Readings for the day: Numbers 29, 30, 31, 32
It is important to read the Bible honestly. Eyes wide open. Not shying away from the difficult texts. Today’s readings are hard. They raise hard questions. They raise hard issues. They force us to grapple with our understanding of God and Israel and history. Thankfully, I have many friends who aren’t afraid to ask these questions and one, in particular, asked the following...
- ”Israel’s warriors slaughter thousands in battle, including women and children, and this pleases God? “
- ”I would expect 2 million people to have left some sort of footprint over the course of 40 or so years of wandering.” Where’s the archaeological evidence?
- ”Anyone else wonder about all the animals sacrificed?” The number had to run into the millions!
These are fantastic questions and the logistics of the Exodus has presented a puzzle to scholars for centuries. A few things to help you along as you read...
First, Numbers was not written as a math textbook anymore than Genesis was written as a science textbook. Israel often reported their “numbers” collectively rather than individually and sometimes spoke hyperbolically to make a deeper point. For example, Numbers 11 talks about God giving quail to Israel to eat after they complained about the manna. One skeptic, doing the math, suggests God would have had to send 29 trillion quail if we take the calculations literally. Obviously, this is a misreading and the careful reader is able to make room for hyperbole without losing sight of the larger point. The Torah is not a system of equations to solve which is why Biblical numerology is junk science.
Having said that, it doesn’t mean every detail of these stories should be taken allegorically or metaphorically. They did actually take place. There is real truth here that needs to be teased out. So, Israel’s battles. Yes, they were bloody affairs. Yes, Israel slaughtered entire cities and put entire populations to death. “Devoting cities to destruction” was an act of divine judgment with Israel serving as God’s instrument of holy justice. The nations Israel defeated and destroyed were evil by any definition. Filled with horrific practices like child sacrifice, sexual perversity, idol worship, economic exploitation, etc. The reality is these pagan nations earned their fate through their depravity. One can question the “fairness” of this approach since Israel engaged in some of these same practices but one also has to remember that what’s “fair” is God rightfully destroying the human race for its sin. Israel was only spared as an act of grace.
Israel’s desert wanderings. Much archaeological research has been done in this area with little to show for it. (Of course, I read a recent account of a contemporary archaeologist doing work in Sinai on the 1973 Yom Kippur war who found an Israelite Jeep under 52 feet of sand! So you can imagine how deep the evidence for the Exodus might be buried after thousands of years!) The reality is very little physical evidence has been found except for a couple of Egyptian records and a spontaneous explosion of Canaanite settlements around 1200BC. (Right about the time we would expect them to appear according to Scripture.) This begs the question of the route Israel took. Several different ones have been proposed. Furthermore, there are no graves. No pottery. No “footprint” as the question above suggests. Of course, this isn’t unique to Israel. The Scythians who lived in the Russian steppes from 1000BC to the medieval era also left little trace. They too were a nomadic people. The reality is much of it is probably still to be found buried deep in the sand.
Israel’s sacrifices. Without a doubt, life in ancient Israel was a virtual slaughterhouse. Practiced literally, the priests would be sacrificing millions of animals every single year. Here again the principle of representation applies as it is entirely possible one man’s sacrifice would “represent” an entire family, clan, or tribe. Furthermore, considerable latitude was given in ancient near east cultures when it came to the practical application of the law. At the same time, the sacrificial fires were kept burning day and night. By the time we get to the Temple in Jerusalem, the Talmud depicts priests wading knee deep in blood. It describes in some passages up to 1.2 million animals being slaughtered in a single day , something the Roman historian Josephus confirms. Archaeological evidence from dumps outside the city seem to confirm these findings as well. The reality is the sacrificial system of Israel created an enormous economic system that had to be supported by trade, animal husbandry, etc.
Obviously, there’s a lot more that we could say about each of these topics but here’s the big point. The Bible continues to bear up under the closest scrutiny possible. There is no ancient book more studied, more dissected, more questioned, more challenged than the Bible. And yet it continues to stand the test of time. If we resist the temptation to turn it into a textbook and read thoughtfully, we find the overall narrative is confirmed over and over again. In fact, in 2009 archaeologists found a 2,700 year old seal with name “Isaiah” on it near another seal bearing the impression of King Hezekiah. This is quite possibly the first physical evidence we have of the Old Testament Prophet Isaiah! Incredible!