Gordon J. Wenham - Numbers (TOTC)

Volume 4

General Editor: Donald J. Wiseman

An Introduction and Commentary

Gordon J. Wenham

Additional Notes

Maps

The aim of this series of Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, as it was in the companion volumes on the New Testament, is to provide the student of the Bible with a handy, up-to-date commentary on each book, with the primary emphasis on exegesis. Major critical 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 frequently draw attention to interpretations which they themselves do not hold but which represent the stated conclusions of sincere fellow Christians.

In the Old Testament in particular no single English translation is adequate to reflect the original text. The authors of these commentaries 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 languages 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 authorship, and stresses the difference in theological emphasis between this book and the rest of the Pentateuch. Prominent topics well covered include the character of God, the land, and the people 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 continues 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

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 commentators task to try to bridge.

Bridge-building demands that first and foremost the commentator 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. Critical discussions of the sources, their date and the editorial processes by which they were combined to form the book tend to subjectivity, 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 remarked that they were written down for our instruction (1 Cor. 10:11). Again limitations of space preclude a thorough treatment of 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 years sabbatical leave spent at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and at the Oxford Centre for Postgraduate Hebrew Studies. I am most grateful to these institutions for their support. I should also like to thank the Queens University of Belfast for allowing me leave of absence, and particularly my colleagues in the department of Semitic Studies 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 biblical 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