Numbers – By Perry Cotham

Outline

INTRODUCTION:
A. Why the title numbers for this book
B. A brief statement of its contents

DISCUSSION:
I. Divisions of the book and summary of its contents

II. Symbolic lessons for the Christian from numbers
A. Concerning Israel: Moses was sent as their leader; they believed on Moses; they turned from Egypt, the land of bondage; they passed through the Red Sea and were all saved out of Egypt; later they sinned and fell in the wilderness, and failed to enter the Promised Land.
B. Concerning Christians: The sinner hears the gospel and believes on Christ; he repents of his sins; he is baptized into Christ and enters the church; he may fall by the wayside, and fail to enter Heaven.
C. The scriptures emphasized that as Israel fell in the wilderness, so many Christians fall today. “Let us therefore make every effort to be admitted to that rest, so that none of us may fall through such disobedience as theirs” (Hebrews 4:11, Goodspeed’s translation).
If Christians finally enter into that rest that remains for the people of God, they must remain faithful. Could any lesson be plainer or more comprehensible?

III. The bronze serpent, a type of Christ
A. The bitten Israelites had to look on the serpent of brass to be healed. They were not healed by “faith only”.
B. Sinners must express their faith in Christ, as Christ has commanded, in order to be saved from sin. They are not pardoned by “faith only”.

CONCLUSION:
A. Numbers is a valuable book to study.
B. The Aaronic benediction is unexcelled for beautiful language.

Introduction

The book of Numbers describes the two numberings of the people of Israel, hence the name. The first census was taken at Mount Sinai in the second year after the exodus, before Moses broke camp (CH. 1), and the second on the plains of Moab in the fortieth year of their wanderings, thirty-eight years later (CH. 26). When the first census was completed, there were 600,550 males above the age of twenty able to bear arms, exclusive of the Levites; at the second count, 601,730. Numbers is the fourth book of the Pentateuch, the oldest inspired document, and is the compilation of Moses (Ch. 33:2). In the book, as in Exodus and Leviticus, Moses is the central figure. Numbers, a book of thirty-six chapters, contains the history of Israel’s journey to Canaan from the time they left Mount Sinai until they arrived at the east bank of the Jordan. Numbers is, therefore, an account of Israel’s wanderings during thirty-eight years. Interspersed with laws, it contains records of the leading events in the wilderness, especially during the second year after the exodus from Egypt, and the final year of their wandering.

Discussion

According to God’s plan, a nation had been formed, and God cared for it. This nation, which dwelt in tents and wandered in a barren wilderness, kept exact records of their affairs. They were the children of the Covenant, the people through whom the promised Messiah would come. This nation numbered at that time possibly three to four million people. Transplanting them from Egypt to Canaan and maintaining them forty years in a desert remains yet one of the greatest miracles of all ages. People often ask, “How could the wilderness support so many people for 40 years?” Moses could never have accomplished what he did without the miraculous help of God. Jehovah is equal to every challenge; He never lacks the means to accomplish His design (Ch. 11: 21-23).

Divisions in Summary of the Book

Numbers may be divided into the following sections:

1. The preparations for departure from Sinai (Chs. 1:1 to 10:10);

2. The journey from Sinai to the borders of Canaan (Chs. 10:11 to 14:45);

3. A brief account of laws and events during the thirty-seven years of wandering (Chs. 15:1 to 19:22); and

4. The history of the final year, from the second arrival at Kadesh until “the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho” (Chs. 20:1 to 36:13).

One year after the exodus, when the cloud was taken up from the Tabernacle, Israel began her march over a dreary desert. At Tabera many of the people were burned because they had murmured. There also, because the people loathed manna and longed for the food of Egypt, quails were sent; but with the quail came a plague which killed many. Also during the march Aaron and Miriam complained against Moses because of the woman he had married. Miriam, the sister of Moses, was smitten with leprosy, but she was restored because Moses interceded for her.

When Moses left Sinai he planned to go directly to Canaan. He went straight to Kadesh, 150 miles north of Sinai and 50 miles south of Beersheba, the south gateway to Canaan. Although he intended to enter Canaan at once, the people wanted some men to go first and to spy out the land. Twelve men were selected, one from each tribe. The spies returned after forty days and reported that the land was good. But ten of the spies lost faith in the promises of God, declaring that Israel could not take the land on account of the giants. All of the spies, except Joshua and Caleb, reported the task was hopeless. The people in general believed the report of the ten, notwithstanding the encouragement of the other two. Although Joshua and Caleb said the land could be conquered, the people did not believe them. Complaining and murmuring, they refused to go forward.

Their bitterness became so intense that they wanted to stone Moses. This experience was the crucial test of the whole journey. On account of their rebellion against God, they had to wander in the wilderness thirty-eight more years until those who had sinned had died. Of the more than 600,000 men over twenty years of age who left Mount Sinai, only two – Joshua and Caleb – lived to cross the Jordan River and enter Canaan.

Almost nothing is recorded concerning thirty-seven of those years: a Sabbath-breaker was punished; Korah, Dathan, and Abiram rebelled; and Aaron’s authority as high priest was confirmed by the rod that budded. At the end of that period, Israel came again to Kadesh for the advance into the Promised Land. There Miriam died. There, also, Moses sinned when he smote the rock. Finally, in the fortieth year of their journeying toward Canaan, the Israelites started eastward toward the east shore of the Dead Sea, but the Edomites, descendants of Esau, refused to let them go through their territory. Then Moses turned southward, down the desolate valley which extends from the Salt Sea to the Red Sea, in order to avoid Edom and Moab. On the way Aaron died and was buried at Mount Hor (near the impressive city of Petra), Eleazar was made high priest, and Israel overcame Arad the Canaanite. As they journeyed southward, the people murmured again (The Book of Numbers might well be called The Book of Murmurings), and God sent poisonous serpents among them.

Many were bitten and died before Moses lifted up the bronze serpent for healing. The people then journeyed east and then north along the borders of Arabia, as far as Bashan. The Ammorites, on the east of the Jordan River, attacked Israel. Moses fought back, slew Sihon their chief, and took their country. Then Og, king of Bashan, attacked, but Israel defeated him and his army. Then Israel journeyed southward to the plains of Moab.

There the king, Balak, alarmed at the progress of Israel, bribed a seer named Balaam to come and to put a curse on them; but Balaam’s curses were turned to blessings. However, because he loved money, he involved Israel in sin with Moab and Midian, and 24,000 of God’s people fell in the plague that followed, 23,000 in one day. After the strange experiences with the Moabites, the Israelites defeated the Midianites (who were in company with the Moabites). Thus the region east of Jordan fell to Israel, and was later occupied by two and one-half tribes. Then Moses renumbered the people and appointed Joshua as his successor. So at last, despite all the perils along the way, Israel encamped on the eastern side of the Jordan River, opposite Jericho, and their leader’s work was over.

Symbolic Lessons for the Christians

The book of Numbers contains many fine lessons concerning sin and grace. It is rich in types of Christ and illustrations of the Christian life. Applications of its principles are needed in the church today.

Israel’s redemption under Moses is a type of man’s redemption under Christ. Her journey in the wilderness is typical of the Christian’s experience in the church. That the history of Israel in the wilderness should be an example for Christians is affirmed by Paul in his epistle to the church at Corinth: “For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and did all eat the same spiritual food; and did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them: and the rock was Christ. Howbeit with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.’ Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us make trial of the Lord, as some of them made trial, and perished by the serpents. Neither murmur, as some of them murmured and perished by the destroyer. Now these things happened to them by way of example; and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come. Wherefore let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 1:1 – 12, ASV).

Now note these analogies:

• The salvation of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage is analogous to the salvation of sinners from sin. Egypt is a type of the world; Pharaoh is a type of Satan; Moses is a type of Christ. The Israelites were servants of Pharaoh; sinners are the servants of Satan. The deliverance of Israel from bondage in Egypt is a type of the deliverance of sinners from the bondage of sin in the world. Moses, sent from God as Israel’s deliverer, gave to the people his message, confirmed by miracles, and the people believed (Exodus 4:29-31). But the people were not delivered from Egyptian bondage at that time. Christ was sent from God in heaven to deliver us from sin. As Moses was accredited by miracles, so was Christ (John 3:2). People today hear the gospel message and believe in Christ as the Son of God, but they are not saved from sin by faith only.

• After the plagues, when Pharaoh finally consented to let the people go, the Israelites turned their backs on him and began marching out of Egypt. Likewise, the sinner, with faith in Christ, decides to quit serving Satan and resolves to leave the world. This is repentance. But the sinner is no more free from the sin at that moment than were the Israelites delivered from Egypt when they reached the shores of the Red Sea. Before Israel could be released from bondage, she had to get out of the territory of Egypt. Even so must the sinner get out of the world and into the kingdom of God before he can expect to be delivered from the bondage of sin.

• The passage through the Red Sea is a type of baptism. Even as the people went down into the divided waters of the sea, with the pillar of cloud over them, and crossed over (their baptism “unto Moses”), so the penitent believer, when he is baptized into Christ, arises from the grave of baptism a new creature in Christ, forgiven of all past sins. Baptism is the dividing line between the world and the church, just as the Red Sea was the dividing line between Egypt and the wilderness. That day God saved Israel from the Egyptians (Exodus 14:13, 20); even so baptism stands between the sinner and the forgiveness of his sins. And just as the people sang the song of glad deliverance after crossing the sea, so does the saved man rejoice after his baptism, and not before (Acts 8:39).

• The journey through the wilderness is a type of the Christian pilgrimage to heaven (this is what Paul is emphasizing in 1 Corinthians 10). After crossing the Red Sea, Israel began her march to Canaan. After baptism into Christ, the Christian begins his march to the rest which God has promised. God cared for the people while they journeyed in the wilderness for forty years; He gave them manna and water from the rock. He also gave them quail. God today abundantly blesses His people by guiding, protecting, and feeding them. Although the Israelites had been delivered from bondage, many of them did not reach the Promised Land because they sinned. They all ate and drank, but they all did not enter into Canaan. Many fell. Likewise, children of God can fall today. The Israelites are our example. Again the Scriptures teach us plainly and clearly: “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in falling away from the living God; but exhort one another day by day so long as it is called today; lest any of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sins . . . And with whom was he God displeased forty years? Was it not with them that sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom swear He that they should not enter into His rest, but to them that were disobedient? And we see that they were not able to enter in because of unbelief. Let us fear, therefore, lest perhaps, a promise being left of entering into His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it . . . Let us therefore give diligence to enter that rest, that no man fall after the same example of disobedience” (Hebrews 3:12-4:1).

If a child of God cannot fall and be lost, why the warning? What is to be feared? We are often told that there is no danger, no possibility of apostasy. Paul, however, exhorts us to heed the examples of the unbelieving Israelites. “For whatever things were written aforetime were written for our learning” (Romans 15:4).

At the beginning of the journey Israel trusted in the Lord, but later disbelieved. David in the 106th Psalm discusses Israel’s deliverance from Egypt. In verse 12 he says that Israel “believed”. In verse 24, he says that they “believed not”. So they “believed”, and later they “believed not”. The believers became unbelievers, and because of unbelief, or disobedience, they did not enter Canaan. At their first stop at Kadesh-barnea they began to doubt God’s care. Although not denying the land’s fruitfulness, the ten spies said on their return from Canaan: “We are not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. . . . We saw the giants . . . For we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight” (Numbers 13:31-33). But to this idea Joshua and Caleb did not agree; they had another spirit. They said, “Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. The Lord is with us; fear them not” (Numbers 13:30; 14:9). Nevertheless, the people believed the ten spies.

Obsessed with fear of failure, there are many Christians and congregations of our day that are spiritually paralyzed. This spirit has weakened the church. Their prophets of gloom are skeptical of every endeavor at progress that requires any degree of faith. Such a spirit of skepticism influenced the evil report which the ten spies brought back to Moses. The theme song of the prophets of defeat is always the same: “We are not able. We can’t.” Ten men of fear and unbelief held back the congregation of Israel for nearly forty years and cost thousands to miss the Promised Land; just so, the progress of the Lord’s church is hindered in many places today.

Some congregations are so afraid of failure that they never undertake any worthwhile work for the Lord. There is nothing so bad to fear as fear itself. The spirit of defeat comes not of God but of Satan. Let us beware of the “grasshopper complex”. The church needs courageous leaders, men of faith and optimism. With God’s help, Christians can go forward in the Lord’s work.

Since the Israelites could not enter into Canaan because of unbelief, we learn that salvation gained through faith may be lost through unbelief; it must be kept by faith (1 Peter 1:5). The Christian is warned repeatedly against apostasy and the deceitfulness of sin. The person who has obtained salvation from past sins will lose heaven if he does not continue faithful. Hence, let the child of God who stands take heed lest he fall through unbelief and disobedience. The life of a Christian begins with baptism. The admonition thereafter is, “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10).

• Throughout their wanderings, God guided Israel by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. When the pillar moved, they understood that God was telling them He was ready for them to move. When the clouds stopped, they stopped marching. Likewise, in the Christian age the word of God (the New Testament) is our guide. We should faithfully obey all of its instructions, and never go beyond the things which are written (1 Corinthians 4:6; Revelation 22:18-19).

Finally the Israelites who remain faithful to Jehovah were conducted across the Jordan River into the Promised Land. A Christian who remains faithful to God throughout life will be conducted across the river of death into heaven. Canaan, the Promised Land, is a type of heaven, the eternal home of the soul.

A Type of Christ, Our Savior

From the book of Numbers we learned that the brazen serpent is a type of Christ. Jesus said, “ . . . As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up: that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3: 14-15). This incident shows how Christ on the cross saves all who trust Him. As those Israelites who were bitten by the poisonous serpents looked on the serpent of brass on the pole and were healed, so those who are wounded by the old serpent, the devil, look to Jesus believing in His power to save. Just as faith alone did not heal the Israelites who were bitten by the serpents until they had looked on the image lifted up for their healing, even so the believing sinner is not saved until he expresses his faith in being baptized. Jesus said, “He that believes and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16). No matter where they were in the camp, all had to look. The same faith is required of the sinner.

Conclusion

As we have now observed, Numbers was written for our instruction; it is a valuable book to study. The language of this book is not generally considered beautiful; however, the blessing of the high priest is unexcelled in all the Holy Scriptures, and with it we close our lesson: “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” (Number 6:24-26).

Questions for Class Discussion

1. Where is this book called Numbers? What does it contain? What was the number when Israel was first counted? At the second census?
2. Name the 12 tribes of Israel and give the order of their march.
3. What invitation did Moses extend to Hobab?
4. Tell what happened at Tabera.
5. Tell of the sedition of Aaron and Miriam.
6. Discuss the rebellion of Korah, Dothan, and Abiram.
7. Tell the story of the twelve spies sent to search out the land of Canaan, and the results. What are some of the lessons from it applicable to Christians?
8. Why did God lead Israel 40 years in the wilderness? Why did so many fail to enter the Promised Land?
9. Can Christians fall from grace and be lost eternally? Explain Hebrews 2:2-4.
10. Where did Miriam die? Why did Moses smite the rock? Where did Aaron die?
11. Tell the story of the serpent of brass. What meaning did Christ give to it?
12. Tell the story of Balak and Balaam. What caused the great plagues in which 24,000 died? Can a child of God die while committing an act of sin?
13. Who was Sihon? Og? Phinehas? What request was made by Zelophehad’s daughters?
14. Repeat from memory the priestly blessing.