"Guide me, O Thou Great Jehovah" is one of the best-known hymns in the world. Yet the book of numbers, whose story that hymn summarizes, is seldom read. Why? "Its very title puts the modern reader off," writes Gordon Wenham. "In ancient time numbers were seen as mysterious and symbolic, a key to reality and the mind of God himself. Today they are associated with computers and the depersonalization that threatens our society." In his effort to bridge the great gulf between the book and our age, Wenham first explains the background of Numbers, discussing its structure, sources, date and authorship as well as its theology and Christian use. A passage-by-passage analysis follows, which draws useful insights on Old Testament ritual from modern social anthropology. The original, unrevised text of this volume has been completely retypeset and printed in a larger, more attractive format with the new cover design for the series..
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About the Author
Gordon J. Wenham is lecturer in Old Testament at Trinity College, Bristol. He was formerly professor of Old Testament at the University of Gloucestershire. He is a recognized expert on the Pentateuch and has written commentaries on Genesis, Leviticus and Numbers in addition to numerous studies in the Old Testament.
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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Concise. Well-written. Very helpful in charting out the "lay of the land" of a very difficult Bible book. Numbers is long and notorious for its seeming lack of continuity. It includes extended lists of census results, detailed camping arrangments, fascinating human interest stories, and chapters of ritual law--all mixed together. How do you make sense of it all? How do the details fit into a unified, coherent whole? This is where Wenham helps. None of the seemingly unrelated parts escape his effort to see their logical connection to the main message. Not the last word on the unity of Numbers, but a very helpful start for those interested yet intimidated.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
First off, the 2008 date listed with this volume is the date of the reprint. This book is from 1981. Second, I give it a 5 star rating in the context of the scope of the series it is in. If it was in a series that tends to include more technical information, it would not rate five stars.
With that said, Wenham's commentary is a very strong entry into the Tyndale Old Testament Commentary (TOTC) series. The TOTC series is quite uneven (for example, I have found some entries are relatively weak and often unhelpful). Wenham's commentary on Numbers provides a lot of substantial information and is better at anticipating the kinds of questions you have in terms of why you consult a commentary in the first place. It does not bog you down in technical information that other commentaries can do.
I'd strongly recommend any Bible reader to consider reading John Walton's Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Introducing the Conceptual World of the Hebrew Bible. I recently completed it and now as I read the OT, I feel like I've gone from watching a 13 inch black and white TV to watching a 40 inch High Definition color TV. As a result of reading Walton's book, as I read though Numbers recently, I felt less inclined to consult a commentary because the goings on narrated in Numbers suddenly make a lot more sense. With that said, you are still going to want to consult a commentary for specific questions, and Wenham's is a great choice. After reading Walton's book, the material in Wenham's commentary supplements it nicely - I feel like I get a more complete picture of the text than I would with either alone.
By the way, I'm impressed with Ashley's NICOT volume on Numbers as well. Numbers has some very difficult passages for modern, Western readers. But after reading Walton's book on the conceptual world of the Ancient Near East, and consulting Wenham's and Ashley's commentaries (along with the IVP Bible Backgrounds Commentary), most of those difficult passages make much more sense, without resort to work arounds that stretch credulity.
In terms of how much this costs (very little) and how tremendously helpful this usually is, buying this volume is a no-brainer.
With that said, Wenham's commentary is a very strong entry into the Tyndale Old Testament Commentary (TOTC) series. The TOTC series is quite uneven (for example, I have found some entries are relatively weak and often unhelpful). Wenham's commentary on Numbers provides a lot of substantial information and is better at anticipating the kinds of questions you have in terms of why you consult a commentary in the first place. It does not bog you down in technical information that other commentaries can do.
I'd strongly recommend any Bible reader to consider reading John Walton's Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Introducing the Conceptual World of the Hebrew Bible. I recently completed it and now as I read the OT, I feel like I've gone from watching a 13 inch black and white TV to watching a 40 inch High Definition color TV. As a result of reading Walton's book, as I read though Numbers recently, I felt less inclined to consult a commentary because the goings on narrated in Numbers suddenly make a lot more sense. With that said, you are still going to want to consult a commentary for specific questions, and Wenham's is a great choice. After reading Walton's book, the material in Wenham's commentary supplements it nicely - I feel like I get a more complete picture of the text than I would with either alone.
By the way, I'm impressed with Ashley's NICOT volume on Numbers as well. Numbers has some very difficult passages for modern, Western readers. But after reading Walton's book on the conceptual world of the Ancient Near East, and consulting Wenham's and Ashley's commentaries (along with the IVP Bible Backgrounds Commentary), most of those difficult passages make much more sense, without resort to work arounds that stretch credulity.
In terms of how much this costs (very little) and how tremendously helpful this usually is, buying this volume is a no-brainer.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This commentary is the perfect example of why I simultaneously love Wenham's writing, but dislike the Tyndale series' constrictive format. All while reading, I kept feeling that I was only seeing the tip of the iceberg of what insights Wenham had on a particular passage, and found myself wishing that they had just let him write another hundred or so pages.
The commentary is solidly conservative, and particularly strong on literary observations. This is a great book for someone who wants a quick overview of Numbers, but those looking for a more "in-depth" coverage of the details will need something a little bigger to go along with it.
The commentary is solidly conservative, and particularly strong on literary observations. This is a great book for someone who wants a quick overview of Numbers, but those looking for a more "in-depth" coverage of the details will need something a little bigger to go along with it.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
NUMBERS is the English translation of the Greek title of the book Arithmoi, a title no doubt given to it because of the census returns found in chapters 1-4 and 26. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
secular tribes, bronze cover, copper snake, cereal offering, cultic laws, second passover, priestly source, guilt offering Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Old Testament, New Testament, Red Sea, Dead Sea, Mount Hor, Mount Sinai, Ain Qadeis, Near East, Spirit of God, Gulf of Aqabah, Jebel Musa, Masei Sinai, The Way of the Wilderness, Bitter Lakes, Tell Hesban, Jebel Harun, Jebel Sin Bisher, Late Bronze Age, Levitical Terminology, Ain Hawarah, Ayun Musa, Flinders Petrie, Mount Nebo, Scholars Press, The Forest of Symbols New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
NUMBERS is the English translation of the Greek title of the book Arithmoi, a title no doubt given to it because of the census returns found in chapters 1-4 and 26. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
secular tribes, bronze cover, copper snake, cereal offering, cultic laws, second passover, priestly source, guilt offering Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Old Testament, New Testament, Red Sea, Dead Sea, Mount Hor, Mount Sinai, Ain Qadeis, Near East, Spirit of God, Gulf of Aqabah, Jebel Musa, Masei Sinai, The Way of the Wilderness, Bitter Lakes, Tell Hesban, Jebel Harun, Jebel Sin Bisher, Late Bronze Age, Levitical Terminology, Ain Hawarah, Ayun Musa, Flinders Petrie, Mount Nebo, Scholars Press, The Forest of Symbols New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 22
books:
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- The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure[ THE RITUAL PROCESS: STRUCTURE AND ANTI-STRUCTURE ] by Turner, Victor Witter (Author) Dec-31-95[ Paperback ] by Victor Witter Turner on 4 pages
- Redating the Exodus and Conquest (Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series No. 5) by John J. Bimson on 4 pages
- Cult and Conscience (Studies in Judaism in late antiquity) by Milgrom on 4 pages
- Storytelling in the Bible by Jacob Licht on page 165, and page 167
- The goodness of God (Tyndale Paperbacks) by John William Wenham on page 156, and page 210
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