06_Biblica_AN_Ska_Layout 1 01/04/14 12:04 Pagina 110 110 JEAN LOUIS SKA research on the Book of Numbers in recent years. There are other essays, but they are more marginal, at least in my opinion. I may be wrong, of course, and the future will decide on this point as on many others. III. Is the Priestly Writer present in Numbers? Let me come to my third question. Among the recent monographs that have had a strong influence on the exegesis of the Book of Numbers one has to mention that of T. Pola. The reason is well-known: T. Pola affirms that the Priestly Writer is absent from Numbers since it reaches its natural conclusion in Exodus 40* 36. This has two main consequences. First, the source which is often considered as the “red thread” going through the Pentateuch is absent from the Book of Numbers, and second, one has to look elsewhere for a log- ical and theological link between Numbers and the rest of the Pentateuch 37. The reasons given by T. Pola are manifold, and it will be impossible to discuss all of them in this short article. In short, the main arguments are five. (1) In ancient Near Eastern myths, a creation account ends with the building of a temple dedicated to the creator of the universe. For this reason, the most natural and fitting conclusion to the Priestly Writer’s cre- ation account in Genesis 1 would be the consecration of the sanctuary in Exodus 40. (2) In Numbers, the basically cultic community becomes an ecclesia militans, namely a nation of warriors that prepares itself for the conquest of the land. (3) There is a drastic change of atmosphere in the texts traditionally attributed to the Priestly Writer in the Book of Numbers. Sin, rebellion, and punishment create a negative atmosphere unknown in earlier stages of the source. (4) It becomes more and more difficult to de- termine with precision what the priestly texts in the Book of Numbers are. Moreover, the texts attributed to the Priestly Writer have little to do with each other. (5) It is also very difficult to find the typical vocabulary and themes of the Priestly Writer in Numbers 38. 36 T. POLA, Die ursprüngliche Priesterschrift. Beobachtungen zur Literar- kritik und Traditionsgeschichte von Pg (WMANT 70; Neukirchen-Vluyn 1995). 37 See especially J. WELLHAUSEN, Prolegomena zur Geschichte Israels (Berlin 1905) 336: “Es ist als ob P der rote Faden sei, an dem die Perlen von JE aufgereiht werden”; M. NOTH, Überlieferungsgeschichte des Pentateuch (Stuttgart 1948) 11; English translation: A History of Pentateuchal Traditions (Englewood Cliffs, NJ 1972). 38 As we saw earlier, this holds true for all the pentateuchal sources. For a summary of these objections, see J.L. SKA, “Le récit sacerdotal: une ‘his- toire sans fin’?”, The Books of Leviticus and Numbers (ed. T. RÖMER) (BETL 215; Leuven 2008) 631-653, here 634-635.