Numbers master:Layout 1 30/4/08 07:50 Page 1 Numbers master:Layout 1 30/4/08 07:50 Page 2 To my father John and the memory of my mother Grace ( – ) Numbers master:Layout 1 30/4/08 07:50 Page 3 InterVarsity Press, USA Inter-Varsity Press, England P.O. Box 1400 Norton Street Downers Grove, IL 60515-1426, USA Nottingham NG7 3HR, England World Wide Web: www.ivpress.com Website: www.ivpbooks.com Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] ©1981 by Gordon J. Wenham First published 1981 Reprinted in this format 2008 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of InterVarsity Press. InterVarsity Press®, USA, is the book-publishing division of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA® <www. intervarsity.org> and a member movement of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. Inter-Varsity Press, England, is closely linked with the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship, a student movement connecting Christian Unions in universities and colleges throughout Great Britain, and a member movement of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. Website: www.uccf.org.uk. USA ISBN 978-0-8308-4204-9 UK ISBN 978-1-84474-259-2 Set in Garamond 11/13 pt Typeset in Great Britain by Avocet Typeset, Aylsebury, Bucks Printed in the United States of America ∞ InterVarsity Press is committed to protecting the environment and to the responsible use of natural resources. As a member of Green Press Initiative we use recycled paper whenever possible. To learn more about the Green Press Initiative, visit <www.greenpressinitiative.org>. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wenham, Gordon J. Numbers: an introduction and commentary / Gordon J. Wenham. p. cm.—(Tyndale Old Testament commentaries; v. 4) Originally published: 1981. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8308-4204-9 (pbk.: alk. paper) 1. Bible. O.T. Numbers—Commentaries. I. Title. BS1265.53.W46 2008 222’.1407—dc22 2008031507 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. P 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 Y 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 Numbers TOTC cpyrt.indd 4 3/29/12 11:13 AM Numbers master:Layout 1 30/4/08 07:50 Page 5 CONTENTS General preface Author’s preface Chief a bbreviations Introduction Title and contents Structure Sources Date and authorship The Hebrew text of Numbers Problems of interpreting Numbers The theology of Numbers The Christian use of Numbers Analysis Commentary Additional Notes The large numbers The history of the priests and Levites The sources in Numbers – The source analysis of chapters – Numbers master:Layout 1 30/4/08 07:50 Page 6 Old Testament sacrifice The route of the Israelites Maps The route of the Israelites from Goshen to Kadesh (Num. ) The conquest of Transjordan (Num. ) The borders of Canaan and the mission of the spies (Num. :– ) Numbers master:Layout 1 30/4/08 07:50 Page 7 GENERAL PREFACE The aim of this series of Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, as it was in the companion volumes on the New Testament, is to pro - vide the student of the Bible with a handy, up-to-date commentary on each book, with the primary emphasis on exegesis. Major criti - cal questions are discussed in the introductions and additional notes, while undue technicalities have been avoided. In this series individual authors are, of course, free to make their own distinct contributions and express their own point of view on all controversial issues. Within the necessary limits of space they fre - quently draw attention to interpretations which they themselves do not hold but which represent the stated conclusions of sincere fel - low Christians. In the Old Testament in particular no single English translation is adequate to reflect the original text. The authors of these com - mentaries freely quote various versions, therefore, or give their own translation, in the endeavour to make the more difficult passages or words meaningful today. Where necessary, words from the Hebrew (and Aramaic) Text underlying their studies are transliterated. This will help the reader who may be unfamiliar with the Semitic lan - guages to identify the word under discussion and thus to follow the argument. It is assumed throughout that the reader will have ready access to one, or more, reliable rendering of the Bible in English. This commentary on Numbers from Dr Wenham provides a thorough, scholarly exegesis, readily understandable by any reader. He faces up to critical questions such as those of date and Numbers master:Layout 1 30/4/08 07:50 Page 8 NUMBERS authorship, and stresses the difference in theological emphasis between this book and the rest of the Pentateuch. Prominent top - ics well covered include the character of God, the land, and the peo - ple of God; nor does he neglect the Christian use of this book. His study should do much to rescue the book of Numbers from being a little-read, rarely-quoted source of Old Testament texts, and help us to appreciate it as an integral part of Scripture worthy of detailed study in its own right. Interest in the meaning and message of the Old Testament con - tinues undiminished and it is hoped that this series will thus further the systematic study of the revelation of God and his will and ways as seen in these records. It is the prayer of the editor and publisher, as of the authors, that these books will help many to understand, and to respond to, the Word of God today. D. J. Wiseman Numbers master:Layout 1 30/4/08 07:50 Page 9 AUTHOR’S PREFACE If ‘Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah ’ is one of the best known hymns in the world, the book of Numbers, whose story that hymn summarizes, is much less familiar. Its very title puts the modern reader off. In ancient times numbers were seen as mysterious and symbolic, a key to reality and the mind of God himself. Today they are associated with computers and the depersonalization that threatens our society. Furthermore the pervasive influence of the romantic movement with its stress on spontaneity and individual freedom has made it yet more difficult for us to appreciate Numbers ’ insistence on organization, ritual and hierarchy. In time and ethos there is a great gulf between the book and our age, which it is the commentator ’s task to try to bridge. Bridge-building demands that first and foremost the commenta - tor should expound the plain historical meaning of the text, what it meant to the original author and his readers. Exegesis is therefore the main concern of this, as indeed of most biblical commentaries. Crit - ical discussions of the sources, their date and the editorial processes by which they were combined to form the book tend to subjectiv - ity, and anyway are of minor importance in recovering the original meaning of the text. For these reasons I have restricted discussion of such issues to the introduction and additional notes. More vital to the Christian reader is guidance on the abiding significance of the text. Speaking about the stories in Numbers, the apostle Paul re - marked that ‘they were written down for our instruction ’( Cor. : ). Again limitations of space preclude a thorough treatment of Numbers master:Layout 1 30/4/08 07:50 Page 10 NUMBERS this theme, but in the introduction and at the end of each section of commentary I have very briefly indicated how the New Testament uses the material in Numbers. This I hope will be of value to those who have the task of applying the teaching of Scripture to the modern church. Most of this commentary has been written during a year ’s sab - batical leave spent at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and at the Oxford Centre for Postgraduate Hebrew Studies. I am most grate - ful to these institutions for their support. I should also like to thank the Queen ’s University of Belfast for allowing me leave of absence, and particularly my colleagues in the department of Semitic Stud - ies and in the faculty of theology who undertook my teaching and other university duties while I was away. Most of my scholarly debts are acknowledged in the footnotes. Professors Jacob Milgrom and Calum Carmichael, however, deserve special mention. Their friendly willingness to share their insights into the interpretation of the bib - lical text enriched my understanding of Numbers at many points. Finally, I must also thank Professor D. J. Wiseman for inviting me to write this commentary and for his personal encouragement throughout my academic career, Miss Lesley Townsend and Miss Gretta Totten for typing it, and David Payne, Desmond Alexander and my wife for help with proof-reading. Originally I had dedicated this commentary to my parents. The present dedication reflects the sad circumstance that after the manuscript was complete my mother was killed in a car crash. Her family and friends miss her greatly. Her sons in particular owe her an incalculable debt. We thank God for all she taught us and did for us, and rejoice that she is now one with the church triumphant enjoying for ever the presence of her Lord and Saviour. Gordon Wenham Numbers master:Layout 1 30/4/08 07:50 Page 11 CHIEF ABBREVIATIONS ANET Ancient Near Eastern Text s BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research BZAW Beihefte zum Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly DJD Discoveries in