What I Learned: Numbers

These hard to read Old Testament books are worth persevering through

An outline for Numbers is also available.

• Genesis covers a lot of history in a relatively short book, recounting Creation, Fall, Flood, and God’s covenant with Abraham, through whom all the families of the earth will be blessed. Genesis ends with 70 male descendants of Abraham (Jacob, also known as Israel, grandson of Abraham & son of Isaac, with his twelve sons and grandsons) in Egypt, so that, over 400 years, God could multiply them, as He promised Abraham He would, as a nation set apart as shepherds in the land of Goshen, into a people large enough to take possession of the land He promised them.

• Exodus and Leviticus cover comparatively less history, but are foundational to the revelation of God’s Law, as delivered through Moses, to the sons of Israel, descendants of Abraham, fulfilling His declaration that He chose him, “so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him” (Exodus 18:19). From the time God has Moses lead the nation of Israel out of enslavement in Egypt, the rest of Exodus and Leviticus only cover one year. In Exodus, God instructs the Israelites how to construct His tabernacle, so His presence could be among them. In Leviticus, He instructs them how to interact with His tabernacle, so they could live among Him, without their own destruction because of His holiness.

• Numbers starts at the end of the first year after the sons of Israel leave Egypt and then encompasses 40 years after they leave Mount Sinai, after they celebrate the first anniversary of the first Passover, where they have camped for nine months to receive the Law of God through Moses. Numbers opens with God instructing Moses to take a census, “according to the number of names.” “Names” intimates familiarity on the part of God with His people, and “number” demonstrates God has fulfilled His promise to Abraham to multiply His descendants. God then teaches the nation of Israel how to camp around and then move the tabernacle, as He prepares them for the fulfillment of His promise to Abraham to give the land of Canaan to his descendants. He sets aside the tribe of Levi, instead of all the firstborn of Israel who He sanctified to Himself at the first Passover, to serve Aaron and his sons, the priests, and the tabernacle.

• Despite all the miracles they’ve witnessed, and God’s very presence among them, the Israelites fail to believe God is able to deliver them the Promised Land. They are then sentenced to wander in the wilderness for forty years, until that unbelieving generation dies. The book is interspersed with more explanations from God regarding His expectations, and stories of failure and rebellion on the part of His people. It ends with the expectation that Moses, having lost the Promised Land because of his own sin, is going to die, so Moses ensures that Joshua is commissioned in his place and begins to recount 40 years of history to the sons of Israel, which he does in the book of Deuteronomy, completing the Torah, or the first five books of the Bible, attributed to Moses’ authorship.

• There is a lot of repetition in these initial Old Testament books. As I’ve forced myself to persevere with the discipline of outlining, I’ve realized God teaches more and more detail with His repetition, and with repetition comes more insight and understanding.

• There are gems to be found in the mining of the word of God. Numbers 6:22-27 gives God’s instruction to Moses on how Aaron and his sons, as priests should pronounce blessing on the sons of Israel: “‘The LORD bless you, and keep you;

  The LORD make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.’ So they shall invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and I then will bless them.”

• There were things that I observed about God:

  • After God instructed how His tabernacle should be moved, He reminded the Israelites that the unclean must be sent outside the camp, until they could, by His provision, be made clean, “so that they will not defile their camp where I dwell in their midst” (Numbers 5:3b). We need to remember that He, a holy God, dwelt in their midst. This helps with understanding when His instructions seem otherwise confusing.

  • He then reminded that sins of mankind require confession, restitution, and sacrifice (Numbers 5:5-10). God’s Old Covenant foreshadows His New Covenant.

  • He instituted laws that may seem perplexing, but trust in God’s purpose and goodness gives potential insight. For instance, the law of jealousy (Numbers 5:11-31) for determining if a woman had been unfaithful to her husband required public shaming, which would seem to deter unfaithfulness, but it is also required a supernatural result to pronounce guilt on the woman. I can imagine this was protective for the woman because only God could intervene to declare her guilty, protecting her from the judgment of men. The law of the Nazarite (Numbers 6:1-21) allowed both men and women to make a special vow to dedicate themself to the Lord. It did not give preference to men over women, and it might have been protective against jealousy toward the priests and the Levites by allowing others to set themselves aside in a special role. This type of jealousy was evident when Aaron and Miriam complained against Moses (Numbers 12), and when Korah, and 250 with him, complained against Moses and Aaron (Numbers 16).

  • Just as the priests had to have their sins atoned for before they served, the Levites did as well (Numbers 8:5-22). The New Testament writer of the book of Hebrews actually refers to this when he compares these servants to Jesus, our perfect, sinless High Priest, who did not have to have His own sins atoned for.

  • God foreshadows Jesus’ crucifixion in the Passover: “They shall leave none of it until morning, nor break a bone of it” (Numbers 9:12a).

  • God demonstrated His Spirit was not limited by geography when His Spirit manifested in two chosen elders in the camp who did not go, as requested, to the tent of meeting (Numbers 11:26).

  • God is quick to defend His servants. When Aaron and Miriam spoke against Moses, God told them, “If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, shall make Myself known to him in a vision. I shall speak with him in a dream. Not so, with My servant Moses, He is faithful in all My household; With him I speak mouth to mouth, Even openly, and not in dark sayings, And he beholds the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid To speak against My servant, against Moses?” (Numbers 12:6-8). When Korah led the rebellion against Moses and Aaron, he and all who rebelled with him died (Numbers 16). God then had Aaron’s rod sprout to confirm his choosing of him (Numbers 17).

  • God rewards those who believe Him. When the spies led the people to despair that they would not be able to conquer the land God had promised them, “Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes….’If the LORD is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us…Only do not rebel against the LORD; and do not fear the people of the land, for they will be our prey. Their protection has been removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them’” (Numbers 14:6-9). Joshua and Caleb were rewarded with being the only men of that generation who lived to enter the Promised Land.

  • God provided His presence and His signs to the nation of Israel, who were then punished for their rebellion and lack of faith: “Surely all the men who have seen My glory and My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice, shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned Me see it” (Numbers 14:22-23).

  • God pronounces 40 years in the wilderness as judgment, but immediately follows that judgment with instruction that guarantees He will fulfill His promise: “When you enter the land where you are to live, which I am giving you…” (Numbers 15:2). God’s promises endure even when His people are faithless.

  • God repeatedly allows for aliens who sojourn among the sons of Israel to live as the sons of Israel live. He allows them to celebrate the Passover (Numbers 9:14). He allows them to present sacrifices (Numbers 15:14). Their unintentional sin can be atoned for, but they, like the children of Israel, will be held guilty for their defiant sin (Numbers 15:29-30). “as you are, so shall the alien be before the LORD. There is to be one law and one ordinance for you and for the alien who sojourns with you” (Numbers 15:15b-16).

  • God grants merciful provision for unintentional sin, but not for defiant sin: “But the person who does anything defiantly, whether he is native or an alien, that one is blaspheming the LORD; and that person shall be cut off from among his people. Because he has despised the word of the LORD and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt will be on him” (Numbers 15:30-31).

  • God provided reminders. The silver trumpets were to be “a reminder of you before your God. I am the LORD your God” (Numbers 10:10b). Tassels on the corners of garments were “to look at and remember all the commandments of the LORD, so as to do them and not follow after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you played the harlot, so that you may remember to do all My commandments and be holy to your God. I am the LORD your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt to be your God; I am the LORD your God” (Numbers 15:37-41).

  • All that was required to keep the tabernacle from being defiled is intense and somewhat exhausting, but it drives the point home that God is holy and with much effort we must be cleansed to come before Him (thank You, Jesus).

  • Moses lost the Promised Land because he failed to treat God as holy by specifically obeying God’s command. He spoke as if it was him and Aaron bringing forth water from the rock (Numbers 20:8-12). Our obedience demonstrates our recognition that God is holy.

  • God foreshadows looking to Jesus, who was lifted up to die, by having people look up to a bronze serpent Moses placed on a standard so they would live after being bitten by fiery serpents.

  • God HATES idol worship. He had no mercy on the Midianites who misled the people of Israel by having them join in their sacrifices to their gods. There are likely things that we rationalize as okay with God, as we mix with worldly people, culture, and rituals, that are absolutely not okay with God.

• There were things that I observed about the people:

  • It only took 3 days after they set out from nearly a year at Mount Sinai for the people to complain (Numbers 11:1).

  • Despite all the miracles they had witnessed, the people did not believe that God could deliver on His promise of their conquering the land of Canaan (Numbers 41:11). Joshua and Caleb did believe God, and they were rewarded by God, being the only men of that generation who lived to see the Promised Land.

  • “the people became impatient because of the journey” (Numbers 21:4). They asked, “Why?” (Numbers 21:5). Sounds like us.

• There were things I observed about Moses:

  • He sought God. When the man blasphemed the name of God in Leviticus 24, the sentence of death came from God, not Moses. When the men were unclean because of a dead person but wanted to celebrate the Passover, Moses answered, “Wait, and I will listen to what the LORD will command concerning you” (Numbers 9:8). God’s response was gracious, allowing those unclean because of a dead person, something they could not help, or on a distant journey to still celebrate the Passover.

  • He believed God’s promises. When they first moved the tabernacle from the Mount of Sinai, Moses told his father-in-law, “We are setting out to the place of which the LORD said, ‘I will give it to you’…for the LORD has promised good concerning Israel” (Numbers 10:29).

  • When the people finally set out from Mount Sinai and began complaining against the Lord within three days, so that He killed some of them, Moses learned that he could not carry the burden of the people alone (Numbers 11:14). God was then gracious to put His Spirit in 70 men in order to help him carry his burden (Numbers 11:16-29).

  • “Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth” (Numbers 12:3). He was quick to intercede on behalf of the people God called him to lead, and He reminded God of His promises (Numbers 14:13-19).

  • “When Moses heard this, he fell on his face” (Numbers 16:4a). Moses learned to appeal to God when the people rebelled.

  • Moses lost the Promised Land for both Aaron and himself because he did not treat God as holy, specifically obeying His command and giving Him glory alone for bringing water forth from a rock. The account (Numbers 20:8-12) reads as if this is completely Moses’ fault, but Aaron faces the consequence of Moses’ sin and dies on Mount Hor at God’s command shortly thereafter. Our own sins can have consequences for others.

  • When God told Moses he was going to die before the people entered the Promised Land, he cared that God appoint a replacement: “Then Moses spoke to the LORD, saying, ‘May the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation, who will go out and come in before them, and who will lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the LORD will not be like sheep which have no shepherd.’” (Numbers 27:15-17). Thank You, Lord, for our Shepherd, Jesus.

• These were the things I observed about Aaron:

  • We know Aaron failed indescribably with the incident of the golden calf. He failed when he complained, with his sister Miriam, against Moses: “Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us as well?” (Numbers 12:2). When God made Miriam leprous, Aaron appealed to Moses, who then appealed to God (Numbers 12:11-13). After this, Aaron finally learned to appeal to God. When the spies brought back a bad report on whether they could conquer the land promised to them, “Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces in the presence of all the assembly of the congregation of the sons of Israel” (Numbers 14:5).