This is not meant to be a commentary but simply my observations as to how The LORD dealt with the Children of Israel through the ups and downs of their journey from Egypt, which took the best part of forty years. It could be likened to our walk-through life.
The first 5 books in the Bible are called the ‘5 Books of Moses’. The Hebrew name for these books is the ‘Torah’, which means ‘Law’. These books contain God’s record of creation, dealings with Israel and instructions about how his people should live.
The Book of Numbers is the 4th in the Torah and in our Bible. One could be forgiven for dismissing it as purely a book of numbers. It is true that there are many lists of numbers in it. There are two censuses (Numbers 1:1 to 4:49; Numbers chapter 26). These record the numbers of male Israelites who were over 20 years old, men who could fight in battle. Also, there is a list of men and boys over one month old from Levi’s tribe. The men from Levi’s tribe were not to fight, rather, they supplied and helped the priests. There are other lists, too (Numbers 7:10-83; 28:1 to 29:38; 31:32-52). However, these lists are not the most important part of the book. Interestingly, the name ‘Numbers’ is a translation of Arithmoi, from the Septuagint, because the book contains numerical data. (I guess that’s where we get our word arithmetic.)
The Hebrew name for this book is ‘Bemidbar’, which literally means ‘In the desert’ which describes most of what the book is about. In fact, the words ‘in the desert’ are in the first sentence of the book in the Hebrew language.
God’s patience is tested by his people throughout this book, and He, in turn tested their endurance and faithfulness. The people failed many times, but God showed His own faithfulness by His constant presence leading the way: through a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.
One writer says that the book is not just a history lesson, it reveals how God reminded Israel that He does not tolerate rebellion, complaining, and disbelief without there being consequences. He taught His people how to walk with Him—not just with their feet through the wilderness but with their mouths in worship, hands in service, and lives as witnesses to the surrounding nations. He was their God, they were His people, and He expected them to act like it.
Numbers begins on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, when the Israelites had been rescued by God from Egypt where they had been slaves. They had miraculously crossed the Red Sea and seen their pursuers drowned when God brought the waters back over them. Those who say that this was not so, trying to explain that it wasn’t a miracle performed by God, surely can’t explain how the Israelites crossed over on dry land when the Egyptians drowned along with their horses and chariots in shallow or even no water at all, is totally beyond me. The Israelites made a camp in the Sinai desert where God gave the Law to Moses on Mt Sinai. Moses, their God-appointed leader, had been called by God to go up the mountain and he was away so long that the people complained that he had left them and wasn’t going to return, so they asked Aaron to make them an idol to worship. Amazing that so soon they had even forgotten God. Moses returned with the two tablets of stone containing the ten commandments and when he found them worshiping the idol, smashed the tablets in disgust. God told him to go back up the mountain and God gave him two more tablets written on by His own hand.
So far as I can see, the Ten Commandments were given three times by God, once orally and Moses dictated them to the people and then twice in writing. There is a wonderful verse in Deuteronomy 5:22 which states that God ‘added no more’. In other words, He got it right first time. When our parliament make laws, we often have to have repeals or amendments to correct things which were wrong or didn’t work first time. Not so with God’s law, it never needs such things.
They were preparing to go to the Land promised to them by God. God was with them as they travelled. He looked after them and provided food and drink for them. However, it wasn’t long before the Israelites complained about life in the desert. They did not trust God and they did not obey him, so God punished them. As a result, they wandered in the desert for nearly 40 years, thus a journey which they could have done in less than 14 days took them 40 years.
God did not go back on His promise; He never does. All those who had left Egypt died in the desert, except Joshua and Caleb, the two spies who had brought good reports and who had been faithful to God. He gave the Promised Land to their children who had grown up in the desert. The first generation, those who had left Egypt, did not enter the Land, but their children did. God never goes back on what he has promised. Even Moses died within sight of the Promised Land. God allowed him to view it from Pisgah, but he was not allowed to enter it because of his own disobedience.
When the book ends, this second generation had reached the edge of the Promised Land.
The book does not just record what happened in the desert, it also contains instructions about how the Israelites should worship God. This is vitally important for them and their relationship with God. There is information about purification, sacrifices, and the duties of priests and, inevitably as the book suggests, there are many lists of names and numbers.
The author – We believe that Moses wrote the first 5 books in the Bible and there are several reasons to believe this.
1. Moses recorded events that happened. The Old Testament states many times that he did, for example, Numbers 33:1-2; also, Exodus 17:14; 24:4; 34:27.
2. Moses had received a good education so he would be able to write things down accurately. He had lived in the palace of the king of Egypt so there is no doubt he would have had a good education as a prince. How did he come to be there? You may recall that Pharaoh ordered for the male babies to be killed in an attempt to reduce the Israelite population but Moses’ mother, who had no intention of having her son killed, hid him in the bullrushes by the river Nile and Pharaoh’s daughter came to bathe and found him. His sister Miriam, who was keeping watch over the baby, suggested their mother as nurse so he was taken back to the palace and Pharaoh’s daughter paid his own mother to bring him up in the family until he was old enough to go and live with Pharaoh’s daughter as a prince in the palace. This, of course, was the work of God in His plan.
How important it is for children to be properly trained by their parents so that when they go into the big wide world , they are able to stand, and withstand the onslaughts of the world, the flesh and the devil. Believe you me, there are many and there will be many, particularly in the world in which we live.
3. Moses was the leader appointed by God. He witnessed most of the events in the desert.
4. The New Testament confirms that Moses was the author of the ‘Torah’ (the law), the first five books in our Old Testament (see Matthew 19:8; John 5:46-47; Romans 10:5).
The ‘Torah’ is an accurate and true account of what the Israelites did in the desert. Also, it is an accurate and true record of the laws that God gave to Moses.
The book is not one complete story with a beginning and end. It contains many stories about events in the desert. Also, it contains lists, instructions, poems and prophecies.
It may be helpful to divide the book into three parts following the Israelites on their journey and it tells us about God.
1. The start of their journey (chapters 1-10) describes what happened at Sinai.
2. Their journey through the desert (chapters 11-20) – what happened in the desert. This was near to a place called Kadesh.
3. Preparing to enter the Promised Land (chapters 21-36) – describes what happened in the region near to Canaan, the Promised Land.
God is with us always if we are His people. He guides and protects us. There are many scripture references to the fact that God has said that He will never leave us nor forsake us, and we can see that in the records of this book.
God guided the Israelites by means of a cloud (Numbers 9:15-23) which became a pillar of fire at night. They carried the Ark of the Covenant with them wherever they went. The ark represented the presence of God and showed them that God was with them always. He protected them from their enemies (Numbers 10:33-36).
God wants us to trust Him.
God had chosen Moses as the leader. But they opposed Moses many times. They complained about the food in the desert (Numbers 11:4-6). They were afraid to enter the Promised Land. Ten of the twelve spies returned with a bad report, and they believed that the people there were stronger than them and they would never overcome them. They did not trust God to help them (Numbers chapters 13 and 14). The other two spies (Joshua and Caleb) said that they could defeat the Canaanites.
God loved them. But he had to discipline them (to teach or to control, sometimes by means of a punishment) (Numbers 14:26-35). God disciplines those people whom he loves (Hebrews 12:6).
There is only one real God. We must worship Him only. God hated the Israelites when they worshiped false gods (Numbers chapter 25) thus He punished them when they did.
God always keeps His promises.
God had promised to give to the Israelites their own land. He rescued them from the Egyptians. He miraculously took them through the Red Sea on dry land. Many have said that this was no miracle, but to show to all that it was a real sea, the pursuing Egyptians were drowned in it. Even their chariots were submerged. He guided them through the desert. He miraculously took them through the River Jordan on dry land too. They arrived at the Promised Land, but they were afraid to enter it. However, God did not go back on His promise. Instead, He gave the Promised Land to their children and Joshua and Caleb. Many say today, “If God would show us a miracle we would believe.” God performed many miracles for the people, but they still did not always believe. It is still true that people today will not believe even if they see a miracle.
God is holy.
God is holy, but all those people whom He made are sinful and sin ruins our lives, our thoughts, our attitudes and our behaviour.
The Israelites had to wash themselves in particular ways before they worshipped God. They made their bodies clean. They offered sacrifices. They believed that the blood from these sacrifices washed their sins away. So, they felt clean inside their hearts. There were many special rules about how to worship God. All these rules showed that God is holy.
However, we no longer need to follow these special rules, to kill animals as sacrifices. God has given us a new way to come to him. That way is by means of His Son, Jesus Christ. When people crucified Jesus on a cross, He became the once for all sacrifice for our sins, sufficient for all people, for all time. Jesus’ blood washes our sins away. When we repent of our sin and believe in Jesus, God forgives our sins as Jesus suffered the punishment for our sins.
Jesus is holy. When we believe in Jesus, God considers us holy, too. This is called justification when we are given Christ’s righteousness. We cannot earn it; it is a gift. We can come to God at any time, in any place.
Chapters 1-10: The Israelites start their journey.
On their journey to the Promised Land, the Israelites had camped near Mt. Sinai. God had told Moses to do four things.
1. Celebrate the Passover (Numbers 9:1-14).
2. Count the men able to fight in battle (Numbers ch. 1).
3. Instruct each tribe where to camp round God’s Tent, the tabernacle (Numbers ch. 2).
4. Give duties to the priests (Numbers ch. 3 and 4).
This part of the book describes these four things; they are not in chronological order. The events in chapters 7:1 to 9:15 happened before the events in chapters 1 to 6. But all these events happened within a period of less than 50 days (Numbers 1:1; 10:11).
