Numbers.
Adam, Klaus-peter
Numbers. By ROLF P. KNIERIM and GEORGE W. COATS. The Forms of the
Old Testament Literature, vol. 4. Grand Rapids, Michigan: WM. B.
EERDMANS PUBLISHING CO., 2005. Pp. xii + 367. $55 (paper).
This commentary has been co-authored, the bulk of it written by G.
W. Coats (Num. 10:11-36:13, reworked by Mignon Jacobs and David Palmer),
while R. P. Knierim drafted chapters one--four and the portion of
chapter five on Num. 11:1-36:13. The outline is as follows:
abbreviations and symbols; foreword by the editors; chapter one:
"The Book of Numbers: The Saga of the Migratory Campaign
(1:1-36:13)"; chapter two: "The Legend of the Organization of
the Sanctuary Campaign (1:1-10:10)"; chapter three: "The
Individual Units (1:1-10:10)"; chapter four: "The Saga of the
Campaign Itself (10:11-36:13)"; chapter five: "The Individual
Units (10:11-36:13)." Included is an appendix (outline of Num.
11:1-36:13, including the assumed macrostructure of P and of the source
J 334-36 (pp. 332-36 by D. Palmer) and a glossary (pp. 337-67).
The emphasis of FOTL series is on form criticism, i.e., the formal
structures of biblical narratives. Hence, this commentary does not point
out literary development, but instead focuses on the predominantly
priestly text as it currently appears in Numbers.
Chapter one offers, besides a bibliography, a methodological and
hermeneutical introduction to Numbers ("Prolegomena"). The
commentators interpret Numbers generally as belonging to the genre of
history writing before the time of Thucydides, albeit not as
historiography in the modern sense of the word. As a consequence, the
authors consider Numbers in the context of the Pentateuch. More
specifically, they understand the Pentateuch as "torah" in the
sense of "instruction, teaching." The commentary is mainly
concerned with the form of the units of the biblical book in the
Masoretic edition, with their possible theological concerns, and with
the concepts of the book's writers.
The third part of the first chapter explains the "Saga of the
Migratory Campaign" (1:1-36:13). It is organized into four parts:
structure, genre, setting, intention. On the macro-structural level, the
book is divided into two parts: 1:1-10:10, "The Legend of the
Organization of the Sanctuary Campaign" and 10:11-36:13: "The
Saga of the Campaign Itself." The glossary (pp. 358-59) explains
that, by "saga" the commentary presupposes the German
understanding of "Sage." That is, reference is not to the
medieval Icelandic/Nordic traditions alone, but to any narrative or
legend of heroic exploits.
While Knierim suggests that the first section is entirely priestly,
Num. 11-36 also contain P and J material (pp. 334-36). The authors
believe that Numbers was composed by members of the priestly dynasty of
the second temple, more specifically the Aaronides (p. 24). These
priestly writers created the Pentateuch, so that Numbers reflects the
social and religious world of these priests. Their duties were
"writing and teaching or instructing and law-giving" (p. 25).
These functions, but also their own cultic officiating, are mirrored in
their literary work. In addition, polemics against other groups are
present in Numbers 16-17.
While scholarship of the last decade (R. Achenbach, cf. T. Romer)
strongly suggests that most of the material in Numbers 1-10, 15, 16-19,
and 29-36 is part of a post-priestly addition, the present commentary
still assumes that the priestly writings in chapters 1-10 were part of
the (earlier and continuous) P-source. Nevertheless, Knierim
occasionally also opts for growth beyond P, as is evident in his
introductory remarks on Numbers 10:11-36:13: The material "expands
through additional ordinances what had already been established earlier
in the Sinai revelation: The program for the life of the holy community
in purity in the promised land" (p. 147). But the main parts of
Numbers are assigned to P in the source model. This is an unconventional
decision.
However, a major gap becomes apparent with respect to Knierim and
Coats' attributions to the Jahwist (J). For instance, the murmuring
narrative and the story of the seventy elders who receive the divine
spirit from Moses (Numbers 11:1-12:16) are attributed in their entirety
to J, i.e., an early source from monarchic times. On the contrary,
current scholarship (H.-C. Schmitt, T. C. Romer, R. Achenbach) assigns
this narrative to a much later, exilic or post-exilic, additional layer.
Clearly the largest gap in time is in the dating of sources of the
alleged J-material. The commentary on Numbers 11-36 (Coats) ignores
discussions about the pentateuchal theory from the last three decades.
More specifically, the form-critical studies either refer to the current
Hebrew text (synchronic reading) or omit me current heated discussions
about the end of P (e.g., T. Romer, K. Schmid, E. Zenger, R. Achenbach).
That said, this commentary is a most valuable tool for all those
interested in the detailed consideration of the different forms of the
book of Numbers and in their historical frameworks.
KLAUS-PETER ADAM
UNIVERSITAT MARBURG
