Timothy R. Ashley - The book of Numbers

The Book of

NUMBERS

Timothy R. Ashley

W ILLIAM B . E ERDMANS P UBLISHING C OMPANY

G RAND R APIDS, M ICHIGAN / C AMBRIDGE, U . K .

Copyright 1993 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

2140 Oak Industrial Drive N.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49505 /

P.O. Box 163, Cambridge CB3 9PU U.K.

All rights reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Ashley, Timothy R. 1947

The book of Numbers / by Timothy R. Ashley

p. cm. (The New international commentary on the Old Testament)

Includes .

eISBN 978-1-4674-2293-2

ISBN 0-8028-2523-0

1. Bible. O.T. NumbersCommentaries.

I. Title. II. Series.

BS1265.3.A845 1992

222.14077 dc20 93-7095

CIP

www.eerdmans.com

To

David H. Wallace

and

the Memory of

Robert B. Laurin (192777)

Christian Gentlemen

and Scholars, Both

Contents

INDEXES

The book of Numbers will never replace the Psalms at the heart of Christian devotion nor the Gospel of John and the Epistle to the Romans at the heart of Christian theology, nor should it. The book of Numbers tells a story. The story has two main characters, God and Israel. The way the story is told sounds odd and often times harsh to modern ears. For example, I suspect that the opening four chapters with all their names and numbers have defeated many folk who have decided to read through the whole Bible and have just emerged from the rigours of Leviticus. I suspect, as well, that the brutal nature of such passages as the end of the Korah story (ch. ), the story of Phinehas (ch. ), and the war with Midian (ch. ) are repellent to many.

In spite of all these difficulties, and others, that confront modern readers, the point of the book of Numbers is important for Gods people in any age: Exact obedience to God is crucial. Numbers makes the point most especially through examples of disobedience such as those found in chs. 1121 . Although it is clear that God punishes disobedience, at the heart of the book of Numbers is the God who, while demanding exact obedience, is constantly revealing ways in which Israel can render that obedience through new torah (i.e., teaching; see chs. , , 1719 , 2730 , 3236 ). It is notable that the invitations to new obedience often come right in the midst of Israels failure and rebellion. Israel thought that the story of its disobedience and failure was important enough to tell. By claiming the Bible (including Numbers) as our standard of faith and conduct, Christians have implicitly said that the story of Numbers is worth re-telling. It is important that Gods people re-learn the fact that their rebellion will still lead to death in the wilderness. Numbers is the story of a people who did what they ought to have known better than doing and suffered for it (see also Pauls lament in Rom. 7:15 ). The failure of others may be salutary for us all.

The book of Numbers has been my companion now for the better part of a decade. It has been a comfort, a judgment, a joy, and a frustration all at the same time. Through the years many resources have come across my desk. Never far away has been George Buchanan Grays great commentary. Although it is now nearly 70 years old and, in many respects, out-of-date, Grays grasp of Hebrew philology is indispensable. He is still the commentator on Numbers with whom one agrees or disagrees. If I have done a considerable amount of the latter, it is no sign of disrespect. Quite the contrary, it is a mark of Grays erudition that long after his death his work should still be used. The commentary by Philip Budd in the Word Biblical Commentary has also been indispensable because of its discussions of the (supposed) redactional history of the various sections of the book. These discussions really form a summary of most critical work on the book from the middle of the last century to the early 1980s. The reader of the present work will note how little these redactional histories are discussed here. The reason is not that such matters are unimportant, but that I am quite sure that no one knows these things nor really can know them. I am, therefore, committed to explaining the final form of the text as the primary job of a commentary for the Church. No one knows better than I do now how difficult it is to explain the text. The reader is directed to Budd if she/he wishes to read on these critical matters as a primary concern. The many articles and, in the last stages of this work, the commentary by Jacob Milgrom have also been of assistance to me in matters of research on the sacrificial system and much more.

The manuscript of this commentary was submitted to the publishers in August 1990. During a delay in publication due to editorial changes at least three major commentaries on Numbers have appeared. Milgroms (in the Jewish Publication Society Torah [1990]), R. K. Harrisons (in the Wycliffe Exegetical Commentary [1990]), and R. B. Allens (in the Expositors Bible Commentary, vol. 2 [also 1990]). I have only been able to use these works in the proof-reading stage, and, so, in a less thorough way than they deserve. In the case of Milgrom, this problem is partially offset by the many articles of his that have been available.

Only those who have tried to write commentaries know the difficulties involved. Commentaries are never wholly satisfactory documents (this one is certainly no different). I would thank my colleagues and students at Acadia Divinity College and Acadia University for their understanding. Craig and Jacqueline Hiebert deserve thanks for compiling the indexes. Special thanks goes to the Principal of the Divinity College, the Rev. Dr. Andrew D. MacRae, for his willingness to release me from some teaching and administrative duties in the interests of research and writing. Last of all, I thank my wife and colleague in ministry, the Rev. Maxine F. Ashley, for encouragement in untold ways while enduring the long hours of my preoccupation with the book of Numbers. These contributions and many others make her help the most precious of all.

It is hoped, however, that, with its weaknesses, the commentary will be of some use to those who wish better to hear and re-tell the story of exact obedience in the book of Numbers.

TIMOTHY R. ASHLEY

Wolfville, Nova Scotia

August 1992

AASOR Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research

AB Anchor Bible

ADAJ Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan

AfO Archiv fr Orientforschung

AJSL American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures

AJT American Journal of Theology

Akk. Akkadian

AnBib Analecta Biblica

ANET J. B. Pritchard, ed., Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. 3rd ed. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1969

AOAT Alter Orient und Altes Testament

Arab. Arabic

Aram. Aramaic

Assyr. Assyrian

ASTI Annual of the Swedish Theological Institute

ATDA J. Hoftijzer and G. van der Kooij, eds., Aramaic Texts from Deir Alla . Leiden: Brill, 1976

AusBR Australian Biblical Review

AV Authorized (King James) Version

BA Biblical Archaeologist

BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research

BDB F. Brown, S. R. Driver, and C. A. Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament. Repr. Oxford: Clarendon, 1959

BHK R. Kittel, et al., eds. Biblia Hebraica. Stuttgart: Wrttembergische Bibelanstalt, 1937

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Bib