Two Scholars Reengage with Numbers in this Tyndale Commentary

The book of Numbers has had something of a renaissance in scholarly engagement in recent years. This Tyndale Old Testament Commentary volume by Peter Altmann and Caio Peres distills that conversation with sensitivity and rigor. With input from two authors from different contexts, it helps to illuminate Numbers for the contemporary reader while seeking to make God's Word a source of blessing, nourishment, and hope for all.

The Tyndale Old Testament Commentary series is designed to help the reader of the Bible understand what the text says and what it means. The Introduction to each book gives a concise but thorough treatment of its authorship, date, original setting, and purpose. Following a structural Analysis, the Commentary takes the book section by section, drawing out its main themes, and also comments on individual verses and problems of interpretation. Additional Notes provide fuller discussion of particular difficulties.

In the new Old Testament volumes, the commentary on each section of the text is structured under three headings: Context, Comment, and Theology. The goal is to explain the true meaning of the Bible and make its message plain.



Peter Altmann presently serves as David Allan Hubbard Associate Professor of Old Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary, California.







Caio Peres is an independent researcher and missionary in Brazil.







David G. Firth is tutor in Old Testament at Trinity College, Bristol. He is the author of 1 and 2 Samuel (Apollos Old Testament Commentary), The Message of Joshua, and Including the Stranger, and the coeditor of Interpreting the Psalms, Interpreting Isaiah, Words and the Word, and Presence, Power and Promise.







Tremper Longman III (PhD, Yale University) is Distinguished Scholar and Professor Emeritus of Biblical Studies at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. He is the author or coauthor of over thirty books, including How to Read the Psalms, How to Read Proverbs, Literary Approaches to Biblical Interpretation, and Old Testament Essentials.



General preface



Authors' preface



Abbreviations



Bibliography

Introduction



1. Why read Numbers?



2. Is Numbers a book?



3. How Numbers fits into the Pentateuch and Hexateuch



4. The order of the material



5. Composition and compilation



6. How to read Numbers



7. Key concepts



8. Christian application of the book of Numbers

Analysis

Commentary

Additional notes



The large numbers in the census



The Levites



The firstfruits and firstborn offerings



The amounts of offerings