“GUIDE ME, O THOU GREAT JEHOVAH” IS ONE OF THE BEST-KNOWN HYMNS IN THE WORLD. YET THE BOOK OF NUMBERS, WHOSE STORY THAT HYMN SUMMARIZRS, IS SELDOM READ. WH?

“ITS VERY TITLE PUTS THE MODERN READER OFF,” WRITES Gordon Wenham. “In ancient time numbers were seen as mysterious and symbolic, a key to reality and the mind of God himself. Today they are associated with computers and the depersonalization that threatens our society.”

In his effort to bridge the great gulf between the book and out age, Wenham first explains the background of Numbers, discussing its structure, sources, date and authorship as well as its theology and Christian use. A passage-by-passage analysis follows, which draws useful insights on Old Testament ritual from modern social anthropology.

Gordon J. Wenham is professor of Old Testament at Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education in England.