At the heart of the Pentateuch sits the wilderness, where Israel takes its first steps as the people of God. Leviticus and Numbers tell the story of these first steps. On the one hand, there are the steps as outlined by God. On the other hand, there are the steps that the people of Israel actually take. Stories of the people’s resentments, doubts, and fears unfold into a narrative of rebellion and death—and another chance at life.
The wilderness is indeed a “roundabout” way toward freedom and new life (Exod 13:18). The steps, alternately outlined by God and taken by the people of Israel, chart a story of recovery. Through these steps, Israel changes and grows. By interpreting this story alongside two other traditions of recovery, the Desert Tradition of early Christianity and the Twelve-step Program of today, this commentary invites readers to discover among the abstruse and archaic elements of Leviticus and Numbers a font of practical instruction and experience.
Kruschwitz has brought a close textual reading of Leviticus and Numbers into dialogue with the modern Twelve-step recovery tradition in a commentary that has permanently changed how I now relate to both. In Leviticus and Numbers, the formerly enslaved Hebrews meet a God of the wilderness, where natural consequences are often immediate and harsh, but also where the journey of recovery and transformation can take place. Kruschwitz’s work is scholarly yet accessible to wide audiences, and his use of a hermeneutic of recovery to explore these biblical texts is brilliant and convincing.
—Rabbi Maurice D. Harris
Author of Leviticus: You Have No Idea
Edited by Mark E. Biddle, dean of the faculty at Sophia Theological Seminary in Richmond, the Reading the Old Testament commentary series presents cutting-edge biblical research in accessible language.
A native of Richmond, Virginia, Jonathan A. Kruschwitz holds degrees from the College of William & Mary, the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, and the University of Sheffield. He is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and Baptist traditions and serves as a bivocational pastor, writer, and religious studies instructor.
