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In the wilderness of Sinai, God tells Moses to count every man twenty years old and older who could go to war, tribe by tribe. A leader from each tribe helps. The total is 603,550. The Levites are not counted with them, because they are set apart to care for the tabernacle.
God arranges Israel's camp with the tabernacle in the center. Three tribes camp on each side, east, south, west, and north, each by its own banner. Judah leads on the east. When they travel, they march in the same order, with the Levites and the tabernacle in the middle.
The chapter names Aaron's sons, the priests, and recalls the death of Nadab and Abihu. God gives the Levites to Aaron to serve at the tabernacle. The three Levite clans, Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, each have duties. God takes the Levites in place of Israel's firstborn, and the extra firstborn are redeemed with money.
God assigns the Levite clans aged thirty to fifty their work in moving the tabernacle. Aaron and his sons first cover the holy things, the ark, table, lampstand, and altars, with cloths and skins. Then the Kohathites carry them without touching them. The Gershonites carry the curtains and the Merarites the frames.
God tells Israel to keep unclean persons outside the camp, because He dwells among them. A person who wrongs another must confess and repay with a fifth added. The chapter also gives a ritual for a husband who suspects his wife of unfaithfulness, leaving the judgment to God.
A man or woman may take a Nazirite vow, separating themselves to God for a time: no grape products, no haircut, and no contact with the dead. At the end, they offer sacrifices and shave their hair. Then God gives Aaron the priestly blessing: Yahweh bless you and keep you.
When the tabernacle is set up, the twelve tribal leaders bring wagons and oxen for the Levites. Then, one leader each day for twelve days, they bring identical gifts for the dedication of the altar: silver and gold bowls, grain, incense, and animals. Moses enters the tent and hears God's voice speaking from above the mercy seat.
Aaron lights the seven lamps so they shine in front of the lampstand. The Levites are cleansed, shaved, and washed, and the people lay hands on them as they are presented to God. God takes the Levites in place of Israel's firstborn. Levites serve from age twenty-five to fifty, then assist.
Israel keeps the Passover in the wilderness. Some men who are unclean from a dead body ask what to do, and God allows a second Passover a month later. The cloud covers the tabernacle by day and looks like fire by night. When it lifts, Israel travels; when it stays, they camp, at Yahweh's command.
God tells Moses to make two silver trumpets to call the people together and signal the camps to move. In the second year, the cloud lifts and Israel sets out from Sinai in order. Moses invites Hobab to come and guide them. When the ark sets out, Moses prays, Rise up, Yahweh.
The people complain, and fire burns at the edge of the camp until Moses prays. The mixed crowd craves meat and the people weep for Egypt's food. Moses tells God the burden is too heavy. God puts His Spirit on seventy elders and sends quail, but a plague strikes those who craved.
Miriam and Aaron speak against Moses because of his Cushite wife and claim God speaks through them too. The text says Moses was very humble. God calls the three to the tent and declares that He speaks with Moses face to face. Miriam becomes leprous; Moses prays for her healing, and after seven days she returns.
Moses sends twelve leaders, one from each tribe, to explore Canaan. After forty days they return with a huge cluster of grapes carried on a pole. They report that the land flows with milk and honey, but ten say the people are too strong. Caleb urges them to go up at once, for they are well able to overcome it.
The people weep all night and want to choose a leader and go back to Egypt. Joshua and Caleb plead with them to trust God, but the people want to stone them. God's glory appears. Moses prays for the people, and God forgives, but that generation will wander forty years and die in the wilderness, except Caleb and Joshua. Some then try to go up without God and are defeated.
God gives laws for offerings to bring once Israel is in the land, a hopeful promise after chapter 14. There is one law for Israelites and foreigners alike. Forgiveness is provided for unintentional sins, but defiant sin is serious. A man gathering sticks on the Sabbath is put to death. God commands blue tassels on clothing so the people will remember and obey His commandments.
Korah, a Levite, with Dathan, Abiram, and 250 leaders, rises up against Moses and Aaron, claiming everyone is holy. Moses calls for a test with incense before God. The ground opens and swallows the rebels' households, and fire consumes the 250. The next day the people grumble, a plague begins, and Aaron runs with incense to stand between the dead and the living, and the plague stops.
To end the grumbling, God tells each tribe's leader to bring a staff with his name on it, with Aaron's name on Levi's. The staffs are laid before the covenant. The next morning Aaron's staff has sprouted, budded, blossomed, and borne ripe almonds. It is kept as a sign, and the people fear coming near the tabernacle.
God answers the people's fear by assigning Aaron's family to guard the sanctuary and the Levites to help them, so wrath will not come on Israel. The priests receive holy portions from offerings and firstfruits, but no land, because God Himself is their portion and inheritance. The Levites receive the tithe and give a tithe of it to the Lord.
God commands a red heifer without defect to be burned outside the camp with cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet. Its ashes are mixed with running water to make water for cleansing. Anyone who touched a dead body was unclean seven days and was sprinkled with this water on the third and seventh days to be made clean.
Miriam dies at Kadesh. The people have no water and quarrel with Moses. God tells Moses to speak to the rock, but Moses, angry, strikes it twice. Water gushes out, but God says Moses and Aaron will not bring Israel into the land because they did not trust Him to show His holiness. Edom refuses passage, and Aaron dies on Mount Hor after Eleazar is clothed as priest.
Israel defeats the king of Arad. The people grow impatient and speak against God and Moses, and venomous snakes bite them. They confess their sin, and Moses prays. God tells Moses to make a bronze snake on a pole; whoever looks at it lives. Israel journeys on, God gives water at Beer, and they defeat Sihon and Og.
Balak king of Moab fears Israel and sends for Balaam to curse them. God tells Balaam not to curse the people, for they are blessed. Later God lets him go but only to speak God's word. On the way, the angel of Yahweh blocks the road. Balaam's donkey sees the angel three times and turns aside, and Balaam beats her. God opens the donkey's mouth, then opens Balaam's eyes.
Balak builds seven altars and offers sacrifices on high places, hoping Balaam will curse Israel. But God puts a word in Balaam's mouth, and he blesses them instead. Balak tries again from another place, and Balaam declares that God is not a man that He should lie; He has commanded to bless, and Balaam cannot reverse it.
Balaam sees Israel camped by tribes, and the Spirit of God comes on him. He blesses Israel's beautiful tents. Balak angrily sends him away, but Balaam speaks a prophecy of a star coming out of Jacob and a scepter rising out of Israel. He also speaks about Edom, Amalek, and other nations.
At Shittim, Israelite men join in Moab's sin and bow down to the false god Baal Peor. God's anger burns, and a plague breaks out. When an Israelite leader openly brings a Midianite woman into the camp, Phinehas the priest acts and the plague stops. God gives Phinehas a covenant of peace and a lasting priesthood.
After the plague, God commands a new count of the men twenty years old and up, tribe by tribe. The total is 601,730. The land will be divided by lot according to size. Levites are counted separately. Not one man of the first census remains except Caleb and Joshua, just as God had said.
Five daughters of Zelophehad, who had no sons, ask Moses for their father's share of land. God says they are right and makes a law for inheritance through daughters. God then tells Moses to view the land from the mountain, for he will not enter. Moses asks God to appoint a shepherd for the people, and God chooses Joshua, a man in whom is the Spirit.
God tells Moses to command Israel to bring His offerings at their appointed times: two lambs every day, morning and evening, extra offerings each Sabbath and new month, and special offerings at Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the Feast of Weeks.
God lists the offerings for the seventh month: the Day of Trumpets on the first day, the Day of Atonement on the tenth, and the eight days of the Feast of Booths beginning on the fifteenth, with the number of bulls decreasing each day from thirteen to seven, and a solemn assembly on the eighth day.
Moses teaches the heads of the tribes about vows. A man who makes a vow to Yahweh must not break his word. Rules follow for vows made by a young woman in her father's house or by a wife, which the father or husband could cancel on the day he heard them. A widow's or divorced woman's vow stands.
God commands Israel to execute judgment on Midian for leading Israel into sin at Peor. Twelve thousand men go with Phinehas. Afterward, the soldiers are purified, the plunder is divided between soldiers and the congregation with a share given to Yahweh, and the officers bring gold as an offering because not one soldier was lost.
Reuben and Gad, who have much livestock, ask to settle east of the Jordan. Moses fears they are discouraging Israel like the spies did. They promise to build pens and cities, then cross over armed and fight until all Israel has its land. Moses agrees but warns, Be sure your sin will find you out. Half of Manasseh also receives land in Gilead.
Moses records the stages of Israel's journey from Egypt to the plains of Moab by Yahweh's command, from Rameses and the Passover through the Red Sea, Sinai, and the wilderness to Aaron's death at Mount Hor. God commands Israel to drive out the land's inhabitants, destroy their idols, and divide the land by lot.
God describes the borders of Canaan, the land Israel will inherit: south, west at the Great Sea, north, and east along the Jordan to the Salt Sea. Two and a half tribes already have land east of the Jordan. God names Eleazar, Joshua, and one leader from each of the ten remaining tribes to divide the land.
God commands that the Levites receive forty-eight cities with pasture lands, six of which are cities of refuge where someone who killed a person accidentally could flee from the avenger of blood until judged by the congregation. Deliberate murder must be punished; the manslayer stays in the city until the high priest's death. The land must not be polluted, for Yahweh dwells among Israel.
The heads of the clan of Gilead ask Moses what will happen if Zelophehad's daughters marry into other tribes, since their land would move. Moses, by Yahweh's word, says they may marry whom they think best within their father's tribe, so that no inheritance moves between tribes. The daughters obey and marry cousins. The book closes with a summary of God's commands in the plains of Moab.