The Book of Numbers

The Book of Numbers opens at the foot of Sinai: "And the Lord spoke to Moses in the desert of Sinai in the tabernacle of the covenant, the first day of the second month, the second year of their going out of Egypt" (Numbers 1:1). It closes some thirty-eight years later "in the plains of Moab upon the Jordan over against Jericho" (Numbers 36:13). Between those two verses lies the story of a generation that saw the wonders of God and would not trust Him, and of the children who inherited the promise in their place. Below this guide you will find all thirty-six chapters, the Latin of St Jerome's Vulgate beside the English of the Douay-Rheims.

Why is it called the Book of Numbers?

The name comes from the two censuses, or "numberings", of the people. At the beginning God commands Moses to "take the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel", every man "from twenty years old and upwards" fit for war; the count comes to 603,550 (Numbers 1:46). On the plains of Moab a second census comes to 601,730 (Numbers 26:51), and of the men counted the first time "there was not one" left, save Caleb and Josue (Numbers 26:64–65).

The Greek Septuagint therefore called the book Arithmoi, "Numbers", which St Jerome's Vulgate rendered in Latin as Liber Numeri; the English name comes from the Latin. The Hebrew Bible names it from a word of its first verse, Bemidbar, "in the desert".

Who wrote the Book of Numbers?

The Church has received Numbers as the work of Moses, who wrote it with Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy, the five books called the Pentateuch or the Law. The Council of Trent, in Session IV (1546), lists "the five books of Moses, to wit, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy".

The book bears its own witness. Of the encampments of Israel it says that "Moses wrote down" the places "according to the places of their encamping" (Numbers 33:2), one of the passages of the Pentateuch expressly ascribed to his pen. Its lists, the Catholic Encyclopedia observes, hold so many names and numbers that they "must have been handed down in writing". Our Lord Himself draws on this book as the writing of Moses: "as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of man be lifted up" (John 3:14).

The Pontifical Biblical Commission, answering on 27 June 1906 under St Pius X, taught that the arguments of the critics do not entitle us to deny that Moses is the author of the Pentateuch. It allowed that he may have used earlier sources, entrusted the writing to secretaries who set down his thought faithfully, and that later inspired additions do not touch the book's substantial Mosaic authenticity.

Many modern scholars propose instead that Numbers was compiled from several later sources, much of it after the Exile. We mention this view because readers ask about it; the traditional teaching above is the one the Church has handed down.

When was the Book of Numbers written?

On the traditional view, Moses composed Numbers during the forty years in the wilderness and completed it on the plains of Moab shortly before his death; Deuteronomy then opens "in the fortieth year, the eleventh month". Scripture dates the Exodus 480 years before the founding of Solomon's Temple (3 Kings 6:1); on the reckoning commonly drawn from that verse, these events belong roughly to the fifteenth century before Christ. It was written first for the children of the generation that died in the desert, on the eve of crossing the Jordan.

What is the Book of Numbers about? A summary

Numbers is the story of a journey from Sinai to the Jordan, covering some thirty-eight years but telling chiefly their beginning and their end.

Preparing to leave Sinai (chapters 1–10)

In chapters 1–4 the tribes are numbered and encamped around the tabernacle, three on each side, while the tribe of Levi is set apart for the sanctuary: "I have taken the Levites from the children of Israel, for every firstborn" (Numbers 3:12). Chapters 5–6 give the law of the Nazarite and the priestly blessing; chapter 7, the longest, the offerings of the twelve princes; chapters 8–9 the consecration of the Levites, the second Pasch, and the cloud over the tabernacle that shone like fire by night. In chapter 10 the silver trumpets sound, the cloud lifts, and Israel marches out.

The rebellion in the wilderness (chapters 11–14)

The murmuring starts at once. In chapter 11 the people weep for the fish and melons of Egypt, "our eyes behold nothing else but manna"; God sends quails, and the spirit of Moses is shared with seventy elders. In chapter 12 Mary and Aaron speak against Moses, "a man exceeding meek above all men", and Mary is struck with leprosy. Then in chapters 13–14 twelve men view the land of Chanaan and bring back a cluster of grapes borne on a pole, but ten of them say the land "devoureth its inhabitants". Only Caleb and Josue urge the people on. When the assembly rises against Moses, God pronounces sentence: "Your children shall wander in the desert forty years ... a year shall be counted for a day" (Numbers 14:33–34).

The years of the condemned generation (chapters 15–19)

Chapter 15 adds laws on sacrifices and the blue fringes on the garments, "that when they shall see them, they may remember all the commandments of the Lord". In chapter 16 Core, Dathan and Abiron rebel against the priesthood of Aaron; "the earth broke asunder under their feet", and Aaron with his censer stands "between the dead and the living" until the plague ceases. In chapter 17 the rod of Aaron alone among the twelve buds, blossoms and bears almonds overnight, and is kept in the tabernacle. Chapters 18–19 set out the portion of the priests and Levites and the rite of the red heifer, whose ashes make "a water of aspersion".

From Cades to the plains of Moab (chapters 20–25)

In the fortieth year, in chapter 20, Mary dies at Cades; at the rock Moses strikes twice instead of speaking to it, and is told he will not lead the people in; Aaron dies on Mount Hor. In chapter 21 fiery serpents punish a new complaint and Moses sets up the brazen serpent; Israel defeats Sehon and Og. Chapters 22–24 tell of Balaam, hired by Balac king of Moab to curse Israel, whose ass speaks to him on the road and who can only bless. In chapter 25 Israel is drawn into the worship of Beelphegor, by Balaam's counsel as we learn later, and the zeal of Phinees wins for his line "the covenant of the priesthood for ever".

The new generation on the threshold (chapters 26–36)

After the second census in chapter 26, Moses in chapter 27 lays his hands on Josue as his successor, "lest the people of the Lord be as sheep without a shepherd". Chapters 28–30 fix the daily and festal sacrifices and the law of vows; chapters 31–32 recount the war on Madian, where Balaam is slain, and the settling of Ruben, Gad and half of Manasses east of the Jordan. Chapter 33 lists the stages from Egypt to Moab, and chapters 34–36 mark the borders of the land, the cities of the Levites and the six cities of refuge. The story continues in Deuteronomy and is completed in the Book of Josue, when the new generation crosses the Jordan.

The main message of Numbers: themes and the Catholic reading

What does the Book of Numbers teach us? First, that God is faithful even when His people are not. "God is not a man, that he should lie, nor as the son of man, that he should be changed" (Numbers 23:19): the promise made to Abraham is kept, but it passes over the unbelieving to their children.

St Paul says that "all these things happened to them in figure: and they are written for our correction" (1 Corinthians 10:11), and the Epistle to the Hebrews asks: "with whom was he offended forty years? Was it not with them that sinned, whose carcasses were overthrown in the desert?" (Hebrews 3:17). The Church repeats the warning every day in the Invitatory of Matins, Psalm 94 (95): "harden not your hearts ... Forty years long was I offended with that generation."

Second, that God governs His people through a priesthood He Himself establishes, as the budding rod answers Core's revolt. "Neither doth any man take the honour to himself, but he that is called by God, as Aaron was" (Hebrews 5:4), and St Jude counts the rebels against lawful authority among those who "perished in the contradiction of Core" (Jude 1:11); see our article on Holy Orders and the Catholic priesthood. The tithes given to the Levites, whose inheritance was the Lord Himself (Numbers 18:20–21), stand behind the duty of supporting the Church's ministers, explained in What does the Bible say about tithing?.

Figures of Christ and the sacraments

St Paul reads the desert journey as the Christian life in shadow: Israel ate "the same spiritual food" and "drank of the spiritual rock that followed them: and the rock was Christ" (1 Corinthians 10:3–4). The manna, despised as "this very light food", foreshadows the true Bread from heaven: "Your fathers did eat manna in the desert: and are dead" (John 6:49), but the Eucharist gives life for ever, as we explain in The Holy Eucharist. The ashes of the red heifer prefigure the Blood of Christ, which cleanses "our conscience from dead works" (Hebrews 9:13–14).

The brazen serpent is the greatest of these figures, because Our Lord applied it to Himself: the image of what killed, lifted on a pole, healed those who looked on it, as Christ lifted on the Cross heals those who look to Him in faith. Josue, whom Moses renamed from Osee (Numbers 13:17), bears the name of Jesus, and he, not Moses the lawgiver, leads the people into the land of promise. Origen, in his Homilies on Numbers, and St Jerome, in his letter to Fabiola, read the stages of the march as the soul's pilgrimage to heaven.

The rod of Aaron and Our Lady

The rod that blossomed without root or moisture is a figure of the Blessed Virgin. Challoner's note on Numbers 17:8 says: "This rod of Aaron which thus miraculously brought forth fruit, was a figure of the blessed Virgin conceiving and bringing forth her Son without any prejudice to her virginity." The Haydock commentary cites St Augustine, St Gregory of Nyssa and St Bernard for the comparison, and adds that the Fathers also saw in the dead wood that flowered a figure of Christ's Passion and Resurrection.

Famous chapters and verses of the Book of Numbers

The priestly blessing, Numbers 6:24–26. "The Lord bless thee, and keep thee. The Lord shew his face to thee, and have mercy on thee. The Lord turn his countenance to thee, and give thee peace." God gave it to Moses for Aaron and his sons to bless the children of Israel; we gather it with other blessings in Birthday Prayers and Blessings.

The water of contradiction, Numbers 20. "Speak to the rock before them, and it shall yield waters", yet Moses "struck the rock twice with the rod". The Church reads it at Mass in Lent, with the Gospel of the Samaritan woman.

The brazen serpent, Numbers 21:8–9. "Make a brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign: whosoever being struck shall look on it, shall live." Centuries later King Ezechias broke it because the people had begun to burn incense to it (4 Kings 18:4).

Balaam's ass, Numbers 22:28. "And the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she said: What have I done to thee?" St Peter recalls how "the dumb beast used to the yoke ... forbade the folly of the prophet" (2 Peter 2:16).

The star out of Jacob, Numbers 24:17. "I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not near. A star shall rise out of Jacob and a sceptre shall spring up from Israel." Origen (Against Celsus I, 59–60) holds that the Magi knew Balaam's prophecy and so recognised the star of Matthew 2, and the Breviary sings "Orietur stella ex Jacob" in a responsory of Ember Wednesday in Advent. See our article on the Epiphany.

Numbers in the canon and in the liturgy

Numbers is the fourth book of the Bible and of the Pentateuch, between Leviticus and Deuteronomy, in Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant and Jewish Bibles alike; its place has never been disputed. Bibles differ only in a few verse divisions: the Douay-Rheims follows the Vulgate, so that the law of vows, for instance, begins at Numbers 30:3 rather than 30:2. Our chapter pages follow the Vulgate, as explained in our articles on the Douay-Rheims Bible and the Latin Vulgate.

In the 1962 Roman Missal the Lesson of the Friday after the third Sunday of Lent is taken from Numbers 20, the water from the rock. In the Roman Breviary the three lessons of the first nocturn at Matins of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, 14 September, are read from Numbers 21 and end with the brazen serpent; the feast and its relic are described in The True Cross. Follow these days in our liturgical calendar and pray the Office in the Breviary.

How to read the Book of Numbers

Read it as a journey, not a ledger. Follow the narrative first, in chapters 10–14 and 20–27, then return to the lists and laws. Keep 1 Corinthians 10 beside you as St Paul's commentary, and consider reading it in Lent, when the Church's forty days answer Israel's forty years.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Book of Numbers about?

The Book of Numbers tells of Israel's forty years in the desert, from the departure from Mount Sinai to the arrival on the plains of Moab, across the Jordan from Jericho. It records two censuses, the rebellion that condemned a generation to the wilderness, the brazen serpent, Balaam's prophecies and many laws. It ends with a new generation ready to enter the Promised Land under Josue.

Who wrote the Book of Numbers?

The Church has always received the Book of Numbers as the work of Moses, who wrote the five books of the Pentateuch. The book says that "Moses wrote down" the stages of the journey (Numbers 33:2), and the Council of Trent names it among "the five books of Moses". The Pontifical Biblical Commission (1906) upheld Mosaic authorship while allowing that Moses used sources and secretaries.

When was the Book of Numbers written?

On the traditional view, Moses wrote it during the forty years in the wilderness and completed it on the plains of Moab shortly before his death. By the reckoning commonly drawn from 3 Kings 6:1, which places the Exodus 480 years before Solomon's Temple, that is roughly the fifteenth century before Christ.

What is the turning point in the Book of Numbers?

The turning point comes in chapters 13 and 14, at Cades, when the people believe the ten spies rather than Caleb and Josue and refuse to go up into the land. God then condemns that generation to wander forty years until it has died in the desert. From there the book moves from the old generation to the new, which is numbered again in chapter 26.

How many chapters are in the Book of Numbers?

The Book of Numbers has 36 chapters, covering about thirty-eight years of Israel's history; the longest is chapter 7, on the offerings of the twelve princes. A few verse numbers differ between the Douay-Rheims, which follows the Vulgate, and Protestant Bibles. You can read every chapter, Latin and English side by side, in our online Catholic Bible.

Why could Moses not enter the Promised Land?

At the waters of contradiction in Numbers 20, God told Moses to speak to the rock, but Moses struck it twice with his rod. The Lord said to him and to Aaron: "Because you have not believed me, to sanctify me before the children of Israel, you shall not bring these people into the land" (Numbers 20:12). Moses saw the land from afar before his death, and Josue led the people in.

How does the Book of Numbers end?

It ends on the plains of Moab, beside the Jordan opposite Jericho, with the borders of the land fixed, the cities of refuge appointed, and a last law on the inheritance of the daughters of Salphaad. The story continues in Deuteronomy.

What is the literary style of the Book of Numbers?

Numbers is sacred history interwoven with law. Narrative alternates with census lists, ritual laws, a register of encampments, and poetry such as the priestly blessing, the song of the well (Numbers 21:17–18) and the oracles of Balaam. It even quotes an older work, "the book of the wars of the Lord" (Numbers 21:14).

Read the whole Book of Numbers verse by verse, in the Latin of the Vulgate and the English of the Douay-Rheims, in the Iter Fidei Catholic Bible app.

Sources. Holy Scripture, Douay-Rheims (Challoner) and Latin Vulgate: Numbers 1–36; Deuteronomy 1:3; 3 Kings 6:1; 4 Kings 18:4; Psalm 94; Matthew 2:2; John 3:14–15, 6:49; 1 Corinthians 10:1–11; Hebrews 3:17, 5:4, 9:13–14; 2 Peter 2:15–16; Jude 11. Council of Trent, Session IV (1546), Decree on the Canonical Scriptures. Pontifical Biblical Commission, response on the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch (27 June 1906). Origen, Homilies on Numbers and Against Celsus I, 59–60. St Jerome, Letter 78 to Fabiola, on the forty-two mansions of Israel. Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), "Pentateuch". Challoner's notes to the Douay-Rheims; Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, on Numbers 17 and 24. Roman Missal (1962), Friday after the third Sunday of Lent; Roman Breviary, Exaltation of the Holy Cross (14 September) and Ember Wednesday of Advent, Matins.