The earth is the Lords   

NUMBERS

Updated: June 18, 2007

The Bible Commentary


[C]2000-07 by Richard L Zorek

  • Numbers 1:1: "And the Lord spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of the congregation, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying," The book begins with the Lord's command to Moses to number the people, an operation which, as we see from a comparison of 1:1 with 10:1, took ninteen days. The object of this exercse was to list the numbers of men twenty years of age and abve who were "able to go to war." (v. 3). This indicates its military purpose. The God of Israel was mustering His people for advance into the Promised Land and into the fulfillment of His sovereign purposes for them.

  • Num 1:3: "From twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel: thou and Aaron shall number them by their armies." The object of this census was to list the numbers of men twenty one years of age and above who were "able to go to war." God was preparing His people for advance into the Promised Land and into the fulfillment of His sovereign purposes for them.

  • Num 1:38: But those that encamp before the tabernacle......and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death You must know God before you can enter into His presence.

  • Num 2:17: Then the Tent of Meeting and the camp of the Levites will set out in the middle of the camps. They will set out in the same order as they encamp, each in his own place under his standard. "in his own place under his own standard" clearly shadows Pauls teaching "Let each man remain in the same calling in which he was called>" (I Cor 12:27).

  • Num 3:1: "These also are the generations of Aaron and Moses in the day that the Lord spake with Moses in mount Sinai."

  • Num 3:2: "And these are the names of the sons of Aaron; Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazor, and Ithamar.

  • Num 3:3: "These are the names of the sons of aaron, the priests which were annointed, whom he consecrated to minister in the priest's office."

  • Num 3:4: "Nadab and Abihu had died before the Lord when they offered profane fire before the lord in the Wilderness of Sinai; and they had no children. So Eleazer and Ithamar ministered as priests in the presence of Aaron their father. The sin of Nadab and Abihu was a manifold one, (a) they each took his own censor and not the sacred utensil of the dsanctuary; (b) they offered it together, whereas incense was only to be offered by one; (c) they presumptuously encroached upon the functions of the high priest; for according to the Law the high priest alone burnt incense in a censer; (d) they offered incense at an unauthorized time, since it was apart from the morning and evening sacrifice. The operative phrase in the incident is "profane fire" ("profane" here has the force of "unlawful" or "common"). The presumptuous priests committed sacrilege by filling their vessels with common fire instead of taking it from the holy fire of the altar, which was always to be used in the burning of incense.
    This is a word of considerable relevance today, when the need for new, modern methods in "getting out the gospel" to our generation is repeatedly emphasized. We need to be aware lest a question of methodology become one of theology. It is easy to stray from the divine order through a desire for innovation, for innovation's sake, and thereby lose contact with the divine fire which alone can give true inspiration.
    James Denny, in a sermon titled "Wrong Roads to the Kingdom" wrote:
    There is always a tendency in the Church to trust methods which appeal to the senses than to the soul, of which are believed to be reaching the soul though they never get past the senses....The trust of the Church in other things is really a distrust of the truth, an unwillingness to believe that its power lies in itself, a desire to have something more irrestistible than truth to plead truth's cause..
    Of which all these methods are modes of athiesm. God, Jesus, the power of the Spirit, and His word are our real source...and therein in is the "method" we ought to use.

  • Num 3:5: "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,"

  • Num 3:6: "Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister unto him,"

  • Num 3:7: "And they shall keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation, and the charge of the children of Israel, to do the service of the taberbacle."

  • Num 3:38: "But those that encamp before the tabernacle toward the east, even before the tabernacle of the congregation eastward, shall be Moses, and Aaron and his sons, keeping the charge of the sanctuary for the charge of the children of Israel, and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death" They had certain responsibilities that none others had. There was no "back way" or illegal way into the sanctuary. Only the way God allowed.

  • Numbers 5:2: “Command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper, everyone who has a discharge, and whoever becomes defiled by a corpse. it is not that God lacks compassion for the leper, but that He has compassion on both. Allowing the leper to stay in camp could cause more illness.
  • Num 6:1: "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,"

  • Num 6:2: "Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, when either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of the Nazirite, to separate themselves unto the Lord"

  • Num 6:3: "He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liqour of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried.

  • Num 6:4: "All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk."

  • Num 6:5: "All the days of the vow of his separation there shall be no razor come upon his head; until the days be fulfilled, in which he separateth himself unto the lord, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow."

  • Num 6:6: "All the days that he separates himself to the Lord he shall not go near a dead body." The strictness of this enactment is seen that not only contact with a dead body is forbidden but even, it would seem (lev21:11), entering a room in which a dead body lay. So strict is the prohibition that even unintentional or accidental contact with the dead was regarded to have nullified the consecration, and a new beginning had to be made. Calvin distinguishes two points in the prohibition. Contact with a dead body was pollution, and he concluded that "because by death is represented God's curse, the wages of sin, the Israelites were thus admonished to beware dead works." As to the question of mourning he adds that "those who profess the special service of God should set an example to others of magnanimity and submission."

    Numbers Chapter Seven

    Numbers Chapter Nine

    Numbers Chapter Eleven

    • The Bible gives us a vivid illustration of how Satan tries to deceive and destroy us--all because we are precious in His sight. This illustration appears in Numbers 13-14. Israel had sent twelve spies to search out the promised land. When these spies returned after forty days, they planted three lies in the hearts of God's people. Those three lies were:

    • 1. "There are too many people in the land. And they are too strong for us!"
    • 2. "The cities are walled too high. The strongholds are too impregnable!"
    • 3. "There are giants in the land, and we're no match for them. We are helpless, finished!"

      These lies took the heart right out of Israel--and the people endured a night of despair: "And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night" (Num 14:1)

      It is a fact that the ten spies brought back a bad report about he giants and those who dwelt in the land. In verses 27-29, the spies spoke according to what they believed, rather than what God had said. But notice Calebs response. He brought back a report according to his convictions based on God's Word. "And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it (Num 13:30).

    • Num 14:11: And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs I have shewed among them? After all the Lord did, when will they trust and rest in HIM?
    • Num 14:44: "But they presumed to go up to the mountaintop. Nevertheless, neither the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses depated from the camp."the verse says "they presumed," which is an eloquent and perhaps sufficient commentary on their state of heart, and it prompts us to remark that in such circumstances God is not really taken in by our protestations, though we ourselves may often be, and others also. The truth of the matter is that the willfulness, the disobedience, the hardhearted disregard of the divine will were all unchanged.
    • Num 16:45: "Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment." And they fell on their faces. The peoples murmuring led to a swift reaction from the Lord: His glory appeared, and He announced His intention of destroying the entire congregation: a deadly plague broke out among them and the people began to die. Moses and Aaron reacted characteristically, and fell on their faces in intercession.

    • Num 18:21: "Behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work which they perform, the work of the tabernacle of meeting." The assignment of "all the tithes in Israel" to the Levites appears to be something new and is not found, in contrast to the priestly provisions, in the Levitical legislation. Tithing was an ancient institution, antedating the Mosaic law by centuries. The regulation here laid down clearly has reference to Israel's future settlement in Canaan, when in a settled agricultural economy the tithing of the produce of the land would become possible. Here again, as with the priests in the previous verses, the twofold point is made that the tithe was a payment both as a return for service and a recognition of the dangers involved in their responsibilities, on the one hand, and on the other as a compensation from the Lord for their lack of territorial inheritance.

    • Num 20:2: "Now there was no water for the congregation; so they gathered together against Moses and Aaron." It was surely an evidence of heartlessness and insensitivity n the part of the people that they should have allowed their bitter complaining to surface once again when Moses' sorrow was so fresh. It was an inopportune time, and singularly innapropriate, for them to have done so. The truth is, however, that when people are "out of sorts" with God, they become clumsy and insensitive, and intrude unceremoniously at all manner of unsuitable times, causing needless hurt and distress that could, and should, have been avoided.

    • Num 20:21: "Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his territory; so Israel turned away from him." The enmity--for such was between Edom and israel--had ancient roots, as is evident from the earlier chapters of Genesis onwards. Edom's intransigence on this occasion is simply one of a number of subsequent incidents in the ongoing history of God's people which underline not only the hereditary enmity between these two nations (with a common ancestry in the patriarch Isaac), but also the implacable hatred that Edom showed Israel.

    • Num 21:14: "Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the Lord: "Waheb in Suphah, The brooks of the Arnon." "The Book of the Wars of the Lord is mentioned only here in scripture. It is probably a collection of popular songs of the time, from which the "well" song in verses 17-18 is also likely to have been taken. The names "Wahab" and "Suphah" are unknown as place names.

    • Num 21:17: "Then Israel sang this song: "Spring up, O well! All of you sing to it-" Matthew Henry comments this way on the phrase "spring up, O well": "As the brazen serpent was a figure of Christ, who is lifted up for our cure, so is this well a figure of the Spirit, who is poured forth for our comfort, and from whom flow to us rivers of living waters (u>John 7:38). Does this well spring up in our souls? We should sing to it; take the comfort to ourelves, and give the glory to God."

    • Num 22:6: "Therefore please come at once, curse this people for me, for they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land, for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and hw whom you curse is cursed." The custom of cursing an enemy before battle was widespread in the ancient world, and Balaam seems to have gained a reputation as an effective operative who could be relied upon, on the payment of an appropriate fee (v 7), to give satisfaction.

    • Scripture tells us that God, being God, is incapable of lying. (Num 23:9).

    • Num 31:18: Israelite men were allowed to capture heathen women during a war.

    • Numbers 33:55 "But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell". A thorn in your side "is" a thorn in the flesh. And contrary to popular belief, it's not a physical ailment, it's people who if left among the Children of God, would vex or trouble them. This is what the thorn in the side "signifies" in God's Word. Paul, being a man of knowledge of scripture would be very familiar with these terms and God's use of them. He is indeed inspired by God to use this term to signify people who trouble the children of God. The Judaizers, who were the enemies of God, were a thorn in the side of Paul, because they hated him for teaching against their doctrines.

    • Num 35:31: "Moreover ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, which is guilty of death: but he shall surely be put to death." Not only is the death penalty required by law, but it is specified that there can be no remission of the penalty.
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    This Page was first created on February 22, 2001.