1. Because the people were not willing to enter the Promised Land (Num. 14:1–10), God sentenced them to forty years of wandering in the wilderness (Num. 14:33–34).
2. When the children of Israel learned that they would not be allowed to enter the Promised Land, they decided to go up anyway, only to be driven back by the Amalekites and the Canaanites (Num. 14:39–45).
3. When the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, He told Moses to make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole. Whenever someone was bitten, if he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived (Num. 21:4–9).
4. When the king of Moab asked Balaam to curse the people of God, God would not allow it, but caused Balaam to bless them three times instead (Num. 22–24).
5. The Reubenites, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh asked for permission to remain on the eastern side of the Jordan, which Moses granted on one condition—that they help drive the Canaanites out of the Promised Land (Num. 32).

In Numbers, God is glorifying Himself through the wanderings of the Israelites in the wilderness, so that He might demonstrate His superior goodness in the salvation sinners, the damnation of the wicked, and for the preservation of His people, both for His eternal glory, and their eternal joy.

The clear and consistent teaching of Scripture is that Moses wrote the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). For more information on Pentateuchal authorship, see the authorship section for Genesis

The book of Numbers was written sometime between Israel’s Exodus from Egypt (1445 B.C.) and Moses’ death (1405 B.C.). Numbers records events that took place near the end of Moses’ life, making 1445–1405 B.C. the most likely time of writing.

“Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the children of Israel: “When a man or woman commits any sin that men commit in unfaithfulness against the Lord, and that person is guilty, then he shall confess the sin which he has committed. He shall make restitution for his trespass in full, plus one-fifth of it, and give it to the one he has wronged. But if the man has no relative to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution for the wrong must go to the Lord for the priest, in addition to the ram of the atonement with which atonement is made for him. Every offering of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they bring to the priest, shall be his. And every man’s holy things shall be his; whatever any man gives the priest shall be his.”’ ”

Numbers 5:5–10

“Now when the people complained, it displeased the Lord; for the Lord heard it, and His anger was aroused. So the fire of the Lord burned among them, and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp.”

Numbers 11:1

“Now while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation. They put him under guard, because it had not been explained what should be done to him. Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘The man must surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.’ So, as the Lord commanded Moses, all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him with stones, and he died.”

Numbers 15:32–36

1. The worship of God ought to be central in the lives of His people.
2. If God desires to bless His people, nothing will stop Him.

1. The Bronze Serpent 

   When many of the Israelites were dying from the bites of fiery serpents, the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live” (Num. 21:8). Jesus Christ predicted His own fulfillment of this verse: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:14–15). Like the Israelites, every unregenerate man is a dying man, infected with the poison of sin. Like the bronze serpent that Moses lifted up on a pole, Christ was lifted up on a cross. As the bitten person who looked at the bronze serpent lived, so the sinner that looks to Jesus Christ for salvation will have eternal life.

2. Balaam’s Prophecy

   When Balak wanted Balaam to curse the Israelites, God would not allow it, and caused Balaam to bless them instead. After he had blessed the children of Israel three times, Balaam prophesied of the coming Christ in Numbers 24:17:

   “I see Him, but not now;
   I behold Him, but not near;
   A Star shall come out of Jacob;
   A Scepter shall rise out of Israel,
   And batter the brow of Moab,
   And destroy all the sons of tumult.”

   Balaam’s prophecy was fulfilled 1,400 years later, when the wise men saw Jesus’ star in the east, and came to worship Him (Matt. 2:1–2).

3. Other Types of Christ
   1. The Water from the Rock (Num. 20)
   2. The Cities of Refuge (Num. 35:6–28)

1. The Old Generation (Num. 1–12)
2. Twelve Spies and Punishment (Num. 13–19)
3. A New Generation Enters the Promised Land (Num. 20–36)