Acknowledgment (xiii)
Abbreviations (xv)
Chapter 1. Introduction (1)
1.1. Outline (1)
1.2. Research topic and research question (5)
Chapter 2. Research History (7)
2.1. Introductory remarks (7)
2.2. Historical critical approaches: Numbers within biblical macro-structures (9)
2.3. Other approaches: analyzing the textual structure of Numbers (10)
2.4. Scholarly proposals for the structure of Numbers (11)
2.4.1. Based on plot developments (11)
2.4.2. Based on place variation (14)
2.4.3. Based on the census (15)
2.4.4. Based on theme variation (16)
2.4.5. Jacob Milgrom’s view (17)
2.5. Conclusion (18)
Chapter 3. Methodology (21)
3.1. Limitations of textual structures proposed by some scholars (21)
3.2. Form-to-function analysis (22)
3.2.1. Origin of the methodology (22)
3.2.2. Three steps of the form-to-function analysis (22)
3.2.3. Distributional analysis and functional analysis (22)
3.2.4. The role of syntax (23)
3.2.5. Text as a syntactic-hierarchical structure (24)
3.2.6. Discovering or constructing syntactic-hierarchical structures (26)
3.2.7. Comparison of form-to-function analysis with top-down analysis (27)
3.2.8. Tools for the form-to-function analysis (28)
3.2.9. Rules to judge the relationship between clauses (30)
3.3. Participant analysis (48)
3.3.1. Participants and roles (48)
3.3.2. Contribution to syntactic-hierarchical analysis (49)
3.3.3. Process of participant analysis (50)
3.3.4. Jaccard distance in terms of participants and their roles (51)
3.4. Rhetorical analysis and discourse analysis (55)
3.4.1. Priority between methodologies (55)
3.4.2. Rhetorical analysis (56)
3.4.3. Discourse analysis (56)
3.4.4. Limitations of a practical form-to-function analysis (56)
Chapter 4. Syntactic patterns in Numbers and adjacent books (57)
4.1. The “consecutive verb” (wayyiqtol) opening Numbers (57)
4.2. Relationship between Num 1:1 and the preceding books (59)
4.2.1. Clause candidates at the end of Leviticus (60)
4.2.2. Clause candidates at the end of Exodus (60)
4.2.3. Clause candidates at the end of Genesis (61)
4.3. Relationship between Deut 1:1 and the end of Numbers (61)
4.4. The Elaborate Divine Speech Formula (DSF) as a structuring principle (62)
4.5. The Elaborate DSF as a structuring principle in Numbers (63)
4.6. The Elaborate DSF as structuring principle in the Pentateuch (64)
4.6.1. Types of Elaborate DSFs (64)
4.6.2. Connections between the Elaborate DSFs .(64)
4.6.3. A syntactic structure of the Pentateuch (65)
Excursus: The hierarchical force of the DSF and the tōledōt formula (67)
4.7. An alternative text-syntactic structure of the Pentateuch (71)
4.8. Reading Numbers as a cohesive textual unit and as a part of the Penta-teuch (73)
4.9. Hierarchical force of the various Elaborate DSFs (73)
4.9.1. Hierarchical force depending on the number of adjunct phrases (74)
4.9.2. Hierarchical force depending on coverage (75)
4.9.3. Hierarchical force depending on geographical or topographical locative (75)
4.9.4. Hierarchical force depending on various time phrases . (76)
4.10. Conclusion (76)
4.11. Relation to other analyses of the macrostructure of the Pentateuch (77)
4.11.1. Recognizing Exodus-Leviticus-Numbers as one book (77)
4.11.2. Recognizing each of Exodus-Leviticus or Numbers-Deuteronomy as one book (78)
Chapter 5. Participants, roles and verbs in Numbers and adjacent books (79)
5.1. Participants (79)
5.1.1. Unique participants (79)
5.1.2. Shared participants (83)
5.1.3. Jaccard distance in terms of participants between the five books (86)
5.2. Roles (87)
5.2.1. Unique roles (89)
5.2.2. Shared roles (93)
5.2.3. Jaccard distance in terms of roles between the five books (95)
5.3. Verbs (97)
5.3.1. Unique verbs (97)
5.3.2. Shared verbs (102)
5.3.3. Jaccard distance in terms of verbs between the five books (105)
5.4. Conclusions (106)
Chapter 6. Macro-syntactic Analysis of Numbers (109)
6.1. Introduction (109)
6.2. Num 1–8 (110)
6.2.1. Opening marker (110)
6.2.2. Closing marker (114)
6.2.3. Inner cohesiveness (115)
6.2.4. Connectivity to the preceding section (shared participant roles) (119)
6.2.5. Discourse function (120)
6.3. Num 1:1–3:13 (120)
6.3.1. Opening marker (120)
6.3.2. Closing marker (126)
6.3.3. Inner cohesiveness (126)
6.3.4. Connectivity to the preceding section (shared participants) (130)
6.3.5. Inner structure (132)
6.3.6. Discourse function (134)
6.4. Numbers 3:14–8:26 (134)
6.4.1. Opening marker (134)
6.4.2. Closing marker (136)
6.4.3. Inner cohesiveness (137)
6.4.4. Connectivity to the preceding section (shared participants) (140)
6.4.5. Inner structure (142)
6.4.6. Discourse function (145)
6.5. Num 9–36 (146)
6.5.1. Opening marker (146)
6.5.2. Closing marker (152)
6.5.3. Inner cohesiveness (153)
6.5.4. Connectivity to the preceding section (shared participants) (156)
6.5.5. Inner structure (159)
6.5.6. Discourse function (159)
6.6. Num 9:1–20:22 (160)
6.6.1. Opening marker (160)
6.6.2. Closing marker (172)
6.6.3. Inner cohesiveness (174)
6.6.4. Connectivity to the preceding section (shared participants) (176)
6.6.5. Inner structure of Num 9:1–Num 20:23 (177)
6.7. Num 20:23–33:49 (183)
6.7.1. Opening marker (183)
6.7.2. Closing marker (187)
6.7.3. Inner cohesiveness (190)
6.7.4. Connectivity to the preceding section (shared participants) (195)
6.7.5. Inner structure (196)
6.7.6. Discourse function (203)
6.8. Num 33:50–34:29 (209)
6.8.1. Opening marker (209)
6.8.2. Closing marker (211)
6.8.3. Inner cohesiveness (212)
6.8.4. Connectivity to the preceding section (shared participants) (213)
6.8.5. Inner structure (214)
6.8.6. Discourse function (214)
6.9. Num 35:1–36:13 (214)
6.9.1. Opening marker (214)
6.9.2. Closing marker (218)
6.9.3. Inner cohesiveness (218)
6.9.4. Connectivity to the preceding section (shared participants) (220)
6.9.5. Inner structure (220)
6.9.6. Discourse function (221)
Chapter 7. Discussion on the book demarcations proposed by some scholars (223)
7.1. Budd (Num 9:15) (223)
7.2. Knierim, Gray, Allen, Dozeman, Ashley, Bernini, Wenham, Cole, Stubbs and Martens (Num 10:11) (224)
7.2.1. Demarcations by place (224)
7.2.2. Demarcations by theme (227)
7.3. Mann (Num 11:1) (229)
7.4. Allen, Wenham (Num 13:1) (229)
7.5. Wenham, Ashley (Num 20:1) (231)
7.6. Mann, Allen and Marten (Num 20:14) (232)
7.7. Gray (Num 21:10) (233)
7.8. Allen, Dozeman, Ashely, and Childs (Num 22:2) (234)
7.9. Bernini (Num 25:19) (236)
7.10. Olson, Mann, Budd, Cole, Stubbs and O’Brien (Num 26:1) (237)
7.11. Allen, Van Bekkum (Num 33:1) (238)
7.12. Budd (Num 36:1) (241)
7.13. Conclusion (241)
Chapter 8. Conclusions and suggestions for further study (243)
8.1. Conclusions (243)
8.2. Suggestions for further study (245)
Bibliography (249)