NUMBERS 1–2
Genesis pictures God’s people as pilgrims and strangers, looking for their inheritance. Exodus and Leviticus depict Israel as a holy nation of priests, worshiping the Lord. The book of Numbers emphasizes God’s people as warriors, overcoming the enemy and claiming the promised inheritance.
They counted the men, twenty years and older, who were able to go to war. They did not ask for volunteers. When you enter the family of God by faith in Jesus Christ, you automatically become one of His soldiers (2 Tim. 2:3–4). Every believer is a soldier, either a good one or a bad one.
The army was organized, each tribe with its leaders and its standard. There was unity in diversity. Perhaps the camp of Israel pictures the church. There are different “tribes” and standards, with their different leaders, but it is one army, following one Commander and fighting one enemy: “And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith” (1 John 5:4).