The book of Numbers records Israel’s journey from Mount Sinai to the edge of the Promised Land, marked by cycles of rebellion, judgment, and God's enduring faithfulness. Written by Moses during the wilderness period (1440—1400 BC), it bridges the giving of the Law and the conquest of Canaan, featuring two censuses and critical events that shaped the nation. The structure of the book follows their travels in five sections. The first is at Mount Sinai, the second is their travel from Mount Sinai to Paran, the third while they are in the region of Paran, the fourth as they travel from Paran to Moab, and finally it ends in Moab as they wait to cross over the Jordan into the Promised Land. While this trip should have taken around two weeks of travel, it took the Israelites forty years because of their rebellion against God. The central themes of the book of Numbers are obedience, rebellion, and the holiness and faithfulness of God despite Israel’s repeated failures. New Testament writers use Numbers to warn believers against idolatry, unbelief, and testing God, emphasizing its enduring relevance. Ultimately, Numbers shows that while God disciplines His people, He remains committed to His promises and blesses them with undeserved grace.
The continual wavering of the Israelites between rebellion and victory looks a lot like the average Christian. Referencing the Israelites in the wilderness, Paul writes a warning to the Christian, "Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, 'The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play'" (1 Corinthians 10:6–7). Paul warns Christians "We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall" (1 Corinthians 10:8–12). These temptations were not unique to the ancient Israelites; we are to watch ourselves lest we fall in the same areas.
The writer of Hebrews also warns against hardening your heart against the voice of God and harboring unbelief in our hearts like the Israelites did in the wilderness that caused them to fall away (Hebrews 3:7–9). It says that instead we are to "exhort one another every day, as long as it is called 'today,' that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin" (Hebrews 3:13).
The book of Numbers has a lot of "what not to do" examples that serve as a warning, but the most striking part about this book is the faithfulness of God amidst the faithlessness of the Israelites. God granted them victory against their enemies even when their hearts rebelled against Him between battles. When they spent their time complaining in the wilderness, God saved them from the enemy that they could not see. God could have rightly used Balaam to curse the Israelites for their rebelliousness, but instead he blessed them, saying, "How lovely are your tents, O Jacob, your encampments, O Israel! Like palm groves that stretch afar, like gardens beside a river, like aloes that the LORD has planted, like cedar trees beside the waters. Water shall flow from his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters; his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted" (Numbers 24:5–7). God was faithful to the Israelites when they were faithless, and He is an unchanging God who promises to do the same for us (2 Timothy 2:13).
Key Verses:
"The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace" (Numbers 6:24–26).
"And he said, 'Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the LORD make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?'" (Numbers 12:6–8).
"Not one shall come into the land where I swore that I should make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have rejected. But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness. According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure" (Number 14:30–34).
"God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?" (Numbers 23:19).
"I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth" (Numbers 24:17).
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