Creative waters: Semantic and ritual innovation in the Book of Numbers

Abstract

The article examines how water features in different rituals in Leviticus and Numbers. It starts by providing an overview of how water is used in Leviticus and Numbers for cleansing and other rituals, focusing on cases where water is mixed with something else. Then, the article focuses on three pericopes from the Book of Numbers that describe concoctions of water mixed with other substances. These concoctions are given specific names in Numbers. Lastly, the article discusses diachronic arguments about these ritual texts. Contribution: The article shows the creativity that the authors of Numbers employed in reworking and innovating ritual texts from Leviticus.

Keywords

• cleansing rituals
• ritual texts
• water concoctions
• ritual innovation
• leviticus
• numbers 5
• numbers 8
• numbers 19