Teacher: Rusty Kennedy Series: Bible Stories |
Rusty's Notes | |
- It chronicles the journey of the Israelites from Mount Sinai to the edge of the Promised Land, covering a period of about 40 years.
- Census and Preparation (Chapters 1-10): The book begins with a census of the Israelite men able to go to war, hence the name "Numbers."
THE CENSUS OF ISRAEL
NUMBERS 1:1-4
1 The Lord spoke to Moses in the tent of meeting in the Wilderness of Sinai, on the first day of the second month of the second year after Israel’s departure from the land of Egypt: 2 “Take a census of the entire Israelite community by their clans and their ancestral families, counting the names of every male one by one. 3 You and Aaron are to register those who are twenty years old or more by their military divisions—everyone who can serve in Israel’s army., 4 A man from each tribe is to be with you, each one the head of his ancestral family[1]
- God instructs Moses on how to organize the camp and the duties of the Levites.
5 The Lord spoke to Moses: 6 “Bring the tribe of Levi near and present them to the priest Aaron to assist him. 7 They are to perform duties for him and the entire community before the tent of meeting by attending to the service of the tabernacle. 8 They are to take care of all the furnishings of the tent of meeting and perform duties for the Israelites by attending to the service of the tabernacle. 9 Assign the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they have been assigned exclusively to him from the Israelites. 10 You are to appoint Aaron and his sons to carry out their priestly responsibilities, but any unauthorized person who comes near the sanctuary is to be put to death.”[2]
NUMBERS 6
- Nazarite Vow – Samson
NUMBERS 8:5-12 (Ordination/Consecration)
5 The Lord spoke to Moses: 6 “Take the Levites from among the Israelites and ceremonially cleanse them. 7 Do this to them for their purification: Sprinkle them with the purification water. Have them shave their entire bodies and wash their clothes, and so purify themselves.
8 “They are to take a young bull and its grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, and you are to take a second young bull for a sin offering. 9 Bring the Levites before the tent of meeting and assemble the entire Israelite community. 10 Then present the Levites before the Lord, and have the Israelites lay their hands on them. 11 Aaron is to present the Levites before the Lord as a presentation offering from the Israelites, so that they may perform the Lord’s work. 12 Next the Levites are to lay their hands on the heads of the bulls. Sacrifice one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering to the Lord, to make atonement for the Levites.[3]
GUIDANCE BY THE CLOUD
NUMBERS 9:15-23
15 On the day the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony, and it appeared like fire above the tabernacle from evening until morning. 16 It remained that way continuously: the cloud would cover it, appearing like fire at night. 17 Whenever the cloud was lifted up above the tent, the Israelites would set out; at the place where the cloud stopped, there the Israelites camped. 18 At the Lord’s command the Israelites set out, and at the Lord’s command they camped. As long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they camped.
19 Even when the cloud stayed over the tabernacle many days, the Israelites carried out the Lord’s requirement and did not set out. 20 Sometimes the cloud remained over the tabernacle for only a few days. They would camp at the Lord’s command and set out at the Lord’s command. 21 Sometimes the cloud remained only from evening until morning; when the cloud lifted in the morning, they set out. Or if it remained a day and a night, they moved out when the cloud lifted. 22 Whether it was two days, a month, or longer, the Israelites camped and did not set out as long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle. But when it was lifted, they set out. 23 They camped at the Lord’s command, and they set out at the Lord’s command. They carried out the Lord’s requirement according to his command through Moses. [4]
- The Israelites prepare to leave Mount Sinai, where they had received the Law.
33 They set out from the mountain of the Lord on a three-day journey with the ark of the Lord’s covenant traveling ahead of them for those three days to seek a resting place for them. 34 Meanwhile, the cloud of the Lord was over them by day when they set out from the camp.
35 Whenever the ark set out, Moses would say:
Arise, Lord!
Let your enemies be scattered,
and those who hate you flee from your presence.
36 When it came to rest, he would say:
Return, Lord, to the countless thousands of Israel.[5]
- Journey and Rebellion (Chapters 11-14): As the Israelites journey toward the Promised Land, they face various challenges and rebellions.
- They complain about their hardships, leading to God's provision of quail and the appointment of seventy elders to help Moses.
16 The Lord answered Moses, “Bring me seventy men from Israel known to you as elders and officers of the people. Take them to the tent of meeting and have them stand there with you. 17 Then I will come down and speak with you there. I will take some of the Spirit who is on you and put the Spirit on them. They will help you bear the burden of the people, so that you do not have to bear it by yourself.[6]
NUMBERS 13:1-3
1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “Send men to scout out the land of Canaan I am giving to the Israelites. Send one man who is a leader among them from each of their ancestral tribes.” 3 Moses sent them from the Wilderness of Paran at the Lord’s command.[7]
NUMBERS 13:17-33
17 When Moses sent them to scout out the land of Canaan, he told them, “Go up this way to the Negev, then go up into the hill country. 18 See what the land is like, and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. 19 Is the land they live in good or bad? Are the cities they live in encampments or fortifications? 20 Is the land fertile or unproductive? Are there trees in it or not? Be courageous. Bring back some fruit from the land.” It was the season for the first ripe grapes.
21 So they went up and scouted out the land from the Wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob near the entrance to Hamath. 22 They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, were living. Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt. 23 When they came to Eshcol Valley, they cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes, which was carried on a pole by two men. They also took some pomegranates and figs. 24 That place was called the Valley of Eshcol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut there. 25 At the end of forty days they returned from scouting out the land.
REPORT ABOUT CANAAN
26 The men went back to Moses, Aaron, and the entire Israelite community in the Wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They brought back a report for them and the whole community, and they showed them the fruit of the land. 27 They reported to Moses, “We went into the land where you sent us. Indeed it is flowing with milk and honey, and here is some of its fruit. 28 However, the people living in the land are strong, and the cities are large and fortified. We also saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites are living in the land of the Negev; the Hethites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the sea and along the Jordan.”
30 Then Caleb quieted the people in the presence of Moses and said, “Let’s go up now and take possession of the land because we can certainly conquer it!”
31 But the men who had gone up with him responded, “We can’t attack the people because they are stronger than we are!” 32 So they gave a negative report to the Israelites about the land they had scouted: “The land we passed through to explore is one that devours its inhabitants, and all the people we saw in it are men of great size. 33 We even saw the Nephilim there—the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim! To ourselves we seemed like grasshoppers, and we must have seemed the same to them.”[8]
ISRAEL’S REFUSAL TO ENTER CANAAN
NUMBERS 14:1-10
1 Then the whole community broke into loud cries, and the people wept that night. 2 All the Israelites complained about Moses and Aaron, and the whole community told them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness! 3 Why is the Lord bringing us into this land to die by the sword? Our wives and children will become plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4 So they said to one another, “Let’s appoint a leader and go back to Egypt.”
5 Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole assembly of the Israelite community. 6 Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who scouted out the land, tore their clothes 7 and said to the entire Israelite community, “The land we passed through and explored is an extremely good land. 8 If the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us into this land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and give it to us. 9 Only don’t rebel against the Lord, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land, for we will devour them. Their protection has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us. Don’t be afraid of them!”
10 While the whole community threatened to stone them, the glory of the Lord appeared to all the Israelites at the tent of meeting.[9]
NUMBERS 14:26-38
26 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: 27 “How long must I endure this evil community that keeps complaining about me? I have heard the Israelites’ complaints that they make against me. 28 Tell them: As I live—this is the Lord’s declaration—I will do to you exactly as I heard you say. 29 Your corpses will fall in this wilderness—all of you who were registered in the census, the entire number of you twenty years old or more—because you have complained about me. 30 I swear that none of you will enter the land I promised to settle you in, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. 31 I will bring your children whom you said would become plunder into the land you rejected, and they will enjoy it. 32 But as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness. 33 Your children will be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years and bear the penalty for your acts of unfaithfulness until all your corpses lie scattered in the wilderness. 34 You will bear the consequences of your iniquities forty years based on the number of the forty days that you scouted the land, a year for each day., You will know my displeasure. 35 I, the Lord, have spoken. I swear that I will do this to the entire evil community that has conspired against me. They will come to an end in the wilderness, and there they will die.”
36 So the men Moses sent to scout out the land, and who returned and incited the entire community to complain about him by spreading a negative report about the land--37 those men who spread the negative report about the land were struck down by the Lord. 38 Only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh (yeh foo nay) remained alive of those men who went to scout out the land. [10]
- Wilderness Wanderings (Chapters 15-25): During the years of wandering, the Israelites experience various events, including further rebellions, the budding of Aaron's staff as a sign of his chosen priesthood, and the story of Balaam, a prophet hired to curse Israel but who ends up blessing them instead.
- Preparation for the Promised Land (Chapters 26-36): A second census is taken to prepare for entering the land. God gives instructions regarding offerings, vows, and the division of the land among the tribes.
12 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go up this mountain of the Abarim range and see the land that I have given the Israelites. 13 After you have seen it, you will also be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother was. 14 When the community quarreled in the Wilderness of Zin, both of you rebelled against my command to demonstrate my holiness in their sight at the waters.” Those were the Waters of Meribah-kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin.
15 So Moses appealed to the Lord, 16 “May the Lord, the God who gives breath to all,, appoint a man over the community 17 who will go out before them and come back in before them, and who will bring them out and bring them in, so that the Lord’s community won’t be like sheep without a shepherd.”
18 The Lord replied to Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, a man who has the Spirit in him, and lay your hands on him. 19 Have him stand before the priest Eleazar and the whole community, and commission him in their sight. 20 Confer some of your authority on him so that the entire Israelite community will obey him. 21 He will stand before the priest Eleazar who will consult the Lord for him with the decision of the Urim. He and all the Israelites with him, even the entire community, will go out and come back in at his command.”
22 Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He took Joshua, had him stand before the priest Eleazar and the entire community, 23 laid his hands on him, and commissioned him, as the Lord had spoken through Moses. [11]
- The book concludes with the Israelites camped on the plains of Moab, ready to enter the Promised Land.
- Despite the Israelites' repeated failures, God remains committed to His covenant promises, guiding and providing for them as they journey toward the land He promised to their ancestors.
1 John 2:12-14
12 I am writing to you, little children,
since your sins have been forgiven
on account of his name.
13 I am writing to you, fathers,
because you have come to know
the one who is from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young men,
because you have conquered the evil one.
14 I have written to you, children,
because you have come to know the Father.
I have written to you, fathers,
because you have come to know
the one who is from the beginning.
I have written to you, young men,
because you are strong,
God’s word remains in you,
and you have conquered the evil one. [12]
[1] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Nu 1:1–4.
[2] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Nu 3:5–10.
[3] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Nu 8:5–12.
[4] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Nu 9:15–23.
[5] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Nu 10:33–36.
[6] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Nu 11:16–17.
[7] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Nu 13:1–3.
[8] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Nu 13:17–33.
[9] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Nu 14:1–10.
[10] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Nu 14:26–38.
[11] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Nu 27:12–23.
[12] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), 1 Jn 2:12–14.