Numbers, 2 vols. (Apollos Old Testament Commentary | ApOTC)

by L. Michael Morales

Publishers:

Apollos; IVP UK

, 2024

Overview

Often overlooked and regularly misunderstood, the Book of Numbers is a daunting prospect for scholars, preachers and students. It covers part of the Israelites’ wilderness years between Egypt and the land of the promise—seemingly very different to and detached from our modern context. Yet God’s covenant love remains the same, and the book of Numbers remains extremely relevant for ecclesiology and for the church’s life within the already-not yet of the present ‘wilderness’ era.

In his magisterial new commentary, Morales carefully demonstrates the ongoing relevance of Numbers, it’s positive vision for life and the surprising challenge it offers to contemporary Christians. This detailed and comprehensive commentary sheds fresh light on a part of the Bible often referenced yet rarely preached and explained.

The Apollos Old Testament Commentary aims to take with equal seriousness the divine and human aspects of Scripture. It expounds the books of the Old Testament in a scholarly manner, accessible to non-experts, and it shows the relevance of the Old Testament to modern readers. Written by an international team of scholars, these commentaries are intended to serve the needs of those who preach from the Old Testament, as well as scholars and all serious students of the Bible.

Volume 1 begins with an Introduction which gives an overview of the issues of date, authorship, sources and outlines the theology of the book, providing pointers towards its interpretation and contemporary application. Volume 2 covers chapters 20-36, and includes Morales’ rigorous bibliography and extensive indices. An annotated Translation of the Hebrew text by L. Michael L. Morales forms the basis for his comments/

Within this commentary on Numbers, Form and Structure sections examine the context, source-critical and form-critical issues and rhetorical devices of each passage. Comment sections offer thorough, detailed exegesis of the historical and theological meaning of each passage, and Explanation sections offer a full exposition of the theological message within the framework of biblical theology and a commitment to the inspiration and authority of the Old Testament.

Key Features

• Carefully demonstrates the ongoing relevance of Numbers
• Sheds fresh light on a part of the Bible often referenced yet rarely preached and explained
• Examines the context, source-critical and form-critical issues and rhetorical devices of each passage

Praise for Numbers

With close attention to the text, and deeply informed by classical and modern sources, Michael Morales offers a theologically rich and informative reading of Numbers. By highlighting the importance of Israel’s Camp he demonstrates the literary integrity of the book. Far from Numbers being the junk room of the priestly material, he demonstrates that it is a coherent work. This substantial commentary will therefore be a key point of reference for all future work on Numbers.

—David G. Firth, Trinity College Bristol

Page-turner and game-changer! I never expected to say that of a book about Numbers. Michael Morales’s commentary on Numbers changes everything. No commentary or study opens up Numbers more richly than these two volumes—from the census of the first generation to the second ruling about the inheritance of the daughters of Zelophehad. Every page of Morales’s interpretation leads me to re-study Numbers as though I have never read it before. The exciting engagement with rich Judaic interpretative traditions sets every part of Numbers within the entire book and the entire Torah as well as within all of the Christian Scriptures. Pastors, students and scholars will want to set aside the latest paperback in order to take to the beach or to the park Morales’s page-turner of a commentary and find out what’s next. Morales invites all of us back into the wilderness sojourn of Numbers as though for the very first time

—Gary Edward Schnittjer, Distinguished Professor of Old Testament, Cairn University

Michael Morales’s work on Numbers is a breathtaking achievement. It is a rare thing for a work of this scale (or any scale) to marry depth of scholarship, breadth of reading, clarity of expression and an evident commitment to the gospel of Christ, but this book has it all. It’s worth having for the introduction alone, which brilliantly outlines a theological approach to Numbers that is both dramatically fresh and yet historically rooted, particularly in the rich Jewish tradition of reading the book as a keystone of the Pentateuch. Morales’s careful and thoughtful exegesis is married with a profound commitment to biblical theology. Judicious insights and stimulating suggestions are presented with a beautiful lightness of touch. This deserves to be the standard evangelical work on Numbers for many years to come, and will repay careful study by pastors, scholars and students alike.

—J. Gary Millar, Principal, Queensland Theological College, Brisbane, Australia