Ancestral inheritance (36:3). The particular concern of the larger Gileadite clan is the possible loss of land to another Israelite tribe should the daughters of Zelophehad marry outside the tribe of Manasseh. Under the Lord’s direction, Zelophehad’s daughters are granted territorial inheritance rights, thereby setting a legal precedent that the land should remain within the family or tribe. The Gileadite leaders bring to the judicial proceedings the other legal precedent of the Lord’s direction for the distribution of tribal territory by lot, and territorial sovereignty of each tribe is to be maintained.
With these two precedents on the judicial table, the Gileadites present their case in two parts before Moses and the Israelite leadership for a legal decision. First is the question of one of the daughters of Zelophehad marrying outside the Manassite tribe, in which case the property would accrue to the husband’s tribe, thereby violating tribal territorial sovereignty. Tribal sovereignty is maintained by requiring Zelophehad’s daughters to marry within the tribal clan. This decision settles a potential conflict within property laws related to the year of Jubilee, during which property reverted to its original tribal or clan owner and indentured slaves were emancipated (Lev. 25:13–55). Since the Jubilee statutes applied only to purchased property and not to inherited property, this case sets a precedent for future potential litigation.
Boling, Robert. The Levitical Cities: Archaeology and Texts. Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1985. Boling examines the setting, form, and function of the Levitical cities from a historical and archaeological standpoint. These studies provide unique insights into the role of the Levites within the larger Israelite society.
Cartledge, T. W. Vows in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East. JSOTSup 147. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1992. The context and content of oaths and vows in ancient Near Eastern cultures are examined to shed light on practices described in Old Testament narratives and legal texts. Contrasts are also made with Near Eastern oaths and vows before various deities, which involved potions, sorcery, or forms of divination.
Cole, R. Dennis. Numbers. NAC. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2000. This commentary provides a theological and literary analysis of Numbers as a unified composition in its presentation of the wilderness tradition of ancient Israel. Historical, geographical, and archaeological data complement the literary analysis of this pivotal Pentateuchal book.
Fleming, Daniel E. Time at Emar: The Cultic Calendar and the Rituals from the Diviner’s Archive. Mesopotamian Civilizations 11. Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2000. For comparative analysis of the Israelite holy day calendar, Fleming presents parallels from the agricultural festival calendar from Emar in Upper Mesopotamia. Since the biblical patriarchs come from this general region, this presentation provides helpful insights into the world of sacrificial systems and festival calendars in order to study the unique historical elements of the Israelite celebrations.
Fouts, David. The Use of Large Numbers in the Old Testament. Ann Arbor: Univ. Microfilms, 1991). Idem, “A Defense of the Hyperbolic Interpretation of Large Numbers in the Old Testament,” JETS 40 (1997): 377–87. In his dissertation and several derived articles, Fouts analyzes the military census passages in Numbers in light of the comparative literature of military census taking in Egyptian, Babylonian, and Assyrian records.
Hoffmeier, James K. Israel in Egypt: The Evidence for the Authenticity of the Exodus Tradition. New York: Oxford, 1996. Idem, Ancient Israel in Sinai: Evidence for the Authenticity of the Wilderness Tradition. New York: Oxford, 2005. In these two books Hoffmeier examines the recent historical, geographical, and archaeological data bearing on Israel’s sojourn in the Nile Delta region of Egypt and their movement into the Sinai desert region. The location of Mount Sinai and various sites on the Israelite journey are analyzed.
Milgrom, Jacob. Numbers. JPS Torah Commentary. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1990. Milgrom’s expertise in Israelite cult, history, and law is fleshed out in this thoroughgoing commentary on Numbers. This work is a must for any serious student of this book. Milgrom also provides an insightful new translation of the Hebrew text. The extensive excurses provide in-depth analysis of key themes and literary structures.
Walsh, C. E. The Fruit of the Vine: Viticulture in Ancient Israel. HSM 60. Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2000. Walsh presents a thoroughgoing analysis of vineyard agriculture and wine production in the context of ancient Israel. Included is the utilization of wine in the various aspects of the sacrificial system delineated in the Old Testament, with some corollary elements from viticulture in Egypt and Mesopotamia.
1. Eusebius, Onomasticon 14.5.9.
2. For a detailed analysis of the location of Mount Sinai, see G. I. Davies, The Way of the Wilderness: A Geographical Study of the Wilderness Itineraries in the Old Testament (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1979); idem, “Sinai, Mount,” ABD, 6:48; G. Kelm, Escape to Conflict: A Biblical and Archaeological Approach to the Hebrew Exodus and Settlement in Canaan (Fort Worth: IAR Publications, 1991), 80–92; M. Harel, “Sinai,” Encyclopaedia Miqraith, 5:1021–22; idem, “The Route of the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt” (Ph.D. diss.; New York Univ., 1964); G. E. Wright, “Sinai,” IDB, 4:376–78; Y. Aharoni, The Land of the Bible, rev. ed. (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1979), 197–99. Survey results in northern Sinai are found in E. I. Oren, “Sinai,” OEANE, 5:41–47.
3. For extensive discussion of the early date for the Exodus, see B. Waltke, “Palestinian Artifactual Evidence for the Early Date of the Exodus,” BibSac 129 (1972): 1972; J. Walton, “Exodus, Date of,” DOTP, 258–72.
4. J. K. Hoffmeier, Israel in Egypt: The Evidence for the Authenticity of the Exodus Tradition (New York: Oxford, 1996), 126. See 107–34 for additional data on the literary and chronological evidence for Israel in Egypt.
5. K. A. Kitchen, “The Tabernacle—A Bronze Age Artifact,” ErIsr 24 (1993): 1993; idem, On the Reliability of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003), 275–83.
6. K. A. Kitchen, “Some Egyptian Background to the Old Testament,” TynBul 5–6 (1960): 1960; Reliability, 276–83; A. M. Blackman, The Rock Tombs of Meir V (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1977), pl. 42, 43; G. A. Reisner and W. S. Smith, A History of the Giza Necropolis II: The Tomb of Hetep-heres (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1955).
7. Reisner and Smith, A History of the Giza Necropolis.
8. For Mari texts see D. E. Fleming, “Mari’s Large Public Tent and the Priestly Tent Sanctuary,” VT 50 (2000): 484–98. Fleming notes that the earlier precedents for the tent sanctuary argue against a late priestly tradition for the tabernacle, that some critics argue was based on the extant temple in Jerusalem. For Ugarit see Keret A and B texts, ANET, 142–47 (146 iii.18).
9. Fleming, “Mari’s Large Public Tent,” 484–98.
10. Translation in ANET, 133.
11. E.g., Num. 31:3–6; Josh. 7:3–4; 8:3; 1 Sam. 11:8; 13:1–5; 30:9; 2 Sam. 10:6; 1 Kings 20:15.
12. S. N. Kramer, The Sumerians (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1963), 324.
13. A. K. Grayson et al., eds., Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia (Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Press, 1987), 1:184. See also D. Fouts, The Use of Large Numbers in the Old Testament (Ann Arbor: Univ. Microfilms, 1991); idem, “A Defense of the Hyperbolic Interpretation of Large Numbers in the Old Testament,” JETS 40 (1997): 377–87.
14. See 1QSa 1.9–11; L. Schiffman, Sectarian Law in the Dead Sea Scrolls: Courts, Testimony, and the Penal Code (Chico, Calif.: Scholars Press, 1983), 55–65.
15. J. Milgrom, Numbers (JPS Torah Commentary; Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1990), 5.
16. A. M. Blackman, God, Priests, and Men: Studies in the Religion of Pharaonic Egypt (New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1998); M. Haran, ed., Temples and Temple Service in Ancient Israel: An Inquiry into Biblical Cult Phenomena and the Historical Setting of the Priestly School (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1985); W. R. Millar, Priesthood in Ancient Israel (St. Louis: Chalice, 2001); E. Matsushima, Official Cult and Popular Religion in the Ancient Near East (Heidelberg: Carl Winter, 1993); K. Watanabe, ed., Priests and Officials in the Ancient Near East (Heidelberg: Carl Winter, 1997).
17. For a depiction of this type of standard, see Y. Yadin, The Art of Warfare in Biblical Lands (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1963), 122, 139. Note the extensive discussion of degel in B. A. Levine, Numbers 1—20: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (AB; New York: Doubleday, 1993), 146–48.
18. Note the usage of degel in the Arad ostraca (#12), in which it refers to the military garrison at Arad, and the Elephantine papyri of the fifth century B.C. See also A. Temerev, “Social Organizations in Egyptian Military Settlements of the Sixth-Fourth Centuries B.C.E.: Dgl and Mtʾ,” in The Word of the Lord Shall Go Forth: Essays in Honor of D. N. Freedman, ed. C. L. Meyers and M. O’Connor (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1983), 523–25.
19. Milgrom, Numbers, 10; also 300, n 2.
20. Lit., “Each man according to his standard with the signs of the house of their fathers, the children of Israel shall camp; outwardly surrounding the Tent of Meeting they shall camp.” See Milgrom, Numbers, 12.
21. 1QM 3.27–43.
22. Ancient Near Eastern literature abounds in genealogical formulae, parallel to the tôledôt records in the Old Testament. Van der Toorn notes that “genealogical lists are a family history in telegraphic style,” and that “the ancestor cult is the setting in which such genealogist functioned and—presumably—originated; the cult also fostered a sense of connection with the past” (Family Religion in Babylonia, Syria, and Israel: Continuity and Change in the Forms of Religious Life [Leiden: Brill, 1996], 54). See also chs. 3 and 8.
23. R. K. Harrison, Numbers (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1992), 13–14, 61–63. For Atraḫasis Epic see COS, 1.130.
24. For detailed discussion of rights and responsibilities of primogeniture, see R. Westbrook, History of Ancient Near Eastern Law (Leiden: Brill, 2003), 57–58, 118–19, 278, 678. In one Old Kingdom Egyptian case a man designated himself as the “eldest son” and “heir” because he buried his mother and acted as her mortuary priest (125). For additional information see F. E. Greenspahn, “Primogeniture in Ancient Israel,” in Go To the Land I Will Show You, ed. J. Coleson and V. Matthews (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1996), 69–80; B. J. Beitzel, “The Right of the Firstborn in the Old Testament (Deut. 21:15–17),” in A Tribute to Gleason Archer, ed. W. C. Kaiser Jr. and R. F. Youngblood (Chicago: Moody, 1986), 179–90.
25. ANET, 173–75, laws 168–71. See also “Primogeniture” in P. J. King and L. E. Stager, Life in Biblical Israel (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001), 47–48; I. Mendelsohn, “On the Preferential Status of the Eldest Son,” BASOR 156 (1959): 1959. See also van der Toorn, Family Religion, 222–23.
26. Westbrook, History of Ancient Near Eastern Law, 278. Cf. van der Toorn, Family Religion, 222–23.
27. Note the discussion of the protective powers of winged deities in O. Keel and C. Uehlinger, Gods, Goddesses, and Images of God in Ancient Israel, trans. T. H. Trapp (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1998), 248–62. See also the discussion of “Labor-Gods” in L. K. Handy, Among the Host of Heaven: The Syro-Palestinian Pantheon as Bureaucracy (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1994), 154.
28. For Mari, see ARM 10.50.16–17; for Hittite temple laws see “Instructions for Temple Officials,” ANET, 209.10–11. See also Milgrom, Numbers, 341–42 (excursus 4, “The Levites: Guards of the Tabernacle”).
29. T. J. Lewis, Cults of the Dead in Ancient Israel and Ugarit (HSM 39; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1989), 56–59; scholars debate whether the deceased royalty were in fact deified or simply granted a place with the divine in death. In the excavations of the necropolis at Ras Shamra, pipelines were uncovered that functioned to supply water for the dead; see C. F. A. Schaeffer, “Les fouilles de Ras Shamra-Ugarit,” Syr 19 (1938): 193–255.
30. M. Bayliss, “The Cult of the Dead Kin in Assyria and Babylonia,” Iraq 35 (1973): 1973; also van der Toorn, Family Religion, 222–23.
31. Milgrom, Numbers, 25–27.
32. Ibid. (Excursus 38: “The Tassels: Ṣiṣit,” 411).
33. For a discussion of the purple dye industry see L. B. Jensen, “Royal Purple of Tyre,” JNES 22 (1963): 1963; J. Doumet, A Study in Ancient Purple Color, trans. R. Cook (Beirut: Imprimerie catholique, 1980); I. Zederman, “First Identification of Authentic Tekelet,” BASOR 265 (1987): 1987; F. W. Danker, “Purple,” ABD, 5:557–60; King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 159–62.
34. M. Douglas, Purity and Danger (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1966), 1–55.
35. M. Douglas, In the Wilderness: The Doctrine of Defilement in the Book of Numbers (JSOTSup 158; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1993), 158.
36. Note also E. Jan Wilson, “Holiness” and “Purity” in Mesopotamia (AOAT 237; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1994); J. Sklar, Sin, Impurity, Sacrifice, Atonement: The Priestly Conceptions (Hebrew Bible Monographs 2; Sheffield: Phoenix Press, 2005); K. van der Toorn, Sin and Sanction in Israel and Mesopotamia (Assen: Van Gorcum, 1985), 30–31, 72–75.
37. See J. F. A. Sawyer, “A Note on the Etymology of ṣāraʿat,” VT 26 (1976): 1976; Levine, Numbers 1–20, 184–86. Cf. also S. G. Browne, “Leprosy in the Bible,” in Medicine and the Bible, ed. B. Palmer (Exeter: Paternoster, 1986), 101–26; J. V. Kinnier Wilson, “Medicine in the Land and Times of the Old Testament,” in The Period of David and Solomon, ed. T. Ishida (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1982), 354–58.
38. Harrison, Numbers, 100–101; G. Wenham, Numbers (TOTC; Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1981), 76–77; idem, Leviticus (NICOT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979), 120. J. Scurlock and B. Andersen, Diagnoses in Assyrian and Babylonian Medicine (Urbana, Ill.: Univ. of Illinois Press, 2005), 70–73, have now demonstrated that the symptoms of Hansen’s disease are attested in Mesopotamia.
39. F. H. Cryer, Divination in Ancient Israel and Its Near Eastern Environment: A Socio-Historical Investigation (JSOTSup 142; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1994), 318.
40. ANET, 168–71. Note the example in law 124. See also Westbrook, History of Ancient Near Eastern Law, 555–56, 936–62; P. Galpaz-Feller, “Private Lives and Public Censure—Adultery in Ancient Egypt and Biblical Israel,” NEA 67 (2004): 2004.
41. M. Fishbane, “Accusations of Adultery: A Study of Law and Scribal Practice in Numbers 5:11–31,” HUCA 45 (1974): 1974.
42. ANET, 171, 181; V. H. Matthews and D. C. Benjamin, Old Testament Parallels: Laws and Stories from the Ancient Near East, 2nd ed. (New York: Paulist, 1997), 115–16.
43. Milgrom, Numbers, 37; idem, “A Husband’s Pride, A Mob’s Prejudice,” BR 13 (1996): 1996. See also T. Frymer-Kensky, “The Strange Case of the Suspected Sotah,” VT 34 (1984): 1984; B. Wells, “Sex, Lies and Virginal Rape: The Slandered Bride and False Accusation in Deuteronomy,” JBL 124 (2005): 2005; H. C. Brichto, “The Case of the Sota and a Reconsideration of Biblical ‘Law,’” HUCA 46 (1975): 1975. See also R. Westbrook, “Adultery in Ancient Near Eastern Law,” RB 97 (1990): 575–76.
44. R. Westbrook, “Biblical and Cuneiform Law Codes,” RB 92 (1985): 247–64; idem, Studies in Biblical and Cuneiform Law (Paris: Gabalda, 1988); and idem, “What is the Covenant Code,” in Theory and Method in Biblical and Cuneiform Law: Revision, Interpolation, and Development, ed. B. Levinson (JSOTSup 181; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1994), 15–36.
45. M. J. Geller, “The ÒURPU Incantations and Lev. V.1–5,” JSS 25 (1980): 181–92.
46. C. H. Cosgrove, “A Woman’s Unbound Hair in the Greco-Roman World, with Special Reference to the Story of the ‘Sinful Woman’ in Luke 7:36–50,” JBL 124/4 (2005): 675–92.
47. ARM, 10.9. The context of the text is different, in that the gods and goddesses consuming the potion promise to not sin against the city and its protective deity. See also discussion in J. J. M. Roberts, The Bible and the Ancient Near East: Collected Essays (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2002), 125.
48. T. R. Ashley, The Book of Numbers (NICOT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993), 129–31; B. Lafont, “The Ordeal,” in Everyday Life in Ancient Mesopotamia, ed. J. Bottéro, trans. A. Nevill (Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 2001), 199–209.
49. T. Cartledge, Vows in the Hebrew Bible and in the Ancient Near East (JSOTSup 147; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1992), 114.
50. C. E. Walsh, The Fruit of the Vine: Viticulture in Ancient Israel (HSM 60; Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2000), 142–65. See also R. Frankel, Wine and Oil Production in Antiquity in Israel and Other Mediterranean Countries (JSOT/ASOR Monographs 10; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999); J. Pritchard, Winery, Defenses, and Soundings at Gibeon (Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Museum, 1964), 10–26; idem, “Gibeon,” NEAEHL, 2:511–14. For an extensive analysis of wine as a divine fluid in ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean cultures, see E. R. Goodenough, Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period (New York: Pantheon, 1957), 5:99–142; 6:126.
51. L. E. Stager, “The Fury of Babylon: Ashkelon and the Archaeology of Destruction,” BAR 22 (1996): 1996; King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 101–3.
52. See also O. Borowski, “Eat, Drink, and Be Merry: The Mediterranean Diet,” NEA 67 (2004): 2004; M. Homan, “Beer and Its Drinkers: An Ancient Near Eastern Love Story,” NEA 67 (2004): 2004.
53. ANET, 171 §127.
54. Milgrom, Numbers, 356.
55. ANET, 339–40.
56. S. Olyan, “What Do Shaving Rites Accomplish and What Do They Signal in Biblical Ritual Contexts?” JBL 117 (1998): 611–22, esp. 622. Cf. Deut. 21:12–13.
57. D. Fleming, “The Biblical Tradition of Anointing Priests,” JBL 117 (1998): 401–14.
58. S. M. Olyan, “Cult,” OEANE, 2:84, esp. Ancestor Cults; C. Kennedy, “Dead, Cult of the,” ABD, 2:105–8.
59. D. Pardee, Ritual and Cult at Ugarit (SBLWAW 10; Atlanta: SBL Press, 2002), 167–70.
60. For examples of the right thigh usage in the ancient Near East, see Epic of Gilgamesh, 6.160–67; ANET, 85, 348 (L49-50).
61. O. Tufnell et al., Lachish 2 (London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1940), 93–94. Tufnell notes a collection of right thigh bones found near the Late Bronze fosse temple and interprets them as remnants of special portions provided for the cultic personnel.
62. G. Barkai, “Excavations on the Hinnom Slope in Jerusalem,” Qadmoniot 17 (1984): 1984 (Heb); also “The Divine Name Found in Jerusalem,” BAR 9/2 (1983): 1983. For a general treatment of the excavations and inscriptions see J. P. Dessel, “Ketef Hinnom,” OEANE, 3:285–86.
63. G. Barkai et al., “The Challenges of Ketef Hinnom: Using Advanced Technologies to Reclaim the Earliest Biblical Texts,” NEA 66 (2003): 2003.
64. C. Cohen on the theme of the “shining divine countenance and of the lifting of the divine countenance” as having late second millennium B.C. parallels in Middle Babylonian and Late Bronze Ugaritic texts in “The Biblical Priestly Blessing (Num 6:24–26) in the Light of Akkadian Parallels,” Tel Aviv 20 (1993): 228–38. On the Akkadian and Ugaritic background of the gods providing protection and peace (well-being), A. Rainey states: “It is probable that expressions of blessing drawn from social and official contexts, originally having no bearing on the cult, provided the discrete components of the fixed liturgical benedictions” (“The Scribe at Ugarit, His Position and Influence,” Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities 3 [1968]: 126–46). See also Levine, Numbers 1–20, 236–37.
65. E. Dhorme has collected numerous examples of Akkadian parallels in “L’emploi métaphorique des noms de parties du corps en hébreu et en akkadien,” RevBib 30 (1921): 383–412. From the 6th-century B.C. context of the reign of Nabunaid comes a blessing by the goddess Gula, who “turned her countenance toward me (the king), with a shining face she faithfully looked at me and actually caused (him, i.e., Marduk) to show mercy” (H. Lewy, “The Babylonian Background of the Kay Kâûs Legend,” AnOr 17 [1949]: 51–63).
66. S. R. Keller, “An Egyptian Analogue to the Priestly Blessing,” in Boundaries of the Ancient Near Eastern World, ed. M. Lubetski, C. Gottleib and S. Keller (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1998), 338–45, esp. 339.
67. S. Richter, The Deuteronomic History and the Name Theology (BZAW 318; Berlin: de Gruyter, 2002); see CAD Š/3, 290, d); 293, c); and CAD Š/1, 143–44.
68. B. Levine, Numbers 1–20, 246–60, notes that “in biblical texts quantities are usually registered differently as . . . (a) numeral (quantity), (b) item,” yet numerous examples suggest otherwise (e.g., 2 Kings 18:19). In 2 Chron. 30:24 both systems are used for delineating the quantities of bulls, sheep, and goats sacrificed during a Passover held in Hezekiah’s reign.
69. Wenham, Numbers, 93.
70. Milgrom, Numbers, 55; Wenham, Numbers, 92–93. Estimates for these articles range from 2.86–3.43 lbs. for the silver plate, 1.54–2.00 lbs. for the silver basin, and 3.5–5.0 oz. for the gold ladle.
71. C. L. Meyers, The Tabernacle Menorah (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1976). Summarized by Milgrom, Numbers, 60; cf. also excursus 17: “The Menorah,” 367.
72. Meyers, The Tabernacle Menorah, 59.
73. Ibid., 60; figs. on 206–7.
74. Ibid., 65.
75. Herodotus, History 11.37.
76. R. I. Caplice, The Akkadian Namburbi Texts: An Introduction (Malibu: Undena, 1974). See also Milgrom, Numbers, 62.
77. D. Fleming, The Installation of Baal’s High Priestess at Emar (HSS 42; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1992), 181–82. For more examples, mostly from Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian, see CAD G, “gullubu,” 129–31.
78. Olyan, “What Do Shaving Rites Accomplish?” 611–22.
79. Extensive treatment of biblical materials regarding the firstborn, from consecration to inheritance, may be found in G. Brin, Studies in Biblical Law (JSOTSup 176; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1994), 166–281. But he has little to offer regarding any practice of firstborn consecration in the ancient Near East.
80. Cf. reštu CAD R, 272–77; for Ugarit see Pardee, Ritual and Cult at Ugarit, 53 (RS 24.266:31).
81. D. E. Fleming, Time at Emar: The Cultic Calendar and the Rituals from the Diviner’s House (Winona Lake, Ind: Eisenbrauns, 2000), 175–89.
82. COS, 1.86; CTA, 2.iv.8, 29; 3.iii.1; 3.iv.53. Also see COS, 1.103, i.43–45.
83. Harrison, Numbers, 164.
84. J. Braun, Music in Ancient Israel/Palestine (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002), 92–93. Other archaeological evidence is found in the example excavated from Beth Shean and a fourteenth-century painted pottery sherd picturing a man playing one.
85. The precise dimensions were 22 7/8 in. long, 1/2 in. wide tubes, with the bell flanging to 3 1/4 in. See also H. Hickmann, La Trompette dans l’Egypte ancienne (Cairo: Institut francaise d’archaeologie orientale, 1946), 46; F. W. Galpin, Music of the Sumerians and Their Immediate Successors the Babylonians and Assyrians (Freeport, N.Y.: Books for Libraries, 1936), 21 and plate XI, 25; C. C. J. Polin, Music of the Ancient Near East (New York: Vantage, 1954), 40–42. Silver metallurgy dates to the Early Bronze Age in Mesopotamia (3300–2300 B.C.). After a piece of processed silver was hammered into a thin sheet, it could then be hammered and molded around a trumpet form, and then heated again to temper the metal.
86. H. te Velde, “Music,” OEAE, 2:450. They are less frequently attested in Mesopotamian contexts.
87. The later rabbis defined the long blast taqaʿ as three times the length of the short blast (m. Roš. Haš.). Cf. Wenham, Numbers, 102; Milgrom, Numbers, 74–75, excursus 21: “Trumpet and Shophar, 372–73.
88. F. G. Martinez, ed., The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated (Leiden: Brill, 1994), 57. In peaceful times they used other trumpets, inscribed with phrases like “The peace of God and his holy ones.”
89. Cf. Gen. 14:6; 21:21; Num. 10:12; 12:16; 13:3, 26; Deut. 1:1; 33:2; 1 Kings 11:18; Hab. 3:3. Additionally, the LXX reads “Paran” instead of “Maon” in 1 Sam. 25:1. If Mount Sinai is to be located in the south-central Sinai peninsula (Jebel Musa), then the Paran Desert would include the northeast quadrant of the peninsula. If Mount Sinai is identified with Jebel Sin Bisher, Paran would be more to the east-northeast and associated with the present-day location of the Wilderness of Paran.
90. C. H. Gordon, Before the Bible (London: Collins, 1962), 236–38. Cf. W. F. Albright, “Jethro, Hobab, and Reuel in Early Hebrew Tradition,” CBQ 25 (1963): 1963.
91. CAD I/J, 228–29.
92. Note O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1987), 137–38.
93. CAD, “M: Part I,” 90. Cf. also A. Malamat, Mari and the Early Israelite Experience (Schweich Lectures, 1984; Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1989), 85–86.
94. D. Brewer, “Hunting, Animal Husbandry and Diet in Ancient Egypt,” in History of the Animal World in the Ancient Near East, ed. B. J. Collins (Leiden: Brill, 2002), picture, 455.
95. For a discussion of quail, see O. Borowski, Every Living Thing: Daily Use of Animals in Ancient Israel (Walnut Creek, Calif.: AltaMira, 1998), 151–55. Cf. J. Gray, “The Desert Sojourn of the Hebrews and the Sinai-Horeb Tradition,” VT 4 (1954): 1954; also Aristotle, The History of Animals in The Complete Works of Aristotle: The Revised Oxford Translation, ed. J. Barnes (Bollingen Series 71/2; Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Univ. Press, 1984), 1:934.
96. Estimates for the volume of the homer range from 3.8–6.5 bushels. Cf. M. A. Powell, “Weights and Measures,” ABD, 6:903; O. R. Sellers, “Weights and Measures,” IDB, 4:834–35. Cf. Wenham, 500 gallons = 2,200 liters, Numbers, 109; Harrison, 60 bushels, Numbers, 191; Gray, 100 bushels, An Exegetical and Critical Commentary on Numbers (ICC; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1986), 119.
97. For further background on the phrase “spread them out around the camp” (for drying), cf. Ezek. 26:5 and possibly Jer. 8:12. Herodotus (History 2.77) describes this as an Egyptian practice.
98. See discussion in E. Yamauchi, Africa and the Bible (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2004), 35–75 (only the first few pages deal with this specific issue; the rest is a study of Nubia in Old Testament times).
99. R. B. Allen, “Numbers,” EBC, 2:797–98.
100. Harrison, Numbers, 197. See also his article, “Leper, Leprosy,” ISBE, 3:103–6.
101. J. Milgrom, Cult and Conscience (Leiden: Brill, 1976), 80–82.
102. The Wilderness of Paran seems to have denoted a large arid region in the northeast Sinai, extending north to Kadesh Barnea and the Nahal Zin drainage basin (Num. 13:3, 26; 20:1; Deut. 1:1) and east to the Arabah and the regions of Mount Seir (Edom) and the Midianites (Gen. 14:6; 1 Kings 11:18).
103. The Qumran sectarians described the celebration of a firstfruits festival on Ab 3, seven weeks after Shavuoth, which likewise suggests a date in the last week of July or the first two weeks of August (11QTemple 19.11–20.10); see G. Vermes, Dead Sea Scrolls in English, 4th ed. (New York: Pelican), 156–57.
104. Cf. J. Simons, Geographical and Topographical Texts of the Old Testament (Leiden: Brill, 1959), 7; G. W. van Beek, IDB, 1:396.
105. COS, 1.32.
106. Cf. Hoffmeier, Israel in Egypt, 117–19; K. A. Kitchen, New International Dictionary of Biblical Archaeology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1983), 384; Harrison, Numbers, 204–6.
107. See M. Dothan, “The Fortress at Kadesh-barnea,” IEJ 15 (1965): 1965; idem, “Kadesh-barnea,” EAEHL, 3:697–98 (1977). See also I. Gilead and R. Cohen, “Kadesh-barnea,” NEAEHL, 3:841–47.
108. See Z. Herzog, “Enclosed Settlements in the Negeb and the Wilderness of Beersheba,” BASOR 250 (1983): 1983; B. Rothenberg, Negev: Archaeology in the Negev and the Arabah (Jerusalem: Massada, 1967), 92–97 (Hebrew). G. Mattingly, “Amalek,” ABD, 1:169–71.
109. See T. Bryce, The Kingdom of the Hittites (Oxford: Clarendon, 1998).
110. S. Reed, “Jebus,” ABD, 3:652–53.
111. The later annals of Sennacherib list the kings of Phoenicia, Edom, Moab, Ammon, and Philistia among the Amorites whom he conquered in his campaign of 701 B.C. (ANET, 287).
112. Note numerous references to the “land of Retenu,” in ANET, 238–57.
113. J. A. Hackett, “Canaan” and “Canaanites,” OEANE, 1:408–14.
114. Gen. 37:29; 2 Sam. 1:11; 3:31; 13:19; 1 Kings 21:27; Ezra 9:3–5; Isa. 36:22; 37:1; Jer. 36:24.
115. ANET, 153, “AQHT C,” L35-49; D. Pardee, “The Aqhatu Legend,” in COS, 1.103, i.19–ii.93.
116. Y. Aharoni, “Nothing Early and Nothing Late,” BA 39 (1976): 1976; see “Masos, Tel,” NEAEHL, 3:986–89; “Ira, Tel,” NEAEHL, 2:642–46; “Malhata, Tel,” NEAEHL 3:934–39.
117. ANET, 328.
118. See Cartledge, Vows in the Hebrew Bible.
119. For example, the fat and the blood were always presented to the Lord at or upon the altar (Lev. 7:22–27). In the case of the fellowship/peace offering, the breast was presented as a wave or elevation offering before the Lord and then given to the Aaronic priests along with the right thigh portion.
120. Note the starved deities taking the form of flies in order to consume the sacrifices of Utnapishtim in the Babylonian account of Enuma Elish.
121. See “Poems of Baal and Anath,” ANET, 130–35, IIIAB/B., lines 38–40; also IIAB.vii.38–41. Common in the iconography of Baal is the standing form with the raised right hand wielding a sword, lightning bolt, or club.
122. For an expanded treatment of this means of punishment, see J. Milgrom, Numbers, excursus 36: “The Penalty of ‘Karet,’” 405–8; also D. J. Wold, The Biblical Penalty of Kareth (Ann Arbor: Univ. Microfilms, 1978).
123. J. Milgrom, Numbers, 406.
124. Cf. also S. Bertman, “Tasseled Garments in the Ancient East Mediterranean,” BA 24 (1961): 1961; F. J. Stephens, “The Ancient Significance of Sitsith,” JBL 50 (1931): 1931. For an expanded treatment of these garment fringes, see Milgrom, Numbers, Excursus 38: “The Tassels: Ṣiṣit,” 410–14; “Of Hems and Tassels,” BAR 9/3 (1983): 1983.
125. Cf. Ex. 6:16–25, where the early lineage of the Levites is found, including the name of Korah.
126. K. Nielsen, Incense in Ancient Israel (VTSup 38; Leiden: Brill, 1986); “Incense,” OEANE, 3:147–49; King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 344–48; C. Meyers, “Censers,” ABD, 1:882.
127. For a thorough treatment see P. Johnston, Shades of Sheol (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2002). For discussion of the netherworld in early Mesopotamian thinking see D. Katz, The Image of the Netherworld in Sumerian Sources (Bethesda, Md.: CDL, 2003).
128. See CTA, 4.8.17–20; 5.5.2–40. Note also the Mesopotamian parallels in the Descent of Ishtar to the Nether World and A Vision of the Nether World (ANET, 106–110) to the gates and gatekeepers of the underworld described in the Bible in Job 38:17; Ps. 9:13; 107:18; Isa. 38:10. See T. J. Lewis, “Dead, Abode of the,” ABD, 2:101–105.
129. COS, 1.166, esp. L258-60, 338–418.
130. F. Wiggermann, “Mythological Foundations of Nature,” in Natural Phenomena: Their Meaning, Depiction and Description in the Ancient Near East, ed. D. J. W. Meijer (Amsterdam: Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1992), 279–306.
131. CAD I/J, “išatu,” 228.
132. Ibid.
133. ANEP, 14 (fig 43), 156 (454), 134 (382), 154 (457), 174 (511), 188 (563), etc.
134. ANEP, 162–64 (figs. 470–74).
135. COS, 1.96.
136. Lev. 19:26–31; Deut. 18:9–14; Isa. 8:19; 57:3; Hos. 4:12–14; etc.
137. B. Levine, In the Presence of the Lord: A Study of Cult and Some Cultic Terms in Ancient Israel (SJLA 5; Leiden: Brill, 1974), 76–77.
138. COS, 1.83, §§7–8.
139. Ibid., §10.
140. See P. Jenson, Graded Holiness (JSOTSup 106; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1992), 89–114; cf. Haran, Temples and Temple Service in Ancient Israel.
141. Cf. discussion of Egyptian temples by J. Baines, “Palaces and Temples of Ancient Egypt,” CANE, 1:303–17.
142. ANEP, 192, 197–99, figs. 576, 601–6.
143. Note the description in A. P. Ross, Holiness to the Lord: A Guide to the Exposition of the Book of Leviticus (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2002), 192.
144. For an expanded discussion of these, see Milgrom, Numbers, excursus 43: “First Fruits,” 427–28. The first processed foodstuffs included also fruit syrup, leavening, and kneaded dough (Num. 15:20–21). From the sheep came the first sheared wool. Cf. also Ex. 23:16–19; Lev. 2:14; 23:17–18; Deut. 18:4; 26:1–11.
145. Cf. those things devoted to destruction in Lev. 27:29; Deut. 7:28; 13:18.
146. Note the connection between the expressions in Lev. 2:13, “every offering of your grain you shall season with salt; you shall not allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your grain offering”(NRSV). Cf. also Ezek. 43:24.
147. The Aramaic expression “that the salt of the palace we have salted” was used in the context of demonstrating their loyalty to the king and suggesting that the Jews of Jerusalem might rebel and not submit their required tribute. As a result the royal household would thus suffer damage (v. 13) both financially and politically. Implied, of course, is that the Samaritans had demonstrated their loyalty by paying the required tribute.
148. Perhaps vocalized as maʿ śratu, similar to the Hebrew maʿ aśēr; see C. Gordon, UT, 462.
149. For an extensive discussion of the tithe in Israel and the ancient Near East, see Milgrom, Numbers, excursus 46: “The Tithe (18:21–32),” 432–36.
150. See 15:1–21; 18:8–12; 28:1—29:40. However, Nazirites were restricted from touching or using any products of the vineyard as part of their vow (Num. 6:2–4), until after the completion of their period of avowal. At that point sacrifices of bread and wine were offered by the Nazirite in addition to the animals of the purification (sin) and peace offerings (6:14–17, 21).
151. For further explanation of this color, see A. Brenner, Colour Terms in the Old Testament (JSOTSup 21; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1982), 62–65.
152. The rabbinical interpretation extends the red and perfect characteristics to mean the cow is entirely red: “Two hairs of another colour on its body were sufficient to disqualify it” (J. H. Hertz, ed., The Pentateuch and Haftorahs, 2nd ed. [London: Soncino, 1978], 652).
153. So remarks Milgrom, Numbers, excursus 48: “The Paradox of the Red Cow,” 440 (cf. Ashley, Numbers, 364).
154. Crimson red dye was derived from the crimson worm (Kermes bilicus), and was also used in the production of priestly garments and curtains for the Tent of Meeting (Ex. 36:8, 35, 37; 39:1–2).
155. Fauna and Flora of the Bible, 129–30. The species origanum maru or origanum marjorana grows in Syria and Palestine to a height of about 1 meter from the ground or rock crevices. Its leaves and branches are hairy and its flowers white. Its aromatic leaves when dried are used as a condiment. When collected in bunches it can be used for sprinkling, as its hairy leaves hold liquid for application, whether sprinkling or painting.
156. ANET, 336, text A:L3-20.
157. Whether this person (or the one who gathered the ashes) was a priest, Levite, or layperson is unspecified in the text. He simply had to be ritually clean to handle the purification elements.
158. Though not explicitly stated, I agree with Milgrom, Numbers, 162, that bodily cleansing for the person who collects the ashes is understood, as well as explicitly stated for the other two individuals. This brief period of impurity compares to the seven days of uncleanness for a person rendered impure by a dead individual (v. 11).
159. G. McMahon, “Instructions to Priests and Temple Officials,” COS, 1.83, 2, 14; D. Pardee, “Ugaritic Prayer for a City Under Siege,” COS, 1.88.
160. “Instructions for Temple Officials,” ii.9–11, ANET, 208.
161. Lewis, Cults of the Dead, 164; D. Wright, The Disposal of Impurity (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1987). In Nergal and Ereshkigal, Ereshkigal, divine queen of the underworld, claims that she cannot be with the holy gods who dwell above because she is impure (COS, 1.109:388), but it is not clear that this has to do with her constant contact with the dead.
162. C. A. Kennedy, “Dead, Cult of,” ABD, 2:105–8.
163. Milgrom, Numbers, excursus 36: “The Penalty of ‘Karet,’” 405–8. The karet penalty carried both human and divine consequences—human execution and divine extirpation of the line and loss of the hereafter.
164. COS, 1.83, 13.
165. Caplice, The Akkadian Namburbi Texts, 19, text 10; E. Ebeling, “Beitrage zur Kenntnis der Beschwörungsserie Namburbi,” RA 48 (1954): 178–81.
166. According to the detailed itinerary of the victory march from Egypt to the Plains of Moab in Num. 33, Aaron died on Mount Hor on the first day of the fifth month of the fortieth year after the Exodus (33:38–39).
167. Those commentators identifying the rod as Aaron’s include: Harrison, Numbers, 264; Gray, Numbers, 262; Wenham, Numbers, 149; A. Noordtzij, Numbers (SBC; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1983), 176. Contra is Milgrom (in loc.), who has suggested “it was more likely the rod of Moses as was used in the performance of God’s miracles in the wilderness,” especially in the case of Moses’ striking of the rock to produce water in Exod. 17:5–6.
168. Milgrom, Numbers, excursus 50: “Magic, Monotheism, and the Sin of Moses,” 452. Note also the context of God’s blessing at Meribah within the psalmist’s calling of Israel to repentance because of her idolatrous activities (Ps. 81:6–10).
169. Note discussions in N. Glueck, Rivers in the Desert (New York: Norton, 1968), 22; C. S. Jarvis, Yesterday and Today in Sinai (Edinburgh: Blackwood, 1931), 174–75.
170. For an analysis of the travel itineraries through Edom found in Num. 20:14, 22–23; 21:1–4, 10–13 as compared with 33:36–45, see Aharoni, The Land of the Bible, 200–209; T. Brisco, Holman Bible Atlas (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1998), 71–73.
171. N. Glueck, Explorations in Eastern Palestine, II & III (AASOR 15, 18–19; New Haven, Conn.: ASOR 1935, 1938–39); his other earlier publications included “The Boundaries of Edom,” HUCA 11 (1936): 1936; “The Civilization of the Edomites,” BA 10 (1947): 1947; Rivers in the Desert (New York: Norton, 1968); The Other Side of the Jordan (New Haven, Conn.: ASOR, 1940).
172. Cf. J. R. Bartlett, Edom and the Edomites (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1989), 55–82; “The Land of Seir and the Brotherhood of Edom,” JTS 20 (1969): 1969; “The Rise and Fall of the Edomite Kingdom,” PEQ 104 (1972): 1972; J. A. Dearman, Studies in the Mesha Inscription and Moab (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1989); P. Bienkowski, ed., Early Edom and Moab: The Beginnings of the Iron Age in Southern Jordan (Sheffield Archaeological Monographs 7; Sheffield: Collis, 1992); B. Macdonald, Ammon, Moab, and Edom (Amman, Jordan: Al-Kurba, 1994); D. V. Edelman, ed., You Shall Not Abhor an Edomite for He Is Your Brother (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1995).
173. Note the “chieftains of Edom” (Ex. 15:15).
174. Note also that an abbreviated form of this correspondence form is found in 21:21–22. More lengthy correspondence is found in Aramaic in Ezra 4:9–16, 17–22; 5:6–17. The Samaritan Pentateuch expands upon v. 14 with details from Deut. 2:2–6.
175. Levine, Numbers 1–20, 492; M. Noth, Numbers (OTL; Philadelphia: Westminster, 1968), 151; Bartlett, Edom and the Edomites, 90–93; Gray, Numbers, 266.
176. Ashley, Numbers, 391. Ashley cites 34:3–5 and Josh. 15:1–12 as corroborating evidence that the statements imply general proximity, since the border of Judah was said to be touching the border of Edom.
177. Note remarks by C. R. Krahmalkov, “Exodus Itinerary Confirmed by Egyptian Evidence,” BAR 20/4 (1994): 1994, 79. Note also contra Krahmalkov, D. Redford, “A Bronze Age Itinerary in Transjordan (Nos. 89–101 of Thutmoses III’s List of Asiatic Toponyms),” Journal of the Society of Egyptian Archaeology 12 (1982): 1982.
178. According to Deut. 10:6 Aaron died after the journey from Bene Jaakan to Moserah, which R. K. Harrison suggested was an etiological toponym based on the events there; Numbers, 272.
179. An identification at least to the 1st century A.D., cited by Josephus, Ant. 4.4.7.
180. Cf. Levine, Numbers 1–20, 494.
181. R. Amiran, O. Ilan, and M. Aharoni, “Arad” NEAEHL, 1:75–87. Cf. Y. Aharoni, “Arad: Its Inscriptions and Temple,” BA 31 (1968): 1968; R. Amiran, O. Ilan, and A. Herzog, “Arad,” OEANE, 1:169–76.
182. An Arad yrchm is known from the tenth-century B.C. annals of Shishak, and an example of two cities having the same toponymic preface. Arad yrchm is often identified with Jerahmeel of 1 Sam. 27:10; 30:27, but perhaps could be a site near the modern Israeli town of Yerocham, eighteen miles south-southeast of Beersheba, twenty-four miles south-southwest of Tel Arad, and seventeen miles south-southwest of Tels Masos and Malhata.
183. M. Kochavi, “Tel Malhata,” NEAEHL, 3:934–37.
184. This would be compatible with the early date of the exodus and conquest according to the revised chronology of J. Bimson, Redating the Exodus and Conquest (JSOTSup 5; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1978), 203–5.
185. E.g., a second Arad is known from the annals of Shishak, called Arad yrchm, or perhaps Yerucham.
186. Aharoni, Land of the Bible, 201.
187. A. Kempinski, “Tel Masos,” NEAEHL, 3:986–89. V. Fritz, “Tel Masos,” OEANE, 3:437–39.
188. In the conquest Arad and Hormah are separate towns with individual kings (Josh. 10:40; 12:14), probably included among those defeated in the Negev.
189. Aharoni, Land of the Bible, 58.
190. P. Budd, Numbers (WBC; Waco, Tex.: Word, 1984), 230.
191. See Brisco, Holman Bible Atlas, 72, map 32.
192. Ashley, Numbers, 404–5. D. J. Wiseman translated it as “venomous” in “Flying Serpents,” TynBul 23 (1972): 1972. The former view of this term referring to a species seems more likely in the broader context.
193. T. E. Lawrence (of Arabia), Revolt in the Desert (New York: Doran, 1927), 93.
194. See discussion in Harrison, Numbers, 276.
195. A biblical parallel to this ritual is the Philistine votive gold offerings in the form of the disease (perhaps boils formed on the body from bubonic plague) and the determined instrument of the disease (mice), offered to the Lord by placing them in the ark of the covenant and returning it to the Israelites at Beth Shemesh (1 Sam. 5:6—6:18).
196. B. Rothenberg, Timna: Valley of the Biblical Copper Mines (London: Thames & Hudson, 1972), esp. 125–207, fig. 41and color plates XIX-XX; idem, The Egyptian Mining Temple of Timna (London: Thames & Hudson, 1988). See also B. Rothenberg and J. Glass, “The Midianite Pottery,” in Midian, Moab, and Edom, ed. J. F. A. Sawyer and D. J. A. Clines (JSOTSup 24; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1983), 65–124.
197. For an analysis of the role of serpent iconography in the history of the cults of Israel and Egypt, see K. R. Joines, “The Bronze Serpent in the Israelite Cult,” JBL 87 (1968): 245–56; idem, Serpent Symbolism in the Old Testament (Haddonfield, N.J.: Haddonfield House, 1974), 85–96; Wiseman, “Flying Serpents,” 108–10.
198. E. Stern, “A Late Bronze Age Temple at Tell Mevorakh,” BA 40 (1977): 1977.
199. Joines, “Bronze Serpent,” 251.
200. Ancient Kalḫu; Layard at the time believed he was digging at Nineveh and published the bowls in Monuments of Nineveh II (1953), plates 56–68.
201. For much of this information, including a record of the find and a list of all the names, see R. D. Barnett, “Layard’s Nimrud Bronzes and Their Inscriptions,” ErIsr 8 (1967): 1967*–7*.
202. Perhaps meaning “Waheb in a Storm-wind/whirlwind.”
203. For further analysis of the northern border of Moab during the Iron Age, see P. M. M. Daviau, “Moab’s Northern Border: Khirbet al-Mudayna on the Wadi ath-Thamad,” BA 60/4 (1997): 222–28.
204. In Isa. 15:1 Ar is paralleled with Kir of Moab, a title for the capital of the Moabites. The destruction of Ar and/or Kir represents the destruction of the entire country.
205. My translation, taking vv. 19–20 as a continuation of the song, since neither of the verbs of journey (“they departed” or “they encamped”) occurs here.
206. Cf. Simons, Geographical and Topographical Texts, 62; Harrison, Numbers, 282.
207. Aharoni, Land of the Bible, 436.
208. ANET, 320, line 27. Beth-baal-meon of line 30 could be another possibility since it is mentioned with Madaba and Beth-diblathen, which are also in this general vicinity.
209. The Mesha Stele (lines 18–20) mentions a Jahaz close to Dibon, which belonged to the Moabites during their expansion northward in the late tenth to early ninth century B.C. (cf. Josh. 13:18; Judg. 11:20; and the oracles against Moab in Isa. 15:4; Jer. 48:34). Aharoni located it at Kh. el-Medeiyineh (also Iye Abarim), eleven miles northeast of Dibon and the same distance southeast of Madaba. There are other suggestions; cf. also Simons, Geographical and Topographical Texts, 262.
210. L. Herr, “The Amman Airport Structure and the Geopolitics of Ancient Transjordan,” BA 46 (1983): 223–29. Herr also edited The Amman Airport Excavations, 1976 (ASOR Annual 48; Winona Lake, Ind.: ASOR/Eisenbrauns, 1983).
211. See L. Geraty, “`Umeiri, Tell el-,” OEANE, 5:273–74; L. Geraty et al., The Madaba Plains Project: The 1984 Season at Tell el-Umeiri and Vicinity and Subsequent Studies (Berrien Springs, Mich.: Andrew Univ. Press, 1989), as well as subsequent volumes.
212. L. Geraty, “Hesban,” OEANE, 3:20–22; idem “Heshbon,” ABD, 3:181–84; R. Boraas et al., Heshbon, 1968–76, vols. 1–10 (Andrews Univ. Monographs; Berrien Springs, Mich.: Andrews Univ. Press, 1969–78).
213. S. Horn, “Heshbon,” EAEHL, 510–14; J. A. Dearman, “Roads and Settlements in Moab,” BA 60/4 (1997): 205–13.
214. R. W. Younker, “Moabite Social Structure,” BA 60/4 (1997): 237–48. Cf. also G. Mattingly, “The Culture-Historical Approach and Moabite Origins,” in Early Edom and Moab: The Beginnings of the Iron Age in Southern Jordan, ed. P. Bienkowski (Sheffield Archaeological Monographs 7; Sheffield: Collis, 1992), 55–64. Surveys and excavations continue in the Madaba Plains Project.
215. G. Mattingly, “Moabite Religion,” in Studies in the Mesha Inscription and Moab, ed. P. J. King (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1989), 216–27; idem, “Chemosh,” ABD, 1:895–97; H.-P. Müller, “Chemosh,” DDD2, 186–89.
216. Cf. translation of W. F. Albright, “The Moabite Stone,” in ANET, 320–21.
217. Noth, Numbers, 236–37.
218. Simons, Geographical and Topographical Texts, 119, 300.
219. Ibid., 124, 302; G. Mattingly, “Edrei,” ABD, 2:301. This site, located sixty miles south of Damascus on an eastern tributary of the Yarmuk River, contains remnants of a Late Bronze occupation.
220. ANET, 278.
221. W. F. Albright, “Some Important Recent Discoveries: Alphabetic Origins and the Idrimi Statue,” BASOR 118 (1950): 1950. Idrimi, the fifteenth- to fourteenth-century B.C. king of Alalakh, is said to have ruled over the regions of Mukishkhe, Ni, and Amau. See also A. Millard, “The Hazael Booty Inscriptions,” in COS, 2.40; also 2.113. ii.35b–40a, 81b–86a.
222. M. Weinfeld, “Ancient Near Eastern Patterns in Prophetic Literature,” in The Place is Too Small for Us: The Israelite Prophets in Recent Scholarship, ed. R. Gordon (Winona Lake, Ind: Eisenbrauns, 1995), 32–49. For additional resources on prophecy in the ancient Near East, see also T. Abusch, Babylonian Witchcraft Literature (BJS 132; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1987); T. Abusch and K. van der Toorn, Mesopotamian Magic (Groningen: Styx, 1999); Cryer, Divination in Ancient Israel; U. Jeyes, Old Babylonian Extispicy (Istanbul: Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Instituut, 1989); M. Nissinen, References to Prophecy in Neo-Assyrian Sources (SAA 7; Helsinki: Helsinki Univ. Press, 1998); idem, Prophecy in its Near Eastern Context (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 2000); idem, Prophets and Prophecy in the Ancient Near East (SBLWAW 12; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 2003); S. Parpola, Letters from Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars (SAA 10; Helsinki: Helsinki Univ. Press, 1993); idem, Assyrian Prophecies (SAA 9; Helsinki: Helsinki Univ. Press, 1997); T. Abusch, Mesopotamian Witchcraft: Toward a History and Understanding of Babylonian Witchcraft Beliefs and Literature (Ancient Magic and Divination 5; Leiden: Brill-Styx, 2002); L. Ciraolo and J. Seidel, Magic and Divination in the Ancient World (Leiden: Brill-Styx, 2002).
223. CAD I, “A” Part II, 235; cf. R. Harper, “Code of Hammurabi,” xliv, L83, 89; ANET, “The Code of Hammurabi: The Epilogue,” 178–79 (L19-97).
224. Cf. M. Ginsburger, Pseudo-Jonathan (Thargum Jonathan ben Usiel zum Pentateuch) (Berlin: S. Calvary, 1903); Milgrom, Numbers, 187; A. B. Ehrlich, Randglossen zur Hebräischen Bibel: Textkritisches, sprachliches, und sachliches (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1909), 193.
225. V. Hurowitz, “The Expression ûqsāmîm beyādān (Numbers 22:7) in Light of Divinatory Practices from Mari,” HS 33 (1992): 1992, esp. 12–13.
226. ANET, 24.
227. ANET, 428–29.
228. Harrison notes that “as the donkey brayed, she conveyed a message of anger and resentment that the seer understood in his mind in a verbal form” (Numbers, 300); cf. Milgrom, Numbers, 191; Cole, Numbers, 392–93.
229. A. Biran, “The husot of Dan,” ErIsr 26 (1999): 1999; idem, “Sacred Spaces: Of Standing Stones, High Places and Cult Objects at Tel Dan,” BAR 24/5 (1998): 1998, 70–2; see picture and caption on 44.
230. Bamoth alone in the Mesha Stele, L3 as well as Isa. 15:2; 16:12; Jer. 48:35; Beth Bamoth in Mesha L27; and Bamoth Baal here and in Josh. 13:17.
231. R. Largement, “Les oracles de Bileam et la mantique suméro-akkadienne,” in Memorial du cinquatenaire 1914–1964 (Paris: Travaux de l’Institut de Paris, 1964), 46. Also in Virgil’s Aeneid seven head of cattle and seven sheep are offered as sacrifices, 6.38–39.
232. Cf. in the Baal Cycle in the dedication of Baal’s house (CAT, 1.4 VI:40–43) and in the mourning when Baal has died (KTU, 1.6, I:18–29); for translations see Smith, Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, 134, 152. For tabulation of animals in ritual texts from Ugarit, see Pardee, Ritual and Cult at Ugarit, 224–25.
233. For larger discussion of animal sacrifices, see J. Scurlock, “Animal Sacrifice in Ancient Mesopotamia,” in History of the Animal World in the Ancient Near East, ed. B. J. Collins (Leiden: Brill, 2002), 389–404.
234. Milgrom, Numbers, excursus 19: “Balaam: Diviner or Sorcerer?” 471–73; cf. Noordtzij, Numbers, 219.
235. R. I. Caplice, “The Namburbi Texts in the British Museum,” Or 54 (1965): 1965; idem, The Akkadian Namburbi Texts: An Introduction, 199.
236. R. Harris, “Inanna-Ishtar as Paradox and a Coincidence of Opposites,” in Gender and Aging in Mesopotamia (Norman, Okla.: Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 2000), 158–71.
237. A couple of examples include Ea’s misleading advice to Adapa regarding the food and drink that Anu would offer him (COS, 1.129), and the same god’s advice to Atraḫasis on how to mislead the people of Shuruppak when the flood was approaching (COS, 1.130, 452 lines 29–49).
238. ANET, 165.
239. ANEP, 168, 170. Note the Apis bull of Egypt, ANEP, 190–91.
240. B. Mazar et al., Views of the Biblical World (Chicago: Jordan, 1959), 1:228.
241. N. S. Fox, “Clapping Hands as a Gesture of Anguish and Anger in Mesopotamia and Israel,” JANES 23 (1995): 1995, esp. 54.
242. Ibid., 50; Akk. ritti rapasu, see CAD R, 151, 386.
243. C. Roth, “Star and Anchor: Coin Symbolism and the Early Days,” ErIsr 6 (1960): 1960.
244. ANEP, 312–13.
245. B. Halpern, “Kenites,” ABD, 4:17–22.
246. Y. Aharoni, Arad Inscriptions (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1981), 12–13.
247. N. Glueck, Explorations in Eastern Palestine, AASOR 25–28 (New Haven, Conn: ASOR, 1945–48): 221, 371–82.
248. Josephus, Ant. 4.8.1; 5.1.1. Cf. Ashley, Numbers, 516; Harrison, Numbers, 335; Milgrom, Numbers, 212; Wenham, Numbers, 184.
249. Milgrom, Numbers, 213.
250. ANET, 179.
251. A. Green, The Storm God in the Ancient Near East (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2003); D. Fleming, “The Storm God of Canaan in Emar,” UF 26 (1995): 1995; N. Wyatt, “The Titles of the Ugaritic Storm-God,” UF 24 (1993): 403–24; I. Cornelius, The Iconography of the Canaanite Gods Reshef and Baʿal: Late Bronze and Iron Age I (1500–1000 B.C.) (OBO 140; Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1994).
252. Cf. the use of the phrase in 2 Sam. 12:12.
253. R. Polzin has suggested the meaning of “dismember” in “‘HWQY’ and Covenantal Institutions in Early Israel,” HTR 62 (1969): 227–40. The Qal form of the verb means “dislocate, sprain” as happened to Jacob’s hip when he wrestled with the angel at Penuel (Gen. 32:26). Cf. also the Code of Hammurabi, 153.
254. Cf. Joshua and the Israelites’ treatment of the five kings of the coalition of southern Canaanite cities who attacked the city of Gibeon, which incident precipitated the southern campaign of the conquest (Josh. 10:11–27).
255. ANET, 265, 271–74.
256. ARM, 1.42 contains a military census; ARM, 1.7.31–45 contains a land census.
257. Milgrom, Numbers, 219.
258. A. M. Kitz, “Undivided Inheritance and Lot Casting in the Book of Joshua,” JBL 119 (2000): 601–18; M. Hudson and B. Levine, Urbanization and Land Ownership in the Ancient Near East (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1999); K. E. Slanski, The Babylonian Entitlement Narûs (Kudurrus) (Boston: ASOR, 2003).
259. M. Civil, “New Sumerian Law Fragments,” Assyriological Studies 16 (1965): 1965; Gudea Statute B, VII.44–48.
260. Z. Ben-Barak, “Inheritance by Daughters in the Ancient Near East,” JSS 25 (1980): 1980. See also G. R. Driver and J. C. Miles, The Babylonian Laws I (Clarendon Press: Oxford, 1956), 335–41.
261. J. Vercoutter, “La femme en Igypte ancienne,” in Histoire mondiale de la femme, ed. P. Grimal (Paris: Nouvelle libraire de France, 1956), 143–46.
262. H. J. Marsman, Women in Ugarit and Israel (Leiden: Brill, 2003), 389–400.
263. Cf. also 8:10–13. For laying on the hands in substitutionary identification in the Israelite sacrificial system, see Lev. 1:4; 3:2; 4:22; 8:6–22; 16:21; et al.
264. J. Walton, et al., eds., The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2000), 164. The tombs were published in six volumes by N. de Garis Davies, The Rock Tombs of El Amarna, between 1903 and 1908. They were republished by the Egyptian Exploration Society in 2004–2005.
265. C. van Dam, The Urim and Thummim: A Means of Revelation in Ancient Israel (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1997); Harrison, Numbers, 359. See also the view of the use of the Urim and Thummim as “lot-oracle” set forth by A. Goetze, Kulturgeschichte Kleinasiens (Munich: C. H. Beck, 1957), 148–50.
See also W. Horowitz, and V. Hurowitz, “Urim and Thummim in Light of a Psephomancy Ritual from Assur (LKA 137),” JANES 24 (1992): 1992.
266. M. E. Cohen, Cultic Calendars of the Ancient Near East (Bethesda, Md.: CDL, 1993).
267. J. C. de Moor, Anthology of Religious Texts from Ugarit (Leiden: Brill, 1987), 158; idem, New Year with the Canaanites and Israelites, 2 vols. (Kampen: Kok, 1972), 1:6; 2:13; M. S. Smith, Untold Stories: The Bible and Ugaritic Studies in the 20th Century (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 2001), 90–92; idem, Ugaritic Baal Cycle (Leiden: Brill, 1994), 1:90–106.
268. COS, 1.83, '15.
269. Fleming, Time at Emar, 143–89, esp. 175–79.
270. King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 87–88.
271. S. A. Scham, “Eating and Drinking in the Ancient Near East,” NEA 67 (2004): 2004.
272. Fleming, Time at Emar, 193.
273. G. Vermes, Dead Sea Scrolls in English, 44, 79–80, 152.
274. Fleming, Time at Emar, 133–40, 148.
275. Cartledge, Vows in the Hebrew Bible, 25.
276. Ibid., 74–91.
277. KRT A.iv.198–210, ANET, 144–45. See also S. B. Parker, “The Vow in Ugaritic and Israelite Narrative Literature,” UF 11 (1979): 693–700; C. Virolleaud, “Les nouvelles tablettes de Ras Shamra (1948–1949),” Syria 28 (1951): 1951. Cf. also CTA, I.50 (=UT, 117).
278. W. F. Albright, “A Votive Stele Erected by Ben-Hadad I of Damascus to the God Melcarth,” BASOR 87 (1942): 1942; F. M. Cross, “The Stele Dedicated to Melcarth by Ben-Hadad of Damascus,” BASOR 205 (1972): 1972; J. C. L. Gibson, Textbook of Syrian Semitic Inscriptions II (Oxford: Clarendon, 1971), 1.
279. A. Barucq, Hymnes et prières de l’Egypte ancienne (Paris: Cerf, 1980), 36. Cf. Near Eastern Religious Texts Relating to the Old Testament, ed. W. Beyerlin, trans. J. Bowden (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1978), 34.
280. Cartledge, Vows in the Hebrew Bible, 34.
281. R. Labat, Traite akkadien de diagnostics et pronostics médicaux (Paris: Académie internationale, 1951), 37.
282. P. J. Parr, “Midian,” OEANE 4:25; J. Sawyer and D. Clines, eds., Midian, Moab, and Edom, esp. the articles by E. J. Payne (“The Midianite Arc”), E. A. Knauf (“Midianites and Ishmaelites”), and B. Rothenberg and J. Glass (“The Midianite Pottery”).
283. ANET, 320.
284. Those favoring the use of the ark include N. Snaith, Leviticus-Numbers, 194–95; Ashley, Numbers, 592; those against its use in this kind of an operation include Budd, Numbers, 330, who suggests that “these objects appear to take the place of the ark.” Noth, Numbers, 229, states that the ark would have been taken automatically and thus would not be categorized among these items.
285. Noordtzij, Numbers, 271; also Targum Pseudo-Jonathan; Milgrom, Numbers, 257; contra Ashley, Numbers, 592; Harrison, Numbers, 383.
286. Note the use of the phrase “house of a father,” as in 1:4; 25:14, 15, et al. Similar phrases are used for Zur the Midianite, who was called a “chief (head) of people of a patriarchal house in Midian” (25:15), compared to Zimri the Israelite, who was called a “prince of a patriarchal house of the Simeonites” (25:14).
287. Akkadian miksu (CAD 10:63–64) denoted the share paid to the royal palace as owner of the fields, and a bēt miksi was a storehouse for taxes collected. For rabbinical sources, see M. Sokoloff, A Dictionary of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic of the Byzantine Period (Ramat-Gan, Israel: Bar Ilan Univ. Press, 1992), 308.
288. ANET, 237.
289. C. Humphreys, “The Number of People in the Exodus from Egypt: Decoding Mathematically the Very Large Numbers in Numbers I and XXVI,” VT 48 (1998): 196–213.
290. C. H. Gordon, Ugaritic Textbook, texts 170 and 301; cf. M. Ottosson, “Gilead,” ABD, 2:1020.
291. H. Tadmor prefers the reading uru ga-al-ʿa-[a](?)-[di] and finds it in Summary Inscriptions 9:r.3 and 4:6, The Inscriptions of Tiglath-Pileser III King of Assyria (Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1994), 186–87.
292. ANET, 320.
293. “Dibon,” OEANE, 2:175–77.
294. Baal Meon is also called Beth Baal Meon in Josh. 13:17 and the Mesha Stele (l. 31), and Beth Meon by Jeremiah in his oracle against Moab (48:23).
295. See ANET, 322; Gibson, Textbook of Syrian Semitic Inscriptions I, 49–54; cf. Ezra 5:7–17; Dan. 2:4.
296. Milgrom, Numbers, 270. Cf. G. L. Harding, “The Cairn of Hani,” Annual of the Dept. of Antiquities of Jordan 2 (1953): 1953.
297. Noordztij, Numbers, 281.
298. Note also the discussion of the Gadite territory and cities in Simons, Geographical and Topographical Texts, 119–23; Aharoni, Land of the Bible, 207. See also D. Howard, Joshua (NAC; Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1998), 313–14.
299. Note also the discussion of the territory of Reuben and its cities in Simons, Geographical and Topographical Texts, 115–19; Aharoni, Land of the Bible, 207–8.
300. Simons, Geographical and Topographical Texts, 118; Aharoni, Land of the Bible, 142, 337, 438.
301. Simons, Geographical and Topographical Texts, 123–25; Aharoni, Land of the Bible, 314. Cf. Howard, Joshua, 314–15.
302. G. W. Coats, “The Wilderness Itinerary,” CBQ 34 (1972): 1972; G. I. Davies, The Way of the Wilderness: A Geographical Analysis of the Wilderness Itineraries in the Old Testament (SOTSMS 5; Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1979); idem, “The Wilderness Itineraries: A Comparative Approach,” TynBul 25 (1974): 1974; idem, “The Wilderness Itineraries and the Composition of the Pentateuch,” VT 33 (1983): 1983.
303. Cf. D. Redford, “A Bronze Age Itinerary in Transjordan (Nos. 89–101 of Thutmose III’s List of Asiatic Toponyms),” JSSEA 9 (1982): 1982; Hoffmeier, Israel in Egypt, 176–98.
304. ANET, 276–87.
305. A standard “day’s journey” was twelve to fourteen miles in Late Bronze Egypt, and the statement in Deut. 1:2 is a distance statement rather than a chronological statement concerning how many days the Israelites journeyed.
306. See J. Day, “Asherah,” ABD, 1:483–87;
307. For a detailed discussion of the stone-working industry see P. R. S. Moorey, Ancient Mesopotamian Materials and Industries: The Archaeological Evidence (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1994), 21–110.
308. For a discussion of iconography in its conception and function see Z. Bahrani, The Graven Image: Representation in Babylonia and Assyria (Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 2003), 73–88.
309. For a detailed discussion of the metallurgical industry, see Moorey, Materials and Industries, 216–301, esp. 224–25, 255–73.
310. For examples and discussion see King and Stager, Life in Biblical Israel, 348–53; O. Keel, “Iconography and the Bible,” ABD, 3:358–74; D. I. Block, The Gods of the Nations: Studies in Ancient Near Eastern National Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1988, 2000), 68–71.
311. See discussion in Z. Zevit, Religions of Ancient Israel (New York: Continuum, 2001), 262–3; J. T. Whitney, “Bamoth in the Old Testament,” TynBul 30 (1979): 1979; M. D. Fowler, “The Israelite bāmâ: A Question of Interpretation,” ZAW 94 (1982): 203–13; J. M. Grintz, “Some Observations on the ‘High Place’ in the History of Israel,” VT 27 (1977): 1977; E. C. LaRocca-Pitts, Of Wood and Stone (HSM 61; Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2001), 127–59; J. E. Catron, “Temple and Bamah: Some Considerations,” in The Pitcher is Broken: Memorial Essays for Gösta W. Ahlström, ed. S. W. Holloway and L. K. Handy (JSOTSup 190; Sheffield: JSOT, 1995), 150–65; A. Biran, “Sacred Spaces: Of Standing Stones, High Places and Cult Objects at Tel Dan,” BAR 24 (1998): 1998, 70; B. Alpert Nakhai, Archaeology and the Religions of Canaan and Israel (Boston: ASOR, 2001), 161–200; idem, “What’s a Bamah? How Sacred Space Functioned in Ancient Israel,” BAR 20/3 (1994): 1994, 77–78.
312. Compare finds from the open-air bull site found in a survey of the Dothan region of Samaria (A. Mazar, “The Bull Site: An Iron Age I Cult Place,” BASOR 247 [1982]: 27–42); a worship center at Kuntillet ʾAjrud about thirty miles south of Kadesh Barnea (Z. Meshel, “Kuntillet ʾAjrud,” ABD, 4:103–9); or the high place at the entry to Bethsaida (R. Arav, “Bethsaida Rediscovered,” BAR 26/1 [2000]: 48–49).
313. ANET, 234–55.
314. I. Beit-Arieh, “Edomites Advance into Judah: Israelite Defensive Fortresses Inadequate,” BAR 22/6 (1996): 1996. Fortresses built by the Israelites throughout the southern Negev region during the ninth and eighth centuries B.C., and possibly even earlier, may have been constructed with this potential threat in mind from Edomites.
315. Better translated as “from the south of the Ascent of the Scorpions.”
316. Portions of the Roman Maʾale Aqrabbim can be seen today just west of the modern road.
317. Aharoni, Land of the Bible, 72.
318. Cf. Josh. 13:2–6; Judg. 1:19, 27, 29, 31; 3:3 for the unconquered lands of the early Israelite emergence in Canaan. See also 2 Sam. 5:17–25; 8:1–14; 2 Chron. 2:1–16 for the Israelite relations with Hiram, king of Tyre of the Phoenicians.
319. Cf. Milgrom, Numbers, 286; Aharoni, Land of the Bible, 72–73.
320. So also Aharoni, Land of the Bible, 73.
321. See Gray, Numbers, 461.
322. ANET, 247, 483–90. See also R. Boling, The Levitical Cities: Archaeology and Texts (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1985); A. Taggar-Cohen, “Law and Family in the Book of Numbers: The Levites and the Tidennutu Documents from Nuzi,” VT 48 (1998): 1998.
323. For extensive discussion of the form and function of Levitical cities, see Milgrom, Numbers, excursus 74: “The Levitical Town—An Exercise in Realistic Planning,” 502–4.
324. R. L. Hubbard Jr., “The Go’el in Ancient Israel: Theological Reflections on an Israelite Institution,” BBR 1 (1991): 1991.
325. Brin, Studies in Biblical Law, 90–101.
326. For expanded discussion of the concept and function of the cities of refuge, see M. Greenberg, “The Biblical Conception of Asylum,” JBL 78 (1959): 1959; Milgrom, Numbers, excursus 75: “Asylum Altars and Asylum Cities,” 504–9.
327. ANET, 166, L9-11, 13. Cf. Deut. 17:6; 19:15; Matt. 18:16; John 8:17; 2 Cor. 13:1; Heb. 10:28.
A-1. Fouts, “Use of Large Numbers,” 27–38; idem, “Defense of the Large Numbers,” 377–87.
A-2. The basic Semitic root ʾlp vocalized as ʾelep is attested as “thousands” in Aramaic, Arabic, Sabean, and others. The alternative vocalization ʾallup is generally translated “chief” as in Ex. 15:15 or “clan” in Gen. 36:15; Zech. 12:5, 6. The interpretation is supported by the LB Mari usage of ʾlp as “clan” (ARM, 1.23.42; 6.33.65); see A. Malamat, “A Recently Discovered Word for ‘Clan’ in Mari and Its Hebrew Cognate,” in Solving Riddles and Untying Knots: Biblical and Epigraphic and Semitic Studies in Honor of Jonas C. Greenfield, ed. Z. Zevit, S. Gitin, and M. Sokoloff (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1995), 177–79.
A-3. Westbrook, HANEL, 43, 666–68; G. Beckman, “Family Values on the Middle Euphrates,” in New Horizons in the Study of Ancient Syria, ed. M. Chavalas and J. Hayes (Bibliotheca Mesopotamia 25; Malibu: Undena, 1992), 68–71.
A-4. G. J. Wenham, “Leviticus 27:2–8 and the Price of Slaves,” ZAW 90 (1978): 254–65. Cf. also Harrison, Numbers, 75–78.
A-5. Literally, “points a finger,” ANET, 171 §132.
A-6. Matthews and Benjamin, Old Testament Parallels, 105. Note also the Middle Assyrian code of Tiglath-pileser I (1115–1007 B.C.), which cites the case of a suspected adulterous woman who is tried by ordeal in the river (ibid., 116 art. 17).
A-7. Milgrom, Numbers (excursus 8: “The Judicial Ordeal,” 347).
A-8. Brichto, “The Case of the Sota,” 66.
A-9. W. E. Shewell-Copper, “Coriander,” ZPEB, 1:960; Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 98; Fauna and Flora of the Bible (New York: United Bible Societies, 1980), 110–11. Also cf. J. M. Renfrew, Palaeoethnobotany: The Prehistoric Food Plants of the Near East (New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1973), 171, who notes that though coriander has not yet been found in excavations of Syro-Palestine, samples have been unearthed in the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings and in the Neo-Assyrian fortress of Nimrud.
A-10. See Milgrom, Numbers, 84, 308; D. Bowes, “Bdellium,” ZPEB, 1:494; Fauna and Flora of the Bible, 96.
A-11. B. S. Childs, The Book of Exodus (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1974), 282. See also F. S. Bodenheimer, “The Manna of Sinai,” BA 10 (1947): 1947 (reprinted in BARead, 1:76–80).
A-12. COS, 1.132.
A-13. ANET, 328.
A-14. ANEP, 106–8, 117–18.
A-15. COS, 1.83 §19.
A-16. This phraseology is found elsewhere only in Ex. 13:2, 12–15; 34:19; Num. 3:12; 8:16; Ezek. 20:26. Male firstlings are specified in Ex. 34:19–20.
A-17. Milgrom, Numbers, 152; also excursus 45: “The First-Born,” 431–32.
A-18. On the use of the Urim and Thummim and the goral-lot, see Cryer, Divination in Ancient Israel, 273–77.
A-19. Cf. an eighth-century date suggested by J. Naveh, “The Date of the Deir ʿAlla Inscriptions in Aramaic Script,” IEJ 17 (1967): 256–58; a seventh-century date by F. M. Cross, “Notes on the Ammonite Inscription from Tell Sôrân,” BASOR 212 (1973): 1973; in contrast to the original dating by the excavator to the Persian sixth century, see H. J. Franken, “Texts from the Persian Period from Tell Deir ʿAlla,” VT 17 (1967): 480–81.
A-20. See the paleographic discussions in J. Hackett, The Balaam Text from Deir ʿAlla (HSM 31; Chico, Calif.: Scholars Press, 1984), 1–19. Note also Milgrom, Numbers, excursus 60: “Balaam and the Deir ʿAlla Inscription,” 473–74. See also B. A. Levine, “The Deir ʿAlla Plaster Inscriptions,” in COS, 2.27.
A-21. Milgrom, Numbers, 476.
A-22. Translation that of the author based on the combinations of J. Hackett.
A-23. M. Bietak, Tell ed-Daba, 2 (Untersuchungen der Zweigstelle Kairo des Osterreichischen Archäologischen Instituts, Band I; Wien: Osterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1975), 179–221. See also idem, Avaris and Piramesse: Archaeological Exploration in the Eastern Nile Delta (Proceedings of the British Academy 65; London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1986); Hoffmeier, Israel in Egypt, 63–65.
A-24. See Kitchen, Reliability, 254–56; J. Dorner, Ägypten und Levante 9 (1999): 1999.
A-25. Hoffmeier, Israel in Egypt, 120; Kitchen, Reliability, 257–59.
A-26. Hoffmeier, Israel in Egypt, 169–71; 188–89.
A-27. For Cycles I–IV sites are suggested relative to locating Mount Sinai at either Jebel Sin Bisher (JSB) or Jebel Musa (JM). SP = Samaritan Pentateuch, LXX = Septuagint.
A-28. Kitchen, Reliability, 271.
A-29. Hoffmeier, Israel in Egypt, 182–83; 199–222. Yam Suph in the Bible is the name applied to what is today the Red Sea and its upper fingers the Gulf of Suez (W) and the Gulf of Aqaba (E). Recent geological surveys suggest that the Gulf of Suez extended into the Bitter Lakes region during the Late Bronze Age.
A-30. The southern route would have bypassed most of the Egyptian presence in the region except for the copper/turquoise mines of Serabit el-Khadim, which were worked during the fall and winter months, but not in the spring and summer because of extremely high temperatures. See Kitchen, Reliability, 268, 558 n.60.
A-31. Davies, Way of the Wilderness, 84.
A-32. For a detailed analysis of the location of Mount Sinai, see Davies, The Way of the Wilderness; idem, “Sinai, Mount,” ABD, 6:48:1; Harel, “Sinai,” 5:1021–22; idem, “The Route of the Exodus”; G. E. Wright, “Sinai,” IDB, 4:376–78; Aharoni, The Land of the Bible, 197–99. Survey results in northern Sinai are found in E. I. Oren, “Sinai,” OEANE, 5:41–47; Hoffmeier, Israel in Egypt, 126; see 107–34 for additional data regarding the literary and chronological evidence for Israel in Egypt.
A-33. B. Rothenberg, “Tell el-Kheleifeh: Ezion Geber: Elath,” PEQ 94 (1962): 1962; G. Pratico, “A Reappraisal of the Site Archaeologist Nelson Glueck Identified as King Solomon’s Sea Port,” BAR 12/5 (1986): 1986; M. Lubetski, “Ezion-Geber,” ABD, 2:723–26.
A-34. Identified as such by N. Glueck, “Ezion-geber,” BA 28 (1965): 1965; idem, “The Third Season of Excavation at Tel el-Kheleifeh,” BASOR 79 (1940): 1940.
A-35. Simons, Geographical and Topographical Texts, 439; E. A. Knauf, “Punon,” ABD, 5:556–57. Knauf suggests Punon is the name of the district rather than simply a village site. Note also P. J. Parr, “Aspects of the Archaeology of North-West Arabia in the First Millennium B.C.,” in L’Arabie préislamique et son envionement historique et culturel, ed. T. Fahd (Leiden: Brill, 1988), 39–66.
A-36. Davies, Way of the Wilderness, 90.
A-37. G. Mattingly, “Iye-Abarim,” ABD, 3:588.
A-38. See W. H. Morton, “Summary of the 1955, 1956, and 1965 Excavations at Dhiban,” in Studies in Mesha Inscription and Moab, ed. A. Dearman (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1989), 239–46; A. D. Tushingham, “Dibon,” ABD, 2194–96; OEANE, 2:156–58.
A-39. ANET, 320.
A-40. Simons, Geographical and Topographical Texts, 440, suggests the existence of twin cities of Almon Diblathaim and Beth Diblathaim to be identified with the mounds of Keleilat el-Gharbiyeh and Deleilat esh-Sherqiyeh respectively, due north of Dhiban.
A-41. Near the Dead Sea, ten miles south of Jericho according to Eusebius, Onomasticon.
A-42. Following Milgrom, Numbers, 282, and Rabba bar Hana, estimates are that the Israelite encampment would have covered about 4,020 yards square = 2.28 x 2.28 miles = 5.2 square miles (3 x 3 Persian parsangs; 1 parsang = 1,219 meters).