Punishment and Forgiveness in Israel's Migratory Campaign [Paperback]

Won W. Lee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2003

Arguably the most diverse book of the Old Testament, Numbers lacks any obvious structure or organization. This appears to be especially true of Numbers 10:11–36:13. In "Punishment and Forgiveness in Israel's Migratory Campaign" Won Lee brings clarity to this passage of Scripture by properly fitting the text into the overarching theology of Numbers.

According to Lee, the major divisions and thirty-six subunits that make up Numbers 10:11–36:13 are understandable only if seen against the backdrop of God's relationship with Israel. This portion of Scripture, which recounts Israel's failure to conquer the Promised Land, finds its conceptual structure in God's responses: first, the punishment of Israel's forty-year sojourn in the desert and, second, the beginnings of God's forgiveness, signaled by the success of the second-generation Israelites in defeating the Canaanites.

By treating the structure of the text as the central problem in its interpretation and presenting a proposal grounded in solid exegesis, Lee demonstrates that despite the diverse, disparate material found in Numbers 10:11–36:13, this text is in fact a self-contained, well-organized, and coherent unit with an important theological message.

Product Details

• Paperback: 308 pages
• Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (October 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802809928
• ISBN-13: 978-0802809926
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,523,078 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating study of the structure of the book of Numbers, November 25, 2004

By 

D. E WARD (Oxford, OH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Punishment and Forgiveness in Israel's Migratory Campaign (Paperback)

A commentary on a book of the Bible will generally include the commentator's outline of the structure of that book. A good outline can greatly enhance one's understanding of a biblical book, so such outlines are important. Rarely, though, do commentators say much about how their outlines are derived.

This book, which is based on Professor Lee's doctoral dissertation, describes and illustrates a method for outlining the structure of a large section of biblical text. This method, called "conceptual analysis", is a modern version of form criticism developed by Lee's advisor, Rolf Knierim.

Lee describes conceptual analysis as an iterative process, where one begins by dividing a text into smaller units with coherent themes. One then takes a deeper look to determine how the units fit together into an overall structure for the text. Finally, the outline is critically evaluated and the steps repeated as needed.

Lee demonstrates the method on Num. 10:11-36:13, a challenging section of text that has been outlined in several different ways.

He divides this section into 36 units, discussing with each one the rationale for his choices. He then argues persuasively that the key unit for the organization of the section is Num. 13:1-14:45, the account of the exploration of the Promised Land by 12 scouts, the largely negative report the scouts present to the people, and Israel's subsequent rejection of God's plan to bring them into the Promised Land. The pivotal events in this unit largely determine the form and content of the rest of the section.

Conceptual analysis is an attempt to make the outlining of a text into a "scientific" process, with the goal of deriving a structure from a text rather than imposing a structure upon a text. There is no way to completely mechanize such a process, however. Some subjectivity is inevitable, and any outline will highlight some features of a text and deemphasize others.

In my opinion, one good measure of the value of an outline is the amount of fruit it yields in insight into the text. By this criterion, I believe that Lee's outline of Num. 10:11-36:13 earns high marks. His outline helps give satisfying answers to a number of questions about the text, as he explains in the latter stages of the book.

It is rare that a dissertation on form critical issues would be interesting to more than a handful of specialists. This book is a notable exception, and I enthusiastically recommend it to all serious students of the book of Numbers.