Read this if you…
- don't mind census lists braided into wilderness drama and divine-judgment narratives
- want the slow death of the Exodus generation that doubted at the edge of Canaan
- like episodes like Balaam's talking donkey and Korah's rebellion swallowed by the earth
Skip this if you…
- don't want to read explicitly religious/Christian texts
Depicted in Art
On one side a writhing mass of Israelites collapses under attack from venomous snakes; on the other, the saved gaze up at the bronze serpent Moses has raised on a pole.
Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1511
A radiant, sword-bearing angel rears up across the narrow rocky path; Balaam's donkey buckles beneath him as he twists in his saddle, an attendant trailing behind.
John Linnell, 1859
The ground splits open in a jagged chasm; censer-bearing rebels tumble headlong into the abyss with their families and tents, while Moses stands rebuking them at right.
Gustave Doré, 1866
Tightly packed nude and semi-nude figures coil around the base of the pole bearing the bronze serpent, in saturated mannerist colour against an architectural niche.
Agnolo Bronzino, 1542
Moses gestures toward the bronze serpent at left while a press of muscular bitten figures, some already lifeless, reach up from the right in writhing chiaroscuro.
Anthony van Dyck, 1620
Balaam, half-turned in the saddle, gestures at the kneeling donkey as a winged angel with drawn sword fills the narrow defile ahead.
Gustave Doré, 1866
A swirling vertical composition: God hovers above with angels, Moses raises the serpent on a cross-shaped pole, and tangled bodies of dying and reviving Israelites churn below.
Jacopo Tintoretto, 1576
Three episodes in one frame: rebels prepare to stone Moses (right), Aaron in papal tiara confronts the censer-bearing conspirators (center), and the earth opens to swallow Korah and his followers (left).
Sandro Botticelli, 1482
Balaam, in turban and rich robe, lifts a heavy staff to strike his collapsing donkey; an armed angel appears behind, sword raised, visible only to the beast.
Rembrandt van Rijn, 1626
Recommended Editions
King James Version
Oxford University Press · 1611
The most influential and commonly quoted translation in English. The prose rhythm everyone else is responding to, even modern translations.
Please support us by purchasing through these links, at no extra cost to you!
Notable Quotes
The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
- Jacob Milgrom, biblical scholar, UC Berkeley, 1923–2010: Numbers looks at first like a hodgepodge of law and narrative, but is in fact an artfully edited whole.
- Charles Spurgeon, Baptist preacher & evangelist, 1834–1892: "The Book of Numbers might be called, without any impropriety, 'Moses' Pilgrim's Progress.'"
- Gabriel Barkay, Israeli archaeologist, Bar-Ilan University; b. 1944: "They are the only biblical verses we have from the time of the First Temple."
- Origen of Alexandria, early Christian theologian & biblical scholar, c. 185–253 CE: "The book of Numbers is filled with indications of immense and splendid mysteries."
- Gordon J. Wenham, Old Testament scholar, Trinity College Bristol; b. 1943: "In ancient times numbers were seen as mysterious and symbolic, a key to reality and the mind of God himself."
- Dennis T. Olson, Old Testament scholar, Princeton Theological Seminary; b. 1954: Numbers turns on a single hinge: the death of the old rebellious generation and the birth of the new.
- Robert Alter, literary translator & critic, UC Berkeley; b. 1935: Even in Numbers, beneath the law, the Hebrew keeps breaking into compact, finely wrought poetry.
More by Moses
- 29Genesis~550 BCMosesGrueling·Quick·128 pagesInfluence98Popularity77BibleScripture — NarrativeHebrew
- Exodus~550 BCMosesGrueling·Quick·109 pagesInfluence—Popularity—BibleScripture — NarrativeHebrew
- Leviticus~500 BCMosesGrueling·Quick·82 pagesInfluence—Popularity—BibleScripture — LawHebrew
- Numbers~550 BCMosesGrueling·Quick·110 pagesInfluence—Popularity—BibleScripture — NarrativeHebrew
- Deuteronomy~621 BCMosesGrueling·Quick·95 pagesInfluence—Popularity—BibleScripture — LawHebrew