Book 4 of 39 in the Old Testament — Wilderness wandering.
Numbers takes its name from the two censuses that bookend Israel's journey from Sinai toward the Promised Land. After refusing to trust God at Kadesh Barnea, the generation that left Egypt is condemned to wander the wilderness for forty years until it passes away. The book records repeated rebellions — against Moses, against God's provision, against his chosen leaders — alongside remarkable patience and provision from God. It ends with a new generation poised at last to enter the land.
“The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.”King James Version
The priestly blessing: “The Lord bless you and keep you.”
“And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.”King James Version
Caleb urges Israel to trust God and take the land despite the odds.
“The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.”King James Version
God describes himself as slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
“And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.”King James Version
Moses lifts up a bronze snake so that anyone who looks at it is healed, later referenced by Jesus.
“God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”King James Version
Balaam declares that God is not a man, that he should lie.