Numbers : an introduction and study guide : the road to freedom / by Eryl W. Davies. [print]

First published 2015.

Chapter 1: Introductory Issues

Title Summary of Content Composition and Date Structure

Chapter 2: Numbers and Biblical Criticism

Reader-Response Criticism Feminist Biblical Criticism Postcolonial Criticism

Chapter 3: Themes in Numbers

Land Purity and Holiness Rebellion

Chapter 4: Problematic Passages

The Census (chaps. 1 and 26) ; The Balaam Tradition (chaps. 22-24) ; The Wilderness Itinerary (33.1-49)

Chapter 5: Historical Value and Contemporary Relevance

Historical Value Contemporary Relevance

The book of Numbers may well be one of the least read and most neglected books in the entire Bible. However, the issues it raises--war, disease, survival, hunger, race relations--are among the perennial problems faced by nations across the centuries and across cultures. While individual passages within Numbers may reflect a questionable sense of morality. Davies demonstrates that the book, when viewed in its totality, encompasses a number of important theological themes which recur throughout the Old Testament: the interplay of forgiveness and judgment, and of sin and punishment, and the need to trust in the power of God rather than human might. Davies provides a lucid and readable account of the composition and date of Numbers, and the various attempts that have been made to establish a coherent and meaningful structure to its arrangement. He also considers how the application of reader-response criticism, feminist criticism, and postcolonial criticism have contributed to our understanding of selected passages in the book. The volume contains a detailed consideration of three theological themes that occupy much of the content of Numbers, namely, land, purity and holiness, and rebellion; it also provides a balanced discussion of some of the book's more problematic passages. The concluding chapter considers the contentious issue of the historicity of the book of Numbers in the light of recent discussions concerning the historical value of the Old Testament.

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