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The Book of Numbers is unavailable, but you can change that!

The book of Numbers tells a story that has two main characters—God and Israel. The way the story is told sounds odd and often harsh to readers today. In spite of the difficulties imposed by Numbers on today’s readers, the main point of the book is of immense importance for God’s people in any age: exact obedience to God is crucial. This comprehensive and erudite commentary—resulting from nearly...

Balaam’s staff was simply a stick or rod that he had with him and used, at this point, to beat his animal. Like the more commonly used parallel word for “staff” (maṭṭeh; 136 times in Numbers), the maqqēl could be used as a walking stick (Gen. 32:11) or a weapon (1 Sam. 17:40). Hos. 4:12 uses maqqēl for the staff used in divining oracles (rhabdomancy). It is, therefore, possible that this staff had a cultic/magical function for Balaam.21 The point of this whole story is that, in contrast to
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