Table Of ContentT B N
he ook of umbers
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T B
HE OOK
N
OF UMBERS
A Critique of Genesis
Calum Carmichael
New Haven & London
Copyright © 2012 by Yale University.
All rights reserved.
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Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Carmichael, Calum M.
The book of Numbers : a critique of Genesis / Calum Carmichael.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978- 0- 300- 17918- 7 (alk. paper)
1. Bible. O.T. Numbers—Commentaries. 2. Bible. O.T. Genesis—
Commentaries. I. Title.
BS1265.53.C37 2012
222'.1406—dc23 2011044949
A cata logue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48– 1992 (Permanence of Paper).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
CONTENTS
Preface vii
one Genesis Extended 1
two Pharaoh and Yahweh as God- Kings (Numbers 1– 4) 15
three The Suspected Adulteress and the Nazirite (Numbers 5 and 6) 26
four A Test Case for the Study of Biblical Law
(Lev 6:2– 7 [5:20– 26] and Num 5:6– 10) 44
five Joseph and Moses as Sources of Discord (Numbers 7– 14) 54
six Joseph’s Dreams and the Laws of Numbers 15 68
seven The Status of Firstborn (Numbers 16– 18) 90
eight The Ritual of the Red Heifer (Numbers 19) 103
nine Speech Acts (Numbers 20– 24) 120
ten Sexual and Religious Seduction (Numbers 25– 31) 135
eleven Reuben’s Legacy (Numbers 32– 36) 159
List of Abbreviations 179
Notes 181
Index of References 195
Subject Index 205
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PREFACE
The Book of Numbers, the least researched of the books that make up the
Pentateuch, presents a puzzling combination of law and narrative. Seemingly
haphazard sequences of rules interrupt an ongoing story about Israel’s wanderings
in the wilderness. Some of these rules are often analyzed (the suspected adulter-
ess, the daughters of Zelophehad, and the Sabbath stick- gatherer), and some have
proved elusive (the Red Heifer and the nazirite). With this book I continue a pro-
cess of discovery that, in the beginning, I did not know I was undertaking: to
demonstrate how each law in the Pentateuch is a response to a problem arising in
a narrative incident. Events in the Book of Genesis prove to be the springboard for
every rule in Numbers. At the same time, I show that the same thinking is at work
for the narratives in Numbers. They present episodes parallel in Genesis in order
to counter disturbing developments that occurred among the fathers of the nation.
I propose a new way of thinking about how the Pentateuch came into being, a
perspective that opposes the long- standing Graf- Wellhausen, JEDP hypothesis
about different sources (Jahwistic, Elohistic, Deuteronomistic, and Priestly).
This book’s primary aim is to transform our understanding of Numbers. Not-
ing that stories in Genesis are so written as to anticipate future events like the
sojourn and enslavement in Egypt and the acquisition of the land of Canaan, I
argue that the migratory account of Jacob-I srael and his sons in Canaan and
Egypt, the beginnings of the nation’s history in Genesis 25– 50, furnishes issues
on which Numbers, in both story and law, renders judgment. Numbers also
thinks ahead to life beyond Israel’s wilderness wanderings between Egypt and
Canaan in the era of Moses. Opposing what occurred among the fathers of the
nation and among the wilderness generation, Numbers holds out higher stan-
dards to which later Israelites are to adhere.
vii
viii Preface
In quoting biblical texts I have relied upon the King James Authorized Version
(AV) of 1611, but I have made changes where these were called for. I have used the
AV because it is almost always a more literal rendering of the Hebrew original
than any other translation. It also serves to remind the reader that biblical litera-
ture is a product of the past and hence of a different culture from our own.
I thank Ryan O ’Dowd, Cornell University, and Blaire French, University of
Virginia, Charlottesville, for their helpful comments on some chapters. Most of
all, I am indebted to my wife, Debbie, for her critical comments and close
attention to every facet of the manuscript.
1
GENESIS EXTENDED
The Book of Numbers is an integral part of a narrative that runs from Gen-
esis through 2 Kings: the Primary History, as it has come to be called.1 Num-
bers might be viewed as a study in secular and sacred leadership— with a twist.
Moses represents more the secular side and Aaron the sacred. The twist is that
their decisions and actions often oppose the ways of the ancestors in the Book
of Genesis, particularly the conduct of Jacob, Judah, and Joseph. Before pro-
ceeding to an analysis of Numbers (in chapter 2), some comments are in order
to introduce the role of Numbers in Genesis– 2 Kings.
The Primary History depicts life from the creation of the world through the
creation of Israel as a nation to its end in exile in Babylon. In the epic we have
the unfolding of the history of the generations. There is among scholars, most
welcome in my view, increasing recognition of and detailed argumentation
from a nonreligious perspective for the unifi ed character of Genesis– 2 Kings.
Much recent work has paid attention to the connections between one narrative
and another, with Moshe Garsiel one of many critics pointing to the numerous
links: for instance, the marriages of David and Jacob in 1 Samuel 18 and Gen-
esis 29, respectively, which involve two sisters, noncommercial bride- prices,
devious fathers-i n-l aw, and the fl ight from them, which requires a wife (Michal,
Rachel) to make use of house hold gods (teraphim) in order to escape the hostile
fathers (Saul, Laban). I have long argued that the fable about the proposed mar-
riage between the son of the thistle and the daughter of the cedar in 2 Kgs 14:1–
14, puzzlingly relayed to curb the saber-r attling of King Amaziah, owes a great
deal to the story in Genesis 34 about the slaughter of all the males of Hamor’s
clan by the two sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi. They took up arms against the
proposed marital alliance between the son of the ass (Hamor) and the daughter
1
