Bewilderments: Reflections on the Book of Numbers

Description

Now in paperback, a masterly analysis of the book of Numbers, the newest volume in the award-winning series of commentaries on the Hebrew Bible by "a celebrated biblical scholar, keen on on weaving together traditional Jewish exegesis, psychoanalysis, and postmodern criticism" (The New York Times Book Review) Through the magnificent literary, scholarly, and psychological analysis of the text that is her trademark, Avivah Zornberg tackles the enduring puzzlement of the book of Numbers. What should have been for the Israelites a brief journey from Mount Sinai to the Holy Land has become a forty-year death march. Both before and after the devastating report of the Spies, the narrative centers on the people's desire to return to slavery in Egypt. At its heart are speeches of complaint and lament. But in the narrative of the book of Numbers that is found in mystical and Hasidic sources, the generation of the wilderness emerges as one of extraordinary spiritual experience, fed on miracles and nurtured directly by God- a generation of ecstatic faith, human partners in an unprecedented conversation with the Deity. Drawing on kabbalistic sources, the Hasidic commentators depict a people who transcend prudent considerations in order to follow God into the wilderness, where their spiritual yearning comes to full expression. Is there a way to integrate this narrative of dark murmurings, of obsessive fantasies of return to Egypt, with the celebration of a love-intoxicated wilderness discourse? The question touches not only on the language the Israelites speak but also on the very nature of human utterance. What effect does the cumulative trauma of slavery, the miracles of Exodus, and the revelation at Sinai have on a nation that is beginning to speak? In Bewilderments, one of our most admired biblical commentators suggests fascinating answers to these questions.

Get the book

Amazon.com

Search the book

eBay.com

Search the book

Other editions

• 

  Bewilderments: Reflections on the Book of Numbers

  • 2015-02-24
  • 436 pages
  • Ebook
  • Schocken

Similar books

• 

  An American Carpenter's Story: One baby boomers life changing spiritual journey

  By William Darroch

  After just a year or so, my father saw several lots for sale in the small village of Timberlake, Ohio, just thirty minutes from Cleveland.

• 

  Fear of the Other: No Fear in Love

  By Bishop William H. Willimon

  “Barack Obama,” “Hillary Clinton,” “Britney Spears,” and “Justin Timberlake” found their places somewhat to the left of the really, really good “Teresa” and ...

• 

  Running With The Horses: Living The Gospel

  By William Mitchell

  ... Gregory Pritchard, Robert Clarke and Donald Wester of philosophy; from the religion faculty, James Timberlake, Rowena Strickland, Dan Holcomb, ...

• 

  Darkness is as Light

  By EDITH ADHIAMBO, ANDREA BAILEY, CHRISTINA BAKER

  walked over the frost-brittled grass, my long skirt swishing it dryly. I'd come to weep below the willows, to let the sound of the stream carry my lament ...

• 

  Women in New Religions

  By Laura Vance

  Frost, Gavin, and Yvonne Frost. The Good Witch's Bible. 7th ed. ... Gordon, Lynn D., ed. Gender and Higher Education in the Progressive Era.

• 

  The Making of a Mature Disciple

  By Kenneth S. Todd

  Kenneth S. Todd. Reasons. to. Obey. God. Let's discuss four reasons why we should obey God. The first two deal with how we personally deal with God.

• 

  Being God's Man by Pursuing Friendships

  By Stephen Arterburn, Kenneth L. Luck, Todd Wendorff

  God's word is clear about the importance of godly friendships. This edition shows men how valuable those friendships are to spiritual growth.

• 

  English Ministry Crisis in Chinese Canadian Churches: Towards the Retention of English-Speaking Adults from Chinese Canadian Churches through Associated Parallel...

  By Matthew Richard Sheldon Todd

  In 2011, Thom S. Rainer published some research project results in a volume ... projecting the top challenging issue they deal with in bicultural settings ...

• 

  Mastering the Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Non-Profit

  By John Pearson

  " Based on Pearson's 48-hour Management Buckets Workshop Experience, Mastering the Management Buckets offers detailed implementation tools, including 99 practical takeaways that a leader could implement immediately, plus nine management ...

• 

  Mastering the Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Non-Profit

  By John Pearson

  " Based on Pearson's 48-hour Management Buckets Workshop Experience, Mastering the Management Buckets offers detailed implementation tools, including 99 practical takeaways that a leader could implement immediately, plus nine management ...