Numbers is a rather strange title for this book as in Hebrew the name is taken from the first words of the scroll, "The lord said" and when translated into Greek it was given the title 'Arithmoi (from which we get the word Arithmetic) The latin version was called Numeri which is known to us as Numbers in English. Numbers is neither a well known or well quoted book although Samuel Morse did quote from it in 1844 when he sent his first morse code message "What has God wrought". The other verse that has entered into common parlance is "be sure your sins will find you out". This was Gods warning to his people, telling them they must cross the Jordan river to fight their enemies.
Numbers nonetheless is a very important book. It begins and ends with a census. The first when Israel had left Sinai, which was a month after the tabernacle (large tent) had been erected and where 603,550 were counted. The second was at Moab 40 years later just prior to them entering Canaan where 601,730 were counted. These cencus were made for purposes of military conscription and did not include women and children. It was thought that around 2 million Israelite's were wandering in the dessert. The bible does a lot of counting, we remember that King David was punished for counting his soldiers because he was doing it out of pride. 600,000 seems like a very large number for an army but in 2 Samuel we learn that Davids army was much larger at 1.3 million strong. The Israelite army was certainly less in strength than the Canaanite army.
Numbers continues the story of the Israelite wanderings through the dessert. A journey on foot from Egypt to Canaan would normally have taken eleven days but it actually took 13,780 instead as they diverting up the rift valley to Mount Edom and Moab. The wanderings were aimless until Gods judgement was complete, they moved a little bit at a time and camped for long periods. Numbers in this sense is a negative book, a manual on how not to be Gods people. Two thirds of Numbers need never have been written had the Israelite's remained obedient. God is warning his people, he spoke first to Moses on Sinai and in total on 80 occasions which is unique as God usually worked through either visions, dreams, priests, prophets or the urim which was a process of drawing lots to discern Gods will. God also asks that Moses keeps a journal of his travels and a record of their battles but even Moses fails at one critical point. The law is given most often when they are camped but generally broken when they are on their travels.
Chapters 1-10 are based around Sinai. Chapters 10-12 the rebellion at Kadesh. Chapters 13-20 God speaks through legislation. Chapters 20-21 cover their 38 year journey to Moab whilst Chapters 22-36 outline what God said to the Israelite's while they were waiting to go into the promised land. God is now dwelling with his people in the Tabernacle which brought the potential problem of them becoming over familiar, losing the sense of awe and respect as well as the aspect of Gods holiness. The laws given at Sinai were less moral and less social but more directed to prevent a loss of reverence, these fell under three categories Carefulness Cleanliness and Costliness.
Care was taken to camp in the right place, each tribe was allocated a place around the tabernacle which was situated at the centre. This camping arrangement was also common to the Egyptians. The tabernacle was surrounded by a fence with the leaders Moses and Aaron camped around the one entrance. The Levites priestly order consisting of the Merari, Gershon and Kohath tribes and who had special responsibilities were camped on the other three sides. No one was allowed to touch the fence around the tabernacle and there were orders to kill anybody who approached the dwelling place of the one true holy God. The other tribes were arranged around the priestly orders, each in a specific place and particular care was taken, with strict instructions given for dismantling and transporting the camp which was done in a particular pattern. The priests would wrap up the furniture, the levites would pick it up and it would be carried in a specific order by specific people as an efficient way of setting up for the next camp, bearing in mind the vast numbers of people involved. They always knew when it was time to move because the pillar of cloud and the fire by night would move first, the blowing of the silver trumpet would announce their departure and the tribe of Judah would always lead the procession with songs of praise and worship. To us today this kind of order seems very fussy but God did not want a slapdash, careless, casual attitude, he wanted his people to be mindful, disciplined and to take care. The vows of the people and keeping the Sabbath were treated with particular reverence and breaking them was punishable by death. The clothing of the Israelites contained tassles to remind them to pray about all these things.
The camp had to be kept spotlessly clean bringing to mind the old saying that cleanliness is next to Godliness. It was to be a clean camp for a pure and clean God. Sewerage arrangements were detailed with spades available in order to bury human waste. We can see the sense of this today as we have more accurate knowledge on hygiene and how to prevent the spread of bacteria. This cleanliness extended to ritual washing's known as purification rites which were carried out before the people left Sinai. These too made sense from a hygiene point of view in a dirty and dusty environment. Death was also seen as an unclean thing for the God of life with instructions given for dealing with dead bodies again a vital health consideration in a very hot dessert climate.
Sacrifices were made on a daily, weekly and monthly basis because it was recognised that sin has a cost and a price must be paid. Sacrifices themselves were costly with only the best animals being offered. The priesthood itself was also costly, the levites were consecrated before they left Sinai, 8,500 priests served and the whole levite tribe were dependent on financial support. Today we may not bring a ram, pigeon or dove to be sacrificed but rather ourselves in our praise, thanksgiving and sacrificial love for other people. Numbers tells us about the Nazarites who were not a priestly order and their vow of dedication and devotion to God. The Nazarites vowed not to cut their hair, nor consume alcohol and were never to touch a dead body. Samuel and Sampson are the best known Nazarites in the bible. Today we are also required to approach God in awe and with dignity and the new testament shows us that we are to offer our spiritual gifts as a fragrant offering, pleasing to God. It is our praise that is most pleasing to him.
The wilderness had become a testing ground, it was hard for the Israelite's to endure the limbo between Egypt and the promised land and they found it impossible to live up to the boundaries placed on them by the Sinai covenant. God had bound himself to them, blessing their obedience and punishing their disobedience as we see in Numbers 10-14 where sanctions are applied. The law is there to help us see what is right and wrong but it cannot help you do what is right. In this sense the law only brought condemnation and punishment, so the law needed to be fulfilled by the power of Holy spirit at Pentecost to give the law it its proper function. It is interesting to note that the three main leaders Moses, Aaron and Miriam all failed to keep the law.
Moses is a dominant figure acting as a prophet and priest as well as a king and although he was never crowned he led them in battle and ruled over them. Moses was uniquely honoured as he spoke to God face to face in the tabernacle yet in a curious and seeming contradiction he only saw Gods back. Moses urged God to be true to himself by praying for people on five occasions. Moses never tried to defend himself when criticized or when treated badly. Moses was like Jesus showing humility confident that God would protect him, he did though get impatient with the people. He showed amazing leadership skills dealing with around two million people yet he disobeyed God over the provision of water. There are huge reserves of water in the limestone of the Sinai dessert. God had asked him not to strike the rock with his rod as he had on a previous occasion but to speak to it instead in order to produce water for the people but because he was impatient he struck it twice. Because of his disobedience he was not allowed to enter the promised land and died within its sight on Mount Nebo. Jesus too was struck at his crucifixion but by his ressurection became a living stone releasing the bubbling water of the holy spirit for his people. We too are no longer to strike Jesus by our sin but rather talk to him in order to receive the living waters of the Holy spirit. The passage underlines the obedience required of leaders.
Aaron was brother to Moses and was assigned to be spokesman for Moses before Pharoah in Egypt, he was both a priest and prophet but not a King. The Aaronic priesthood became the heart of worship and ritual for the ancient people of God but Aaron had a problem with jealousy and had a deep desire for recognition. Together with his sister Miriam he criticized Moses because he had married a Kushite woman of whom they did not approve, even though God had not criticized him. Aaron died when over 100 years old shortly after being jealous of the honour that Moses had received.
Miriam also known as Mary was sister to Moses and Aaron, she was neither Queen nor priestess but rather a prophetess. (note it is acceptable for women to prophesy) Her prophetic gift was found in song and this link between prophesy and music is seen most notably by king David in the Psalms and by Elisha who always prepared music before prophesying. It was Miriam who had sang and danced for joy when the Egyptians had drowned in the sea. Miriam also desired honour for herself wanting to speak directly to God and was punished with leprosy for seven days until she repented. She died at Kadesh.
There were also other individuals who let God down. Korah led a rebellion because he was angry that the priesthood had been made the exclusive right of Aaron and his family. 250 gathered to challenge the authority of Moses and Aaron, being critical of their failure to lead them into the promised land so Moses warned the people to keep away from the rebel tents before fire came down and destroyed them. Korah predicted its coming so had ran away with some of his followers who were then swallowed up in the mudflats (quicksand). This mans family however did not follow him and later became singers in the temple, we note that some of the Psalms are written by the sons of Korah. Korah is mentioned in the book of Jude as a warning to Christians not to be jealous of one another. How often do we see these power plays in organisations and in the political sphere today? To prove their authority as being chosen by God the leaders of each of the twelve tribes placed twigs from the scrub bushes in the dessert and placed them before the Lord in the holy place all night. In the morning Aarons stick had blossomed with leaves, flowers and fruit while the other twigs were found to be dead. Aarons rod was placed in the Ark of the covenant as proof that he was God appointed and not self appointed.
The people in general failed on a number of occasions. The tribes frequently complained, which was perhaps an understandable thing to do in the harshness of the wilderness but unknown to them God had heard their private grumblings about a lack of water and limited food. They were annoyed they could not have in the dessert the garlic, onions, fish, cucumbers and melons that they had enjoyed in Egypt, even though God had provided Quails and Manna from heaven 1.5 metres deep and covering an area of 12 square miles. For their ingratitude God struck them with a plague.
When the Israelite's arrived at the last Oasis at Kadesh they were told to send twelve spies (one from each tribe) into the promised land of Canaan for forty days then report back. They reported that the land would devour them despite it being very fertile, that it was well fortified and inhabited by much larger people (Archaeology has shown that the Israelite slaves were small compared to their Canaanite counterparts) and that the Canaanites had a much larger army. Joshua and Caleb whilst agreeing with the assessment of the ten believed that with Gods help there was nothing to fear and argued that God had not brought them this far to leave them in the dessert, that God could carry them on his shoulders. However the pessimist arguments of the ten spies won the day and the crowd wanted to stone Moses for bringing them into the dessert. This was a mere three months after they had been released from slavery in Egypt. Joshua and Caleb agreed that they would not win on their own but insisted that God could win the battle for them. As a result of the faithless majority God swore that not one of them would enter the promised land and that they would wander in the dessert for forty years, one year for each day they had spied.
The next time they tested God was after their victory over the Canaanite king of Arad. They made their way back through the valley of scorpions just below Mount Hor. Again the Israelite's grumbled about their food saying they would rather return to Egypt than remain in the dessert. God punished them by sending snakes so that many were bitten and died. Realising their sin they asked Moses to intercede for them. God did not stop the snakes but sent instead a cure for the bites. Moses set up a copper snake on a pole on the top of a mountain overlooking the valley. If anyone was bitten by the snake they only had to look at the copper snake and have faith in its healing power and they would not die.
The Israelites reached the plain of Moab having achieved many victories along the way. God gave them victory over Edon and Moab and feeling confident they camped at the river Jordan looking directly over to the promised land but they encountered opposition by the people of Ammon and Moab who occupied land bordering Canaan. In order to disrupt the Israelites king Balak of the Moabites hired a soothsayer from Damascus who was named Baalam who had a reputation for seeing defeat of the armies he had cursed but he had never been asked to curse the Israelites before and despite being paid he found it impossible to curse them and ended up blessing them instead. He predicted that they would multiply greatly foretelling also that King David and his son would attain greatness. We then hear the amazing story of the talking donkey who refuses to advance when he sees an angel in his path. Baalam beats the donkey for refusing to move, the donkey finally tells him why he is not moving. Baalam was following Gods instructions but had ulterior motives. Baalam realised that God was speaking through the donkey, repented of his sin and continued to bless Israel despite Balaks anger and insistence that he curse them.
Later when camping at Acacia grove the Israelite men defiled themselves by having sex with the Moabite women and joined with them in feasting and worshipping Baal. Most of the sex took place outside the camp because it was prohibited by law but Zimri had the affront to bring a girl to the very door of the tabernacle. Seeing this act a man named Phinehas pinned the couple to the ground with a spear and was given a perpetual priesthood for himself and his family as he was the only man to defend Gods house against the corruption of the Israelite men and the Moabite women. Gods punishment of the people was harsh but God wanted his people to be set apart and holy as in Canaan they would find immorality, fertility Goddesses, child sacrifice, occult statues and idols, all of which were against Gods requirements for his people.
Numbers was written for the Jews so that later generations would be mindful of God, that we as Christians might learn from their failures. The twin themes of Gods kindness and sternness are seen in the new testament with the events in Numbers mentioned in Jude, 2 Peter, Hebrews and Romans. Numbers is a mirror of ourselves , we too can live and die in the wilderness and fail to arrive, looking back at sin rather than forward to the rest and abundance that is found in the promised land. God tells us that we are names not numbers even though the hairs on our heads are numbered our names are written in the book of life. We saw Gods kindness in the release from slavery, the provision of food, water, clothing and shoes and protection from enemies despite their greater numbers and size and his patience and perseverance despite the nations sinfulness. We also see justice and faithfulness to the covenant promises including harsh punishments. How else was he to fashion a holy people in a harsh survival culture where they refused to follow his will?
We note that Jesus too spent time in the wilderness being tempted, that Moses lifted up the serpent just as Jesus had been lifted up and that there was healing when people had faith. Paul spoke of the water being struck from the rock, the rock being Christ and the water the holy spirit to be obtained by speaking to him. John tells us that Jesus is the manna the bread of heaven. Jesus too becomes the blood sacrifice on the cross for the forgiveness of sins rather than the animal sacrifices practiced at that time. Balaam also predicted the coming of Jesus, he could see him but not now, a star would come out of Jacob , a septre out of Israel. The blessing that Aaron gave to the people when they embarked on the next part of their journey was the same blessing of grace and peace that applies to us as Christians today. This is the blessing in Numbers 6:24 The lord bless you and keep you, the lord makes his face shine upon you, the lord turns his face toward you and give you peace. If we follow the lessons of Number we too can claim Gods blessing.
Summary and references from. Unlocking the bible - David Pawson and The bible book by book- Cris Rogers