The sojourn at Sinai and the wanderings in the desert

In Hebrew, Be-midbar, or vay-yedabber, titles taken from the fifth word or from the opening words of the Book. In LXX, Arithmoi, from 1:2; but this title is hardly so felicitous as most of the LXX titles, it only gives expression to what is but a minor point in the Book.

Major Sections

CHAPTERS 1-9. The sojourn at Sinai after the erection of the tabernacle; it should be noted that the opening words indicate a close connection with Exodus 40:15, Leviticus occupying a parenthetical place.

CHAPTERS 10-19. The departure from Sinai and the thirty-eight years of wandering.

CHAPTERS 20-36. In the plains of Moab.

Detailed Analysis

CHAPTERS 1-9. At Sinai

Chapters 1-6. Events attributed to the second month of the second year; the census of the tribes; their order in camp; the census of the Levites "from one month and upwards," they are consecrated to God instead of the first-born; their duties, they are to serve "from thirty years ... to fifty years," 4:3; the purification of those ceremonially unclean; the law of the Nazirites; the form of blessing.

Chapters 7-10. Events assigned to the first month of the same year; the offerings of the princes at the dedication of the tabernacle; the consecration of the Levites, they are to serve "from twenty-five years old ... to their fiftieth year," 8:24; renewal of the precept of the Passover; the pillar of cloud is to be their guide; the silver trumpets. It is practically impossible to avoid the conclusion that the different periods as signed to the service of the Levites, especially in conjunction with the sudden harking back to the first month of the second year, indicate the presence of different documents and of some change in the legislation regarding them.

CHAPTERS 10-19. The departure from Sinai and the thirty-eight years of wandering.

Chapters 10-11. The journey up to the time of their arrival in Cades. The first halt mentioned is at Taberah or "the Burning," 11:3; they murmur, the manna given them is scorned; Moses is bidden to take seventy of the ancients as counselors; quails are sent into the camp; the people are struck with a plague and the place is called in consequence Kibroth hattavah or "the graves of lust"; they then pass on to Haseroth. A comparison with Deuteronomy 9:22, shows that there is a certain confusion here with regard to these various localities.

Chapters 12. Mary and Aaron murmur and are reproved by God; the next halting place is in the desert of Pharan, where the Spies are sent to view the land. There is considerable difficulty here with regard to the position of Cades: in 13:27, the Spies are said to return to the desert of Pharan, to Cades, R.V., in the Vulgate, which is Cades; it is hard to reconcile these statements with xx. 1, which seems to imply that only at the latter time did they come to Cades. But a comparison with Dent. i. 24, 46, ii. 14, etc., would suggest that during all the thirty-eight years of wandering Cades was their center and that the Spies were sent from that spot. If this be a correct explanation it will follow that Numbers 13-19 is also to be referred to the sojourn at Cades.

Chapter 14. The return of the Spies provokes a fresh murmuring, with the result that God curses all who are over twenty years of age, and declares that they shall never enter into the Promised Land.

Chapter 15. Laws regarding Sabbath-breaking, they seem, as in the case of Leviticus 24 to have been promulgated owing to an actual case which occurred.

Chapter 16. The rebellion of Core the Levite and of Dathan and Ablron the children of Ruben; the former rebels against what he regards as Moses usurpation of the priestly rights; the latter resent the claim of the Levites to minister in place of the first-born, cf. 3:45. The priesthood is then confirmed to Aaron and his sons by a miracle. The duties of the Levites and priests are re-stated; certain sacrifices are commanded.

CHAPTERS 20-36. In the plains of Moab.

Chapters 20-21. They leave Cades and march towards the Plains of Moab. The thirty-eight years of wandering are over, yet even now the people murmur. Application is made to the Edomites to give them free passage through their land, it is refused. At this time Mary and Aaron die. The march is resumed, and the people murmur again, and are afflicted with a plague of fiery serpents; the brazen serpent is set up by divine command, and all who look on it are healed, cf. 4 Kings 18:4, and St. John 3:14-16. The sinfulness of this murmuring is emphasized by the fact that it took place after they had won a victory over Arad the Canaanite. They now cross the Arnon and win two decisive battles against Sehon and Og, the kings of the Amorrhites.

Chapters 22-26. Balac king of Moab summons Balaam the soothsayer to curse Israel. He is compelled to bless them instead; a star shall rise up out of Jacob, 24:17; owing to the diabolical advice of Balaam, the people fall into idolatry and four and twenty thousand are slain by Phinees son of Eleazar son of Aaron; a second census of the people is taken and from the striking fact that the tribe of Simeon now only musters 22,000, as compared with 59,300 in the former census, it has been suggested that this tribe were the most grievous sinners in this apostasy.

Chapters 28-30. Another casus, that of the daughters of Salphaadi leads to the promulgation of laws regarding the inheritance of females; various sacrifices are enumerated and vows are legislated for.

Chapters 31-36. The Midianites who, at the advice of Balaam, had induced Israel to sin, are defeated, Balaam himself is found among the slain; Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasses receive their inheritance on the east of the Jordan. In chapter 33 we have what purports to be Moses daily diary of the different halting places of the Israelites since leaving Egypt. The limits of the Land of Promise are pointed out, cities for the Levites and for refuge are to be appointed. The case of the daughters of Salphaad leads to further legislation concerning the marriage of heiresses. The Book concludes with the words: "These are the commandments and judgements which the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses to the children of Israel, in the plains of Moab upon the Jordan over against Jericho."

THE MOSAIC AUTHORSHIP

Numbers, by its place in the Pentateuch, sets out to be the record of what took place in the desert after the erection of the tabernacle. And it is no exaggeration to say that if we take the book for what it sets out to be we can arrive at a very clear idea of it, but the moment we begin to dismember it in the critical fashion we lose hold of the guiding thread and find ourselves lost in a maze; a glance at any modern commentary, or at any Dictionary of the Bible published during the last few years, will afford ample proof of this. Leviticus is presented to us as containing the ritual legislation given during the sojourn at Sinai subsequent to the erection of the tabernacle, Numbers opens with the census of the tribes previous to breaking up their camp and setting out for the land of Promise. But the unexpected prolongation of their sojourn in the wilderness leads to further legislation. Now it is here precisely that we seem to find confirmation of the traditional view of the book. For this legislation is accidental, it is not detailed, it arises as does some of the Levitical legislation out of casus which suddenly present themselves, and which call for immediate solution. We can well believe that the thirty-eight years of wanderings must have been exceedingly uneventful, and they are presented to us as such.

Moreover, when we examine the details a little more closely we find many things which all tend to confirm the traditional view. Thus the book is full of the desert, e.g., the people are quite naturally represented as living in tents, cf. the law in case one dies in a tent, 19:14; the details about breaking camp, 9:16, 10:28; the prayer of invocation before doing so, 10:35-36. And these points, be it noted, are introduced haphazard, no one who reads them can say that they have been inserted to give the narrative a semblance of reality, they are much too natural in tone for that. Again, the Arnon is spoken of as the boundary of Moab, 21:13, it never was so after its occupation by Reuben; similarly, the limits of the Land of Promise, as sketched out in chapter 39, were never realized. Is it probable that a writer long subsequent to Moses would have ventured to assign limits to the land which his readers could see for themselves had never been realized? Would it not sound like a reflection on his nation? The same must be said of the account given of Moses rejection from the land, at a later time no writer would have dared to present Moses as rejected through any fault of his own; and in this connection we must note the very severe and unfavorable picture of the Israelites which is set before us; we may well ask whether any Israelite at a later date would have ventured so to depict his nation, and whether, had he done so, he would have had any chance of securing a hearing.

Modern critics have endeavored to whittle away the force of the allusions to Egypt, and to the Exodus as a recent occurrence, but it is very hard indeed to escape their force; thus note how naturally the Exodus is referred to in 3:13, 14:19, 15:41. The statement, too, about the foundation of Tanis -- as a date-mark appreciable by the people who had lived there all their lives till the last few months -- is to say the least, striking. While the later writer who could have imagined so life-like a touch as that in 11:4-6, was an artist indeed! And there is one historical detail to which it seems to us sufficient attention has never been called: all throughout Numbers the ark is supposed to belong essentially to the tabernacle, the former is the complement of the latter; yet we may question whether any Hebrew would have so depicted the relationship of these two, viz. the ark and the tabernacle, and this for the simple reason that they never were associated after the time of Heli, when, 1 Samuel 4, the ark was taken by the Philistines.


By Very Rev. Hugh Pope, O.P., S.T.M.
Doctor in Sacred Scripture,
Member of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, and
late Professor of New Testament Exegesis at the Collegio Angelico, Rome.