The Book of Numbers

In the Wilderness, toward the Promised Land

The title “Numbers” directs the reader’s attention to the several censuses contained in the Book. The Hebrew title is more accurate: “In the wilderness,” for the Book in fact narrates an important stage in the history of God’s people: its forty-year sojourn in the wilderness that ends with the beginning of the conquest of the Promised Land.

The focus of the text is the incidents and institutions that marked this lengthy journey, but it incorporates these into a reflection on the religious meaning of the events and the time in the wilderness.

The outline that is adopted simplifies the historical reality, for in fact all the tribes did not follow the same itinerary, and the legislative prescriptions recorded do not all date from the period in the wilderness. It is true enough that the story is always based on recollections and practices from the time when the Hebrews were living in a semi-nomad state in the Negeb (southern Palestine) or in the Transjordan; but these recollections and practices were continually meditated on, retold, and interpreted over a period of centuries by a living tradition, before finding their present place in the great picture of sacred history that was drawn after the Exile by an editor who belonged to the Priestly tradition.

The people are described as a well-organized army, lined up behind their leaders and standards, ready to prove themselves capable of a holy war. But, more importantly, the people are seen as “the assembly of the Lord” (Num 16:3); God dwells in the midst of the people and manifests his presence and activity by means of the cloud, the Ark of the Covenant, and, above all, his servant Moses. This assembly, with its priests and Levites who are in charge of worship, its Nazirites who are consecrated to God, and its faithful, is an image of another “assembly of the Lord,” namely, the Church, the new people of God, within which the Spirit assigns various functions and responsibilities. Thus the Book of Numbers, despite its tedious stretches, helps us meditate on the Church, the liturgy, the priesthood, the consecrated life, and the responsibilities shared by all.

The journey in the wilderness serves as a framework and occasion for describing the spiritual itinerary of the people of God. It is God who sets them on their way, sustains them, guides them, makes them retreat, and obtains water and food for them.

But the people are regretful when they remember Egypt, and they often rebel. Their sin slows their progress and calls down punishments. They must achieve conversion and purification (and the priesthood is given to them precisely so that they can do this more readily); they will not be able to enter the Promised Land until they are completely renewed.

This is why the Book of Numbers has always been esteemed by those desirous of knowing the ways of spiritual progress. From this point of view, it will always be a valuable guide.

The Book of Numbers may be divided as follows:

I: The Census and the Preparation to Depart from Sinai (1:1—10:10)

II: Forty Years in the Wilderness (10:11—25:18)

III: The Second Census and the Plan to Enter the Promised Land (26:1—36:13)