06_Biblica_AN_Ska_Layout 1 01/04/14 12:04 Pagina 113 113 OLD AND NEW IN THE BOOK OF NUMBERS tion in the Priestly Writer 44. At least the reader has the right to expect an answer, since the question is already present in Genesis 10, as we have seen. To affirm that the cult is the only real interest of the Priestly Writer and that the conclusion is reached when God enters the sanctuary in Exodus 40 would be theologically very unsatisfactory. Is the God of the Priestly Writer one of those modern politicians who forgets all his/her promises once elected and occupies a cosy power position? Hic manebimus optime — “Here we can stay very well”, this could God say when occupying the sanctuary prepared by Israel, and waiting for juicy sacrifices and flavourful incense 45. God — the Lord of Israel — may be happy, but the original readers were surely not. The answer, in the opinion of several scholars, and I am one of them, is to be found in the Book of Numbers, and namely in Numbers 13–14*, in the Priestly version of the exploration of the land. In my opinion, the answer is threefold. (1) From the start it is clear that the land is given, since Num 13,2 uses no longer the future — “I will give” — as in all the promises, but a form of the present: “I am giving” — !tn yna — which is performative language 46. (2) The exploration of the land is not, as in the parallel version of the story, a spying operation preparing for an invasion. It is a juridical act, a way of taking possession of the land de iure, before it will be possible to take possession of it de facto. This is the reason why the Priestly Writer chooses a very special vocabulary to describe the ex- ploration of the land, namely the verb rwt, “to go through”, “to travel through”, “to travel up and down.” (3) The third element is the clear ex- planation why the land was not occupied de facto. The reason is Israel’s rebellion and refusal to enter the land, not God’s decision to remain in the desert to be served by an entire nation. The God who was able to give a land to every nation on the surface of the earth must be able to give a land to Israel, the chosen people. As usual in the biblical world, if this does not happen, the fault must be not with God, but with the human partners. And this is what Numbers 13–14 explains at length. For all these reasons, 44 See, among others, C. FREVEL, Mit Blick auf das Land die Schöpfung erinnern. Zum Ende der Priesterschrift (HBS 23; Freiburg i. Breisgau 2000); H. SEEBASS, “‘Holy’ Land in the Old Testament: Numbers and Joshua”, VT 56 (2006) 92-104. I am also using some insights from the research of B. Velčič who is writing a thesis on this topic. 45 Hic manebimus optime, “Here we will stay very well” is a sentence pro- nounced by a Roman centurion and reported by Titus Livius in his Ab Urbe condita libri, V, 55. This sentence convinced the Romans to stay in Rome after the destructions caused by the Gallic invasions in 391-390 BCE. 46 N. LOHFINK, “Die Landverheissung in Numeri und das Ende der Pries- terschrift: Zu einem rätselhaften Befund im Buch Numeri”, Studien zum Deu- teronomium und zur deuteronomistischen Literatur V (SBAB 38; Stuttgart 2005) 273-292.