Like the last part of Exodus, and the whole of Leviticus, the first
part of Numbers, i.-x. 28--so called,[1] rather inappropriately,
from the census in i., iii., (iv.), xxvi.--is unmistakably priestly
in its interests and language. Beginning with a census of the men of
war (i.) and the order of the camp (ii.), it devotes specific
attention to the Levites, their numbers and duties (iii., iv.). Then
follow laws for the exclusion of the unclean, v. 1-4, for
determining the manner and amount of restitution in case of fraud,
v. 5-10, the guilt or innocence of a married woman suspected of
unfaithfulness, v. 11-31, and the obligations of the Nazirite vow,
vi. 1-21. This legal section ends with the priestly benediction, vi.
22-27. Then, closely connected with the narrative in Exodus xl., is
an unusually elaborate account of the dedication gifts that were
offered on the occasion of the erection of the tabernacle (vii.).
This quasi-historical interlude is again followed by a few sections
of a more legal nature--instructions for fixing the lamps upon the
lampstand, viii. 1-4, for the consecration of the Levites and their
period of service, viii. 5-26, for the celebration of the passover,
and, in certain cases, of a supplementary passover, ix. 1-14. Then,
with the divine guidance assured, and the order of march determined,
the start from Sinai was made, ix. 15-x. 28.
[Footnote 1: In the Greek version, followed by the Latin. This is
the only book of the Pentateuch in which the English version has
retained the Latin title, the other titles being all Greek. The
Hebrew titles are usually borrowed from the opening words of the
book. The Hebrew title of Numbers is either "And he said" or "in the
wilderness"; the latter is fairly appropriate--certainly much more
so than the Greek.]
At this point, the old prophetic narrative (Exod. xxxii.-xxxiv.),
interrupted by Exodus xxxv. 1-Numbers x. 28, is resumed with an
account of the precautions taken to secure reliable guidance through
the wilderness, x. 29-32, and a very interesting snatch of ancient
poetry, through which we may easily read the unique importance of
the ark for early Israel, x. 33-36. The succeeding chapters make no
pretence to be a connected history of the wilderness period; the
incidents with which they deal are very few, and these are related
rather for their religious than their historical significance, e.g.
the murmuring of the people, the terrible answer to their prayer for
flesh, the divine equipment of the seventy elders, the magnanimity
of Moses (xi.), and the vindication of his prophetic dignity (xii.).
Before the actual assault on Canaan, spies were sent out to
investigate the land. But the people allowed themselves to be
discouraged by their report, and for their unbelief the whole
generation except Caleb (and Joshua)[1] was doomed to die in the
wilderness, without a sight of the promised land (xiii., xiv.). The
thread of the narrative, broken at this point by laws relating to
offerings and sacrifices, xv. 1-31, the hallowing of the Sabbath,
xv. 32-36, and the wearing of fringes, xv. 37-41, is at once resumed
by a complicated account of a rebellion against Moses, which ended
in the destruction of the rebels, and in the signal vindication of
the authority of Moses, the privileges of the tribe of Levi, and the
exclusive right of the sons of Aaron to the priesthood (xvi.,
xvii.). Again the narrative element gives place to legislation
regulating the duties, relative position and revenues of the priests
and Levites (xviii.) and the manner of purification after defilement
(xix.).
[Footnote 1: Caleb alone in JE, Joshua also in P.]
These laws are followed by a section of continuous narrative. Moses
and Aaron, for certain rebellious words, are divinely warned that
they will not be permitted to bring the people into the promised
land--a warning which was followed soon afterwards by the death of
Aaron on Mount Hor. Edom haughtily refused Israel permission to pass
through her land (xx.). Sore at heart, they fretted against God and
Moses, and deadly serpents were sent among them in chastisement, but
the penitent and believing were restored by the power of God and the
intercession of Moses. Then Israel turned north, and began her career
of conquest by defeating Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of
Bashan (xxi.). Her success struck terror into the heart of Balak, the
king of Moab; he accordingly sent for Balaam, a famous soothsayer,
with the request that he would curse Israel (xxii.). Instead, however,
he foretold for her a splendid destiny (xxiii., xxiv.). But the reality
fell pitifully short of this fair ideal, for Israel at once succumbed
to the seductions of idolatry and impurity,[1] and the fearful punishment
which fell upon her for her sin was only stayed by the zeal of Phinehas,
the high priest's son, who was rewarded with the honour of perpetual
priesthood, xxv. 1-15. Implacable enmity was enjoined against Midian,
xxv. 16-18.
[Footnote 1: Moabite idolatry, and intermarriage with the Midianites--
ultimately, it would seem, the same story. JE gives the beginning of
it, _vv_. 1-5, and P the conclusion, _vv_. 6-18.]
From this point to the end of the book the narrative is, with few
exceptions, distinctly priestly in complexion; the vivid scenes of
the older narrative are absent, and their place is taken, for the
most part, either by statistics and legislative enactments or by
narrative which is only legislation in disguise. A census (xxvi.)
was taken at the end, as at the beginning of the wanderings (i.),
which showed that, except Caleb and Joshua, the whole generation had
perished (cf. xiv. 29, 34). Then follow sections on the law of
inheritance of daughters, xxvii. 1-11, the announcement of Moses'
imminent death and the appointment of Joshua his successor, xxvii.
12-23, a priestly calendar defining the sacrifices appropriate to
each season (xxviii., xxix.), and the law of vows (xxx.). In
accordance with the injunction of xxv. 16-18 a war of extermination
was successfully undertaken against Midian (xxxi.). The land east of
the Jordan was allotted to Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of
Manasseh, on condition that they would help the other tribes to
conquer the west (xxxii.). Following an itinerary of the wanderings
from the exodus to the plains of Moab (xxxiii.) is a description of
the boundaries of the land allotted to the various tribes (xxxiv.),
directions for the Levitical cities and the cities of refuge
(xxxv.), and, last of all, a law in narrative form, determining that
heiresses who possessed landed property should marry into their own
tribe (xxxvi.).
Even this brief sketch of the book of Numbers is enough to reveal
the essential incoherence of its plan, and the great divergence of
the elements out of which it is composed. No book in the Pentateuch
makes so little the impression of a unity. The phenomena of Exodus
are here repeated and intensified; a narrative of the intensest
moral and historical interest is broken at frequent intervals by
statistical and legal material, some of which, at least, makes hardly
any pretence to be connected with the main body of the story. By far
the largest part of the book comes from P, and most of it is very
easy to detect. No possible doubt, e.g., can attach to i.-x., 28, with
its interest in priests, Levites, tabernacle and laws. As significant
as the contents is the style which is not seldom diffuse to tediousness,
e.g., in the account of the census (i.), the dedication gifts (vii.),
or the regulation of the movements of the camp by the cloud, ix. 15-23.
Ch. xv., with its laws for offerings, sacrifices and the Sabbath,
ch. xvii., with its vindication of the special prerogatives of the
tribe of Levi, and chs. xviii., xix., which regulate the duties and
privileges of priests and Levites, and the manner of purification, are
also unmistakable. Chs. xxvi.-xxxi., as even the preliminary sketch of
the book would suggest, must, for similar reasons, also have the same
origin. To P also clearly belong xxxiii. and xxxiv. with their statistical
bent, and xxxv. and xxxvi. with their interest in the Levites and
legislation. Besides these sections, however, the presence of P is
certain--though not always so easily detected, as it is in combination
with JE--in some of the more distinctively narrative sections, e.g. in
the account of the spies (xiii., xiv.), of the rebellion against the
authority of Moses and Aaron (xvi.), of the sin of Moses and Aaron,
xx. 1-13, and of the settlement east of the Jordan (xxxii.). About
such narratives as the death of Aaron, xx. 22-29, or the zeal and
reward of Phinehas, xxv. 6-18, there can be no doubt.
With the exception of a few odd verses, all that remains, after
deducting the passages referred to, belongs to the prophetic
narrative (JE). The radical difference in point of style and
interests between JE and P occasionally extends even to their
account of the facts. The story of the spies furnishes several
striking illustrations of this difference. In JE they go from the
wilderness to Hebron in the south of Judah, xiii. 22, in P they go
to the extreme north of Palestine, xiii. 21. In JE Caleb is the only
faithful spy, xiii. 30, xiv. 24, P unites him with Joshua, xiv.
6,38. In JE the land is fertile, but its inhabitants are invincible,
in P it is a barren land. The story of the rebellion of Korah,
Dathan and Abiram is peculiarly instructive (xvi.). It will be
noticed that Dathan and Abiram are occasionally mentioned by
themselves, _vv_. 12, 25, and Korah by himself, _vv_. 5,
19. If this clue be followed up, it will be found that the rebellion
of Dathan and Abiram is essentially against the authority of Moses,
whom they charge with disappointing their hopes, _vv_. 13, 14.
On the other hand, the rebellion headed by Korah is traced to two
sources:[1] it is regarded in one of these as a layman's protest
against the exclusive sanctity of the tribe of Levi, _v_. 3,
and, in the other, as a Levitical protest against the exclusive
right of the sons of Aaron to the priesthood, _vv_. 8-11.
Perhaps the most striking difference between JE and P is in the
account of the ark. In JE it goes before the camp, x. 33 (cf. Exod.
xxxiii. 7), in P the tabernacle, to which it belongs, is in the
centre of the camp, ii. 17, which is foursquare.
[Footnote 1: Two strata of P are plainly visible here.]
Much more than in Genesis, and even more than in Exodus have J and E
been welded together in Numbers--so closely, indeed, that it is
usually all but impossible to distinguish them with certainty; but,
here, as in Exodus, there are occasional proofs of compositeness.
The apparent confusion of the story of Balaam, e.g. (xxii.), in
which God is angry with him after giving him permission to go, is to
be explained by the simple fact that the story is told in both
sources. This duplication extends even to the poetry in chs. xxiii.
and xxiv. (cf. xxiv. 8, 9, xxiii. 22, 24).
There is not a trace of P in the Balaam story. All the romantic and
religious, as opposed to the legal and theological interest of the
book, is confined to the prophetic section (JE); and it greatly to
be regretted that more of it has not been preserved. The structure
of the book plainly shows that it has been displaced in the
interests of P, and from the express reference to the "ten times"
that Israel tempted Jehovah, xiv. 22, we may safely infer that much
has been lost. But what has been preserved is of great religious,
and some historical value. Of course, it is not history in the
ordinary sense: a period of thirty-eight years is covered in less
than ten chapters (x. II-xix.). But much of the material, at least
in the prophetic history JE, rests on a tradition which may well
have preserved some of the historical facts, especially as they were
often embalmed in poetry.
The book of Numbers throws some light on the importance of ancient
poetry as a historical source. It cites a difficult fragment and
refers it to the book of the wars of Jehovah, xxi. 14, it confirms
the victory over Sihon by a quotation from a war-ballad which is
referred to a guild of singers, xxi. 27, it quotes the ancient words
with which the warriors broke up their camp and returned to it
again, x. 35, 36, and it relieves its wild war-scenes by the lovely
Song of the Well, xxi. 17, 18. Probably other episodes in the books
of Numbers, Joshua and Judges (e.g. ch. v.) ultimately rest upon
this lost book of the wars of Jehovah. The fine poetry ascribed to
Balaam, which breathes the full consciousness of a high national
destiny, may belong to the time of the early monarchy, xxiv. 7,
perhaps to that of David, to whom xxiv. 17-19 seems to be a clear
allusion. The five verses that follow Balaam's words, xxiv. 20-24,
are apparently a late appendix; the mention of Chittim in _v_.
24 would almost carry the passage down to the Greek period (4th
cent. B.C.), and of Asshur in _v_. 22 at least to the Assyrian
period (8th cent.), unless the name stands for a Bedawin tribe (cf.
Gen. xxv. 3).
Historically P is of little account. This is most obvious in his
narrative of the war with Midian (xxxi.), in which, without losing a
single man, Israel slew every male in Midian and took enormous
booty. It is suspicious that the older sources (JE) have not a
single word to say of so remarkable a victory; but the impossibility
of the story is shown by the fact that, though all the males are
slain, the tribe reappears, as the assailant of Israel, in the days
of Gideon (Jud. vi.-viii.). The real object of the story is to
illustrate the law governing the distribution of booty, xxxi. 27--a
law which is elsewhere traced, with much more probability, to an
ordinance of David (I Sam. xxx. 24). From this unhistorical, but
highly instructive chapter, we learn the tendency to refer all
Israel's legislation, whatever its origin, to Moses, and the further
tendency to find a historical precedent, which no doubt once
existed, for the details of the legislation. It is from this point
of view that the narratives of P have to be considered. The story of
the fate of the Sabbath-breaker is simply told to emphasize the
stringency of the Sabbath law, xv. 32-36, the particular dilemma in
ix. 6-14 is created, as a precedent for the institution of the
supplementary passover, the case of the daughters of Zelophehad
serves as a historical basis for the law governing the property of
heiresses (xxxvi.). In other words, P is not a historian; his
narrative, even where it is explicit, is usually but the thin
disguise of legislation.
As in Genesis and Exodus, almost every stage in the development of
the religion of Israel is represented by the book of Numbers.
Through the story in xxi. 4-11 we can detect the practice of
serpent-worship, which we know persisted to the time of Hezekiah (2
Kings xviii. 4); and the trial by ordeal, v. 11-31, though in its
present form late, represents no doubt a very ancient custom. P
throws much light on the usages and ideas of post-exilic religion.
But it is to the prophetic document we must go for passages of
abiding religious power and value. Here, as in Exodus, the character
of Moses offers a brilliant study--in his solitary grandeur, patient
strength, and heroic faith; steadfast amid jealousy, suspicion and
rebellion, and vindicated by God Himself as a prophet of
transcendent privilege and power (xii. 8). Over against the narrow
assertions of Levitical and priestly prerogative (xvi., xvii), which
reflect but too faithfully the strife of a later day, is the noble
prayer of Moses that God would make all the people prophets, and put
His spirit upon them every one, xi. 29.