the Book of Numbers this fourth book of
the Bible carries forward the story of
Israel after their exodus from slavery
in Egypt God had brought them to Mount
Sinai and he entered into a covenant
with them there and despite Israel's
rebellion God had graciously provided a
way for Israel to live near his holy
presence in the tabernacle so the Book
of Numbers begins as Israel wraps up
their one-year stay at Mount Sinai and
they head out into the wilderness on
their way to the land that God promised
Abraham now the books storyline is
designed according to the stages of
their journey so the first section
begins at Mount Sinai but then they set
out and travel to the wilderness of
Paran and then from there they travel to
the plains of Moab which is right across
from the promised land now the first
part opens with a census where the
people are numbered that's where the
book gets its name and then there are
laws about how the tribes of Israel were
to be arranged in their camp
so the tabernacle was to be at the
center and then around that the priests
and the Levites and then around them the
twelve tribes neatly arranged with Judah
at their head now this was all an
elaborate symbol about how God's holy
presence was at the center of their
existence as a people this is all
followed by a whole series of laws that
develop the purity laws from the Book of
Leviticus
if God's presence was going to be in
their midst every effort should be made
to make the camp pure a place that
welcomes God's holiness in chapter 10
the cloud of God's presence lifts from
the tabernacle and guides Israel away
from Sinai out into the wilderness and
immediately things go terribly wrong so
in Chapter 11 the people start
complaining about their hunger and
thirst and how they want to go back to
Egypt and then in chapter 12 Moses his
own brother and sister begin opposing
and bad-mouthing him in front of all of
the people this trip is not off to a
good start the next section begins as
the Israelites arrive in the desert of
Paran about halfway to the promised land
and God tells Moses to send out the
twelve spies one for each tribe so they
can scout out the promised land so when
the spies all return ten of them say
that there is no chance Israel can
survive there because the Canaanites
will destroy them but there
our two spies Caleb and Joshua who say
that God can save them but the 10 whip
up the people into a fearful rage and
they start planning a mutiny they're
going to appoint a new leader and head
back to Egypt so God is understandably
angry and Moses intercedes on the
people's behalf he calls God to be
faithful to his promises to Abraham and
so God does but not at the expense of
his justice he gives these Israelites
what they want to not enter the land and
God sentences this generation to wander
in the wilderness for 40 years until
they die only their children will get to
enter the Promised Land
now you'd think this severe consequence
would wake them up but it gets even
worse so in the next story there's a
whole group of Levites that begin a
rebellion and they challenge Moses and
Aaron's leadership saying that they have
gone way too far
so God deals severely with these Levites
and he renews his commitment to Moses
and Aaron as Israel's leaders now as
they leave the region of Paran and hit
the road it goes downhill yet again the
Israelites start complaining again about
their thirst and they ask why Moses even
brought them out of Egypt in the first
place so God tells Moses to speak to a
rock to bring out water for all of the
people but Moses doesn't really do this
he overstepped his bounds he hits the
rock twice and then says you rebels do
we have to bring water out of this rock
so Moses dishonours God by putting
himself in God's place as the one who
brings out the water and so Moses brings
down on himself the same fate as the
wilderness generation he too will die in
the desert and never get to enter the
Promised Land after this Israelites
rebel yet again and God brings a very
strange judgment on them venomous snakes
to come and bite the people and so Moses
again intercedes on behalf of the people
and God tells Moses to do this to make a
bronze snake and the lift it up on a
pole so that whoever looks at this snake
would be healed of the poisonous snake
but it's a very strange symbol but it
speaks to the challenge that God has by
being faithful to his covenant he's
right to bring justice on the Israelites
evil and sin but even God's justice
transformed into a source of life for
those who will look to God for healing
from here the people head into the
plains of Moab and the first main part
of the section focuses on the strange
figure of Balaam so the king of Moab is
freaked out at this huge group of people
traveling through his territory so he
hires a pagan sorcerer Balaam to
pronounce curses on Israel in three
different times
Balaam finds that he cannot curse them
he can utter only blessing upon Israel
remember God's promise to Abraham from
Genesis 12 so not only can Balaam not
curse Israel but God actually gives him
a vision about a future Israelite king
who will one day bring God's justice to
all of the nations this vision recalls
Jacob's promised Judah in Genesis
chapter 49 now it's worth stopping to
reflect on the flow of the book so far
the rebellion stories in the wilderness
they just heap up on one another getting
worse and worse and while God does bring
partial acts of judgment on Israel he's
also kept showing mercy providing food
and water along the way and so the
Balaam story it shows God's grace in
bright colors because here's Israel
they're down in the camp grumbling and
rebelling but up in the hills
unbeknownst to them God is protecting
and even blessing them and it's this
contrast between Israel's rebellion and
God's faithfulness in the wilderness
that's what made these stories so
important for later generations of
Israel
so the wilderness stories are retold
time and again by later biblical
prophets and poets and even by the
Apostles in the New Testament and these
stories always serve as a warning that
while God will remain faithful to his
covenant promises he will also allow his
people to walk away in rebellion and
face the consequences after this the
rest of the book focuses on the children
of the wilderness generation and they
begin preparing to inherit the promised
land they take another census of the new
generation then they go on and win a
number of battles with the people groups
around them and then a few tribes even
begin to settle in the promised land so
the book ends with the new generation
poised to enter into the land and Moses
is about to deliver his final words of
and warning but for now that's what the
Book of Numbers is all about