Numbers

Despite the enormity of the task of moving a large number of people and animals on such a large journey, God proves His faithfulness and provision for His people despite their repeated failures. Taught by Tom Bradford.

• Lesson 1 – Numbers Introduction

  NUMBERS Lesson 1 – Introduction Well, out of the frying pan and into the fire we go, just as the Israelites were about to do. As we lay down the Book of Leviticus, we begin an exploration of Numbers that will last for several months; so, let’s back up for a moment and see the […]

• Lesson 2 – Numbers 1

  NUMBERS Lesson 2 – Chapter 1 As we enter a new book of Torah, there are always some preliminaries to deal with so that we can approach things in proper perspective. If you have not heard the introduction to Numbers I suggest you get the CD or listen to it on the Web, as there […]

• Lesson 3 – Numbers 2 & 3

  NUMBERS Lesson 3 – Chapters 2 and 3 We were finishing up Numbers chapter 1 last week when we ran out of time. And the subject was the tribe of Levi (the Levites), who were assigned to become the priestly tribe of Israel who would be set-apart from this already set-apart nation of Israel for […]

• Lesson 4 – Numbers 3

  NUMBERS Lesson 4 – Chapter 3 Verse 11 begins a fascinating divine instruction that is almost lost to both Christianity and Judaism. This is an instruction that I stated to you last week, and told you we’d get it into a little more later…..so here we are. And, the instruction takes place in verses 11-13; […]

• Lesson 5 – Numbers 4 & 5

  NUMBERS Lesson 5 – Chapters 4 and 5 The core story in Numbers 4 is what is typically called the second Levite census. The information is pretty straightforward, so we won’t dwell here too long. And this census differs from the earlier Levite census that God Himself performed, primarily that in this new census the […]

• Lesson 6 – Numbers 5

  NUMBERS Lesson 6 – Chapter 5 We began to study Numbers 5 last week, and right away the subject of impure (unclean) persons and what to do with them arose. We saw 3 categories of unclean people listed (although there are more): the person with Tzara’at (skin disease), the person with a genital discharge, and […]

• Lesson 7 – Numbers 5 Cont.

  NUMBERS Lesson 7 – Chapter 5 Conclusion We have been studying the 5th chapter of Numbers (and I promise you we’ll finally finish it tonight). It is the story of a woman suspected of adultery but who does NOT confess it. This is an entirely different situation than the woman who has been caught in […]

• Lesson 8 – Numbers 6

  NUMBERS Lesson 8 – Chapter 6 Numbers chapter 6 consists of two major pieces: the first 21 verses establish the office of the Nazarite then the last 5 verses give us what has come to be called the Aaronic Blessing. Both subjects are worthy of being given sufficient time and so that’s what we’re going […]

• Lesson 9 – Numbers 7 & 8

  NUMBERS Lesson 9 – Chapters 7 and 8 Numbers chapter 7 is one of the longest chapters in the Torah……some 89 verses. And, it also one of the most repetitive chapters in all the Torah, which you’ll see as we read it together. So, we’ll move through this chapter pretty quickly. As a frame of […]

• Lesson 10 – Numbers 8 & 9

  NUMBERS Lesson 10 – Chapters 8 and 9 I think of all the many misunderstood or misconceived principles that we find in the Bible (especially by Christians and modern Judaism), yet one this is so indispensable for God’s followers, at the top must be the idea of atonement that is expressed in the Hebrew root […]

• Lesson 11 – Numbers 10

  NUMBERS Lesson 11 – Chapter 10 The preparations by God, through Moses, for establishing Israel as a nation of people under the banner of Yehoveh are nearly complete. Last week, in Numbers 9, we saw Israel celebrate the first memorial Passover. That is, the Passover in Egypt was not an observance; it was the actual […]

• Lesson 12 – Numbers 11

  NUMBERS Lesson 12 – Chapter 11 We’ve just concluded some chapters in Numbers that gave us a lot of detailed information that has been a bit hard to slog through but it was needed, just as learning multiplication tables is needed if we’re going to be able use math in our lives. Numbers chapter 11 […]

• Lesson 13 – Numbers 11 Cont.

  NUMBERS Lesson 13 – Chapter 11 Continued Last time, in Numbers 11, we ended with a very curious circumstance that is easy to just read over, and miss. It concerns the matter that God is going to anoint 70 elders of Israel with the SAME spirit….the same Ruach HaKodesh…….. that is upon Moses. The reason […]

• Lesson 14 – Numbers 12

  NUMBERS Lesson 14 – Chapter 12 In Numbers chapter 11, we heard of the general rebellions of the people of Israel and of the resident aliens (those who were traveling with Israel but did NOT wish to be Israelites), who lived on the outskirts of the camp and were accused of instigating at least some […]

• Lesson 15 – Numbers 13 & 14

  NUMBERS Lesson 15 – Chapters 13 and 14 Numbers chapters 13 and 14 are really just one long story. We probably ought to read them one immediately after the other, but they are each substantial in length, so we’ll read 13, discuss it, and then read 14. Let’s remember that chapter 12 ends with the […]

• Lesson 16 – Numbers 14

  NUMBERS Lesson 16 – Chapter 14 Last week, beginning in Numbers 13 and moving on into Chapter 14, we began to look at the rebellion of the people of Israel, and what the consequences would be. And, the rebellion centered on the scouts of the 12 tribes going to Canaan to gather intelligence and bring […]

• Lesson 17 – Numbers 15

  NUMBERS Lesson 17 – Chapter 15 Last week we discussed the great rebellion of the Israelites against Yehoveh, when they refused to trust Him, and so they balked at entering the Promised Land that had been set aside and prepared for them. More, we examined the consequences of this rebellion (wandering for 40 years in […]

• Lesson 18 – Numbers 15 Cont.

  NUMBERS Lesson 18 – Chapter 15 Continued We continue today in Number chapter 15; and in our last meeting we examined one of those small, but critical, Hebrew words whose meaning has a lot of important implications to the Believer. We looked at just exactly what the Hebrew term ger (or in the plural, gerim […]

• Lesson 19 – Numbers 15 Concl.

  NUMBERS Lesson 19 – Chapter 15 Conclusion We’ll continue today in Numbers chapter 15 and bring it to a conclusion. Last week the highlight was probably the discussion of the man who was executed for gathering sticks, firewood, on the Sabbath. And we discovered that the man was actually subject to two penalties: one, a […]

• Lesson 20 – Numbers 16, 17, & 18

  NUMBERS Lesson 20 – Chapters 16, 17, and 18 Last week we concluded Numbers 15 by studying at some length God’s remedy for the tendency of the people of Israel to ignore His laws and commands. This casual approach that many in Israel had taken towards the newly given Laws of Moses was epitomized in […]

• Lesson 21 – Numbers 16, 17, & 18 Cont.

  NUMBERS Lesson 21 – Chapters 16, 17, and 18 Continued In our last lesson we began a 3-chapter block of Scripture in Numbers that seeks to make clear to all that the Priesthood is central to Israel’s relationship with Yehoveh. And that the hierarchy of holiness that God set up, first with Levi being separated […]

• Lesson 22 – Numbers 16, 17, & 18 Concl.

  NUMBERS Lesson 22 – Chapters 16, 17, and 18 Conclusion Last week we watched as the rebels of Israel were annihilated by two means: 1) fire coming from the Lord to destroy those 250 tribal leaders and Korah, the main instigator of the rebellion; and 2) from an earthquake that opened a huge split in […]

• Lesson 23 – Numbers 19

  NUMBERS Lesson 23 – Chapter 19 Last week we discussed holiness; and I’m not sure I’m at more a loss for words, nor feel less adequate, than when discussing holiness. It is a much more expansive and controversial issue than one might have thought, isn’t it? What makes it controversial is NOT that the Bible […]

• Lesson 24 – Numbers 20 & 21

  NUMBERS Lesson 24 – Chapters 20 and 21 After the interlude of Numbers chapters 18 and 19 that sought to make the point that the Priesthood the Lord established was permanent and needed; and the ordaining and re-issuing in more detail of some instructions regarding holiness, purification, and the terribly serious nature of impurity caused […]

• Lesson 25 – Numbers 21

  NUMBERS Lesson 25 – Chapter 21 Last week we had just started Numbers chapter 21. And, in this chapter we see a continuation…..full of difficulties…..of the Israelites’ journey toward the Promised Land, Canaan. The King of Edom had refused to allow them to pass through his territory, the most preferred route that would take the […]

• Lesson 26 – Numbers 21, 22, 23, & 24

  NUMBERS Lesson 26 – Chapters 21, 22, 23, and 24 We spent all last week on a very small, but difficult, section of the Bible: the bronze serpent on the pole. I’m not going to review it with you today, as it is quite complex. If you missed it, or want to go over it […]

• Lesson 27 – Numbers 22, 23, & 24

  NUMBERS Lesson 27 – Chapters 22, 23, and 24 Last week we began with the story of Balaam and Balak, a story that takes 3 full chapters of Numbers (22,23,24) in the telling. And we see from it’s timing, structure, and style that it is almost certainly an embellished account of an actual happening; an […]

• Lesson 28 – Numbers 23 & 24

  NUMBERS Lesson 28 – Chapters 23 and 24 We continue the story of Balaam and Balak, which is a theological feast all in itself. Some of the critical biblical principles that will be counted upon as foundational material in the remainder of the Holy Scriptures are here setout before us. And, not the least of […]

• Lesson 29 – Numbers 25 & 26

  NUMBERS Lesson 29 – Chapters 25 and 26 As we leave behind our study of Balaam and Balak, we move on into Numbers with yet another of the many rebellions against Yehoveh and the resultant divine retributions. One would think that after nearly 40 years of living in the Wilderness, with the Wilderness Tabernacle always […]

• Lesson 30 – Numbers 27 & 28

  NUMBERS Lesson 30 – Chapters 27 and 28 The last time we met we looked at the 2nd census of Numbers. There was a census of Israel taken not long after they left Egypt; and now, nearly 40 years later another census was taken because Israel was about to begin the conquest of Canaan. In […]

• Lesson 31 – Numbers 28 & 29

  NUMBERS Lesson 31 – Chapters 28 and 29 Last week we began this two-chapter unit of Numbers 28 and 29 that I entitled the “Calendar of Public Sacrifices”. These two chapters are ones that, like the long and complex biblical genealogical and tribal listings, can make our eyes droop and our heads bob as we […]

• Lesson 32 – Numbers 30 & 31

  NUMBERS Lesson 32 – Chapters 30 and 31 This week, in Numbers chapter 30, we take up the matter of making vows and oaths to the Lord. I suppose that every Believer, Jewish or gentile, has at some time in their walk made a promise to God; some folks make vows and oaths quite regularly […]

• Lesson 33 – Numbers 31 & 32

  NUMBERS Lesson 33 – Chapters 31 and 32 An esteemed 19th century Christian scholar named G.B.Gray calls Numbers chapter 31, “the extermination of the Midianites.” That sounds pretty harsh and direct, but in fact that is precisely what this chapter is about. Last week we took a quick stroll as an overview of Numbers 31 […]

• Lesson 34 – Numbers 32 & 33

  NUMBERS Lesson 34 – Chapters 32 and 33 When last we met, Moses and the leadership council of Israel had agreed to the request of Reuben and Gad that they be allowed to possess the land Israel had just won from the Midianites, the land of Moab. This land on the east side of the […]

• Lesson 35 – Numbers 34 & 35

  NUMBERS Lesson 35 – Chapters 34 and 35 Last time we had just concluded Numbers 33 and this was a kind of Cliff Notes version of the route of the Exodus that enumerated 42 stations where events of significance took place during the Israelite’s wilderness journey; a journey that was but weeks from it’s conclusion. […]

• Lesson 36 – Numbers 35 & 36 (End of Book)

  NUMBERS Lesson 36 – Chapters 35 and 36 (End of Book) This week we bring our study of the book of Numbers to a conclusion. I hope that you have ben surprised by the amount of history, legal precedent and establishment of God’s principles that we found here, and that this is anything but a […]