Sermon Tone Analysis

Numbers OT Class Notes

Bemidbar

Numbers = Census

Bemidbar = In the Wilderness

And the Lord spoke to Moses in the Wilderness

More appropriate name

Know as Numbers and avoided my many readers because of the four census found at the beginning of the book

Four census

Adult males - Fighting age

Levites

1st born Males

Levitical

Outline

In the wilderness

Numbers 10:11 - 2 month 2 year - Marked by the time from leaving Egypt

Deuteronomy 1:3 - 11 month 40 year - The time in which they are preparing to enter the land

Outlined by three locations

Sinai to Kadesh Barnea - Numbers 1-12

Kadesh Barnea to Plain of Moab - Numbers 13 – 22:1

Plain of Moab - Numbers 22:2 – 32

Theme

Numbers is an important book in relations to Heilsgeschichte (salvation history).

It forms an essential link in that forward-directedness (the plan) from Adam to Jesus

“…it heightens our appreciation of and response to the person of Yahweh.

For Christians this book is even more rewarding; for we find ourselves confronting in new ways the meaning of our salvation in Jesus Christ.

He who is the goal of all history is the goal of the Book of Numbers”

Johann Christian Konrad von Hoffman (1810-1877)

The theme of the book of numbers is worship

It contains important materials for the worship patterns of Israel

Finally, we discover that the pulse of the book is worship.

It is the worship of God by Moses and those who align themselves with him.

By God's grace it may become a book of worship for us as well.

Allen, Ronald B. “Introduction to Numbers” In The Expositor's Bible Commentary: Volume 2. 655-700.

Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, © 1990.

Senior Professor of Bible Exposition , Dallas Theological Seminary

Problems

Name - Numbers" seems to be a particularly inappropriate title for a part of the revelation of God.

The title seems as interesting as a book named, for example, "Telephone Directory" or, perhaps, "Principles of Arithmetic."

A suspicion of increasing dullness settles in long before finishing the first chapter.

By the fifth chapter the reader may have dropped out altogether.

Numbers is not "fast food" literature!

Indeed, some wonder whether it is any kind of literature at all. - Allen Ronald

Four major problems to face in the Book of Numbers

Seeming lack of coherence as a book

The dizzying variety of the contents

The problematic large numbers of the tribes of Israel

The fascinating but confusing story of Balaam

Number Problems

The high numbers of the able-bodied men over the age of twenty conscripted into the armies of Israel as recorded in chapters 1 and 26 continue to trouble modern scholars

603,550 in 1:46

601,730 in 26:51

This means that the total population is in excess of 2 million some argue would need to be nearly 5 million.

These numbers would be exceedingly large for the time.

Some say it’s a mistake in transmission.

Some say ‘elep (thousand) may be an approximation.

There were “thousands” of persons in each tribe.

Some say ‘elep (thousand) has lost all sense of a specific numerical value and means simply a troop.

Thus each tribe might be composed of 30-70 troops.

Some observed that the term ‘elep (thousand) is very close to the spelling to the word ‘allup - Chieftain.

Men would be 5550 men and 598 chiefs.

This way population would be 15000 to 18000

A variation on the above approach is given by Noordtzij, who states that we cannot translate the term 'elep as "thousand" but only by an X as we no longer know how large it was.

He concludes that the total complement of the army of Israel in Numbers 1:46 should not be read 603,550, but 603 X + 550 men (p.

27).

39

Some suggest that the large numbers in the census list are deliberately and purposefully exaggerated as a rhetorical device to bring glory to God, derision to enemy, and point forward to the fulfillment of God’s promises to the fathers that their descendants will be innumerable as the stars

In the end is our translation correct ?

Point is not to get caught up in the numbers but worship God in the numbers as he has reviled himself in them

Sinai to Kadesh Barnea

Organization of tribes

The people are preparing to leave Sinai.

Organization of the tribes

On their way to Kadesh They don’t have enough food.

They complain

God sends quail up to their waste.

The people are so greedy that the lords anger is kindled and he strikes them with a plague.

Revolt of Aaron and Miriam

Aaron and Miriam lead a revolt against Moses because he married a Cushite.

Cushite this the area of Ethiopia or Midian or Sinai Peninsula?

They might be talking about Zipporah or another wife he picked up in Egypt.

We don’t know.

They complained that he married outside the family or not a Hebrew

God Strikes Miriam with Leprosy and she becomes an outcast.

Aaron seems to be easily pushed around every time that he speaks on his own it him getting in trouble.

Moses intercedes for Miriam and she is healed

Kadesh Barnea – Plain of Moab

12 Spies

12 Spies sent into the land of Canaan.

One from each of the 12 tribes.

They were to Scout out the land.

See their weakness and to see if they could be conquered.

This is the land that God had promised them

Spies report

10 out of the 12 say that the land cannot be taken.

It is full of Nephilim, Giant people.

Joshua and Caleb stand up and say that it can be taken.

Because these two stand up they will get a special portion of the promise land, Instead of entering into the promise land now.

They will be in the wilderness until that generation fades away.

38 years

Korah’s Rebellion

Korah’s rebellion

Korah leads a rebellion against Moses .