The Book of Numbers includes accounts about sending spies into Canaan, water bursting from a rock, a bronze serpent, and Balaam with his talking donkey. Israelites are heading for the Promised Land! Numbers, however, also shows us a less glamorous side to the journey. The book describes callous ingratitude, perpetual complaining, and blindness to God's ongoing mercies. Longing to go back to Egypt, the Israelites reject Moses' leadership, have little faith in divine promises, and even get caught up in worshiping other gods. Yet God continues to put up with the people, pinning His hopes on the next generation. Though not perfect, the second generation emerges in the Book of Numbers as a formidable nation.
The apostle Paul tells us that the history of Israel in the wilderness is an example for believers. There is something that we are to learn as Christians from the history of Israel in the wilderness. Far from being irrelevant Hebrew history, Numbers is a book for our lives today. Rev. Dr. R. Reed Lessing provides a combination of Bible commentary and devotional reflection, applying biblical truth to our lives and inviting readers to see how God uses His people's story in the Book of Numbers.
