6The Torah Is Not Man-Made
130Most Good People Do Not Fight Evil
7Man-Made or God-Made: Why It Matters
131Why Did God Punish the Rebels’ Families?
8How Was the Torah Transmitted?
132CHAPTER 17
9Reason, Torah, and God
133The Case for Hereditary Priesthood
10Why Read The Rational Bible?
134Once Again, a Miracle Doesn’t Produce Faith
11Why Exodus Was Volume 1
135CHAPTER 18
12BC or BCE?
136Religious Morality Is Obligations-Oriented; Secular Morality Is Rights-Oriented
13God as “He”
137ESSAY: A Society without the Holy Will Not Survive
14How to Read This Commentary
138Death at the Hand of God
15PREFACE
139The Role of Levites Who Are Not Direct Descendants of Aaron
16Introduction to the Book of Numbers
140The Role of the Priests, the Levites Who Are Direct Descendants of Aaron
17The Antiquity of the Names
141Biblical Separation of Religion and the State: Not Even a King Could Encroach on the Priestly Role
18ESSAY: The Problem of the Number of Israelites in the Torah
142ESSAY: Why Were the Priests Well-Compensated for Doing Holy Work?
19Why the Levite Tribe Was Not Counted in the Census
143Why Only Men Could Be Priests
20CHAPTER 2: The Ten Commandments Were at the Center of Israel’s Life—Physically and Religiously
144“Redeeming” the Firstborn
21CHAPTER 3
145CHAPTER 19
22Aaron’s Descendants—and the Other Levites—Are Israel’s Priests, Just as Israel Is to Be the Nations’ Priests
146ESSAY: Do People Need to Understand Religious Rituals?
23The Tasks of Three Levite clans: Gershon, Kohath, Merari
147ESSAY: Explaining the Red Heifer
24The Gershon Clan: Responsible for Maintaining the Tabernacle
148The Meaning of Impurity and the Ritual of the Red Cow
25The Kohath Clan: Responsible for the Ark, Table, Lampstand, Altars, Etc.
149A Dark Chapter
26The Merarite Clan: Responsible for the Tabernacle’s Planks, Bars, Posts, Sockets, Etc.
150Miriam’s Death
27Death to Those Who Encroach on the Sanctuary
151Truly Irrational Israelite Complaints
28Another Proof of the Solution of the Census Numbers Problem
152What Did Moses Do Wrong at the Rock?
29Priests, Levites, and Their Descendants
153Why Did Moses Hit the Rock?
30Duties of the Kohathites (through Verse 20)
154ESSAY: Why Did God Not Permit Moses to Enter the Promised Land?
31What the Colors Signified
155CHAPTER 21
32ESSAY: The Importance of Sacred Objects
156ESSAY: The Moral Problem of the Destruction of Canaanite Cities
33Duties of the Gershonites
157ESSAY: The Conscience Is Not Morally Reliable
34Duties of the Merarites
158Chronic Complaining Is Immoral
35CHAPTER 5
159The Copper Serpent
36Purity and Impurity
160The War against the Amorite King Sihon
37The Emphasis on Life
161CHAPTER 22
38Sins against People
162Avoiding Temptation
39ESSAY: Guilt
163God’s Mystifying Response
40A Strange Ritual which Protected Wives and Marriages
164ESSAY: Can a Donkey Speak?
41The Meaning of the Sotah Ritual
165Everyone Has a Moral Bank Account
42CHAPTER 6
166Human Mistreatment of Animals Is an Important Part of the Balaam Story
43ESSAY: The Nazirite
167CHAPTER 23
44The First Abstention
168Balaam’s First Oracle
45The Second Abstention
169ESSAY: The Jews: A People Apart
46The Third Abstention
170Balaam’s Second Oracle
47When a Nazirite’s Vows Are Inadvertently Broken
171Men and Gods Are Capricious—God Is Not
48When the Nazirite Period Ends (Verses 13–21)
172CHAPTER 24
49ESSAY: The Torah’s Negative View of Asceticism
173Balaam’s Third Oracle
50The Famous Priestly Blessing
174Balaam Describes Israel’s Beauty
51CHAPTER 7
175Balaam Prophesies about Israel’s King and Kingdom
52The Gifts to the Gershonite, Merarite, and Kohathite Levites
176Balaam Describes God’s Liberating Israel from Slavery
53And Now . . . God Will Speak
177Balaam Describes Israel’s Defeat of Its Enemies
54The Lampstand (Menorah)
178Balaam Describes Israel as a Lion
55Moses and Aaron: Another Torah Example of Tension between Brothers
179How Are We to Assess Balaam?
56ESSAY: The Biblical Significance of the Number Seven
180Balaam’s Fourth Oracle
57The Menorah Differed from a “Chanukah Menorah”
181ESSAY: Assessments of the Balaam Story
58The Religious Importance of Aesthetic Beauty
182What a King Could Not Accomplish, Seductive Women Accomplished
59Cleanliness Is Next to Godliness
183Did Moses Disobey God?
60ESSAY: On Old People Retiring
184ESSAY: The Israelite Man’s Sin, Situational Ethics, and Public vs. Private Sin
61CHAPTER 9
185Why Phinehas Killed the Israelite Man and Midianite Woman
62A “Second Passover”
186Is Fanaticism Ever Justified?
63ESSAY: The Social Importance of Religion
187CHAPTER 26: The Decline of the Simeonites
64Do People Need a Direct Communication from God to Do the Right Thing?
188The Five Daughters
65ESSAY: Compassion versus Standards
189The Courage of the Five Women and the Moral Achievement of Ancient Israel
66ESSAY: Nations and Religions Need Rituals to Survive
190For What Sin Did Their Father Die?
67How God Navigated the Israelites through the Wilderness
191ESSAY: Moral Evolution or Immoral Revolution?
68The Trumpet Blasts
192Like His Brother Aaron, Moses, Too, Will Not Enter the Promised Land
69The Israelites’ Travels Recommence
193Why God Explained (Again) Why He Will Not Allow Moses into the Promised Land
70Tribe by Tribe, the Israelites Set Out
194Should Human Leaders Be “Shepherds”?
71Those Who Lived before Us Matter
195Leaders Must Be Chosen on the Basis of Merit
72Moses Invites His Midianite In-Laws to Enter the Promised Land
196Why Joshua Was Chosen to Succeed Moses
73The First Rebellion
197CHAPTER 28
74Why Did the Israelites’ Complaining So Anger God?
198ESSAY: Purposes of Sacrifices
75ESSAY: Constant Complaining as a Moral Defect
199Burnt Offerings
76Who Started the Rebellion?
200ESSAY: The Meaning and Importance of Rituals
77ESSAY: Liberty Is a Value, Not an Instinct: Most People Prefer Free Things to Being Free
201Daily Sacrifices
78Even Moses Complained to God
202Sabbath Sacrifices
79Even Biblical Heroes Wanted to Die
203New Moon (New Month) Sacrifices
80Even Moses Doubted God
204Passover Sacrifices
81If All Jews Were Prophets . . .
205Shavuot (Pentecost) Sacrifices
82CHAPTER 12
206CHAPTER 29
83Who Was Moses’s Wife?
207The Seventh Month Is a Special Month
84ESSAY: Envy, Resentment, Equality, Violence
208The Sacrifices of “The Day the Horn Is Sounded” (the New Year)
85God Hears Everything We Say and Sees Everything We Do
209Yom Kippur
86Why Are We Told Moses Was the Most Humble Man on Earth?
210The Yom Kippur Sacrifices
87ESSAY: Can a Humble Person Consider Himself Humble?
211The Festival of Sukkot (Tabernacles)
88Was Moses Hurt by What His Siblings Said?
212The Sukkot Sacrifices
89God Is More Interested in Our Behavior Than in Our Feelings
213Shemini Atzeret—the Eighth Day of Assembly
90CHAPTER 13
214The Sacrifices of Shemini Atzeret
91Once Again, a Torah Hero Is from Non-Israelite Stock
215CHAPTER 30
92ESSAY: Three Life-Changing Lessons of the Spies
216ESSAY: The Seriousness of Uttering Oaths
931. Expertise Has Little to Do with Judgment
217An Oath Is an Oath Only When Expressed—Not Merely Thought
942. In Times of Crisis, Nearly All Good Is Done by Outliers
218Annulment of Vows and Women’s Equality
953. Most Leaders Do Not Lead
219ESSAY: A Morally Difficult Chapter
96The Spies’ “Evil” Report
220Why Take Vengeance on Midian?
97The Power of Verbal Imagery: “A Land That Devours Its Settlers”
221ESSAY: The Order to Kill the Midianites
98CHAPTER 14
222CHAPTER 32
99The Spies’ Report Worked: It Disheartened the Israelites
223Moses’s Anger at the Tribes of Gad and Reuben: Was It Warranted?
100ESSAY: Like Many People Today, the Israelites Believed in a God, but Not the God (of the Torah): Sinai and Freedom
224Do What Is Right in the Eyes of Both God and Man
101ESSAY: Faith Is Produced by Effort, Not Miracles
225CHAPTER 33
102ESSAY: Why Would God Propose Ending the Israelite Nation?
226Why Does the Torah List the Israelites’ Stops?
103Moses Argues with God on Behalf of Israel: I
227The Fifteen Stops of the First Year and a Half after the Exodus
104Moses Argues with God on Behalf of Israel: II
228The Seventeen Stops of the Middle Thirty-Eight Years
105Did Moses Change God’s Mind?
229The Ten Stops of the Fortieth Year
106CHAPTER 15
230The Dispossessing of the Canaanites
107Why Is This Chapter Here?
231CHAPTER 34
108Does God Like Pleasing Odors and Nice Clothes?
232The Future Borders of the Land of Israel
109The Specifics of Sacrifices to Be Brought (Verses 4–12)
233The Southern Border
110Every Citizen Brings the Same Sacrifice
234The Western Border
111The Greater Moral Power of Obligations
235The Northern Border
112An Example of Torah Behaviorism: Act Grateful and You Will Become Grateful
236The Eastern Border
113Sacrifices Atone Only for Sins Committed Inadvertently
237ESSAY: Is There Luck in Life, or Is Everything Determined by God’s Will?
114Sacrifices for Inadvertent Sins Committed by the Community
238Israel’s Divinely Appointed Leaders
115Sacrifices for Inadvertent Sins Committed by the Individual
239CHAPTER 35
116ESSAY: What Is the Punishment for Deliberate Ritual Sin?
240ESSAY: Cities of Refuge—Another Moral Innovation of the Torah
117ESSAY: The Need for Nations
241When Homicide Is Deemed Intentional (Verses 16–21)
118ESSAY: The Difference between Sinning in Public and Sinning in Private: The Case of the Israelite Who Publicly Violated One of the Ten Commandments
242When Homicide is Deemed Unintentional (Verses 22–28)
119ESSAY: Why Did Moses Not Know What to Do with the Public Sabbath Violator?
243The Role of the Death of the High Priest
120ESSAY: Why Was the Man Executed for Gathering Wood on the Sabbath?
244ESSAY: Why a Murderer Cannot Be Ransomed
121ESSAY: The Potential Power of the Fringes (and of Religion)
245Bloodshed Pollutes the Land
122ESSAY: The Heart Is Not to Be Trusted
246Preserving the Lands and Identities of the Tribes
123CHAPTER 16
247God’s Solution to the Daughters of Zelophehad and the Inheritance Question
124Most Fame Is Meaningless
248NOTES
