This evening we are going to explore the book of Numbers. As we address this fouth book of Moses let’s begin with some introductory matters:
I. The Title
"Numbers is the book of the numbering and wandering of the children of Israel" (Norman Geisler, A Popular Survey of the Old Testament, p.71).
"The title of the book in the Hebrew Bible is taken from its first three words: ‘in the wilderness’" (Ibid., p.71).
"The English title ‘Numbers’ comes from the Greek (LXX)" (MacArthur Study Bible), arithmai and Latin, numeri (Alan B. Stringfellow, Through the Bible in One Year, p.21).
"This designation is based on the numbers that are a major focus of chapters 1-4 and 26" (Ibid., MacArthur).
II. The Author
"The evidence that Moses was the author of Numbers is similar to that for Exodus and Leviticus. In addition, there are several lines of evidence that are distinctive to Numbers" (Ibid., Geisler, p.71).
A. The Book Claims to be Written by Moses
1. Numbers 1:1 - "Now the LORD spoke to Moses..."
2. Numbers 33:2 - Now Moses wrote down the starting points of their journeys at the command of the LORD. And these are their journeys according to their starting points.
B. Numbers Also Gives a Detailed, Accurate, Eyewitness Account Which Could be Provided Only by Someone as Familiar with the Desert as was Moses
C. A Number of New Testament Quotations Directly Cite Events in Numbers and Associate them with Moses (Acts 7; 13; 1 Cor.10:1-11; Heb.3)
D. Our Lord Quoted from Numbers and Verified that it was indeed Moses who Lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness
1. John 3:14 - "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up."
2. Numbers 21:9 - So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.
III. The Date
"Numbers was written in the final year of Moses’ life. The events from 20:1 to the end occur in the 40th year after the Exodus" John F. MacArthur, Jr., The MacArthur Study Bible, (Dallas: Word Publishing) 1997.
"The book of Numbers must be dated ca. 1405 b.c., since it is foundational to the book of Deuteronomy, and Deuteronomy is dated in the 11th month of the 40th year after the Exodus (Deut. 1:3)" John F. MacArthur, Jr., The MacArthur Study Bible, (Dallas: Word Publishing) 1997.
IV. The Audience
"It is important to notice that there are at least two groups included in the Book of Numbers. The first group is the disobedient older generation who died in the wilderness because of their sin of unbelief. At the beginning of the book this group numbered 603,550 males twenty years and above (1:45-46).
A second group, those under twenty years of age at the beginning, grew up in the wilderness and later entered the promised land. By that time 601,730 males were twenty years of age and older (26:51)" (Ibid., Geisler, p.72).
V. The Theme
The theme of Genesis is "beginnings"
The theme of Exodus is "redemption"
The theme of Leviticus is "holiness"
The theme of Numbers is "testing" (David R. Shepherd, Exodus, p.3)
Terry Hulbert,
"A call to faithfulness to God. The failure of Israel to enter the land by faith, and the resulting waste of time and life" (Old Testament Survey-CBC).
VI. The Content (1-36)
A. Chapter 1:1-54 Records the Numbering of the People
1. God told Moses to "Take a census of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, every male individually, 3 "from twenty years old and above; all who are able to go to war in Israel" (vv.2-3).
2. Verse 4 tells us that this great task was to be accomplished by Moses and Aaron and "a man from every tribe."
3. Verses 17-18 says, "Then Moses and Aaron took these men who had been mentioned by name, 18 and they assembled all the congregation together on the first day of the second month; and they recited their ancestry by families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, each one individually."
4. Verses 20-46 gives the results of the people being numbered "from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war in Israel" (v.45).
a) The tribe of Reuben - 46,500 (v.21)
b) The tribe of Simeon - 59,300 (v.23)
c) The tribe of Gad - 45,600 (v.25)
d) The tribe of Judah - 74,600 (v.27)
e) The tribe of Issachar - 54,400 (v.29)
f) The tribe of Zebulun - 57,400 (v.31)
g) The tribe of Ephraim - 40,500 (v.33)
h) The tribe of Manasseh - 32,200 (v.35)
i) The tribe of Benjamin - 35,400 (v.37)
j) The tribe of Dan - 62,700 (v.39)
k) The tribe of Asher - 41,500 (v.41)
l) The tribe of Nephatali - 53,400 (v.43)
5. The total of the people who were "twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war in Israel" (v.45) were 603,550 (v.46).
6. Verses 50-51 records God’s instructions to Moses to "appoint the Levities over the tabernacle of testimony, over all its furnishings, and over all things that belong to it; they shall carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings; they shall attend to it and camp around the tabernacle. And when the tabernacle is to go forward, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle is to be set up, the Levites shall set it up. The outsider who comes near shall be put to death."
7. Verses 52-54 record God’s instructions regarding how the rest of the congregation is to "pitch their tents" (v.52) but "the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of the Testimony, that there be no wrath on the congregation of the children of Israel..." (v.53).
B. Chapter 2:1-34 Records the Arranging of the Tribes Around the Tabernacle
1. Verses 1-2 says, "And the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: 2 "Everyone of the children of Israel shall camp by his own standard, beside the emblems of his father’s house; they shall camp some distance from the tabernacle of meeting."
2. Verses 3-34 gives the arranging of the tribes
a) "On the east side" (v.3) of the tabernacle were 3 tribes that totaled 186,400 and they were to "break camp first" (v.9)
(1) Judah - 74,600 (v.3)
(2) Issachar - 54,400 (v.5)
(3) Zebulun - 57,400 (v.7)
b) "On the southside" (v.10) of the tabernacle were 3 tribes that totaled 151,450 and they were to be "the second to break camp" (v.16)
(1) Reuben - 46,500 (v.10)
(2) Simeon - 59,300 (v.12)
(3) Gad - 45,650 (v.14)
c) "On the westside" (v.18) of the tabernacle were 3 tribes that totaled 108,100 and they were to be "the third to break camp" (v.24)
(1) Ephraim - 40,500 (v.18)
(2) Manasseh - 32,200 (v.20)
(3) Benjamin - 35,400 (v.22)
d) "On the north side" (v.25) of the tabernacle were 3 tribes that totaled 157,600 and they were to "break camp last" (v.31)
(1) Dan - 62,700 (v.25)
(2) Asher - 41,500 (v.27)
(3) Nephtali - 53,400 (v.29)
3. Verses 32-34 again gives the total of the tribes (603,550) and the reminder that the "Levites were not numbered among the children of Israel, just as the Lord commanded Moses" (v.33)
4. The chapter closes (v.34) stating that "the children of Israel did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses..."
C. Chapter 3:1-51 Records the Lord Separating the Tribe of Levi and Assigning Them Specific Tasks
1. The tribe of Levi was to serve "Aaron" (v.6) and "attend to his needs and the needs of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of meeting, to do the work of the tabernacle" (v.7).
2. They were also to "attend to all the furnishings of the tabernacle of meeting" (v.8).
3. Verse 12 says that the Levites belonged to the Lord.
4. In verse 15 Moses is told to ""Number the children of Levi by their fathers’ houses, by their families; you shall number every male from a month old and above."
5. Verse 17 gives us the names of the sons of Levi that were numbered: "Gershon, Kohath, and Merari."
a) Gershon - 7,500 (v.22)
b) Kohath - 8,300 (v.28)
c) Merari - 6,200 (v.34)
6. Beginning at verse 25-37 we learn what their "duties" or responsibilities were:
a) The Gershonites (vv.21-26) were responsible for the coverings of the tabernacle.
b) The Kohathites (vv.27-32) were responsible for the holy objects of the tabernacle (including transporting the ark).
c) The Merarites (vv.33-37) were responsible for the wooden framework of the tabernacle.
7. Verses 38 tells us that Moses, Aaron and his sons were to camp on the east before the tabernacle "keeping charge of the sanctuary" (v.38)
8. Verse 39 tells us that the total number of Levites that "Moses and Aaron numbered...from a month old and above" were 22,000.
9. Verses 40-51 gives the numbering of the "firstborn males...from a month old and above" which numbered 22,273 (v.43).
10. Verse 46-51 describes the redemption of the 273 "of the firstborn" to be 1,365 silver shekels (about 170 lbs) to be given to "Aaron and his sons" (v.51) since they outnumbered the Levites by 273. God said that the Levites belonged to Him (v.41).
D. Chapter 4:1-49 gives the numbering of the sons of Levi (Kohath, Gershon, and Merari) "from thirty years old and above, even to fifty years old" (vv.3,22,29).
1. Verses 1-3 is God’s command to number the Kohathites who are from 30-50 years old.
2. Verses 4-15 gives the details of how Aaron and his sons are to prepare the items of the tabernacle to be carried.
3. Once they were ready to carry, the Kohathites were to "carry...the things in the tabernacle of meeting" (v.15) without touching "any holy thing, lest they die" (v.15).
4. In verse 22 God tells Moses to number "the sons of Gershon...from thirty years old and above, even to fifty years old" (vv.22-23)
5. The Gershonites were to "carry" the coverings of the tabernacle (vv.24-28).
6. In verse 29 God tells Moses to number the "sons of Merari...from thirty years old and above, even to fifty years old" (vv.29-30).
7. The Merarites were to "carry" the wooden framework for the tabernacle (vv.32-33)
8. The total number of those number among the 3 sons of Levi, 30-50 years old was 8,580 (v.48).
E. Chapters 5:1-10:10 Records the Spiritual Preparation of the People
1. chapter 5:1-4 records God telling Moses to "Command the children of Israel" to move unclean persons outside of the camp.
a) Then in verses 5-10 they were to make restitution for wrongs done to God and others.
b) And in verses 11-31 they were to expose adultery and false accusations of adultery.
2. Chapter 6:1-27 gives information concerning the Nazirite vow
a) The Nazirite vow was a "vow" to "separate oneself to the Lord" (v.2)
b) A "man or woman" could take this vow (v.2)
c) Once they took the vow, they could not drink fermented drinks (v.3), not cut their hair (v.5) or go "near a dead body" (vv.6-12).
d) Verses 13-21 records "the law of the Nazirite" and how he is to separate himself to the Lord.
e) Verses 22-27 closes with God telling Moses how Aaron and his sons were to bless the children of Israel:
vv.24-27 says, ""The LORD bless you and keep you; 25 The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; 26 The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace."’ 27 "So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them."
3. Chapter 7:1-89 records the offering brought to the Lord by the leaders
Verse 4 tells us that these gifts were to be used in the work of the tabernacle (Shepherd, p.59).
4. Chapter 8 records the consecration of the Levites
Verse 6 says, "Take the Levites from among the children of Israel and cleanse them ceremonially."
5. Chapter 9:1-14 records the Passover being observed on the first month of the second year on the fourteenth day "after they came out of the land of Egypt" (vv.1-3).
6. Chapter 9:15-23 records the appearance of the cloud and fire over the tabernacle
