3—
Numbers 33:50–55
Another series of laws bears on relations between the Israelites and the inhabitants of the land of Canaan:
When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, you shall dispossess (hwrys[*] ) all the inhabitants of the land, you shall destroy all their figured objects, you shall destroy all their molten images and all their high places you
[13] Cf. J. Milgrom, "Profane Slaughter and a Formulaic Key to the Composition of Deuteronomy," HUCA 47 (1976), p. 6, n. 21.
shall demolish. You shall inherit the land and take possession of it. And you shall apportion the land by lot among your families . . . clan by clan. And if you do not dispossess the inhabitants of the land, those whom you allow to remain shall be stings in your eyes and thorns in your side, and they shall harass you in the land in which you live.
Here is a passage of the priestly code, as we learn not only from the style,[14] but also from the fact that it incorporates a law of the division of the land by lot, which is the central concern of the priestly conquest tradition that originated in Shiloh (Josh. 18:1–10; cf. Num. 26:52–56; see Chapter 2). Another indication here of the priestly tradition is the mention of pagan cultic objects: in contrast to the other sources, which mention altars, pillars, and sacred trees or poles (mzbhwt[ *] , msbwt[*] and 'srym[*] ), that are generally found in open fields,[15] this source mentions cultic objects characteristic of temple enclosures. Here we find "figured objects" (mskyt[*] )[16] and molten images, which also appear in other priestly writings (Lev. 19:4, 26:1; cf. Lev. 26:30–31). Also appearing here are "high places" (bmwt ), which in Lev. 26:30 are mentioned together with the "incense-stands" (hmnym[*] ) alongside sanctuaries, but which we do not find in other sources in the Pentateuch.
The verb utilized here concerning the dispossession of the pre-Israelite inhabitants of the land is not "expel" (grs[*] ) but "dispossess" (hwrys[*] ). Literally, this verb means to "cause to
[14] Note the following phrases: wydbrYHWH'l[*]Msh[*] (v. 50); 'rs Kn'n[*] (v. 51); mskyt (v. 12; compare Lev. 26:1); slmy[*] (v. 52; cf. Gen. 1:26–27; 5:3; 9:6); whtnhltm[*] (v. 54; compare Lev. 25:46; Num. 32:18; 34:13); wsrrw'tkm[*] (v. 55; compare Num. 25:17–18).
[15] Exod. 23:34, 34:13; Deut. 7:5; cf. Judg. 2:3. See Deut. 12:2–3; 1 Kings 14:23; 2 Kings 16:4, 17:10.
[16] See Ezek. 8:12; Prov. 25:11 ("mskyt ksp "); Lev. 26:1 ("'bn mskyt[*] ," which means bas-reliefs). Cf. the Panamua inscription: "whqm lh msky[*] "; H. Donner and W. Röllig, Kanaanäische und Aramäische Inschriften 1, (Wiesbaden, 1962), no. 215, 1:8).
possess"/"inherit," and it shows a gradual transition to "exterminate" (Num. 14:12 ['knw bdbr w'wrsnw[*] ']; Josh. 13:12; Zech. 9:14–15).[17] The use of this verb expresses an intermediate stage between expulsion (grs[*] ) in the ancient sources, and hhrym[*] , meaning extermination, in Deuteronomy, as will be discussed below. Hwrys[*] can mean simultaneously both expulsion and extermination.[18]
The reason mentioned here for dispossession is not religious but political: "They shall harass you in the land in which you live" (Num. 33:55). In the historiographic source of the Deuteronomic school (Josh. 23:13)[19] the threat has a slightly different form: instead of "for stings (lskym[*] ) in your eyes and thorns (lsnnm[*] ) in your sides" (ibid.), there it appears as "and for stings (lstt[*] ) in your sides and thorns (lsnnm ) in your eyes," next to mwqs[*] (= snare), which is attested in the earlier source above. Mwqs[*] in the religious sense is coupled with national punishment in Judg. 2:3: "They shall become as traps (lsdm[*] ) at their sides and their gods be a snare (mwqs ) to them." These expressions—skym[*] , snynm[*] , stt[*] (= swt[*] ), and sdym[*] —that are attested in Judg. 2:3[20] mean prickly thorns, the causes of pain and distress that these inhabitants would be to the Israelites. In this case, they suggest the harassment by the alien
[17] Cf. N. Lohfink, "Die Bedeutung von hebr. yrs[*] qal und hif.," Biblische Zeitschrift N.F. 26 (1982), pp. 14–33.
[19] For the nature of this farewell speech in the Deuteronomic school, see my book Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomic School (Oxford, 1972), pp. 10–14.
[20] Unless we accept the reading of the LXX: srym[*] , enemies; compare Targum: lm'yqyn[*] .
remnants of the settlers in the land of Israel (cf. Ezek. 2:6; 28:24: "Inflicting briars and painful thorns [qws[*] ] from all about you who will despise [hs'tym[*] ] you"). This motif found in so many sources may allude to the existence of an ancient tradition on the topic of the relations of the Israelites with the native population.
In contrast to other sources that, in similar contexts, specify particular peoples (Exod. 23:23, 28; 34:11; Deut. 7:1; 20:17), here the lawgiver characteristically speaks about "all the inhabitants of the land" without identifying which inhabitants. This lack of specificity permits Nahmanides to interpret it as referring not necessarily to the seven peoples of the land of Canaan, but to all non-Israelite peoples. In addition, Nahmanides takes from this passage the message that the commandment was eternal: "That we were commanded to inherit the land which God gave . . . in every generation . . . to inherit the applicable forever, undertaken by every one of us, even after the exile" (Criticisms on the Book of Commandments of Maimonides , commandment 7). The interpretation of Nahmanides, which is not shared by others, stresses that the commandment to the Israelites in all generations is not only to inherit the land but also to dispossess its inhabitants.
However, this view is not the plain meaning of the scripture, which refers only to those who went out of Egypt and were about to enter the land of Canaan to divide it into inheritances; this is not an eternal statute (hq 'wlm[ *] ). The general expression "inhabitants of the land" (ywsby h'rs[*] ) is not unique to Num. 33 but may also be found in the sources of the book of Exodus (23:31; 34:12, 15) that refer to the expulsion of the Canaanites.[21]