Who wrote Numbers, and when?
Traditionally Moses. Traditionally 1400s BC, covering about forty years in the wilderness.
Numbers is traditionally credited to Moses, along with the rest of the first five books of the Bible. It contains records that Moses is said to have kept, such as the list of camping places in chapter 33, which the book says he wrote down at the LORD's command. On that view the book was written in the 1400s BC, near the end of the forty years in the wilderness. Many scholars think it was compiled later from a mixture of older lists, laws and stories. The English name comes from the two censuses, one at the start and one near the end. The Hebrew name means "in the wilderness", which describes the book better, since it covers the whole journey from Sinai to the plains of Moab.
Who was Numbers written to?
The second generation of Israel, camped on the plains of Moab and about to enter Canaan.
The book is addressed to the second generation, the children of the people who left Egypt. Their parents had refused to enter the land at Kadesh, and God had said that generation would die in the wilderness. Now, nearly forty years later, the children were camped on the plains of Moab across the Jordan from Jericho, ready to go in. They needed to hear the story of their parents' failure honestly, so they would not repeat it. They also needed to know that the promise still stood, that the LORD had fed and led and protected Israel the whole way, and that the land was still theirs to receive. The second census in chapter 26 counts them as the new people of the promise.
What was happening at the time?
Numbers begins with a census at Sinai and ends with a census on the border of the land. In between lies the failure at Kadesh, when Israel refused to trust God and enter, and the long years of wandering that followed. The book was written so the children would not repeat their parents’ unbelief.
Why was Numbers written?
To warn against grumbling and unbelief, and to show that God’s promise outlasts a whole generation’s failure.
Numbers was written as a warning and a comfort. The warning is against grumbling, unbelief and rebellion. Chapter after chapter shows Israel complaining about food, about leaders, about the journey, and above all refusing at Kadesh to trust God to give them the land. The results are severe. The comfort is that God does not give up on his people. He keeps feeding them, keeps guiding them by the cloud, keeps speaking through Moses, and even turns the pagan prophet Balaam's curses into blessings in chapters 22 to 24. The book wants its readers to trust God and go forward. In the wider Bible story, Numbers gives the picture of the wilderness that the New Testament draws on when it warns Christians not to fall the same way (see 1 Corinthians 10 and Hebrews 3 to 4).
How to read Numbers today
Numbers mixes stories, laws and lists, so it helps to know which parts to read first. Chapters 11 to 14 tell the key story of the grumbling and the refusal to enter the land. Chapter 20 shows even Moses failing. Chapters 22 to 24 give the strange and often funny story of Balaam and his donkey. Read those first, then go back through the rest. Watch for the contrast between what God has done and what Israel says about him. Do not force meaning out of the census figures or the tribal lists; they are there to show that God knew and counted every family. As you read, pray about your own habit of complaining, and ask God for the patience and trust the first generation lacked.
The key verse in Numbers
The LORD is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.
Passages worth knowing in Numbers
- Numbers 6:24-26
The priestly blessing
The blessing still spoken over God’s people today.
- Numbers 13–14
The twelve spies
Fear wins over faith and costs a generation the land.
- Numbers 20
Moses strikes the rock
Even Moses is kept out of the land for failing to honour God.
- Numbers 21:4-9
The bronze serpent
Look and live; Jesus applies it to himself in John 3.
- Numbers 22–24
Balaam
A hired prophet can only bless what God has blessed.
The main themes of Numbers
- Unbelief and its cost
- God’s faithfulness
- Order and holiness in the camp
- Leadership
- Journey to the promise
An outline of Numbers
| Section | Chapters |
|---|---|
| Preparing at Sinai | 1–10 |
| Rebellion and wandering | 11–25 |
| The new generation | 26–36 |