The Festival Legislation in Numbers 28–29

The festival legislation in Num 28–29 is so similar to that found in Lev 23 that it is a scholarly consensus the two are directly related. The question of what is similar between these laws has already been the topic of numerous detailed studies, yet the question of why nearly identical, post-Priestly-dated laws appear in two separate Pentateuchal books has been far less satisfactorily answered. This article argues against the prevailing opinion that suggests Num 28–29 should be considered a “supplement” to Lev 23. Instead, Num 28–29, while undoubtedly using Lev 23 as a Vorlage , represents a further step in centralization, building upon the context-specific (book-level) innovations that exist only in Numbers.