AUTHOR: As in Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus, the authorship is attributed to Moses.

ORIGIN OF NAME: The Hebrew name for this book is "Bemidbar", which means "in the desert". "Numbers" comes from the two censuses carried out during the period of the Israelites' pilgrimage through the desert, before entering Canaan, the promised land.

THEME: The book covers a period of approximately 40 years in the history of Israel's wandering in the wilderness, Israel's failure to keep God's commandments. Numbers documents that when God's people remain faithful to the conditions of the covenant, they are surrounded by blessings; otherwise, when he disobeys, the reciprocal is true. Almost the entire generation that had witnessed the signs operated in Egypt, for not believing in God's promises, did not enter the Promised Land and, consequently, ended up dying in the desert as punishment. It is a tragic story of faithlessness, complaining, murmuring, disloyalty and rebellion.

COMPILATION: Approximately 1445 / 1440 BC, it is the fourth book of the Pentateuch and was probably compiled during the desert walk. It consists of 36 chapters and 1288 verses.

PARTICULARITIES:

The organization and legislation

The Departure from Mount Sinai

The people despise manna

Moses' Despondency

The Appointment of the Seventy Elders

Sending the quails

Miriam and Aaron's zeal

The dispatch of the spies and their report

The rebellion of the people and the curse pronounced against them

The entire generation is sentenced

Events related to the forty years of wandering in the desert

The return to Kadesh, the sin of Moses and the death of Aaron

The Brazen Serpent

Balaam, the hireling prophet, and the corruption of Israel

The New Generation Census

Laws concerning inheritance, offerings, parties, vows, etc

The judgment against the Midianites, ch. 31; the distribution of the land east of Jordan

The cities of refuge

Moses strikes the rock

The Brazen Serpent

The cities of refuge

The seven complaints: About the way, the food, the giants, their leaders, the divine judgments, the desert, the second time about the manna