DIFFERENT GENRES IN THE BOOK OF NUMBERS

“The book of Numbers stands out as containing the greatest variety of literary forms of any book of the Bible.” (Olson) Olson is by no means alone in stating this fact, which sometimes leads to confusion in the reader, as demonstrated below:

    Childs: “The book of Numbers has generally been regarded as the least unified composition within the Pentateuch...Indeed, the book is characterized by very different kinds of material which stem from various historical periods.”

    T. Carson: “The contents of Numbers are very varied. There is a mingling of laws, ritual, history, poetry and prophecy and the arrangement appears to be partly chronological and partly topical, subjects being introduced as suggested by the particular situation.”

    Stubbs: “Numbers is not easy reading. Just as the books of the Old and New Testaments...can appear to be either a jumble of ill-matched pieces from perhaps different puzzles or a complex yet beautiful mosaic whose bold and subtle patterns continue to surprise us, so too the different parts of Numbers. It presents us with a variety of genres, primarily narrative and law-like material, that seem to interrupt each other and whose connections to each other are neither explicitly stated nor easily seen.”

    Levine: “The generic diversity of Numbers...compounds the problem of establishing its coherence and makes of Numbers the most loosely organized of all the Torah books.”

The confusion regarding the basic nature of the book can be seen in its very name. The Hebrew title “In the Wilderness” is taken from its first first verse and tends to suggest an historical narrative as its overall genre. However, the more common title (Numbers) derives from “the considerable attention to numbers through out the book, but especially in the early chapters and in ch 26.” (J.A. Thompson) Those passages in Numbers concentrate on the two censuses (another genre) carried out on the people.

The rationales behind these two titles actually drive most attempts by scholars to find an overall order to the book. Thus, if “In the Wilderness” best describes its major thrust as a narrative account, then geographical and chronological considerations would lead to a three-part structure such as proposed by many scholars. Stubbs even sees parallels between the first and third of these divisions:

    A. 1:1-10:10

        B. 10:11-25:18

    A'. 26:1-36:13

My own proposed structure of the book is a slight variation on this three-fold organization and is defended in the post titled “Book of Numbers: Introduction to the Literary Structure.”

Alternatively, if the censuses that give rise to the title “Numbers” more adequately define the organization behind the book, then a two-part structure arranged around the respective numberings of the first and second generation of Jews carried out during the Exodus is more appropriate. Martens is typical of those scholars who go with this approach:

    A. 1:1-25:18

    B. 26:1-36:13

Similarly, The Dictionary of Biblical Imagery states, “The transition from the old rebellious generation of the wilderness to the new generation of hope and promise on the edge of the Promised Land forms the primary structure and theme for the book of Numbers.”

Getting back to the various genre in Numbers, many commentators zero in on the combination of narrative and legal material in the book and their relationship to one another. Coats begins by saying, “Perhaps the most important point about the position of Numbers in the canonical shape of the Pentateuch/Hexateuch is the juxtaposition of law (Num. 1:1-10:10) and narrative (Num. 10:11-36:13).” This is not unexpected in light of the fact that the preceding books Exodus and Leviticus are composed of narrative and legal matters, respectively. Note that his analysis yields an entirely different two-part structure for the book than shown above.

But even Coats notes that the story is not that simple in that “some narrative genres appear in the legal section (Num. 6:21-27); and some legal genres appear in the narrative section (Num. 26:1-65).” Note that Coats uses the phrase “legal genres.” This is because, as Milgrom has pointed out, the book contains both civil law (as in 27:1-11) and cultic (i.e. related to religious observances) law (as in 15:17-21).

Baroody and Gentrup go far beyond the simple two-part structure posited by Coats in that they see a great number of repeated alternations between laws and narratives in the book which are “particularly striking and elaborate.” They feel that each of these alternations is based on one of two topics: “God's continuing elaboration of his principles and, despite his meticulous care, the sustained murmuring and rebellion of his people.” Others have characterized the relationship between these two competing genres differently:

    “The relation between laws and history and between one law and another is often not very clear to us. Nevertheless, the author will, at least in many cases, have intended a connection.” (Ridderbos)

    Rosenburg states that narrative can be “a didactic proof for the laws” just as the laws may be featured “events” in the narrative..

    Wenham asks, “Is there any reason for the apparently random juxtaposition of law and narrative?” He does discern some sort of pattern and just as importantly points out that the “argument for multiple sources based on diversity of subject-matter proves little.”

    Stubbs asserts that “the laws are not simply deposited in Numbers in a haphazard fashion, but were carefully placed in order to comment on the narrative.”

    And, finally, it is noteworthy that Levine titles a major portion of his introduction to the book of Numbers as “Law and Narrative: Mutual Reinforcement.”

For those wishing to divide the book into two major genres, there is actually another set of criteria that can be used: poetry and prose. It is interesting that Ryken recognizes Numbers 10-14 and 20-24 as the main narrative sections in the book while Olson and Milgrom point to 6:24-26; 10:35-36; 21:14-15; and 21:17-18 as the main poetic passages. Note the overlap between these two categories. Levine, in his commentary, points to the same fact: “The fairly extensive poetic passages in Numbers 21-24 are cited from various sources, as their captions indicate. They are eloquent examples of early biblical poetry...The poetic selections of Numbers cannot be appreciated apart from the narratives within which they are presented.”

But even the above does not exhaust the number of genres present in Numbers. Coats states, “The tools of the storyteller's trade appear clearly in the narratives of Numbers.” He detects legends (chapters 12 and 22-24) and a fable in 22:21-35.

Actually, the whole story of Balaam in chapters 22-24 has great similarities with that of Jonah. Both can be characterized as being more “anti-prophets” than prophets; and both stories have their share of miraculous or fabulous details. Regarding the latter, it is easy to see parallels between the obedient sea creature, repentant cows, fast-growing vine (which would be quite at home in Jack and the Beanstalk), and voracious insect of Jonah and the spiritually attuned jackass of Balaam. That is why one could treat the genre of Balaam's story equally well as a straight narrative account with miraculous happenings from God's hand or as a satiric lampoon or parable with elements of the fable thrown it.

So far, if I have been keeping count, we have identified narrative, poetry, lampoon, civil law, cultic law and census list among the various genres in the book. In addition, Milgrom points to examples of prophecy (24:3-9), victor song (21:27-30), prayer (12:13), blessing (6:24-26), diplomatic letter (20:14-19), oracular decision (15:30-36), temple archive (7:10-88), and itinerary (33:1-49).

As to my own conclusion as to the final product, I think I will go with Stubbs' option of viewing it as “a complex yet beautiful mosaic whose bold and subtle patterns continue to surprise us.”