Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

• Title
  The title the Jews used in their Hebrew Old Testament for this book comes from the fifth word in the book in the Hebrew text, bemidbar: "in the wilderness."This is, of course, appropriate since the Israelites spent most of th...
• Message8
  To formulate a statement that summarizes the teaching of this book it will be helpful to identify some of the major revelations in Numbers. These constitute the unique values of the book.The first major value of Numbers is th...
• Outline
  I. Experiences of the older generation in the wilderness chs. 1-25A. Preparations for entering the Promised Land from the south chs. 1-101. The first census and the organization of the people chs. 1-42. Commands and rituals t...
• A. Preparations for entering the Promised Land from the south chs. 1-10
  The first 10 chapters in Numbers describe Israel's preparation for entering the land.". . . just as the way from Goshen to Sinai was a preparation of the chosen people for their reception into the covenant with God, so the wa...
• The placement and number of the Levites and first-born of Israel ch. 3
  Note the recurrance of a key word in the Pentateuch in verse l: toledot."For the first time after the formative events of the Exodus deliverance and the revelation on Mount Sinai, the people of Israel are organized into a hol...
• The number of Levites in tabernacle service ch. 4
  Moses did not arrange the three Levitical families in the text here in the order of the ages of their founders. He arranged them in the order of the holiness of the articles that they managed.The Kohathites--who included Mose...
• 1. The second census ch. 26
  Before going into battle against the Midianites as God commanded (25:18), the Lord directed Moses to take another census of the Israelites. Evidently the 24,000 who died in the recent plague (25:9) were the last of the genera...
• 2. Provisions and commands to observe in preparation for entering the land chs. 27-30
  "Just as the censuses of chs. 1, 3, and 4 led to a flurry of preparations for departure from Sinai, so the second censuses in ch. 26 lead to preparations for departure from the plains of Moab and entry into the land of Canaan...
• 3. The removal of the ark to Kiriath-jearim 6:19-7:1
  Not all the people who later assembled to see the ark were as careful as those from Bethshemesh, however. The Mosaic Law specified that no one was to look into the ark or that person would die (Num. 4:5, 20; cf. 2 Sam. 6:6-7)...
• 3. David's acceptance by all Israel 5:1-12
  In 1004 B.C. David became king of all Israel and Judah.50This was his third anointing (cf. 1 Sam. 16:13; 2 Sam. 2:4). The people acknowledged David's previous military leadership of all Israel as well as God's choice of him t...
• Preparations for temple service chs. 23-26
  Verses 1 and 2 of chapter 23 provide an outline for what follows in chapters 23-27 but in reverse order. After David appointed Solomon as his coregent in 973 B.C., he began the preparations the writer described here.David ada...
• The reconstruction of the temple foundation 3:7-9
  As Solomon had done, these Jews contracted with the Phoenicians to the north to supply wood for the temple (cf. 2 Chron. 2:16). The people needed several months of preparations before actual construction began on the site in ...
• 1. The setting of the vision 1:1-3
  "The setting of the Mesopotamian dream-visions--which occurred in both the Assyrian period and the Babylonian period . . . --consisted of four elements: (1) the date, (2) the place of reception, (3) the recipient, and (4) the...
• C. The genealogy of Jesus 3:23-38 (cf. Matt. 1:1-17)
  Why did Luke place his genealogy of Jesus at this point in his Gospel? Probably he did so because this was the beginning of Jesus' public ministry. Matthew recorded Jesus' genealogy to show that He had a legitimate right by b...
• The violent response of Jesus' critics 8:48-59
  8:48 Since the Jews could not refute Jesus' challenge they resorted to verbal abuse (cf. 7:52). Perhaps they called Him a Samaritan because He had questioned their ties to Abraham. This may have been a Samaritan attack agains...