The idea of stratification in the Pentateuch has come to be considered an essential element of non-Documentary Hypothesis theories regarding the composition of the canonical text. After all, stratification seems to imply the very opposite
of compilation: not independent pieces that have been combined at one go, but rather layers – layers of composition, layers of redaction, layers of theological reworking. In this essay, I would like to address the question of stratification and secondary additions in a single chapter, Numbers 17, with the aim of addressing the issue of how stratification in and of itself contributes to our understanding of the growth of the Pentateuch.