Bible Study: The Book of Numbers

This is a brief overview of the Book of Numbers, the fourth book of the Old Testament, and focuses on certain events that were recorded in chapters 10 through 14, and 20 – 14. For example, the people being fed quail and Moses fetching water from the rock. This was done because they said they were brought out of Egypt to die from lack of food and water.

Numbers centers on God's faithfulness to His people and how disobedience will not be tolerated in His eyes. As the tribes set out from the Desert of Sinai the Israelites turn to complaining which provokes the LORD to anger. Even the brother and sister of Moses, Aaron and Miriam, made God angry because they spoke harshly to Moses about his Cushite wife. Miriam was infected with leprosy and had to be confined outside the camp for seven days. 

After leaving Hazeroth, the Israelites camped at the Desert of Paran while Moses sent 12 men to explore Canaan and bring back a report. Ten of the men who brought back a bad report claiming their size compared to the people that lived there was like grasshoppers to giants. The remaining two, Joshua and Caleb, gave Moses a good report. Those who brought back a bad report died by a plague from the LORD.

The Israelites complained often about not having water. The first time Moses miraculously brought water from a rock, God told him to strike it. But the second time, God instructed Moses to speak to the rock. But Moses let his won anger get the better of him and disobeyed God by striking the rock. This sin was the reason Moses was not allowed to enter the Promised Land.

The lesson for Christians through the Book of Numbers is God is faithful and always fulfills our necessary needs even though we may have petty complaints about what we need, but He does not tolerate disobedience.

My favorite verse from this book of the Bible is Number 12: 3.

• “Now the man Moses was very humble,more than all men who were on the face of all earth.”

This is my favorite verse in Numbers because it gives me a figure of modesty that I can follow in my Christian walk. Modesty or humbleness in Christian teachings is the fruit of the spirit.



Image Credit: Wikimedia commons, Public Domain  - Miriam stricken with leprosy