Bible Commentaries
Numbers

NUMBERS

1 . ) THE Hebrews were accustomed to name their books from the first word therein. Hence the fourth book of their Law was styled Vaye-dabber “And he spake.” They found in the fifth word a far more expressive and poetic title, Bemidbar “In the wilderness.” The Seventy Greek translators prefixed the title Απιθμοι , ‘Arithmoi. If our English translators had preserved the law of uniformity, they would have transferred this title, as they have taken from the Greek the names of the other four books of the Pentateuch. But they have chosen to borrow, with modifications, the name Numeri, found in the Vulgate version.

This book is of a mixed character. History is interlaced with statutes. This commingling of legislation and marches, rebellions and battles, is strikingly human and natural. Plato may write a perfect code of laws for an ideal Republic, and Sir Thomas More may invent a scheme of impracticable rules for the citizens of his Utopia; but the best legislation for people made of flesh and blood is suggested by their actual state and necessities. Hence the legislation of this book arises when a special want occurs, like the decisions of the Supreme Court when a case is brought before it. An illustration of this is seen in the case of the daughters of Zelophehad, (Numbers 27:7,) who having no brother to receive the inheritance of their deceased father requested to be acknowledged his legal heirs. Their petition gives rise to the enactment of an equitable law for such cases. But the bearings of this legislation on the stability of the lot of each tribe is not seen until some of the allotments have been made, when it is discovered that, in the practical application of this law, an heiress marrying out of her tribe may carry her portion away from her own to another tribe. Hence the supplementary law on the marriage of an heiress requiring her to marry a husband within the tribe of her father. Chap. 36. If the book were a fabrication, the writer would very naturally group all the laws together, and represent them all as delivered at Sinai, instead of cumbering the narrative with supplementary statutes, and furnishing ground for the imputation of after-thoughts to Jehovah.

Author.

(2.) This book is, in reality, the fourth chapter of a larger book styled by Christians the Pentateuch, from πεντε , five, and τευχος , a book “The Fivefold Book.” The Jews have always regarded these books as one volume, to which they applied the name of The Torah “The Law.” It would therefore be more philosophical to inquire into the authorship of the Torah as a whole, than to isolate a chapter and limit our investigations to it alone. But as the most appropriate place for such a discussion would be introductory to the Torah, we refer the reader to the dissertation preliminary to the Commentary on Genesis. Our researches into the authorship of Numbers will be in reply to the following questions, namely:

1 . Does this book contain any declaration of its authorship? We find in chap. 33 the most important historical document contained in this book a list of the encampments from Rameses to the Jordan. This valuable catalogue a chain linking Egypt and Canaan is in Numbers 33:2 declared to have been written by Moses. But a large portion of this book is preceptory, containing statutes and ritual ordinances. Respecting these we find in the last verse of the book the statement that “these are the commandments and the judgments which the Lord commanded, by the hand of Moses, unto the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho.” This language must not be interpreted to signify that all the ceremonial and civil statutes in this book were given by Jehovah in the plains of Moab, for most of them were given in the Sinaitic Wilderness and Desert of Paran. What is more natural for us to understand was done by Moses in the plains of Moab, than the completion of his record, and its publication as the standard of appeal for the Hebrew nation in the future? This conclusion is fortified by the consideration that the minute legislation and valuable history comprised in this book would not, by a wise legislator, be intrusted to the uncertainties of oral tradition. But all doubt on this point is removed when we find in the hands of Joshua, only a few weeks afterward, a copy of the Torah, (Joshua 1:7-8,) and are assured that it contains this book of Numbers, by the fact that it is his guide in the division of the Land of Canaan and the setting apart of Levitical cities. Compare Numbers 34:17; Numbers 35:2-15, with Joshua 13:14; Joshua 13:33; Joshua 14:3-4; Joshua 18:7; Joshua 20:1-9; Joshua 21:1-42.

2 . Could Moses have written this book? If it could be demonstrated that he lived before the invention of writing among the Egyptians it would be a strong, though not a conclusive, argument against the Mosaic authorship, for letters might have been invented by Moses for this very purpose. But at this point there is no ground for doubt. Papyri, or Egyptian parchments, bearing date centuries before Moses, have been recently translated through the persevering efforts of Egyptologists. See note on Exodus 5:6. That the Hebrews were acquainted with letters, we infer from the fact that the Phenicians, a Semitic race, had a literature while Greece was a country of semi-barbaric pirates preying upon the commerce of Tyre, long before Cadmus came to induct this rude people into the mysteries of the alphabet. (Ewald’s Hist. Israel, vol. i, p. 51.) There is, therefore, not the least anachronism in this claim of Moses to authorship. Writing is distinctly mentioned in Exodus 17:14 as an art in which he was well instructed.

3 . Could not this book be the production of a later age? We reply, that it could not, because, 1.) It is quoted or alluded to by most of the inspired writers from Joshua to Christ as the work of Moses. We shall have space to cite only one reference to each writer. We have already adduced Joshua’s reference to Numbers. Judges 11:15-27 is an abbreviation of chaps. 20 and 21. The law of sacrifices as observed in 1 Samuel 2:13, is recorded in Numbers 18:8-9; Numbers 18:25; Numbers 18:32. David, in Psalms 4:6, quotes a part of the priests’ blessing, Numbers 6:26. Solomon, in Proverbs 10:18, employs a peculiar Hebrew idiom found only in Numbers 13:32; Numbers 14:36-37. In 1 Kings 22:17, chap. Numbers 27:16-17 is quoted. Of the minor prophets, Amos in Amos 2:12, evidently refers to the law of the Nazarites, chap. Numbers 6:1-21; and Micah in chap. Numbers 6:4-5, must have had the whole account of Balak and Balaam, chaps. 22-24, before him. During the captivity, and afterward, the prophets quote this book. Jeremiah, in Jeremiah 2:6-7, quotes Numbers 14:7-8; Numbers 35:33-34; while Ezekiel, in chap. 20, recapitulates all the events of the wilderness, showing an accurate knowledge of this book. Jesus Christ and St. Paul everywhere ascribe the Law to Moses. 2.) There was no man subsequent to Moses who combined that knowledge of the desert, and that intimate acquaintance with Egyptian customs which is evinced by Moses. 3.) The entire book points forward to the Land of Promise, and must have been written by one on the journey. Numbers 15:2; Numbers 15:18; Numbers 34:2; Numbers 35:2-34.

Contrary to expectation, it took several centuries to expel the Canaanites. A forger in subsequent years would not have so written as to convey the impression that the foes were to be all immediately expelled. He would have shaped his story to suit the facts. Hence we conclude that as no man later than Moses could have been the author of this book, “which, as it bears traces on its brow of Egypt and the Desert, so also must have had its origin before the occupation of Canaan.” 4.) The application of Leslie’s short method with the deists would show the absolute impossibility for an impostor in the name of Moses to originate a book of laws lying as the basis of institutions already existing, and claiming to exist, by the authority of Moses, who existed in a former age.

4 . How extensively has the Mosaic authorship been admitted? 1.) By the entire Hebrew nation during a period of more than thirty-three hundred years. 2.) By the universal Christian world down to the beginning of the eleventh century, when the first noteworthy dissent appeared. The only exception to this was the feeble scepticism of the Gnostics and some other sects, whose heresy had died with them. Their scepticism seems to have had a dogmatic rather than an historic and critical basis. (3.) By the whole Mohammedan world, embracing many erudite scholars. The authorship of no ancient book is so well attested, nor has any been so universally admitted.

5 . The last question raised by modern criticism is this: Are there not in the book itself in its style, in its peculiar phraseology, and in the knowledge of the land of Canaan evinced by the author difficulties too great to be harmonized with the claim of Mosaic authorship? The answer to this question is: The style is too full of archaisms, of words obsolete in later Hebrew, to present any argument against its Mosaic authorship. Moses does display some knowledge of Canaan. The sources of this knowledge were: 1.) The traditions of the Hebrews 2:0.) His Egyptian education must have included the geography of the known world, especially of Canaan, a country so near to Egypt. Recent researches in Egyptian history disclose the fact that Egypt had carried on wars in the country of “the Hittite,” and had made extensive conquests there. 3.) The forty years of pre-exodus life spent by Moses in the Sinaitic Desert afforded opportunities for obtaining a knowledge of that country, toward which the Spirit of the Lord was now directing his eye. He may have traversed its whole extent. 4.) While in the wilderness he probably sent spies more frequently than the record shows.

From all these considerations our conclusion is, that there is not a word in this book which might not have been written by a writer in the age and circumstances of Moses. While it would not be in good taste for a modern writer to record his own meekness, as in Numbers 12:3, we must remember that other canons of taste prevailed in ancient Oriental nations. Moses just as readily exhibits his faults. Numbers 20:10-12. No forger in a later age would have dared to impute sin to the great and venerated lawgiver. The statements of critics, that there are traces of distinct documents by the pre-Elohist, Elohist, and Jehovist, even if admitted, do not disprove the Mosaic authorship of the book as a whole. But having patiently examined the “higher criticism” based on what is known as the “ document” or “fragment” hypothesis, we find ourselves unable to concede even this. We find each succeeding critic destroying the theories of his predecessors, so that the “complement hypothesis” overturns the “fragment hypothesis,” which in turn is superseded by the “crystallization hypothesis.” So utterly discordant are these various theories, that their untenable, unscientific, and arbitrary assumptions are sufficiently refuted by printing them in parallel columns, so that their antagonisms may be seen at a glance. One is satisfied with two documents, another finds three. The microscope of a third critic finds evidence that the compiler dovetailed together extracts from seven, and a fourth critic declares that there must have been a dozen! Then the same writer modifies his theory in the successive editions of his book, till, at last, he abandons it altogether. The very extravagance of these theories, so flagrantly opposed to one another, so confidently propounded, and yet based on the most vague conjectures, have very naturally led to a reaction which may yet bring these critics back to the point whence they made their departure Moses the sole author of the Torah, without modern interpolators or revisers. De Wette himself has changed his views with almost every successive edition of his Introduction, frankly saying, “I have often found myself constrained to alter my opinion.”

“The grounds on which this distinction of documents rests are in every respect most unsatisfactory. The use of the divine names, which was the starting point in this criticism, ceases to be a criterion; and certain words and phrases, a particular manner or colouring, the narrative of miracles, are supposed to decide whether a passage belongs to the earlier or later documents.” SMITH’S Dictionary of the Bible.

For the assistance of those who may desire to test the “higher criticism” for themselves, we quote from the same authority a summary of the conclusions which the most erudite German Hebraists have reached in their investigations. According to De Wette, the following portions are the work of the Elohist, the writer who uses the Divine Name Elohim: Numbers 1:1 to Numbers 10:28; Numbers 13:2-16, (in its original, though not in its present form;) Numbers 13:15; Numbers 16:1-11, Numbers 16:16-24 (?); Numbers 17:0; Numbers 19:0; Numbers 20:1-13; Numbers 20:22-29; Numbers 25-31, (except perhaps Numbers 26:8-11;) Numbers 32:5; Numbers 32:28-42, (verses 1-4 uncertain;) Numbers 33-36. The rest of the book is assigned to the later Editor, whom he styles the Jehovist, from his use of the Divine Name, Jehovah. Von Lengerke and Stahelin make a similar division, though they differ as to some verses, and even whole chapters. Vaihinger finds traces of three distinct documents, which he ascribes severally to the pre-Elohist, the Elohist, and the Jehovist. To the first he assigns Numbers 10:29-36; Numbers 11:1-12; Numbers 11:16, (in its original form;) Numbers 20:14-21; Numbers 21:1-9; Numbers 21:13-35; Numbers 32:33-42; Numbers 33:55-56. To the Elohist Numbers 1:1 to Numbers 10:28; Numbers 11:1 to Numbers 12:16; Numbers 13-20, Numbers 22-29; Numbers 21:10-12; Numbers 22:1; Numbers 25-31; Numbers 32:1-32, Numbers 32:1 to 36:19. To the Jehovist chaps. Numbers 11-12, Numbers 11:16; Numbers 22:2 to Numbers 24:25; Numbers 31:8. The Bible shrinks from no criticism however thorough and scrutinizing. Orthodoxy is under special obligation to the rationalizing criticism, destructive of faith in its aim, but only confirmatory in its results, inasmuch as it has induced Christian scholars to dig down beneath the surface and lay open the immovable foundations of the Divine Word.

The hypothesis of Ewald, that the episode of Balaam (Numbers 20:2 to Numbers 24:25) is the product of a fifth and last editor of the Pentateuch, and that Balaam’s prophecies are vaticinia ex eventu, put into his mouth by a daring literary impostor of the time of Isaiah, we have unhesitatingly rejected. Nothing can be more improbable than that such a fabrication could by any means be interpolated into the Book of the Law, the sacred Torah, so highly venerated by the Hebrews that they would not insert a single word or letter even to correct an obvious error of the copyist, demonstrated to be such by the most careful examination of older copies.

Topography and Route.

(3.) We have endeavoured to lay before our readers the latest researches in this interesting department. Although the residence of the Israelites in the wilderness was too brief to impress upon their national character those features which many centuries of association with the same natural scenery and climate may stamp upon a people, yet the Sinaitic Desert and the Wilderness of Paran, as seen to day, have all the interest to the historian and scholar that a battlefield has from its connexion with the battle, or the seat of war with the campaign. The great question which the commentator, in his topographical researches, must ever propose to himself is, whether the unchanging scenes of nature on which the sun rose this morning are fitted to be the theatre of the wonderful events located there by the sacred historian. Our interest in the locality increases in proportion as the events are dissevered from the perishable works of art, such as houses cities, and sepulchres, and are associated only with the everlasting hills, the eternal rocks, and the ever-flowing streams. Such is the interest attaching to that desert where Israel built no houses, but dwelt in tents. Another important point for the commentator to note is, the tinge which the natural scenery has given to the poetry, and the influence it has had upon the language and cultus, of the Hebrew nation; yet he should be on his guard lest he exaggerate the effects of physical causes, and adopt the fatalistic philosophy of such materialists as Buckle, who so far subordinate mind to matter as to evolve even the moral and religious character of a nation out of its soil and sky. It is remarkable that the Sinaitic Peninsula the scene of the giving of the law, the corner-stone of the Hebrew commonwealth did not attract more attention from that people. “After the Israelites left Mount Sinai,” says Dr. Robinson, “there is no account either in Scripture or elsewhere of its having been visited by any Jews, except by the prophet Elijah when he fled from the machinations of Jezebel. This is the more remarkable, as this region had been the seat of the revelation of the Law to which they clung so tenaciously, and because, from the splendour and terrors of the scene, the inspired Hebrew poets were wont to draw their sublimest images.” We have no very distinct notices of Sinai in early Christian literature, nor any very reliable researches until the days of Burckhardt, Ritter, and Dr. Robinson, who have been succeeded by Stanley, and a host of others of less celebrity.

One great difficulty with the desert topography arises from the fact that each traveller takes but one route, and is disposed to imagine that to be the very pathway of the Israelites, and to attach, in rectilinear succession, the list of encampments named in Numbers 33:16-36. No attempt shall be made to track their course in detail. The results of the recent explorations are thus stated by Dean Stanley: “With the departure from Sinai, or at least from Hazeroth, the geographical interest of the Israelite history almost ceases, till the arrival in the tablelands of Moab, and the first beginning of the Conquest. Not only is the general course of their march wrapped in obscurity, but, even if we knew it, the events are not generally of a kind which would require any special illustration from the scenes in which they occurred. It is possible that some future traveller may discover the stations recorded in the itinerary of the thirty-third chapter of the Book of Numbers. At present no station has been ascertained with any likelihood of truth, unless we except the doubtful identification of Hazeroth with Huderah. All that is clear is, that they marched northward from Mount Sinai, probably over the plateau Tih which seems to be designated as ‘the Wilderness of Paran;’ then that they descended into the Arabah designated, apparently, ‘the Wilderness of Zin;’ thence, on the refusal of the king of Edom to let them pass through his territory, they moved southward, encamped on the shores of the Gulf Akabah, at Ezion-geber, and then turned the corner of the Edomite mountains, at their southward extremity, and entered the table-lands of Moab at the torrent of the willows, ‘the Brook Zared,’ at the southern end of the Dead Sea.” It is the opinion of Palmer that “they took the route by Akabah, and did not enter the Tih by any of the passes in the southern edge of the plateau.” He is quite confident that a great portion of the encampments may yet be identified. The progress which has been made in sacred topography during the last forty years is very vividly seen when we contrast the meagre and conjectural maps accompanying the older commentaries with the topographical surveys and charts of Robinson, Ritter, Porter, Van de Velde, Kiepert, Henke, and the coloured lithographs of Stanley, equal to “a fifth Gospel to seeing Palestine.” The need of a new exegesis of the Scriptures incorporating and popularizing these valuable contributions to sacred geography is deeply felt.

The Chronology and Divisions of the Book.

(4.) Although the notes of time are very scanty, yet we have sufficient to guide us in our division of the book into four parts. The events begin with the first day of the second month, the Hebrew Zif, the month of blossom and splendour, corresponding in those early times with our April. Twenty days elapsed before the preparations to march were all perfected, and “the cloud was taken off the tabernacle.” Numbers 10:11. This period constitutes the First Part of the book. The time occupied in marching to Kadesh we have been left to infer from the few notes of time which are given, together with the events which took place, which we do as follows: 1.) They were three days in reaching their first regular camp. Numbers 10:33. At the next station, Kibroth-hattaavah, the people ate quails “even a whole month.” Numbers 11:20. At Hazeroth Miriam was judicially excluded from the camp seven days, and “the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in.” Numbers 12:14. The spies were absent forty days. It is uncertain whether they were sent before the camp was pitched in Kadesh; but the account of their being sent follows their encampment in the Wilderness of Paran; so that the people were there at least forty days. 2.) There is an incidental hint of time in the report of the spies “Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes.” Numbers 13:20. According to Dr. Robinson the first grapes ripen as early as August, and sometimes even in July. Hence we infer that they were at least three months in reaching Kadesh the period of our Second Part. We have fixed the end of the penal wanderings at the coming of the whole congregation into the Wilderness of Zin in the first month of the fortieth year of the Exodus. Numbers 20:1. We know that this is the fortieth year, because Aaron died soon after, on “the first day of the fifth month, in the fortieth year after the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt.” Chap. Numbers 33:38. From Joshua 5:10, we learn that the passover was kept in the plains of Jericho at the usual time of the year, which makes exactly forty years from the Exodus. Subtract the last year, which was not penal, together with the seventeen or eighteen months spent in marching to Sinai and in sojourning there and in the journey to Kadesh, and we have about thirty-seven and a half years of penal wanderings our Third Part. The last year, the year of victories, is our Fourth Part.

Arithmetical Difficulties.

(5.) The destructive criticism of modern rationalists has aimed its deadliest blows at the Pentateuch, especially at the numerical statements of the Book of Numbers. We have not ignored these attacks, but have written with Bishop Colenso’s “Pentateuch Critically Examined,” and his recent diatribes in review of the “Speaker’s Commentary” lying open before us. We do not profess to have solved every difficult problem. Something has still been left for faith. Our Lord Jesus Christ declared, on one occasion, that if men “hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead.” This language implies that there is in the writings of Moses, as there is assuredly in those of the Prophets, scope for faith. This could not be if every utterance of the Hebrew lawgiver were on a level with the human understanding. The pen of inspiration may have purposely left these very difficulties as tests of our faith in the Divine veracity. Still, as the Creator, who has endowed us with the capacity to believe, has also endowed us with the power of reason, and bidden us use that faculty in scrutinizing the grounds of faith, we have endeavoured to set forth some considerations which may constitute a rational basis of faith. In so doing we have called to our aid the best apologists for the authenticity of the numerical statements of Moses, among both Jewish and Christian writers. The primal error of the Colenso school of critics seems to lie in the assumption that the Spirit of God “can never inspire the utterance of half truths, or truths imperfectly expressed, or truths needing the light of other truths to make them intelligible. In short, because God is perfect, every thing that comes from him must needs be perfect also. Though all nature is a riddle, and yet comes from God; though the human mind is a riddle, and yet reflects his image; though man, in his highest illumination, can see but darkly, as through a darkened glass; yet the Divine word because it comes from God must have no riddles in it, no seeming contradictions, no difficulties, no opaque spots, no paradoxes, nothing that ‘the unlearned and unstable can’ ‘wrest to their own destruction.’ The Scriptures lay claim to no such inspiration.”*

[* “ The Spiritual Point of View An Answer to Bishop Colenso, by M. Mahan, D.D.”]

OUTLINE OF CONTENTS.

Part I. Events Introductory to Leaving Sinai, chapters Numbers 1:1 to Numbers 10:10 .

1 . The Census and the Levites.

Genealogical Enrolment and Muster of the Adult Males, Numbers 1:1-46. Levites Exempted from the Census and Assigned to the Tabernacle Service. Numbers 1:47-53. Order of Encampment, Numbers 2:1-34. The Sons of Aaron Consecrated, Numbers 3:1-4. The Levites Subordinated to Aaron, Numbers 3:5-9. The Levites Substituted for the Firstborn, Numbers 3:11-13. The Numbering of the Levites, Numbers 3:14-39. Census of the Firstborn Males of the Israelites, Numbers 3:40-43. The Supernumerary Firstborn Redeemed, Numbers 3:44-51. The Age-Limits to Levitical Service, Numbers 4:1-3. Service of the Sons of Kohath, Gershon, and Merari, Numbers 4:4-33. Census of Competent Levites, Numbers 4:34-49. Removal of the Unclean from the Camp, Numbers 5:1-4. Restitution for Trespass, Numbers 5:5-10. The Ordeal for a Suspected Wife, Numbers 5:11-31. Law of the Naz-arite, Numbers 6:1-22. Form of the Priestly Blessing, Numbers 6:22-27. The Dedicatory Gifts of the Princes, Numbers 7:1-88. Directions for Placing the Golden Lamps of the Tabernacle, Numbers 8:1-4. Consecration of the Levites, Numbers 8:5-22. The Second Passover, Numbers 9:1-5. The Supplemental Passover, Numbers 9:6-14. The Cloud and the Tabernacle, Numbers 9:15-23. The Silver Signal Trumpets, Numbers 10:1-10.

Part II. The March, chapters Numbers 10:11-14 .

The Beginning of the March from Sinai, Numbers 10:11-28. Hobab Invited by Moses, Numbers 10:29-32. The Three Days’ March, Numbers 10:33-34. The Chant of Moses, Numbers 10:35-36. Events at Kibroth-Hattaavah, Numbers 11:1-35. Sedition of Miriam, Numbers 12:1-8. Miriam Punished, Numbers 12:9-15. From Hazeroth to Kadesh, Numbers 12:16. The Twelve Spies, Numbers 13:1-33. Cowardice of the Israelites, Numbers 14:1-5. Minority Report of Caleb and Joshua, Numbers 14:6-10. The Excision of Israel Threatened and Averted, Numbers 14:11-25. The Formal Sentence of Exclusion, Numbers 14:26-35. The Fate of the Spies, Numbers 14:36-39. Presumption of the People Punished, Numbers 14:40-45.

Part III. Penal Wanderings, chapters 15-19.

Supplementary Altar Ritual, Numbers 15:1-29. Presumptuous Sin is Irremissible, Numbers 15:30-36. Mnemonic Fringes, Numbers 15:37-41. Rebellion and Destruction of Korah and his Company, Numbers 16:1-35. The Memorial Censers, Numbers 16:36-40. The Murmurers, the Plague, and the Atonement, Numbers 16:41-50. The Priesthood of Aaron Accredited, Numbers 17:1-13. The Priests and Levites: their Obligations and Rights, Numbers 18:1-32. The Preparation of the Water of Separation, Numbers 19:1-10. The Use of the Purifying Water, Numbers 19:11-22.

Part IV. From Kadesh to the Land of Moab, chapters 20-36.

Arrival at Kadesh, Numbers 20:1. Clamour for Water The Rock Smitten, Numbers 20:2-13. A Passage through Edom Requested and Refused, Numbers 20:14-21. Journey to Mount Hor Death of Aaron, Numbers 20:22-29. Defeat of the Canaanite King of Arad, Numbers 21:1-3. Compassing Edom via Red Sea, Numbers 21:4-5. Fiery Serpents and the Brazen Serpent, Numbers 21:6-9. Continued Itinerary of Israel, Numbers 21:10-20. Victor over Sihon and over Og, Numbers 21:21-35. The First Message to Balaam, Numbers 22:1-14. The Second Message to Balaam, Numbers 22:15-35. Balaam Received by Balak, Numbers 22:36-41. Balak’s Sacrifices and Balaam’s First Two Prophecies Preparatory Sacrifices, Numbers 23:1-6. Balaam’s First Prophecy, Numbers 23:7-12. The Second Prophecy, Numbers 23:13-26. Israel’s Happiness, Numbers 24:1-4. The Third Prophecy, Numbers 24:5-14. The Fourth Prophecy, Numbers 24:15-24. Israel Seduced into Idolatry, Numbers 25:1-3. The Idolaters Punished, Numbers 25:4-9. Phinehas Rewarded with an Everlasting Priesthood, Numbers 25:10-13. War against Midian Commanded. Numbers 25:16-18. The Second Census, Numbers 26:1-51. General Directions for the Allotment of Canaan, Numbers 26:51-56. Census of the Levites, Numbers 26:57-62. The Execution of Israel’s Penal Exclusion from Canaan Noted, Numbers 26:64-65. Zelophehad’s Daughters Law of Inheritance, Numbers 27:1-11. Moses Forewarned of his Death, Numbers 27:12-14. Joshua Publicly Consecrated as the Successor of Moses, Numbers 27:15-23. The Laws of the Daily Worship and the Annual Feasts Restated and Codified Sacrifices Required by Jehovah, Numbers 28:1-2. The Daily Burnt Offerings, Numbers 28:3-8. The Sabbath Offering, Numbers 28:9-10. Law of Offerings at the New Moon, Numbers 28:11-15. Law of Offerings at the Passover, Numbers 28:16-25. Offerings at the Feast of Firstfruits, Numbers 28:26-31. Restatement of the Feast Statutes The Offerings at the Feast of Trumpets, Numbers 29:1-6. Offerings on the Day of Atonement, Numbers 29:7-11. The Feast of Tabernacles Sacrifices, Numbers 29:12-40. The Sacredness of Vows, Numbers 30:1-2. The Maid’s Vow, Numbers 30:3-5. The Betrothed Wife’s Vow, Numbers 30:6-8. Vow of the Widow and of the Divorced Wife, Numbers 30:9. Vow of the Wife, Numbers 30:10-16. Conquest of Eastern Palestine Midian Conquered and Balaam Slain, Numbers 31:1-12. Treatment of the Prisoners, Numbers 31:13-18. The Soldiers, Prisoners, and Spoils Ceremonially Cleansed, Numbers 31:19-24. The Allotment of the Spoils, Numbers 31:25-47. The Freewill Thank Offering to Jehovah, Numbers 31:48-54. Allotment of Eastern Palestine The Suit of Reuben and Gad for their Allotment, Numbers 32:1-5. The Remonstrance of Moses, Numbers 32:6-15. The Modified Petition of Reuben and Gad, Numbers 32:16-32. The Petition Granted, Numbers 32:33-42. The Itineracy of the Israelites, Numbers 33:1-49. Command to Exterminate the Canaanites and to Distribute their Land, Numbers 33:50 to Numbers 34:29. The Boundaries of the Promised Land, Numbers 34:1-15. The Commissioners for Distributing the Land, Numbers 34:16-29. The Levite Cities, Numbers 35:1-5. Cities of Refuge, Numbers 35:6-34. The Intentional Manslayer, Numbers 35:22-28. The Marriage of an Heiress, Numbers 36:1-13.