The Book of Numbers
By Katrina Schillaci, Janna Kwan,
Jolene Bohn, Josh Crawford and Riley
Milford
The First Census
• A census is a count of all the people in a
nation
• The first census is when God asked Aaron to
go out into the tribes and find men able to
assist him and fight with him. Aaron went into
each tribe and asked the leaders of each tribe
to count the total number of people in their
tribe that were over 20 and able to fight.
The First Census Results
•
•
•
The total people in the tribe of :
Reuben – 46 500
Simeon – 59 300
Gad – 45 650
Judah – 74 600
Issachar – 54 400
Zebulun – 57 400
From the sons of Joseph the total men 20 years or older in the tribe of :
Ephraim – 40 500
Manasseh – 32 200
Benjamin – 35 400
Dan – 62 700
Asher – 41 500
Naphtali – 53 400
The total number of men counted and over the age of 20 in Israel is 603 550.
The Snake in the Wilderness
• In Numbers 21:4-9 Moses lifted up a pole that had a snake on it and it
turned into a staff. The New Testament compares the serpent being lifted
up to the Son of Man that must be lifted up.
• 4 They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, [a] to go
around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; 5 they spoke
against God and against Moses, and said, "Why have you brought us up
out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water!
And we detest this miserable food!" 6 Then the LORD sent venomous
snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The
people came to Moses and said, "We sinned when we spoke against the
LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from
us." So Moses prayed for the people.
• 8 The LORD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone
who is bitten can look at it and live." 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and
put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at
the bronze snake, he lived.
Purity of the Tribes
• The Lord had Moses and Aaron take a census
of the Kohahthites, the Gershonites, and the
Merarites. The Lord also commanded that
they send all people with illnesses of any kind
out of the tribe to ensure purity of the tribe.
The First and Second Census
• In the first census, there were 603,550 fighting
men. In the second census, there were
601,730 fighting men. The difference between
the numbers of fighting men in the first and
second census is 1 820.
The Rebellion
• In the book of Numbers, chapter 14, the people rebel.
• 1 That night all the people of the community raised
their voices and wept aloud. 2 All the Israelites
grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole
assembly said to them, "If only we had died in Egypt!
Or in this desert! 3 Why is the LORD bringing us to this
land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and
children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn't it be better
for us to go back to Egypt?" 4 And they said to each
other, "We should choose a leader and go back to
Egypt."
The Consequences of the Unbelief
•
26
The LORD said to Moses and Aaron: 27 "How long will this wicked
community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these
grumbling Israelites. 28 So tell them, 'As surely as I live, declares the LORD,
I will do to you the very things I heard you say: 29 In this desert your bodies
will fall—every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in
the census and who has grumbled against me. 30 Not one of you will enter
the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son
of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. 31 As for your children that you said
would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have
rejected. 32 But you—your bodies will fall in this desert. 33 Your children
will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness,
until the last of your bodies lies in the desert. 34 For forty years—one year
for each of the forty days you explored the land—you will suffer for your
sins and know what it is like to have me against you.' 35 I, the LORD, have
spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community,
which has banded together against me. They will meet their end in this
desert; here they will die."
The Rebellions in Numbers
• The New Testament’s perspective on the
rebellions in Numbers is that it teaches us that
we should never get hard or ungrateful hearts.
The book of Numbers is important to
Christians today because if we do not believe
and obey Christ then life is meaningless.
Peaks and Valleys of Numbers
Peaks
•
The Israelites
obeyed God completely.
•
The leaders of Israel
made offerings to God
•
Creation
•
Promise
•
Nation
Valleys
The wanderings
Failure
Slavery