TOLERANCE AND IDENTITY IN THE LIGHT OF NUMBERS 12:1–15

Abstract

This study presents exegetical analyses of Num 12:1–15, which records the account of the rebellion of Miriam and Aaron against Moses. Their aim is to explain why the accusation formulated by Miriam and Aaron concerning Moses’ marriage to the Cushite woman is accompanied by a challenge to his unique relationshipwith God, and, in the context of this inquiry, to shed light on the issue of tolerance discernible in the text – its aspect and criterion. A literary and historical-critical analysis of the passage, taking into account its intertextual connections, suggests the identification of two interconnected narratives within the pericope. The first and earlier one – concerning the undermining of Moses’ incomparable authority – may be associated with the redaction of the Pentateuch (RedPent), while the second – accusing him of marrying a foreign woman – may be linked to a later universalizing revision (RewU). Both stages in the development of the text would have taken place in the late Persian period (5th–4th century BC), and an important motivating factor behind them would have been the concern for the identity of Israel as the people of God, as the “true Israel”. The thesis of two successive elaborations of the pericope in Numbers 12 helps to grasp the dynamics of the process of forming biblical texts. This dynamic is reflected in the literary use of the figure of Moses as a common point of reference and argumentation for attitudes of intolerance and tolerance, the ultimate criterion of which is God’s law and God’s action for the good of man.