NUMBERS
Numbers gets its name from the numberings of Israel’s men of war. The old generation was numbered at Mount Sinai (chaps. 1–4) and the new in the plains of Moab (chaps.
It is a book of wanderings, for God made His people wander in the wilderness for forty years until the old generation, twenty years and older, died off. They did not believe God, and their unbelief cost them the inheritance. The New Testament commentary on this event is the book of Hebrews. Unless by faith you enter into your spiritual inheritance in Christ (Eph. 1:3), you will “wander” in unbelief and rob yourself of the blessings God has planned for you (
Bible geography is instructive. Israel in Egypt pictures our lost condition of bondage to the world. Israel in Canaan illustrates our claiming our inheritance by faith and enjoying the fullness of God’s provision. Israel in the wilderness pictures carnal Christians whose unbelief and disobedience prevent them from entering into all that God has for them.