[First posted July 27, 2013. This is the 4th book in the series we are featuring from one of the best resources in our S6K library, a MUST-READ/MUST-OWN book titled The Literary Guide to the Bible, eds. Robert Alter and Frank Kermode. As we keep reiterating, a non-religious, non-theological approach to the Hebrew Scriptures which focuses on pure text and context as well as on the literary forms of expression used in communicating stories, teachings, laws, history — opens up a totally different perspective and understanding. If you haven’t yet noticed that from the previous posts on Bereshiyth, Shemoth and Wai-qrah, don’t stop now! The posts are long but worth the read! Reformatting and highlights added.
Related Posts:
—Admin1]
Numbers
James S. Ackerman
The Book of Numbers narrates —
- Israel’s departure from Mount Sinai
- and its journey in the Wilderness for an entire generation
- until reaching the border of the Promised Land.
Composed of sources with exceedingly long and complex histories of development—
- it was probably put in its present form some time in the sixth or fifth century B.C.E., during or after the Babylonian Exile. T
- he editors clearly assume that life in the Diaspora had its ancient analogue in the Wilderness era. They have reinterpreted old traditions of Israel’s Wilderness wandering by arranging a sophisticated collage of diverse materials into a new literary context.
- Much of the material is Priestly, and we can assume that Priestly circles were responsible for the final version of the book.
Although there are three major sections (10:11-25:18, containing diverse material, is framed by Priestly traditions), certain thematic concerns give literary unity to the work.
The Wilderness period is depicted as an ordeal in which the Exodus generation was found wanting.
- What voices prolonged our sojourn in the Wilderness, pushing us back toward Egyptian bondage?
- How did divine guidance manifest itself, and to what extent do we still have access to it?
- What role does Moses play in expressing the divine will, since he too failed the test?
- Given our impurity, how could the Holy One be in our midst without destroying us?
- And how can we come near the divine presence without profaning God?
These questions were of more than antiquarian interest to the religious leaders struggling to come to terms with the new realities of life in the lands of the Diaspora.
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The first section (1:1-10:10) describes elaborate journey preparations that anticipate important themes of the story.
Chapters 1-4 begin with a census in which nothing is left to chance.
- YHWH exercise tight control over the whole operation,
- specifying the tribal representatives who are to accompany Moses and Aaron as they make their rounds;
- and the narrator gives precise figures for each tribe.
- Every male aged twenty and above is reckoned to the military, and the numbers are overwhelming.
- As God lays out the order in which the tribes are to march and to encamp, we wonder who could possibly withstand such an overwhelming assault.
A second theme in these early chapters is—-
the establishment of spatial structures
and hierarchies of personnel
that will permit certain groups to approach God’s presence
while safeguarding the rest of the people from God’s holiness.
After the Golden Calf incident, YHWH had decided not to accompany the people to the Promised Land.
It would be impossible to dwell in Israel’s midst, says YHWH, “lest I consume thee in the way” (Exod. 33:3).
But Moses proves just as wily (and more successful) in negotiating with YHWH as he had been with Pharaoh: “My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest” (Exod. 33:14).
There is a new tension, however, between God and people.
YHWH will dwell in Israel’s midst; but how can this holiness be contained, so that the people may be led and nurtured without being consumed?
A carefully structured system is developed that marks clear boundaries between people and Presence.
Although the tabernacle will be located in the midst of the camp, it will be surrounded at all times by a group no longer reckoned among the tribes—“that there be no wrath upon the congregation of the children of Israel” (1:53).
The Levites are to be given over to the service of the tabernacle—offered to YHWH in lieu of all Israel’s firstborn sons. There are further gradations among the Levitical families.
Moses and Aaron and his sons encamp east of the tabernacle, and only they have direct access to the most holy objects within.
Thus there are concentric circles of holiness in the camp—priest, Levite, Israelite—each protecting the outer circles from divine wrath.
And this structure serves more than a prophylactic function, for from the center Aaron and his sons pronounce YHWH’s blessing on all Israel: “they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them” (6:27).
The final major theme of the introductory section is that of divine guidance and protection, embodied in the movable cloud that veils and reveals YHWH’s glory.
Israel had first encountered the pillar of cloud/fire during the escape from Egypt. This pillar had protected the people from the pursuing Egyptians and guided them through the Wilderness to Mount Sinai.
It reappears in conjunction with, and as a climax to, the completion of the tabernacle, as YHWH’s means of fulfilling the promise to accompanyIsrael into the Promised Land (Exod. 40:34-38).
Numbers 9:15-23 refers to that moment of YHWH’s glory entering the completed tabernacle, and both sections seem to summarize the entire passage from Mount Sinai to Canaan (“throughout their journeys”). The cloud moves in mysterious ways, sometimes tarrying, at other times moving on immediately; and Israel faithfully follows the divine guidance, as relayed by YHWH through Moses.
The Numbers story has progressed calmly and smoothly to this point.
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The second section begins with the cloud of divine glory being “taken up from off the tabernacle” in 10:11.
When Israel leaves the holy mountain and reenters the Wilderness as a covenanted people, conflict will ensue.
Verse 29 introduces a new literary source, most likely preserving ancient traditions of Israel’s Wilderness wandering. Read separately, this material can be interpreted positively. But the present redaction juxtaposes disparate sources that produce a strange dissonance in their new literary setting.
For example, Moses’ invitation to Hobab to accompany Israel to Canaan and partake of the divinely promised blessings sounds like wise policy when 10:29-32 is read out of context. Just as Moses had used the helpful advice of his in-laws in structuring a judicial system (Exod. 18), he asks these nomadic peoples to guide Israel through a wilderness with which they would be quite familiar.
The context here stresses absolute divine control and guidance, however, and forces us to see Moses’ request as a breach of faith rather than as an act of prudence.
- Who needs Hobab when Israel can follow the pillar of cloud?
- How does YHWH react?
Interpreters have long been puzzled by the twofold reference to “three days’ journey” in 10:33, and some have assumed that the second occurrence results from dittography.
But if we read 10:33-34 literally, the two symbols of divine presence—that ark and the cloud—have split apart, so that YHWH is no longer totally tabernacled in the midst of the camp.
- Has YHWH broken away because of Moses’ breach of faith?
The first three verses of chapter 11 seem to confirm our interpretation of 10:29-36, that YHWH is at least partially separated from Israel’s midst.
When the people complain, YHWH’s fire devours the outer edges of the camp. It is noteworthy that this first post-Sinai eruption of divine wrath is not given much narrative justification.
Furthermore, YHWH is located outside the camp in the following stories.
- Is God still nursing grudges because of the Golden Calf,
- or is this outburst partially related to Moses’ request that Hobab serve as Israel’s eyes?
Chapters 1-10 have established a priestly hierarchy among the people as to how close various groups may come to the divine presence.
In 11:4-12:16 the same theme develops in terms of prophecy, and the essential point is this:
at the absolute center of all the concentric circles stands Moses—the unique means of revealing the divine will.
Chapter 11 gives us variations of earlier stories—the quails/manna of Exodus 16, and the sharing of Moses’ leadership burden of Exodus 18. The stories, however, are not verbatim repetitions of the earlier ones; and we will note how the similarities and differences contribute to the dynamics of narrative development.
Chapter 11 also combines into one story traditions that were originally unrelated to one another. Such a “clumsy” integration seems crude to Western readers, because the redactor has made little effort to cover his tracks. We may wonder what quails have to do with the bestowal of divine spirit on the seventy elders. In fact the redactor has created new context in which the stories comment on one another and thus provide the key for their interpretation.
The people long for meat as they remember their diverse, moist, and gratis foods in Egypt. In their eyes the manna, which they must seek out, gather, grind, beat, and boil in order to make cakes, parallels the dryness of their existence. But from the narrator’s authoritative viewpoint, the manna is anything but dry: it came as bread rained from heaven, tasting like “wafers made with honey” (Exod. 16:4, 31). Falling with the dew, it tasted like cakes made with oil.
The narrative has set up a meat/manna opposition—one given by Egypt, the other by God. In Exodus 16 YHWH had brought the quails with the manna to satisfy the people’s hunger. In this version a new divine strategy is introduced: God will comply with the rebellious requests to such an extreme that blessing becomes judgment. The request for meat climaxes with YHWH’s ruah (“wind”) bringing quails from the sea, which the people “gather” and pile up “round about” the camp (vv. 31-32). At the point of fulfillment, however, before they have swallowed their first bite of the meat, a plague breaks out. After all, they have hankered for a taste of Egypt.
The motif of bearing the burden relates the quail and spirit-bestowal episodes to each other (11:13-17).
In Exodus 18 Moses’ judicial burden had been resolved by Jethro’s suggestion; in this case YHWH intervenes directly. Moses is commanded to “gather” seventy elders and place them “round about” the tabernacle.
As a result of Moses’ request for diversity of leadership, YHWH’s ruah (“spirit”) moves out from Moses to engulf the seventy.
The immediate result is ecstatic prophecy; and the consonantal text concludes enigmatically wl’ ysfw. Depending on how we vocalize these consonants, we can read “they did not cease” or “they did not continue.”
Meat and manna have been set in opposition; what is the relationship between meat and spirit?
- Just as the people have wrongly requested a diverse diet, Moses has wrongly requested to diversify the responsibility of leadership (as with Hobab in 10:29-32 and with Eldad and Medad in 11:26-30).
- Just as YHWH has plague the people with quails through the ruah, so also the ruah brings the incapacitating plague of ecstatic prophecy.
- In the ambiguous wl’ ysfw, both meanings apply: the elders prophesy unceasingly, but they do not speak a genuine word of prophecy.
If spirit is placed with meat/flesh at the negative pole in these juxtaposed stories, what is the second positive motif to be correlated with manna?
One thematic key word in this story is dbr, the Hebrew root translated as “word” or “to speak.” Just as the manna comes down and nurtures, YHWH comes down and speaks to Moses (11:17, 25). Despite Moses’ doubts, YHWH says, “Thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not” (11:23) Deuteronomy further develops the association between manna and word: in 32:2 Moses’ teaching distills like the dew; and in 8:3 God “fed thee with manna … that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord.”
The intertwined traditions in chapter 11 correlate the people’s yearning for meat with Moses’ desire to broaden his lonely burden of leadership.
- One move cloaks the wished-for return to the Egyptian way of life;
- the other, the abrogation of the concentric circles of holiness that have vested highest authority and responsibility with an inner group: “would God that all YHWH’s people were prophets” (v. 29).
Chapter 12 further develops the theme of authoritative leadership, when Miriam and Aaron—prophetess and priest—question Moses’ unique position in mediating the divine will.
Now the conflict rages in the innermost circle of holiness—the Aaronic priests—and its results in the establishment of a further inner circle; Moses alone speaks with God mouth to mouth.
The pretext for the challenge is that Moses has gone outside the camp—beyond the bounds of the holy—to marry a Cushite, presumably a black-skinned woman.
Again YHWH’s response has an ironic yet meaningful twist:
- Miriam is turned white (with leprosy)
- and is placed outside the camp:
- and as long as she is separated from her people,
- Israel cannot proceed toward the Promised Land.
Thus the text suggests that—-
- challenging Moses’ unique authority,
- even his own desire to lighten his burden by broadening that authority,
- prevents progress toward Canaan
- and masks a yearning for Egypt.
Chapters 16-17 further develop the challenge to Moses’ leadership—the situation now exacerbate by the divine judgment that the people must about-face into the Wilderness until the Exodus generation has died out.
As in chapter 11, these chapters combine diverse material containing two separate themes:
- the priestly challenge from Korah against the unique role of Moses and Aaron, since all YHWH’s people are holy;
- and the popular challenge from Dathan and Abiram that Moses has engineered the Exodus from Egypt as a means of grasping personal power.
The redactor has again associated the longing for Egypt—
Dathan and Abiram shockingly call it a “land that floweth with milk and honey” (16:14)—with the desire to cut through the hierarchical orders.
The rebels claim to speak in the name of total service to YHWH—for all God’s people are holy—but theirs is a false service, somehow akin to serving Pharaoh.
YHWH must dwell in Israel’s midst as leader and protector if the people are to enter Canaan.
But such nearness to the deity will be fatal for Israel without the clearly marked gradations of holiness.
In 17:12 the people express their concern that all must perish because of their fearful proximity.
The text’s answer, however, is the reconfirmation of Aaron and a purged Levitical order.
Aaron’s sweet-smelling censer stays the plague; Aaron/Levi’s staff sprouts blossoms and bears fruit inside the tent of meeting.
Chapters 13-14 describe a climactic turning point in the Wilderness wandering:
because of their lack of faith the entire generation that had escaped from Egypt (except Joshua and Caleb) must die before Israel can enter the Promised Land.
Moses’ statement here to the twelve spies should be measured both against Joshua’s orders regarding the spying out of Jericho in Joshua 2:1 and against God’s commandment to Moses in this passage. Whereas Joshua’s order is brief and to the point and God’s command emphasizes that the land to be spied out is the long-awaited Promised Land, Moses’ instructions to the spies go far beyond mediating the divine word (13:17-20). The spies are to note whether or not the cities are fortified.
Do not these terms invite us to look askance at Moses’ lack of faith?
YHWH has told Moses to send spies into the land for himself (“send for yourself,” v. 2 [AT], and verses 17-20 reveal that Moses still doubts the goodness of the land and YHWH’s ability to deliver it into Israel’s hands.
When the spies return, the single cluster of grapes borne on a pole by two men answers the question regarding the land’s goodness; but it also colors the people’s response to the spies’ report about the strength and size of the land’s inhabitants.
The narrator terms the spies’ final words (13:32-33) and “evil report” and emphasizes its fearful perspective: the land eats its inhabitants, and we are like grasshoppers before them.
It was, however, the agenda of questions set by Moses and not by YHWH that prompted the spies to seek out whether rather than how the land could best be conquered. Against the majority’s “a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof” (13:32), only Caleb and Joshua maintain that the people of the land “are bread for us” (14:9).
With the command lekh lekha, “go thou,”
- God had sent Abram from Mesopotamia toward the Promised Land,
- as well as to Mount Moriah to offer up his son (Gen. 12:1; 22:2).
Shelah lekha (“send for yourself”) seems to echo that primal command.
Just as God had commanded Abram to go to a land that his descendants would inherit and then commanded him to sacrifice the next generation, are not Moses and Israel facing, and failing, the same ordeal?
The Exodus generation must die out because, unlike Abraham, they fear for their children’s future.
This younger generation will indeed suffer for the sins of the fathers by wandering for forty years; but like Isaac’s, their future is secured: they will enter the Land.
The opening chapters of Numbers have strongly emphasized divine guidance as God dwelt in Israel’s midst.
The census of six hundred thousand fighting men has also indicated a continuation of God’s promises to make Israel a great nation. How could such a multiplied feel as small as grasshoppers? Even apart from divine guidance, they could have moved into the Land like locusts.
But when the Exodus generation repents and makes the abortive attempt at conquest without the presence of Moses and the ark, the people are routed: mere numbers do not suffice.
The narrative makes clear that the key to conquest is faith in, and the reality of, the divine presence.
————————————————
Chapter 20, which returns us to the waters of Meribah (cf. Exod.17:1-7), explains why Moses must join the generation condemned to die in the Wilderness.
- In Exodus the setting was Horeb/Sinai: in response to the people’s murmuring against Moses. YHWH had commanded him to strike the rock at Horeb with his staff so that the people’s thirst could be quenched.
- In the second Meribah story Moses is again to take his staff, but this time he is to bring forth the water through the power of speech.
- Is this not the test: does Moses sufficiently believe in YHWH’s word (see11:23),
- and does he believe that his words approximate the power of that word?
- Ironically, the sole mediator of YHWH’s word does not fully trust the word he embodies (see 27:14).
- He reverts to his wonder-working staff-striking form, as he had done before the divine words were spoken at Sinai.
- Part of Moses’ “sin,” therefore, is a failure to believe fully in God’s power to deliver on promises—The other element of Moses’ sin is his desire not to be the sole articulator of YHWH’s word; but that is his destiny.
- a failure we have seen developing since 20:29,
- when he first turns to Hobab to lead Israel through the Wilderness.
- He has not been self-assertive; rather he has wished to share the burden of authority.
- That is, he is “meek” (12:3); and in his case, this is no virtue.
- When Moses would just as soon abdicate, YHWH must continually insist on Moses’ unique role as divine-human mediator.
- Finally Moses does become assertive: “must we fetch you water out of this rock?” (20:10)
- YHWH had told Moses and Aaron: “speak ye unto the rock … and thou shalt bring forth to them water” (20:8).
- Is not this a further test: will Moses attribute to himself results clearly derived from divine power. He has never done this in the past (see Exod. 14:13-18).
- Moses finally sheds his meekness and belatedly asserts himself, but YHWH interprets the action as failure to credit the result to divine rather than to human power.
- When Moses strikes the rock, “many waters”(20:11 [AT])—
- a term almost invariably having cosmic associations—come forth to quench Israel’s thirst.
- The Psalm often depict these waters as hostile to YHWH, typifying a chaotic world that threatens to engulf the worshiper.
- Yet as in other ancient Near Eastern cultures, God’s victorious cosmogonic struggle had established the divine dwelling place over the many waters, transforming them into fructifying agents.
- Paradoxically, the act that prevents Moses from entering Canaan results in divinely bestowed nourishment—“many waters”—for Israel.
- Chapter 20 is the culmination of a series of passages in which Moses provides Israel with water, both as test and as nourishment.
- In Exodus 15:22-27 Israel had come upon water that the people could not drink because of its bitterness.
- In response YHWH had “shewed” (the Hebrew root for “Torah”) Moses a tree that sweetened the water and as a test had given them law that, if adhered to, would save Israel from the sickness of Egypt.
- This symbolism of deliverance through covenant law had been reinforced when Moses struck the rock for water at Horeb/Sinai (Exod. 17:1-7). But after the Covenant had been sealed, Israel could be held accountable for its ways:In chapter 20 Moses is tested:
- Moses had pulverized the Golden Calf, mixed it in water, and tested the people by forcing them to drink (Exod. 32:20).
- In Numbers 5:11-31 there is an unusually detailed description of the ritual for adjudicating a suspected adulteress. As a test of guilt or innocence, she must drink a potion of “bitter water” made up of dust from the sanctuary and ink from a scroll on which curses have been written.
in the pre-Sinai Wilderness he had brought water from the rock with his staff.
He has grown sufficiently to believe that the words he speaks through YHWH’s command have more power than the staff?
Can he bear the burden of authority over Israel without claiming equal partnership with God?
Psalms 106:32-33 gives the following interpretation:
They [Israel] angered him [YHWH] at the waters of strife [ = Meribah],
so that it went ill with Moses for the sakes;
Because they made his spirit bitter,
so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips. [AR]
Referring to the murmurers as “rebels” in Numbers 20:10 (a wordplay on “bitter”), Moses suffers as a result of YHWH’s wrath against Israel. Because of his embittered spirit he is unable to consume the bitter waters; he is tested and found wanting (27:14).
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Chapter 19, the law of the red heifer, is one of the most puzzling, anomalous, and often discussed passages in Numbers.
The animal is burned in its entirely—dung, flesh, blood, and so forth—and its ashes are put outside the camp. Yet strangely, when stirred into water, these ashes constitute the “water of separation” that purifies those who are unclean.
Joseph Blau comments on the rabbinic fascination with the paradox of ashes that defile making something clean.
There may be a thematic relationship between this Priestly legislation and the fate of Moses and Aaron at the Meribah waters.
Moses’ flawed humanity, hinted at in earlier episodes, comes to the surface.
As a result the brothers cannot enter Canaan; but through Moses’ failure Israel receives “many water.”
After YHWH’s judgment that Moses and Aaron must die in the Wilderness, we might expect an eloquent speech of entreaty from Israel’s great mediator. Instead, Moses proceeds with the business of bringing his people to the land his feet will not touch. Even though his negotiations with the Edomites are unsuccessful, there is a new calm, stable character in the relationship among the people, their leaders, and their God.
Aaron is summoned to ascend the mountain of Hur to die, and his priestly office is given to Eleazar—foreshadowing the death of the condemned generation and the transfer of leadership to the new generation that will conquer the land.
Emblematic of this is chapter 21. Verses 1-3 describe another Hormah battle against the king of Arad (cf. 14:39-45). Whereas the first engagement had been abortive, initiating Israel’s return to the Wilderness for a generation, YHWH now heeds Israel’s petition, giving the enemy totally into its hands.
Chapter 21, in fact, foreshadows Israel’s conquest of Canaan.
The people receive the Transjordan following the death and burial of Aaron, as they will conquer Canaan after Moses’ death.
In this new context the chieftains of Israel are led by YHWH to strike for water with their staffs, apart from Moses’ intervention.
The judgments on Aaron and Moses seem to bring new hope for the future and new stability to relationships, though the Wilderness generation has still not been completely purged.
———————————–
When the Israelites had celebrated their escape from Egypt at the Sea of Reeds, they had anticipated the trembling of those peoples who would be their neighbors in the Promised Land (Exod. 15:14-16). Now that the people are encamped at the Jordan, ready to begin the assault, the Balak-Balaam story in chapters 22-24 introduces us to a trembling Moabite king who appears as Pharaoh redivivus. Like Pharaoh and the Egyptians, Balak and the Moabites dread Israel as numerically superior (cf. Exod. 1:8-12, Num. 22:3-5). Balak decides to invoke powerful curses on this new enemy. Perceiving Balaam as a professional diviner whose curse can be bought if the price is right, Balak says: “for I wot that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed” (22:6). This oracle runs counter to God’s promise to Abram in Genesis 12:3; and because the words used by Balak (and Pharaoh) to describe Israel’s large numbers are the words of divine blessing spoken to Israel’s ancestors in Genesis, we can expect a confrontation between God and this would-be curser.
But much to our surprise, Balaam does not at first emerge as an adversary to God;
though a Gentile, he is a seer capable of receiving divine communication from YHWH, Israel’s God.
And claiming that YHWH is also his God,
Balaam carefully obeys every divine command and transmits every divine word that he receives.
In 22:21-35 the redactor has included the folktale of Balaam’s talking ass.
This story does not seem well integrated unto the larger narrative, because God is suddenly angry at Balaam for complying with the divine command to accompany Balak’s emissaries. However, it plays an important role in introducing Balaam’s oracles. Just as the she-ass three times sees what the “seer” cannot perceive—YHWH’s angel standing before him with drawn sword—Balaam will three times be given a divine oracle that Balak will not accept. In response to Balak’s frustration, Balaam reiterates that he can speak only the word that YHWH gives him. And the not-so-subtle comparison between the renowned seer and his more perceptive she-ass makes it clear that Balaam can see only what God reveals. Only at the third encounter between prophet and angel does YHWH finally “open” Balaam’s eyes. And not until his third attempt at revelation does Balaam introduce himself as one whose eyes have been opened (24:4). A similar pattern obtains within the oracles themselves:
A. At point far-reaching and profound, 23:7-10 shows only partial vision. Although the seer has not been taken to a point where he could see all Israel, his allusion to the “dust of Jacob” recalls the divine blessing in Genesis 13:16 and 28:14 regarding the seed of Abram and Jacob. Balaam’s vision of Israel dwelling alone, not regarding itself among the nations, also recalls the earlier motif of Israel as a holy nation, set apart from other peoples. Yet he is far off the mark when he attempts to envision his own future (31:8).
B. Also equivocal is 23:18-24. The divine will to bless is inalterable by human manipulation. God has spoken—promises of blessing to the patriarchs, words of Torah mediated through Moses—and the sovereign purpose is moving toward fulfillment. Israel has been brought out of Egypt, and because of God’s presence it is moving toward violent conquest. Yet we pause quizzically at 23:21: “He [God] hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel.” Is God’s vision focused on past, present, or future? Given what has already transpired and what will soon occur, in what sense can this oracle be true? Just as Balaam has not properly envisioned his own end, perhaps his view of Israel’s future is also problematic.
C. Balaam’s eyes are not “opened” until he sets his face toward the Wilderness; and 24: 3-9 is an unambiguous blessing. The Exodus allusion is repeated, and the wild animal crushing the prey is not unequivocally Israel. In Balaam’s vision, Israel’s Wilderness encampment is transformed into a lush paradise. The dry dust of Jacob becomes his seed in “many waters”—an indication of the coming proliferation of the nation, sustained by YHWH’s mastery over the waters of chaos. The result will be a king more exalted than Agag—the leader of Israel’s prototypical enemies, the Amalekites (see 1 Sam. 15). And at its conclusion Balaam’s oracle aligns itself with God’s primal promise to Abram: “Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee” (24:9; cf. Gen. 12:3).
In 24:10-14 the triadic literary pattern is broken, precipitating the final oracle. When Balak withholds payments because Balaam has not done the job, the seer—without seeking a divine word—responds by giving the Moabite king a dreadful glimpse into his own nation’s future.
An extraordinary twist in the plot assigns the most far-reaching and positive visions of Israel’s future found in the entire Pentateuch to a Near Eastern diviner rather than to Moses.
It was Moses, after all, who had seen God at Mount Sinai and had spoken with God face to face.
It was Moses who had brought forth the “many waters” at Meribah that Balaam prophesies will sustain Israel.
Ironically, it is Balaam who, by precipitating the tragedy at Baal Peor, will turn out to be the cunning subverter of Israel’s relationship with God.
Why does the narrative give pride of place to this passive vehicle of revelation who then attempts to undermine the blessing he has spoken?
Is it to demonstrate that not even a Balaam, let alone a rebellious Israel, can defeat God’s sovereign purposes?
In Exodus the direct vision of God during the covenant ceremony was followed by the sin with the Golden Calf, and Numbers 25 describes a similar dramatic reversal: from the visions of Balaam, to worshiping the Baal of Peor. As in the Balaam story (22:4, 7), Moabites and Midianites are linked; and the narrative connects cohabitation with foreign women to worshipping foreign gods. The text withholds all mention of Balaam’s role in precipitating the falling away at Baal Peor—probably to stress Israel’s responsibility for what happened. In his oracles, however, Balaam has seen the relationship between Israel’s blessing and its status as a people dwelling alone, not reckoned among the nations (23:9). And further, he has learned that divination is ineffective against God’s people (23:23). Undermine Israel’s separation from the nations, as at Baal Peor, and it can indeed be cursed.
Whereas the Golden Calf had been intended to honor YHWH, no such pretense is maintained with the Baal of Peor. The hint of sexual license in Exodus 32 is full-blown in Numbers 25: “the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab” (v. 1). Whereas the Levites had been the vehicle of divine judgment for Aaron’s sin in making the Golden Calf, here it is a grandson of Aaron who turns back the divine wrath and saves Israel. We have already learned that only the offspring of Aaron may approach the innermost part of the sanctuary. After an Israelite takes a Moabite woman into his tent, Phinehas demonstrates his worthiness to inherit the priestly office when, in a gross parody of that office, he enters “the inner chamber” [AT] and pierces the couple with a spear—right through “her inner chamber” [AT]. With this act he makes atonement forIsrael, staying the plague that has killed twenty-four thousand Israelites.
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The last section of Numbers, like the first, begins with a tribal census. Chapter 26 specifies that a census took place “after the plague”: and in verses 64-65 we learn that, although the figures are roughly the same, the two numberings represent two entirely separate groups of people—the old and new generations.
- Through the first incident in the Wilderness (Exod.15:22-27)
- YHWH had warned the people that adherence to divine law would spare them the sicknesses of Egypt.
- But with the Golden Calf and Baal Peor stories as frames, plagues had been a common experience for the first generation.
- A major theme within the frame is the yearning for the comforts of the Egyptian past rather than risking the dangers inherent in the promised future.
- The Baal Peor incident dramatizes a readiness to become like the nations and to serve their gods;
- but this catastrophe also becomes the divine means of hastening the purge of the older generation so that a new age can begin.
- There are no plagues in the final section.
- Although Moses is told that he will soon die and is allowed to commission Joshua as his successor, he remains center-stage to make sure the new generation does not repeat the sins of the past.
- Because of the Medianite involvement in the Baal Peor sin, in chapter 31 YHWH commands Moses to engage in holy war against the Midianite people (cf. 25:17-18). Every Midianite male is slain; not one Israelite is lost. Yet Moses is angry that the women and children have been spared, fearing that Baal Peor will break out again. All the sexually mature women must also be slain (31:15-18).
- In the next chapter the tribes of Reuben and Gad ask to possess the already conquered Transjordan, because it is especially suitable for their cattle. Even though it is not part of the Promised Land that Israel has been commanded to possess, they say: “bring us not over Jordan” (32:5). Moses likewise turns on them for discouraging the people and threatening its fragile unity, likening their request to the spies’ dismaying report at Kadesh-barnea (32:8-15).
- Thus for the new generation the past Wilderness experiences become paradigms for resolving new issues that arise: Israel must stay separate from the surrounding nations, and it must press on as one people toward the goal of possessing the Land.
The other major theme of the final section of Numbers is an anticipation of life in the Promised Land.
The stages of wandering through the Wilderness, which had seemed so random and meandering as described in Exodus and Numbers, are laid out in chapter 33 as though each place had been apart of the divine plan from the beginning.
The new generation is now to move in, apportioning the Land by lot among the tribes, being careful to drive out all its inhabitants. If any remain, YHWH implies, Baal Peor will repeat itself, and Israel will in turn be driven out.
Chapter 34 traces the borders of the Promised Land—much larger than the land actually settled by the tribes and roughly approximating the extent of Israel’s kingdom under David and Solomon.
And chapters 28-29 specify the nature and amount of offerings for Israel’s cultic life in Canaan.
Chapter 35 describes a particular feature of Israelite law—the Levitical cities scattered throughout the tribes, with six of these cities designated to give sanctuary to any who might kill a human unintentionally.
The story of Zelophehad’s five daughters (chaps. 27 and 36), which frames the final section, further develops the theme of inheriting the land. In the absence of male offspring, the daughters are to inherit; but the land inherited may not be transferred to another tribe.
The introductory section of Numbers has devoted much space to the hierarchy of —
- priest,
- Levite,
- and Israelite.
But within the Israelite category, it has also given considerable attention to the unique place of each tribe in the national scheme—
- through the census,
- the orderings for march
- and encampment,
- and the dedication offerings.
The final word of the book is therefore about tribal integrity.
In his first two oracles Balaam has seen Israel in part and has been given a word from God to speak.
But his eyes are not opened until the third, climactic vision.
Only when he looks toward the Wilderness and sees Israel encamped in the prescribed tribal ordering (24:2) does he see the Israel of the future.
Though dwelling in the dry Wilderness, its tent clusters conjure up the image of gardens by a river; and from those waters its kingdom will be nourished.
It cannot be definitively proved that the final formulation of the Book of Numbers took place during the sixth and fifth centuries B.C.E., and my reading does not depend on that hypothesis. Nevertheless, the work does provide at least one set of answers to the questions faced by the Jewish community in exile at that time.
Through the post-Exilic Temple cult inJerusalem, God’s presence was still graciously available to the people.
But a hierarchical priestly order was necessary to protect the people from divine holiness, as well as to protect that holiness from profanation.
The need to enter the Promised Land had the same desperate urgency.
The temptation to “return to Egypt” (settle in the lands of the Diaspora) was strong, as was the threat of assimilation by foreigners and their gods. Many will succumb to that temptation and turn aside; but this is a test, a purging.
The way back to Egypt leads to sure destruction. The only hope is to press on to Canaan;
and although the giants controlling the land make the goal seem impossible, divine guidance is available to the faithful.
How do we learn the divine will?
Prophets may arise claiming charismatic authority; but as our ancestors were nurtured by the bread from heaven and given God’s instruction through Moses, we still have that word. Through that word we are nurtured and led.
If we adhere to it, we will survive the ordeal: the bitter waters of divine testing will become the “many waters flowing from our buckets” (see 24:7).