Weekly Bible Study ▪ Numbers and the Beginnings of the Pentateuch

27 September 2015
26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Its very name, "Numbers" tells us much about this book. The Book of Numbers contains many laws,
lists, census figures, specifics of rituals, and divisions of tribes and of the Promised Land. Numbers is the fourth book in the Torah (or Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible), and it almost seems “out of sync” with the stories offered by Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy, its four cohorts.

Using Genesis as an example, we know that there are two distinct versions of the creation of the world. Genesis 1 is a poem or hymn, describing God’s creation of the world as a series of days, leading up to the seventh day, enshrining the sabbath (day of rest) as the pinnacle of God's activity. In chapter two we encounter a story that differs in detail from the Genesis 1. Looking closely at its elements, we notice that the sequence of creation is reversed. (God makes humanity and then creates us a home.) We also notice that there is a different “feel” from the elevated poetry and theology of Genesis 1. In Gen 2-3, God is shown as much more than a systematic creator; he seems to possess human qualities. We read, for example, that God “walked in the garden at the time of the evening breeze.” What a beautiful image of our God, who walks close among us!

Scripture commentators have long noticed differences in style, and discrepancies in content within the Pentateuch. For example, did Noah bring two sets of animals into the ark or seven, as described variously in Genesis 6 and 7? Today we are pretty sure that there was more than one author of the Pentateuch and that these five books were probably written over several centuries. There seem to be four distinct written traditions that were entwined together by an editor, and these traditions provide the variety of style and content of the Pentateuch. For convenience, we call these traditions (or sources) the Yahwist, Elohist, Deuteronomist and Priestly writer. (Don't ask me why, it's a LONG story!)

Historical events had great influence in the emergence and use of these four traditions. It's likely that, at the time of the united kingdom of Israel and Judah, the Yahwist account glorified the Davidic monarchy in Jerusalem (in the south). When the kingdom was split, the northern tribes stressed the role of the covenant and Moses over the role of the king and developed its own account of its history, from that perspective. This Elohist tradition favored a more exalted sense of God’s dealings with Israel rather than the intimate, human characterization of the Yahwist source. In later years, to address Judah’s growing infidelities, a group of priests and prophets added sermons stressing obedience and faithfulness to the covenant. Thus the Deuteronomist tradition was begun. Finally, as the whole country went into exile ion Babylon, it seems that a school of priests sought to preserve temple practices, legal traditions and important genealogies. These were inserted by an editor into the existing writings giving us the Pentateuch as we know it today.

Source: © 1984, Lawrence Boadt, Reading the Old Testament: An Introduction (Paulist Press: Mahwah, NJ)

The author, Ms. Barbara Gawle, leads Bible studies at her parish, Incarnation Church of Wethersfield, CT. She is a CBS graduate and the 2012 recipient of the Biblical School's highest award, the Lawrence Boadt Memorial Medal.