We call Numbers “Numbers” because the early Greek translation of Numbers called it so. The reason is obvious: Chapters 1-4 and 26 are full of numbers, amazing numbers, BIG numbers. Some scholars pooh-pooh the numbers in the book of Numbers, simply because they cannot believe so many people could maneuver their way through the wilderness.
But this is precisely why God ordered a counting and an arrangement for traveling and camping. God was helping Moses get this massive amount of humanity organized for the long haul: forty years—as we shall see—wandering in the wilderness. I especially love how the Lord divided up Tabernacle moving responsibilities among the three Levitical clans (Numbers 3-4); the Kohathites were to carry the Tabernacle furnishings, the Gershonites its curtains and coverings, and the Merarites, its frames and posts. The camp arrangements (Numbers 2) gave the Tabernacle maximum protection.
The Hebrew name for the book is bemidbar, which means, “in the desert.” This is probably more descriptive of the book as a whole, for the book of Numbers describes their desert time, from their disastrous faith-fall to their arrival at the doorstep of the Promised Land 40 years later.
Lord, as we read through Numbers, teach us to “number” our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90:12).
Until tomorrow,
Pastor Gary
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