“Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.” (Numbers 6:23-27, ESV)
God's instructions to the priests
In the Wilderness
The book of Numbers records what the people of Israel experienced in the wilderness as they journeyed between Mount Sinai and the Promised Land. This period that covers nearly forty years is often depicted as a time of aimless wandering; we will see that it was not the case. Due to their disobedience and lack of faith, the generation that left Egypt was not allowed to enter the Promised Land. The lengthy period in the wilderness was not due to them being lost, it was a time of preparation for the next generation, while their parents lived out their remaining years in the desert.
The story-telling narrative essentially picks up where it left off with the people of Israel still camped around Mount Sinai. Even though most of God’s regulations to the Israelites have been presented in the books of Exodus and Leviticus, there are many additional procedural rules and other laws that will be woven in and around the stories recorded in this book.
The trek between Mount Sinai to Canaan would have been a relatively short trip requiring only a few months of time, even for a large group like theirs. However, when they arrive close enough to send in spies to reconnoiter the land and people, many lose faith in God and the majority of their troubles begin. If nothing else, the book of Numbers is a historic record of distrust and misadventure. While many challenges lie ahead for them, such as enemies to fight, bickering among themselves, an encounter with an odd prophet and harsh judgment from God, the hardest challenge, and their greatest adversary, will be themselves. They will face great temptation; and sadly they will fall for lust and idolatry.
The document as a whole through its fixed and recurrent formal preferences or literary structures makes two complementary points. [1] Reason unaided by Scripture produces uncertain propositions. [2] Reason operating within the limits of Scripture produces truth. These two principles are never articulated but left implicit in the systematic reading of most of the book of Numbers, verse by verse.[1]
It was true then, and remains true today, just as the apostle Paul warns, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12) Satan had plenty of time to “pollute the land”[2] creating a difficult environment for godly people to live in. In that regard the book of Numbers can be viewed as a model of mankind’s journey on earth as each person prepares to enter heaven, the promised land of eternity. Only those who accept the gift of eternal life through Jesus, and trust in Him, will enter heaven. Appropriately, the book of Numbers contains many prophetic elements that clearly point to the coming Messiah, Jesus.
More Than Numbers
The title of the book can be a little misleading, the name ‘Numbers’ comes from the Greek title found in the Septuagint, ‘Arithmoi’ (the root word where the term arithmetic comes from), which later was translated into the Latin word ‘Numeri’. There seems to be some debate how it originally got that title, however the fact that the book contains several censuses (see chapters 1-4 and 26) may have had some influence, but the book contains a lot more than just censuses, counts, and a lot of numbers. The early Hebrew title was ‘Va-Yedabber’ from the word translated as ‘spoke’, one of the first words in the opening line, but the current title used by the Jews today, ‘B’Miḏ·bǎr’ (or Bamidbar), is much more appropriate, simply meaning “In the wilderness,” also taken from the first verse. As pointed out above, most of the story in this book takes place in the wilderness.
Due to the negative presentation of human nature found in this book, it is one of the more hotly contested books of the Bible. It also conflicts with many people’s views that God can only be a compassionate and forgiving God, one that never punishes people for disobedience.[3] The Bible demonstrates that God is both a just God and a loving God.
Outline
I. Preparations to leave Mount Sinai (1:1-10:10)
A. Counting and organizing of the people (1:1-4:49)
1. Census of the men of war with the exception of the
Levites (1:1-54)
2. Location of each tribe in the camp (2:1-34)
3. Numbering, camp placement and duties of the Levites
(3:1-4:49)
B. Commands for purity among the people (5:1-10:10)
1. The removal of defilement from the camp (5:1-31)
2. The Nazarite vow (6:1-21)
3. The Aaronic blessing (6:22-27)
4. Consecration of the Tabernacle (7:1-8:4)
5. Consecration of the Levites (8:5-26)
6. Observance of the Passover (9:1-14)
7. Cloud covers the Tabernacle (9:15-23)
8. Two silver trumpets to be made (10:1-10)
II. From Mount Sinai to Kadesh (10:11-20:14)
A. Orderly exit from the wilderness of Sinai (10:11-36)
B. People of Israel begin to complain (11:1-35)
C. Miriam and Aaron oppose Moses (12:1-16)
D. The twelve spies and their conflicting reports (13:1-33)
E. The people rebel and are defeated (14:1-45)
F. Additional rules (15:1-41)
G. Korah’s rebellion (16:1-50)
H. Aaron’s staff grows (17:1-13)
I. Duties of priests and Levites (18:1-32)
J. The water of cleansing (19:1-22)
K. Moses’ failure at Meribah (20:1-13)
III. From Kadesh to the Plains of Moab (20:14-25:18)
A. Opposition from Edom (20:14-21)
B. The death of Aaron (20:22-29)
C. The defeat of Arad, Sihon, and Og (21:1-35)
D. Balak and Balaam (22:1-24:25)
E. Idolatry at Baal-Peor (25:1-18)
IV. Preparations for entering the Promised Land (26:1-36:13)
A. Second census of the men of war (26:1-65)
B. Daughters of Zelophehad (27:1-11)
C. Joshua to succeed Moses (27:12-23)
D. Rules for offerings and vows (28:1-30:16)
E. War against Midian (31:1-54)
F. Tribes desiring to settle on the east side of the Jordan River
(32:1-42)
G. Summary of the journey between Egypt and the plains of
Moab (33:1-56)
H. Promised Land borders set (34:1-15)
I. Leaders of tribes identified (34:16-29)
J. Levite towns and cities of refuge (35:1-34)
K. Zelophehad’s daughters and marriage (36:1-13)
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[1] Neusner, J., Avery-Peck, A. J., & Green, W. S. (Eds.). (2000). In The encyclopedia of Judaism (Vol. 5, p. 2184). Leiden; Boston; Köln: Brill.
[2] See commentaries under Genesis 9:25-27 and Genesis 15:13-16.
[3] See commentary under Genesis 6:3; the introduction to Exodus chapter 11 and the Considerations under Leviticus 26:46.