AB 04: Numbers 1 - 20

A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary.
Baruch A. Levine has written a masterful study of the first half of the Book Of
Numbers or the Anchor Bible Commentaries. The Book of Numbers - from the
numbering or census of the people in the opening chapters - is a much-neglected
part of the Torah, the five books of Moses, which constitutes the heart of Holy
Scriptures for Jews, while also forming an integral part of the Bible for
Christians.
The Book of Numbers is an account of the young would-be nation of Israel's
wanderings in the Wilderness after the magnificent event at Sinai, where Moses
speaks with God face-to-face and receives the Ten Commandments. Throughout this
time of trial, the people complain, sensing the contrast between the relative
security of slavery in Egypt, from which they have fled, and the precarious
insecurity of freedom in the Wilderness.
Numbers is a book filled with power struggles, raising questions about who
speaks for God, along with personal and communal crises of faith and rumors of
revolt. Yet despite the people's blindness and rebelliousness, God remains
faithful to the promises made to Israel's ancestors - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
and now Moses - and remains at Israel's side, guiding her slowly but surely to
the Promised Land. In all, Numbers describes a terrific journey of discipline
and dependence upon the God who liberated the Hebrews from bondage in Egypt: a
journey to strengthen Israel for the challenge of a new and wondrous land and
the battles she will have to fight in order to claim and keep it.
Despite the importance of The Book of Numbers, its rich collection of stories
is not easily assimilated, even by the most conscientious of readers. As such,
it requires the help of an expert guide to thread one's way through this
mixture of interesting episodes and anecdotes on the one hand, and the many
lists, prescriptive rules, ritual regulations, and repeated admonitions on the
other. Professor Levine shows us the way into this difficult and sometimes
forbidding book of the Bible, and we can be confident of our guide, and secure
in the knowledge that the one who led us into the thicket will lead us out
again into a broad and fair land.
All serious students of Numbers must have this book. Levine is not only " convinced but also serious about his study of sources in the book of Numbers.
Those more concerned about the final form of the book will find the
introductory material especially tedious. - Tremper Longman"
Series: Anchor Yale Bible Commentary, volume 4.
Recommended € 84,90