NUMBERS

When you read chapters 1-4 and 26, you can see the book got its name from the census conducted in these chapters. However, the Hebrew word for this book seems more appropriate—it’s translated “in the desert.” Thirty-eight years of desert wanderings are covered here, so it’s very different from Leviticus, a static book that took only one month and involved no travel.

The story moves from Mt. Sinai to Kadesh (east of the Dead Sea where the people were delayed due to rebellion) to Moab (just east of Canaan, their promised land). We see three sections here, all dealing with the promised land—preparation to go, the journey itself, and new preparations inheritance in the land. Numbers mixes narrative with legal material as the author discusses God’s elaboration of his principles and the rebellion of his people. The literature here covers narrative, law, administrative records, and speeches, so it is quite a diverse book.

DEUTERONOMY

 The last book of the Pentateuch, Deuteronomy means “repetition of the law,” but the Hebrew term for the book makes more sense, “these are the words,” since this is the farewell address of Moses. He is now 120 years old, he stands at the edge of the promised land, and he dramatically exhorts his people to remember their past and renew their covenant. The theme is one of total commitment delivered in an warm, personal style that is so appealing that Jesus quoted from it extensively. In Deuteronomy Moses speaks three times (chapters 1-4, 5-26, 29-30) to the new generation that has grown up out in the desert. He feels he must remind them of many things—the two sides to the covenant (God’s promises and the people’s obedience), characteristics of God, the value of social justice, the importance of personal ethics, and the need for neighborly responsibility. Once again, like much of the rest of the Pentateuch, Deuteronomy combines narration with legal sections.