Numbers Stuff

Question 1

geographical progression within the book of Numbers

Answer 1

Mt. Sinai, Kadesh-Barnea, wilderness, plains of Moab

Question 2

Theme of Numbers

Answer 2

the covenant is broken but the covenant is sustained

Question 3

results of Israel rejecting the land that Yahweh was planning on giving them

Answer 3

12 spies were sent to Canaan and 10 of them said not to go to Canaan (Joshua and Caleb disagreed and said to go) so they were sentenced to wander in the desert one year for each day the spies were in Canaan which is 40 years until the first generation died. Caleb and Joshua led the next generation into the promised land

Question 4

Significance of the story of Balaam. what earlier Pentateuch text does Balaam’s prophecy of a coming ruler connect

Answer 4

The Moabite king sent Balaam to curse the nation of Israel but he blesses him instead 3 times. He gives him a vision of a future king of Israel who will bring God’s justice to all nations. This goes back to Jacob’s promise to Judah in Genesis 49.

Question 5

The wilderness stories in Numbers offer a theme of the contrast between what two things which, in turn, are picked up by later Israelite prophets and poets

Answer 5

Israel’s rebellion vs. God’s faithfulness; Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, David