87 THE BAAL PEOR EPISODE REVISITED instructions in preparation for living in the land west of the Jordan which they are about to cross. These instructions occupy most of the rest of Numbers beginning immediately after the census, and they are promulgated “in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho”. (See the inclusive verses 26,63 and 36,13). They are interrupted only by the command to Moses to prepare for death followed by the investiture of Joshua (27,12-23), the war of extermination against the Midianites (31,1- 54), and the wilderness itinerary which also ends “in the plains of Moab” (33,1-49). The instructions cover such widely diverse matters as boundaries, Levitical and sanctuary cities, homicide, manslaughter and inheritance rights. The affinity between these and their counterpart in Deuteronomic legislation covering similar topics is unmistakable. The Deuteronomic prescriptions are explicitly described as belonging to a second law, and therefore a law for a new generation in a new situation (Deut 1,5; 28,69). It is explicitly stated that they are promulgated in Moab, opposite Beth Peor, therefore in the same region as the Baal Peor incident, and on the eve of the crossing of the Jordan (Deut 3,29; 4,46). The relation between this Deuteronomic material and Numbers has not proved easy to parse out in detail, and I do not intend to undertake that task here. For the moment, it will suffice to say that there is broad agreement that the version in Numbers was written to address those who, under Persian rule, aspired to make a new beginning and set up a new polity in the province of Judah, one which would enable them to come to terms with, and thereby overcome, the history of failure narrated by the Deuteronomistic Historian and reflected in the incidental and fictionalized narrative preserved in Numbers. It is not surprising therefore that much of the narrative and instructional material in Numbers addresses such pragmatic issues as community organization, property rights, status, especially of Aaronid priests and Levites 3, nor that conflict is so much more in evidence in Numbers than in parallel versions of episodes in the Exodus wilderness narrative. Arguably the most important of these issues dealt with community and ethnic boundaries, and therefore the control of marriage. But all of them reflect concerns of those in yehûd medîntâ who were actively and contentiously engaged in forging a new identity. Book of Numbers and the Pentateuch (BJS 71; Chico, CA 1985); Id., “Ne- gotiating Boundaries: The Old Generations and the Theology of Numbers”, Int 51 (1997) 229-240. 3 In particular, the legitimacy of the Aaronid priesthood which we know to have been in dispute at the time of writing, is reflected in various episodes in Numbers (17,16-27; 18,1-32) including the “perpetual priesthood” prom- ised to Phineas at Baal Peor (25,10-13). Also relevant to this theme is Aa- ronid opposition to attempts by Levites to share the privileges of the priesthood (16,1–17,15).