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Old Testament · The Law · Book 4 of 66

Numbers

Israel’s journey from Sinai to the plains of Moab, in which the generation that refused the land dies in the wilderness and their children are numbered to inherit it.

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Numbers is named for its two musters of Israel’s fighting men, one in the wilderness of Sinai and one, almost forty years later, on the plains of Moab. Between them a generation dies. The first count is of the men who came out of Egypt, numbered “by their armies” to take Canaan (Numbers 1:3). At Kadesh they refused, crying, “would God we had died in this wilderness!” (14:2), and the LORD answered, “as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you” (14:28). The second count ends on the outcome: “there was not left a man of them, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun” (26:65).

The LORD’s word holds in mercy as well. He leads the camp by the cloud, feeds it, pardons it at Moses’ plea, and brings the children their fathers feared for to the edge of the land (14:31). When a king hires a prophet to curse them, the prophet can only say, “God is not a man, that he should lie” (23:19). Paul says these things “are written for our admonition” (1 Corinthians 10:11).

Key verse
God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?

Numbers 23:19 KJV

The cluster of Eshcol Numbers 13:23
The rod that budded Numbers 17:8
The serpent of brass Numbers 21:9

Before you read

Who wrote it
Moses. The book closes on “the commandments and the judgments, which the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses” (36:13), and records that “Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys” (33:2). Jesus said of Moses, “he wrote of me” (John 5:46).
When it happens
From “the first day of the second month, in the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt” (1:1) to the fortieth year, in which Aaron died on mount Hor (33:38). Moses later counts the years from Kadesh to the brook Zered as “thirty and eight years” (Deuteronomy 2:14).
Where
The wilderness of Sinai; the wilderness of Paran, where the spies return to Kadesh (13:26); the desert of Zin (20:1); and at last “the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho” (36:13).

How Numbers is laid out

8 movements · 170 passages · 1,288 verses

6:249:1814:917:821:923:1924:1726:65
11–425:1–10:10310:11–12:16413–14515–19620–21722–25826–36

Numbered by their armies

Chapters 1–4 · 188 verses

In the wilderness of Sinai, in the second year out of Egypt, Moses and Aaron number every man from twenty years old and upward “able to go forth to war”: 603,550 in all. The tribes camp in four companies of three around the tabernacle. The Levites are numbered apart, taken by the LORD instead of Israel’s firstborn, and given the charge of carrying the tabernacle.

23 passages

  1. 1:1–4 God Commands a Military Census
  2. 1:5–19 Leaders Appointed for the Census
  3. 1:20–46 The Census Results by Tribe
  4. 1:47–54 The Levites Are Set Apart
  5. 2:1–2 Instructions for Setting the Camp
  6. 2:3–9 The Camp of Judah (East)
  7. 2:10–17 The Camp of Reuben (South) and the Tabernacle in the Midst
  8. 2:18–24 The Camp of Ephraim (West)
  9. 2:25–31 The Camp of Dan (North)
  10. 2:32–34 Summary and Obedience
  11. 3:1–4 The Generations of Aaron and Moses
  12. 3:5–10 The Levites Assigned to Tabernacle Service
  13. 3:11–13 The Levites as Substitutes for the Firstborn
  14. 3:14–20 Census and Duties of the Levite Clans
  15. 3:21–26 The Duties of the Gershonites
  16. 3:27–32 The Duties of the Kohathites
  17. 3:33–39 The Duties of the Merarites
  18. 3:40–51 Redemption of the Excess Firstborn
  19. 4:1–16 Duties and Census of the Kohathites
  20. 4:17–20 Protecting the Kohathites from Death
  21. 4:21–28 Duties and Census of the Gershonites
  22. 4:29–33 Duties and Census of the Merarites
  23. 4:34–49 Summary of the Levitical Census

A holy camp at Sinai

5:1–10:10 · 206 verses

The unclean are put out of the camp, and laws follow for restitution, the jealous husband and the vow of the Nazarite. Aaron and his sons receive the blessing that puts the LORD’s name on Israel. The princes bring their offerings for the altar over twelve days, the Levites are cleansed, and the Passover is kept. The cloud and two silver trumpets will order every march.

6 chapters

  1. 5 Maintaining Camp Holiness
  2. 6 The Law of the Nazirite Vow
  3. 7 Dedication of the Tabernacle Begins
  4. 8 Instructions for the Menorah
  5. 9 The Passover Commanded at Sinai
  6. 10 The Command to Make Silver Trumpets

From Sinai to Hazeroth

10:11–12:16 · 77 verses

On the twentieth day of the second month the cloud is taken up, and the tribes set out in order behind the ark. Soon the people complain: fire burns at Taberah, and the cry for flesh brings quail and a plague at Kibroth-hattaavah. Seventy elders receive of the spirit that was on Moses. At Hazeroth Miriam and Aaron speak against him, and Miriam is struck with leprosy.

11 passages

  1. 10:11–28 The Departure from Sinai
  2. 10:29–32 Moses Entreats Hobab to Serve as Guide
  3. 10:33–36 The Ark Leads the Journey
  4. 11:1–3 The Burning at Taberah
  5. 11:4–15 The Demand for Meat and Moses’ Despair
  6. 11:16–23 God Appoints Seventy Elders
  7. 11:24–30 The Spirit Rests on the Elders
  8. 11:31–35 Quail Sent and Judgment at Kibrothhattaavah
  9. 12:1–3 Miriam and Aaron Challenge Moses
  10. 12:4–9 The Lord Defends Moses' Authority
  11. 12:10–16 Miriam is Judged and Healed

Refusal at Kadesh

Chapters 13–14 · 78 verses

Twelve spies search the land for forty days and bring back a cluster of grapes from Eshcol. Ten say its people are too strong; Caleb says, “we are well able to overcome it.” The congregation weeps and plans to return to Egypt. At Moses’ plea the LORD pardons, but swears that the men of this generation will die in the wilderness. A presumptuous attack ends in defeat.

10 passages

  1. 13:1–16 The Command to Send Spies
  2. 13:17–25 Instructions for the Mission
  3. 13:26–29 The Spies Return to Kadesh
  4. 13:30–33 The Conflicting Reports
  5. 14:1–4 Israel Rebels and Despairs
  6. 14:5–10 Joshua and Caleb Urge Faith
  7. 14:11–19 God Threatens Destruction
  8. 14:20–35 The Sentence of Forty Years
  9. 14:36–39 The Death of the Ten Spies
  10. 14:40–45 Presumptuous Attack and Defeat

Who may come near

Chapters 15–19 · 158 verses

Laws follow for offerings in the land to come, for sins of ignorance and presumptuous sin, and for fringes on garments. Korah, Dathan and Abiram rise against Moses and Aaron; the earth swallows them, and fire consumes 250 men offering incense. Aaron stands “between the dead and the living.” His rod alone buds. The priests’ portion is set, and the ashes of a red heifer cleanse from the dead.

5 chapters

  1. 15 Laws for Grain and Drink Offerings
  2. 16 Korah's Rebellion against Moses and Aaron
  3. 17 God Commands the Test of the Rods
  4. 18 Duties and Responsibilities of Priests and Levites
  5. 19 The Ordinance of the Red Heifer

The way around Edom

Chapters 20–21 · 64 verses

Miriam dies at Kadesh, in the desert of Zin. There Moses strikes the rock twice for water, but he and Aaron are barred from the land. Edom refuses passage, and Aaron dies on mount Hor. When the people loathe the manna, fiery serpents bite them, and Moses sets a serpent of brass on a pole for the bitten to look upon and live. Sihon and Og fall east of Jordan.

8 passages

  1. 20:1–13 Miriam Dies; Water Crisis at Kadesh
  2. 20:14–21 Edom Refuses Israel Passage
  3. 20:22–29 The Death of Aaron
  4. 21:1–3 Israel Defeats King Arad
  5. 21:4–9 The Plague of Fiery Serpents
  6. 21:10–20 Israel's Journey Continues
  7. 21:21–32 Conquest of Sihon, King of the Amorites
  8. 21:33–35 Conquest of Og, King of Bashan

Balaam and Baal-peor

Chapters 22–25 · 114 verses

Israel camps in the plains of Moab. Balak, king of Moab, sends for Balaam to curse them, and on the road the angel of the LORD stands against Balaam, seen first by his ass. From three high places Balaam blesses Israel instead, and foretells a Star out of Jacob. Then Israel joins itself to Baal-peor through the women of Moab, and Phinehas’ zeal stays the plague.

18 passages

  1. 22:1–4 Israel Encamped; Moab’s Fear
  2. 22:5–14 Balak Summons Balaam
  3. 22:15–21 Balak Sends More Honorable Princes
  4. 22:22–35 Balaam's Donkey
  5. 22:36–41 Balaam Arrives in Moab
  6. 23:1–6 Balaam Prepares the First Altar
  7. 23:7–12 Balaam’s First Oracle: Israel Blessed
  8. 23:13–17 The Second Attempt to Curse Israel
  9. 23:18–26 Balaam’s Second Oracle: God’s Faithfulness
  10. 23:27–30 Preparation for the Third Oracle
  11. 24:1–9 Balaam's Third Oracle: Israel's Prosperity
  12. 24:10–14 Balak's Anger and Balaam's Defense
  13. 24:15–19 The Fourth Oracle: The Star and the Scepter
  14. 24:20–25 Oracles Against the Nations
  15. 25:1–5 The Sin at Baal-peor
  16. 25:6–9 Phinehas Executes Judgment
  17. 25:10–15 Phinehas Rewarded with Priesthood
  18. 25:16–18 Command to Attack Midian

A new generation numbered

Chapters 26–36 · 403 verses

A second census counts 601,730, and not one man of the first numbering is left but Caleb and Joshua. The daughters of Zelophehad receive their father’s inheritance, and Joshua is set before the congregation to succeed Moses. Then come the appointed offerings, vows, the war on Midian, Reuben and Gad’s land east of Jordan, the stages of the journey, the borders of Canaan and the cities of refuge.

11 chapters

  1. 26 The Second Census Commanded
  2. 27 The Daughters of Zelophehad Seek Justice
  3. 28 The Law of Communal Offerings
  4. 29 Offerings for the Feast of Trumpets
  5. 30 Introduction to the Law of Vows
  6. 31 The Lord Commands Vengeance on Midian
  7. 32 The Request for Land East of Jordan
  8. 33 The Command to Record the Journeys
  9. 34 The Borders of Canaan Defined
  10. 35 The Levites' Cities and Pasturelands
  11. 36 The Manassehites Raise a Legal Concern

The words Numbers turns on

Number fills the two censuses and set forward the marches; murmur gathers at Kadesh and after Korah, and bless runs from Aaron to Balaam.

See these words across the whole Bible

What Numbers teaches

pâqad · number

Counted for the land

The first census counts “all that are able to go forth to war in Israel” (1:3), and it comes to 603,550 (1:46). At Kadesh the count becomes the measure of the sentence: “Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward” (14:29). The verb, pâqad, also means to visit, and Moses has just used it in his plea, of the LORD “visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children” (14:18). The children bear forty years in the wilderness for their fathers’ sin (14:33), yet they are the ones brought in (14:31). The second census numbers them for their inheritance, “according to the number of names” (26:53), and of the first numbering “there was not a man of them” left (26:64).

ʼâman · believe

Faithful in all mine house

When Miriam and Aaron speak against Moses, the LORD answers, “My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house” (12:7). The same verb names the people’s failure two chapters later: “how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them?” (14:11). Then it is used of Moses himself. Told to speak to the rock, he struck it twice, saying, “must we fetch you water out of this rock?” and the LORD said, “Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land” (20:8–12). Hebrews takes up both. Moses was faithful “as a servant,” Christ “as a son over his own house” (Hebrews 3:5–6), and the fathers “could not enter in because of unbelief” (3:19).

maṭṭeh · rod, tribe

The rod that budded

The Hebrew maṭṭeh is both a rod and a tribe: the staff a prince carried, and the people he led. Korah’s company had said, “Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy” (16:3). The LORD settles who may come near with twelve rods, one for each tribe, laid up before the testimony: “the man’s rod, whom I shall choose, shall blossom” (17:5). Aaron’s rod “was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds” (17:8), and it was kept “for a token against the rebels” (17:10). Ambrose read in it that not the will of man but the grace of God should have the chief part in the election of the priest. Hebrews applies the rule to Christ: “no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron” (Hebrews 5:4).

bârak · bless

Blessed, and not reversed

At Sinai the LORD gives Aaron’s sons the words with which to bless Israel, “The LORD bless thee, and keep thee” (6:24), and adds, “they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them” (6:27). On the plains of Moab a king tries to buy the opposite. Balak trusts Balaam’s word: “he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed” (22:6). But God tells Balaam, “thou shalt not curse the people: for they are blessed” (22:12), and from every high place Balaam has to say so: “I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it” (23:20). Balaam himself was not changed. Israel fell at Peor “through the counsel of Balaam” (31:16), and Peter names him as one “who loved the wages of unrighteousness” (2 Peter 2:15).

Christ in Numbers

Jesus took the lifting up of the serpent of brass as a sign of his own: “as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:14–15). The bitten were not healed by any remedy or effort of their own. The LORD’s word was that “every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live” (Numbers 21:8).

Paul finds Christ in the wilderness itself. Israel “drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:4), and those destroyed of serpents had tempted Christ (10:9). Hebrews sets Moses, faithful in God’s house as a servant, beside Christ the Son (Hebrews 3:2–6), and the ashes of the red heifer beside “the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God” (9:13–14). Balaam saw from far off “a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre” (Numbers 24:17); Jesus calls himself “the bright and morning star” (Revelation 22:16).

People

By how many verses name them

204 more are named.

Places

133 named

Map: From Mt. Sinai to Kadesh Barnea
From Mt. Sinai to Kadesh Barnea · 8 more · Map © Biblica Open Bible Maps · CC BY-SA 4.0

The passages it leans on, and the ones that lean on it

Books Numbers links to most

  1. Exodus834
  2. Deuteronomy606
  3. Psalms561
  4. Leviticus550
  5. Genesis411
  6. Joshua340

Cross-references from Numbers into each book · 64 books in all

See every thread

The Church Fathers on Numbers

184 quotations from 30 writers before AD 800 · the ten most quoted, in date order

  1. Origen253
  2. Cyprian258
  3. Pacian391
  4. Ambrose397
  5. Chrysostom407
  6. Jerome420
  7. Augustine430
  8. Procopius528
  9. Caesarius542
  10. Paterius606

Origen noticed that Levi is numbered outside the twelve tribes.

We gather from the book of Numbers that there may be something greater than Israel too. For there the whole of Israel is numbered and reckoned in twelve tribes, as under a fixed number. But the tribe of Levi, being of greater eminence than the others, is accounted extra to this number and never thought of as being one of Israel’s number [of twelve].
Origen of Alexandria 253 · Commentary On The Song Of Songs, Prologue · on Numbers 2:33

Cyprian on Korah, Dathan and Abiram, who took the priests’ office to themselves.

Thus Korah, Dathan and Abiram, who tried to assume for themselves in opposition to Moses and Aaron the freedom to sacrifice, immediately paid the penalty for their efforts. … Clearly [this] warned and showed that whatever the wicked attempt by human will to destroy God’s plan is done against God.
Cyprian 258 · Treatise I. On the Unity of the Church 18 · on Numbers 16:3

Ephrem on the serpent of brass and the Son of Man lifted up on the cross.

The serpent struck Adam in paradise and killed him. [It also struck] Israel in the camp and annihilated them. “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, the Son of Man will be lifted up.” Just as those who looked with bodily eyes at the sign which Moses fastened on the cross lived bodily, so too those who look with spiritual eyes at the body of the Messiah nailed and suspended on the cross and believe in him will live [spiritually]. Thus it was revealed through this brazen [serpent], which by nature cannot suffer, that he who was to suffer on the cross is one who by nature cannot die.
Ephrem the Syrian 373 · Commentary On Tatian’s Diatessaron 16:15 · on Numbers 21:9

Jerome remembers Fabiola asking why Balaam spoke of Christ more plainly than almost any prophet.

One day we had before us the book of Numbers written by Moses, and [Fabiola] modestly questioned me as to the meaning of the great mass of names there to be found. Why was it, she inquired, that single tribes were differently associated in this passage and in that, how came it to be that the soothsayer Balaam, in prophesying of the future mysteries of Christ, spoke more plainly of him than almost any other prophet? I replied as best I could and tried to satisfy her inquiries.
Jerome 420 · Letter 77.7 · on Numbers 24:15
Matthew Henry · 93 sections on Numbers“I. We have here a commission issued out for the numbering of the people of Israel”

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Book introductionAn Introduction to Numbers: Journey in the WildernessDevotional · Numbers 13:19The Hollow FortressMeaning mapWhere Numbers’s verses sit among the whole Bible’sAsk AIAsk a question about Numbers