Continuing Seminar:
The Pentateuch

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Description

Pentateuch studies are a vibrant international field of research. A recent shift to Persian and early Hellenistic backgrounds has opened up new perspectives. Moreover, new insights into textual formation have sparked integrated studies of redactional and text historical phenomena. Not least, new narrative and thematic approaches have broadened the scope of studies from source and redaction oriented research. At the same time, research in this field is still characterized by the application of diverging Pentateuch models which coincides with partly disentangled discourses in European and Anglo-Saxon research communities. From a methodological perspective, these different approaches are often utilized in isolation.

For the first two years, we plan to focus on the Book of Numbers. In past generations, Numbers was significantly understudied. While this book has received much more attention in recent years, substantial work remains, especially in understanding its sacrificial and legal systems, its perspective on Levites, the presence of midrashic-type narratives, and its relationship to other Pentateuchal and Biblical books. Significant work also remains on its relationship to extra-biblical literature such as that found in the Judean Desert.

The new Continuing Seminar aims at bringing research on the Pentateuch to the forefront of the AGM’s program. We wish to create a space that brings together Pentateuch scholars from different continents/scholarly communities and enables dialogue between multiple methodological approaches. Moreover, the new Continuing Seminar intends to provide a hub for exchange and joint sessions with other Continuing Seminars and Task Forces.

Seminar Leaders in 2026

• Kirsten M. Schäfers, University of Bonn, Germany
• Hryhoriy Lozinskyy, Seton Hall University
• Noelle G. Johnson, University of Notre Dame

Program Details for 2026

Focus: The Book of Numbers

• Tommaso Bacci, University of Chicago Divinity School
  “From šipṭu to שְׁפָטִים: Num 33:4, Exod 6:6, 7:4, 12:12, as a Test Case of Using Akkadian Evidence for Identifying Strata in the Priestly Work”
  

  The plural noun שְׁפָטִים, attested in the Hebrew Bible only in its plural form and reconstructed as a *qitl noun (שֶׁפֶט*) in the traditional lexica, occurs almost exclusively in Priestly writings and in the book of Ezekiel. Its attribution and meaning in the Priestly Exodus and in Num 33:4 have been largely overlooked, and the question of whether Num 33:4 belongs to P or represents a later supplement remains debated across Pentateuchal scholarship, from Wellhausen’s initial P-assignment and later identifications of its primary Priestly character (e.g., Baden) to readings of it as a later interpolation or as combined material (e.g., Noth, Achenbach, Van Seters, among others).

  This paper argues that a lexical and syntactic analysis of שְׁפָטִים, grounded in Akkadian comparative evidence and informed by the assessment of the available NWS data, provides internal philological criteria for establishing the relative chronology of Num 33:4 and the related Exodus passages within the Priestly work. By identifying distinct usages of שְׁפָטִים across these texts—corroborated by text-critical evidence—the analysis offers an independent basis for evaluating compositional layering that complements the narrative and source-critical arguments already present in the literature. More broadly, the paper proposes that the Biblical occurrences of שְׁפָטִים are outliers within the NWS evidence, best accounted for through language contact with first-millennium Akkadian, and argues that tracing the effects of such contact can serve as a productive tool for identifying compositional strata within the Priestly work and its later supplementations.

• Attila Bodor, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
  “Variant Literary Editions of Numbers: Extra-Masoretic Additions in the Samaritan Pentateuch and the Syro-Hexapla” (remote paper)

The Samaritan Pentateuch preserves a series of substantial additions in Numbers when compared with the Masoretic Text. Since several of these are also attested in 4QNumᵇ, they are best understood not as late Samaritan innovations, but as readings already in circulation during the Second Temple period. Their importance lies not only in this early attestation, but also in their literary character: these expansions reshape the narrative of Numbers and reflect a literary profile distinct from that of the Masoretic Text.

For textual-historical research, these additions become even more significant in light of the fact that, of the twelve major extra-Masoretic expansions preserved in the Samaritan Pentateuch and fragmentarily attested at Qumran, ten are also found in the Syro-Hexapla (Num 10:10; 12:16; 13:33; 14:40; 14:45; 20:13; 21:11; 21:12; 21:20; 31:20). By analyzing these shared readings, this paper examines their significance for the textual and literary history of Numbers. It asks whether the combined evidence of the Samaritan Pentateuch, Qumran, and the Syro-Hexapla supports the existence of a variant literary edition of Numbers alongside the proto-Masoretic text and, if so, what purpose such an expanded edition may have served.

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• Eric J. P. Wagner, C.R., Aquinas Institute of Theology
  “More than Wilderness: Surveying Narrative Landscapes in Numbers 22–24”
  

  With its paradigmatic, puzzling, and enigmatic spaces, the book of Numbers invites spatially attuned analysis. Nick Wyatt’s work on ancient orientation terms and Christl Maier’s space-critical exegesis suggest valuable categories for such analysis. For them, spaces associated with embodiment or represented by it are corporeal space. Landscapes (and portions thereof) are topographic space. Constructed or built environments we can call architectonic space. And spaces associated with hegemony are political space. And these spaces can combine. Notably, multiple categories in a given discourse signal a lengthy heritage and/or greater proximity to the moment of composition. The corollary is also true: less spatial complexity means limited developed or greater remove from the minds or memories of authors and audiences.

  The Balaam Cycle (Numbers 22–24) uses these categories and demonstrates their merits for charting textual development. Balak and Balaam’s initial messenger exchange, while spatially curious, introduces each category in its portrayal of the cycle’s key conflict: a people from Egypt covers the eyes of the land as they settle beside Balak in Moab (Num 22:5). The story of Balaam’s jenny amplifies the cycle’s use of spatial categories as the animal flees to a field (topographic space), crushes Balaam’s foot (corporeal space), pressing it against a wall (architectonic space), before lying in a road facing a divine authority (political/hegemonic space). Finally, exchanges between Balaam and Balak offer a narrative in which the spatial complexity of the landscape sequentially increases, while the seer’s oracles deploy spatial categories unevenly. Thus, a spatially-attuned textual history emerges. Balaam’s oracles exhibit the least spatial complexity and most remove from the composer’s horizon. Narratives about Balak and Balaam’s exchanges in Numbers 23–24 are more developed as is the opening scene in Numbers 22, rendering them more proximate to the composer’s moment. Finally, the robust spatial complexity of the story of the jenny indicates its late arrival to the cycle.

• Noelle G. Johnson, University of Notre Dame
  “The Levite Ceremony in Numbers 8 in the Context of the Biblical and Temple Scroll Millu'im Ceremonies.“

The Levite ceremony in Num 8 is, as observed by MacDonald 2023, “has rarely received attention outside the commentaries.” This paper contributes to the ongoing rectification of this situation by setting Num 8:5–26 in the context of two similar ceremonies: the priestly millu’im in Exod 29/Lev 8 and its equivalent in the Temple Scroll, Columns 15–17.

Early scholarship on the Temple Scroll sought to account for the entirety of the ceremony found in Columns 15–17 as a variation of Exod 29/Lev 8 (i.e. Yadin 1983, Milgrom 1991, Schiffman 2008). However, a shift beginning in Israeli scholarship (i.e. Milikowsky 2005, Werman 2011, Birenboim 2017) began to identify a separate ceremony specifically for the high priest in 15:15–17:4. It is now clear that this portion of the ceremony shares more in common with Lev 16 (Zahn, forthcoming), leaving us to understand the millu’im itself primarily in terms of the material found in 15:3–14. These lines indicate that the millu’im is focused on the sanctification of the priestly portions of the shelamim offering for future generations (Johnson, forthcoming), following the treatment of the millu’im ram is treated as a combination of shelamim (Werman 2011) and ‘olah (MacDonald 2023) in Exod 29.

Following MacDonald’s observation that in the Levite ceremony in Num 8, the Levites are the priestly portion, rather than those who sanctify a priestly portion for consumption as in Exod 29/Lev 8, this paper argues that the treatment of the Levites in Num 8 follows a “grammar” (Meshel 2014) for the integration of priestly portions into the sacrificial system. This grammar serves a deep structuring role in the Pentateuch’s sacrificial system—beyond simply reflecting the laws of the shelamim or bikkurim.

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• Giovanna R. Czander, Dominican College NY
  “What Would Moses Do? Apodictic and Casuistic Forms and the Development of Law in Numbers”

Which came first, apodictic or casuistic laws? Two legal cases in Numbers seem to indicate a development from apodictic to casuistic. Both texts present cases which the apodictic law had not foreseen and a narrative to explain how the original laws developed into casuistic rules.

The first case explores the celebration of Passover, whose rule is initially given in apodictic form: "Passover shall be celebrated in the first month on the fourteenth day." (Num 9:2-3). However, a question emerges about the case of men who were unclean after touching a corpse (Num 9:6): would they be able to celebrate Passover? This case explores also other theoretical possibilities—travel during Passover, being eligible but not observing Passover, a foreigner living among Israelites. After Moses consults with God, the original apodictic rule develops into a more complex casuistic rule (Num 9:9-14).

The second case concerns a family's land inheritance (Num 26:52-56). The daughters of Zelophehad approach Moses asking if they can inherit the land after their father died in the wilderness and had no sons, raising the question: can women inherit the land if there are no male heirs? (Num 27:8-11). Further in the text, another question arises: if women inherit land, but marry outside of their tribe, will the land be transferred to another tribe? This generates a new casuistic rule to be promulgated, framed by a narrative conclusion (Num 36:2-13).

This paper argues that this “what if” logic, which propels simple apodictic rules to grow and develop into more complex casuistic laws, is the basis for later interpretations of the principles underlying biblical laws. Rather than contributing to the establishment of chronological priority or historical development of apodictic versus casuistic laws, these two case studies shed light on what makes biblical laws meaningful and relevant beyond their original literary context.

• Dale Launderville, O.S.B., Saint John's University
  “The Levites as Defenders of YHWH’s Holiness: Numbers 3–4  in Light of Ezekiel 44” (remote paper)

After designating the sons of Aaron as “anointed priests” authorized to draw near to the altar to offer sacrifice (Num 3:1-4), the Lord directed Moses to charge the Levites to assist the priest Aaron by carrying out several duties related to the tabernacle (Num 3:5-9).   This language of servanthood placed the Levites at a lower level in the social and cultic hierarchy. The outsider who ignored this hierarchical distinction and dared to “draw near” to the tabernacle were to be executed (Num 3:10).  The non-Aaronide Levites were to guard the inner court and the tabernacle as reserved to the Aaronides.  It seems then that the Levites would have been charged with setting in motion the processes for executing the transgressors (Num 3:10; 25:5). Perhaps it was a lack of clarity regarding the ones responsible for this execution that led Ezekiel to blame the Levites for allowing foreigners to give offerings in the sanctuary (Ezek 44:7-8).

This boundary was not only a matter of architectural space but also of personal space: it was a relational reality created and sustained by the behavior of the Levites and the other Israelite tribes.  The uniqueness and importance of this duty of maintaining the separateness of the tabernacle was made clear by the Lord’s designating the Levites as “substitutes for all the firstborn who open the womb among the Israelites” (Num 3:11-13).  This sacrifice of the Levites meant that their way of life had to be distinctive; they could no longer engage with others unmindful of the priority of their relationship with YHWH.  In what ways was the Levites’ commitment to YHWH integral to the revelation of the reality of the “holy”? 

The exclusion of the Levites from altar service echoes the lengthy exclusion of the priest Ezekiel from the sanctuary in Jerusalem and shows the importance of the Levites’ guilt-bearing for the reconciliation of Israel with Yhwh.  The burden the Levites carry promotes the purity of the Israelites so that they might live in proximity to their holy God.

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