GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1.8. Outline of the Study
The thesis comprises eight chapters. The First Chapter consists of introductory materials;
these include the statement of the problem, the significance of the research, methodology, and literature review. Chapter Two deals with defining my reading approach. In this chapter I have tried to locate my reading in the African contextual reading and also discuss its relevance and problems. Chapter Three lays the foundation upon which this study is built. It covers various aspects of Moses' life as they have an impact on his leadership. This is a wide overview of major facts and events running from Moses' childhood to his succession by Joshua in the desert of Moab.
Chapters Four to Six deal with the analysis of the biblical passage of our investigation (Num. 16-17). Chapter Four opens with an introduction to locate the narrative in its immediate context and within the book of Numbers then proceeds with the examination of the revolt of Korah and the 250 leaders. Chapter Five explores the case of the revolt of the Reubenites, Abiram and Dathan; and Chapter Six analyses the revolt of the congregation against Moses and Aaron. In each of these chapters the exegesis is conducted following the narrative approach, paying attention to characters, plot, and how the text interacts with the context and experience of the writer. A special foeus is put on Moses' action and reaction and God's intervention as the main characters in the understanding of leadership dynamic in the exodus narrative. The insights from each chapter are collected in a summary at the end of the chapter. Chapter Seven brings together major leadership issues discussed under chapter four to six. These findings are discussed against the contemporary context and some lessons are drawn for application.
Chapter Eight is a general conclusion, which summarizes all the materials and findings from the entire work. It provides also suggestions on areas that require further investigation.
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CHAPTER TWO
MY HERMENEUTICAL APPROACH
The interface between the reading and study of Scripture and contemporary reading of our contexts requires deliberate work and creativity.34
2.1. Introduction
This chapter is an attempt to define the contours of my hermeneutics, especially my reading approach. The clarification of my reading is important at this stage of this work because it charts the itinerary that the reader of this study should follow in order to understand my approach. Each reading strives to operate within the limit of biblical hermeneutics. We assume in this study that the Moses story is pregnant with meanings that stretch from its first revelation to the contemporary era, provided we use appropriate interpretative methodology to unearth its message. Johnson Lim argues, "Understanding develops when a reader obeys the primary communicative perspective of the text and follows its movement from what it says to what it talks about."35 Although there is a primary communicative perspective to follow, as suggested by Lim, the interpretative process itself remains very complex and varied. Donald Marshall captures well this complexity as he notes,
The universality of interpretation has the form of openness to endless dialogue. What is universal about interpretation is that it looks for confirmation in further experience, including the experience of others, and hence it must be published, brought into life not only of a particular community but of all humankind.. .The medium in which the promise of any text is fulfilled is not just the individual life but the lives of all those bound together in the interpretative process that stretches from the first revelation of the text to the end of time.36
34 Bob Ekblad, Reading the Bible With the Damned (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2005), 6.
35 Johnson T.K. Lim, A Strategy for Reading Biblical Texts. (New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2002), 121.
36 Donald, Marshall. "Truth, Universality, and Interpretation" in Roger Lundin (ed.) Disciplining Hermeneutics: Interpretation in Christian Perspective (Leicester: Apollos,
1997), 84 [69-84].
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Marshall's statement shows that the interpretative proeess is an endless dialogue as readers continue to dig into the sacred text for meaning in their context. Therefore, the flexibility in hermeneutical readings is designed to accommodate changes as they occur in time and space. This is why it is important to define one's reading's itinerary beforehand in order to lead the reader of this study to a destination. This study is built on a number of hermeneutical choices that I have made and maintained throughout in order to achieve the objectives set for this study." My choices include: (1) to read the exodus narrative, particularly the Moses story, as a continuous narrative even though I acknowledge its complexity; (2) to use contextual reading as the framework of my study;
(3) to read dialogically the text in order to allow a free interaction between the narrative and my religious, political and socio-economic contexts. This chapter discusses first the three elements of the above choices, then it attempts to locate my reading in the African hermeneutical trend and ends with an evaluation of the contextual reading.
2.2. Moses Story as a Continuous Narrative
Reading the Moses story as a continuous narrative draws the focus of the reader to the overall unity of the story that has shaped the faith of Judaism and Christianity. It is important to point out that this approach does not overlook or avoid the ongoing debate about the multi-layered feature of the Pentateuch. Most Old Testament scholars admit that the biblical Moses is a complex figure, as is the narrative that describes his story.3* This study pays attention to the complexity of both Moses as a character and the pentateuchal narrative. An important issue is raised by Brian Britt as he asks, "Is Moses merely a floating signifier, a name conveniently attached to many disparate figures, or
37 This study is designed to achieve the following goals: To understand the dynamic of the leadership contest during the time of Moses and how it can illuminate the current situation in our society today. To enlighten our understanding of leadership struggles, its motives and how to handle it. For more details read "The motivation of the research" in Chapter One.
38 See the current discussions of the historical Moses under "Literature Review" in Chapter One.
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can we identify some common thread running through every story about him?"38 Britt raises a fundamental question in the study of the Moses narrative in particular and the entire Pentateuch in general. Scholars are trying to find whether there is any unifying thread in this story. According to Britt, there is a common thread that can bridge the divide between the maximalists and minimalists40 in 'the Moses myth.' He argues,
But while the divide between minimalists and maximalists threatens gridlock, an entirely different approach to Moses has begun to flourish.
The subject of these studies is the myth of Moses: legends, retellings, and elaborations of the biblical figure, In hagiography, Midrash, sermons, popular novels and films, the mythic Moses neither accepts nor rejects the historicity of the biblical text. Instead, the strands of this myth have proliferated by adapting the biblical Moses to many purposes, from Jewish, Hellenistic, and Muslim identity to liberation from slavery and oppression.41
This study acknowledges that there is a common thread running through the Moses story in the Pentateuch but it does not agree with Britt that the unifying factor is the 'Moses myth.' The term 'myth' bears such a negative connotation, regardless of how one may define it, that it would divert the reader from the goal pursued by the writer of the Pentateuch in putting together these materials for the future generation. The Moses myth expressed in legends, novels and films that Britt proposes cannot convey the legacy and relevance of the sacred text. Biblical narratives are designed to convey important lessons and to shape people's lives. They are therefore different from modern fictions as Gordon Fees stipulates,
Old Testament narratives are not just stories about people who lived in Old Testament times. They are first and foremost stories about what God did to and through those people...Characters, events, developments, plots and story climaxes all occur, but behind these, God is the supreme
"protagonist" or the leading decisive character in all narratives.42 39 Brian Britt, "The Moses Myth, beyond Biblical History"
www.bibleinterp.com/articIes/Britt-Moses_myth.htm
40 Britt defines 'maximalists' as those who accept much of the Bible as historically valid, and 'minimalists', who accept very little. Idem.
41 Brian Britt, "The Moses Myth..." www.bibleinteip.com/articles/Britt-Moses_myth.htm
42 Gordon D. Fees and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible For All Its Worth (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1982), 75-76.
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Our choice of analyzing the Moses story as a unified narrative rests upon this acknowledgment that the various elements of biblical narrative (setting, plot, character, scene) work together for one goal under God's control. That goal is to communicate faith as readers discover God's action behind the text, despite the complexity of the story. I concur with Richard Averbeck as he notes, "The Bible was put together and fits together as divinely inspired literature written in particular historical contexts with theological concerns in mind."43 While scholars have dichotomized the study of the Pentateuch by isolating and concentrating on one of the three dimensions mentioned by Averbeck, namely, literary, historical and theological dimensions, the narrative approach adopted in this study cuts across the three dimensions and affirms the wholeness and coherence of the text. Walter Kaiser distinguishes four major gains that a narrative approach offers to the student of the Bible. These are: (1) Focus on the present form of the text instead of taking isolated pieces of the text or working with a hypothetical text. (2) Efforts are placed on understanding the entirety of the story before us, despite what may appear to be inconsistencies or contradictions in the narrative. (3) Use of Bible's own literary conventions that are endemic to Hebrew literature rather than imposing categories that we have learned from other literary traditions. (4) Finally, by drawing our meaning on the text itself, we are protected against importing meanings and thereby overinterpreting the Bible.44 On top of the gains described above we presume that a multidisciplinary hermeneutical approach is helpful for getting at the meaning of the text. In this study we have associated the narrative approach with the analysis of social and historical backgrounds of some events covered in the text without leaning too much on reading behind the text or deconstructing the text.45
43 Richard E. Averbeck, "Factors in Reading the Patriarchal Narratives: Literary, Historical, and Theological Dimensions" in David M. Howard Jr. and Michael A.
Grisanti (eds.). Giving the Sense: Understanding and Using Old Testament Historical Texts (Leicester: Appolos, 2003), 115.
44 Walter C. Kaiser Jr. "Preaching From Historical Narrative Texts of the Old Testament"
in David M. Howard Jr. and Michael A. Grisanti (eds.). Giving the Sense: Understanding and Using Old Testament Historical Texts (Leicester: Appolos, 2003), 442-43.
45 'Reading Behind the Text and Deconstruction' are alternative approaches in
hermeneutics used for the study of the Bible by some contemporary scholars. Since this study will not elaborate on these methodologies, we recommend the reader who wants to deepen his/her knowledge in these two approaches to consult Craig Bartholomew,
To read the Moses story as a single and yet complex narrative also responds to the
"ethical responsibility"46 of the researcher to the academy and to people with or for whom we read the Bible. Firstly, we are accountable to the academy because our critical reading uses all the hermcneutical tools of narrative analysis, also paying attention to the literary and socio-historical context of the text, in order to explore its meaning. We do not use shortcuts in order to avoid addressing difficulties contained in the complex narrative about Moses. On the contrary, we engage in reading critically in order to uncover the underlying unity behind some contradictory elements in the Moses history. The exegesis and interpretation of texts is conducted with the scientific rigor that is required for such an academic work.
Secondly, our hermeneutics is accountable to people who are involved in our reading.
This study is not designed to fill shelves of academic libraries but to be read and to engage people, to react to life situations for social change. We concur with G.O. West as he notices "The difference it makes with whom we read the Bible."47 In the case of this study, our intent is to avail this work to all those who believe in the Scripture as the word of God able to bring change in lite. We are aware that some scholars such as Itumeleng Mosala48 would object to equating the Bible with the word of God. Mosala finds that this view has been used as a tool to oppress and exploit the poor and marginalized, therefore it endorses the view of the powerful and is anti-black-working-class and anti-black-
Stephen Evans, Mary Healy and Murray Rae (eds.) Behind the Text: History and Biblical Interpretation (Grand rapids: Zondervan Publishing Co., 2004) and David Rutledge, Reading Marginally: Feminism, Deconstruction and the Bible (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1996).
46 The term is borrowed from Daniel Patte in his book. Ethics of Biblical Interpretation: A Reevaluation (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995).
i1 Gerald O. West. The Academy of the Poor: Towards a Dialogical Reading of the Bible (Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications, 2003). West stresses the dialogue between scholars and ordinary Bible readers (poor and marginalized) as a way of doing meaningful contextual reading of the Bible that can bring change. Sarojini Nadar in Power, Ideology and Interpretation/s: Womanist and Literary Perspectives on the Book of Esther as Resources for Gender-Social Transformation (Pietermaritzburg: PhD Thesis, University of Kwazulu-Natal, 2003) has designed her biblical study for Indian women bearing in mind that her community believes in the Bible as the word of God.
48 Read Itumeleng J. Mosala. Biblical Hermeneutics and Black Theology in South Africa (Grand Rapids: WB. Eerdmans, 1989).
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women.49 Nevertheless, we can transcend that period when the Bible was interpreted to oppress the weak and marginalized and read it today for its worth as an inspired text.
Jonathan Draper underscores the peculiarity of the Bible as he notes that "It can be read as a historical source book by non-believer, but even then it will be systematically mis- read if its social location as a 'sacred text* is not taken into account."50 For the believing community the Bible conveys God's message [kerygma] to our society. Our approach meets Graig Bartholemew's expectation as he argues, "A hermeneutic is required which takes full account of literary and historical aspects and explores their relation to the dominant kerygmatic aspect."81 This quest for the kerygma eannot be satisfied by a fragmented text with Active characters reconstructed by late compilers of the Pentateuch as defined by Wellhausen's source criticism.52 The tendency of such a fragmentation of the scripture is to rob the Bible of its unity and life-changing power as the word of God.
The impact of the Moses narrative on the community of faith, in spite of the difficulty to rediscover the historical Moses, is expressed in this statement by a Jewish writer: "But it was never the 'historical Moses' who really counted for Judaism. Not who Moses was but what Moses signified and taught was always the crucial issue and it still is."" I concur with Anthony Balcomb as he argues that narrative should be considered as an
"alternative way of teaching theology that enhances both our faith and our critical faculties."54 Exploring the Moses' story as a unified narrative would achieve what Balcomb suggests. As Africans we believe in the power of narratives to communicate the truth and shape human behavior.
49 Mosala, Biblical Hermeneutics and Black Theology in South Africa, 19.
50 Jonathan Draper. "Old Scores and New Notes: Where and What Is Contextual Exegesis In The New South Africa?" in M.T. Speckman and L.T.Kaufmann (eds). Towards and Agenda for Contextual Theology: Essays in Honour of Albert Nolan (Pietermaritzburg:
Cluster Publication, 2001), 152 [148-168].
51 Graig G. Bartholomew, "A Table in the Wilderness: Towards a Post-liberal Agenda for Old Testament Study" in Richard S. Hess and Gordon J. Wenham (eds.). Make the Old Testament Live (Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1998), 38.
52 Read our discussion on historical criticism of the Pentateuch in Chapter One under
"Literature Review,"
53 Arnold Jacob Wolf. "Moses at the Millennium." Judaism, Wntr, 2000.
www.24hourscholar/p/articles/mi retrieved on 11 May 2006.
54 Anthony Balcomb, "Narrative: Exploring an Alternative Way of Doing Theology in the New South Africa." Journal of Theology for Southern Africa, No 101 (July 1998), 11-21.