Numbers: forty years in the wilderness
Numbers follows Israel from Sinai to the edge of the promised land. The generation that would not trust God died in the wilderness, yet God stayed faithful and brought their children to the border.
About the book
The Hebrew Bible calls the book Bemidbar, ‘in the wilderness’, from its first verse, where the LORD spoke to Moses "in the Wilderness of Sinai" (Numbers 1:1). The Greek Old Testament called it ‘Numbers’ for its two counts of Israel's fighting men: one at Sinai (chapter 1), of the generation that had left Egypt, and one on the plains of Moab (chapter 26), of the generation that would enter the land. Of the first, "Not one was left except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun" (Numbers 26:65).
Like the other books of the Law, Numbers has long been received as a book of Moses (see the Genesis lesson). It says that "Moses recorded the stages of their journey" (Numbers 33:2), and the Jewish tradition kept in the Talmud has Moses write his own book and the passage on Balaam as well Talmud, Bava Batra. Many scholars see here, as in Exodus, several sources woven together (J, E and P) over a long time; many others hold that the book comes from Moses, with a few later notes.
The map under the Jesus tab sets its events in the era of the exodus and the wilderness (the fifteenth or thirteenth century BC). The book spans nearly forty years, from the second year after the exodus (1:1) to the fortieth, when Aaron died (33:38). Its counts are large, over 600,000 men each time (1:46): many take them as they stand, while others note that the Hebrew word for ‘thousand’ can also mean a clan or a troop.
How it unfolds
| Chapters | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1–10 | At Sinai: the first count, the camp in order, the cloud that leads |
| 10–21 | The journey: complaints, the spies and the people's refusal (13–14), forty years, the bronze serpent |
| 22–36 | On the plains of Moab: Balaam's blessings, the second count, ready for the land |
Key passages
Early in the book God gives the priests a blessing to speak over Israel, still spoken over congregations today:
May the LORD bless you and keep you; may the LORD cause His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; may the LORD lift up His countenance toward you and give you peace.
Numbers 6:24-26
God leads them by the cloud, yet the people complain of hardship, of the manna, of Moses. At Kadesh twelve spies come back from Canaan. Ten say the land cannot be taken; Caleb and Joshua plead, "the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them!" (Numbers 14:9). The people refuse, and murmuring becomes rebellion. Moses prays, holding God to the name he proclaimed at Sinai: "The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in loving devotion, forgiving iniquity and transgression" (Numbers 14:18). God forgives, yet that generation will not enter. They will wander forty years, "a year for each day" the spies were in the land (Numbers 14:34). Even Moses, because he did not trust God at the waters of Meribah, may not bring them in (Numbers 20:12).
Near the end of the journey the people speak against God again, and fiery serpents come among them. God gives a strange cure: "Moses made a bronze snake and mounted it on a pole. If anyone who was bitten looked at the bronze snake, he would live" (Numbers 21:9).
On the plains of Moab, King Balak hires the seer Balaam to curse Israel, but Balaam can only bless:
God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?
Numbers 23:19
A faithless people and a faithful God: that is Numbers. The new generation is counted, and the land is in view.
The book and Christ
The risen Jesus explained the Scriptures "beginning with Moses" (Luke 24:27), and he himself took the bronze serpent as a picture of his cross:
Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.
John 3:14-15
Matthew Henry draws the line between them: "They looked and lived, and we, if we believe, shall not perish" Matthew Henry.
When the crowd recalled the manna, Jesus answered, "I am the bread of life" (John 6:35). Paul writes that Israel in the wilderness "drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ" (1 Corinthians 10:4), and that their story was "written down as warnings for us" (1 Corinthians 10:11). Hebrews takes up the psalm on the wilderness: "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts" (Hebrews 3:7-8), for that generation could not enter "because of their unbelief" (Hebrews 3:19). Numbers warns us, and it also shows the patience of the God who brought their children to the border.
Reading it
Thirty-six chapters at three a day take twelve days; begin with Numbers 1. The census lists and the order of the camp (1–4, 26) and the leaders' offerings (7) may be read quickly. Read chapters 13–14 slowly, and afterwards 1 Corinthians 10 and Hebrews 3, which read the wilderness for the church. Then go on to Deuteronomy.
Practice
- Practice 1 of 6
Why is the book called Numbers?
- Practice 2 of 6
What happened when the people would not go into the land after the spies came back?
- Practice 3 of 6
In John 3:14, what does Jesus compare to his being lifted up?
- Practice 4 of 6
What does Balaam say of God in Numbers 23:19?
- Practice 5 of 6
What does Hebrews 3 draw from the wilderness generation?
- Practice 6 of 6
What is true of the authorship of Numbers?
Reading to the end marks it read; tap to switch it.
Related topics
Source
- The Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra 14b–15a — Completed c. 6th century. The Jewish tradition of who wrote (or compiled) each book of the Hebrew Bible: Moses his own book, the portion of Balaam and Job; Joshua his and the Torah's last eight verses (his death recorded by Eleazar and Phinehas); Samuel his, Judges and Ruth (finished by Gad and Nathan); David the Psalms with the elders; Jeremiah his, Kings and Lamentations; Hezekiah and his company Isaiah, Proverbs, the Song and Ecclesiastes; the Men of the Great Assembly Ezekiel, the Twelve, Daniel and Esther; Ezra his and the genealogies of Chronicles.
Lessons from the Bible, the church's creeds and classic commentary. Each book's author and date are given as the church has received them, and scholars who see them otherwise are presented fairly. Scripture quotations: BSB.