The Law (Torah)
The book of Numbers
Israel’s census and wanderings in the wilderness, from Sinai to the plains of Moab.
Numbers covers about thirty-eight years, from the census at Sinai to the edge of the promised land, including the report of the twelve spies and the refusal to enter (Numbers 13–14). Moses is said to have recorded Israel’s journeys by the LORD’s command (Numbers 33:2).
Kinds of writing
- Narrative 48%
- Law 43%
- Genealogy 8%
Key verses
The priests' blessing. ‘Yahweh bless you, and keep you. Yahweh make his face to shine on you, and be gracious to you. Yahweh lift up his face toward you, and give you peace.’
Numbers 6:24-26 (World English Bible)
Caleb followed Yahweh fully. But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and has followed me fully, him I will bring into the land into which he went. His offspring shall possess it.
Numbers 14:24 (World English Bible)
The bronze serpent. Yahweh said to Moses, “Make a venomous snake, and set it on a pole. It shall happen that everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.”
Numbers 21:8 (World English Bible)
God is not a man, that he should lie. God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should repent. Has he said, and he won’t do it? Or has he spoken, and he won’t make it good?
Numbers 23:19 (World English Bible)
A star out of Jacob. I see him, but not now. I see him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob. A scepter will rise out of Israel, and shall strike through the corners of Moab, and crush all the sons of Sheth.
Numbers 24:17 (World English Bible)
People
MosesAaronMiriamCalebJoshuaKorahBalaamPhinehas
Places
Wilderness of SinaiKadesh-barneaMount HorMoabPeorJordanJericho
On the timeline
Israel sets out from SinaiThe twelve spies and the refusal at KadeshKorah's rebellion; Aaron's staff budsForty years in the wildernessMiriam dies; Moses strikes the rock at MeribahThe bronze serpentBalaam blesses IsraelSin at Baal Peor; Phinehas's zeal
The New Testament quotes or alludes to Numbers 1 time (counted in the site’s Old in the New).
Dating notes
Completed in the plains of Moab in 1451 BC (Ussher). The conventional conservative date for the Exodus is 1446 BC, which would put the writing 45 years later than shown here; this timeline follows Ussher’s 1491 BC. Many modern scholars hold that the Pentateuch was put together from several sources over centuries after Moses; the traditional view, which this timeline follows, is that Moses wrote it, with small later touches such as the account of his death.