Suspicion and Sanctity
IN THE OPENING UNITS of the book of Numbers, the Israelites organize themselves for their trek to the Promised Land. Not only must they navigate through the wilderness a group that the Torah claims to include more than two million individuals (600,000 fighting men—plus women, children, and other males), but also they must maintain the proper worship of God throughout their journey.
Parashat Naso (“lift up”) focuses on the Israelite cultic structures throughout the journey. Two detailed administrative accounts frame this parashah: the Levite census (4:21–49) and the record of the tribal chiefs’ gifts for the dedication of the altar (7:1–88). Whereas Leviticus typically focuses on the ritual purity of the sanctuary, Numbers is concerned with maintaining the purity of the camp as a whole.
The Israelites can protect this purity through the service of sanctified individuals like the nazir (6:1–21) or the priests (6:22–27), as well as through responses to threats of perversion, exemplified by the ritual of the wife accused by her husband of adultery (5:11–31). (Rabbinic literature uses the term sotah to refer to aspects of this case, although the word itself —meaning “a woman who strayed”—does not actually appear in the Bible. This commentary will employ the rabbinic term, which has come to be used widely when discussing this passage.)
The structure of this parashah reflects well the role of women within the Israelite community. Women, like most men, could not be cultic officials—neither priests, Levites, nor tribal chiefs—and therefore they remain absent from the administrative framework of the parashah. Yet they occupy a central place within the religion, either as cause for concern, such as the sotah, or, more surprisingly, as devotional exemplars such as the nazir—the individual who dedicates herself or himself to God. (The specifically feminine form is n'zirah, although only the generic form nazir appears in the Bible.)
At first glance, the sotah and the nazir seem to represent mutually exclusive ends of the spectrum for a woman’s place within Israelite society. A woman could either find herself tottering on the margins of society—accused, vulnerable, and at the mercy of her husband or priest—or she could establish her place among the elite of society by dedicating her life to God. Yet the juxtaposition of these figures within the parashah, and the linguistic links between the passages describing them, together suggest an intrinsic relationship between the sotah and the nazir. Read together, these figures inform, challenge, and broaden our perceptions of women’s roles within the religion and society of ancient Israel.
—Amy Kalmanofsky
Outline—
I. CULTIC ADMINISTRATION
Census of the Levites (4:21–49)
II. MAINTAINING COMMUNITY SANCTITY BY COUNTERING THREATS OF IMPURITY (5:1–31)
A. Procedure for the physically impure (vv. 1–4)
B. Procedure for a person who betrays another (vv. 5–10)
C. Procedure for a wife accused of adultery (vv. 11–31)
III. MAINTAINING COMMUNITY SANCTITY THROUGH RELIGIOUS LEADERS (6:1–27)
A. Laws of the nazir (vv. 1–21)
B. Priestly blessing (vv. 22–27)
IV. RECORD OF THE TRIBAL CHIEFS’ GIFTS (7:1–89)
A. Gifts for the Levites (vv. 1–9)
B. Gifts for the dedication of the altar (vv. 10–88)
C. Conclusion (v. 89)