Leviticus 27-Numbers 3

Leviticus ends with a chapter on the repayment of vows. Lawrence Boadt explains that this chapter was added later to update older laws that demanded fulfillment of vows no matter what (as in Numbers 30 and Deuteronomy 23). Eventually, Israel had to provide for monetary substitutions instead of handing over property where that might prove difficult or impossible. Leviticus 27 sets a monetary value on different objects.[1]

The book of Numbers gets its name from the Greek word arithmoi that is used to describe the census in chapter one of the Septuagint version of this book. The Hebrew title of this book is: “In the Wilderness”. Friedman writes,

The book of Numbers is the story of a journey…. Numbers is entirely about movement. The journey as a literary theme has been a recurring component of world literature from the epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest known book, and the Odyssey to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz…. The journey in literature can be the experience of an individual or a group. In the book of Numbers it is both…. It is the only age in the Bible in which miracle is a daily fact of life [in YHWH’s provision of daily manna]…. The deity is pictured frequently as speaking and acting in response to human events rather than by divine initiation. Divine communications are fewer and briefer than in the preceding books…. Numbers is the story of a people coming to terms with having a constitution of laws, and coming to terms with their relationship of holiness with the deity. And in the midst of this stands Moses.[2]

Boadt provides this helpful outline of the book:

Numbers 1:1-10:10 … A series of laws on the order of the camp, the duties of Levites, vows, feast day ceremonies and offerings.

Numbers 10:10-14:45 … The journey from Sinai to Paran … An attempt to capture Canaan from the south fails.

Numbers 15 … Laws on sacrifice and ritual actions

Numbers 16-19 ... Challenge to Aaron’s authority and laws for high priest and Levites

Numbers 20-21 … Journey continues to the plains of Moab … the conquest of the kings Sihon and Og

Numbers 22-24 … The opposition of the Moabites and the prophet Balaam

Numbers 25 … The rebellion and punishment at Baal Peor in Moab

Numbers 26-30 … More laws on census, inheritance, vows, and sacrifices

Numbers 31-34 … Final conquest of the area east of the Jordan River and settling of some of the tribes there

Numbers 35-36 … An appendix with laws on Levitical cities of refuge for accused, and inheritance laws

Friedman has a helpful comment on the number of the Israelites recorded in Numbers 2:32. If the number of the fighting men is 603,550 then that would make the total number of the Israelites at this time to be about two million. Friedman writes,

It has been calculated that by these numbers, marching eight across, when the first Israelites reach Mount Sinai, half of them would still be in Egypt! The extraordinary size of this population is a famous old problem in traditional and critical biblical scholarship. The numbers appear far too high; but they do not appear to be entirely invented either, because what would be the motive for contriving them in all of this tribe-by-tribe detail for the first four chapters of Numbers? Some suggest that the word for “thousand” here means rather a “clan,” but that is not correct…. One possibility is that these are the numbers from the census that is attributed to King David (2 Samuel 24… There are just three censuses in the Tanak, the two censuses of Moses and the census of David.) Coming centuries later, in a period in which Israel is settled in the land, the numbers are more understandable in the Davidic era (though they are questionably high even for that period). In this scenario, the records here would have come from old documents among the archives which would have come to be mixed in with documents that were used as sources for the Torah.[3]

Furthermore, the number of 22,273 firstborn males of all ages in Numbers 3:43 presents a complication. Friedman notes that this number is utterly out of proportion to the number of over 600,000 adult males. Friedman says he has seen no satisfactory solution to this problem. Personally, I think that is a very honest and helpful admission. There are some mysteries in the Bible for which there is no clear solution, perhaps even some errors for which there is no explanation.

But the important thing as we begin this book is not numbers. What matters is the journey. Where are you in your journey with God? What evidence have you seen lately of his presence with you on the journey?

[1] Boadt, Reading the Old Testament, 190

[2] Friedman, Commentary on the Torah, 421-422

[3] Ibid, 428

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