Egypt to Hazor and Ugarit and from Assyria and Babylon. The distinction between the pair of Hebrew words for lion in this text and again in 24:6 (l\u0101b\u00ee\u02be \/\/ \u02be\u0103ri) is probably minimal due to their use in synonymous parallelism.<\/p>\n
Balak\u2019s Second Response to Balaam and the Rejoinder (23:25\u201326)
\n23:25\u201326 Balak\u2019s response to Balaam\u2019s second proclamation exceeds that which followed the pronouncement of the first oracle (23:11). After this occasion the Moabite king decides he would prefer silence over either blessing or cursing. Balaam\u2019s rejoinder to Balak, in the words he was now growing weary of hearing but would hear again after the third oracle, reverberated through the mind and heart of Balak (22:38; 23:3, 12; 24:13). These words again remind the reader that this pagan divination prophet was an instrument of God\u2019s revelatory process, that he was constrained to proclaim everything and only that which Yahweh intended for him.<\/p>\n
BALAAM\u2019S THIRD ORACLE (23:27\u201324:14)<\/p>\n
27 Then Balak said to Balaam, \u201cCome, let me take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God to let you curse them for me from there.\u201d 28 And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, overlooking the wasteland.
\n29 Balaam said, \u201cBuild me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.\u201d 30 Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
\n1 Now when Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he did not resort to sorcery as at other times, but turned his face toward the desert. 2 When Balaam looked out and saw Israel encamped tribe by tribe, the Spirit of God came upon him 3 and he uttered his oracle:
\n\u201cThe oracle of Balaam son of Beor,
\nthe oracle of one whose eye sees clearly,
\n4 the oracle of one who hears the words of God,
\nwho sees a vision from the Almighty,
\nwho falls prostrate, and whose eyes are opened:
\n5 \u201cHow beautiful are your tents, O Jacob,
\nyour dwelling places, O Israel!
\n6 \u201cLike valleys they spread out,
\nlike gardens beside a river,
\nlike aloes planted by the LORD,
\nlike cedars beside the waters.
\n7 Water will flow from their buckets;
\ntheir seed will have abundant water.
\n\u201cTheir king will be greater than Agag;
\ntheir kingdom will be exalted.
\n8 \u201cGod brought them out of Egypt;
\nthey have the strength of a wild ox.
\nThey devour hostile nations
\nand break their bones in pieces;
\nwith their arrows they pierce them.
\n9 Like a lion they crouch and lie down,
\nlike a lioness\u2014who dares to rouse them?
\n\u201cMay those who bless you be blessed
\nand those who curse you be cursed!\u201d
\n10 Then Balak\u2019s anger burned against Balaam. He struck his hands together and said to him, \u201cI summoned you to curse my enemies, but you have blessed them these three times. 11 Now leave at once and go home! I said I would reward you handsomely, but the LORD has kept you from being rewarded.\u201d
\n12 Balaam answered Balak, \u201cDid I not tell the messengers you sent me, 13 \u2018Even if Balak gave me his palace filled with silver and gold, I could not do anything of my own accord, good or bad, to go beyond the command of the LORD\u2014and I must say only what the LORD says\u2019? 14 Now I am going back to my people, but come, let me warn you of what this people will do to your people in days to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the second attempt at cursing Israel through means of divination at Sedeh Zophim on Mount Pisgah having ended in greater failure than the first, the persistent Balak again ascertained that perhaps the location was inappropriate for accomplishing the goal of gaining an upper hand against Israel. Only this time no mention is made of the worship locale being within sight of any portion of Israel until after the sacrifices have been performed. Another alternative locale might bring them into closer proximity to the gods or goddesses who often were understood to have some topographical preferences or even geographical limitations. The Moabite king does not yet fully understand that the blessing of Yahweh upon Israel has no limitations by physical geography or prophetic manipulation; place does not matter if the intent is contrary to the will of God. The structure of the introduction to the third oracle is patterned after that of the first but with some abbreviated elements. Balaam did not instruct Balak to stand by his sacrificial altars and then journey off on his own to perform any additional acts of sorcery. Instead the Lord dynamically appears to him as he was empowered by his Spirit to proclaim the oracle.<\/p>\n
Balak Leads Balaam to Bamoth Baal (23:27\u201328)
\n23:27\u201328 The site chosen for this third attempt at divine manipulation was \u201cthe top of the Peor\u201d (r\u014d\u02be\u0161 happ\u0115\u02bf\u00f4r), known also in Num 25:18; 31:16; Josh 22:17 as the place where Balaam later counseled the Moabites to entice many Israelites into idolatrous activities. The locale is also known as Baal Peor, at which the familiar northwestern Semitic deity Baal was worshiped, probably as a result of some perceived theophany of Baal in earlier antiquity (Num 25:3; Deut 4:3; Ps 106:28; Hos 9:10). Though the precise whereabouts of the cultic site remains unidentified, it was no doubt located in the same Abarim range of mountains in which Bamoth Baal and Sedeh Zophim were situated. The mountain overlooked \u201cthe wasteland\u201d (hay\u0115\u0161\u00eem\u014dn), a descriptive toponym for an arid region just south of the Israelite camp but just north of Maon. Jeshimon occasionally is translated as a proper name.<\/p>\n
Balaam Instructs Balak to Prepare Sacrifices (23:29)
\n23:29 Balaam again provided the instructions for Balak to construct seven altars to carry out the sacrifices of a bull and a ram on each altar as preparation for another encounter with God. See commentary on 23:1 above for discussion of the significance of the number seven.<\/p>\n
Balak Obeys Balaam (23:30)
\n23:30 The Moabite repeated dutifully his mediator role as a faithful servant of Balaam in this cultic process. See commentary above on 23:2.<\/p>\n
God Manifests Himself to Balaam (24:1\u20132)
\n24:1\u20132 The narrative now takes an unusual turn, for Balaam does not depart from Balak and the altars to a place of solitude. He does not perform any divination rituals to prepare for the encounter with the divine, nor does he receive the revelation in the same manner of Yahweh putting the words into his mouth. In this case the Spirit of God came upon the prophet, and he may have entered into an ecstatic trance in the manner of Saul (1 Sam 10:6) or Micaiah (1 Kgs 22:10\u201323). The process transpired as Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw (wayyi\u015b\u015b\u0101\u02be bil\u02bf\u0101m \u02beet-\u02bf\u00ean\u0101yw wayyar\u02be, i.e., fully focused his attention). The preterite form of the verb r\u0101\u02be\u00e2 (\u201che saw\u201d) here and elsewhere is used to denote an individual seeing or observing perceptively. In this case Balaam is endowed with divine insight as he observed the Israelites below him in the wilderness of Moab.<\/p>\n
Balaam Obeys Yahweh: Speaks the Third Oracle (24:3\u20139)
\n24:3a The third oracle of Balaam enlarges upon the central themes of the first and second, that of the divine blessing upon Israel that has rendered them invincible before their enemies. Attention now begins to turn toward the future as Israel prepares for the fulfillment of the Exodus in the dramatic entry into the Promised Land. The introduction to the oracle in v. 18a is the same as that of the first oracle. See the commentary above on 23:7. Again the oracle type denoted by the Hebrew m\u0101\u0161\u0101l is a prophetic figurative discourse in poetic form.
\nIn the literary structure of the third oracle as outlined below one can observe the general chiastic structure that focuses on the unique relationship between Yahweh and his people Israel. Working from the focal point of the chiasmus outward, one can observe that at the center of that relationship was the most miraculous and irrefutable demonstration of God\u2019s deliverance of the nation from bondage in Egypt (v. 8a). God\u2019s blessing has been Israel\u2019s destiny, so their kingdom will be incomparable (v. 7b) and thus unconquerable (v. 8b) since they were to live out their destiny in a faithful and obedient relationship to Yahweh. With God\u2019s blessing they became a creation of beauty by Yahweh that was beyond compare, a luxurious oasis in a world of desert and despair (vv. 5\u20137a). Likewise the land that God was giving them was as beautiful and productive, a land so described in the recurrent phrase \u201cflowing with milk and honey.\u201d But their splendor is complemented by their prowess, which none dare provoke (v. 9a). In the A\u2014A\u00b4 sections that bracket the oracle, the role of Balaam as God\u2019s instrument for revelation of this blessing, is magnified, but the prophet had to be subdued by the revelations of a female donkey before he would willingly submit to Yahweh\u2019s sovereign control over his life (vv. 3b\u20134). In the end he could only echo what God had said to Abraham at the beginning of this new creation from and for humanity\u2014those who bless you will be blessed; those who curse you will be cursed (Gen 12:3).<\/p>\n
Literary Structure of the Third Oracle of Balaam<\/p>\n
A Balaam God\u2019s Seer (24:3\u20134)
\nIntro: Then he took up his discourse and said,
\n\u201cOracle of Balaam, son of Beor,
\n(a) Oracle of the man
\n[with] unveiled
\neyes
\n(b) Oracle of him
\nwho hears
\nthe words of God (El)
\nwho
\nthe vision of Shaddai he beholds
\n(a\u00b4) Who falls down
\nbut with uncovered
\neyes.
\nB Beauty of Israel (24:5\u20137a)
\nHow beautiful
\nyour tents
\nO Jacob
\nyour dwelling places
\nO Israel
\nLike
\nriver valleys
\nthey spread out
\nLike
\ngardens
\nbeside a river
\nLike
\naloes
\nplanted by Yahweh
\nLike
\ncedars
\nbeside [the] waters
\nFlows
\nwater
\nfrom its buckets
\nIts seed
\nwith abundant water
\nC Israel\u2019s King and Kingdom Exalted (24:7b)
\nHe will be exalted
\ngreater than Agag
\nhis king
\nand it shall be lifted up
\nhis kingdom
\nD God Delivers from Egypt (24:8a)
\nGod (El)
\nbrings them out
\nfrom Egypt
\nLike the towering horns
\nof a wild ox
\nis [He] for him!
\nC\u00b4 Israel\u2019s Power to Defeat Nations (24:8b)
\nHe shall devour
\nnations
\nhis enemies
\nTheir bones
\nhe will break
\nHis arrows
\nhe will shatter
\nB\u00b4 Israel Is Like a Lion (24:9a)
\nHe crouches
\nhe lay down
\nlike a lion
\nLike a lioness
\nwho would
\narouse her
\nA Balaam\u2019s Benediction: Blessing and Cursing (24:9b)
\nThose who bless you
\nshall be blessed
\nThose who curse you
\nshall be cursed<\/p>\n
24:3b\u20134 Whereas the first and second oracles commence with references to Balak, king of Moab, the third oracle begins with an extended description of the person and purpose of Balaam in this whole affair. Seeing and hearing rightly before God must come as the result of divine inspiration and human submission in order for the revelatory process to be effective. The vision he saw was one of an unfolding future for Israel as they were on the verge of completing the Exodus event by entering and conquering the Promised Land, fulfilling the promise originally made to Abram and reiterated to Isaac, Jacob, and Moses. The phraseology Balaam used in this self-revelation, namely n\u0115\u02be\u016bm haggeber (\u201coracle of the [mighty] man\u201d), one who is used by \u02be\u0113l (\u201cGod\u201d) and upon whom the r\u00fba\u1e25 \u02be\u0115l\u014dh\u00eem (\u201cSpirit of God\u201d) comes to empower an individual to speak, is used by the great King David in 2 Sam 23:1\u20132. In the context of the future kingship in Israel (vv. 7\u20138), these words of Balaam provide a precursive pattern for the coming fulfillment of the anointed deliver for the kingdom.
\nThe parallelism of these verses set in chiastic structure (see above) is also quite revealing. The threefold use of the oracular term n\u0115\u02be\u016bm is remarkable here, introducing three statements concerning Balaam\u2019s role as a recipient of the Lord\u2019s handiwork. The overwhelming number of occurrences have n\u0115\u02be\u016bm in the construct state to YHWH, and only here and in 1 Sam 23:1; Prov 30:1; and Ps 36:1 is the object of the construct someone other than God. On the other hand, the origin of these words was not Balaam but the Spirit of God working on the mind, heart, and mouth of the prophet. Harrison described the n\u0115\u02be\u016bm YHWH as \u201cthe most solemn asservation of divine truth that a human being can utter in the Lord\u2019s name.\u201d The mighty Balaam (haggeber) must fall down prostrate (n\u014dp\u0113l) before God in submissive obedience in order be in the right physical and spiritual posture to receive a revelation from God. Hearing and seeing (both participle forms) are the two modes by which the dynamic of revelation takes place. Balaam had heard God speak in a variety of ways at night in his home and through a donkey on the road to Moab. Though unseeing at first, his eyes had been uncovered by Yahweh to see his emissary in 22:31. Many scholars interpret Balaam\u2019s words as indicating that he entered into some kind of trance or ecstatic state as the Spirit of God came upon him, as with Saul in 1 Sam 10:6\u201313, but the precise nature of this activity remains unclear.
\nThe terms for God, \u02be\u0113l and \u0161adday, are juxtaposed at the center of the chiasmus, emphasizing that it was not the great divination prophet Balaam who was the revealer of mysteries but the great and mighty \u02be\u0113l \u0161adday who enabled the prophet to become such a spokesman. The two names are archaic forms, El being derived etymologically from ilu, the basic Semitic word for God, and Shaddai from perhaps \u0161ad\u00fb, an Akkadian word meaning \u201cmountain\u201d or \u201csteppe-land.\u201d Albright noted that the gods Asshur and Bel of northern Mesopotamian provenance were called by the epithet \u0161ad\u00fb rab\u00fb, or \u201cgreat mountain.\u201d Notable is the occurrence of the same divine name \u0161addayin along with \u02be\u0113l in the Balaam texts from Deir \u02bfAlla, which in the Aramaic plural form refers to the part of the divine council of deities.
\n24:5\u20137a Four phrases or clauses, each introduced by the comparative k- (\u201clike\u201d), qualify the introductory declaration that Israel was an entity of divine handiwork, a historical work of art that was about to flower in its full glory in the Promised Land. In a crescendo of phrases, the geographical and floral aspects begin and end with references to the highly prized bodies of water Israel would possess in great abundance in the land. The river valleys would include the Jordan and its tributaries such as the Yarmuk, Jabesh, Jabbok, Harod, and the Farah, as well as the coastal streams of the Besor, Lachish, Elah, Sorek, Yarqon, and Qishon. These would be fed by the rains brought by the Lord upon the land and the resplendent aquifers beneath the hill country and mountainous regions of Hermon. Gardens could even be found along the Dead Sea in such well-watered places as En Gedi and En Boqeq. The allusion to water flowing from buckets may refer to irrigation practices they would have learned from the Egyptians while living in Goshen and applicable to their new setting. The buckets (d\u0101ly\u0101w) were of the type borne in pairs upon a yoke across the shoulders.
\n24:7b Patriarchal texts in the Book of Genesis bespeak the coming of kingship from the lineage of Abram and Sarai that would come forth and rule over the land then belonging to the Canaanites but promised to the future generations of Jacob (Gen 17:6\u20138, 16; 35:11). The king that would one day be anointed and lead Israel in its glory would be superior to the great king Agag. The structural counterpart to this portion of the verse is 24:8b, which describes the kingdom of Israel as devouring nations, as would one day come to fruition in the expansion of the kingdom under David (2 Sam 5:6\u201325; 8:1\u201314; 10:1\u201319).
\nThe reference to the name Agag, known best as the name belonging to one of the kings of the Amalekites defeated by Saul and executed by Samuel (1 Sam 15:7\u20139, 32\u201333), has caused considerable consternation among interpreters dating back at least to the second century B.C. The interpretation of this king named Agag can be categorized into four approaches: (1) emend the text to read \u201cGog\u201d or \u201cOg,\u201d (2) source-critical in which the Elohist included the name Agag as a reference to the setting of Saul\u2019s day, (3) predictive prophecy concerning the Agag of Saul\u2019s day; or (4) Agag is to be read as a dynastic name among the Amalekites, including a hitherto unknown king of the Late Bronze Age, the time frame represented by the text itself. (1) In the Septuagint and the Samaritan Pentateuch, the text is emended to read \u201cgreater than Gog,\u201d which would be a reference to the region of northeastern Asia Minor, well to the north of the region from which Balaam came. (2) For source-critical scholars the association of Agag here with the Agag of Saul\u2019s day simply supports their theory that the texts as we know them were composed many centuries after the purported historical events recounted within and in many cases reflect real political and historical issues in the later periods of Israel\u2019s divided monarchies. Besides taking the accounts out of their explicit historical and canonical literary contexts, Gray suggested that Agag of Saul\u2019s day was \u201cscarcely so formidable king to justify such an allusion.\u201d (3) Wenham and Allen have suggested that what we have is the prediction that Israel will one day defeat its earliest archrival the Amalekites. Reference to the Amalekites in Balaam\u2019s final oracles as \u201cfirst among the nations\u201d but who \u201cwill come to ruin at last\u201d (24:20) may support this argument. If the passage is meant to be predictive prophecy, however, it is at best implicit in the general tenor of the structure of the passage. (4) The more likely conclusion is that Agag was a dynastic name among the Amalekites, one of the early foes of Israel (Exod 17:8\u201313) whose downfall is predicted in 24:20.
\n24:8a This portion of the verse is a stock duplicate of the central structure of the second oracle (cf. 23:21). What set Israel apart was not their population, power, or perseverance in the wilderness over the past forty years; what set Israel apart was their God. The statement that Yahweh God is with his people means that no form of opposition can overcome them. He was their invincible King and Warrior, who demonstrated his royal nature by delivering his people from bondage to one of the most powerful nations in the ancient Near East. God was and still is in the process of bringing his people out of bondage. This is the central theme of Israel\u2019s salvation history, as repeated numerous times throughout the Hebrew Bible. Again the power of Yahweh is compared to the wild ox.
\n24:8b Israel\u2019s strength as a kingdom derived solely from their relationship with Yahweh their God who delivered them from bondage in Egypt. Their kingship and kingdom were incomparable and spoken of in exalted fashion by the nations. The narrator of the story, Balaam, and even Balak himself in his initial communication with Balaam echoed this grave concern as to whether they could survive against the overwhelming people of Yahweh (22:2\u20136, 11). The Lord had said from the beginning, however, \u201cYou must not put a curse on those people, because they are blessed\u201d (22:12). If Balak had learned the basic principle of blessing, he and his people would not only have survived but would have been successful and prosperous in their national endeavors. Instead they would face destruction, vividly portrayed in the sharp and crackling sound of bones breaking and arrows splintering. This imagery leads into the following portrayal of the lion, which is able to crush the bones of its prey with its powerful paws and toothy jaw.
\n24:9a Imagery of forcefulness and brute strength are conveyed through the use of terms for \u201clion\u201d in the Old Testament. The lion represents raging power when it is on the hunt for prey, but it can also denote a firm but quiet force when pictured in a posture of repose. Iconographic forms of lions are prolific throughout the ancient Near East, from Ethiopia and Egypt to Hazor and Ugarit and from Assyria and Babylon. The distinction between the pair of Hebrew words for lion in this text and again in 24:6 (\u02be\u0103r\u00ee \/\/ l\u0101b\u00ee\u02be) probably is minimal due to their use in synonymous parallelism. See commentary above on 23:24. In the present context the lion is depicted in the quietude of repose, but if aroused or provoked it could easily spring into action with its terrifying swiftness and brute power. Nations beware if they should provoke the Lord to anger by attempting to destroy the divinely chosen Israel.
\n24:9b When Israel lived faithfully under Yahweh\u2019s incomparable and indomitable dominion, its armies were invincible before its enemies. Calamity and\/or destruction could bring deleterious affect on them if they rebelled against their God, as they had so often experienced in the desert after departing Sinai. The recurrent theme of the Book of Balaam, that God has and will continue to bless Israel, now reverberates through the mouth of the prophet. God\u2019s blessing is so powerful and irrevocable that even the most renowned divination expert of the day could not counter its effectiveness. Only God could rescind his blessing upon Israel, and he would not because such an act would defile his inviolable character.<\/p>\n
Balak\u2019s Angry Response (24:10\u201311)
\n24:10\u201311 For Balak the third strike against Balaam was enough to send him packing on that long journey back to Pethor (Pitru) in the upper Euphrates region. His anger was expressed in the clapping of the hands, a sign of derision or defiance. The expression that Balak\u2019s \u201canger burned\u201d (wayyi\u1e25ar-\u02beap) is used earlier in the Book of Balaam of God\u2019s anger with Balaam (22:22) and of Balaam\u2019s anger with his donkey (22:27). Anger had come full circle in that the one who instigated this whole affair was now enraged against the one whom he had tried so hard to get to help him. Balak was furious because the best opportunity the world afforded to overcome this perceived enemy had turned, or been turned, against him. Then came the added response that raised the prophet\u2019s ire; he was to receive no honorarium for his concerted attempts to fulfill Balak\u2019s wishes. He was saying, in effect, that since Balaam had blessed Israel as the prophetic instrument of Yahweh, it was then Yahweh\u2019s fault that he must return home empty handed.<\/p>\n
Balaam\u2019s Retort (24:12\u201314)
\n24:12\u201314 Balaam reminded Balak of that which had been saying all along, ever since the first messengers had approached him on behalf of the Moabite and Midianite leaders. He could only speak what Yahweh revealed to him, no matter what methods of sorcery, divination, or magic he might try to employ in the process. The words of Balaam, set in simple chiastic form as outlined below, echoed those of 22:18:<\/p>\n
a I would not be able to disobey the word of Yahweh
\nb By doing good or evil on my own.
\na\u00b4 That which Yahweh speaks I will speak.<\/p>\n
The Hebrew text of 24:13a exactly duplicates 22:18a, then the text diverges from the former in that Balaam stated that he could not do \u201cgood or evil\u201d such that it would countermand the word of God, versus the terminology \u201cgreat or small\u201d in the earlier verse. One recalls what Moses had said to Hobab before the cycle of rebelliousness had begun, \u201cThe Lord has promised good things for us.\u201d So then if God be for Israel, who could stand against them? Balaam had pronounced good over Israel by blessing them three times at God\u2019s bidding. He was Yahweh\u2019s instrument for the revelation of blessing, and no form of divination could contend with the power of the One True God. For a moment Balak thought the whole dreaded affair was over and Balaam was about to embark on the two-week-long journey home. But God was not finished yet with his prophetic agent in revealing some ominous words to this enemy of Israel. What then would issue forth from the mouth of Balaam was a pronouncement that Olson notes \u201cunleashes all the power of the preceding heavenly visions onto the stage of earthly history.\u201d<\/p>\n
BALAAM\u2019S FOURTH ORACLE (24:15\u201319)<\/p>\n
15 Then he uttered his oracle:
\n\u201cThe oracle of Balaam son of Beor,
\nthe oracle of one whose eye sees clearly,
\n16 the oracle of one who hears the words of God,
\nwho has knowledge from the Most High,
\nwho sees a vision from the Almighty,
\nwho falls prostrate, and whose eyes are opened:
\n17 \u201cI see him, but not now;
\nI behold him, but not near.
\nA star will come out of Jacob;
\na scepter will rise out of Israel.
\nHe will crush the foreheads of Moab,
\nthe skulls
\nof all the sons of Sheth.
\n18 Edom will be conquered;
\nSeir, his enemy, will be conquered,
\nbut Israel will grow strong.
\n19 A ruler will come out of Jacob
\nand destroy the survivors of the city.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fourth oracle required no journey to a sacred observation point, no sacrificial preparations, no standing by the sacrificial altars, and no performing of special rituals of divination. The Lord spontaneously prompted the prophet to commence his utterance against his former employer, from whom he never would receive his due compensation. The introduction to the oracle in v. 15a is the same as that of the first oracle. See the commentary above on 23:7. Again the oracle type denoted by the Hebrew m\u0101\u0161\u0101l is a prophetic figurative discourse in poetic form. The structure of the oracle is outlined as follows.<\/p>\n
Introduction: \u201cThen he took up his discourse and said,
\nA Balaam, God\u2019s Visionary (24:15b\u201316)
\n\u201cOracle of Balaam, son of Beor,
\n(a) Oracle of the man
\nwith] unveiled
\neyes
\n(b) Oracle of him
\nwho hears
\nthe words of God (El)
\nwho knows
\nthe knowledge of Elyon,
\nwho
\nthe vision of Shaddai
\nhe beholds
\n(a\u00b4) Who falls down
\nbut with uncovered
\neyes
\nB Balaam\u2019s Vision (24:17\u201319)
\n(a) Balaam Sees into the Future (24:17a)
\nI see him
\nbut not now
\nI behold him
\nbut not near
\n(b) Balaam Sees a Future King of Israel (24:17b)
\nHe shall march
\na star
\nfrom Jacob
\nHe shall arise
\na scepter
\nfrom Israel
\n(c) Balaam Sees the Destruction of Moab and Edom (24:17c\u201318a)
\nHe shall crush
\nthe foreheads
\nof Moab
\nthe scalps
\nof all the children of Seth
\nIt shall be
\nEdom
\ndispossessed
\nIt shall be
\ndispossessed
\nSeir
\nhis enemies
\n(b\u00b4) Balaam Sees Israel\u2019s Triumph (24:18b\u201319)
\nSo Israel
\nshall contend
\nvaliantly
\nHe shall trample them
\nJacob
\nHe shall destroy
\nthe remnant
\nfrom the city<\/p>\n
24:15b\u201316 The beginning of the fourth oracle is almost identical to that of the third (24:3\u20134), except for the addition of a third reference to the source of his revelation. Not only does he hear the words of El and see the vision of Shaddai, but he also knows the knowledge of Elyon. Now the two senses of seeing and hearing are supplemented by an intimate knowledge (w\u0115y\u014dd\u0113a\u02bf da\u02bfat, \u201cwho knows knowledge\u201d) of the Most High that can only come as the result of divine inspiration and human receptiveness. Balaam had acquired knowledge by prophetic revelation that transcends the human sphere. The name and epithet \u02bfely\u00f4n, derived from an adjectival form meaning \u201chigh, highest,\u201d is found most commonly in the Pentateuch and the Psalms and often in combination with other divine names. This time the vision he sees is exclusively one of a promising future for Israel in the Promised Land, when their archenemies Moab and Edom would be once and for all subdued and destroyed. The structure of the focal point of the chiastic structure of v. 16 with the divine names in the middle, follows the a b c d \/ b\u00b4 c d\u00b4 \/c\u00b4\u00b4 d\u00b4\u00b4 a\u00b4\u00b4 pattern found in Ugaritic literature. This pattern recurs in vv. 17c\u201318a. For additional insights on the meaning and use of the terms in this section, see commentary on 24:3\u20134 above.
\nOne of the most remarkable prophecies of the Hebrew Bible, interpreted for centuries before the Christian era as portending and heralding the great Messianic king and kingdom, is here uttered by a pagan divination expert. Allen remarked, \u201cThat this prophecy should come from one who was unworthy makes the prophecy all the more dramatic and startling.\u201d As noted earlier, the Book of Balaam presents an amazing picture of God in his sovereign desire to bless his people Israel. He will utilize whatever means he chooses to reveal himself and his will for his people, even if it means divinely drafting for service one who would seem the ultimate antithesis of what the world would envision for a leader and spokesman\u2014but his thoughts are not our thoughts (Isa 55:8).
\n24:17a These synonymous parallel cola translate the hearer into the distant future. The three previous oracles have moved progressively toward the future. Beginning with the theme of blessing and cursing (23:8) and moving to the deliverance from Egypt (the focal point of the first oracles two and three; 23:22; 24:8) which demonstrated God\u2019s blessing upon Israel, the divine message progressed to the future hope of a mighty kingdom (23:7b, 8b). Now in the fourth oracle the contents project the reader\/hearer immediately into the future; the knowledge Balaam has received from Yahweh applies not to the now, for the time is not yet at hand for this glorious kingdom.
\n24:17b The glory of this King is portrayed using two metaphors, the \u201cstar\u201d (k\u00f4k\u0101b) and the \u201cscepter\u201d (\u0161\u0113be\u1e6d). Isaiah used the star imagery in the context of royalty in describing the coming fall of the king of Babylon (Isa 14:12\u201313), and in the New Testament Jesus Christ is referred to as the royal \u201cRoot and Offspring of David, the Bright Morning Star (Rev 22:16). His birth as the incarnate King was declared by the heavens in the appearance of a star over Bethlehem (Matt 2:1\u201310). The Qumran sectarians interpreted this passage as having Messianic import, as did other Jewish sources of the period between the mid-second century B.C. and the first century A.D. Around 100 B.C., the Hasmonean king Alexander Janneus had the star imprinted upon some of the royal coins, thereby implicating him as the conquering star of Num 24:17. Rabbi Akiba understood the Messianic significance of this passage when he proclaimed Simon bar Kosiba to be \u201cBar Kochba\u201d (\u201cSon of the Star\u201d), thereby consecrating him as the messiah.
\nThe royal scepter or staff represented the position of a ruler, a symbol of authority and power. In the blessing of Jacob upon his son Judah, the patriarch stated that the scepter would not depart from Judah (Gen 49:9\u201310), meaning that Judah\u2019s royal lineage would be everlasting. Moses and Aaron carried staffs (same Hb. word), which symbolized their divinely granted authority and power over nature. Scepters or staffs were thin wooden or metal poles, sometimes capped by a mace head of copper or bronze and shaped in various forms. In Bronze Age Egyptian murals, the pharaoh is depicted smiting his foes with his glorious scepter, as the future king of Israel is portrayed in the next
\n24:17c\u201318a As featured in the above structural outline of this oracle, the versification divisions have been altered to reflect the structure of the Hebrew parallelism. In the third oracle the coming king was portrayed as having the power to devour hostile nations and crush the bones of the enemies of Israel (24:7b, 8b). The future ideal king will vanquish once and for all those enemies of Israel who have most recently caused them harm or distress. The Moabite king had enlisted Balaam\u2019s help in an attempt to curse and therefore overthrow Israel. The Edomites not only refused safe passage to the Israelites who were traveling through the southern Transjordan region but also dispatched their armies against them as they drew near (Num 20:14\u201321). In the distant future both peoples would be conquered, captured, and eventually disappear from being distinctive ethnic groups. The phraseology of \u201ccrushing of the head\u201d is a symbol of defeating one\u2019s enemies in Egyptian, Ugaritic, and Hebrew literature. The term translated \u201cskulls\u201d (qarqar, \u201ctear down\u201d) requires an emendation to qodq\u014dd (\u201ccrown of the head\u201d) that is based on comparison with the Samaritan Pentateuch and the use of the same phrase in Jer 48:45.
\nThe \u201cchildren of Seth\u201d are probably not the Sethites of Adamic ancestral lineage, for that would imply the annihilation of a major portion of the human race. But if instead one takes the bicola as synonymous Hebrew parallelism, the phrase \u201cchildren of Seth\u201d would be the equivalent of the phrase \u201cof Moab,\u201d hence described as one of the people groups from the lineage of Seth. Such parallelism is reinforced by the common word pair found in the succeeding bicola, that of Edom and Seir. Others suggest these Sethites to be the nomadic Shutu (or Shosu) tribe known from nineteenth and eighteenth century B.C. Egyptian execration texts.
\n24:18b\u201319 As featured in the above structural outline of this oracle, the versification divisions have been altered to reflect the structure of the Hebrew parallelism. Keeping the common word pair of Israel \/\/ Jacob intact yields a tricolon of 3:2:3 meter, with the first two in chiastic parallel and the final colon expanding upon the second. Numerous variations from the translation have been proffered by scholars due to the arrangement of the Hebrew text and the corruptions evident in the text. Wenham suggested a rearrangement of the text in which the word \u201chis enemies\u201d (\u02be\u014dyb\u0101yw) is transposed from v. 18 to the first colon in v. 19. This would yield the following translation: \u201cJacob shall rule his enemies and destroy the survivors from Ir.\u201d This emended composition is inviting but unnecessary because the term \u201chis enemies\u201d stands in apposition to Seir. The translation I have offered above in the structural outline works with the canonical text as it stands.
\nThe meaning of the NIV clause in v. 19, \u201cA ruler will come out of Jacob\u201d closely parallels the translation in the NKJV, \u201cOut of Jacob One shall have dominion.\u201d Both of these take the Hebrew verb form w\u0115y\u0113rd as derived from the root r\u0101d\u00e2, \u201cto rule, have dominion.\u201d That the MT is corrupt here is quite evident in the BHS. Wenham and others take the m- that is prefixed to \u201cJacob\u201d in the MT (miyya\u02bf\u0103q\u014db, \u201cfrom Jacob\u201d) to be an enclitic mem that should have been attached to w\u0115y\u0113rd. Thus the translation is derived: \u201cJacob shall rule his enemies and destroy the survivors from Ir.\u201d Another possibility would be to take the mem as a pronominal suffix, whereby yielding the translation, \u201cJacob shall rule them.\u201d But as Balaam continued to envision Israel launching forth in a military campaign that would obliterate even the last remnant of the people from the city, a translation of r\u0101d\u00e2 as meaning \u201ctread\u201d or \u201ctrample\u201d might be more appropriate in the context. Taking each of these suggestions into account, the translation offered above seems to do the least manipulation of the text and still preserve the context. The final word of the oracle \u201cof the city\u201d (m\u0113\u02bf\u00eer) may be a reference to an actual city known as Ir Moab, mentioned in Num 22:36, or even Ar of Moab of 21:28. In conclusion Wenham remarks, \u201cWith bone-chilling drama he declares that every inhabitant of Ir will perish. This prediction of Moab\u2019s total defeat at the hand of a future Israelite king is an appropriate point for Balaam to end.\u201d<\/p>\n
Balaam\u2019s Final Three Oracles (24:20\u201324)<\/p>\n
20 Then Balaam saw Amalek and uttered his oracle:
\n\u201cAmalek was first among the nations,
\nbut he will come to ruin at last.\u201d
\n21 Then he saw the Kenites and uttered his oracle:
\n\u201cYour dwelling place is secure,
\nyour nest is set in a rock;
\n22 yet you Kenites will be destroyed
\nwhen Asshur takes you captive.\u201d
\n23 Then he uttered his oracle:
\n\u201cAh, who can live when God does this?
\n24 Ships will come from the shores of Kittim;
\nthey will subdue Asshur and Eber,
\nbut they too will come to ruin.\u201d<\/p>\n
Each of the final three oracles of Balaam commences with the standard oracular formula used in each of the four previous prophetic pronouncements. The three oracles together form a literary unit shaped by an inclusio using the clause \u02bf\u0103d\u00ea \u02be\u014db\u0113d (lit, \u201cuntil he perishes\u201d), the central theme of the collection. The theme of the destruction of the enemies of Israel extends that which was begun in the third oracle (24:8) and continued in the fourth (24:17\u201319). Each of the first two oracles begins with a brief introductory clause citing Balaam\u2019s role as a seer (wayyar\u02be \u02beet-), one who does more than look with the eyes but one who examines the situation with divinely aided perception. One might translate each of these as \u201cthen he keenly observed X, and so he took up his discourse and said.\u201d Balaam might have been able to observe each of these three peoples from the vantage point in the Abarim mountains, looking southward toward the Amalekites, Kenites, and the Asshurites. Each of these oracles is very brief, though the textual difficulties abound. This collection of successive oracles against the nations that surrounded Israel was the first of a genre of prophetic pronouncements, later exemplified by Amos (1\u20132), Isaiah (13\u201323), Jeremiah (46\u201351), and Ezekiel (25\u201332); and Zephaniah (2:4\u20133:7).<\/p>\n
Balaam\u2019s Fifth Oracle: Against the Amalekites (24:20)
\n24:20 The theme of the oracle against the Amalekites is that though they considered themselves among the preeminent of the nations, they will be destroyed. The bicolon contains antithetic parallelism using the bookend terms r\u0113\u02be\u0161\u00eet (\u201cfirst, beginning\u201d) and \u02bea\u1e25\u0103r\u00eet (\u201cend, last\u201d).<\/p>\n
Beginning
\nof nations
\n[was] Amalek
\nBut its end
\n[will be] unto destruction.<\/p>\n
Though several scholars have suggested emending the text by rearranging the characters, the text can stand on its own in its typically oblique Hebrew poetic character. The Amalekites, who seem to have originated in the Sinai region in the third millennium B.C., were the first enemies Israel encountered after the Exodus from Egypt (Exod 17:8\u201316). The Amalekites were defeated at Rephidim in the west central Sinai peninsula as Moses held up his hands (with the help of Aaron and Hur) during the lengthy battle. The Exodus passage concludes with a statement that is apropos in the present context, \u201cThe LORD will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation.\u201d The Amalekites with help from the Canaanites defeated the Israelites when they first tried to enter the Promised Land after they had rejected it at Kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin (Num 14:43\u201345). Several centuries later both Saul and David conquered the Amalekites in the tenth century B.C. (1 Sam 15:1\u201333; 30:1\u201319) followed by Hezekiah\u2019s victories in the late eighth century (1 Chr 4:43).<\/p>\n
Balaam\u2019s Sixth Oracle: Against the Kenites (24:21\u201322)
\n24:21\u201322 The Kenites (haqq\u00ean\u00ee, or qayin = \u201csmith\u201d) by name seem to have originated in the southern Negev or northeastern Sinai regions, areas that were also inhabited by the Midianites and Amalekites (Exod 2:16; Num 10:29; Judg 1:16; 4:11; 1 Sam 15:6; 27:10). In the reiteration of God\u2019s promise of the land to Abram in Gen 15:18\u201321, the Kenites were among those occupying the land at that time but who were to be dispossessed. The structure of this brief oracle is that of an antithetical chiasmus, as noted below.<\/p>\n
+A \u201cEnduring
\nis
\nyour dwelling place,
\n+B Set in the rock
\nis your nest.
\n-B Nevertheless
\nhe shall be for burning
\nKain
\n-A Until Asshur
\ntakes you captive.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Kenites put their faith in the security afforded them by their geographical positioning, nestled in the rocky highlands of southern Canaan or the northeastern quadrant of the Sinai region. Though they felt as though their settlements were impregnable, Balaam boldly described their homes as \u201cnests\u201d (qinnek\u0101), a prophetic pun based on the name of the people group. Such nests of straw and twigs could easily be destroyed by fire, so their faith was in vain.
\nThe terminology of the final line of the oracle is difficult, if the name Asshur is taken to mean the Assyrians (=Asshur) of the ninth to seventh centuries B.C. Even if the name implicates the Assyrians, the dating or the oracle need not be moved to the Iron II period, for the Assyrians were a major ethnic entity under its kings of the early second millennium B.C. As noted above in the introduction to these final oracles, however, the term Asshur probably refers to the Asshurites of the Negev regions, the nomadic group known from Gen 25:3, 18 and Ps 83:9.<\/p>\n
Balaam\u2019s Seventh Oracle: Against Assyria (24:23\u201324)
\n24:23\u201324 The final oracle does not begin with Balaam keenly observing a people group but goes right into the introductory discourse formula, \u201cThen he took up his discourse and said,\u201d found in all seven oracles. The initial proclamation of the oracle seems elliptical and hence difficult to translate. A translation, as close to literal as possible, is presented in the structural outline of the oracle below.<\/p>\n
(a) \u201cAlas who shall live when God establishes it!
\n(b) Ships from the coast of Kittim, They shall subdue Asshur, They shall subdue Eber,
\n(a\u00b4) So even he will be unto destruction.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even the mighty Asshurim, whom Balaam proclaimed would subdue and take captive the Kenites, were destined by God for destruction. Ships (\u1e63\u00eem) would sail from the coastlands and islands (lit, \u201cfrom the hand of the Kittim\u201d) of the Mediterranean. Ugaritic sailors and those from other coastal peoples traversed the often formidable seas from the Levantine seashores to the Iberian peninsula throughout the second millennium B.C. The Philistines of the period of the judges came in the massive migrations that took place toward the end of the Late Bronze Age, along with other Sea Peoples such as the Sherden, Tekelet, and Danoi. The name Kittim probably derived from the name of the prominent city on Cyprus known as Kition. In the Qumran literature the term \u201cKittim\u201d became a byword for the archenemies of God and his kingdom, who would finally be defeated in the future great eschatological battle. Eber also would be subdued by the noble Israelite kingdom. The meaning of the reference to Eber has puzzled scholars for centuries. In the Septuagint the name is translated as \u201cHebrews\u201d though this is historically and politically untenable. The name Eber occurs in the genealogy of Shem in Gen 11:14\u201317 and perhaps could be associated with the king known as Ibrim in the Ebla tablets of northern Syria of the third millennium B.C. Such an identification remains quite tentative.
\nGod had decreed the destruction of the enemies of Israel, who were thus by definition enemies of Yahweh himself. The defeat of the enemies of Israel would be accomplished in part during the reign of David, during which the Philistines (who had come from the islands of Crete, Cyprus, and Mycenaean Greece), Canaanites, Amalekites, Edomites, Arameans, and others were subdued and subject to Israelite hegemony. But the model of the exploits of the Davidic kingdom would serve only as a meager example of the glory of the great Messianic kingdom to come off in the more distant future. The final chapter of the kingdom story is delineated in the Book of Revelation, when Jesus the One True Messiah would be crowned as King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Rev 19:16; 22:13, 16).<\/p>\n
BALAAM DEPARTS HOMEWARD (24:25)<\/p>\n
25 Then Balaam got up and returned home and Balak went his own way.<\/p>\n
24:25 The Book of Balaam has now completed its full cycle with Balaam and Balak returning toward their respective homes. The verb sequence \u201carose and went\u201d is a common narrative idiom, found also in the patriarchal materials. Likewise the statements that \u201che returned to his place\u201d or \u201che returned on his way\u201d are a common means of completing a narrative cycle. Before he departed for his hometown of Pethor (Pitru), however, he provided some additional advice to the Midianite and Moabite leaders concerning an alternate way to influence the Israelites in a harmful manner. According to Num 31:8, 16 and Josh 13:22, Balaam counseled them to try seduction via the sexual activities of their religious cult at Baal Peor near Abel Shittim. Unfortunately this advice proved successful in captivating the attention of the Israelites and provoking the Lord to anger against his chosen people. This event would serve as a reminder, as would their previous rebellions, that God will not tolerate outright sinfulness in rebellion against him. What could not be accomplished via direct confrontation was realized through indirect means. The power of evil and Satan to bring down the otherwise godly person is often done through subtle, backdoor methods. Giving such advice would also seal Balaam\u2019s fate; he would be killed in the reprisal against the Midianites for their part in the idolatrous corruption of the Israelites.<\/p>\n
(7) The Final Rebellion: Idolatry at Baal Peor (25:1\u201319 [Eng. 25:1\u201318])<\/p>\n
5 So Moses said to Israel\u2019s judges, \u201cEach of you must put to death those of your men who have joined in worshiping the Baal of Peor.\u201d
\n6 Then an Israelite man brought to his family a Midianite woman right before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel while they were weeping at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. 7 When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand 8 and followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove the spear through both of them\u2014through the Israelite and into the woman\u2019s body. Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped; 9 but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000.
\n10 The LORD said to Moses, 11 \u201cPhinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites; for he was as zealous as I am for my honor among them, so that in my zeal I did not put an end to them. 12 Therefore tell him I am making my covenant of peace with him. 13 He and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood, because he was zealous for the honor of his God and made atonement for the Israelites.\u201d
\n14 The name of the Israelite who was killed with the Midianite woman was Zimri son of Salu, the leader of a Simeonite family. 15 And the name of the Midianite woman who was put to death was Cozbi daughter of Zur, a tribal chief of a Midianite family.
\n16 The LORD said to Moses, 17 \u201cTreat the Midianites as enemies and kill them, 18 because they treated you as enemies when they deceived you in the affair of Peor and their sister Cozbi, the daughter of a Midianite leader, the woman who was killed when the plague came as a result of Peor.\u201d<\/p>\n
The human tendency to lapse into unfaithfulness, even after some of the most dramatic demonstrations of God\u2019s love and power, is underscored by the positioning of the Baal Peor incident immediately after accounts of the successful victories of the Israelites over Sihon and Og of the Amorites in Transjordan and the climactic work of God in using the pagan prophet Balaam to pronounce blessing upon his people. Wenham remarks: \u201cThe Bible startles its readers by the way it juxtapositions the brightest of revelations and the darkest of sins.\u2026 In this way Scripture tries to bring home to us the full wonder of God\u2019s grace in the face of man\u2019s incorrigible propensity to sin.\u201d
\nThe rebellious idolatry incident at Baal Peor serves several purposes in the Book of Numbers. First, the account concludes the third cycle of rebellion and completes the larger sequence of defiant acts against God\u2019s deliverance of his people from Egypt and his faithful provision for their needs in the desert. The three rebellion cycles end on a deeply somber note, and yet in the structure of this cycle the verb usage indicates that Moses experiences a restoration of his relationship with God. Second, it serves as a reminder to the new generation and its successive descendants concerning the grave consequences of rejecting God\u2019s sovereign rule over their lives through the worship of other deities. Idolatry would become the thorn in the flesh for Israel from the days of the judges to the united kingdom under Solomon and continuing until the destruction of both kingdoms in 722 and 586 B.C., functioning as a major component of the prophetic Deuteronomic history. Third, this chapter adds an additional Levitical\/priestly element to the conclusion of the third rebellion cycle, when the high priest Eleazar\u2019s son Phinehas becomes the exemplar of one defending the sanctity of Israel and the Tent of Meeting.
\nThis account parallels the Levites\u2019 response to the Israelites\u2019 sinfulness at Mount Sinai in the golden calf incident, where they as a tribe became the exemplars of defending the faith. Both followed periods when the people were unaware of what events were transpiring beyond their view, Moses on Mount Sinai and Balaam in Moab. Wenham and Milgrom have highlighted two additional parallels between the accounts: both involve the worship of other gods (Exod 32:8), and both accentuate the allaying of God\u2019s wrath via the punishment of the guilty participants (Exod 32:26\u201328). Milgrom goes as far as to say that the Baal Peor punishment was the fulfillment of the promise in Exod 32:34, \u201cHowever, when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sins.\u201d Like the former generation that died in the wilderness, the new generation had to learn the most important lesson concerning God and their relationship to him\u2014that he is and always will be holy, and he will not allow idolatry to go unreproved.<\/p>\n
SETTING OF IMMORALITY (25:1\u20133)<\/p>\n
1 While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, 2 who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate and bowed down before these gods. 3 So Israel joined in worshiping the Baal of Peor. And the LORD\u2019S anger burned against them.<\/p>\n
25:1a The incident is set forth in chiastic structure as outlined below, with the focal point being the sacrificial activities in which the Israelite men were participating. A minor inclusio is formed by the use of the name \u201cIsrael\u201d in vv. 1b and 3. The geographical link to the previous and later material is derived from the references to Shittim (full name as in Num 33:49, \u201cAbel Shittim; Josh 2:1; 3:1), Baal (22:41, \u201cBamoth Baal), and Peor (Deut 3:29). The name Shittim is an example of a floral toponym, derived from the word for \u201cacacia tree\u201d that is so prominent in these arid regions. Glueck identified Abel Shittim with Tell el-Khefrein, though Tell el-Hamman, a site located at the mouth of the Wadi Kefrein, has also been suggested. Josephus identified the site with Abila of his day, a site located seven miles east of the Jordan and about five miles north of the Dead Sea. This general area just a few miles northeast of the Dead Sea, also referred to several times by the description \u201con the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho,\u201d was be the geographical setting for the remainder of the Israelite sojourn prior to entering the Promised Land. The text transitions into the final two cycles of material that focus on preparation for entry into the Promised Land. The Israelites were poised for entry but had a very difficult lesson to learn. The reference to Baal Peor would be remembered throughout biblical history, even into the early Christian church. The worship style related to the Baal cult would from this point on be a constant temptation to the Israelites, eventually becoming one of the key reasons for the subjugation, destruction, and captivity of Jerusalem, Judah, and Israel in the eighth to sixth centuries B.C.<\/p>\n
(a) When Israel was dwelling in Shittim, (25:1a)
\n(b) The people profaned themselves by fornicating with the daughters of Moab. (25:1b) They called the people to the sacrifices of their gods, (25:2) And the people ate and drank to their gods.
\n(a\u00b4) Thus Israel joined themselves to Baal Peor, (25:3) So the anger of Yahweh burned against Israel.<\/p>\n
25:1b\u20132 The moral and ethical transgression of the Israelites is described in emphatic fashion. The threefold repetition of \u201cpeople\u201d (h\u0101\u02bf\u0101m) following preterit forms in consecutive clauses produces a hammering staccato effect, accentuating the matter of the people\u2019s downfall. In the first line the issue was uncleanness by means of sexual immorality. The NIV phraseology, \u201cThe men began to indulge in sexual immorality,\u201d translates the more emphatically worded Hebrew text, which literally reads, \u201cThen they committed profanity by fornicating\u201d with Moabite women residing in the area. The Moabites of this region had been under the dominion of Sihon prior to his defeat at the hands of the Israelites (Num 21:26), but now were in Balak\u2019s control. The word \u201cprofane\u201d (wayy\u0101\u1e25el) means \u201cto render something unclean by an immoral or unethical act\u201d or \u201cto remove from sacred usage into the realm of the common.\u201d It is used of the defiling of the Sabbath (Exod 31:14) or the defamation of God\u2019s name (Ezek 20:9). The \u201csexual immorality\u201d of the NIV (Hb. lizn\u00f4t from z\u0101n\u00e2) in the context of the following clauses denotes the beginning of a process that led from general sexual immorality with the Moabite women to full-scale idolatry that probably included ritual prostitution in the Baal Peor cult. In the second line the Moabite women are described as having seduced the Israelite men, literally inviting them by \u201ccalling\u201d (wattiqre\u02ben\u0101) them to the sacrificial feast. The feasts themselves were probably somewhat like the Israelite communion offering ceremonies in which the offerer (individual or group) consumed portions of the offerings after the ritual slaughtering of the animals (Lev 3:1\u201317; 7:11\u201321, 28\u201334). Certain portions were rendered unto God, other portions provided for the priests, and the remainder was to be eaten in a ceremonial manner in the tabernacle. So at the Baal Peor worship center Israelite men were invited in to the festival banquet, at the meat offered to the famous northwest Semitic deity, and then completed the ritual process by bowing down (wayyi\u0161ta\u1e25w\u00fb, \u201cthey prostrated themselves, worshiped\u201d) to Baal or Peor, and perhaps others of the various deities of the Moabite pantheon.
\nThe sequencing parallels the prediction of Exod 34:15\u201316 as to the natural results from entering into treaties with the peoples of the land: \u201cBe careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices. And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, the will lead your sons to do the same.\u201d The great tragic exemplar of this tendency was King Solomon, who loved numerous foreign women, many of whom he had acquired via treaties with Egypt, Phoenicia, Ammon, and even these same Moabites. He would even go so far as to build temples to the gods his wives worshiped, on the hill east of the city, directly opposite the glorious Temple of Yahweh (1 Kgs 11:1\u201310). The result was a collapse of his kingdom, which was then split apart under the reign of his son Rehoboam (1 Kgs 11:14\u201325; 12:1\u201324).
\n25:3 The idolatrous sin of the Israelites at Baal Peor is summarized by the verbal phrase \u201cjoined in worshiping,\u201d which translates the single Hebrew term wayyi\u1e63\u1e63\u0101med, thus \u201che yoked himself to.\u201d As to verbal usage this term is rare in biblical Hebrew, found elsewhere only in v. 5 and Ps 106:28, the latter being a summary of this incident. The noun form \u1e63emed is usually translated \u201cyoke.\u201d Milgrom suggests some kind of covenant agreement was enacted in the process by which the Israelites were permitted (after being invited) to engage in the various forms of debauchery associated with the Baal cult. The Israelites yoked themselves together in the formal cultic ritual with the Moabites and Midianites in the worship of Baal and Beth Peor (\u201chouse\/temple of Peor\u201d). Milgrom suggests some kind of covenant agreement was enacted in the process by which the Israelites were permitted (after being invited) to engage in the various forms of debauchery associated with the Baal cult. By engaging in such worship practices, the Israelites had violated both the first and second Commandments\u2014to have no other gods and to worship no other deities by bowing down and serving them in the cult (Exod 20:2\u20135; Deut 5:7\u20139). Abrogation of any one of the Ten Commandments was punishable by death, and hence the punishment to be meted out against the idolatrous Israelites was severe.
\nThis is the first occurrence of Baal in the Hebrew Bible, and he would become the primary antagonist to Yahweh for the hearts of the people of Israel from this setting to the end of the two Israelite kingdoms. The historical setting is the latter half of the Late Bronze Age, when the deity Baal was emerging as one of the major operative deities in the land of Canaan. He is best known from the texts of Ugarit as the agent of the creative order, who with his consort Anath defeated the forces of evil, namely the deities Yammu (Sea), Mot (Death), and Lotan (Leviathan, Sea Monster), thereby bringing order to the chaos. Baal was a lesser known deity in Mesopotamia during the Early Bronze Age and in the beginning of the Middle Bronze (patriarchal) period. Milgrom simply states that \u201cthe patriarchs did not know him.\u201d The first appearance of Baal as a prominent deity in the land of Canaan is evidenced in the Hyksos period texts from Egypt in the latter half of the Middle Bronze Age. The Egyptians bemoaned the fact that the \u201cforeign rulers\u201d from the land of the Hurru and Retenu were not worshipers of Amon-Re but of a god called Baal Hazor, which they associated with their god Seth. With the emergence of the classical Canaanites in the land of the southern Levant, apparently an amalgam of northwest Semitic peoples and some non-Semitic elements such as the Hurrians and Hittites, came the emergence of Baal as a primary operative deity in the cults of the land.<\/p>\n
MOSES RECEIVES INSTRUCTION FROM YAHWEH (25:4)<\/p>\n
4 The LORD said to Moses, \u201cTake all the leaders of these people, kill them and expose them in broad daylight before the LORD, so that the LORD\u2019S fierce anger may turn away from Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n
25:4 The secondary means of introducing divine instruction in the Book of Numbers is employed here, \u201cSo Yahweh said to Moses\u201d (wayy\u014d\u02bemer YHWH \u02beel-m\u014d\u0161eh) instead of the primary phraseology, \u201cThus Yahweh spoke\/ instructed Moses\u201d (wayy\u0115dabb\u0113r YHWH \u02beel-m\u014d\u0161eh l\u0113\u02bem\u014dr). As noted in the \u201cIntroduction to the Balaam Oracles,\u201d the secondary phraseology has been employed in the context of Moses receiving revelation from the Lord ever since he sinned at Meribah Kadesh (20:1\u201313). The primary means of introducing divine instruction will be employed again after the sin at Baal Peor has been dealt with properly under Moses\u2019 leadership, as seen in the shift of verbal usage in v. 10.
\nThe instructions given to Moses were severe but necessary to accomplish the purging of the sins of the people. Moses was charged to literally \u201ctake [qa\u1e25] all the leaders of the people [ro\u02be\u0161\u00ea h\u0101\u02bf\u0101m] and impale them to Yahweh [laYHWH] before the sun [neged ha\u0161\u0161\u0101me\u0161].\u201d Moses was to round up all the tribal leaders, those representatives of the people who presumably should have either prevented the idolatrous activities or carried out the punishment of the guilty members of their tribes, and execute them by impaling them on poles such that their bodies would hang out in the open in broad daylight (\u201cbefore the sun\u201d). The term \u201cimpale\u201d (h\u00f4qa\u02bf) is a rare Hebrew verb that has been variously translated as \u201ckill,\u201d \u201cexecute,\u201d \u201cimpale,\u201d or \u201cdismember.\u201d Exposure to the elements usually followed this form of execution, as in the case of Saul\u2019s sons (2 Sam 21:8\u201313). Such public exposure was reserved for only the most heinous of crimes in ancient Israel and Mesopotamia. Later Assyrian bas relief murals, such as those of Sennacherib\u2019s palace at Nineveh, depict rebellious vassals impaled upon poles and left for public viewing, presumably to act as a deterrent to further insurrection. Such seems to be the intended result of this form of execution and public display. That the guilty parties were to be executed as \u201cunto Yahweh\u201d means that they were rendered unto the Lord in order to expiate the divine wrath as evidenced in the plague.
\nA second interpretive question is that of exactly who was to be executed by this methodology. Was it all of the tribal and clan leaders or just the actual offenders? What was the difference between the \u201cleaders\u201d and the \u201cjudges\u201d of v. 5. The question has puzzled translators and interpreters throughout history. The Samaritan Pentateuch reads interpretively \u201ccommand that they slay all the men who have attached themselves to Baal-peor,\u201d thereby limiting the execution to only those who joined themselves to Baal Peor. The same limitation is evidenced in Targum Onkelos. Modern interpreters such as Keil have taken a similar stance, reading the \u201cthem\u201d object of the verb \u201ckill\u201d as referring to the offenders of v. 5 and not to all the leaders. On the other hand Ashley, who describes the present chapter as combining and summarizing two stories, sees this interpretation as untenable from the text, since as he notes, \u201cNeither God\u2019s nor Moses\u2019 sentence was carried out.\u201d He suggested that the original command to Moses extended to all the leaders of Israel, taking the \u201cthem\u201d to refer to the nearest antecedent, the ro\u02be\u0161\u00ea h\u0101\u02bf\u0101m, but this was a different command than that actually carried out by Moses, who acted on the side of pragmatism by ordering the judges to execute only the actual idolaters.
\nAn alternative approach would be to see the Hebrew narrative in a typical fashion as moving deliberately from the broad perspective to the narrow. In the literary rhetorical outline of the chapter, the text moves judiciously from the broad instructions to Moses (v. 4), to the more specific instruction of Moses (v. 5), and then to the specific exemplar of Phinehas, who executed the couple who acted with such blatant depravity at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. Note the broad chiastic outline of the narrative below.<\/p>\n
A Setting of Immorality: Worship of Baal of Peor (25:1\u20133)
\nB Moses\u2019 Instruction from Yahweh: Take, Execute, and So Allay Wrath (25:4)
\nC Moses Instructs the Leaders of Israel: Kill the Offenders (25:5)
\nC\u00b4 Phinehas Follows Moses\u2019 Instruction: Kills Zimri and Cozbi (25:6\u20138a)
\nB\u00b4 Wrath of Yahweh Allayed: Plague Halted (25:8b)
\nA\u00b4 Results of Israel\u2019s Immorality: 24,000 Died in Plague (25:9)<\/p>\n
With the execution of Zimri, described as a leader (n\u0101\u015b\u00ee\u02be) of the Simeonites (and thereby utilizing all the major terms for Israelite leadership), Yahweh\u2019s anger was satisfied and the plague ended. That Moses faltered in his leadership responsibility, as Ashley suggests, is in contradistinction to the restoration of the relationship between Yahweh and Moses as indicated by the use of the revelatory terminology of v. 10, which was last used in Num 20:7. The narrative intent is to highlight the role of Phinehas, a priest of the direct lineage of the high priest Aaron, in allaying the fury of God\u2019s wrath. As in the manner that the Levites defended the faith in slaying the idolatrous Israelites in the incident involving the golden calf (Exod 32:1\u201335) and as the actions of Aaron and Eleazar helped halt the plague that resulted from the Korah rebellion (Num 16:31\u201350), so the haste of Phinehas in faithfully fulfilling God\u2019s and Moses\u2019 instructions brought an end to the divine punishment and atoned for the sins of the people.<\/p>\n
MOSES INSTRUCTS THE LEADERS OF ISRAEL (25:5)
\n25:5 The \u201cjudges of Israel\u201d (\u0161\u014dp\u1e6d\u00ea yi\u015br\u0101\u02be\u0113l) probably were those appointed by Moses over the Israelite divisions of the thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens and who settled disputes among the Israelites (Exod 18:13\u201326). They were given instruction to execute only those who had participated in the ritual activities and thereby had committed themselves to the worship of Baal Peor.<\/p>\n
PHINEHAS FOLLOWS MOSES\u2019 INSTRUCTION (25:6\u20138a)
\n25:6\u20138a The scene quickly shifts to the exemplary action by Phinehas in defending the sanctuary of Yahweh against a couple whose illicit actions were about to defile the holy place. The introductory phraseology of the verse, w\u0115hinn\u0113h \u2026 b\u0101\u02be \u2026 (\u201cand behold \u2026 he came forth\u201d), indicates simultaneous action to Moses\u2019 charge to the judges to execute all participants in the idolatry. Just as the words had been spoken by Moses, an Israelite man presented one of the seductive Midianite women to his brother for whatever use he deemed fit, directly in front of Moses and the people who had gathered at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting for at time of penitent mourning. As Moses and other people had assembled themselves at the place where so often the Lord had manifested and revealed himself to his faithful servants, the insolent man flaunted his wantonness before the nation\u2019s leadership. Though some have interpreted the actions of the man and woman as cultic prostitution, the terminology used here is not that specific. The argument of Milgrom is convincing here, for he observes that \u201csacrificing following whoring makes sense. Sexual attraction led to participation in the sacrificial feasts at the shrine of Baal-peor and, ultimately, to intermarriage.\u201d Either way the Israelite man in conjoining himself with the worship of Baal was challenging the cult of Yahweh by committing such an act of political and religious treason in close proximity to the place that symbolized God\u2019s presence, power, and personhood. According to the outlay of the tribes in camping around the sanctuary, the Simeonites were supposed to be camped on the South side of the Tent of Meeting along with the Reubenites and Gadites, so their activities would have had to have been outwardly flagrant for them to have been seen from the tabernacle entrance. At the entrance to the Tent of Meeting revelation took place, anointment rituals commenced, and atonement processes began. Nearby an unfaithful Israelite attempted to complete a sacred union with a Baal worshiper, but to his mortal detriment.
\nPhinehas was of a royal priestly bloodline, having been born to Aaron\u2019s son Eleazar and one of the daughters of Putiel (Exod 6:25). His name was of Egyptian derivation (pi\u02be-n-\u1e25a\u015b, meaning \u201cdark-skinned one\u201d) and he served the Lord and the Israelites faithfully throughout his life. On the basis of his righteous indignation in defense of the sanctuary of Yahweh, he was asked to accompany the Israelite armies in the campaign against Midian, during which Balaam, who was the instigator of this whole affair, was slain (Num 31:6\u20138). He was sent to arbitrate on behalf of the priesthood the dispute over the altar\u2014later called the \u201cWitness\u201d\u2014built by the Transjordan tribes near the Jordan River following the conquest (Josh 22:13\u201334). It was Phinehas who sought direction from the Lord in the context of war with the Benjamites during the days of the Judges (Judg 20:27\u201328). In comparing the role of Phinehas in this incident to that of the Levites in the case of the gold calf (Exod 32:19\u201320), Milgrom remarks that \u201cboth had to slay \u2018each his brother,\u2019 for which both received ordination to the priesthood.\u201d He would later serve as the high priest during the days of Joshua and the judges period.
\nPhinehas abruptly left the assembly of mourners, took a short spear, and pursued the insolent idolaters into the tent shrine where the two were about to engage in their cultic ritual. The positioning and the ability to thrust the spear through both bodies, the man\u2019s first and then the woman\u2019s, suggests that they had involved themselves immediately in sexual intercourse upon entering the tent. They were impaled on the spear from the middle of his back through the woman\u2019s stomach (\u02beel-q\u014fb\u0101t\u0101h) while in the tent shrine (\u02beel-haqq\u016bbb\u00e2), a sarcastic Hebrew pun. The term for \u201ctent\u201d here is a Hebrew hapax legomenon, sometimes translated \u201cwoman\u2019s quarters,\u201d is thought to be related to an Arabic term for a domed tent shrine.<\/p>\n
WRATH OF YAHWEH ALLAYED (25:8b)
\n25:8b The actions of Phinehas in accomplishing the abatement of Yahweh\u2019s fierce anger against the idolatrous Israelites was a role he had learned from observing the exemplary actions of his priestly ancestors. The redemptive and atoning role of a priestly intermediary was evidenced previously when Phinehas\u2019s father Eleazar and grandfather Aaron literally stood in the gap between the living and the dying in the punishment that resulted from Korah\u2019s rebellion (Num 16:46\u201350). He learned his lesson well and saved the lives of countless thousands of Israelites who might otherwise have died in the plague, which still took the lives of some twenty-four thousand before Phinehas stepped into the limelight.<\/p>\n
THE RESULTS OF ISRAEL\u2019S IMMORALITY (25:9)
\n25:9 The verse both completes the chiastic structure of the first section of the chapter (vv. 1\u20139) and functions as a hinge verse introducing the final chiastic cycle of material. Thus the plural preterit form wayyihy\u00fb functions as a summarizing element in the narrative. In typical Hebrew narrative style, the text moves from the broad context to the narrow, for the second section has as its focus the special relationship and privileges the Lord affords to Phinehas and his descendants. A covenant of peace and an eternal priesthood was granted to this priestly paragon of virtue and righteous indignation, whose actions limited the effect of the plague to some twenty-four thousand. Milgrom notes, \u201cPresumably, this number included the rest of the older generation who were doomed to die in the wilderness (14:29), since the census that follows this incident expressly certifies this (26:64\u201365).\u201d<\/p>\n
MOSES RECEIVES FURTHER INSTRUCTION FROM THE LORD (25:10\u201318)
\nThe narrative progresses toward the narrower context in providing certain details concerning the two people Phinehas executed, which then provides impetus for the Midianite reprisal campaign of chap. 31. This section contains two sets of instructions for Moses, one delineating the honor of Phinehas for his zealous defense of the faith (vv. 10\u201315), and the second presenting the challenge to take vengeance against the Midianites who with Balaam had instigated this sordid affair (vv. 16\u201318). The two sections are linked by the reference to Cozbi, the daughter of one of the Midianite leaders who was executed along with Zimri, the Israelite from the tribe of Simeon.
\n25:10 The verse commences in marvelous fashion, pregnant with implications regarding the restoration of Moses in his relationship to the Lord. As noted in v. 4, after Phinehas follows Moses\u2019 instruction, the narrator shifts back to the use of the primary phraseology of divine revelation to Moses, wayy\u0115dabb\u0113r YHWH \u02beel-m\u014d\u0161eh l\u0113\u02bem\u014dr (\u201cThen the Lord spoke to Moses, saying \u2026\u201d). In v. 4 the secondary phraseology, wayy\u014d\u02bemer YHWH \u02beel-m\u014d\u0161eh (\u201cThen Yahweh said to Moses, saying \u2026\u201d), was used in the manner consistent with the revelatory phraseology utilized since Moses\u2019 sin. Now that restoration has taken place, the primary phraseology will continue to be used through the remainder of the Book of Numbers, including a recurrence in v. 16.
\n25:11 The basis for the rewarding of Phinehas is set forth initially. Phinehas\u2019s prompt dispatch of the amorous couple in the tent near the entrance to the Tent of Meeting is described as acting in the interest of the Israelite cult of Yahweh, as he \u201cturned back\u201d (h\u0113\u0161\u00eeb) God\u2019s wrath. The cognate terminology emphasizes the likemindedness of Phinehas with that of Yahweh, since the text reads literally, \u201cWhen he acted zealously with my zeal among them\u201d (b\u0115qan\u02be\u00f4 \u02beet-qin\u02be\u0101t\u00ee b\u0115t\u00f4k\u0101m), followed by a repetition at the end of the verse of the phrase \u201cmy zeal.\u201d The verb q\u0101n\u0101\u02be can be translated as \u201cto become deeply impassioned\u201d or \u201cto be come furiously jealous,\u201d and it is used in the Book of Numbers in the case of the husband who becomes passionately jealous when he thinks his wife is guilty of adultery (Num 5:11\u201331). In the Decalogue the same term is used of Yahweh\u2019s jealousy in being the focal point of Israel\u2019s covenant loyalty and worship (Exod 20:4\u20135). The grace exacted in this situation must be seen in the contrast to the potentiality of the divine wrath to wipe out the entire nation of Israel.
\n25:12\u201313 The \u201ccovenant of peace\u201d (b\u0115r\u00eet\u00ee \u0161\u0101l\u00f4m) Yahweh was \u201cmaking\u201d (lit., \u201cgiving,\u201d n\u014dt\u0113n) with Phinehas in v. 12 is further explicated in the following verse by the \u201ccovenant of a lasting priesthood\u201d (b\u0115r\u00eet k\u0115h\u016bnnat \u02bf\u00f4l\u0101m). Similar phraseology as to the giving of a covenant is found in Gen 17:2, which recounts the unilateral covenant with Abram that was confirmed by the Lord after the birth of Ishmael to Hagar. The covenant of peace or well-being, also known from Isa 54:10 and Ezek 34:25, provided assurance to the beneficiaries that God was with them to will and to work to his good pleasure. The benefits that would accrue to the covenant recipients were safe dwelling and abundant blessing. As with the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants, this one originated with Yahweh and was as dependable and trustworthy as God himself. The covenant relationship would be constantly remembered by the Lord proactively to the benefit of Israel. The binding obligation to Phinehas confirmed his anointment as a priest, which had come via his family lineage and had assured him and his descendants of a special place in the future service of the God of Israel. Allen summarized the progression of the covenant confirmation upon Phinehas as follows: \u201cHe was a priest by divine right, being descended from the right family in an immediate line. He showed himself to be the rightful priest by his interest in divine righteousness. He is now confirmed priest by the rite of divine covenant.\u201d
\nThe righteous act of Phinehas in executing the two defiant Baal worshipers also brought about atonement (kipper) for the children of Israel. Again this act of grace by vigilant defense of the faith resulted in the survival of the majority of the Israelites, and the nation was restored on account of God\u2019s grace. Milgrom remarks, \u201cPhinehas provided a ransom for Israel, and God\u2019s wrath was assuaged. So too, when the Levitical guard cuts down the encroacher on God\u2019s sancta, he also provides a ransom that stays God\u2019s wrath from venting itself upon Israel.\u201d By virtue of Phinehas\u2019s priestly role in being a mediator between God and man, the covenant of peace extended well beyond him and his priestly descendants; it included the entire nation that survived the plague. Now in the third generation of the lineage of Aaron, the first high priest, the priesthood is reconfirmed as everlasting (1 Chr 6:4\u201315). Phinehas demonstrated through his defense of the sanctum that he was a worthy mediator between God and man in the Israelite cult.
\n25:14\u201315 The final details provided for the narrative were the names and backgrounds of the two defiant worshipers of Baal whom Phinehas executed. The Israelite was named Zimri, a chieftain (n\u0115\u015b\u00ee\u02be, \u201cprince\u201d) of the patriarchal clan (b\u00eat-\u02be\u0101b, \u201cfather\u2019s household\u201d) of Salu, which belonged to the tribe of Simeon. This Zimri is not otherwise known in the Hebrew Bible. The paramour of Zimri was named Cozbi, a daughter of Zur (\u1e63\u00fbr), who is described as a \u201ctribal chief\u201d (r\u014d\u02be\u0161 \u02be\u016bmm\u00f4t, lit, \u201chead of the peoples\u201d) here in v. 15, and a \u201cleader\u201d (n\u0115\u015b\u00ee\u02be) in v. 18. Later in the account of the reprisal against the Midianites (Num 31:8), Zur is called one of the \u201ckings of the Midianites\u201d (malk\u00ea midy\u0101n). The combined references implies that the term \u201cking\u201d was often used to denote a political leader rather than a national monarch.
\n25:16\u201318 The final section of this chapter commences with the repetition of the divine revelatory phraseology used immediately above in v. 10, \u201cThen the Lord spoke to Moses, saying \u2026\u201d (wayy\u0115dabb\u0113r YHWH \u02beel-m\u014d\u0161eh l\u0113\u02bem\u014dr). The text rehearses the events of Baal Peor, highlighting the crafty nature of the Midianite seduction of Israel, exemplified by the actions of Cozbi in enticing Zimri to sin against Yahweh. Because of their role in the seduction of the Israelites at Baal Peor, the Midianites were to be avenged by them in a military campaign following the reorganization of the army in this new generation of fighting men. The initial verb \u1e63\u0101r\u00f4r, translated \u201cTreat \u2026 as enemies\u201d in the NIV, means \u201cto be hostile toward\u201d or \u201cto oppress.\u201d The form is an infinitive absolute used in an imperatival sense. Thus the Israelites were given a directive by the Lord to assail the Midianites because of their role in leading the people of God to abandon their covenant relationship. This section functions also as a precursor to the directive of Num 33:50\u201356, in which the Lord instructed the Israelites to drive out the idolatrous Canaanites lest these inhabitants of the Promised Land lead Israel into idolatry. The reprisal against the Midianites would first be exacted soon after these directions were given, and that would be the last military leadership role carried out by Moses prior to his death (Num 31:2). In that campaign the trumpets, which were made according to the Lord\u2019s instructions (Num 10:1\u201310), would be sounded under the direction of the inimitable Phinehas. In Numbers 10 the very same verb \u1e63\u0101rar is used in describing the oppressive enemies of Israel. During the Midianite campaign the prophet-diviner Balaam, who had counseled Balak with regard to this means of deterring Israel\u2019s advance, would be killed along with all of the major Midianite chieftains (31:8). A later campaign against the Midianites would be led by Gideon during the period of the Judges (Judg 7:9\u20138:21).<\/p>\n
CONCLUSION: THE END OF THE FORMER GENERATION AND SETTING FOR THE NEW (25:19 [Eng. 25:18])
\n25:19 The Baal Peor incident would provide a reminder to the Israelites throughout their history of the dangers of intermarriage with the women of the nations whose strong religious influence could lead men astray to worship other gods. This incident served as a case study in understanding the inviolability of God\u2019s holiness and righteousness. The prophet Micah would use the sequence of the Exodus and Baal Peor to challenge the Israelites with the need to remember God\u2019s faithfulness in redemption so that they might not succumb to the world\u2019s influences and that they \u201cmay know the righteousness of the Lord.\u201d By this they would understand the will of God for their lives, to be a distinctive people for whom Yahweh meant the greatest good and by whom the world would see the fullness of God\u2019s grace and mercy. Micah then summarized the essential issues of man\u2019s response to God in this special relationship, \u201cHe has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God\u201d (Mic 6:5\u20138).
\n\u201cThen it came about after the plague.\u201d This brief verse of three Hebrew words functions as a hinge verse in the narrative flow of the Book of Numbers. The verse ends abruptly in the Masoretic Text with the major disjunctive accent, the atnach. Under normal grammatical circumstances the verse would be conjoined with 26:1, as many modern editors and interpreters have suggested. But the early textual editors apparently sought to make the distinction at this point by commencing the text of the second census in the same manner as the first, with the primary divine revelatory phraseology, \u201cThen the LORD spoke to Moses, saying \u2026\u201d (wayy\u0115dabb\u0113r YHWH \u02beel-m\u014d\u0161eh l\u0113\u02bem\u014dr). This verse concludes the drama of the story of the first generation that God liberated from bondage in Egypt, brought through the Red Sea and the desert wilderness, provided for their every need, led to Mount Sinai, and gave them the Torah to seal that special relationship between God and his people. The covenant stipulations revealed the essential nature of God and how humanity was to respond by being solely devoted and obedient to him. By their faithful submission to his revelation, they would evidence to the nations the magnitude of God\u2019s love for his creation and the nature of his grace. There was another side to this God-man relationship, however: the consequences of disobedience. Following the departure from the mountain of God, that first generation began a downward spiral of rebellion against Yahweh that led to disastrous consequences, the most dramatic being the rejection of the Promised Land by the people and God\u2019s rejection of that generation from inheriting it. Out of those thousands who were numbered in the first census of Israel\u2019s fighting forces, only two men, Joshua and Caleb, survived to see the wondrous fulfillment of the promise of a homeland in Canaan.
\nWith the plague of Baal Peor the punishment of the first generation was complete, and the process of preparing the second generation to enter the Promised Land was at hand. This process would commence in the manner of the previous cycle of events with a military conscription census, those men who, under both the divine leadership of Yahweh God of Israel and the human servant-leader Joshua, would lead the nation to experience the fulfillment of a promise made centuries before to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: \u201cI will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing\u201d; and, \u201cTo your descendants I will give this land\u201d (Gen 12:2, 7).<\/p>\n
III. PREPARATION OF THE NEW GENERATION OF ISRAEL (26:1\u201330:16)<\/p>\n
1. The Second Census in the Plains of Moab (26:1\u201365)<\/p>\n
The second census of Israelite men stands at a pivotal point in the Book of Numbers, in the Pentateuch, indeed in the entire Old Testament. As D. Olson has pointed out, \u201cThe theme of the death of the old generation and the birth of the new generation of hope is one which continues far beyond Numbers and the Pentateuch.\u201d The two enumerations of tribes and clans provide reference points to the two epochs in the history of God\u2019s forming a distinct people for himself. The first list marks the summation and conclusion of the first generation which began with the patriarchs in Genesis and concluded with the idolatrous rebellion at Shittim and the Baal Peor. The glorious organizational unity and solemn ritual sanctification in preparation for the march from Sinai (1:1\u201310:10) are followed by three cycles of rebellion in 11\u201325. The second census marks the commencement of the second generation which is about to enter the Canaanite territory and begin the process of inheriting the land of promise. Additional laws of sanctification and pertinent guidelines related to the inheritance and settlement of the land are outlined.
\nThe first generation possessed an inheritance of unfulfilled hope as promised to Abram (Gen 15:7\u201321; Heb 11:8\u201310), but never realized by his descendants; the second would possess inheritance instructions (Num 33:50\u201356) as they proceeded under the direction of the Lord. God challenges his new people to advance by faith and claim their rightful heritage.
\nChronological and geographical notes, which have been utilized by a majority of earlier writers and commentators (see \u201cIntroduction: Outline\u201d) in subdividing the Book of Numbers, are scant and problematic. Such difficulties were cited earlier in the varying analyses of Budd, Gray, and de Vaulx in basing divisions on geographical markers. The dilemma lay in where to distinguish the beginning of the third movement, in the Desert of Zin, the Arabah, or the Plains of Moab. Furthermore, the sections of material are not fully in chronological sequence, the basis of organization being thematic and holistic rather than linear time sequence.
\nThe texts have a long history of transmission, even a prehistory. How ancient some of the genealogies of Genesis and Numbers are is unknown. They may date to the period of Egyptian sojourn prior to the time of Moses. Genealogies were maintained in oral history and tradition for religious, political and familial reasons and were later edited to trace particular lines of development and to justify claims to inheritance or leadership. The genealogical census lists of Numbers serve historical purposes as well.
\nThe new generation of Israel, guided by Yahweh under the leadership of Joshua and Eleazar, must, like the first generation, encounter obstacles. The anticipatory element of the book for the second Israel is one of positive but cautious expectation. The structure of the Book of Numbers poses a decisive question for the generations to come: Can this new generation, including its successive descendants, enter and claim the land of promise, remain faithful and reap the benefits of God\u2019s blessing, and reach out and fulfill its calling to be a source of light and blessing to the nations? or will the newborn community succumb to the same pressures, fears, and temptations of her forefathers? May it never be! The challenge remains the same for all generations of the people of God.<\/p>\n
(1) Census Instructions (26:1\u20134)<\/p>\n
1 After the plague the LORD said to Moses and Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest, 2 \u201cTake a census of the whole Israelite community by families\u2014all those twenty years old or more who are able to serve in the army of Israel.\u201d 3 So on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho, Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke with them and said, 4 \u201cTake a census of the men twenty years old or more, as the LORD commanded Moses.\u201d
\nThese were the Israelites who came out of Egypt:<\/p>\n
26:1\u20134 The initial phraseology of 26:1 in the NIV is actually 25:19 in the Hebrew text of the MT, an incomplete sentence which reads way\u0115h\u00ee \u02bea\u1e25\u0103r\u00ea hammagg\u0113p\u00e2, translated literally in the NKVJ as \u201cAnd it came to pass, after the plague.\u201d This clause functions as a transitional element in conjoining the account of the plague at Baal Peor with the military conscription census of the second generation in 26:1\u201351. The plague of chap. 25concluded the judgment that befell the first generation of Israelites whom the Lord had delivered from bondage in Egypt. After the three cycles of rebellion and judgment of 11:1\u201325:18; 25:19 function as a literary hinge that links the previous narrative with the final two cycles of the Book of Numbers, which look forward to the completion of the journey to the Promised Land. The transition is made complete with the introduction of the divine message formula, \u201cthe LORD said\u201d (wayy\u014d\u02bemer YHWH \u02beel \u2026 l\u0113\u02bem\u014dr), which has been shown to function as a major dividing marker in the Book of Numbers for organizational and mnemonic purposes (see Introduction: Outline). The census instructions come as divine command and are parallel in stipulation and purpose to the original command of 1:2\u20133.
\nNearly thirty-eight and a half years had transpired since the first census, which was ordered to enumerate for military purposes the Israelite men over twenty years of age who were able to serve in the army. The upcoming battles against the Midianites, announced in 25:16\u201318, and the advance of the nation into the land of Canaan serve as ample reasoning for the census. Furthermore, the census would provide the relative size guidelines for the division of the promised land among the tribes, a process governed by proportion and by lot (26:52\u201356). The first generation had failed to live up to its name as the people of Yahweh by rejecting the land of promise; the new generation must claim its inheritance, moving forward by faith under her new leaders.
\nMoses had watched a generation of men over twenty pass away. This was, no doubt, a remorseful and bittersweet time, for he knew that this new generation would commence on a journey he so longed to have made with his generation. Miriam (20:1) and Aaron (20:25\u201328) had died, and Moses\u2019 time was near. Aaron\u2019s son Eleazar had received the royal priestly garments on Mount Hor. Together Moses and Eleazar, the first generation and the second united under divine direction, proceed with the task at hand in the plains of Moab, overlooking the Jordan toward Jericho.
\nThe introductory phrase of v. 4b serves as the heading for the delineation of the tribes and clans, reminding the reader that the new generation is numbered according to the tribes and clans of the first generation. Identification with the past is paralleled by the yearly Passover celebration, which calls each participant in every generation to act as if he or she were present among the original Exodus families. The new generation had indeed been delivered from the bondage of Egypt, as had the first. That this new generation is to be perceived as if the previous had not existed or rebelled may be an implicit connotation in the heading phraseology.
\nThe order of the tribal enumeration in the MT follows that of Num 1:20\u201343, with the exception that the sons of Joseph are reversed. The Septuagint retains the order of the earlier list in Gen 46:8\u201327, which places Gad and Asher in succession after Zebulun and Levi after Simeon. The individual clans of the tribes comply largely with Genesis 46 as well, with notable differences cited below under individual tribal discussion. The general pattern of sequential listing is broken three times for explanatory purposes. Twice (8\u201311 and 19) the excurses are retrogressions into past rebellions in Numbers and Genesis. The third anticipates the issue of Zelophehad\u2019s daughters\u2019 land inheritance in 27:1\u201311 and 36:1\u201312, with implications that carry over into preexilic and postexilic periods. Together these excurses provide further support to the pivotal character of this chapter in the overarching design of the Book of Numbers, as well as the entire Old Testament.<\/p>\n
Census Results by Ancestral Tribes and Clans (26:5\u201350)<\/p>\n
Tribe
\nFirst Census
\nSecond Census
\nChange
\nVariants
\nReuben
\n46,500
\n43,730
\n-2,770
\n43,750 G
\nSimeon
\n59,300
\n22,200
\n-37,100
\nGad
\n45,650
\n40,500
\n-5,150
\n44,500 G
\nJudah
\n74,600
\n76,500
\n+1,900
\nIssachar
\n54,400
\n64,300
\n+9,900
\nZebulun
\n57,400
\n60,500
\n+3,100
\nManasseh
\n32,200
\n52,700
\n+20,500
\n62,500 G
\nEphraim
\n40,500
\n32,500
\n-8,000
\nBenjamin
\n35,400
\n45,600
\n+10,200
\n35,500 G
\nDan
\n62,700
\n64,400
\n+1,700
\n64,600 G
\nAsher
\n41,500
\n53,400
\n+11,900
\nNaphtali
\n53,400
\n45,400
\n-8,000
\n30,300 G
\nTotal
\n603,550
\n601,730
\n-1820<\/p>\n
(2) Reuben\u2019s Descendants (26:5\u201311)<\/p>\n
5 The descendants of Reuben, the firstborn son of Israel, were: through Hanoch, the Hanochite clan; through Pallu, the Palluite clan; 6 through Hezron, the Hezronite clan; through Carmi, the Carmite clan.
\n7 These were the clans of Reuben; those numbered were 43,730.
\n8 The son of Pallu was Eliab, 9 and the sons of Eliab were Nemuel, Dathan and Abiram. The same Dathan and Abiram were the community officials who rebelled against Moses and Aaron and were among Korah\u2019s followers when they rebelled against the LORD. 10 The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them along with Korah, whose followers died when the fire devoured the 250 men. And they served as a warning sign. 11 The line of Korah, however, did not die out.<\/p>\n
26:5\u201311 Rights of primogeniture are retained by Reuben in the tribal listings. The four clans descended from Reuben\u2014Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi\u2014are identical with those recorded in Gen 46:9. The slight variation in the census of Reubenite clans in the Aquila recension of the Septuagint seems insignificant.
\nThe retrospective excursus regarding the relationship of the Pallu clan to the Korah rebellion yields several important aspects. Two of the descendants, namely Dathan and Abiram, were among the 250 leaders of Israel who joined in the revolt against Moses and Aaron. The demonstrative nature of this insurrection would serve for many generations as a dark reminder, a \u201cwarning sign\u201d of the future consequences of such an uprising against not only God\u2019s ordained leaders but against God himself. The term employed for \u201csign,\u201d the Hebrew n\u0113s, typically is used to denote an ensign or banner around which people rally (Jer 50:2) or soldiers muster for battle (Jer 50:2). In Isa 11:10 the root of Jesse stands as a banner (n\u0113s) for the nations to seek. But like Sodom and Gomorrah, or Nadab and Abihu, Dathan and Abiram, or Korah, these individuals would serve as historical bywords for how God deals with revolutionaries. Heaven (fire) and earth (pit), God\u2019s creation and witnesses, were called upon to execute his judgment against his own people.<\/p>\n
(3) Simeon\u2019s Descendants (26:12\u201314)<\/p>\n
12 The descendants of Simeon by their clans were: through Nemuel, the Nemuelite clan; through Jamin, the Jaminite clan; through Jakin, the Jakinite clan; 13 through Zerah, the Zerahite clan; through Shaul, the Shaulite clan.
\n14 These were the clans of Simeon; there were 22,200 men.<\/p>\n
26:12\u201314 The five clans of the tribe of Simeon are delineated as Nemuel, Jamin, Jakin, Zerah, and Shaul. Several variations from this list from the MT are notable. \u201cNemuel\u201d occurs as \u201cJemuel\u201d in the Syriac text of Numbers, in agreement with Gen 46:1 and Exod 6:15; whereas in 1 Chr 4:24 the MT reading finds support. \u201cJamin\u201d does not occur in Gen 46:10 and Exod 6:15, which both contain \u201cOhad\u201d as an additional clan name. Allen suggests that perhaps Ohad died childless or for some unknown reason did not generate a clan. Instead of \u201cZerah,\u201d Gen 46:10 and Exod 6:15 contain the reading \u201cZohar,\u201d a consonantal metathesis in the history of transmission of the text. That Shaul was the son of a Canaanite woman finds notation in Gen 46:10, but not in the present text (cf. Gen 38).
\nThe tribe of Simeon suffered the greatest decline in population since the first census, a net loss of 37,100 or more than 62 percent. Much of the loss was due perhaps to the participation of many Simeonites, along with Zimri, \u201cthe leader of a Simeonite family\u201d in Num 25:14. Zimri was killed by Phinehas because of his leadership in the aberrant cultic activities of Baal Peor. The unexplained disappearance of the clan of Ohad also could have contributed to the decrease.<\/p>\n
(4) Gad\u2019s Descendants (26:15\u201318)<\/p>\n
15 The descendants of Gad by their clans were: through Zephon, the Zephonite clan; through Haggi, the Haggite clan; through Shuni, the Shunite clan; 16 through Ozni, the Oznite clan; through Eri, the Erite clan; 17 through Arodi, the Arodite clan; through Areli, the Arelite clan.
\n18 These were the clans of Gad; those numbered were 40,500.<\/p>\n
26:15\u201318 The order of the tribal enumerations varies in the Septuagint, which lists Gad after Zebulun, following the tradition of Gen 46:16, which adheres to the matriarchal order of the sons of Leah, Zilpah, Rachel, and Bilhah. Gad was born to Zilpah, a servant of Leah, as was Asher. Levi, who also was born to Leah, follows Simeon in Genesis 46, but in keeping with the Numbers 1 census stands at the end of the twelve-tribe listing in the present text.
\nSeveral orthographic variations from Numbers occur in the Gadite clan lists of Gen 46:16\u201317 (MT) and the texts of the Samaritan Pentateuch and the Septuagint. Zephon reads as Ziphion in the MT of Gen 46:16, in which text the LXX and SamPen agree with the present reading. Zephon should be preferred in all texts, though the reading of Ziphion may attest to a very early spelling in the Gadite genealogy. Similarly, Ozni reads as Ezbon in Gen 46:16, a more difficult variant. Eri, here as in Gen 46:16, is Adi in SamPent, the LXX, and the Syriac. This variation is easily explained by the visual confusion of the Hebrew consonants d\u0101let and r\u00ea\u0161. Arod obtains as Arodi, which probably is an ancient Gentilic spelling supported by the SamPent, LXX, and Syriac. Areli is Aroli in the SamPent, Adil in the Syriac, and Ariel in the LXX and Vulgate. The latter reading comes as a result of scribal metathesis at some point in the history of transmission, by which the two letters \u02bealeph and lamedh were transposed.
\nThe retention of these variants among the five textual traditions evidence the integrity maintained by the respective scribal circles in adhering to the texts from which they copied. Though the precise historical origins of these variants are untraceable, several general explanations can be posited: (1) varied spellings of the same name at the same or different points in history, keeping in mind the internal orthographic developments in the history of the Hebrew language, (2) scribal transmission errors such as metathesis, (3) scribal editing from variant manuscripts available, or (4) different names for the same person. Allen notes that \u201cthe very problems we find in these parallel listings of names may be a strong indicator of the tradition of textual integrity.\u201d
\nThe total of 40,500 men of age for military conscription represents a net loss of 5,150, or 11.3 percent. A textual variant also occurs in a few LXX texts, yielding a total of 44,500.<\/p>\n
(5) Judah\u2019s Descendants (26:19\u201322)<\/p>\n
19 Er and Onan were sons of Judah, but they died in Canaan.
\n20 The descendants of Judah by their clans were: through Shelah, the Shelanite clan; through Perez, the Perezite clan; through Zerah, the Zerahite clan.
\n21 The descendants of Perez were: through Hezron, the Hezronite clan; through Hamul, the Hamulite clan.
\n22 These were the clans of Judah; those numbered were 76,500.<\/p>\n
26:19\u201322 The register of the clans of Judah commences with the despicable Er and Onan, the first two sons of Judah via the daughter of the Canaanite man Shua. Both sons were deemed \u201cwicked in the LORD\u2019S sight\u201d and died at the hand of the Lord in Canaan (Gen 38:1\u201310). The daughter of Shua later gave birth to a third son, Shelah, who would survive to father a clan of Israel. Like Simeon\u2019s sons Dathan and Abiram, Er and Onan would serve as reminders of God\u2019s judgment upon disobedience in the previous generation, providing a referential link of the second census to the flaws of the forefathers. The purpose of the historical allusions was to challenge the new generation to renounce the past and heed the word of the Lord by faith as they advance into the Promised Land.
\nThe three clans of Judah are recorded as Shelah, Perez, and Zerah, the latter two being the twin sons of Tamar. The preeminence of Perez is noted via the unusual listing of his second generation sons Hezron and Hamul (cf. Gen 46:12). Through Perez would come the greatest heirs of the line of Judah and indeed of Israel (Ruth 4:18\u201321; 1 Chr 2:4\u201317). Their descendants would be chosen for the kingship of Israel commencing with David and culminating with the greatest Son of David, Jesus of Nazareth (Luke 3:23\u201333; Matt 1:3\u201316).
\nThe three clans of Judah would sire the largest of the tribes of Israel, 76,500 in the second census, or a net increase of 1,900, or 2.6 percent. The lone textual variant in the Judahite clan list is for that of Hamul, which reads as Hamuel in SamPent and the LXX.<\/p>\n
(6) Issachar\u2019s Descendants (26:23\u201325)<\/p>\n
23 The descendants of Issachar by their clans were: through Tola, the Tolaite clan; through Puah, the Puite clan; 24 through Jashub, the Jashubite clan; through Shimron, the Shimronite clan.
\n25 These were the clans of Issachar; those numbered were 64,300.<\/p>\n
26:23\u201325 The listing of the clans of Issachar through Tola, Puah, Jashub, and Shimron follows standard form. Two names reflect significant textual variation, that of Puah and Jashub. The NIV form p\u00fb\u02be\u00e2 concurs with the p\u00fb\u02be\u00e2 of 1 Chr 7:1, SamPent, LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate, a possible influence of Aramaic orthography. The MT reads Puvah (p\u016bw\u00e2), and some Hebrew MSS have p\u016bww\u00e2. Jashub is errantly spelled Iob in the MT of Gen 46:13, in which text the NIV contains the preferred reading Jashub of SamPent and LXX. The total of 64,300 reveals an increase of 9,900 (+18.2 percent) in potential military service.<\/p>\n
(7) Zebulun\u2019s Descendants (26:26\u201327)<\/p>\n
26 The descendants of Zebulun by their clans were: through Sered, the Seredite clan; through Elon, the Elonite clan; through Jahleel, the Jahleelite clan.
\n27 These were the clans of Zebulun; those numbered were 60,500.<\/p>\n
26:26\u201327 The three clans enumerated of the Zebulunites were through Sered, Elon, and Jahleel. Hebrew and Greek textual traditions are in complete agreement on the names and orthography. Unlike the other descendants of the sons of Jacob and Joseph, the history of the Zebulunite clan is not outlined in 1 Chronicles 2\u20138. Only in the list of the sons of Jacob in 2:1 does the name Zebulun occur. The counting of 60,500 Zebulunite men represents an increase of 3,100, or 5.4 percent.<\/p>\n
(8) Sons of Joseph: Manasseh\u2019s Descendants (26:28\u201334)<\/p>\n
28 The descendants of Joseph by their clans through Manasseh and Ephraim were:
\n29 The descendants of Manasseh: through Makir, the Makirite clan (Makir was the father of Gilead); through Gilead, the Gileadite clan.
\n30 These were the descendants of Gilead: through Iezer, the Iezerite clan; through Helek, the Helekite clan; 31 through Asriel, the Asrielite clan; through Shechem, the Shechemite clan; 32 through Shemida, the Shemidaite clan; through Hepher, the Hepherite clan. 33 (Zelophehad son of Hepher had no sons; he had only daughters, whose names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah.)
\n34 These were the clans of Manasseh; those numbered were 52,700.<\/p>\n
26:28\u201334 Verses 27 and 38b form an inclusio under the subject heading of \u201cthe descendants of Joseph by their clans,\u201d subdivided according to his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim. The order of this pair is the reverse of the original census of chap. 1. The transposing of the two may reflect the second generation population inversion; Manasseh experienced the most substantial increase of all the tribes, 20,500 (+63.7 percent) to 52,700, whereas Ephraim decreased by 8,000 to 32,500 (\u201324.9 percent). Note the even larger LXX census figure of 62,500, a potential increase of 94 percent. Yet in the Divided Kingdom period Ephraim became the paradigm for the Northern Kingdom in the writings of the Latter Prophets (Hos 7:1; Isa 28:1). Manasseh and Ephraim were born to Joseph through his Egyptian wife Asenath, the daughter of a priest of the god On. The expanded clan history of the tribe of Manasseh is found in 1 Chr 7:14\u201319.
\nNot until the fourth generation are the sons of Joseph subdivided into individual clans under the heading of Gilead, the son of Makir, the son of Manasseh. Six families are listed, namely those descended from Iezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Shemida, and Hepher. The later expansion of the clans of Gilead is delineated in 1 Chr 7:14\u201319. There the passage reveals that Makir\u2019s mother was an Aramean concubine, another instance of the inclusiveness of the lineage of the Israelites. In the military conscription census of the second generation, no family of the clans of the Israelite tribes was lost from the first generation the Lord brought forth from Egypt. God\u2019s faithfulness is evident in the preserving of at least some remnant of each of the first generation of patriarchal clans.
\nThe third excursus in the text relates to the clan of Hepher, whose son Zelophehad fathered only daughters. The mere mention of women is remarkable in a text designed to calculate potential numbers of men for war. This digression foreshadows the legal issues of land inheritance of chaps. 27 and 36, with further implications for the history of Israel. Together these form an inclusio for the second major division of the Book of Numbers, with its focus upon the new generation moving toward the Promised Land of Canaan. The five daughters of Zelophehad form the rare fifth generation genealogy, adding further emphasis to the unique character of this chapter and section.<\/p>\n
(9) Sons of Joseph: Ephraim\u2019s Descendants (26:35\u201337)<\/p>\n
35 These were the descendants of Ephraim by their clans: through Shuthelah, the Shuthelahite clan; through Beker, the Bekerite clan; through Tahan, the Tahanite clan.
\n36 These were the descendants of Shuthelah: through Eran, the Eranite clan.
\n37 These were the clans of Ephraim; those numbered were 32,500.
\nThese were the descendants of Joseph by their clans.<\/p>\n
26:35\u201337 Three clans and one subclan are found in the census list of the tribe of Ephraim. Ephraim has been supplanted by the more populous Manasseh in the order of the sons of Joseph. Minor textual variants occur: (1) Beker is missing in the LXX original; (2) Tahan in the MT is Taham in the SamPent and Tanak (metathesis) in the LXX; (3) Eran is Edan (confusion of Hebrew d and r) in some MSS of the SamPent, LXX, and Syriac. The decrease in population will play a role in the proportional land distributions of Josh 16:5\u201310. Further accounts of the clans of Ephraim and their territory are developed in 1 Chr 7:20\u201329.<\/p>\n
(10) Benjamin\u2019s Descendants (26:38\u201341)<\/p>\n
38 The descendants of Benjamin by their clans were: through Bela, the Belaite clan; through Ashbel, the Ashbelite clan; through Ahiram, the Ahiramite clan; 39 through Shupham, the Shuphamite clan; through Hupham, the Huphamite clan. 40 The descendants of Bela through Ard and Naaman were: through Ard, the Ardite clan; through Naaman, the Naamite clan. 41 These were the clans of Benjamin; those numbered were 45,600.<\/p>\n
26:38\u201341 Numerous significant textual variants occur in the several clan lists for the tribe of Benjamin. The following comparative list ensues:<\/p>\n
Gen 46:21
\nNum 26:38\u201340
\n1 Chr 7:6
\n1 Chr 8:1\u20132
\nBela
\nBela*
\nBela
\nBela (1)
\nBeker
\n*****
\nBeker
\nAshbel
\nAshbel
\nAshbel (2)
\nGera
\n*****
\n(no
\nNaaman
\n*Naaman b. Bela
\nothers
\nEhi
\nAhiram (?=Ehi)
\nlisted\u2014
\nAharah (3)
\nRosh
\n*****
\nonly
\nMuppim
\nShupham (?=Muppim)
\nsubclans)
\nHuppim
\nHupham
\nArd
\n*Ard b. Bela
\nAddar b. Bela
\nNohah
\nRapha<\/p>\n
Several aspects of text and genealogical history are notable: (1) the list of clans for the youngest son of Jacob seems to be rather fluid; (2) grandsons such as Naaman and Ard are often listed as sons in genealogical reckoning; (3) the loss of 25,100 from the tribe of Benjamin in the civil war during the period of the Judges (Judg 20) may have resulted in the loss of entire clans, hence the significant differences in the later record of 1 Chronicles; yet the clan of Beker unexplainably returns in 1 Chr 7:6; (4) scribal error and orthographic variations probably contributed to differences such as in Hupham \/ Huppim; and (5) variants among the versions in the history of transmission\u2014Ashbel in the MT is Ashbeel in SamPent and Ashuber in LXX, both possibly as a result of the influence of Aramaic orthography. Naaman is lacking in the SamPent version of Num 26:40.
\nThe population census of 45,600 reflects a considerable increase of 10,200 (+28.8 percent) in the MT, though some LXX manuscripts have 35,500. No doubt the later turmoil involving the tribe of Benjamin and the Levite concubine contributed greatly to the difficulties in the keeping of clan and family genealogies, resulting in the textual dilemmas observed above. The loss of perhaps more than one-half of the males of the tribe, and a major proportion of the women, in the incident had disastrous effects on the Benjamite families, necessitating the provision of wives for them in the dance of the maidens at Shiloh (Judg 21) and the restructuring of many clans. Yet from the smallest of the tribes would come the first king of Israel, Saul of Gibeah (1 Chr 8:1\u201333).<\/p>\n
(11) Dan\u2019s Descendants (26:42\u201343)<\/p>\n
42 These were the descendants of Dan by their clans: through Shuham, the Shuhamite clan.
\nThese were the clans of Dan: 43 All of them were Shuhamite clans; and those numbered were 64,400.<\/p>\n
26:42\u201343 The populous tribe of Dan ranks second only to Judah in both lists of Numbers 1 and 26, remarkable in that only one clan is registered. The phrase \u201call of them\u201d (kol-mi\u0161p\u0115\u1e25\u014dt, \u201call the clans\u201d) occurs only here in the census lists, accounting for the fact that all clans were descendants of the one son of Dan, Shuham. Yet unexplained is why subclans are not mentioned as with such tribes as Manasseh, Benjamin, and Asher. Neither does Dan find mention in the tribal genealogies of 1 Chronicles 1\u20138, an argument against the critical view that this material has origin in the priestly circles responsible for the Book of Chronicles. Shuham is recorded as Hushim in Gen 46:23, a possible metathesis in the early history of transmission. The total population of 64,400 represents a modest increase of 1,700 men for potential war conscription, or 2.7 percent.<\/p>\n
(12) Asher\u2019s Descendants (26:44\u201347)<\/p>\n
44 The descendants of Asher by their clans were: through Imnah, the Imnite clan; through Ishvi, the Ishvite clan; through Beriah, the Beriite clan; 45 and through the descendants of Beriah: through Heber, the Heberite clan; through Malkiel, the Malkielite clan.
\n46 (Asher had a daughter named Serah.)
\n47 These were the clans of Asher; those numbered were 53,400.<\/p>\n
26:44\u201347 The clans of Asher are located after Zebulun and Gad in the LXX beginning with v. 28. Ishvah of Gen 46:17 is lacking here but recorded in 1 Chr 7:30, though the Chronicler lists no clan history. Apparently he died without producing offspring. Three clans and two subclans are delineated: Imnah, Ishvi, and Beriah, with Beriah\u2019s sons Heber and Malkiel founding subclans. The sons of Beriah are lacking in the SamPent and LXX but derive from Gen 46:17. The names recur in 1 Chr 8:31\u201332 along with the further descendants of Heber.
\nThe historical occasion for the inclusion of one daughter of Asher, Serah, following Gen 46:17 (cf. 1 Chr 7:30) is uncertain. The placement of the names of women in a census dedicated to the calculation of men of military potential heightens the importance of their notation and the role of women in general. But unlike the mention of Shua and the daughters of Zelophehad, the purpose of the allusion to Serah remains a mystery.
\nThe population of Asher experienced considerable growth during the wilderness sojourn, an increase of 11,900 to 53,400 (+29 percent). By the time of the Chronicler\u2019s work, however, the number had declined to 26,000 (7:40).<\/p>\n
(13) Naphtali\u2019s Descendants (26:48\u201350)<\/p>\n
48 The descendants of Naphtali by their clans were: through Jahzeel, the Jahzeelite clan; through Guni, the Gunite clan;
\n49 through Jezer, the Jezerite clan; through Shillem, the Shillemite clan.
\n50 These were the clans of Naphtali; those numbered were 45,400.<\/p>\n
26:48\u201350 Naphtali\u2019s descendants originated through the four families of Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem who went down to Egypt. The LXX has Shillom instead of Shillem. The tribe suffered a moderate loss during the wilderness sojourn, declining by 8,000 to 45,400 (\u201315 percent). The LXX records an even greater 44 percent drop to 30,300. Only the listing of the same four sons of Naphtali is recounted in 1 Chr 7:13, but no further subclans or descendants are given.<\/p>\n
(14) Total Population of the Second Generation (26:51)<\/p>\n
51 The total number of the men of Israel was 601,730.<\/p>\n
26:51 The total population census of 601,730 demonstrates the providence of God in preserving his people through nearly forty difficult years in a formidable wilderness. An inconsequential net decline of only 1,820 (0.3 percent), in spite of physical obstacles, spiritual failures, and harsh judgment from the Lord, confirms that the promise to Abraham of innumerable descendants remains in effect. Only Moses, Joshua, and Caleb are known to have survived of those over twenty years of age when the people revolted at the spies\u2019 report (Num 13:26\u201314:35). The number represents an accurate sum of the census figures for each tribe. The new generation of Israel would become heirs to the challenge to enter the very promised land that their forefathers had rejected.<\/p>\n
(15) Instructions for Division of the Land (26:52\u201356)<\/p>\n
52 The LORD said to Moses, 53 \u201cThe land is to be allotted to them as an inheritance based on the number of names. 54 To a larger group give a larger inheritance, and to a smaller group a smaller one; each is to receive its inheritance according to the number of those listed. 55 Be sure that the land is distributed by lot. What each group inherits will be according to the names for its ancestral tribe. 56 Each inheritance is to be distributed by lot among the larger and smaller groups.\u201d<\/p>\n
26:52\u201356 The conclusion to the second census sets forth an additional purpose beyond that of potential military conscription. The material takes on a proleptic character in the setting forth of two principles governing the distribution of land as the new generation of the tribes of Israel march onward by faith and claim their inheritance. Based on the populations derived from the census of tribal clans, \u201cthe land is to be allotted to them as an inheritance.\u201d The principle of proportion is described in explicit terms\u2014greater territory for larger tribes, smaller portions for the less populated. Clan apportionment would be assumed under the aegis of their ancestral tribe. The proportional distribution would take into consideration the percentage of arable land available or accessible by clearing or irrigation. Joshua later would challenge tribes to harvest forested areas within their allotments for ample farming acreage (Josh 17:17\u201318).
\nThe second principle governing land allocation was that of providential probability. Casting of lots was the common means of determining the will of the Lord for the division of spoils of war, for distinguishing the scapegoat on the Day of Atonement, or for settling political issues. The Lord was presumed to oversee the tossing of the lots and to bring his decision to pass. Distribution of tracts of land for tribal inheritance would follow this method, and that inheritance was to remain within the tribal family for posterity. Harrison notes three discernible precepts in the outline of the process: the entire land belongs to God alone, allocation methods constituted God\u2019s gift to his people, and the procedure would be equitable and avert potential jealousy and dissension.<\/p>\n
(16) Levi\u2019s Descendants (26:57\u201362)<\/p>\n
57 These were the Levites who were counted by their clans: through Gershon, the Gershonite clan; through Kohath, the Kohathite clan; through Merari, the Merarite clan. 58 These also were Levite clans: the Libnite clan, the Hebronite clan, the Mahlite clan, the Mushite clan, the Korahite clan. (Kohath was the forefather of Amram; 59 the name of Amram\u2019s wife was Jochebed, a descendant of Levi, who was born to the Levites in Egypt. To Amram she bore Aaron, Moses and their sister Miriam. 60 Aaron was the father of Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. 61 But Nadab and Abihu died when they made an offering before the LORD with unauthorized fire.)
\n62 All the male Levites a month old or more numbered 23,000. They were not counted along with the other Israelites because they received no inheritance among them.<\/p>\n
26:57\u201362 The census of the Levite clans parallels the position afforded to the Levites in the first cycle of material in Num 3:17\u201343, following the enumeration of the twelve tribes and their clans. The structure varies in that only a few of the subclans are included here in a separate list. The whereabouts of Shimei, Amram, Uzziel, and Mushi is unknown, for they continue to be omitted in 1 Chr 6:1\u201329. Numbers 3 follows the listing in Exod 6:16\u201319 of the sons and grandsons of Levi. Note the following comparative chart:<\/p>\n
Gen 46:11
\nNum 3:17\u201320
\nNum 26:57\u201358
\n1 Chr 6:1\u201329
\nGershon
\nGershon
\nGershon
\nGershon
\nLibni
\nLibnite
\nLibni and sons \u2026
\nShimei
\nKohath
\nKohath
\nKohath
\nKohath
\nAmram
\nAmminadab and sons \u2026
\nIzhar
\nKorahite
\n(incl. a Korah)
\nHebron
\nHebronite
\nUzziel
\nMerari
\nMerari
\nMerari
\nMerari
\nMahli
\nMahlite
\nMahli and sons \u2026
\nMushi
\nMushite<\/p>\n
The Levites were not required to serve in the Israelite army, nor were they eligible for territorial land distribution. Instead they were supplied parcels of land near a number of prominent cities throughout the country, wherein they could supply their families and serve the local communities in priestly capacities. Levitical priestly families would continue to trace their lineage through the three sons of Levi, though few of the subclans that first entered the land would retain their identity.
\nThe excursus of vv. 58b\u201361 relates particulars of the Kohathite clan of Amram through whom Moses, Aaron, and Miriam descended. The preeminence of the Moses-Aaron leadership is reasserted, despite the tragedy of the death of Nadab and Abihu, who improperly offered a sacrifice (Lev 10:1\u20132). The placement of the lineage at the conclusion of the second census would ensure the priority of the Aaronic priesthood for the new generation as was the case in the former. Furthermore, Aaron\u2019s son Eleazar is listed as Moses\u2019 assistant (v. 63) in the census taking.
\nThe NIV properly translates the Hebrew h\u00f4lid (\u201cgave birth, begat\u201d) as \u201cforefather,\u201d since the time span between Kohath and Amram was perhaps three hundred years or more. That Moses was the true son of Amram and Jochebed remains uncertain since the names are not recounted in Exod 2:1\u201310. They may have been important ancestors within the Kohathite clan history. If one reads Exodus 2, Numbers 3 and 6, and 1 Chronicles 6 literally, then the time span between Levi son of Jacob and Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, hence the length of the Egyptian sojourn, would be about 160 years or less. Yet according to 1 Chr 7:14\u201327, ten generations elapsed between Joseph and Joshua. The purity of lineage is noted in that Amram\u2019s wife Jochebed was also of Levite lineage.
\nThe reckoned population of male Levites over one month of age is listed as 23,000, an increase of less than 5 percent. The original figure of 22,000 (3:39) is given more precisely as 22,273 in 3:42 (meaning a net increase of 3.3 percent).<\/p>\n
(17) Conclusion of the Second Census (26:63\u201365)<\/p>\n
63 These are the ones counted by Moses and Eleazar the priest when they counted the Israelites on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho. 64 Not one of them was among those counted by Moses and Aaron the priest when they counted the Israelites in the Desert of Sinai. 65 For the LORD had told those Israelites they would surely die in the desert, and not one of them was left except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.<\/p>\n
26:63\u201365 The conclusion to this pivotal chapter in the Book of Numbers befits its character, design, and purpose. Retrospective and prospective elements are furnished. The census takers, Moses and Eleazar, bridge the generations. Moses has led the people of Israel mightily and valiantly through the Sinai and wilderness experiences, but he will not enter the Promised Land. Instead Eleazar will assume the responsibility of priestly leadership for the new generation. The census was conducted \u201con the plains of Moab by the Jordan [of] across from Jericho,\u201d the first city of the coming campaign into Canaan. Hence the prospects of fulfillment of the promise to the patriarchs and their descendants are bright. The text reminds the reader of the consequences of disobedience and rebellion that befell the original Exodus participants; they would not inherit the promises of God. Only the two faithful spies of the twelve sent forth to survey the land, who spoke favorably and faithfully of the opportunities and blessings that lay ahead, would survive to experience the richness and abundance of God\u2019s steadfast love.<\/p>\n
2. Land Inheritance Laws: The Case of Zelophehad\u2019s Daughters (27:1\u201311)<\/p>\n
Principles regarding the allotment and apportionment of the land of promise had been set forth in terms of the clans of the twelve tribes of Israel, of which only male descendants are registered. Such practice bespeaks the patriarchal social and cultural milieu of the period among most Semitic peoples. The case of Zelophehad\u2019s daughters raises the issue of the status of women in Israelite society, particularly as rightful heirs in the Promised Land. The structure of the story contributes to our understanding of the development of casuistic legislation in Israelite history: specific case presentation and appeal to legislative authority (27:1\u20135) and precedent-setting decision and derived principles (27:6\u201311). The epilogue to the case is presented at the conclusion of the Book of Numbers, where additional case issues are raised and further legal implications are delineated (36:1\u201312).<\/p>\n
(1) The Case of Zelophehad\u2019s Daughters (27:1\u20135)<\/p>\n
1 The daughters of Zelophehad son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Makir, the son of Manasseh, belonged to the clans of Manasseh son of Joseph. The names of the daughters were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah. They approached 2 the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and stood before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the leaders and the whole assembly, and said, 3 \u201cOur father died in the desert. He was not among Korah\u2019s followers, who banded together against the LORD, but he died for his own sin and left no sons. 4 Why should our father\u2019s name disappear from his clan because he had no son? Give us property among our father\u2019s relatives.\u201d
\n5 So Moses brought their case before the LORD<\/p>\n
27:1\u20135 The Manasseh tribe descendant fathered only daughters prior to his death in the wilderness. One of the old generation who had rebelled against God and Moses and suffered the mortal consequences, Zelophehad perished (\u201che died for his own sins\u201d) without a rightful male heir through which his family would receive its share in the allotment of the land. The concern shared by Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah was that their family would be passed over in the apportionment and that name be forgotten in posterity. The second census had been outlined in terms of patriarchal clans, without reference to the status of women within the system. This issue is foreshadowed in 26:33, where the female progeny are first listed.
\nThe five women approached (tiqrabn\u00e2, \u201ccome near\u201d) with an attitude of supplication to the Tent of Meeting to present before the proper religious authorities (Moses, Eleazar, et al.). Matters of land and inheritance were sacred in Semitic culture, and two facets of the request are offered. The disclaimer that their father had not participated in Korah\u2019s rebellion assured the priestly leaders of the general faithfulness of the family and provided requisite qualification for their petition. The perception that one would \u201cdie for his own sin\u201d is notable in a passage having community responsibility as its focus. Both individual and corporate accountability are evidenced here. With regard to the perceptiveness of the women, Allen notes: \u201cThese were pious women with a sound understanding of the nature of the desert experience and a just claim for their family.\u201d The request anticipates the fulfillment of divine blessing in the inheritance of the land.
\nSecond, the potential disappearance of one\u2019s family name was a matter of grave concern, often associated with divine judgment and eventuating in societal abandonment. The entreaty for property within the clan allotment bespeaks comprehension of and derives from the principles set forth in 26:52\u201356. Thus the daughters of Zelophehad desire status and inheritance rights within the Makirite clan of the tribe of Manasseh. Later, in Num 32:39\u201342, the Makirites receive an inheritance in the Gilead region of Transjordan.
\nMoses does not reply immediately because of a lack of legal precedent related to the women\u2019s petition. As a quality spiritual leader he seeks the Lord for an answer to the matter of women and land inheritance. The feminine emphasis in this unusual request was heightened in the Masoretic Text by means of an enlarged feminine plural suffix, the Hebrew letter n\u00fbn. The NIV text breaks the paragraphing between vv. 4 and 5, whereas the MT division appears after v. 5.<\/p>\n
(2) Case Decision and Derived Principles (27:6\u201311)<\/p>\n
6 and the LORD said to him, 7 \u201cWhat Zelophehad\u2019s daughters are saying is right. You must certainly give them property as an inheritance among their father\u2019s relatives and turn their father\u2019s inheritance over to them.
\n8 \u201cSay to the Israelites, \u2018If a man dies and leaves no son, turn his inheritance over to his daughter. 9 If he has no daughter, give his inheritance to his brothers. 10 If he has no brothers, give his inheritance to his father\u2019s brothers. 11 If his father had no brothers, give his inheritance to the nearest relative in his clan, that he may possess it. This is to be a legal requirement for the Israelites, as the LORD commanded Moses.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
27:6\u201311 The response begins with the precedent-setting divine formula, \u201cAnd the LORD said to him,\u201d lit., \u201cAnd the LORD said to him saying\u201d (wayy\u014d\u02bemer YHWH \u02beel-m\u014d\u0161eh l\u0113\u02bem\u014dr), thus utilizing an important thematic element of the Book of Numbers. The structure provides a precursor to the midrashic process whereby matters of legal consequence not explicitly addressed in Torah would be posed to the council of religious elders for dialogue and decision. Applicable Torah precedents were brought to bear on the discussion, then the council ruling was disseminated to the Jewish communities.
\nThe divine response was favorable on behalf of the women. The technical terminology of v. 11, \u201clegal requirement\u201d (l\u0115\u1e25\u016bqqat mi\u0161p\u0101t, \u201cfor enactment of justice\u201d), is suitably translated \u201clegal precedent\u201d in the NEB. Budd noted: \u201cTheologically the section presses the rights of women to a clear and recognized legal position within the sphere of property law. They are seen as a proper channel through which the threads of possession and inheritance may properly be traced.\u201d Thus the children of Zelophehad\u2019s daughters, as well as future generations of women, could receive landed property via familial inheritance, whether male or female.
\nAdditional clarifications are set forth in vv. 8\u201311. The sequence of familial property inheritance was as follows: (1) if no son, the land reverts to a daughter, (2) if no daughter, then to the man\u2019s brothers, (3) if no brothers, then to his father\u2019s brothers, (4) if no father\u2019s brothers, then to the nearest relative within the clan. These specific delineations supplement the laws pertaining to the Year of Jubilee (Lev 25:23\u201328), in which the principle of divine ownership of the land reigns supreme. Marital implications are presented in Deut 25:5\u201310. Land inheritance and family preservation are inextricably intertwined.<\/p>\n
3. Joshua: Heir to Moses (27:12\u201323)<\/p>\n
The editorial juxtapositioning of the case of land inheritance for Zelophehad\u2019s daughters with the directive for Moses to view the land from a distance and announce his successor serves several functions. In retrospect the restriction of Moses from entering the Promised Land served as a poignant reminder of the disastrous results described in the rebellion cycles of Numbers 11\u201325. This section climaxed with Moses the righteous lawgiver obstinately defying God and being informed he would suffer the same consequence of his generation\u2014to die before experiencing the fullness of God\u2019s blessing. In prospect Moses was called upon to commission the faithful visionary Joshua as heir to his leadership of the nation. The fulfillment of the promise of land would fall under his administration and be subordinate to the direction of God himself.
\nThe pericope adheres to an orderly progression, outlining the transition of leadership: (1) Moses\u2019 sin recapitulated (27:12\u201314), (2) Moses\u2019 entreaty for a new leader (27:15\u201317), (3) Moses\u2019 instruction from the Lord (27:18\u201321), (4) Moses commissions Joshua (27:22\u201323). The first section is recounted in Deut 3:21\u201329; 32:48\u201352, and the fulfillment is in Deut 34:1\u20138. Joshua\u2019s empowerment and guidance come to fruition in Deut 34:9 and throughout the Book of Joshua.<\/p>\n
(1) Moses\u2019 Sin Recapitulated (27:12\u201314)<\/p>\n
12 Then the LORD said to Moses, \u201cGo up this mountain in the Abarim range and see the land I have given the Israelites. 13 After you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was, 14 for when the community rebelled at the waters in the Desert of Zin, both of you disobeyed my command to honor me as holy before their eyes.\u201d (These were the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the Desert of Zin.)<\/p>\n
27:12\u201314 The elderly Israelite lawgiver was directed to journey about ten miles to the mountainous region of northwestern Moab, called Mount Abarim, where from the vantage point of Mount Nebo (Deut 32:49) he could see the Promised Land. After previewing what the new generation would inherit, he would die like his older brother Aaron and be buried at this place of visionary hope. The expression \u201cgathered to your people\u201d describes the Hebrew concept of unity and identity with the faithful forefathers (Gen 15:15; 25:8; 35:29; 47:30), with whom they would rest and find peace. The concept of ancestral continuity may relate an early view of immortality, though as Harrison notes, \u201cWherever the phrase occurs it carries with it an intimation of immortality, but it should not be understood in a purely literal sense.\u201d
\nThe reminder of the rebellion of Moses and Aaron at the waters of Meribah (Num 20:1\u201313) served to instruct future generations that no follower of the Lord is immune from sin and its judgment. Those called to lead the people of God must maintain the highest standards of holiness in obedience and faith or reap the results of their transgressions. Moses pleaded urgently for the Lord to allow him to tour the Land his people would possess and eat its fruit, but his request was cut short by a divine demand to refrain from pursuing the issue any further (Deut 3:23\u201327).<\/p>\n
(2) Moses\u2019 Entreaty for a New Leader (27:15\u201317)<\/p>\n
15 Moses said to the LORD, 16 \u201cMay the LORD, the God of the spirits of all mankind, appoint a man over this community 17 to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the LORD\u2019S people will not be like sheep without a shepherd.\u201d<\/p>\n
27:15\u201317 The response of the elder statesman of Israel reflected the true character of a spiritual leader, prayerful submission to the will of God, and concern for the future welfare of the people whom God had called him to guide. The expression \u201cthe Lord, the God of the spirits of all mankind,\u201d is rare phraseology (here and Num 26:22) that bespeaks the sovereignty of God over all humankind. That God would raise anew a righteous commander-in-chief demonstrates his sovereign concern for the welfare of his people. Moses likewise does not bemoan here his being hindered from entering the land of promise and hope.
\nThe request of divine appointment for the new leader parallels Moses\u2019 own method of calling; he was not of royal lineage nor elected by the common populace. One who would march forth into the land of Canaan and face the challenges and perils that lay ahead must possess a divine commission, blessed with a sovereign hand of guidance and strength. Without such direction the often recalcitrant Israel might spend another forty years aimlessly wandering in a wilderness of spiritual darkness, \u201clike sheep without a shepherd.\u201d The phraseology \u201cto go out and come in \u2026 lead them out and bring them in\u201d (v. 17) reflects a verbal device designed to convey leadership potential parallel to that of Moses himself.<\/p>\n
(3) Moses\u2019 Instruction from the Lord (27:18\u201321)<\/p>\n
18 So the LORD said to Moses, \u201cTake Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay your hand on him. 19 Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and the entire assembly and commission him in their presence. 20 Give him some of your authority so the whole Israelite community will obey him. 21 He is to stand before Eleazar the priest, who will obtain decisions for him by inquiring of the Urim before the LORD. At his command he and the entire community of the Israelites will go out, and at his command they will come in.\u201d<\/p>\n
27:18\u201321 The selection of a new leader to succeed an individual of the spiritual and charismatic character of Moses should come from among those of proven character and integrity. Few among Israel had the necessary elder status and demonstrated spiritual leadership quality. None but Joshua ben Nun and Caleb ben Jephunneh of the earlier generation had survived the desert sojourn, and so a choice from these two men who had given a good report of the land and implored Israel to advance by faith into the land was most appropriate (Num 13:30\u201314:38). Joshua ben Nun of the tribe of Ephraim, who had directed the army of Israel against the Amalekites (Exod 17:8\u201316) and who had aided Moses in the administration of the Tent of Meeting soon after the golden calf incident (Exod 33:7\u201311; cf. Num 11:28), was chosen as the individual best suited to assume the role of Moses. Joshua is described here as \u201ca man in whom is the spirit.\u201d The NIV marginal reading, \u201cSpirit,\u201d reflects a preferable interpretive translation, paralleling the personal trait described in Deut 34:9, \u201cNow Joshua son on Nun was filled with the spirit (or Spirit) of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him.\u201d The lower case rendering would imply a general spirit of leadership. Whether the term spirit connotes a reference to the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, or a spirit of leadership is indefinite by terminology alone, but the life of Joshua evidenced that the [Holy] Spirit of God controlled his life. At Joshua\u2019s command the people would \u201cgo out, and \u2026 come in,\u201d terminology that bespeaks full obedient response and also echoes (inclusio) the words of Moses\u2019 request.
\nThe conferring of command was accomplished by the laying on of the [right] hands, symbol of power and authority, in the people\u2019s presence and under the supervision of Eleazar, the high priest who was also Moses\u2019 nephew. A portion of Moses\u2019 authority was to be bestowed immediately so that the transition would be smooth, and the obedient consent of the people would be harmonious. Unlike Moses, who enjoyed direct access to Yahweh in seeking his will, Joshua\u2019s authority was complemented by Eleazar, who would assist in decision making by inquiring of the Lord via the Urim, the sacred lots. The Urim, usually listed in conjunction with the Thummim, were among the stones placed in the high priest\u2019s breastplate, and probably were in addition to the twelve stones representing the tribes of Israel (Exod 28:30; Lev 8:8). The Urim and Thummim were instruments of divine illumination via a priestly intermediary, though the physical shape and the methodology of utilization are not revealed in Scripture. Harrison notes concerning these two words, which begin with the first (\u02be\u0101lep) and last (t\u0101w) letters of the Hebrew alphabet, \u201cIf this is the merismus motif, in which opposites are paired to denote totality, it could be interpreted to mean \u2018complete truth in revelation.\u2019 \u201d Later in Israelite history the prophets, as spokesmen for the Lord, superseded the Urim and Thummim as instruments of divine revelation (1 Sam 28:6; 1 Kgs 22:7\u20138).<\/p>\n
(4) Moses Commissions Joshua (27:22\u201323)<\/p>\n
22 Moses did as the LORD commanded him. He took Joshua and had him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole assembly. 23 Then he laid his hands on him and commissioned him, as the LORD instructed through Moses.<\/p>\n
27:22\u201323 The faithful servant Moses performed the task in full obedience to the command of the Lord. The MT indicates that Moses used both hands in a paramount manner of blessing, though some manuscripts of SamPent and Syriac contain the singular as in v. 18 and v. 23b. Joshua, whose name means \u201cYahweh is salvation,\u201d would carry the dual responsibilities of military and political leadership for the new generation of Israel. Beside him to assist and support him would be the priestly intermediary Eleazar, son of Aaron.<\/p>\n
4. The Appointed Times and Offerings (28:1\u201329:40)<\/p>\n
(1) Introduction (28:1\u20132)<\/p>\n
1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 \u201cGive this command to the Israelites and say to them: \u2018See that you present to me at the appointed time the food for my offerings made by fire, as an aroma pleasing to me.\u2019<\/p>\n
28:1\u20132 The second section of the first cycle of Part II of the Book of Numbers contains a series of offerings connected to each of the major divisions of the Israelite calendar. Structurally this pericope corresponds to Numbers 5\u20136 of cycle one of the first section. In the former section laws of purification complete the groundwork for sanctification of the nation prior to the presentation of tribal offerings and the dedication of the Tent of Meeting. In the present section the delineation of offerings for each of the calendrical commemorations and celebrations demonstrates the lavishness involved in sacrificial worship and anticipates the period of blessing from the Lord in the land, when abundant animal, grain, and drink elements would be available. G. Wenham noted: \u201cHere again the giving of these laws acts as a strong affirmation of the promise to Joshua and the rest of the people. Every year in the future the priests will have to sacrifice 113 bulls, 32 rams and 1,086 lambs and offer more than a ton of flour and a thousand bottles of oil and wine.\u201d The listed offerings were cumulative, such that during the annual Feast of Weeks the offerings listed were in addition to the regular daily sacrifices. Hence on the day of firstfruits at the beginning of the Feast of Weeks, the total would have been burnt offerings of nine lambs, two young bulls, and one ram, one and three-fifths ephah (twenty-six liters) fine flour mixed with three hin (twelve liters) of olive oil, and one and one-half hin (six liters) of fermented drink, plus one male goat for a sin offering.
\nThe order of presentation closely parallels Leviticus 23, where the emphasis is upon (1) the participation of the worshipers in the celebration or commemoration, and (2) notable offerings particular to the given holy day. In Numbers 28\u201329 the priestly considerations are of primary concern, providing supplemental material to that of Leviticus 23. The species, methods, and amounts that are to be offered by the priests on behalf of the nation of worshipers are delineated. L. R. Fisher has suggested that this section is of great antiquity since it is analogous to a Ugaritic ritual calendar from circa fourteenth century B.C. These texts instructed the priests as to the necessary time sequence and measure of given sacrifices to be offered during the seasonal cycles of the agricultural calendar year. One of the earliest Hebrew inscriptions unearthed in Palestine was the so-called Gezer calendar of the late tenth or early ninth century B.C., a text that outlines the agricultural seasons of early Israel.
\nThe section is introduced by the standard divine message formula that functions throughout the Book of Numbers as a key sectional divider. Stress is placed upon the ownership of Yahweh of the gifts and the demands placed by Yahweh upon the givers. Allen\u2019s translation of vv. 1\u20132 highlights this aspect:<\/p>\n
Then Yahweh spoke to Moses saying:
\n\u201cCommand the Israelites, and say to them,
\n\u2018You must be careful to present to me my offering
\nmy food of my offerings by fire, my soothing
\naroma, at the appointed time for each.\u2019
\n\u201cAnd you will say to them,
\n\u2018This is the offering by fire that you shall
\npresent to Yahweh.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
The life of the offering (animal) and the life of the offerer were gifts from God, and the return of the life of the offering was in celebration for the life given to the offerer.
\nThe \u201cappointed time\u201d (m\u00f4\u02bf\u0113d) denotes a designated time for religious assembly or may refer to the worshiping assembly itself (e.g., \u201cTent of Meeting\u201d = \u02be\u014dhel m\u00f4\u02bf\u0113d). Collectively the three annual pilgrimage assemblies are called the \u201cappointed feasts of the LORD\u201d (Lev 23:2). The sacrifices were prescribed according to the cycles of time and agricultural seasons, which were designed to honor and praise God for his beneficence in nature and history. Observances during several of the holy days combined elements of the agricultural calendar with salvation events in the history of the nation. The Feast of Booths integrated the providential protection of God during the wilderness experience with the fall fruit harvest. The Feast of Weeks combined elements of the wheat harvest with the gift of the law at Sinai. The second major division of the Mishnah, the late second century A.D. commentary on Jewish law, is called the Mo\u02beed and provided detailed interpretations and descriptions of Jewish law and practices relative to the biblical festivals from that time and earlier.
\nThe prescribed offerings of Numbers 28\u201329 are largely burnt offerings (\u02bf\u014dl\u00e2), which are consumed entirely on the altar by fire (cf. Lev 1). Each of the bulls, rams, and lambs had a prescribed amount of flour and oil to accompany the animal sacrifice, and wine or other ferment drink supplemented several. Sacrifices of this type (described in greater detail in Lev 1) reflect several important theological aspects: (1) a total burnt offering is a method by which the physical sacrifice is rendered fully to the Lord, the visible is rendered into the world of the invisible, and the smoke enters symbolically the nostrils of God with a sweet aroma such that he is pleased; (2) the animal must be perfect and unblemished because God requires nothing short of absolute purity; (3) nothing is returned to the offerer, signifying God\u2019s complete ownership; (4) offerings are made publicly as expressions of faith and obedience by those who must be ritually pure before presentation of the object; and (5) blood, the symbol of life of the sacrifice, was poured out on the altar as a means of returning life to the giver of all life. Some were expiatory or propitiatory in nature, effecting atonement for the offerer, while others were celebrative, honoring God for the blessings of life. The New Testament supports this interpretation by describing the sacrifice of Christ as \u201ca fragrant offering and sacrifice to God\u201d (Eph 5:2), and the faithful and righteous life of the Christian as \u201cliving sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God\u2014this is your spiritual act of worship\u201d (Rom 12:1).<\/p>\n
(2) Daily Offerings (28:3\u20138)<\/p>\n
3 Say to them: \u2018This is the offering made by fire that you are to present to the LORD: two lambs a year old without defect, as a regular burnt offering each day. 4 Prepare one lamb in the morning and the other at twilight, 5 together with a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a quarter of a hin of oil from pressed olives. 6 This is the regular burnt offering instituted at Mount Sinai as a pleasing aroma, an offering made to the LORD by fire. 7 The accompanying drink offering is to be a quarter of a hin of fermented drink with each lamb. Pour out the drink offering to the LORD at the sanctuary. 8 Prepare the second lamb at twilight, along with the same kind of grain offering and drink offering that you prepare in the morning. This is an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the LORD.<\/p>\n
28:3\u20138 Each morning after daybreak and each evening before sunset, a one-year-old lamb was prepared and sacrificed along with one-tenth ephah (about two liters) of finely ground flour and one-fourth hin (about one liter) of olive oil. This offering was one of those originally decreed on Mount Sinai (Exod 20:24; 29:38\u201343) for the purpose of consecration of the Tent of Meeting and the community that met God there. The more detailed cereal offerings of Num 15:1\u201321, which have the future life in the land in view, are presumed in this section. The addition of one-fourth hin of strong drink (\u0161\u0113k\u0101r, \u201cbeer, strong fermented or distilled drink,\u201d or more specifically yayin, \u201cwine\u201d in Exod 29:40) completes the collection of agricultural products that combined to produce a savory smell when consumed by fire. \u0160\u0113k\u0101r derives from the Akkadian \u0161ik\u0101ru, the common word in Mesopotamia for prominent barley beer. Recently, however, Stager has suggested that \u0161\u0113k\u0101r may have actually been a kind of brewed and distilled grape beverage made from a variety of vineyard products. Wine and other fermented liquids were considered special gifts from God (or the gods) in the ancient Near East and thus were to be reciprocated in kind as part of the array of sacrifices.
\nThe chronological setting of offering morning and evening sacrifices reflects upon the evening-morning sequence of the creation account in Genesis 1. This merismus intimates that God was to be worshiped continuously because of his creative power in ordering the universe, his providential power in nature whereby humankind\u2019s needs are provided, and his bestowing of power and dominion upon the pinnacle of his creation, humanity as male and female. Daily repetition would provide an endless picture of the dual (and often paradoxical) aspects of God\u2019s beneficent sovereignty and mankind\u2019s faithful responsibility to him.<\/p>\n
(3) Weekly (Sabbath) Offerings (28:9\u201310)<\/p>\n
9 \u201c \u2018On the Sabbath day, make an offering of two lambs a year old without defect, together with its drink offering and a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil. 10 This is the burnt offering for every Sabbath, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.<\/p>\n
28:9\u201310 Double portions of the daily offerings were called for on the Sabbath. As one of the unique contributions of Israelite religion to the world, the Sabbath observance centered on three facets: (1) the imitation of God\u2019s resting from creative activity on the seventh day of creation (Gen 2:2), (2) the remembrance of the covenant relationship between God and Israel (Exod 20:8\u201311), and (3) recalling the foundation of the nation in the deliverance from Egypt (Deut 5:12\u201315). The Sabbath would emerge as a special day of worship activity during the postexilic era.<\/p>\n
(4) Monthly (Rosh Chodesh) Offerings (28:11\u201315)<\/p>\n
11 \u201c \u2018On the first of every month, present to the LORD a burnt offering of two young bulls, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect. 12 With each bull there is to be a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil; with the ram, a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil; 13 and with each lamb, a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil. This is for a burnt offering, a pleasing aroma, an offering made to the LORD by fire. 14 With each bull there is to be a drink offering of half a hin of wine; with the ram, a third of a hin; and with each lamb, a quarter of a hin. This is the monthly burnt offering to be made at each new moon during the year. 15 Besides the regular burnt offering with its drink offering, one male goat is to be presented to the LORD as a sin offering.<\/p>\n
28:11\u201315 This passage contains the most extensive discussion of the monthly new moon festival (ro\u02be\u0161\u00ea \u1e25od\u0115\u0161\u00eem, the firsts of the months, or the new moons). Though the significance of this holy day for Jewish life waned following the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in A.D. 70, the new moon festival held an important place in the cycle of religious observances. Ram\u2019s horns and\/or trumpets were sounded over the burnt offerings (Num 10:10; Ps 81:3) on Rosh Chodesh, and commerce was suspended (Amos 8:5). David\u2019s absence from Saul\u2019s festival table (1 Sam 20:5) was cause for concern. But during the eighth century B.C., the celebration had become contemptible in the eyes of the Lord because of social injustice and religious idolatry in the nation (Isa 1:13; Hos 2:11).
\nThe lunar month, which commenced at the first official sighting of the smallest crescent of the new moon, was the basis for setting the sequence of the annual holy days and festivals (\u201con the first day of the seventh month,\u201d Lev 23:23). In the Mishnah regulations and requirements for witnesses are outlined, which were in effect during the late Second Temple period (Rosh Ha-Shanah 1.3\u20133.1). The lunar calendar is reflected throughout the Pentateuch, though the Qumran-Dead Sea Scroll community contended that the proper chronological reckoning should be the solar calendar, the lunar being considered of satanic origin.
\nThe sizable quantity of sacrificial elements offered on this day bespeaks the status of the holiday for the Israelite community. In addition to the daily sacrifices, the following animals and accompanying grain, oil, and wine were rendered:<\/p>\n
Animal
\nFine flour (ea)
\nLiquid
\nWine Libation
\n2 young bulls
\n3\/10 ephah
\noil
\n1\/2 hin
\n1 ram
\n2\/10 ephah
\noil
\n1\/3 hin
\n7 yearling lambs
\n1\/10 ephah
\noil
\n1\/4 hin
\n1 male goat (sin)<\/p>\n
Together these constituted a grand rite through which the nation paid homage to its Creator and Sustainer.<\/p>\n
(5) Passover (Pesach) and Unleavened Bread Offerings (28:16\u201325)<\/p>\n
16 \u201c \u2018On the fourteenth day of the first month the LORD\u2019S Passover is to be held. 17 On the fifteenth day of this month there is to be a festival; for seven days eat bread made without yeast. 18 On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. 19 Present to the LORD an offering made by fire, a burnt offering of two young bulls, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect. 20 With each bull prepare a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil; with the ram, two-tenths; 21 and with each of the seven lambs, one-tenth. 22 Include one male goat as a sin offering to make atonement for you. 23 Prepare these in addition to the regular morning burnt offering. 24 In this way prepare the food for the offering made by fire every day for seven days as an aroma pleasing to the LORD; it is to be prepared in addition to the regular burnt offering and its drink offering. 25 On the seventh day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work.<\/p>\n
28:16\u201325 The Passover begins the annual cycle of agricultural and religio-historical festivals, commencing on the fourteenth of the first month, called Abib in the Hebrew calendar and Nisan in the Babylonian. Pesach initiated the Feast of Unleavened Bread, a week-long celebration. The dual commemoration of Passover and Unleavened Bread reflect the dual aspects of the annual fetes, God\u2019s paramount salvation event in the deliverance of Israel from Egypt and his sustaining blessing in the spring barley harvest. Passover was the most important festival of the year, whereas Yom Kippur and Rosh Ha-Shanah were considered the two most holy days.
\nThe general rites and regulations for Passover are outlined in Exod 12:1\u201320; Lev 23:4\u20138; and Deut 16:1\u20138. The focus of the present pericope is the priestly responsibility in the sacrificial system for burnt offerings and the sin offering. The pesach itself on the fourteenth of the first month just prior to sundown was an individual freewill offering exalting God for the deliverance from the bondage of slavery and oppression in Egypt. The yearling lamb was slaughtered and consumed by the family members along with the required unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
\nOn each of the seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, burnt offerings, in the equivalent amounts to the monthly offerings above (vv. 11\u201315), were sacrificed, except that drink offerings of wine were not included. Red wine would later be prescribed for participant consumption during the Passover meal. The two bulls, one ram, seven lambs, and their concomitant grain, oil, and wine, plus a male goat for a sin offering, were presented along with the daily offerings (which included wine). The first and seventh days were set aside as Sabbaths for sacred assembly as the community of faith gathered for worship. During the eight days of celebration, a total of sixty-six lambs, fourteen bulls, seven rams, seven goats, seven and a half bushels of fine flour, over twenty-five gallons of olive oil, and at least one-half gallon of wine were expended.
\nThe testimony of the New Testament that Christ\u2019s death, burial, and resurrection took place during the Jewish celebration of Passover and Unleavened Bread attests to the importance of the holy season (Matt 26:17\u201319; Luke 22:1\u20137). The Christ event was the fulfillment of Passover, the salvation event for Christians as the Exodus was for the Israelites in the days of Moses (1 Cor 5:7).<\/p>\n
(6) Feast of Weeks (Shavuoth \/ Pentecost) Offerings (28:26\u201331)<\/p>\n
26 \u201c \u2018On the day of firstfruits, when you present to the LORD an offering of new grain during the Feast of Weeks, hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. 27 Present a burnt offering of two young bulls, one ram and seven male lambs a year old as an aroma pleasing to the LORD. 28 With each bull there is to be a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil; with the ram, two-tenths; 29 and with each of the seven lambs, one-tenth. 30 Include one male goat to make atonement for you. 31 Prepare these together with their drink offerings, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its grain offering. Be sure the animals are without defect.<\/p>\n
28:26\u201331 The Feast of Weeks, also called the day of firstfruits of the wheat harvest (Exod 34:22), marked the end of the Passover season, coming seven weeks and a day afterward. The New Testament name Pentecost derives from this chronological reckoning and the Greek word pent\u0113kostos, \u201cfiftieth.\u201d The wheat harvest was one of the principal periods in the agricultural calendar, according to the Gezer calendar as well as Scripture (Gen 30:14; Judg 15:1; 1 Sam 6:13). The highlight of the festival was the priest\u2019s waving of the two bread loaves of new grain and the two lambs of the fellowship offering (Lev 23:15\u201321).
\nLater in Jewish history, Shavuoth was embellished with the celebration of the giving of the law at Sinai and with rites of Messianic hope. These elements were based upon the chronological sequence of the Exodus-Sinai events (\u201cin the third month,\u201d Exod 19:1) and the wheat harvest background of the story of Boaz and Ruth, David\u2019s great-grandmother (1 Chr 2:12\u201315). For the Messianic community at Qumran, this festival was the most important of their solar calendar year. The founding of the church in Acts 1 occurred during this pilgrimage festival, infusing a Christo-centric Messianic hope and fulfillment into the holy day.
\nThe priestly sacrificial requirements were equivalent to those required for the new moon celebration. Leviticus 23:18, however, called for two rams and one bull versus the opposite amounts, an unexplained divergence. The Day of Firstfruits was also a Sabbath set aside for the community to rest from their labors and exalt Yahweh for the abundant harvest of barley and wheat. The concluding reminder that the animals presented for slaughter must be without blemish or defect, provides an allusion for the Christian reader to the words of Heb 9:14:<\/p>\n
How much more then will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God.<\/p>\n
Paul called Christ the firstfruits, through whom all will be made alive (1 Cor 15:22\u201323).<\/p>\n
(7) Feast of the Blowing Trumpets Offerings (29:1\u20136)<\/p>\n
1 \u201c \u2018On the first day of the seventh month hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. It is a day for you to sound the trumpets. 2 As an aroma pleasing to the LORD, prepare a burnt offering of one young bull, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect. 3 With the bull prepare a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil; with the ram, two-tenths; 4 and with each of the seven lambs, one-tenth. 5 Include one male goat as a sin offering to make atonement for you. 6 These are in addition to the monthly and daily burnt offerings with their grain offerings and drink offerings as specified. They are offerings made to the LORD by fire\u2014a pleasing aroma.<\/p>\n
29:1\u20136 The fall season of festivals commenced with the Day of the Blowing [of Trumpets], later called Rosh Ha-Shanah\u2014The New Year. This instrument was the ram\u2019s horn (\u0161\u00f4p\u0101r) rather than the silver trumpets blown over the burnt and fellowship offerings at other festivals (Num 10:1\u201310). Ethanim, the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar (Teshritu or Tishri of Babylonian derivation), accommodated two other important holy days, the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Booths, making it the most festive (or commemorative) time of the year. In late postexilic times the ten days through Yom Kippur were set apart for penitence and personal remorse, followed by the week-long Feast of Booths beginning on the fifteenth, a total of eighteen days of remembrance and celebration. Rosh Ha-Shanah today is considered the second most holy day of the Jewish calendar.
\nAs in the previous chapter, this section accentuates the role of the priests in sacrificial worship. The inclusio formed by the use of the phrase \u201cpleasing aroma\u201d highlights the anthropomorphic soothing aspect of the sacrifices by which God is heartened and satisfied with the act of the worshiper. The priests performed their duties as intermediaries for the community, and in concert the special relationship between God and man is fulfilled. The former and latter prophets alike heralded God\u2019s demand for faithfulness and obedience on the part of the priests and the people. Apart from these traits their sacrifices were detestable and could never achieve their purpose (Judg 2:10\u201319; Amos 5:21\u201327; Jer 5:20\u201331; Zeph 3:1\u20138).
\nThe burnt and sin offerings parallel those of the new moon, Passover, and Weeks, except that only one bull was slaughtered instead of two. Three sets of sacrifices were offered on the first of Ethanim: daily, new moon, and trumpets, for a total of three bulls, two rams, sixteen male lambs, one and six-tenths bushels of fine flour, and six gallons each of oil and wine.<\/p>\n
(8) Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) Offerings (29:7\u201315)<\/p>\n
7 \u201c \u2018On the tenth day of this seventh month hold a sacred assembly. You must deny yourselves and do no work. 8 Present as an aroma pleasing to the LORD a burnt offering of one young bull, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect. 9 With the bull prepare a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil; with the ram, two-tenths; 10 and with each of the seven lambs, one-tenth. 11 Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the sin offering for atonement and the regular burnt offering with its grain offering, and their drink offerings.
\n12 \u201c \u2018On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. Celebrate a festival to the LORD for seven days. 13 Present an offering made by fire as an aroma pleasing to the LORD, a burnt offering of thirteen young bulls, two rams and fourteen male lambs a year old, all without defect. 14 With each of the thirteen bulls prepare a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil; with each of the two rams, two-tenths; 15 and with each of the fourteen lambs, one-tenth.<\/p>\n
29:7\u201315 The tenth of Ethanim (Tishri) was the holiest day of the Israelite \/ Jewish calendar, the time when the people gathered in solemn assembly to humble themselves before the Lord (Lev 16:29\u201331; 23:26\u201328). The term translated \u201cdeny\u201d (\u02bf\u0101n\u00e2) means \u201cto afflict, oppress, be humble, or be lowly\u201d and is used occasionally in the context of fasting (Ezra 8:21). This latter means of self-denial became the principal means of individual participation during the late postexilic period, when the day became known as \u201cThe Fast.\u201d Yom Kippur also was called \u201cThe Day,\u201d a title echoed in the Mishnah tractate (Yoma) dedicated to its discussion.
\nThe descriptive title of the day, y\u00f4m hakipp\u016br\u00eem (or simply hakapp\u014dret), has been translated variously as Day of Atonement, Atonings, Day of Expiations, Propitiations, or Coverings, but it is not found in the present pericope. And whereas the detailed rites of the high priest and his attendants are outlined in Leviticus 16, with additional stipulations in 23:26\u201332, this section is concerned only with the required burnt and sin offerings and with the concomitant grain and oil components. The numbers of animals and amounts of flour and oil are equivalent to those for the Feast of Trumpets, but no wine is prescribed in the ritual.
\nThe work of Christ on the cross as \u201ca lamb without blemish or defect\u201d (1 Pet 1:19) brought ultimate fulfillment to the ritual of Yom Kippur. Functioning as a superior high priest (Heb 7:22\u201328), he offered himself as a once-for-all, eternal sacrifice (Heb 9:11\u201328). His work accomplished our redemption from sin and cleansed our guilty consciences (Heb 10:19\u201322).<\/p>\n
(9) Feast of Booths (Sukkoth) Offerings (29:16\u201338)<\/p>\n
16 Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering.
\n17 \u201c \u2018On the second day prepare twelve young bulls, two rams and fourteen male lambs a year old, all without defect. 18 With the bulls, rams and lambs, prepare their grain offerings and drink offerings according to the number specified. 19 Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering, and their drink offerings.
\n20 \u201c \u2018On the third day prepare eleven bulls, two rams and fourteen male lambs a year old, all without defect. 21 With the bulls, rams and lambs, prepare their grain offerings and drink offerings according to the number specified. 22 Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering.
\n23 \u201c \u2018On the fourth day prepare ten bulls, two rams and fourteen male lambs a year old, all without defect. 24 With the bulls, rams and lambs, prepare their grain offerings and drink offerings according to the number specified. 25 Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering.
\n26 \u201c \u2018On the fifth day prepare nine bulls, two rams and fourteen male lambs a year old, all without defect. 27 With the bulls, rams and lambs, prepare their grain offerings and drink offerings according to the number specified. 28 Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering.
\n29 \u201c \u2018On the sixth day prepare eight bulls, two rams and fourteen male lambs a year old, all without defect. 30 With the bulls, rams and lambs, prepare their grain offerings and drink offerings according to the number specified. 31 Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering.
\n32 \u201c \u2018On the seventh day prepare seven bulls, two rams and fourteen male lambs a year old, all without defect. 33 With the bulls, rams and lambs, prepare their grain offerings and drink offerings according to the number specified. 34 Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering.
\n35 \u201c \u2018On the eighth day hold an assembly and do no regular work. 36 Present an offering made by fire as an aroma pleasing to the LORD, a burnt offering of one bull, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect. 37 With the bull, the ram and the lambs, prepare their grain offerings and drink offerings according to the number specified. 38 Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering.<\/p>\n
29:16\u201338 The third in the series of seventh month holy days is the Feast of Booths, an eight-day celebration concluding the agricultural season that began with Passover. The fall harvest of the vineyard, olive orchards, and vegetable crops, the fruit of God\u2019s abundant blessing upon the community, was celebrated in concert with the remembrance of God\u2019s special provision of dwelling places (s\u016bkk\u00f4t, \u201ctents, booths\u201d) in the wilderness. When the people entered and settled the Promised Land, they were to actively imitate their forefathers by building s\u016bkk\u00f4t adjacent to their homes and living in them during the seven days of the feast (Lev 23:39\u201343). Branches from four green leafy trees were utilized in the celebration, perhaps in a ritual procession in the temple courts, a tradition known from Second Temple times and modern synagogue custom. The association of Sukkoth with the Exodus from Egypt provided a continuation of the salvation-redemption and providence-preservation motifs of Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Pentecost.
\nThe large quantities of offerings enumerated in this section confirm the agricultural nature of the festival. The total number of animals slaughtered was seventy-one bulls, fifteen rams, and one hundred and twenty-two lambs for burnt offerings (including the daily burnt offerings and at least one for the Sabbath). The number seven was featured in the double portion of the seven lambs offered (an additional sign of blessing) and the decreasing numbers of bulls daily whereby seven bulls were sacrificed on the seventh day, for a total of seventy (plus one on the eighth day). The accompanying grain and oil added up to approximately twenty-two bushels of fine flour and sixty-five gallons of olive oil. In honoring Yahweh for the fullness of blessing, the number of fullness of community offerings from the flock and the field were returned to God via the holocaust upon the altar.
\nThe first and eighth days of Sukkoth were Sabbaths for sacred assembly. Days of rest were for remembrance of creation, covenant, and deliverance, fundamental aspects of the unique relationship between God and his people. The day-by-day delineation draws a resounding conclusion to the ceremonies that reflect upon essential elements for the livelihood of Israelite agrarian society. By giving back to God the life of a portion of that which he has given to sustain life, the people would acknowledge his sovereignty and ownership of all. In like manner, Jesus\u2019 pronouncement on the last day of the Feast of tabernacles in Jerusalem emphasized the essential aspect of life in submission to God, \u201cIf anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from him\u201d (John 7:37\u201338). In the first century A.D. the Pharisees practiced a ritual of carrying a large golden flagon of fresh spring water, drawn from the Pool of Siloam, paraded ceremonially through the city to the Temple, and where it was then poured out as a libation offering to God upon the sacrificial altar. In this ritual, water, which was a symbol of life throughout the ancient world, would be poured out unto God in thanksgiving for the rains of the past year and in prayerful anticipation of that with which he would bless the people. Jesus utilized the imagery conveyed in this ceremony to teach an amazing lesson regarding himself. He was the true source of life symbolized in the living water.<\/p>\n
(10) Summary (29:39\u201340)<\/p>\n
39 \u201c \u2018In addition to what you vow and your freewill offerings, prepare these for the LORD at your appointed feasts: your burnt offerings, grain offerings, drink offerings and fellowship offerings.\u2019 \u201d
\n40 Moses told the Israelites all that the LORD commanded him.<\/p>\n
29:39\u201340 The final verses recapitulate the essential sacrificial elements for the holy days outlined in chaps. 28 and 29. The animal, grain and oil, and wine offerings were to be submitted in addition to any other vow, freewill or thanksgiving offerings brought by individuals, families, or the community (Lev 7:11\u201321; 22:17\u201325; Num 15:1\u201321).
\nIn preparation for entry and settlement of the land flowing with milk and honey, the priests of the people of God were called upon to render to him the sacrifices of field and flock that were so important to their survival. Allen concludes: \u201cThe restatement of these various offerings is a mark of faith and trust in the Lord, that at last he will complete his promise to bring his people into the land that is his gift for them.\u201d
\nThe reference to vows provides a structural preview to the material in the following chapter. The final verse (29:40 Eng., 30:1 Hb. MT) completes the inclusio of divine command concerning appointed times begun in 28:1\u20132. These instructions have been given by special divine revelation.<\/p>\n
5. Women\u2019s Vows (30:1\u201316)<\/p>\n
Vows for women provide a structural parallel to the special vows for Nazirites in 6:1\u201321. This section is anticipated by the mention of vows (votive offerings) at the end of the cultic discussion of the previous chapter. The occasion for this material is unknown, though perhaps the issue of women\u2019s inheritance raised by Zelophehad\u2019s daughters provided the impetus. The primary focus of the treatise is the binding character of vows for all community members, with exceptions made for women of special status. The serious nature of vows is reflected in Eccl 5:4: \u201cWhen you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow.\u201d Proverbs 20:15 warns against rash or hastily made vows.
\nThe internal bifid structure observed by Wenham groups the two triads of statutes as follows:<\/p>\n
Verses
\nMaterial
\nVerses
\nMaterial
\n2
\nMen\u2019s vows unbreakable
\n9
\nWidow\u2019s and divorcees unbreakable
\n3\u20135
\nGirls\u2019 vows voidable by father
\n10\u201312
\nWives\u2019 vows voidable by husband w\/o penalty
\n6\u20138
\nGirls\u2019 vows voidable by fiance\u2019
\n13\u201315
\nWives\u2019 vows voidable w\/ penalty<\/p>\n
Such arrangements were common to ancient Near Eastern law and the Old Testament.<\/p>\n
(1) Introduction: General Principle for Vows (30:1\u20132)<\/p>\n
1 Moses said to the heads of the tribes of Israel: \u201cThis is what the LORD commands: 2 When a man makes a vow to the LORD or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said.<\/p>\n
30:1\u20132 The making of vows was strictly voluntary, but any person who made a vow to the Lord, or by oath entered into an obligatory relationship, must fulfill that commitment. The term \u201cvow\u201d (neder) carries connotations of the verbal act of commitment to a task or to consecration of self or property to the Lord, sacrificial offerings (votive) as part of the obligation, or an oath of abstinence (e.g., Nazirite). A parallel term \u201cpledge\u201d (neder) occurs together with \u201cvow\u201d fourteen times in this chapter. T. W. Cartledge distinguishes between \u201cvows\u201d and \u201cobligations\u201d (NIV \u201coath to obligate\u201d), defining the former as \u201ca conditional promise, made in the context of petitionary prayer,\u201d and the latter as \u201can oath of abnegation.\u201d Terms of swearing and oath taking are not precise synonyms because they derived from a different Sitz im Leben and can have as its indirect object something or someone other than God. Biblical vows were made only to deity, intensifying the solemnity of the pledge.
\nThe reference to \u201ca man\u201d (\u02be\u00ees,\u030c man, mankind) in v. 2 may be interpreted in one of two ways: (1) the word may refer simply to the general category of men, with women being addressed in the following sections, or (2) the word in the verse context may set forth the general principle (or precedent) for men\u2019s vows, which are to be interpreted and applied to specific case needs for vows made by women. The latter function is preferred in that particular men\u2019s issues are not dealt with, and many of the women\u2019s issues are prescribed with the male-female relationship in view (30:16). For example, vows by boys under their father\u2019s household dominion are not addressed. In cases where women were under male authority, exception clauses were afforded.<\/p>\n
(2) Vows of Unmarried Women (30:3\u20135)<\/p>\n
3 \u201cWhen a young woman still living in her father\u2019s house makes a vow to the LORD or obligates herself by a pledge 4 and her father hears about her vow or pledge but says nothing to her, then all her vows and every pledge by which she obligated herself will stand. 5 But if her father forbids her when he hears about it, none of her vows or the pledges by which she obligated herself will stand; the LORD will release her because her father has forbidden her.<\/p>\n
30:3\u20135 Casuistic law was delineated concerning the binding nature of vows and\/or pledges made by women while still living under the patriarchal headship of her father. Cartledge noted: \u201cMale dominance becomes the controlling rule: any dependent woman may make vows, but such vows are subject to cancellation on first hearing by the male authority figure on whom the woman is dependent, whether father or husband.\u201d The young female lived under her father\u2019s watchcare and authority until she married (usually in the late teenage years), at which time her husband would assume that responsibility.
\nIf the young woman entered into a vow or took an oath that she might not be able to fulfill or one that might cause hardship or embarrassment to the family, the patriarch could cancel the obligation. If he rescinded the vow, then she was released by God from her promise (s\u0101la\u1e25, \u201cforgive, pardon\u201d). This stipulation also allows that a father may confirm such a vow or simply permit it to remain in effect by choosing no course of action.<\/p>\n
(3) Vows of Newly Married Women (30:6\u20138)<\/p>\n
6 \u201cIf she marries after she makes a vow or after her lips utter a rash promise by which she obligates herself 7 and her husband hears about it but says nothing to her, then her vows or the pledges by which she obligated herself will stand. 8 But if her husband forbids her when he hears about it, he nullifies the vow that obligates her or the rash promise by which she obligates herself, and the LORD will release her.<\/p>\n
30:6\u20138 The case law of this chapter is formulated in progressive stages of marital relationship. The second category of women\u2019s vows relates to a previous commitment that was carried over into the marriage relationship. The terminology of v. 6, \u201cutter a rash promise\u201d (mibt\u0101\u02be \u015b\u0115p\u0101teyh\u0101, \u201crashness of her lips\u201d), implies the possible immature vow that might be made by a young woman or girl. Leviticus 5:4 recounts the culpability of a person who thoughtlessly takes an oath of action. That person was required to make a sin offering. Taking a beneficent view of this law, Allen noted:<\/p>\n
That she might be released from such a vow is greatly liberating both to her and her husband.\u2026 This is a protective clause. It also works for her in that she might have been pressured into making a vow that was not at all in her best interests to keep. This frees her from unnecessary complications to her life as well.<\/p>\n
The same guidelines ensue for the husband in this setting as for the father in the previous section. The husband, as the male authority figure in the relationship, may choose from several courses of action: (1) permit the vow or oath to remain in effect by default\u2014no action, (2) negate the obligation, or (3) affirm the commitment by word or deed. Again, if the preference of the husband was cancellation, the woman was assured of the forgiveness and pardon from the Lord with regard to her vow and its concomitant offerings.<\/p>\n
(4) Vows of Widowed or Divorced Women (30:9)<\/p>\n
9 \u201cAny vow or obligation taken by a widow or divorced woman will be binding on her.<\/p>\n
30:9 A woman who was no longer under the patriarchal authority of her father or her husband, whether by his death or by divorce, possessed the same status and responsibility of a man with regard to vows and obligations. Women were afforded a significant position in Israelite society, for they were permitted to buy and sell property, negotiate contracts, operate businesses, and make vows and pledges (Num 27:7; 36:8). That widows and divorcees are classified together implies that in the functional relationship, the former husband of the latter was viewed as if he were dead, like the late husband of the widow.<\/p>\n
(5) Vows of Married Women (30:10\u201315)<\/p>\n
10 \u201cIf a woman living with her husband makes a vow or obligates herself by a pledge under oath 11 and her husband hears about it but says nothing to her and does not forbid her, then all her vows or the pledges by which she obligated herself will stand. 12 But if her husband nullifies them when he hears about them, then none of the vows or pledges that came from her lips will stand. Her husband has nullified them, and the LORD will release her. 13 Her husband may confirm or nullify any vow she makes or any sworn pledge to deny herself. 14 But if her husband says nothing to her about it from day to day, then he confirms all her vows or the pledges binding on her. He confirms them by saying nothing to her when he hears about them. 15 If, however, he nullifies them some time after he hears about them, then he is responsible for her guilt.\u201d<\/p>\n
30:10\u201315 The concluding and most detailed case relates to married women who make vows or oaths. In the patriarchal society of ancient Israel, vows that might have been detrimental to the woman, her husband, or the husband-wife relationship could be annulled by the husband. Special considerations were given to the circumstances and time sequence of when the wife took a vow or oath, when the husband was apprised of the commitment, and when and how he responded to the information.
\nFirst, the general principles that were outlined for the unmarried and newly married women applied also to married women. The husband may confirm by action or inaction or nullify his wife\u2019s vow or oath. Annulment by the husband frees the woman from fulfilling her commitment, and pardon is afforded her from the Lord. Second, if the husband deliberately delayed in responding to the statement of his wife\u2019s vow, his inaction confirmed her action. If he should decide after that extended period to annul the commitments of his wife, however, he would incur the guilt of a broken vow. The husband must not delay or waver in addressing the issue of his wife\u2019s vow, especially if disallowance were a possibility.
\nA third differentiation in this section is the inclusion of the particular language of self-denial. The phraseology \u02beiss\u0101r l\u0115\u02bfann\u014dt n\u0101pe\u0161, \u201coath to deny self,\u201d is used in the context of fasting in Lev 16:29, 31; Num 29:7; Ezra 8:21; Ps 35:13 or may refer to any other manner of self-abnegation (Gen 16:9; Dan 10:12). Hannah, Samuel\u2019s mother, provides a classic example of a woman who took upon herself a Nazirite vow of dedication and self-denial, which Elkanah her husband allowed to come to fulfillment by taking no action. Her vow was completed when she presented her son to Eli the priest for service of the Lord and offered sacrifices of bull, flour, and wine (1 Sam 1:3\u201328). In the New Testament, Jesus disparaged oaths that were detrimental to the well-being of others (Matt 15:3\u20139) and encouraged his followers to speak in resolute manner and avoid ambiguity (Matt 5:33\u201337; cf. Jas 5:12).<\/p>\n
(6) Summary (30:16)<\/p>\n
16 These are the regulations the LORD gave Moses concerning relationships between a man and his wife, and between a father and his young daughter still living in his house.<\/p>\n
30:16 The concluding summary indicates the central issue of the chapter, women\u2019s vows within the familial context. Together, Numbers 27 and 30 elevate the status of women within the patriarchal society of ancient Israel. Intermittent examples throughout the Old Testament advance a progressive development of laws regarding women in society and female-male relationships. Jesus would further elevate women by his close associations with those such as Mary the Magdalene and Martha and by his freedom in discussing vital theological issues with one such as the Samaritan woman at Jacob\u2019s well (John 4:1\u201326).<\/p>\n
IV. ADVENT CYCLE B: PREPARATION FOR WAR AND ENTRY INTO THE PROMISED LAND (31:1\u201336:13)<\/p>\n
Introduction to the Second Advent Cycle<\/p>\n
After the chronological interlude of chaps. 26\u201330 the final cycle of the Book of Numbers draws the reader\u2019s attention to the preparation for entry into the Promised Land in fulfillment of the covenantal promise made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses. According to the cyclical outline delineated in the introduction to this commentary, the theme develops as follows:<\/p>\n
1. Historical setting: Lord\u2019s vengeance versus Midianites and Balaam, Num 25:16\u201318 (chap. 31);
\n2. Twelve tribe listing: \u201cthousand men from each of the tribes of Israel\u201d (3x in 31:4\u20136); ten leaders to divide land of Canaan, two and one-half tribes in Transjordan (Num 34:13\u201329);
\n3. Thematic development: journey and land motifs combined (Num 32\u201334);
\n4. Matters related to the priests and Levites: provision of Levitical cities in 35:1\u20138;
\n5. Laws governing the community of faith: cities of refuge and property rights for the daughters of Zelophehad in 35:9\u201336:12.<\/p>\n
The final verse of the book, cycle, and chapter returns to the geographical setting from which the entry into the Promised Land will be launched, with the reminder that the Book of Numbers is ultimately a book of instruction for faith and practice, with numerous examples concerning life lived in the world in relationship to the Lord.<\/p>\n
1. The Midianite Campaign (31:1\u201354)<\/p>\n
Chapter 31 picks up where chap. 25 left off, namely with a reprisal attack against the Midianites who with Balaam had instigated a plot to induce Israel toward idolatry and adulterous immorality. After the expurgation of the sinful elements of their people, the second generation of Israel, now poised in the plains of Moab opposite Jericho, was facing the same moral, ethical, and spiritual dilemma that the first generation had faced in the wilderness. Would they be faithful to their unique covenant relationship with Yahweh their God or succumb to the temptations that lay ever before them? The seriousness of the Midianite sinfulness reverberates through the text, which recounts the Lord\u2019s vengeance against them. In reality the content of this passage is much more concerned with matters related to the process of holy war than with matters of warfare; the material reflects more concern for the cult than for the waging of warfare. T. Ashley has rightly outlined chap. 31 with respect to four aspects of holy war methodology, which follow the brief section on the battle against the Midianites (vv. 1\u201312): (1) inflicting the ban or h\u0113rem, vv. 13\u201318, (2) cleansing the soldiers, vv. 19\u201324, (3) dividing the booty, vv. 25\u201347, and (4) bringing an offering to Yahweh, vv. 48\u201354. The BHS further subdivides vv. 25\u201347 into two sections, with vv. 25\u201330 containing the method of distribution under the leadership of Eleazar the priest and vv. 31\u201347 the summary count of all the booty. Thus this chapter has provided a case study for the postcombat concerns for the upcoming campaigns in the land of Canaan. As such it would be natural to include the application of other laws and statutes from the Book of Numbers, such as the purification of soldiers who had come in contact with the dead (vv. 19\u201324 from 19:14\u201319), provisions for the priests and Levites from the tithes and offerings of the people (vv. 28\u201341, 47, 50\u201354 from 18:2, 8\u201316), the gathering of Moses to his people in his upcoming death (v. 2 from 20:12, 24), and the obedience of Moses and the people to the Lord\u2019s commands (vv. 7, 21, 41 from 20:9, 27).<\/p>\n
Critical Issues in Numbers 31<\/p>\n
Source critical scholars have generally assigned this passage to the supposed priestly editor \/ composer due to the role of Phinehas the priest, son of Eleazar, the delineation of provisions for the priests and Levites, several \u2018late\u2019 Hebrew words, and the extensive onomastic listing of numerous animals. G. B. Gray described this chapter as \u201cnot history, but Midrash\u201d which belonged to \u201cthe age which saw the rise of Midrashic literature; it clearly belongs to the secondary strata of the Priestly Code (Ps).\u201d Budd suggested that \u201cthe story has little \u2018realism,\u2019 and is best understood as a midrashic construction, celebrating the power of Yahweh to defeat enemies, emphasizing the need in all circumstances to support the priests and Levites.\u201d Yet the passage contains substantial portions that relate to the priests and Levites and their support primarily as managerial accountants and guardians of the purity of the community and its sanctuary. The priests, under the auspices of their leader Eleazar, would oversee the counting and distribution of the booty, but their share was but a very small portion when compared to that received by the soldiers and the rest of the community. That maintaining of the purity of the sancta was an important role of priesthood among the religious cultures throughout the ancient Near East is evidenced from the very earliest cultic or priestly literature of the third millennium B.C., an argument for early antiquity as much as late antiquity. The priests also served as the trumpeting signal corps for the dispatching of the Israelite militia.
\nNumbers 31 is said to be dependent on Deuteronomy 20, Judges 8, and 1 Samuel 30. Yet, as Wenham and Ashley have so astutely pointed out, none of these arguments is conclusive; and in fact if one hypothesizes that the chapter derives from the Mosaic era, the three passages above derive from Numbers 25 and 31 sequentially and logically. In a general sense Gray may have been correct in describing Numbers 31 as midrashic (a literary tool for teaching certain lessons or principles) in its literary structure, but that need not imply that it should be associated with midrashic exegesis of the late postexilic era (second century B.C. and later). The basis of the passage is material that should be taken as historically reliable, which was fashioned into a literary composition that had the function of providing case law precedents for future holy war endeavors for this generation that would enter the land and for generations to come. J. Milgrom concluded that \u201cthe assembled evidence clearly points to the historic reality that Midian was the most powerful and menacing enemy that Israel had to encounter during its migration into Canaan.\u201d
\nCritics have observed that several components in the account seem incredulous, including the annihilation of all the males of Midian, the enormous numbers of various animals seized in the plunder, and that none was missing or lost from Israel\u2019s battalions. G. Wenham and Ashley have provided answers to these and other questions regarding the content and character of the narrative. First, it is an overstatement of the data in the narrative to suggest that the report of vv. 7\u20138, that Israelites \u201ckilled all the males of Midian\u201d including the kings (or tribal chiefs), implies that every male of every Midianite tribe from the Transjordan to Arabia to Sinai was exterminated in this one campaign. Obviously this was not the case since the Midianites are well attested in the biblical and ancient Near Eastern texts. Taken in the historical context of this being a divinely directed follow-up campaign after the sinful Baal Peor incident (25:16\u201318; 31:3\u20138), this crusade was directed at the tribes or clans of Midianites who dwelled in the central and northern Transjordan highlands, in the vicinity of the lands of the Moabites, Ammonites, and Amorites. The Midianites of the southern regions, such as those of Moses in-laws, were on better terms with the Israelites or were not involved on this occasion.
\nSecond, the large numbers of animals taken as spoils of war seem incredulous. The totals are much higher by comparison with those confiscated in the campaign of Thutmose III of Egypt ca. 1460 B.C. during his campaign against Megiddo and other northern Canaanite cities. The Karnak temple account lists booty of 1,929 cattle, 2,000 goats, 20,500 sheep, and 2,503 slaves (men, women, and children), along with a variety of physical objects such as gold bowls and ebony statues. G. Wenham suggests an adjustment should be made to the numbers by analogy with the two census summaries of 1:1\u201346 and 26:1\u201351. Taking the alternative meaning of the word for thousand (\u02beelep), that of \u201cclans\u201d or \u201cbattalions of troops,\u201d as perhaps herds or flocks in this analogy, the totals of the animals might be interpreted as 67,500 or even fewer sheep (vs. 675,00 in v. 32), 3,600 or fewer cattle taken by the men of war as their share (vs. 36,000 in v. 38), et cetera. Yet within the text there is consistency in the resultant numbers of animals and persons provided as gifts to the Lord (and hence the priests) on the basis of the 1:500 ratio delineated in v. 28. Of 32,000 persons captured, 32 (1\/500 of the warriors\u2019 half=16,000) were presented as the Lord\u2019s tribute (v. 40).
\nThe testimony that not a man was missing from those who went out to war against the Midianites (v. 49) seems exaggerated on the surface, yet such claims are not unknown from the Bible or the texts of the ancient Near East. The account of Gideon\u2019s night raid against the Midianites suggests that all three hundred men survived the initial confrontation and continued their efforts by pursuing their enemies down into the Jordan Valley and beyond (Judg 7:7, 16, 19\u201322; 8:4). The Persian King Cyrus, for example, who captured the city of Babylon only after conquering the rest of the Babylonian kingdom, claims to have captured this seemingly impregnable city \u201cwithout any battle\u201d in 539\/538 B.C. The victory over the Midianites was a remarkable one indeed, but with the providential direction and protection of the armies of Israel, such was definitely not out of the realm of possibility.
\nFinally, a word should be mentioned about the moral and ethical concerns of holy war. The goal of holy war was to drive out human populations (Num 33:50\u201353). In some cases it included the total annihilation of human life in a given area to purge idolatry and remove its temptations (Deut 20:16\u201319), the subjugation of women who were not killed (Deut 10\u201314), and the banning of certain objects and materials from the public usage (Deut 7:5, 24\u201326; Josh 6:18\u201319). But these requirements were intended for Israel during the period of the late second and first millennia B.C. As D. Howard has aptly observed: \u201cWe should note that the instructions to Israel to annihilate the Canaanites were specific in time, intent, and geography.\u2026 While God abhors evil of every kind and Christians are to oppose it vigorously, the extremes of the \u1e25erem are not enjoined upon Christians to practice today.\u201d By the principles and standards set forth by Jesus Christ, the law of holy war has been superseded by the law of love. There is no successor to Israel as the theocratic kingdom in the Bible or in subsequent human history, no realm defined by ethnicity or national boundaries. The kingdom of God is still a theocracy, but it is defined by the Christian community of faith, those who have believed in Jesus as the Christ.
\nFor Christians the kingdom of God, which has been established in and through the person and work Christ, transcends nationalism, definable geographical parameters, and man-made religious codes. It is not defined by ethnicity but by the ethical and moral demands that God has revealed to humanity through his word. This kingdom is ever moving toward the goal of the transformation of all peoples and nations into a kingdom that evinces Christlikeness. Thus no nation can now claim to be heirs of the law of holy war, but each Christian who is a citizen of a given state, nation, or ethnic group should work diligently in exerting influence on the state so that its laws and statutes might reflect the fullness of justice, righteousness, and ethical quality that derive from the very nature of God. In an imperfect world so deeply affected by the sin of humanity, however, any just state must by necessity participate in means of violence to maintain order and quality of life for its citizens. As for the Christian who participates in this world system, P. Craigie aptly states:<\/p>\n
The human state to which he [the Christian] belongs is bound by the order of necessity, of violence; it is caught in the same dilemma which characterized the existence of the ancient state of Israel, and the Old Testament has made it clear that such is an inevitable dilemma. No state can exist free from the necessity of violence or liberated from the possibility of war. And the dilemma for the Christian will be in determining how to understand the relationship between his two citizenships.<\/p>\n
The Midianites<\/p>\n
The Midianites are an enigmatic people in biblical, historical, and archaeological research. According to the ancestral genealogies of Gen 25:1\u20134, Midian was one of the sons of Abraham through his concubine Keturah. Midianites are depicted as having close associations with the Moabites (Gen 36:35; Num 22:7; 25:6, 14\u201318), with the Amalekites (Judg 6:3; 7:12), and with the Ishmaelites in the sale of Joseph to a caravan headed to Egypt (Gen 37:28). The Midianites seem to have been a large yet loosely associated confederation of nomadic and seminomadic tribes who traveled the regions of the Sinai peninsula, the Negev of southern Israel, southern Jordan and the Arabah, and southeastward into the northwestern part of the Saudi Arabian peninsula. From the variety of biblical examples some of the Midianite clans seem to have been more amiable, as in the case of the family of Jethro, Reuel, and Hobab (Exod 2:15\u20133:1; 4:18\u201320), while others were marauding nomads taking opportunity for personal gain by raiding towns and crops (Judg 6:1\u20138:21). Moses fled to the region of Midian from Egypt, labored in the Midianite household of Jethro (Reuel), married one of his seven daughters (Zipporah), and there first encountered the Lord in the theophany at the burning bush (Exod 2:15\u20133:4). Some have even suggested that Moses derived some of his monotheistic theology from his association with Jethro, who was a priest of Midian.<\/p>\n
(1) Israelite Armies Battle the Midianites (31:1\u201312)<\/p>\n
1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 \u201cTake vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites. After that, you will be gathered to your people.\u201d
\n3 So Moses said to the people, \u201cArm some of your men to go to war against the Midianites and to carry out the LORD\u2019S vengeance on them. 4 Send into battle a thousand men from each of the tribes of Israel.\u201d 5 So twelve thousand men armed for battle, a thousand from each tribe, were supplied from the clans of Israel. 6 Moses sent them into battle, a thousand from each tribe, along with Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, who took with him articles from the sanctuary and the trumpets for signaling.
\n7 They fought against Midian, as the LORD commanded Moses, and killed every man. 8 Among their victims were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba\u2014the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword. 9 The Israelites captured the Midianite women and children and took all the Midianite herds, flocks and goods as plunder. 10 They burned all the towns where the Midianites had settled, as well as all their camps. 11 They took all the plunder and spoils, including the people and animals, 12 and brought the captives, spoils and plunder to Moses and Eleazar the priest and the Israelite assembly at their camp on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan across from Jericho.<\/p>\n
31:1\u20132 The cycle begins with the standard introductory formula for divine instruction, way\u0115dabb\u0113r YHWH \u02beel-m\u014d\u0161eh l\u0113\u02bem\u014dr, \u201cThen Yahweh instructed Moses saying\u201d\u2014used as a major organizational element throughout the Book of Numbers. This would be the final exercise of leadership carried out by Moses before his death, his final act of faithful obedience before he would be \u201cgathered to his people\u201d like his brother Aaron. That Moses was directed by God to \u201ctake vengeance\u201d (NIV, NKJV) on the Midianites reflects one side of the Hebrew verb nqm, which can also mean \u201cvindication.\u201d God directs his vengeance against the immoral, idolatrous, and unjust; and yet his vengeance is often self-limiting according to his great mercy. Smick notes, \u201cThe Bible balances the fury of God\u2019s vengeance against the sinner with the greatness of his mercy on those whom he redeems from sin.\u201d G. Mendenhall has defined the content of this instruction as \u201cpunitive vindication.\u201d Mendenhall is right in suggesting that the use of the words \u201cavenge\u201d or \u201crevenge\u201d with God as the subject reflects an improper theology based on a low view of God. Rather God vindicates the righteous and punishes the sinner as an essential part of his ethical, moral, and just character. God is not out for retaliatory revenge but for vindication of the honor of his people and himself and ultimately for restoration of the well-being of humanity.
\n31:3\u20135 The battle instructions are given in terms of the size of the army to be mustered for the campaign and the involvement of the priestly leadership under Phinehas, the son of the high priest Eleazar son of Aaron. The equal enlistment of one thousand from each of the twelve tribes recalls the corporate community\u2019s equal participation in the bringing of gifts to the sanctuary when it had been dedicated in the valley below Mount Sinai (7:1\u201389). This was to be a unified effort in carrying out the instructions from the Lord. Unity and wholesome structure of the community of faith was a major theme of Numbers 1\u20137, and as noted above in the introduction to this chapter, it supplies the needed cyclical element with a statement regarding the twelve Israelite tribes. This theme will be evidenced throughout the chapter.
\n31:6 Moses responded faithfully by mustering the required contingent of one thousand men from each of the twelve tribes. Phinehas was dispatched along with the troops as the priest who would serve the military in his necessary cultic capacities with the \u201carticles from the sanctuary\u201d and the trumpets that had been made for directing the movements of the camps along their journey from Mount Sinai and rallying the troops for war (Num 10:1\u201310). Eleazar the high priest was not sent so as to preserve his sanctity from the potential contamination that would be brought on by exposure to the dead in battle. The connection with 25:16\u201318 is evidenced again in the role played by Phinehas, to which Milgrom remarked: \u201cHere we see Phinehas once again acting as the antidote to Balaam. Just as he countered Balaam\u2019s plan to seduce the Israelites at Baal-peor (25:7\u201313), so now he serves as the spiritual leader of Israel\u2019s forces as they seek retribution from the Midianites, in whose midst Balaam was also active (v. 8).\u201d
\nScholars have debated which holy implements might have been taken from the sanctuary into battle. Some have suggested that the ark of the covenant was included among these items, while others disagree. It seems, however, that if the ark of the covenant was intended by this phrase it would have been mentioned as when the Israelites tried to use it against the Philistines in the Battle of Aphek-Ebenezer (1 Sam 4:3\u201311). Noordzij and Milgrom suggested these vessels were the Urim and Thummim, but Ashley argues that this was unlikely since they were kept in the possession of the high priest. R. K. Harrison interpreted the conjunction between \u201carticles of the sanctuary\u201d and \u201ctrumpets for signaling\u201d as a \u201cwaw explicitum,\u201d so the signal trumpets explain what the articles were\u2014\u201cthe implements of the sanctuary, namely the signal trumpets.\u201d Milgrom disagreed, suggesting that the trumpets could not have been named among the vessels because they were not anointed items like the other furnishings. Yet this factor is not mentioned in either the present text or in Num 10:1\u201310, and Milgrom\u2019s argument derives from silence. The trumpets probably were kept in the sanctuary for their regular cultic usage, such as during festivals and holy days, during sacrificial activity, and during their wilderness journeys.
\n31:7 That the Israelites attacked the Midianites \u201cas Yahweh commanded Moses\u201d recalls one of the key themes of chaps. 1\u201310, that when the nation acts in obedience to their God, victory, blessing, and fullness of life were theirs. This expression of faithful conformity to the revealed will of God finds a rare fourfold repetition in this chapter (vv. 7, 31, 41, 47) in the present context and in that of the distribution of the spoils of war among the Israelite warriors, common populace, priests, and Levites. The new generation of the Israelite community faced the challenge of faithful obedience with success against the Midianites, and the challenge would be repeated numerous times in the months and years to come.
\n31:8\u201312 Information concerning the victorious battle over the Midianites is summarized succinctly, as is often the historiographic style of ancient Israelite historians, who were more concerned with declaring matters related to their faith in God and the implications for the community. Yet this portion is vital in presenting the historical foundation for matters of faith and practice. Thus Ashley noted: \u201cThis admittedly vague battle report is the historical peg on which three related narratives are hung: the carrying out of the ban (vv. 13\u201318), the cleansing of the warriors (vv. 19\u201324), and the division (and annotation) of booty (vv. 25\u201354).\u201d All the males, including the kings (or chieftains) of the Midianites, were killed according to the guidelines of holy war.
\nThe names of the five kings (Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, Reba) are recounted again in the same order as in the battle summary of Josh 13:21, where they are called princes of Sihon. The precise political relationships among the Amorites, Moabites, and Midianites remains somewhat nebulous. These Midianite chieftains may have been subject to Sihon prior to the defeat of the Amorites, and then gained their independence through the earlier Israelite victory. One of these leaders, Zur, was the father of Cozbi, the Midianite woman who was killed by Phinehas along with her Israelite paramour Zimri ben Salu (25:14\u201318). Zur and Zimri are both regarded as patriarchal clan leaders, as is evidenced by the use of the phrase b\u00eat-\u02be\u0101b, \u201chouse of a father\u201d in 25:14, 15. Hence the title \u201cking\u201d (melek) has a broad semantic domain in Hebrew usage, and the use of the term in reference to the king of Edom in Num 20:14 need not imply that the Edomites were a well-organized nation during the days of the Israelite wilderness sojourn.
\nIn addition to the five chieftains and all the males of the Midianite forces, the Israelite army executed Balaam ben Beor of Pethor in Mesopotamia. Balaam was perhaps one of the counselors of the Moabites and Midianites in the Baal Peor incident, as well as having the role as the prophet-diviner called by the Moabite-Midianite coalition under Balak to pronounce a debilitating curse upon Israel. In Num 24:25 Balaam is said to have returned to his place, yet it seems on his way he lodged for a time among the Midianites, during which time he met his demise.
\nWomen and children were taken as captives along with the flocks, herds, and other material goods that belonged to the Midian clans. This collective \u201cwar booty\u201d that was confiscated from the often seminomadic Midianites included substantial quantities of animals, as listed in the ensuing vv. 32\u201347. Midianite dwelling places were reduced to rubble and ash by the scorched-earth policy of holy war. That which could be retained as booty was then brought back to the Israelite encampment on the plains of Moab, where the goods were presented to Moses their leader and Eleazar their high priest in view of the assembled Israelite community.<\/p>\n
(2) Preserving the Sanctity of the Camp (31:13\u201324)<\/p>\n
13 Moses, Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the community went to meet them outside the camp. 14 Moses was angry with the officers of the army\u2014the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds\u2014who returned from the battle.
\n15 \u201cHave you allowed all the women to live?\u201d he asked them. 16 \u201cThey were the ones who followed Balaam\u2019s advice and were the means of turning the Israelites away from the LORD in what happened at Peor, so that a plague struck the LORD\u2019S people. 17 Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, 18 but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.
\n19 \u201cAll of you who have killed anyone or touched anyone who was killed must stay outside the camp seven days. On the third and seventh days you must purify yourselves and your captives. 20 Purify every garment as well as everything made of leather, goat hair or wood.\u201d
\n21 Then Eleazar the priest said to the soldiers who had gone into battle, \u201cThis is the requirement of the law that the LORD gave Moses: 22 Gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, lead 23 and anything else that can withstand fire must be put through the fire, and then it will be clean. But it must also be purified with the water of cleansing. And whatever cannot withstand fire must be put through that water. 24 On the seventh day wash your clothes and you will be clean. Then you may come into the camp.\u201d<\/p>\n
31:13\u201318 Holy war had as its purpose the eradication of all impure elements from the geographical region or ethnic territory placed under the ban. Coming on the heels of an idolatrous and adulterous affair at Baal Peor involving Israelite and non-Israelite participants, a cleansing of the camp was in order so that the sanctity and purity of the community might be maintained (5:1\u20134). The violence of war brings death in its most heinous and comprehensive forms, rendering the combatants in a state of ritual impurity. Therefore anyone who comes in contact with the dead in an open field of battle, or within the tent of one\u2019s enemies in the pursuit of fleeing armies, must endure the process of ritual purification for the dead as outlined in 19:11\u201319. The impurity of death was a serious issue in ancient Israel, for anyone who failed to be cleansed was subject to the penalty of death, that of being totally cut off from the community of faith (19:11, 20). Such impurity made it necessary for Moses, Eleazar, and those clean persons who were dwelling within the holy camp to exit the encampment and meet the warriors and officers outside the camp so that any contaminants they might have been exposed to during the campaign would not be brought into the camp.
\nDeuteronomy 20:13\u201314 prescribed the killing of all the males in an attack on a city but allowed women, children, livestock, and various commodities to be plundered by the warriors. Moses, however, was angry with his military leaders and dismayed that the Israelite warriors returned with so many women among the spoils of war. He protested their actions, decrying the fact that it was primarily the Midianite women who had followed Balaam\u2019s counsel by leading the Israelite men into idolatry and adultery, both of which were punishable by death. So he gave orders to slay all of the males, even the young boys, and any of the women who had engaged in sexual relations with a man. Ashley suggested that God ordered the young men to be executed \u201cin order to destroy the means of future rebellion in Midian, and that all the women who were capable of sexual intercourse be killed in order to cut off the future population and to emphasize the nature of the sin of Baal-Peor.\u201d Women who had known men sexually, whether Midianite or sinful Israelite men, were to be considered unclean, since they were the main instrument of Israel\u2019s demise at Baal Peor. Only the young girls would be allowed to live so that they may be taken as wives or slaves by the Israelite men, according to the principles of holy war (Deut 20:13\u201314; 21:10\u201314). By this they could be brought under the umbrella of the covenant community of faith.
\n31:19\u201320 The application of the law related to uncleanness derived through contact or exposure to the dead is an extension of the statute delineated in Num 19:16\u201319. In that context exclusion from the camp was not required, perhaps because the exposure was often inadvertent and happened within the camp. By application the purification of the warriors on the third and seventh days was accomplished by a ritually clean person sprinkling the waters of purification, made from pure water and the ashes of the red cow, upon the unclean person utilizing a bunch of hyssop (or marjoram) as an applicator. Afterward they would wash their garments, no matter what material was used in the making of their clothing, and then bathe their bodies to complete the required cleansing process.
\n31:21\u201324 Additional instructions were given through Eleazar concerning the purification of certain material goods taken as booty in the battle. Since warfare exposed all persons, animals, and material goods to various forms of uncleanness, especially that of death and blood, they must be cleansed. That this is a new statute of halakhah is evidenced by the use of the phrase \u201cthis is the statute of law which Yahweh commanded Moses.\u201d This law would be most applicable in the coming campaigns in the conquest of the land of Canaan. The new ordinance had to do with the purification of metallic products by means of fire because of their ability to withstand the high temperatures. Perishable goods such as glass beads, clothing, wood, leather, animals, and other organic commodities would be purified with water, probably through washing, like the garments of the soldiers (v. 20), and then applying the waters of purification made from fresh water and the ashes of the red cow. After the total cleansing effort had been completed, the ceremonially clean warriors could enter the camp, bringing the purified spoils of war with them for the tabulation and distribution process that would be overseen by Eleazar the high priest and his assistants.<\/p>\n
(3) Division of the War Booty among the Israelites (31:25\u201354)<\/p>\n
25 The LORD said to Moses, 26 \u201cYou and Eleazar the priest and the family heads of the community are to count all the people and animals that were captured. 27 Divide the spoils between the soldiers who took part in the battle and the rest of the community. 28 From the soldiers who fought in the battle, set apart as tribute for the LORD one out of every five hundred, whether persons, cattle, donkeys, sheep or goats. 29 Take this tribute from their half share and give it to Eleazar the priest as the LORD\u2019S part. 30 From the Israelites\u2019 half, select one out of every fifty, whether persons, cattle, donkeys, sheep, goats or other animals. Give them to the Levites, who are responsible for the care of the LORD\u2019S tabernacle.\u201d 31 So Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the LORD commanded Moses.
\n32 The plunder remaining from the spoils that the soldiers took was 675,000 sheep, 33 72,000 cattle, 34 61,000 donkeys 35 and 32,000 women who had never slept with a man.
\n36 The half share of those who fought in the battle was:
\n337,500 sheep, 37 of which the tribute for the LORD was 675;
\n38 36,000 cattle, of which the tribute for the LORD was 72;
\n39 30,500 donkeys, of which the tribute for the LORD was 61;
\n40 16,000 people, of which the tribute for the LORD was 32.
\n41 Moses gave the tribute to Eleazar the priest as the LORD\u2019S part, as the LORD commanded Moses.
\n42 The half belonging to the Israelites, which Moses set apart from that of the fighting men\u201443 the community\u2019s half\u2014was 337,500 sheep, 44 36,000 cattle, 45 30,500 donkeys 46 and 16,000 people. 47 From the Israelites\u2019 half, Moses selected one out of every fifty persons and animals, as the LORD commanded him, and gave them to the Levites, who were responsible for the care of the LORD\u2019S tabernacle.
\n48 Then the officers who were over the units of the army\u2014the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds\u2014went to Moses 49 and said to him, \u201cYour servants have counted the soldiers under our command, and not one is missing. 50 So we have brought as an offering to the LORD the gold articles each of us acquired\u2014armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings and necklaces\u2014to make atonement for ourselves before the LORD.\u201d
\n51 Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted from them the gold\u2014all the crafted articles. 52 All the gold from the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds that Moses and Eleazar presented as a gift to the LORD weighed 16,750 shekels. 53 Each soldier had taken plunder for himself. 54 Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted the gold from the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds and brought it into the Tent of Meeting as a memorial for the Israelites before the LORD.<\/p>\n
This instruction for the distribution of the spoils of war among the community members would set the standard for the coming campaigns in the Promised Land in the months and years to come. In many other imperial and marauding cultures of the ancient Near East, the warriors would retain whatever goods or persons they captured during and after battle, with certain portions being allocated to the king and his court and other portions rewarded to the priesthoods of the patron deity of that people. In Israelite holy war, a broader-based distribution was achieved through this legislation, so that the community as a whole could benefit from the proceeds of a war that was won in the name of Yahweh, the God of the nation. This expression of corporate solidarity envisioned the priests, Levites, and other community members as the support personnel for the soldiers in combat and would thus benefit fully from the conquest. By application the Christian community must act in concert in the struggle in this world against all of the forces of evil, for spiritual warfare is an everyday reality for the community of faith.
\n31:25\u201326 This section is introduced by the secondary phrase used for introducing divine instruction throughout the Book of Numbers. The directions for counting the human and animal portions of the war spoils were essentially the same as those given for the taking of the initial census in Num 1:2\u20134. A committee of Moses, the high priest (here Eleazar instead of Aaron), and leaders from each of the twelve tribes would assess and compute by counting the heads, literally \u201clift up the head of the booty captured among the human and animal.\u201d Counting heads was a common means of taking a census whether in human or animal assessments. The persons and goods were then to be divided equally among the warriors and the community members.
\n31:27\u201330 The booty captured in the war against the Midianites was to be equally divided between those who had gone out to war and those of the congregation who had remained in the camp. A tribute tax was to be levied against each of the halves of the booty, but at varying rates. The tribute exacted from the soldier\u2019s portion for the priesthood was 1\/500 of each of the human and animal captives, whereas the duty levied against the congregation\u2019s portion was 1\/50. Thus out of every 1,000 animals seized in the conflict the soldiers would keep 499 and the people would keep 490. The term for the tribute is mekes, found only three times in this chapter but nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible. The term is attested in Ugaritic (mekes) and in Akkadian (miksu) and occurs often in later rabbinical sources.
\nThe tradition in Abraham\u2019s day that a tithe of ten percent was presented to the temple priesthood, as he did with the spoils of war confiscated from the battle against the four kings of Mesopotamia who had attacked the five cities of the plain (Gen 14:1\u201324). After presenting the tithe to the regional high priest Melchizedek in Jerusalem, he acted virtuously and went beyond the tradition of the day by returning the other ninety percent to the former owners. Later in Israelite history David likewise prescribed equal distribution of war booty for the armed forces who participated in the conflict and those who remained with the supplies during the battle against the Amalekites in the western Negev near Ziklag (1 Sam 30:21\u201325). The offering from the warriors to the priests is called a t\u0115r\u00fbmat YHWH, \u201cthe contribution offering of Yahweh,\u201d which was elevated before the Lord in a dedicatory ceremony before being presented to the priests for their consumption.
\n31:31 This verse functions as a transitional colophon between the giving of the instructions (vv. 25\u201330) and the carrying out of each step of the process (vv. 31\u201340), with repetition of the clause at the end of the distribution for the priests (v. 41) and at the conclusion of the accounting and distribution of that which was apportioned for the Levites from the people. Moses, Eleazar, and the patriarchal leaders of the Israelite tribes faithfully followed the instructions from the Lord regarding the counting and distribution of the spoils of war. Again this principle of faithful obedience to the instructions from the Lord was a key to the success and well-being of the Israelite community.
\n31:32\u201347 According to the methods for counting and principles for distribution, the war booty was meted out proportionately to the warriors and the Levites and to the people and the Levites. The following chart delineates the resultant distribution.<\/p>\n
Spoils of War Shared among the Israelite Community (31:32\u201347)<\/p>\n
Animal \/ Human Commodity
\nQuantity of Booty
\nQuantity Split Warriors \/ People
\nLord\u2019s Tribute (0.2%) Priests from Warriors
\nLevites\u2019 Portion (1.0%) from the People<\/p>\n
Sheep
\n675,000
\n337,500
\n675
\n6,750
\nCattle
\n72,000
\n36,000
\n72
\n720
\nDonkeys
\n61,000
\n30,500
\n61
\n610
\nWomen
\n32,000
\n16,000
\n32
\n320<\/p>\n
The priests and Levites, who by the nature of their service to the tabernacle and to the Lord, were not permitted to participate in combat and thus would have otherwise not been able to benefit from the spoils of war. As noted previously in vv. 7, 31, and 41, the Israelites carried out their instructions faithfully and diligently.
\n31:48\u201354 Then all of commanders of the Israelite armed forces, from each level of the battalion divisions that were over the thousands and the hundreds, approached Moses with proper submissive demeanor heralding a remarkable report. Not one of the twelve thousand who were dispatched for combat had been killed or were missing in action, in what R. K. Harrison aptly called \u201ca divine act of magnificent proportions, a miraculous victory, considering the strength of the opposing forces.\u201d This wondrous indication of Yahweh\u2019s providence and protection would provide the armies of Israel with assurance and confidence for the coming campaigns in the land of Canaan.
\nOn the heels of this marvelous message was their announcement that they were presenting to the Lord offerings of gold from the war booty for the purpose of making atonement before the Lord. Most scholars, from source critical to evangelical interpretation, have taken this statement of atonement (l\u0115kapp\u0113r \u02bfal-nap\u0161\u014dt\u00ean\u00fb lipn\u00ea YHWH, \u201cto make atonement\/to pay a ransom on behalf of themselves before Yahweh\u201d) as something the commanders did voluntarily because of their taking a census, something considered somewhat of a taboo among Israelites. The rationale for this \u201cransom\u201d payment generally has been derived from Exod 30:11\u201316, which states that if Israel should take a census (lit. \u201clift up the head\u201d as in Num 31:49) of their men, then each man was to present a ransom (k\u014dper) to the Lord in the amount of one-half shekel, by the sanctuary shekel weight of twenty gerahs (or 0.4 ounce). In doing so they would prevent a plague from the Lord that would have brought death to many of the troops who had survived the amazing battle. An example in biblical history of an improper census was that in which David counted valiant warriors of Israel and Judah, which resulted in a one-day plague that left seventy thousand dead in its wake (2 Sam 24:15\u201317). With regard to the seeming taboo on human-initiated census taking, Milgrom noted the suggestion of A. Schenker that \u201cas the shepherd counts his sheep so the counter of persons must be their owner, a title belonging solely to God and not to man.\u201d Only census taking that was done in response to direct instruction from God was permissible, as were those described in chaps. 1 and 26.
\nThe total amount of the gold offered by Israel\u2019s commanders on behalf of their enumerated troops far exceeded the minimal requirement of one-half shekel per person, a ransom of some 6,000 shekels, or about 2,500 ounces = 158 pounds of gold. Instead they presented almost 2.8 times the minimal amount, with a combined weight of the armlets (\u02bee\u1e63\u02bf\u0101d\u00e2), bracelets (\u1e63\u0101m\u00eed), signet rings (\u1e6daba\u02bfat), earrings (\u02bf\u0101g\u00eel), and necklaces (k\u00fbm\u0101z) totaling 16,750 shekels, or about 7,000 ounces = 440 pounds of gold. The amount of gold seems phenomenal considering the seminomadic nature of the Midianites. Yet they traveled the caravan routes into Arabia and beyond by which such wealth could have come, and adornment in gold is still prized today among bedouins, and samples of such wealth will occasionally find its way into burials. A personal experience of some relevance came in 1996 while participating in the excavation of Tel Beth Shean (Tel el-Husn). In the removal of material from a child burial from the MBII \u201cHyksos\u201d period, we uncovered among the burial goods an ornate white alabasteR vase, four gold earrings, and a gold ring with a beautifully etched amethyst mounted on it with gold thread.
\nPerhaps out of thanksgiving for their protection in battle as well as the adherence to the ordinance regarding the census payment, the faithful armies of Israel exceeded that which was demanded of them by giving sacrificially of that which would have been of great benefit to themselves personally. This account of the bounteous response of the Israelite army commanders was another example of the second generation community acting in concert with the will of God, in contrast to the actions of the first generation. Another parallel with Exodus 30 is that the census ransom payment was to provide for the service of the sanctuary as a memorial for the Israelites before Lord. That which would be produced from this abundance of gold would provide a memorial to future generations of God\u2019s providential protection in the battle against the Midianites, a memorial to challenge future generations to faithfulness to the Lord and benevolence in his service.<\/p>\n
2. Settlement of the Transjordan Tribes (32:1\u201342)<\/p>\n
Unexpectedly the abundant gains in livestock resulting from successive victories over the Amorites Sihon of Heshbon and Og of Bashan, as well as the miraculous defeat of the Midianites, precipitated a crisis for the Israelites. Satisfied with the gains of the present and not having the vision for the even greater opportunities that lay ahead in the Promised Land, two and a half tribes from the twelve-tribe confederation presented a request to Moses that would shake the foundation of the tribal unity, threatening potentially the very structural fiber of the nation. Reuben, Gad, and part of the tribe of Manasseh desired to take their cattle and flocks and settle in the recently conquered territory of Transjordan. This seemed on the surface quite normative for in fact land grants from conquering kings to his servants and troops were a common means of rewarding faithful subjects. If one examines closely the territorial boundaries described for the twelve Israelite tribes in Num 34:1\u201315, however, the eastern boundary in this region extends only to the Jordan River system, including the Sea of Galilee (Chinnereth) and the Dead Sea (Salt Sea). Moses expressed legitimate concerns and argued on the basis of past history in dealing with such a sensitive and serious issue. Would these brothers in the community of faith now abandon their comrades and not participate in the fulfillment of the promise of the gift of land by Yahweh to his children? Negotiations ensued and a compromise was reached, but the seeds of disharmony and discontent were planted. This passage would portend future divisions among the tribes that would transpire during the period of the judges and again near the conclusion of Solomon\u2019s reign.
\nMilgrom has discerned the chiastic literary structure of chap. 32, and it has been revised below in a simplified form. The literary fiber that lends cohesiveness to the chapter is the \u201csevenfold recurrence of five key terms\u201d or phrases, (1) Gad and Reuben, (2) possession\/inheritance, (3) cross\/across the Jordan, (4) armed troops, and (5) before the Lord.<\/p>\n
A Gad and Reuben Request Land in Transjordan (1\u20135)
\nB Moses Rejects the Request (6\u201315)
\nC Gad and Reuben Propose a Compromise (16\u201319)
\nD Moses Revises the Proposal (20\u201324)
\nC\u00b4 Gad and Reuben Accept Moses\u2019 Revisions (25\u201327)
\nB\u00b4 Moses\u2019 Revised Proposal Is Offered the Leaders (28\u201332)
\nA\u00b4 Moses Provisionally Grants Land in Transjordan to Gad, Reuben, Manasseh (33\u201342)<\/p>\n
(1) Reubenite and Gadite Request (32:1\u20135)<\/p>\n
1 The Reubenites and Gadites, who had very large herds and flocks, saw that the lands of Jazer and Gilead were suitable for livestock. 2 So they came to Moses and Eleazar the priest and to the leaders of the community, and said, 3 \u201cAtaroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo and Beon\u20144 the land the LORD subdued before the people of Israel\u2014are suitable for livestock, and your servants have livestock. 5 If we have found favor in your eyes,\u201d they said, \u201clet this land be given to your servants as our possession. Do not make us cross the Jordan.\u201d<\/p>\n
32:1\u20133 This chapter begins with an issue and an incident rather than instruction from the Lord. The first word in the Hebrew text, \u00fbmiqneh (\u201cso livestock\u201d), establishes the context for the discussion, the enormous quantity of livestock owned by the Reubenites and Gadites and the need for adequate pasturage for these animals. The term is used broadly to refer not only to cattle but also to donkeys, camels, sheep, and goats. An inclusio using the term miqneh provides a bracketing framework for the request section, highlighting further the subject matter. The term also provides a verbal link between this chapter and the previous one (31:9). The name Reuben, the firstborn of Jacob by Leah (Gen 29:32; 35:23), is mentioned first only here in the account, perhaps because of his status as primogenitor; but throughout this chapter and in Josh 18:7 and 2 Kgs 10:33, Gad precedes Reuben in listing of the Transjordan tribes.
\nHaving journeyed through the more arid regions south of the Arnon, such as Edom and Moab, the Gadites and Reubenites had observed that the region of Gilead northward was more fertile with highland grassy regions for grazing and with valleys and hillsides suitable for grain crops and fruit orchards. The several rivers, such as the Yarmuk, Jabesh, and Jabbok and their tributaries, as well as the numerous springs in the region, would provide ample water supply for humans and animals alike. The \u201cland of Jazer\u201d was an arable area west-northwest of Amman, generally associated with the region around Kh. Jazzir, which is located about ten miles from the modern Jordanian capital. Jazer is listed among the Levitical cities in Josh 21:39.
\n32:4\u20135 The proposal was presented to the combined leadership of Moses, Eleazar, and the leaders of the congregation (n\u0115\u015b\u00ee\u02be\u00ea h\u0101\u02bf\u0113d\u00e2, \u201cprinces of the assembly\u201d), the same group as in Num 31:13 who went out of the camp to meet the military leaders as they returned from war. The elocution of the entreaty was in proper protocol format, as the language reveals: \u201cIf we find favor in your eyes, may this land be granted to your servants.\u201d Such rhetoric of entreaty occurs often in diplomatic correspondence of the ancient Near East, including the basic letter writing language such as has been found in the Lachish and Arad ostraca. The preface to their request included a list of the cities that had been conquered from the Amorites and an acclamation that it was Yahweh their God who had been responsible for granting them the victory. The content of their request, however, was a bit disconcerting to Moses, especially on two counts: that they would desire land east of the Jordan River, which had not been included within previous Promised Land boundary descriptions, and that they did not desire to be led across the Jordan and into the Promised Land.<\/p>\n
(2) Moses\u2019 Response (32:6\u201315)<\/p>\n
6 Moses said to the Gadites and Reubenites, \u201cShall your countrymen go to war while you sit here? 7 Why do you discourage the Israelites from going over into the land the LORD has given them? 8 This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to look over the land. 9 After they went up to the Valley of Eshcol and viewed the land, they discouraged the Israelites from entering the land the LORD had given them. 10 The LORD\u2019S anger was aroused that day and he swore this oath: 11 \u2018Because they have not followed me wholeheartedly, not one of the men twenty years old or more who came up out of Egypt will see the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob\u201412 not one except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, for they followed the LORD wholeheartedly.\u2019 13 The LORD\u2019S anger burned against Israel and he made them wander in the desert forty years, until the whole generation of those who had done evil in his sight was gone.
\n14 \u201cAnd here you are, a brood of sinners, standing in the place of your fathers and making the LORD even more angry with Israel. 15 If you turn away from following him, he will again leave all this people in the desert, and you will be the cause of their destruction.\u201d<\/p>\n
32:6\u201315 Moses responded promptly and poignantly with a rhetorical retort, advancing two contrasting issues, unity in participation and discouragement from mobilization. When Moses asked whether they would remain back on the east side of the Jordan, he may have implied both parallel concepts in the semantic field of the Hebrew verb y\u0101\u0161ab, meaning \u201cto sit or to dwell,\u201d a double entendre. Would they simply sit back and watch their brothers go to war against the Canaanites on the other side of the Jordan? Would they simply remain in this lush and secure region of Gilead and dwell there in relative security? The unity of the twelve tribes was threatened, so the possible failure of their mission to conquer the land of Canaan and to see the fulfillment of the promised inheritance was at stake. Would Moses\u2019 acquiescing to their request bring discouragement to the other nine and one-half tribes and prevent them from completing the final step of the journey? The word \u201cdiscourage\u201d in the NIV translates the Hebrew phrase t\u0115n\u00ee\u02be\u00fbn \u02beet-l\u0113b, meaning \u201cyou restrain the heart.\u201d The fear was that the Israelites would lose heart if these tribes broke rank and settled in the Transjordan region. The phraseology referencing the Promised Land as \u201cthe land the Lord has given them,\u201d used here and in v. 9, recalls the language of Num 13:1; 14:8, 16, 30, as well as the other numerous promises of the land throughout the Pentateuch. Note the emphases in the short chiastic structures in the following outline of vv. 6\u201315.<\/p>\n
Intro: Moses Questions Gadites and Reubenites: (6) Shall your brethren go to war while your sit here?
\nA Will you discourage the heart of Israelites (7) From going into the land which YHWH has given to them?
\nB Thus your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to see the land (8)
\nB\u00b4 For when they went up to the Valley Eshcol and saw the land (9a)
\nA\u00b4 They discouraged the heart of the Israelites (9b) So they did not go into the land which YHWH had given to them.
\nC YHWH\u2019s anger burned that day (10)
\nHe swore an oath saying:
\nB None who came up from Egypt twenty yrs + shall see the land (11) That I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
\nD Because they have not followed me wholly
\nD\u00b4 Except Caleb and Joshua who followed YHWH wholly (12)
\nC\u00b4 YHWH\u2019s anger burned vs. Israel (13) He made them wander in the wilderness 40 years
\nD\u00b4\u00b4 All that generation that did evil in the eyes of YHWH
\nD\u00b4\u00b4\u00b4 Look! You have risen in your fathers\u2019 place\u2014a brood of sinners (14)
\nC\u00b4\u00b4 To increase more the fierce anger of YHWH vs. Israel
\nConclusion: If YOU turn away from following him (15)
\nHe will leave them in the wilderness
\nAnd YOU will destroy all these people.<\/p>\n
The setting parallels that of Numbers 10\u201314, in which the Israelites had moved out from Mount Sinai in a unified march toward the Promised Land but then soon fell into a mind-set of unrest, discouragement, and rebellion that eventually led to the rejection of the land on the basis of the divided report of the scouts (13:26\u201314:9). Note below the chart of parallels between Num 32:7\u201313 and 11:1\u201314:40. In the present setting the Israelites had been united in the campaign against the Midianites, and the spoils of war had been appropriately apportioned among the twelve tribes, the Levites, and the priests. Now in the midst of prosperity rather than the destitute conditions of their earlier wilderness experience, that harmony and solidarity of the nation was in jeopardy once again. The first generation, which rejected the land Yahweh had given them, had died in the desert, and Moses feared the same consequences might accrue to the new generation if they likewise lost heart in the face of opportunity. Only a nation unified in form (the twelve tribes), focus (upon the Lord), and function (the possession of the land) would be victorious in the coming conquest. If they were divided in form and focus, that is, if they were not together as a people who were wholly devoted to the Lord, they would be doomed to failure and destruction just as their forefathers had been.<\/p>\n
Parallels Between Numbers 11:1\u201314:40 and 32:7\u201315<\/p>\n
Parallel Phraseology
\nNum 11:1\u201314:40
\nNum 32:7\u201315
\n\u201cland YHWH has given them\u201d
\n13:1; 14:8, 16, 30
\n32:7, 9
\n\u201cI (Moses) sent men to scout\/see the land\u201d
\n13:2
\n32:8
\n\u201cValley Eshcol\u201d
\n13:23, 24
\n32:9
\n\u201cYHWH\u2019s anger burned\u201d
\n11:1; 12:9
\n32:10, 13 (14)
\n\u201cnot one of the men 20 yrs\u201d
\n14:29
\n32:11
\n\u201cwander in the desert 40 yrs\u201d
\n14:33
\n32:13
\ndeath\/destruction \u201cin the desert\u201d
\n14:33, 35
\n32:15<\/p>\n
(3) Promise of Support (32:16\u201319)<\/p>\n
16 Then they came up to him and said, \u201cWe would like to build pens here for our livestock and cities for our women and children. 17 But we are ready to arm ourselves and go ahead of the Israelites until we have brought them to their place. Meanwhile our women and children will live in fortified cities, for protection from the inhabitants of the land. 18 We will not return to our homes until every Israelite has received his inheritance. 19 We will not receive any inheritance with them on the other side of the Jordan, because our inheritance has come to us on the east side of the Jordan.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Gadites and Reubenites countered Moses\u2019 fervent retort with a counterproposal in order to achieve their own goals of land grant and ownership. They \u201cdrew near\u201d to Moses in a proper protocol of submissiveness to enter into negotiations they believed would benefit both parties. The men of war would prepare the necessary dwellings and pens for their wives, children, and animals, but they themselves would not reside in the Transjordan region until the conquest of the land was complete and all the other Israelite tribes had been allotted their inheritances.
\n32:16\u201317 The \u201cpens\u201d (gidr\u014dt \u1e63i\u02be\u014dn, \u201cstone pens for sheep\u201d or \u201csheepfolds\u201d) were perhaps the V-shaped stone enclosures found in Transjordan and in the Arabah for protecting sheep, goats, and cattle during times of danger. The NIV phrase \u201cwomen and children\u201d translates the single Hebrew term \u1e6dapp\u00ean\u00fb, meaning \u201cdependants,\u201d which would include wives, other women, and children who would remain in the grated land allocations of Transjordan. The Transjordan tribes promised to send forth their speediest troops into the coming foray into Canaan until the other Israelite tribes were successful in entering their territories. According to Josh 4:13, about 40,000 troops from Gad, Reuben, and half of Manasseh crossed over the Jordan River to participate in the conquest of the land of Canaan, or about one-third of the approximately 110,580 numbered in the second military conscription census (Num 26:7, 18, 34). The other two-thirds would remain behind to protect the otherwise defenseless women and children against possible reprisal attacks from other Amorites, Ammonites, and Moabites dwelling in the region.
\n32:18\u201319 The two positive statements of building and contributing troops for the upcoming conquest are balanced by two negative statements that confirm their intent to aid their fellow tribesmen. They would not return home to their newly allotted Transjordan inheritance until the conquest was complete, and they would not expect to receive an inheritance in the land of Canaan, though its territory proper was the Promised Land. The eastern border of the Israelite inheritance, as delineated clearly in 34:11\u201312, was the Jordan River and the eastern shorelines of the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. The land they desired and eventually occupied was across the Jordan from \u201cthe land that the LORD had given to them\u201d (vv. 7, 9).<\/p>\n
(4) Moses\u2019 Response to the Promise (32:20\u201324)<\/p>\n
20 Then Moses said to them, \u201cIf you will do this\u2014if you will arm yourselves before the LORD for battle, 21 and if all of you will go armed over the Jordan before the LORD until he has driven his enemies out before him\u201422 then when the land is subdued before the LORD, you may return and be free from your obligation to the LORD and to Israel. And this land will be your possession before the LORD.
\n23 \u201cBut if you fail to do this, you will be sinning against the LORD; and you may be sure that your sin will find you out. 24 Build cities for your women and children, and pens for your flocks, but do what you have promised.\u201d<\/p>\n
32:20\u201324 Moses\u2019 direct response to the compromise proposal proffered by the Gadites and Reubenites was structured as a repetition of the suggested stipulations in the formula of blessing and curse: \u201cif you do X, then you will have Y blessing; but if you do not do X, then Z curse will come to you.\u201d Noordzij has pointed out the covenant nature of this agreement reached between the two tribes of Gad and Reuben and the other ten tribes with Moses as the mediator and Yahweh as the divine witness and guarantor of the commitment made by the two tribes.
\nThe basic stipulation for Gad and Reuben was that they be faithful participants in the Lord\u2019s plan for the nation in the foray into the Promised Land, and as a result they would be blessed with their requested inheritance in Transjordan. Ultimately the Lord was responsible for bringing the victory over the enemies of God and Israel, for he was the one who would fight for Israel. The phrase lipn\u00ea YHWH (\u201cbefore Yahweh\u201d) occurs four times in vv. 20\u201322 and is highlighted in the following parallel pattern:<\/p>\n
A IF you will carry out this instruction: (20) If you will arm yourselves before the Lord for battle, If you yourselves will cross all armed across the Jordan before the Lord, (21)
\nUntil he has driven out his enemies from before him,
\nAnd the land is subdued before the Lord; (22)
\nB Then you may return,
\nAnd you will be blameless from the Lord and from Israel,
\nAnd this land will be for your possession before the Lord.
\nA\u00b4 BUT IF you do not carry it out, (23)
\nB\u00b4 Then Behold you will have sinned against the Lord, And know that your sin is that which will find you out.<\/p>\n
The Israelites, including now Gad and Reuben, were to drive out or dispossess the enemies of God by his power and strength. If they were unfaithful, however, they would reap the results of their sinfulness. Though the stipulations are clearly delineated for the participation of the Transjordan tribes in the conquest, the particular curse for failure to do so is implicit in the larger context of this pericope. One must refer to vv. 14\u201315 for the judgment described for the failure to follow through with the conquest. The Gadites and Reubenites are called by Moses a \u201cbrood of sinners\u201d (tarb\u00fbt \u02beano\u0161\u00eem \u1e25att\u0101\u02be\u00eem, \u201clarge group of sinful men\u201d), who if they \u201cturned away\u201d (t\u0115\u0161\u00fbb\u016bn) from following the Lord would all die in the wilderness. Rebellion against God ultimately leads to abandonment and destruction.
\nAfter the conditions of the covenant had been established and ratified, the Gadites and Reubenites received permission to take care of their flocks and families. The language echoes that of v. 16 in variant order, A B C:B C A (see below), with an inclusio using the words for \u201csheep pens\u201d at this pivotal point in the narrative:<\/p>\n
v. 16 A Sheepfolds B we shall build for our livestock here C and cities for our families
\nv. 24 B\u00b4 Build for yourselves C\u00b4 Cities for your families A\u00b4 and pens for your sheep.<\/p>\n
The section concludes with the repetition here in the epilogue to the apodosis of ta\u02bf\u0103\u015b\u00fb(n) from the initial protasis of v. 20. What they have agreed to in this oral contract, by those stipulations that proceeded out of their mouths, they should carry out dutifully.<\/p>\n
(5) Gad and Reuben Ratify the Agreement (32:25\u201327)<\/p>\n
25 The Gadites and Reubenites said to Moses, \u201cWe your servants will do as our lord commands. 26 Our children and wives, our flocks and herds will remain here in the cities of Gilead. 27 But your servants, every man armed for battle, will cross over to fight before the LORD, just as our lord says.\u201d<\/p>\n
32:25\u201327 Gad and Reuben once again address Moses in the protocol of submissive servants, echoing their willingness to adhere faithfully to their agreed upon stipulations for receiving their desired inheritance in Transjordan. The passage is introduced by the secondary formula for instruction, utilizing the preterit form wayy\u014d\u02bemer, of which usually Yahweh is the speaker. Here it introduces the formal speech in which the oral covenant is ratified. Verses 25b and 27 evidence close parallels in vocabulary and structure. In both, the Gadites and Reubenites present themselves as \u201cyour servants\u201d before Moses, whom they address as \u201cmy lord\u201d or \u201cmy master.\u201d The language generally would be used in the context of covenant relations in addressing royalty or a sovereign leader (Deut 9:27; Josh 9:8\u20139). The singular is used severally here for the collective single voice of the combined tribes. Note the following parallels:<\/p>\n
25b
\nYour servants will do (impf)
\naccording to that which my lord commands (ptc)
\n27
\nYour servants will cross over (impf), all armed for war before the Lord for battle
\naccording to that which my lord instructs (speaks)(ptc).<\/p>\n
At the center of the passage (v. 26) is the restated intent of the Gadites and Reubenites to prepare facilities for housing their families and their abundant livestock during the period of conquest across the Jordan River.<\/p>\n
(6) Moses Informs Eleazar and Joshua of the Decision (32:28\u201330)<\/p>\n
28 Then Moses gave orders about them to Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun and to the family heads of the Israelite tribes. 29 He said to them, \u201cIf the Gadites and Reubenites, every man armed for battle, cross over the Jordan with you before the LORD, then when the land is subdued before you, give them the land of Gilead as their possession. 30 But if they do not cross over with you armed, they must accept their possession with you in Canaan.\u201d<\/p>\n
32:28\u201330 With the covenantal arrangements drawn to a conclusion, Moses gathered together the most important witnesses, those whose responsibility it would be to oversee the implementation of the accord. The great prophet and leader knew he would soon vanish from the scene and thus would not be there to ensure the participation of these tribes. Eleazar the high priest was now the cultic leader and spiritual overseer for the nation since the death of his father Aaron, and Joshua ben Nun was the appointed heir apparent to the leadership role Moses had held since he led the Israelites out of Egypt. In addition, the patriarchal heads from the other tribes were called as witnesses to the basic specifications of the agreement so that they might be informed as to its content and work to ensure compliance on the part of the Transjordan tribes in the conquest.
\nAs in vv. 20\u201324 the propositions are set forth in vv. 29b and 30 in covenantal language of blessing and curse, in the \u201cif X \u2026 then Y; but if not X \u2026 then Z\u201d form, only here they are presented in the third person to the group of witnesses rather than to the tribes themselves. The question arises as to the particular consequences that would accrue to these tribes for failure to cross over the Jordan armed for holy war. If they later refused to cross the Jordan with the rest of the Israelites, how would they be forced to bring their families and belongings into Canaan, where they were to receive allotments like the other tribes? The text seems to imply that if such were to have come to pass, the combined efforts of Joshua, Eleazar, and the patriarchal heads of the other tribes would have been needed to compel their obedience. Fortunately, the Transjordan tribes of Gad, Reuben, and one-half of Manasseh did cross the Jordan and fully participated in the campaigns in the land of Canaan, sending across 40,000 troops armed for battle who then remained until apportioning of the land at Shiloh (Josh 4:12\u201313; 22:1\u20139).<\/p>\n
(7) Gad and Reubenite Reiterate the Promise (32:31\u201332)<\/p>\n
31 The Gadites and Reubenites answered, \u201cYour servants will do what the LORD has said. 32 We will cross over before the LORD into Canaan armed, but the property we inherit will be on this side of the Jordan.\u201d<\/p>\n
32:31\u201332 What the Gadites and Reubenites had pledged to Moses and the Lord in the previously private negotiations, they now committed themselves to do before the remainder of the witnesses. Again the language of covenant oath taking is in view as the two tribes take on the identity of vassal-servants before Moses, acting as the sovereign representative of Yahweh in this covenant ceremony. The Lord is also called upon to testify to the oath taking, as the Gadites and Reubenites swear to faithfully obey all of the stipulations of the agreement. The language is reminiscent of the numerous times in the Book of Numbers where the faithful obedience of the nation of Israel is described by the phrase, \u201cThey did according to everything which Yahweh commanded.\u201d<\/p>\n
(8) Moses Grants Transjordan Tribal Territory (32:33\u201342)<\/p>\n
33 Then Moses gave to the Gadites, the Reubenites and the half-tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan\u2014the whole land with its cities and the territory around them.
\n34 The Gadites built up Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer, 35 Atroth Shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah, 36 Beth Nimrah and Beth Haran as fortified cities, and built pens for their flocks. 37 And the Reubenites rebuilt Heshbon, Elealeh and Kiriathaim, 38 as well as Nebo and Baal Meon (these names were changed) and Sibmah. They gave names to the cities they rebuilt.
\n39 The descendants of Makir son of Manasseh went to Gilead, captured it and
\ndrove out the Amorites who were there. 40 So Moses gave Gilead to the Makirites, the descendants of Manasseh, and they settled there. 41 Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, captured their settlements and called them Havvoth Jair. 42 And Nobah captured Kenath and its surrounding settlements and called it Nobah after himself.<\/p>\n
32:33\u201342 Following negotiations between Moses and the two and one-half tribes desiring territory east of the Jordan, and the giving of instructions to Eleazar and Joshua concerning their compliance in the conquest, Moses granted the Gadites, Reubenites, and Manassites the agreed upon land distribution. The Manassites are included in the discussion for the first time in v. 33, and the rationale for their inclusion in the deal is provided in vv. 39\u201342. The explanation provides additional information as to the role of the clan of the Machirites from the tribe of Manasseh in the conquest of Gilead. The citation that this region had been part of the kingdom of the Amorite kings Sihon and Og serves to draw the reader back to the earlier victories over the Amorites recounted in 21:21\u201335.
\nThe historical background and rationale as to why the Manassites were a divided tribe is not provided, though it has been suggested that there were differences based upon occupations and family practices. More likely the rationale is provided implicitly in the text of vv. 39\u201340, which recounts the role of the Machirites of the tribe of Manasseh as the key combatants in the Transjordan campaigns in the regions of Gilead. The Machirites had conquered Gilead and driven out the Amorites, and the other Manassites, Jair and Nobah, had likewise made forays into this region. These clans desired to settle in and provide pasturage for their livestock in the areas they had personally conquered. Beyond the territory and cities mentioned in connection with the two conquering clans of Jair and Nobah of Manasseh, the list is delineated further in Josh 17:1\u20136. The remnants of the early settlement whose clans were still remaining during the Assyrian conquests in this region were defeated and deported by the Assyrians under Tiglath Pileser III in his second campaign of 733 B.C. (1 Chr 5:23\u201326).
\nThe Gadites were allocated the land grants in the central part of the former kingdom of Sihon of the Amorites, specifically in the areas of Dibon, Atharoth, Aroer, Atroth, Shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah, Beth-Nimrah, and Beth-haran. Gad shared a border with the half-tribe of Manasseh to the north, though the cities listed for Gad in various Old Testament passages suggest a narrow strip of land extending from the Jabbok River to the Sea of Galilee was to be included in the allocation. The Aroer listed for Gad, as opposed to the city of like name listed in Reuben, is said to have been located \u201cbefore Rabbah\u201d (of the Ammonites), from the direction of Jazer and Jogbethah, which have traditionally been located northwest of Amman. Hence the location would be just northwest of Amman. Beth-nimrah has been identified tentatively with Tel Bleibil, west-southwest of Amman near the edge of the Jordan Valley, though the original name survives in a Roman-Byzantine site about one mile south-southwest, named Tel Nimrin. The Gadites constructed fortified cities and sheep pens for the enormous flocks they had amassed. The cities of the Gadites are detailed further in Josh 13:24\u201328.
\nThe area and cities allocated to the tribe of Reuben were generally on the south of those of the tribe of Gad. Among the cities were Heshbon, the former capital of Sihon\u2019s Amorite kingdom, Elealeh, Kiriathaim (\u201ctwin cities\u201d?), Nebo and Baal-meon. Additional cities and territories are delineated in Josh 13:15\u201323, including Dibon and Aroer, which were located on the highland plateau just north of the Arnon River valley. J. Simons identified Kiriathaim with Khirbet el-Qureiyat, six miles northwest of Dibon, though Aharoni\u2019s suggestion of Kh. el-Mekhaiyet, northwest of Madaba, seems more likely.
\nThe area and cities which Moses then allocated to the tribe of Manassite were generally to the north of the tribe of Gad, extending from the region of Gilead into Bashan and the Golan. Only the cities of Havoth Jair (\u201csettlements of Jair\u201d) and Kenath-Nobah are mentioned here, but \u201csixty cities\u201d in the region of Jair are noted (but not listed), along with \u201call of Bashan\u201d and \u201chalf of Gilead\u201d in Josh 13:29\u201332. However, the Israelites of the half-tribe of Manasseh did not drive out the Geshurites or Maacathites who were dwelling in the region east and northeast of the Sea of Galilee (Josh 13:12\u201313).<\/p>\n
3. The Israelite Victory March: From Ramses to the Plains of Moab (33:1\u201349)<\/p>\n
1 Here are the stages in the journey of the Israelites when they came out of Egypt by divisions under the leadership of Moses and Aaron. 2 At the LORD\u2019S command Moses recorded the stages in their journey. This is their journey by stages:
\n3 The Israelites set out from Rameses on the fifteenth day of the first month, the day after the Passover. They marched out boldly in full view of all the Egyptians, 4 who were burying all their firstborn, whom the LORD had struck down among them; for the LORD had brought judgment on their gods.<\/p>\n
5 The Israelites left Rameses and camped at Succoth.
\n6 They left Succoth and camped at Etham, on the edge of the desert.
\n7 They left Etham, turned back to Pi Hahiroth, to the east of Baal Zephon, and camped near Migdol.
\n8 They left Pi Hahiroth and passed through the sea into the desert, and when they had traveled for three days in the Desert of Etham, they camped at Marah.
\n9 They left Marah and went to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there.
\n10 They left Elim and camped by the Red Sea.
\n11 They left the Red Sea and camped in the Desert of Sin.
\n12 They left the Desert of Sin and camped at Dophkah.
\n13 They left Dophkah and camped at Alush.
\n14 They left Alush and camped at Rephidim, where there was no water for the people to drink.
\n15 They left Rephidim and camped in the Desert of Sinai.
\n16 They left the Desert of Sinai and camped at Kibroth Hattaavah.
\n17 They left Kibroth Hattaavah and camped at Hazeroth.
\n18 They left Hazeroth and camped at Rithmah.
\n19 They left Rithmah and camped at Rimmon Perez.
\n20 They left Rimmon Perez and camped at Libnah.
\n21 They left Libnah and camped at Rissah.
\n22 They left Rissah and camped at Kehelathah.
\n23 They left Kehelathah and camped at Mount Shepher.
\n24 They left Mount Shepher and camped at Haradah.
\n25 They left Haradah and camped at Makheloth.
\n26 They left Makheloth and camped at Tahath.
\n27 They left Tahath and camped at Terah.
\n28 They left Terah and camped at Mithcah.
\n29 They left Mithcah and camped at Hashmonah.
\n30 They left Hashmonah and camped at Moseroth.
\n31 They left Moseroth and camped at Bene Jaakan.
\n32 They left Bene Jaakan and camped at Hor Haggidgad.
\n33 They left Hor Haggidgad and camped at Jotbathah.
\n34 They left Jotbathah and camped at Abronah.
\n35 They left Abronah and camped at Ezion Geber.
\n36 They left Ezion Geber and camped at Kadesh, in the Desert of Zin.
\n37 They left Kadesh and camped at Mount Hor, on the border of Edom. 38 At the LORD\u2019S command Aaron the priest went up Mount Hor, where he died on the first day of the fifth month of the fortieth year after the Israelites came out of Egypt. 39 Aaron was a hundred and twenty-three years old when he died on Mount Hor.
\n40 The Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev of Canaan, heard that the Israelites were coming.
\n41 They left Mount Hor and camped at Zalmonah.
\n42 They left Zalmonah and camped at Punon.
\n43 They left Punon and camped at Oboth.
\n44 They left Oboth and camped at Iye Abarim, on the border of Moab.
\n45 They left Iyim and camped at Dibon Gad.
\n46 They left Dibon Gad and camped at Almon Diblathaim.
\n47 They left Almon Diblathaim and camped in the mountains of Abarim, near Nebo.
\n48 They left the mountains of Abarim and camped on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho. 49 There on the plains of Moab they camped along the Jordan from Beth Jeshimoth to Abel Shittim.<\/p>\n
33:1\u201349 The onomasticon of the stages of Israel\u2019s journey and encampment from Pithom and Ramses in Egypt to the plains of Moab opposite Jericho stands in the tradition of the lists of cities recounting the victorious campaigns of such pharaohs as Thutmose III, Seti I, Ramses II, and Shishak (Sheshonq). Their triumphant crusades of the Late Bronze Age extended from Egypt through Cisjordan and Transjordan into Lebanon and Syria, bringing numerous peoples under their imperial dominion. The biblical text recounts the sequence of the Israelites breaking of camp some forty-one times along their forty-two station journey from Ramses in Egypt to the edge of the promised land, just across the Jordan River from Jericho. The ancient kings recorded in geographical sequence those towns, villages, and cities they conquered on their crusade to expand their territorial dominion, often including the quantity of booty acquired by their exploits. Moses recounts the steps by which Yahweh God of Israel has led his people victoriously, even in light of their rebellious tendencies, from bondage and oppression in Egypt to freedom and prosperity, to the brink of great blessing in the fulfillment of his ancient promise to Abraham, \u201cTo your offspring I will give this land.\u201d
\nWithin the theological structure of the Book of Numbers, this chapter stands conspicuously between the granting of tribal inheritance in Transjordan to the two and one-half tribes and the defining of the boundaries of the promised land which will be divided among the other nine and one-half tribes. Remarkable in the border delineations of 34:1\u201312 is that the Transjordan territories are not included within the inheritance. The inclusive commentaries on the itinerary in 33:3\u20134 and 33:50\u201356 served to remind the people of their God\u2019s victory over the Egyptians in the Exodus and to challenge them to possess the land which he had given to them as an inheritance.
\nThe interpretation of Numbers 33 and its composition has varied widely, even among source critical and literary scholars. J. de Vaulx, as an example of a source critical approach, subdivided the itinerary into the following source-based divisions:<\/p>\n
Verses
\nSource
\n1\u20134
\nJE or Editorial Gloss
\n5\u20138
\nPriestly
\n8\u20139
\nYahwist \/ Gloss
\n10\u201311
\nPriestly
\n12\u201314
\nE, P, R or Separate Document
\n15\u201317
\nPriestly
\n17\u201318
\nJE\u2014Yahwist\/Elohist
\n18\u201330
\nSeparate Document
\n30\u201333
\nDeuteronomist
\n34\u201335
\nSeparate Document
\n36\u201337
\nPriestly
\n38\u201340
\nEditorial Gloss
\n41\u201342
\nSeparate Document
\n43\u201344
\nPriestly
\n45\u201349
\nConflation of Ps
\n50\u201351a
\nPriestly<\/p>\n
However, positing divisions between groups of verses, such as between 10\u201311 and 12\u201314 or between 18\u201330 and 30\u201333, seems extremely arbitrary when viewed from the context of literary structure, and are based on very hypothetical source theory. These verses are structured exactly alike, and divisions by source seem based solely on the mention of names in Exodus (some Yahwist, but primarily priestly) and Deuteronomy (Deuteronomic). Dillmann countered this type of approach with the theory that Numbers 33 represents a master list for the other itinerary portions in the various narratives rather than a conflation of sources. Yet the master list does not contain all of the collective sites mentioned in those narratives, such as the encampments in the Wadi Zered and Nahal Arnon, and those of Mattanah, Nahaliel, and Bamoth, mentioned in Num 21:12\u201320, and more than one-third of the sites are never used elsewhere. It may have served a number of texts as a master list, but this was not its primary function.
\nEach of these approaches has neglected the internal literary evidence of this section and its homogeneity as a literary unit, which probably functioned as an example of what Ashley called \u201cthe journey of life\u201d motif in the Bible. This wilderness itinerary was recorded by Moses for the second generation of Israel as a recitation for remembering the stages of God\u2019s leading his people from the point of great deliverance in Egypt to the staging point of a new victory campaign in the land of Canaan. The critical approaches also have overlooked the literary and thematic ties with the marching song included in Num 9:15\u201323, which contains the pattern:<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the Lord\u2019s command they departed
\nand at the Lord\u2019s command they encamped.\u201d (9:18)<\/p>\n
In this passage stages of the movement of the Israelites were recorded by Moses using the similar terminology. The record begins with the same phraseology for divine instruction, with Moses writing<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir beginnings of their departures the Lord\u2019s command,
\nand these are their departures by their beginnings.\u201d (33:2)<\/p>\n
Then each stage is delineated with the following pattern, as exemplified by 33:13,<\/p>\n
\u201cThey departed from Dophkah
\nAnd they encamped at Alush<\/p>\n
Wenham has rightly observed that the departure \/ encampment sites are organized into six groups or stages of seven sites. The conclusion to the recitation is found in the instructions for the conquest of the land of Canaan, their Promised Land, in 33:50\u201356. This challenge to assume ownership of their inheritance is the open-ended seventh stage of the journey motif, that which remains to be written under the leadership of Joshua in the coming months and years.<\/p>\n
THE ISRAELITE VICTORY MARCH
\nCycle I: From Ramses to the Red Sea<\/p>\n
Numbers 33
\nExodus 12\u201317 Numbers 1\u201321 Deuteronomy 1\u20134; 10
\nVariant Readings Additional Sites Location
\nRAMSES (3, 5)
\nRamses (Exod 12:37)
\nPi-Ramses = Qantir (not = Tanis; Avaris = Tel Daba). Named Ramses after Egyptian pharaoh. Gen 47:11 Israelites lived in District of Ramses.
\nSUKKOTH (5, 6)
\nSukkoth (Exod 12:37; 13:20)
\nW of Sea of Reeds; Sukkoth = \u201cBooths\u201d in Hb.; Tjeku in Egyptian; recently identified with Tell el-Maskhutah in Wadi Tumilat, ca. 40 miles SE of Pi-Ramses
\nETHAM WILDERNESS (6, 7)
\nEtham (Exod 13:20)
\nPart of or equal to Shur Wilderness; Hb. \u0161\u00fbr = \u201cwall\u201d and Egyptian htm = \u201cwall, fortress\u201d
\n(PI-)HAHIROTH (7, 8)
\nPi-Hahiroth (Exod 14:2); between Migdol & Sea, opp Baal Zephon
\nYam Suph crossing (Exod 14:21\u201331)
\nShur Wilderness (Exod 15:22)
\nMT- miphney-hahiroth \u201cfrom facing the gorge\u201d; SP, Syriac, Vulgate, Sebourin = Pi- \u201cMouth of the canals\u201d that empty into Sea of Reeds, near location of Sea crossing Probably in Bitter Lakes or Lake Timsah area.
\nMARAH (8, 9)
\nMarah (Exod 15:23)
\nBitter waters made sweet
\nTraditionally located at \u02bfAin Hawara (Bir el-Muwarah), just inland 8 miles E from city of Suez; alt. perhaps \u02bfUyun Musa.
\nELIM (9, 10)
\nwith12 springs, 70 palms
\nElim (Exod 15:27)
\n12 springs, 70 palms, water
\nTrad. JM\u2014Oasis in Wadi Gharandel, 75 miles south of Bitter Lakes. JSB-area of \u02bfUyun Musa or Wadi Riyanah
\nYAM SUPH (10, 11)
\nYam (Sea)\u2014Sea crossing site\u2014Exod 14:21\u201331, but here camp by Yam Suph
\nSea of Reeds \/ Red Sea (see comment on Num 21:4). JSB or JM Somewhere along the E shoreline of Suez Gulf.<\/p>\n
Cycle II: The Deserts of Sinai, Sin, and Paran<\/p>\n
Numbers 33
\nExodus 12\u201317 Numbers 1\u201321 Deuteronomy 1\u20134; 10
\nVariant Readings Additional Sites, Location
\nSin Wilderness (11, 12)
\nSin Wilderness (Exod 16:1\u201315)\u2014between Elim and Sinai on 15th day of 2nd month. Complaint of food, God gives manna and quail.
\nProbably coastal area of NW Sinai along Suez Gulf since quail generally do not migrate into the mountains. JM\u2014Dibbet el-Rammleh or JSB\u2014SE of Bitter Lakes, E of city of Suez
\nDOPHKAH (12, 13)
\nLXX\u2014Raphaka Trad. Serabit el-Khadim & Wadi el-\u02bfE\u0161\u0161 uncertain\u2014remains unknown.
\nALUSH (13, 14)
\nSP\u2014Alish Unknown location.
\nREPHIDIM (14, 15) no water for people to drink
\nRephidim (Exod 17:1) No water quarrel; Massah & Meribah Amalekite attack, Israel\u2019s Victory
\nTrad. Wadi Refayid (30 miles NNW) of south tip of Sinai Peninsula\u2014Too far South. Site still unknown. JM-Wadi Feiran preferred. JSM – Prob. Wadi es-Sudr if Israel moved south; or Refidim if E, 35 miles E of Bitter Lakes (neg – in Shur Wilderness (to JSB = 55 miles)
\nSINAI WILDERNESS (15, 16)
\nSinai Wilderness
\n(Exod 19:1f.\u2014Moses w\/God, Mount Sinai
\nJSB – Jebel Sin Bisher (618m elev.) vicinity & Wadi es-Sudr
\nJM – Central S. Sinai region, mt. 2285m elev.
\nOther suggestions for Mount Sinai are numerous, including more recently Har Karkom in the southern Negev, 23 miles S of Mizpe Ramon.
\nKIBROTH HATTAAVAH (16, 17)
\nParan Desert (Num 10:12;) Kibroth Hattaavah (Num 11:34)
\nJM – between Jebel Musa and Ein Hudrah
\nJSB – Suggest upper Wadi es-Sudr or upper Wadi Gheidara
\nHAZEROTH (17, 18)
\nHazeroth (Num 11:35)
\nParan Desert (Num 12:16)
\nJM – Wadi Hudeirat region & Ein Hudrah, 35 miles NE of Jebel Musa (oasis area)
\nJSB – Region of Wadi Gheidara<\/p>\n
One of the key issues for locating sites in the second through fifth cycles is the location of Mount Sinai. No less than twenty different suggestions have been tendered through the centuries, ranging from Jebel Helal in the northeastern Sinai peninsula, to Jebel Sin Bisher in the western central region, to Jebel Serbal and Jebel Musa in southern Sinai region, to Har Karkom in northeastern Sinai, southern Negev region, to several mountains in the northwestern Arabian peninsula, southeast of Aqaba. If Moses\u2019 request before the pharaoh to journey three days into the wilderness to celebrate a festival to the Lord (Exod 8:3) is to be applied to the quest for the mountain\u2019s locale, then the sacred summit must be closer to the Egyptian border fortresses than most of the mountains except Jebel Sin Bisher or another mountain in western Sinai. The most explicit passage bearing on this question is the statement in Deut 1:2 that the distance from Horeb (=Sinai) to Kedesh Barnea, via Ezion Geber, is a distance of eleven days\u2019 journey or about 150 to 165 miles.<\/p>\n
Cycle III: Spies Sent from Desert Paran (13:3); Return to Kadesh (13:3)<\/p>\n
Numbers 33
\nExodus 12\u201317 Numbers 1\u201321 Deuteronomy 1\u20134; 10
\nVariant Readings Additional Sites Location
\nRITHMAH (18, 19)
\nLocation Unknown
\nRIMMON-PEREZ (19, 20)
\nLocation Unknown
\nLIBNAH (20, 21)
\nSP (Gk.) – Lebonah
\nLocation unknown.
\nRISSAH (22, 23)
\nLocation Unknown
\nKEHELATHAH (22, 23)
\nLXX – Makellath (w\/ v. 25), thus some scholars suggest that Kehelathah may be an alt form of Macheloth Location unknown.
\nMOUNT SHEPHER (23, 24)
\nLocation Unknown
\nHARADAH (24, 25)
\nLocation Unknown<\/p>\n
Cycle IV: Kadesh to Arabah<\/p>\n
Numbers 33
\nExodus 12\u201317 Numbers 1\u201321 Deuteronomy 1\u20134; 10
\nVariant Readings Additional Sites Location
\nMAKHELOTH (25, 26)
\nKadesh in Zin Wilderness Meribah
\nLocation Unknown
\nTAHATH (26, 27)
\nLXX\u2014Kataath Location Unknown
\nTERAH (27, 28)
\nSP\u2014M\u0115tikah Location Unknown
\nMITHKAH (28, 29)
\nLocation Unknown
\nHASHMONAH (29, 30)
\nLXX Selmona Location Unknown
\nMOSEROTH (30, 31)
\nMoserah in Deut 10:6
\nLocation Unknown
\nBENE-YA\u02bfAKAN (31, 32)
\nDeut 10:6
\nLocation Unknown<\/p>\n
Cycle V: Desert Journeys to Edom and the Death of Aaron<\/p>\n
Numbers 3
\nExodus 12\u201317 Numbers 1\u201321 Deuteronomy 1\u20134; 10
\nVariant Readings Additional Sites Location
\nHOR-HAGGIDGAD (32, 33)
\nGudgodah in Deut 10:7
\nFew MSS, LXX, Vg\u2014Har-Haggidgad SP-Haggidgadah
\nYOTBATHAH (33, 34)
\nDeut 10:7
\nJM – \u02bfAin Tabah and et-Tabah, 6 miles S of Elat (etymologically weak) Modern Yotvata in southern Arabah
\nABRONAH (34, 35)
\nLacking
\nSuggestion: \u02bfAin Defiyeh??
\nEZION-GEBER (35, 36)
\nLacking, but \u201cWay of Red Sea\u201d mentioned in Num 21:4
\nTrad. Tell el-Kheleifeh, just NE of Elat. Alt. site Jezirat Faroun island in northern Gulf of Aqaba
\nKADESH (36, 37)
\nin Zin Wilderness
\nKadesh (Num 20:1)\u2014Miriam dies; Waters of Meribah
\nTrad. \u02bfAin Qudeirat
\nMOUNT HOR (37\u201341)
\nMount Hor (Num 20:22) nr. border of Edom; Aaron dies at age 123, 40 yrs after Exodus
\nOthers: Hormah (& Arad) Deut 10:6\u2014Aaron dies at Moserah. On the border of Edom. Traditional – Jebel Madeirah just S of Petra, too far East. Possible mountain in N. Zin region such as Hor Hahar
\nZALMONAH (41, 42)
\nLacking
\nUnknown elsewhere in OT. Perhaps in region of Wadi Salmana, E of \u02bfEin Hazeva<\/p>\n
Cycle VI: Punon to the Plains of Moab<\/p>\n
Numbers 3
\nExodus 12\u201317 Numbers 1\u201321 Deuteronomy 1\u20134; 10
\nVariant Readings Additional Sites Location
\nPUNON (42, 43)
\nLacking
\nTrad. Feinan, 31 miles S of Dead Sea on E side of Arabah (ancient copper mining center) Roman\u2014Phaenon
\nOBOTH (43, 44)
\nOboth (Num 21:10)
\nSuggestions: \u02bfAin el-Weibeh (Simons) Alt. site N of Kh. Feinan toward Kh. Ay
\nIJE ABARIM (44)
\nIYIM (45)
\nIye Abarim\u2014E of Moab, then to Zered, Mattanah, Nahaliel, Bamoth, Pisgah (Num 21:11
\nAdd\u2019l sites: Wadi Zered, Mattanah, Nahaliel, Bamoth, Pisgah (Num 21:18b\u201320). Iye Abarim = \u201cruins of Abarim (Mts.)\u201d Thutmose III\u2014\u201cIyyin\u201d
\nDIBON-GAD (45, 46)
\nDibon in Num 21:30 proverb
\nAdd\u2019l sites: Heshbon, Jazer Egyptian t-b-n-i; modern Dhiban 3 miles N of Arnon River gorge Ramses II \u201cQarho (Dibon)\u201d
\nALMON-DIBLATHAIM (46, 47)
\n= Beth-diblathaim? (Jer 48:22 mentioned w\/ Dibon and Nebo), Mesha stela, line 30. Near Baal-meon & Madaba. Sug gestion: Deleilat el-Ghar biyeh
\nMTS. ABARIM (47, 48) before Nebo
\ncf. Iye Abarim above (Num 21:11) Mount Nebo in Abarim Mts. in Deut 32:49
\nAbarim = Ridge of moun tains separating Transjor dan plateau from Jordan Valley, W of Madaba and Heshbon. Mt. Nebo tradi tionally identified w\/ mountain of 802 meters elev., 5 miles NW of Madaba
\nPLAINS OF MOAB (48) by Jordan from Beth Jeshimoth up to Abel Shittim
\nPlains of Moab (22:1) Balaam encounters
\nBeth Jeshimoth = Tel \u02bfAzeimah, 12 miles SE of Jericho near Dead Sea. Abel-shittim = Tell Kefrein, 5 miles E of Jor dan & 7 miles N of Dead Sea (Josephus) or Tel Hammam Thutmoses III, Ramses II \u201cAbel\u201d<\/p>\n
For the completion of the victory march, Cycle VII lay ahead for the Israelites as the challenge of vv. 50\u201356 implies.<\/p>\n
4. Instructions for the Conquest of the Land (33:50\u201356)<\/p>\n
50 On the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho the LORD said to Moses, 51 \u201cSpeak to the Israelites and say to them: \u2018When you cross the Jordan into Canaan, 52 drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you. Destroy all their carved images and their cast idols, and demolish all their high places. 53 Take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given you the land to possess. 54 Distribute the land by lot, according to your clans. To a larger group give a larger inheritance, and to a smaller group a smaller one. Whatever falls to them by lot will be theirs. Distribute it according to your ancestral tribes.
\n55 \u201c \u2018But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will give you trouble in the land where you will live. 56 And then I will do to you what I plan to do to them.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
The seventh and final cycle of the victory march from Egypt to the Land of Canaan comes in the form of a challenge, the list that remains to be written by Joshua, Moses\u2019 successor. The chiastic structure of the future and final stage of the Israelite victory march from Egypt to the Promised Land has been duly noted by Milgrom. As they departed the plains of Moab, led by the Lord and the symbol of his presence in the ark of the covenant in crossing the Jordan River, they would make their encampment at Gilgal from which their task would be to carry out the enclosed instructions for taking possession of their inheritance. The following outline is based on Milgrom, with my own modifications:<\/p>\n
Introduction: Instructions from the Lord for the Israelites (50\u201351)
\nSetting Protasis: When you cross over the Jordan into the Land of Canaan
\nA Possession of the Promised Land (two apodoses with w\u0115h\u00f4ra\u0161tem) (52\u201353)
\n1 Possessing by Dispossessing (w\u0115h\u00f4ra\u0161tem) the Inhabitants of the Land (52)
\na Dispossess all the inhabitants of the land from before you
\nb Destroy all their carved images
\nb\u00b4 All their molten images you shall destroy
\na\u00b4 All their high places you shall demolish
\n2 Possessing (w\u0115h\u00f4ra\u0161tem) by Inhabiting the Land (53)
\na You shall possess the land and dwell in it
\nb For You I have given the land to possess it.
\nB Inheritance To Be Divided among the Tribes (54)
\n1 You shall receive the inheritance of the land by lot for your clans
\na For the large you shall make large its inheritance
\na\u00b4 For the small you shall make small its inheritance
\n1\u00b4 Toward whatever comes out to him there by lot is his By your patriarchal tribes you shall inherit.
\nA\u00b4 Dispossession Warning (two apodoses w\u0115h\u0101y\u00e2) (55\u201356)
\n1 Protasis: If you do not dispossess the inhabitants of the land from before you
\na Then it will be (w\u0115h\u0101y\u00e2) that those you allow to remain from them [will be] Splinters in your eyes and thorns in your sides They shall trouble you in the land where you dwell
\nb Then it will be (w\u0115h\u0101y\u00e2) According to what I intended to do to them I will do to you!<\/p>\n
33:50\u201351 In the standard introduction to didactic material throughout the Book of Numbers, this pericope begins with the full Hebrew version of the familiar revelatory phraseology way\u0115dabb\u0113r YHWH \u02beel-mo\u0161eh \u2026 l\u0113\u02bem\u014dr \u2026 dabb\u0113r \u02beel-b\u0115n\u00ea yi\u015br\u0101\u02be\u0113l w\u0115\u02be\u0101mart\u0101 \u02be\u0103l\u0113hem, \u201cThen Yahweh instructed Moses, saying: \u2018Instruct the children of Israel, and thus you shall say to them.\u2019 \u201d Typically this extended formal introduction is found in specific priestly legislation, though it also occurs in the introductions to the two challenges to enter the Promised Land and drive out its inhabitants. The proper conclusion to the Israelites\u2019 following these instructions faithfully would be the phraseology of obedience found throughout the Book of Numbers, that Israel did \u201caccording all that the LORD commanded Moses.\u201d This would be recorded in Josh 11:20, 23, that \u201che [the Lord] might destroy them as the Lord had commanded Moses.\u2026 So Joshua took the whole land according to all that the Lord had said to Moses, and Joshua gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes\u201d (NKJV). The introduction also includes a reference to the geographical setting for receiving the instructions from the Lord, \u201con the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho,\u201d Jericho being the place where the conquest would begin in the near future.
\n33:52\u201353 The Lord\u2019s instructions are set forth using the two parallel meanings of the hiphil form of the Hebrew verb y\u0101ra\u0161 (h\u00f4ra\u0161tem), which can mean either \u201cpossess\u201d or \u201cdispossess\u201d depending on one\u2019s perspective. For the Israelites to possess the land would mean dispossessing the Canaanite inhabitants, driving the Canaanite inhabitants out of the land so that they might inhabit it. The instructions concerning the dispossessing of the Canaanites were deliberately expanded to include that which would be the most problematic aspect of the Canaanite culture to Israel, the various forms of aberrant worship practiced by the land\u2019s inhabitants. They were to demolish (\u02beibbadtem \/ t\u0115\u02beabb\u0113d\u00fb, \u201cyou shall demolish \/ exterminate\u201d) their sculpted or carved images (ma\u015bkiy\u014dt\u0101m) and their molten images (\u1e63alm\u00ea mass\u0113kot\u0101m), and they were to obliterate all their high places (b\u0101m\u014dt\u0101m) throughout the land. In the Ten Commandments Israel had been prohibited explicitly from making any form of image of Yahweh their God or worshiping any other gods (Exod 20:3\u20135), and now they were commanded to demolish all forms and locales where the idolatrous activities took place. Pluralism in the form of peaceful coexistence with idolatry would be impossible, both for the well-being of the people and the sanctity of the land Yahweh had given as a gift to his people. That gift was to be purified by the expurgation of idolatry and by remaining pure and holy before the Lord. Otherwise those various forms and accompanying practices would ensnare Israel and turn their hearts from their God. The tragedy of Israel\u2019s history was that they failed to follow faithfully these commands from the Lord, so their demise at the hands of the Assyrians and Babylonians was largely due to their tendency toward idolatry.
\n33:54 The land belonged to the Lord, and it was his to grant to whom he desired. By his love, grace, and mercy he had promised and was now presenting the gift of the land to his people Israel. The distribution of the land among the tribes was to be proportionate based on the size of the tribe and through the casting of lots. Lots were cast with the confidence in the providence of God to apportion justly and fairly among the tribal components of the people of Israel.
\n33:55\u201356 The words of blessing in v. 24 that would result from the Israelites faithfully following the commands of the Lord are now contrasted with a stern warning and potential curse that would accrue to the nation if it were not steadfast in cleaving to Yahweh alone. The antithesis to the Israelites dispossessing the inhabitants of the land would be that of being dispossessed themselves by the hand of the one who had given it to them. Joshua issued a similar warning to Israel in his farewell address to the nation before his death (Josh 23:11\u201313).<\/p>\n
Therefore take diligent heed to yourselves, that you love the Lord your God. (11)
\nOr else, if indeed you do go back, and cling to the remnant among you\u2014and make marriages with them, and go in to them and they to you, (12)
\nknow for certain that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations from before you.
\nBut they shall be snares and traps to you, and scourges on your sides, and thorns in your eyes,
\nuntil you perish from this good land which the Lord your God has given you. (13)<\/p>\n
The language of the curse was very foreboding. Allowing the peoples of the land who were the source of idolatry to remain in the land would eventually lead to an infectious disease that would gradually consume the nation like leprosy.
\nWhat lay ahead for the nation on this last stage of the journey on the victory march to the Promised Land was a challenge of faith. Faithfulness like that which was depicted of the nation in Numbers 1\u201310 would result in their experiencing the fullness of God\u2019s blessing in the land flowing with milk and honey. Unity and harmony, celebration and worship, would be theirs. But if they rebelled against God as that first generation did in Numbers 11\u201325, then discord and disparagement would be their woeful conclusion to the story. The words were ominously prophetic.<\/p>\n
5. Preparation for Allocation of the Promised Land (34:1\u201329)<\/p>\n
Following the recitation of the victory march from Egypt to the doorstep of the Promised Land (33:1\u201349) and the provision of instructions for the appropriation of the land of Canaan (33:50\u201356), the borders of their long-awaited inheritance are delineated. The chapter concludes with a listing of the leaders of the ten remaining tribes who would carry out the land distribution, the other two and one-half tribes having received their allocation in Transjordan. As Harrison vividly noted, \u201cThis chapter and the next look forward to the occupation of Canaan, which lay tantalizingly just across the River Jordan to the West of the Israelite encampment. Although God had promised victory to His people if they continued to obey His commands, nothing was left to chance in the organization of their new life in their own land.\u201d
\nThe outline of Israel\u2019s territorial inheritance on the North and the South closely follows that of the region scouted by the Israelite spies during the first attempt to enter the Promised Land (13:21\u201329). On the southern side, the Zin Wilderness (v. 3) is the point from which the scouts were sent. As to the northern extent, Lebo Hamath is cited in both 13:21 and 34:8. The Great Sea on the West was the natural boundary, and on the East side the Jordan River is mentioned in both 13:29 and 34:10\u201312. A number of other lists defining the Promised Land or the Land of Canaan are interspersed throughout the Books of Genesis, Numbers, Joshua, and Ezekiel. Note the comparison of the various lists below.
\nA subtle tension exists in this section in that the borders specified in vv. 3\u201312 do not include the territories recently granted to the two and one-half tribes who desired to live in Transjordan region. According to Num 32:30 it is evident that these tribes were intended to have received allotments in Cisjordan along with the other nine and one-half tribes. The tribal dissonance which arose due to their choosing this region for an inheritance (32:1\u201319) will remain alive for generations to come. By the time of the division of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, the distinctive regions of the Reubenites, Gadites, and eastern Manassites will have all but disappeared as the kingdoms of Ammon and Moab emerged at the end of the tenth and beginning of the ninth centuries B.C.<\/p>\n
COMPARISON OF BOUNDARY AND TERRITORIAL LISTS<\/p>\n
Num 34:1\u201312
\nJosh 14:1\u201319:51
\nEzek 47:13\u201320
\nSouth
\nZin Wilderness border w\/Edom; Salt Sea to Scorpion Pass N. Zin, S. of Kadesh Barnea Hazar Addar, Azmon Brook of Egypt to Great Sea
\nZin Wilderness border w\/Edom, Salt Sea, S. of Kadesh Barnea, Hezron Addar, Karka, Azmon Brook of Egypt to Great Sea
\nDead Sea toward Negeb, Tamar to Waters of Meribah dr. Kedesh, Brook of Egypt to Great Sea<\/p>\n
West
\nGreat Sea
\nGreat Sea
\nGreat Sea<\/p>\n
North
\nGreat Sea to Mt. Hor Lebo Hamath, Zedad, Ziphron, Hazar Enan
\nAbdon, Rehob, Hammon Kanah, Greater Sidon, back to Ramah, Tyre, Hosah, Great Sea
\nGreat Sea along Helon Rd. to Zedad, Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim (between Damascus and Hamath), Hazar Hatticon; Sea to Hazar Enan, on Damascus border<\/p>\n
East
\nHazar Enan, Shepham, Riblah, East of Ain, Slopes E. of Kinnereth Sea, Along Jordan to Salt Sea
\nJordon River and Sea of Kinnereth (Naphtali, Issachar, Manasseh, Ephraim) Except for Transjordan allocations
\nHauran \/ Damascus, to between Gilead and Israel, along Jordan River, E side of [Dead] Sea<\/p>\n
Transjordan Tribes Num 32:33\u201342
\nTransjordan Tribes Josh 13:8\u201333; 17:1\u20136
\nGad
\nDibon, Ataroth, Aror, Atroth Shophan, Jazar Jogbehah, Beth Nimrah, Beth Haran
\nJazar territory, all Gilead towns half of Ammon, Aror nr. Rabbah Mizpah and Betonim, Mahanaim, Debir territory, Beth Haram, Beth Nimrah, Succoth, Zaphon, Remainder of Sihon\u2019s territory E. side of Jordan to Kinnereth Sea<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I. FAITHFULNESS OF ISRAEL AT SINAI (1:1\u201310:10) The setting for the initial two cycles of material in the Book of Numbers is the Sinai Desert, with particular focus on the tabernacle, the epicenter of Israelite religious life. 1. Sinai Cycle A: Census and Consecration of the Tribes of Israel (1:1\u20136:27) The first cycle introduces several … <\/p>\n