06_Biblica_AN_Ska_Layout 1 01/04/14 12:04 Pagina 109 109 OLD AND NEW IN THE BOOK OF NUMBERS tive of this tendency is Mary Douglas 30. The basis of her study is the an- thropological antithesis of “pure” and “impure” 31. What is pure fosters life and what is impure is a danger because it can cause death. Influenced by E.E. Evans-Pritchard and above all É. Durkheim, she discovers a con- centric structure of thirteen units in the Book of Numbers, in a neat alter- nation of legal and narrative sections. In a similar way, G.W. Coats and R.P. Knierim, and their disciple W.W. Lee, study mainly the structure and organization of the final text, trying to find “coherence” in what looks at first sight rather messy 32. Along the same line, but in a different spirit, some authors concentrate their attention on the philological and stylistic aspects of the book rather than on the literary problems. On that basis, they elaborate its theology 33. Philology and theology were the two main interests of an earlier series of commentaries initiated by C.F. Keil and F. Delitzsch in the nineteenth cen- tury, and translated into English 34. The question is of course whether this type of commentary does justice to the serious problems raised by Numbers. These commentaries nonethe- less contain a great number of interesting remarks on the text 35. This list is not complete and does not intend to be complete. Its pur- pose is only to give an overview of the main directions taken by recent 30 See especially M. DOUGLAS, In the Wilderness. The Doctrine of Defile- ment in the Book of Numbers (JSOTSS 158; Sheffield 1993). 31 See M. DOUGLAS, Purity and Danger. An Analysis of the Concepts of Pollution and Taboo (ARK Paperbacks; London 1966, 2003). 32 R.P. KNIERIM, “The Book of Numbers”, Die Hebräische Bibel und ihre zweifache Nachgeschichte. Festschrift R. Rendtorff (Hrsg. E. BLUM et al.) (Neukirchen-Vluyn 1990) 155-163 = ID., The Task of Old Testament Theology. Substance, Method and Cases (Grand Rapids, MI 1995) 380-388; G.W. COATS – R. KNIERIM, Numbers (FOTL 4; Grand Rapids, MI 2005); W.W. LEE, Pun- ishment and Forgiveness in Israel’s Migratory Campaign (Grand Rapids, MI 2003); ID., “The Conceptual Coherence of Numbers 5,1–10,10”, The Books of Leviticus and Numbers (ed. T. RÖMER) (BETL 215; Leuven 2008) 473-489. Cf. O. ARTUS, “Le problème de l’unité littéraire et de la spécificité théologique du livre des Nombres”, The Books of Leviticus and Numbers (ed. T. RÖMER) (BETL 215; Leuven 2008) 121-143. 33 See, among others, P.J. BUDD, Numbers (WBC 5; Waco, TX 1984); T.R. ASHLEY, The Book of Numbers (NICOT; Grand Rapids, MI 1993). 34 See, on Numbers, C.F. KEIL, Leviticus, Numeri und Deuteronomium (BCAT 1.2; Giessen – Basel 1870, 31987); English translation: C. F. KEIL – F. DELITZSCH, Commentary on the Old Testament in ten volumes. Volume I: The Pentateuch (Grand Rapids, MI 1980). 35 This is also true of the earlier and still valuable commentary by G.B. GRAY, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Numbers (ICC; Edinburgh 1903).