Numbers

At Sinai in the second month of year two, God orders a military census of males twenty and older; tribal leaders assist. Totals by tribe add to 603 550 warriors. Levites are exempt because they guard and transport the Tabernacle.

God sets camp order around the Tabernacle: East vanguard Judah-Issachar-Zebulun (186 400); South Reuben-Simeon-Gad (151 450); Levites with Tabernacle next; West Ephraim-Manasseh-Benjamin (108 100); North rear guard Dan-Asher-Naphtali (157 600). Each marches under its standard.

Aaron’s sons listed; Nadab and Abihu already dead for strange fire. Levites are taken in place of Israel’s firstborn: Gershon (curtains), Kohath (holy furniture), Merari (frames). Census of males =1 month totals 22 000. 273 excess firstborn Israelites redeemed at five shekels each.

Working-age Levites (30-50) counted for transport duties: Kohath 2 750 carry covered holy objects; Gershon 2 630 move curtains and hangings; Merari 3 200 haul boards and bases. Total 8 580 men. Strict rules prevent Kohathites from viewing or touching sacred items.

Unclean persons (leprosy, discharges, corpse defilement) expelled outside camp. Restitution for fraud requires full repayment plus 20 % and a guilt-offering ram. Jealousy test: a suspected wife drinks dust-mixed bitter water; guilt brings uterine curse, innocence brings no harm.

Nazirite vow: abstain from wine or grapes, avoid haircuts, and shun corpses. Defilement resets the vow after seven-day cleansing. Completion entails burnt, sin, peace offerings and shaving hair into the fellowship-offering fire. Priestly blessing—“The LORD bless thee and keep thee…”—is prescribed.

Tribal chiefs present dedication gifts: six wagons and twelve oxen for Gershon and Merari transport; over twelve days each chief offers identical silver, gold, grain, and animal sacrifices. Totals include 36 bulls, 72 rams, 72 lambs, 72 goats. God speaks to Moses from above the mercy seat.

Aaron positions the seven lampstand lamps. Levites are purified with washing, shaving, and sacrifices; Israelites lay hands on them as a wave offering to substitute for firstborn. Levites serve fully from age 25-50, then assist without heavy labor.

Israel keeps the second Passover (14th of month 1, year 2). A deferred Passover in month 2 is provided for the ritually unclean or travelers. The cloud and nightly fire over the Tabernacle dictate all marches and encampments, however long they last.

Two silver trumpets direct assemblies, departures, and alarms. On 20th day of month 2 the cloud lifts; tribes move off from Sinai in order. Moses invites Hobab to guide; ark travels ahead seeking rest. Moses prays at each setting-out and stopping.

Complaints about hardship bring consuming fire at Taberah. People crave meat, despising manna; Moses feels overwhelmed. God bestows His Spirit on 70 elders who prophesy, then sends quail thrice-deep around camp. Greedy eaters die in a plague—Kibroth-hattaavah.

Miriam and Aaron criticize Moses over his Cushite wife and question his unique status. God affirms Moses’ face-to-face access and strikes Miriam with leprosy. After Moses’ intercession she is shut out seven days; then Israel moves from Hazeroth to Paran.

Twelve spies reconnoiter Canaan forty days, returning with huge fruit and reports of giants and fortresses. Caleb urges immediate conquest, but ten spies discourage the people, declaring “We were grasshoppers in their sight.”

The nation rebels, wanting Egypt; Joshua and Caleb plead in vain. God threatens destruction; Moses secures pardon but generation 20+ must wander 40 years and die. Presumptuous attackers ascend without God’s presence and are routed at Hormah.

Future land offerings: every burnt or vow sacrifice must include graded grain, oil, and wine portions; same law for natives and foreigners. Unintentional communal sin forgiven by a goat; intentional ‘high-handed’ sin brings expulsion. Sabbath stick-gatherer is stoned. Blue-corded tassels mandated as commandment reminders.

Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and 250 leaders rebel against priestly hierarchy. The earth swallows Korah’s faction; fire consumes the 250 incense bearers; their bronze censers plate the altar. Next day murmuring sparks a plague; Aaron’s atoning incense stops it after 14 700 deaths.

Twelve tribal rods placed before the testimony; Aaron’s rod buds, blossoms, and bears almonds overnight, proving his priestly selection. The rod is kept as a sign to curb further rebellion.

Priests bear sanctuary responsibility and receive portions of most-holy and holy offerings, firstfruits, and dedicated items but no land. Levites get Israel’s tithes for service and must tithe a tenth to the priests. Both groups must guard holiness lest wrath fall.

Rite of the red heifer: a flawless red cow is burned outside camp with cedar, hyssop, and scarlet; ashes stored for water of purification from corpse defilement. Contact with the dead requires seven-day cleansing with the ash water on days 3 and 7 or else cutting off.

At Kadesh Miriam dies. People protest lack of water; God tells Moses to speak to the rock, but he strikes it twice—water flows, yet Moses and Aaron are barred from the land. Edom refuses passage. On Mount Hor Aaron dies; Eleazar becomes high priest and Israel mourns 30 days.

Canaanite king Arad is defeated. Complaints bring fiery serpents; a bronze serpent on a pole affords healing to those who gaze on it. Israel marches through desert stations, singing at Beer. Sihon of the Amorites and Og of Bashan attack and are conquered; Israel occupies their territories.

Balak of Moab hires Balaam to curse Israel. God permits Balaam but restricts his words. En-route, Balaam’s donkey sees an angel and speaks; Balaam acknowledges God’s constraint. Balak shows Israel from Bamoth-baal.

At Bamoth-baal and Pisgah Balaam offers sacrifices but can only bless: Israel countless, dwelling secure; God immutable—“He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it.” Balak grows frustrated, tries a new vantage.

From Peor Balaam utters Spirit-filled oracles: Israel’s flourishing tents; a star and scepter arising to crush Moab and Edom; doom for Amalek, Kenites, and others. Balak and Balaam part ways, blessing not curse accomplished.

Israelis commit immorality with Moabite women and worship Baal-peor; 24 000 die in a plague. Phinehas spears an offending couple, halting wrath and earning a perpetual priestly covenant. God orders war on Midian.

Second census on Moab plains: 601 730 military males (down 1 820). Tribe sizes shift—Judah largest, Simeon smallest. Levites number 23 000 males. Of the original census only Caleb and Joshua survive, fulfilling God’s oath.

Zelophehad’s daughters secure inheritance rights for women when no sons exist, setting succession law. God shows Moses the land from Abarim but reminds him of his penalty. Joshua is publicly commissioned via laying on of hands before Eleazar.

Regular sacrificial calendar: daily burnt lambs morning/evening with grain and drink; additional Sabbath lambs; new-moon offerings of bulls, ram, lambs plus sin goat; detailed sacrifices for Passover and seven-day Unleavened Bread; Feast of Weeks offerings 50 days later.

Seventh-month festivals: Trumpets (1st), Atonement (10th), and Tabernacles (15-22nd) with specific daily offerings—diminishing bulls over seven days—and an eighth-day solemn assembly. All are added to regular burnt offerings.

Vow regulations: a man’s vow stands; a father or husband may annul a woman’s vow on the day he hears or it stands; widows/divorcees are bound. Silent consent equals confirmation, stressing accountability.

Israel avenges Midian under Phinehas: all males and Balaam killed, cities burned. Non-virgin women slain; 32 000 virgins spared. Ritual purification performed. Spoils (including 675 000 sheep, 72 000 cattle) divided equally between warriors and congregation, with shares to priests and Levites; commanders gift 16 750 shekels of gold to the sanctuary.

Reuben and Gad (and half-Manasseh) ask for Transjordan pasturelands. Moses consents only if they first fight to conquer Canaan. They pledge, fortify cities, and receive the realms of Sihon and Og.

Travel log lists 42 stages from Egypt to Moab. God commands expulsion of Canaan’s inhabitants and destruction of idols, promising possession by lot. Failure to drive them out will make them barbs and thorns.

Canaan’s boundaries defined—south from Zin to Mediterranean, west by sea, north to Lebo-Hamath, east down the Jordan. Eleazar, Joshua, and twelve tribal princes are appointed to allot the land.

Forty-eight Levite cities with pasturelands assigned; six are cities of refuge (three each side of Jordan) where manslayers await trial. Murder requires multiple witnesses and death; no ransom. Manslayers go free only after the high priest dies.

Manasseh leaders worry Zelophehad heiresses might transfer land by marriage. God rules heiresses must marry within their tribe. They wed cousins, keeping inheritance intact. Thus Israel’s camp remains on Moab’s plains opposite Jericho, ready to enter the Promised Land.