The Book of Numbers - A Start

NUMBERS – The Fourth Book of the Pentateuch

May the words of my mouth always find favour, and the whispering of my heart, in your presence, Yahweh, my rock, my redeemer.
                                                   Psalm 19:14 New Jerusalem Bible

Folks we have made it through what many folks consider the most “boring” book in the Bible, but I don’t think it is all smooth sailing from here, For instance the placement of the tribes in the book of Numbers which we are starting is not the easiest reading. John MacArthur in The MacArthur Book Handbook (2003, Thomas Nelson Publishers) indicates:

The English title “Numbers” comes from the Greek (LXX) and Latin Vulgate versions, the ancient translations compiled by Bible scholars. The ancient Greek title given was arithmoi, from which we get the English word arithmetic. Latin translators later gave the book the title numeri, which English has borrowed as its general word numbers. This designation is based on the numberings that are a major focus of chaps. 1–4 and 26. The most common Hebrew title comes from the fifth word in the Hebrew text of 1:1, “in the wilderness [of].” This name is much more descriptive of the total contents of the book, which recount the history of Israel during almost thirty-nine years of wandering in the wilderness. Another Hebrew title, favored by some early church Fathers, is based on the first word of the Hebrew text of 1:1, “and He spoke.” This designation emphasizes that the book records the Word of God to Israel.

The instruction for Moses, Aaron, and the tribal leaders to carry out a census of the available militia took place 13 months after the exodus from Egypt, placing the context in about 1440 or 1275 B.C., depending upon the dating of the exodus event—Apologetics Study Bible, The

Thus the book of Numbers begins with God instructed that a census be conducted. It should be noted that this census excludes certain groups namely anyone under the age of 20, women and notably Levites.

Numbers 2:33-34 tells us: 32 These are the Israelites, counted according to their families. All those in the camps, by their divisions, number 603,550. 33 The Levites, however, were not counted along with the other Israelites, as the LORD commanded Moses
                                                                    Num 2:32-33 (NIV)

So we can extrapolate that the total number of Israelites moving into the wilderness was somewhere in the vicinity of 1.5 million. That is a significant number. Now let us see how the journey progresses.
 
The New Jerusalem Bible. 1985 (Ps 19:14). New York: Doubleday.

MacArthur, J. (2003). The MacArthur Bible handbook. "Published in association with the literary agency of Wolgemuth & Associates, Inc."--T.p. verso.; Includes index. (41). Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson Publishers.