Numbering. See Census.
Numbers, Book of, the fourth book of Moses, so called in the Soptuagint ('ApiS/joi')} in the Vulgate (^Numeri), and modern versions, from the double enu- meration of the Israelites in ch. i-iv and in ch. xxvi. In the Hebrew it is called Be-midbar', "127^3, i.e. in the desert, this word occurring in the first verse ; and some- times Va-ijcdabher' , ^3'!^^, from the initial word. It is divided by the Jews into fen pnrshioth, and in the English and modern versions into thirty-six chapters. See Pentateuch.
I. (^tiritciits. — The book may be said to comprise gen- erally the history of the Israelites from the time of their leaving Sinai, in the second year after the Exodus, till their arrival at the borders of the Promised Land in the fortieth year of their joiirneyings. It consists of the following principal divisions:
1. The preparations for the departure from Sinai (i, 1-x, 10). — («.) The object of the encampment at Sinai
has been accomplished; the covenant has been made, the law given, the sanctuary set up, the priests con- secrated, the service of Go(l appointed, and Jehovah dwells in the midst of his chosen people. It is now time to depart in order that the object ma)- be achieved for which Israel has been sanctified. That object is the occupation of the Promised Land. But this is not to be accomplished by peaceable means, but by the forcible expulsion of its present inhabitants; for "the inicpiity of the Amorites is full," they are ripe for judgment, and this judgment Israel is to execute. Therefore Israel must be organized as Jehovah's army; and to this end a mustering of all who are capable of bearing arms is necessary. Hence the book opens with the numbering of the people (ch. i-iv). This comprises, first, the census of all the tribes or clans, amounting in all to six hun- dred and three thousand five hundred and fifty, with the exception of the Levites, who were not numbered with the rest (ch. i) ; secondly, the arrangement of the camp and the order of march (ch. ii) ; thirdly, the spe- cial and separate census of the Levites, who are claimed by God instead of all the first-born, the three families of the tribe having their peculiar offices in the Taber- nacle appointed them, both when it was at rest and when they were on the march (ch. iii-iv).
{b.) Certain laws apparently supplementary to the legislation in Leviticus (ch. v, vi) : the removal of the unclean from the camp (v, 1-4); the law of restitution (v, 5-10); the trial of jealousy (v, 11-31); the law of the Nazarites (vi, 1-21); the form of the priestlv bless- ing (vi, 22-27).
(c.) Events occurring at this time, and regulations connected with them (ch. vii, 1-x, 10). Chapter vii gives an account of the offerings of the princes of the ditferent tribes at the dedication of the Tabernacle; ch. viii of the consecration of the Levites (ver. 89 of ch. vii and vers. 1-4 of ch. viii seem to be out of place) ; ch. ix, 1-14, of the second observance of the Passover (the first in the wilderness) on the fourteenth day of the second month, and of certain provisions made to meet the case of those who by reason of defilement were unable to keep it. Lastly, ch. ix, 15-23, tells how the cloud and the fire regulated the march and the encampment : and X, 1-10, how two silver trumpets were employed to give the signal for public assemblies, for war, and for festal occasions.
2. March from Sinai to the borders of Canaan. — (a.) We have here, first, the order of march described (x, 14-28) ; the appeal of Moses to his father-in-law, Hcibab, to accompany them in their journeys — a request urged probably because, from his desert life, he would ije well acquainted with the best spots to encamp in, and also would have influence with the various wandering and predatory tribes who inhabited the peninsida (29-o2); and the chant which accompanied the moving and the resting of the ark (vers. 35, 36).
(6.) An account of several stations and of the events which happened at them. The first was at Taberah, where, because of impatient murmurings, many of the people were destroyed by lightning (these belonged chiefly, it would seem, to the motlej' multitude which came out of Egypt with the Israelites) ; the loathing of the people for the manna; the complaint of Moses that he cannot bear the burden thus laid upon him, and the appointment in consequence of seventy elders to serve and help him in his office (xi, 10-29); the quails sent, and the judgment following thereon, which gave its name to the next station, Kibroth-hattaavah (the graves of lust), xi, 31-35 (comp. Psa. Ixxxviii, 30, 31; cvi, 14, 15); arrival at Hazeroth, where Aaron and Jliriam are jealous of Moses, and Miriam is in conse- quence smitten with leprosy (xii, 1-15) ; the sending of the spies from the wilderness of Paran, their report, the refusal of the ])cople to enter Canaan, their rejec- tion in consequence, and their rash attack upon the Amalekites, which resulted in a defeat (xii, 16-xiv, 45).
3. A brief notice of hncs i/iven and events which trans-
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