Reference: Numbers
Smith
Num'bers,
the fourth book of the law or Pentateuch. It takes its name in the LXX. and Vulgate (whence our "Numbers") from the double numbering or census of the people, the first of which is given in chs. 1-4, and the second in ch. 28. Contents. --The book may be said to contain generally the history of the Israelites from the time of their leaving Sinai, in the second year after the exodus till their arrival at the borders of the Promised land in the fortieth year of their journeyings It consists of the following principal divisions: 1, The Preparations for the departure from Sinai.
2. The journey from Sinai to the borders of Canaan. ch.
10/11/type/isv'>Nu 10:11,1; 14:45
3. A brief notice of laws and events which transpired during the thirty-seven years wandering in the wilderness. ch.
15/1/type/isv'>Nu 15:1,1; 19:22
4. The history of the last year, from the second arrival of the Israelites in Kadesh till they reached "the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho." ch,
Integrity. --This, like the other books of the Pentateuch, is supposed by many critics to consist of a compilation from two or three or more earlier documents; but the grounds on which this distinction of documents rests are in every respect most unsatisfactory, and it may, in common with the preceding books and Deuteronomy, be regarded as the work of Moses. The book of Numbers is rich in fragments of ancient poetry, some of them of great beauty and all throwing an interesting light on the character of the times in which they were composed. Such, for instance, is the blessing of the high priest. ch.
Such too are chants which were the signal for the ark to move when the people journeyed, and for it to rest when they were about to encamp. In ch. 21 we have a passage cited from a book called the "Book of the Wars of Jehovah." This was probably a collection of ballads and songs composed on different occasions by the watch-fires of the camp, and for the most part, though not perhaps exclusively, in commemoration of the victories of the Israelites over their enemies.
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Watsons
NUMBERS, a canonical book of the Old Testament, being the fourth of the Pentateuch, or five books of Moses; and receives its denomination from the numbering of the families of Israel by Moses and Aaron, who mustered the tribes, and marshalled the army, of the Hebrews in their passage through the wilderness. A great part of this book is historical, relating several remarkable events which happened in that journey, and also mentioning various of their journeyings in the wilderness. This book comprehends the history of about thirty-eight years, though the greater part of the things recorded fell out in the first and last of those years; and it does not appear when those things were done which are recorded in the middle of the book. See PENTATEUCH.