The Shape of Numbers – Part Five

We conclude the analysis of Numbers with the final of the five major cycles.

Read Part One. Read Part Two. Read Part Three. Read Part Four.

ANALYSIS CONTINUED

SUCCESSION: Deuteronomy – Court of Sacrifice
Sevenfold promises for the future (Numbers 28-36)

The content of the final cycle seems random and eclectic if we are not aware of the meaning of the symbols and their arrangement within the cycle. As the Succession step of the book of Numbers, everything included here is oriented toward the future as an expression of historical continuity. Even the recounting of Israel’s past journey is provided for the remembrance and edification of the new generation.

When viewed as a sequence, the steps of the cycle correspond to the elements of the Tabernacle as microcosmic “new creation.” Within the fivefold architecture of the book, this step represents the court of sacrifice, the “feet” of the humaniform tent of meeting, the domain where heaven touches the earth and makes the mountain smoke. The subject matter is all about dominion, and that includes the “bridal” glory of the nation prepared by God to inherit the Promised Land that was now miraculously fertile—also prepared by God. The Edenic curses upon the land and the womb had been borne by Israel in the wilderness so that the Abrahamic promises concerning the land and the womb could be fulfilled. The Law never annuls the promise; it merely prunes the tree that the promises might be fulfilled more abundantly.

• Succession speaks of rest and rule, and although Israel’s feasts required sacrifices, they were harvest holidays given after centuries of slavery. While the Creation step in the cycle repeats the list of national or “Land” feasts in Leviticus 23, it adds the continual morning and evening lamb “Garden” offerings from Exodus 29:38-42. The “standing lamb” in Revelation 5:6 is an allusion to this “standing” or continual offering. The point was that (again related to Succession), history could only continue day after day (Psalm 19:2) through the shedding of substitutionary blood. Since the sevenfold festal pattern recapitulates Genesis 1, this added “morning and evening” heraldry indicates that this speech announces a covenantal “new creation.” Since the feasts were also a more detailed iteration of the “harvest” promise made to Noah (Genesis 8:22), this section is a reminder that Israel’s mission was to mitigate against the failure of the Noahic order of priest-kings, with the Promised Land serving as a sacrificial model of all the dry land. Since the festal pattern is also an expression of the pattern of dominion (that is, the Heptateuch), these offerings are also a liturgical reminder of Israel’s imminent possession of the Land. Through Israel’s ministry of mediation, God would keep the world turning (with one notable pause—for the purpose of the defeat of the corrupt Noahic priest-king of Jerusalem in Joshua 10:12-13, bringing the old mediators to a final end).
• The vows at Delegation correspond to the prohibition upon taking the Lord’s name in vain. What is striking is that the rule for vows made by men comprises a single verse, and the rules for vows made by women takes up the rest of the chapter. The reason is that the Man answers directly to God, whatever marital state he is in, but the Women is represented before God by the Man. This is thus another allusion to the created order, this time the events of Genesis 2. The women’s vows are symmetrical and fivefold, following the covenant pattern: Transcendence: Women’s and divorcees’ vows were unbreakable; Hierarchy: Girls’ vows were voidable by their father; Ethics: Wives’ vows were voidable by the husband without penalty; Oath/Sanctions: Girls’ vows were voidable by the fiancée; Succession: Wives’ vows were voidable with a penalty.
• The Priesthood step is twofold—Altar-Land and Table-Fruits. Firstly, it puts Midian metaphorically upon the four-horned Bronze Altar. Moses’ final act before death would be to bring the Levitical sword against the “harlot” nation. Aptly, it would be in the hand of Phinehas. It is not until after we read of Balaam’s execution that we discover his part in the corruption of Israel. Critics condemn the preservation of the virgins as an act of “sex slavery,” but the Law would not have permitted this. Instead, the girls would have married into Israel and become partakers of the promises. The assertion is an attempt at the character assassination of God akin to the serpentine words in Eden. Notice that the plunder had to be purified, an extension of priestly purity to the spoils of holy war, and a tribute was given to the Lord.
• The Table step mentions livestock and the Valley of Eshcol (source of the giant haul of grapes) so it relates to the fruit of the land and the womb, as promised to Abraham. Moses accuses Reuben and Gad of the same faithlessness found in the ten spies, but these two tribes vowed to serve as guardians at the gate—like the cherubim in Eden. Interestingly, Reuben and Gad corresponded (along with Simeon) to the Table of Facebread in the arrangement of the tribes.¹ The step ends with “firstfruits” inheritances given to Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh.
• The central step recounts Israel’s wilderness journey, from Rameses in Egypt to the Plains of Moab. Gordon J. Wenham notes that if the places mentioned elsewhere in the Pentateuch (but omitted here) are added to this list of forty, the list becomes a neat table of 6 sequences of 7, with interesting similarities between some corresponding steps.² 42 is 12 x 3.5, symbolically “tribes” times “Testing.” It seems that this section includes the command to drive out the Canaanites as its Succession step. The curse that would fall upon the Israelites if they failed to do so thus carried the import of the various events just recounted.
• The placement of the borders and the tribal chiefs appointed to divide the land at Maturity combines the step 5 themes of “hosts,” “plunder,” and “elders.”
• The Atonement/Conquest step aptly concerns the cities to be given to the Levites who had no territorial inheritance, and also to the nature of the cities of refuge as sanctuaries for those pursued due to blood-guilt. The allusions here are to the nature of High Priesthood (one man dying for all the people, Numbers 35:32) and also to the mercy shown to Cain, the builder of the first city. This explains the condemnation of the shedding of innocent blood. Cain’s line rejected substitutionary atonement and settled instead for vengeance. The entire world was filled with violence. This microcosmic “dry land” given to Israel was not to end in the same way.
• The covenant pattern explains the apparently odd ending of Numbers. Moses’ deliberation concerning the inheritance of the daughters of Zelophehad perfectly combines the themes of Judges, Succession, and Glorification with the threat posed (in type) to the mission of Israel by intermarriage with Gentiles (Booths).

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1. See Jacob’s Ziggurat.
2. Gordon J. Wenham, Numbers, 243.