Deuteronomy 1:46-2:23

“After you had stayed at Kadesh as many days as you did, we journeyed back into the wilderness, in the direction of the Red Sea,as the Lord had told me,¹ and skirted Mount Seir for many days.”

“Then the Lord said to me: ‘You have been skirting this hill country long enough.² Head north, and charge the people as follows: You are about to pass through the territory of your kindred, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, so be very careful not to engage in battle with them, for I will not give you even so much as a foot’s length of their land,³ since I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession.⁴ You shall purchase food from them for money, so that you may eat; and you shall also buy water from them for money, so that you may drink. Surely the Lord your God has blessed you in all your undertakings; he knows your going through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.’”⁵

“So we passed by our kin, the descendants of Esau who live in Seir, leaving behind the route of the Arabah, and leaving behind Elath and Ezion-geber. When we had headed out along the route of the wilderness of Moab, the Lord said to me: ‘Do not harass Moab or engage them in battle, for I will not give you any of its land as a possession,⁶ since I have given Ar as a possession to the descendants of Lot.’⁷ (The Emim—a large and numerous people, as tall as the Anakim—had formerly inhabited it. Like the Anakim, they are usually reckoned as Rephaim, though the Moabites call them Emim. Moreover, the Horim had formerly inhabited Seir, but the descendants of Esau dispossessed them, destroying them and settling in their place,⁸ as Israel has done in the land that the Lord gave them as a possession.) ‘ Now then, proceed to cross over the Wadi Zered.’”

“So we crossed over the Wadi Zered. And the length of time we had travelled from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the Wadi Zered was thirty-eight years, until the entire generation of warriors had perished from the camp, as the Lord had sworn concerning them.⁹ Indeed, the Lord’s own hand was against them, to root them out from the camp, until all had perished.”¹⁰

“Just as soon as all the warriors had died from among the people, the Lord spoke to me, saying, ‘Today you are going to cross the boundary of Moab at Ar. When you approach the frontier of the Ammonites, do not harass them or engage them in battle, for I will not give the land of the Ammonites to you as a possession, because I have given it to the descendants of Lot.’ (It also is usually reckoned as a land of Rephaim. Rephaim formerly inhabited it, though the Ammonites call them Zamzummim, a strong and numerous people, as tall as the Anakim. But the Lord destroyed them from before the Ammonites so that they could dispossess them and settle in their place. He did the same for the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, by destroying the Horim before them so that they could dispossess them and settle in their place even to this day. As for the Avvim, who had lived in settlements in the vicinity of Gaza, the Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor, destroyed them and settled in their place.)'”¹¹

1 Again reporting his own obedience.

2 Neither this command form Moses, nor any of God's commands in the following paragraph, appear in the Numbers 20 account.

3 Israel can only win the battles that God give to them.

4 Esau has received land from God as well!

5 God's providence is reiterated as a reason to trust and obey.

6 Again, they will only be able to win the battles that God gives to them.

7 Lot has also received from God.

8 Interesting side-note emphasizes the kind of things that God's provision can overcome.

9 A reminder of why they are traveling, and why the old ones died.

10 Quite aggressive and vividly judgmental.

11 Another side-note partially repeating verses 10-12, again emphasizing that the Lord can deliver anything.

Take-home: Groups of people are identified who Israel is not to war with, because God will not give Israel their land. God's complete control and ability to deliver battle to those He chooses is emphasized.

Deuteronomy 1:19-45

“Then, just as the Lord our God had ordered us,¹ we set out from Horeb and went through all that great and terrible wilderness that you saw, on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, until we reached Kadesh-barnea. I said to you, ‘You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us. See, the Lord your God has given the land to you; go up, take possession, as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you; do not fear or be dismayed.’”²

“All of you came to me and said, ‘Let us send men ahead of us to explore the land for us and bring back a report to us regarding the route by which we should go up and the cities we will come to.’³ The plan seemed good to me, and I selected twelve of you, one from each tribe.⁴ They set out and went up into the hill country, and when they reached the Valley of Eshcol they spied it out and gathered some of the land’s produce, which they brought down to us. They brought back a report to us, and said, ‘It is a good land that the Lord our God is giving us.’”⁵

“But you were unwilling to go up. You rebelled against the command of the Lord your God;⁶ you grumbled in your tents and said, ‘It is because the Lord hates us that he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to hand us over to the Amorites to destroy us. Where are we heading? Our kindred have made our hearts fail by reporting, “The people are stronger and taller than we are; the cities are large and fortified up to heaven! We actually saw there the offspring of the Anakim!” ’ “⁷

“I said to you, ‘Have no dread or fear of them.⁸ The Lord your God, who goes before you, is the one who will fight for you,⁹ just as he did for you in Egypt before your very eyes, and in the wilderness, where you saw how the Lord your God carried you, just as one carries a child, all the way that you travelled until you reached this place.'

But in spite of this, you have no trust in the Lord your God,¹⁰ who goes before you on the way to seek out a place for you to camp, in fire by night, and in the cloud by day, to show you the route you should take.’”¹¹

“When the Lord heard your words, he was wrathful and swore: ‘Not one of these—not one of this evil generation—shall see the good land that I swore to give to your ancestors,¹² except Caleb son of Jephunneh.¹³ He shall see it, and to him and to his descendants I will give the land on which he set foot, because of his complete fidelity to the Lord.’”

“Even with me the Lord was angry on your account, saying, ‘You also shall not enter there.¹⁴ Joshua son of Nun, your assistant, shall enter there;¹⁵ encourage him, for he is the one who will secure Israel’s possession of it. And as for your little ones, who you thought would become booty, your children, who today do not yet know right from wrong, they shall enter there; to them I will give it, and they shall take possession of it. But as for you, journey back into the wilderness, in the direction of the Red Sea.’”

“You answered me, ‘We have sinned against the Lord! We are ready to go up and fight, just as the Lord our God commanded us.’ So all of you strapped on your battle gear, and thought it easy to go up into the hill country.”

“The Lord said to me, ‘Say to them, “Do not go up and do not fight, for I am not in the midst of you; otherwise you will be defeated by your enemies.” ’ “¹⁶

“Although I told you, you would not listen. You rebelled against the command of the Lord and presumptuously went up into the hill country. The Amorites who lived in that hill country then came out against you and chased you as bees do. They beat you down in Seir as far as Hormah. When you returned and wept before the Lord, the Lord would neither heed your voice nor pay you any attention.”¹⁷

1 This time Moses himself reminds the people of their obedience as a group.

2 Moses reminds them that he, at least, had told them to do the right thing.

3 Huh? I thought God came up with that idea and said that, not them?

4 Again ignores the previous report that it was God's command that he do that.

5 Wow – that summary skips many of the most significant things the spies said!

6 Moses emphasizes their disobedience.

7 Now he notes the other half of the spies' report.

8 Moses again notes his own obedience.

9The Lord will fight for you! An explicit statement of one of the most prominent themes of Hebrew scripture in general, and Deuteronomy in particular.

10 The people's disobedience again pointed out.

11 The stupidity of the disobedience is emphasized.

12 God's response is not subtle.

13 What about Joshua? As occurred several times earlier, Joshua seems not to have been original to the spy story.

14 Moses's failure to enter the Holy Land is attributed to the people's sin, with the Waters of Meribeh not even getting a mention.

15 Joshua is brought in with a different context and a different reason for being allowed to enter.

16 Moses's obedience is contrasted with their disobedience.

17 Their failure to win battle is attributed to their disobedience.

Take-home: God is always prepared to bless the Israelites, and it is he who will conquer the land for them, but when they enter into disobedience they lose that blessing and can do nothing.

Deuteronomy 1:9-18

“At that time I said to you, ‘I am unable by myself to bear you.¹ The Lord your God has multiplied you, so that today you are as numerous as the stars of heaven.² May the Lord, the God of your ancestors, increase you a thousand times more and bless you, as he has promised you! But how can I bear the heavy burden of your disputes all by myself? Choose for each of your tribes individuals who are wise, discerning, and reputable to be your leaders.’“

“You answered me, 'The plan you have proposed is a good one.’”

“So I took the leaders of your tribes, wise and reputable individuals, and installed them as leaders over you, commanders of thousands, commanders of hundreds, commanders of fifties, commanders of tens, and officials, throughout your tribes.³ I charged your judges at that time: ‘Give the members of your community a fair hearing, and judge rightly between one person and another, whether citizen or resident alien.⁴ You must not be partial in judging: hear out the small and the great alike; you shall not be intimidated by anyone, for the judgement is God’s.⁵ Any case that is too hard for you, bring to me, and I will hear it.’ So I charged you at that time with all the things that you should do.”
1 In a way, showing humility.

2 Recalling God's promise

3 In recalling these things now, Moses reminds the people that they have authorities besides himself already in place.

4 Fairness, right judgement, and non-prejudice to non-immigrants put together.

5 Non-partiality, especially in favor of the powerful, is emphasized.


Take-home: Moses reminds the people of the authority and responsibility they have already been given. The need to judge all fairly and impartially is emphasized.

Deuteronomy 1:1-8

Deuteronomy 1:1-8

These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan—in the wilderness, on the plain opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Di-zahab. (By the way of Mount Seir it takes eleven days to reach Kadesh-barnea from Horeb.)¹ In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month,² Moses spoke to the Israelites just as the Lord had commanded him to speak to them.³ This was after he had defeated King Sihon of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, and King Og of Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei.

Beyond the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to expound this law as follows:

“The Lord our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Resume your journey, and go into the hill country of the Amorites as well as into the neighboring regions—the Arabah, the hill country, the Shephelah, the Negeb, and the sea coast—the land of the Canaanites and the Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. See, I have set the land before you; go in and take possession of the land that I swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their descendants after them.’”⁴

1 Extremely specific location information

2 Forty years in. Wow.

3 Deuteronomy starts by commenting on Moses's obedience.

4 God's promises from long ago are set to be fulfilled now.


Take-home: The stage is set in Deuteronomy a a faithful Moses exhorts the people in preparation of God's imminent fulfillment of his promise to give them the Holy Land.

Numbers 36:1-13

The heads of the ancestral houses of the clans of the descendants of Gilead son of Machir son of Manasseh, of the Josephite clans, came forward and spoke in the presence of Moses and the leaders, the heads of the ancestral houses of the Israelites; they said, “The Lord commanded¹ my lord to give the land for inheritance by lot to the Israelites; and my lord was commanded by the Lord to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters. But if they are married into another Israelite tribe, then their inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of our ancestors and added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry; so it will be taken away from the allotted portion of our inheritance.² And when the jubilee of the Israelites comes,³ then their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they have married; and their inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of our ancestral tribe.”

Then Moses commanded the Israelites according to the word of the Lord, saying, “The descendants of the tribe of Joseph are right in what they are saying. This is what the Lord commands⁴ concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, 'Let them marry whom they think best; only it must be into a clan of their father’s tribe that they are married,⁵ so that no inheritance of the Israelites shall be transferred from one tribe to another; for all Israelites shall retain the inheritance of their ancestral tribes. Every daughter who possesses an inheritance in any tribe of the Israelites shall marry one from the clan of her father’s tribe,⁶ so that all Israelites may continue to possess their ancestral inheritance. No inheritance shall be transferred from one tribe to another; for each of the tribes of the Israelites shall retain its own inheritance.'”⁷

The daughters of Zelophehad did as the Lord had commanded Moses. Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, married sons of their father’s brothers. They were married into the clans of the descendants of Manasseh son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of their father’s clan.⁸

These are the commandments and the ordinances that the Lord commanded through Moses to the Israelites in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.⁹

1 Emphasizing God's place in setting these commands.

2 That each tribe should keep its originally allotted amount is assumed to be sacrosanct. The tribalism possible here is worrysome.

3 Good reference to the Jubilee.

4 Moses says, “This is what the Lord commands”, though there was no reference to going to God.

5 Their inheritance limits their marriage options.

6 The specific case is broadened into a general rule.

7 An even more general rule is declared (though the heads who brought the matter implicitly assumed it)

8 The obedience that must have come at some point in the future is made explicit.

9 This line closes chapters 26-36, though ignoring previous events in the book.


Take-home: Numbers ends with a legal addendum, emphasizing that all the land God is about to give the tribes of Israel must stay within the originally designated tribe.

Numbers 35:16-34

“But anyone who strikes another with an iron object, and death ensues, is a murderer; the murderer shall be put to death.¹ Or anyone who strikes another with a stone in hand that could cause death, and death ensues, is a murderer; the murderer shall be put to death. Or anyone who strikes another with a weapon of wood in hand that could cause death, and death ensues, is a murderer; the murderer shall be put to death.² The avenger of blood is the one who shall put the murderer to death; when they meet,³ the avenger of blood shall execute the sentence. Likewise, if someone pushes another from hatred, or hurls something at another, lying in wait, and death ensues, or in enmity strikes another with the hand, and death ensues, then the one who struck the blow shall be put to death; that person is a murderer;⁴ the avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when they meet.”

“But if someone pushes another suddenly without enmity, or hurls any object without lying in wait, or, while handling any stone that could cause death, unintentionally drops it on another and death ensues, though they were not enemies, and no harm was intended,⁵ then the congregation shall judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood, in accordance with these ordinances; and the congregation shall rescue the slayer from the avenger of blood.⁶ Then the congregation shall send the slayer back to the original city of refuge. The slayer shall live in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.⁷ But if the slayer shall at any time go outside the bounds of the original city of refuge, and is found by the avenger of blood outside the bounds of the city of refuge, and is killed by the avenger, no blood-guilt shall be incurred.⁸ For the slayer must remain in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest; but after the death of the high priest the slayer may return home.”

“These things shall be a statute and ordinance for you throughout your generations wherever you live.”⁹

“If anyone kills another, the murderer shall be put to death on the evidence of witnesses; but no one shall be put to death on the testimony of a single witness.¹⁰ Moreover, you shall accept no ransom for the life of a murderer who is subject to the death penalty;¹¹ a murderer must be put to death.¹² Nor shall you accept ransom for one who has fled to a city of refuge, enabling the fugitive to return to live in the land before the death of the high priest. You shall not pollute the land in which you live; for blood pollutes the land, and no expiation can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it. You shall not defile the land¹³ in which you live, in which I also dwell; for I the Lord dwell among the Israelites.”
1 Death penalty affirmed

2 This is getting quite specific – lethal objects are presumed to be used with lethal intent.

3 That doesn't sound very formal.

4 Even bare hands used in violence with hateful intent can receive the death sentence if death ensues.

5 Unintentional victims

6 The avenger is assumed to still desire to carry out the sentence.

7 Temporary banishment as a penalty, or just waiting for the situation to cool down?

8 Avenger has free reign to be violent anywhere outside of the city of refuge.

9 Obviously not practiced today though.

10 Also not practiced today – many have been convicted on a single witness.

11 Interesting – ransom, another cultural tradition, is invalidated.

12 The need for the death penalty is very firmly laid down.

13 To judge otherwise appears to be to “defile” the land.


Take-home: Rules are laid down for legal proceedings related to killings, attempting to establish fairness and justice.

Numbers 35:1-15

In the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Command the Israelites to give, from the inheritance that they possess, towns for the Levites to live in; you shall also give to the Levites pasture lands surrounding the towns.¹ The towns shall be theirs to live in,² and their pasture lands shall be for their cattle, for their livestock, and for all their animals. The pasture lands of the towns, which you shall give to the Levites, shall reach from the wall of the town outwards a thousand cubits all around. You shall measure, outside the town,³ for the east side two thousand cubits, for the south side two thousand cubits, for the west side two thousand cubits, and for the north side two thousand cubits,⁴ with the town in the middle; this shall belong to them as pasture land for their towns.”

“The towns that you give to the Levites shall include the six cities of refuge, where you shall permit a slayer to flee,⁵ and in addition to them you shall give forty-two towns. The towns that you give to the Levites shall total forty-eight, with their pasture lands. And as for the towns that you shall give from the possession of the Israelites, from the larger tribes you shall take many, and from the smaller tribes you shall take few; each, in proportion to the inheritance that it obtains,⁶ shall give of its towns to the Levites.”

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Speak to the Israelites, and say to them: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall select cities to be cities of refuge for you, so that a slayer who kills a person without intent may flee there. The cities shall be for you a refuge from the avenger,⁷ so that the slayer may not die until there is a trial before the congregation.”⁸

“The cities that you designate shall be six cities of refuge for you: you shall designate three cities beyond the Jordan, and three cities in the land of Canaan, to be cities of refuge. These six cities shall serve as refuge for the Israelites, for the resident or transient alien among them,⁹ so that anyone who kills a person without intent may flee there.”

1 Despite lacking granted land, they do get pasture.

2 Will it be Levites alone in the towns?

3 I'm confused whether “outside the town” is synonymous with the wall.

4 Quite specific.

5 “slayer” to flee! Quite unusual purpose for a town.

6 Again, fairness in distribution.

7 Ah, safety from vigilantes.

8 “avenger” was an accepted role in the culture, but this ensures a trial.

9 Aliens get the refuge too.


Take-home: The tribes who are granted land must set aside cities and pastureland for the welfare of the Levites, who are granted no land. Also, cities of refuge to protect those who have killed others until their trial are designated.

Numbers 34:1-29

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Command the Israelites, and say to them: 'When you enter the land of Canaan (this is the land that shall fall to you¹ for an inheritance, the land of Canaan, defined by its boundaries), your south sector shall extend from the wilderness of Zin along the side of Edom. Your southern boundary shall begin from the end of the Dead Sea on the east; your boundary shall turn south of the ascent of Akrabbim, and cross to Zin, and its outer limit shall be south of Kadesh-barnea; then it shall go on to Hazar-addar, and cross to Azmon; the boundary shall turn from Azmon to the Wadi of Egypt, and its termination shall be at the Sea.'²

'For the western boundary, you shall have the Great Sea and its coast; this shall be your western boundary.'³

'This shall be your northern boundary: from the Great Sea you shall mark out your line to Mount Hor; from Mount Hor you shall mark it out to Lebo-hamath, and the outer limit of the boundary shall be at Zedad;then the boundary shall extend to Ziphron, and its end shall be at Hazar-enan; this shall be your northern boundary.'

'You shall mark out your eastern boundary from Hazar-enan to Shepham;and the boundary shall continue down from Shepham to Riblah on the east side of Ain; and the boundary shall go down, and reach the eastern slope of the sea of Chinnereth; and the boundary shall go down to the Jordan, and its end shall be at the Dead Sea. This shall be your land with its boundaries all round.'”

Moses commanded the Israelites, saying: “This is the land that you shall inherit by lot, which the Lord has commanded to give to the nine tribes and to the half-tribe; for the tribe of the Reubenites by their ancestral houses and the tribe of the Gadites by their ancestral houses have taken their inheritance, and also the half-tribe of Manasseh; the two tribes and the half-tribe have taken their inheritance beyond the Jordan at Jericho eastwards, towards the sunrise.”

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “These are the names of the men who shall apportion the land to you for inheritance: the priest Eleazar and Joshua son of Nun.⁴ You shall take one leader of every tribe to apportion the land for inheritance.⁵ These are the names of the men: Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb⁶ son of Jephunneh. Of the tribe of the Simeonites, Shemuel son of Ammihud. Of the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad son of Chislon. Of the tribe of the Danites a leader, Bukki son of Jogli. Of the Josephites: of the tribe of the Manassites a leader, Hanniel son of Ephod, and of the tribe of the Ephraimites a leader, Kemuel son of Shiphtan. Of the tribe of the Zebulunites a leader, Eli-zaphan son of Parnach. Of the tribe of the Issacharites a leader, Paltiel son of Azzan. And of the tribe of the Asherites a leader, Ahihud son of Shelomi. Of the tribe of the Naphtalites a leader, Pedahel son of Ammihud. These were the ones whom the Lord commanded to apportion the inheritance for the Israelites in the land of Canaan.”

1 Passive “land that shall fall to you” reminds them it is God's doing, not theirs.

2 Getting quite specific, which does seem necessary.

3 Study Bible states that in Biblical times, Israel never got that far west.

4 Authority is approved yet again.

5 Fair representation again.

6 There is Caleb again.


Take-home: The ideal boundaries of Israel are specifically laid out.

Numbers 33:50-56

In the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Speak to the Israelites, and say to them: 'When you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their figured stones, destroy all their cast images, and demolish all their high places.¹ You shall take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given you the land to possess.² You shall apportion the land by lot according to your clans; to a large one you shall give a large inheritance, and to a small one you shall give a small inheritance; the inheritance shall belong to the person on whom the lot falls; according to your ancestral tribes you shall inherit.³ But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides; they shall trouble you in the land where you are settling.⁴ And I will do to you as I thought to do to them.'”⁵

1 The command to completely remove the people and all traces of their worship is clear.

2 They will gain the land not on their own strength, but because the Lord has given it to them.

3 Land shall be divided fairly as a consequence of ancestry, not by might or wealth.

4 God warns that the natural consequence of not driving out the current inhabitants will be dire.

5 God warns that the divine consequence will also be dire.


Take-home: Leading into the entrance into the Holy Land, God reminds the Israelites that He is giving it to them. Once again warnings against mixing with other people who follow other gods are emphasized. My Study Bible adds that, in fact, Israel never did drive out all the inhabitants, but always struggle with co-existence.

Numbers 33:1-49

These are the stages by which the Israelites went out of the land of Egypt in military formation¹ under the leadership of Moses and Aaron. Moses wrote down their starting points, stage by stage, by command of the Lord;² and these are their stages according to their starting places.

They set out from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the day after the passover the Israelites went out boldly in the sight of all the Egyptians,³ while the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn, whom the Lord had struck down among them. The Lord executed judgements even against their gods.⁴

So the Israelites set out from Rameses, and camped at Succoth. They set out from Succoth, and camped at Etham, which is on the edge of the wilderness. They set out from Etham, and turned back to Pi-hahiroth, which faces Baal-zephon; and they camped before Migdol.They set out from Pi-hahiroth, passed through the sea into the wilderness, went a three days’ journey in the wilderness of Etham, and camped at Marah. They set out from Marah and came to Elim; at Elim there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there. They set out from Elim and camped by the Red Sea. They set out from the Red Sea and camped in the wilderness of Sin. They set out from the wilderness of Sin and camped at Dophkah. They set out from Dophkah and camped at Alush. They set out from Alush and camped at Rephidim, where there was no water for the people to drink.⁵ They set out from Rephidim and camped in the wilderness of Sinai. They set out from the wilderness of Sinai and camped at Kibroth-hattaavah.They set out from Kibroth-hattaavah and camped at Hazeroth. They set out from Hazeroth and camped at Rithmah. They set out from Rithmah and camped at Rimmon-perez. They set out from Rimmon-perez and camped at Libnah. They set out from Libnah and camped at Rissah.They set out from Rissah and camped at Kehelathah. They set out from Kehelathah and camped at Mount Shepher. They set out from Mount Shepher and camped at Haradah. They set out from Haradah and camped at Makheloth. They set out from Makheloth and camped at Tahath. They set out from Tahath and camped at Terah. They set out from Terah and camped at Mithkah. They set out from Mithkah and camped at Hashmonah. They set out from Hashmonah and camped at Moseroth. They set out from Moseroth and camped at Bene-jaakan.They set out from Bene-jaakan and camped at Hor-haggidgad. They set out from Hor-haggidgad and camped at Jotbathah. They set out from Jotbathah and camped at Abronah. They set out from Abronah and camped at Ezion-geber. They set out from Ezion-geber and camped in the wilderness of Zin (that is, Kadesh). They set out from Kadesh and camped at Mount Hor, on the edge of the land of Edom.

Aaron the priest went up Mount Hor at the command of the Lord and died there in the fortieth year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt, on the first day of the fifth month. Aaron was one hundred and twenty-three years old⁶ when he died on Mount Hor.⁷

The Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the Negeb in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the Israelites.⁸ They set out from Mount Hor and camped at Zalmonah. They set out from Zalmonah and camped at Punon. They set out from Punon and camped at Oboth. They set out from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim, in the territory of Moab. They set out from Iyim and camped at Dibon-gad. They set out from Dibon-gad and camped at Almon-diblathaim.They set out from Almon-diblathaim and camped in the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo. They set out from the mountains of Abarim and camped in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho; they camped by the Jordan from Beth-jeshimoth as far as Abel-shittim in the plains of Moab.

1 “In military formation” perhaps emphasizes the preciseness of their obedience in movement, or maybe their wars along the way?

2 Moses's obedience again.

3 God's protection emphasized.

4 Then God's judgement over the enemy and superiority over other gods emphasized.

5 Several allusions to significant events are being made without elaboration.

6 A lifespan unknown in modern times.

7 The death of Aaron is a hugely significant event that gets more space than anything else after the Exodus.

8 Funny mention without elaboration.


Take-home: An itinerary of Israel's travels is given, summarizing where they've been for 40 years and listing many places mentioned nowhere else.

Numbers 32:1-42

Now the Reubenites and the Gadites owned a very great number of cattle. When they saw that the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead was a good place for cattle, the Gadites and the Reubenites came and spoke to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the leaders of the congregation, saying, “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon— the land that the Lord subdued before the congregation of Israel—is a land for cattle; and your servants have cattle.” They continued, “If we have found favour in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for a possession; do not make us cross the Jordan.”¹

But Moses said to the Gadites and to the Reubenites, “Shall your brothers go to war while you sit here? Why will you discourage the hearts of the Israelites from going over into the land that the Lord has given them?² Your fathers did this, when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land. When they went up to the Wadi Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the hearts of the Israelites from going into the land that the Lord had given them. The Lord’s anger was kindled on that day and he swore, saying, 'Surely none of the people who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upwards, shall see the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, because they have not unreservedly followed me— none except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, for they have unreservedly followed the Lord.' And the Lord’s anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness for forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lordhad disappeared.³ And now you, a brood of sinners, have risen in place of your fathers, to increase the Lord’s fierce anger against Israel!⁴ If you turn away from following him, he will again abandon them in the wilderness; and you will destroy all this people.”⁵

Then they came up to him and said, “We will build sheepfolds here for our flocks, and towns for our little ones, but we will take up arms as a vanguard before the Israelites, until we have brought them to their place.⁶ Meanwhile our little ones will stay in the fortified towns because of the inhabitants of the land. We will not return to our homes until all the Israelites have obtained their inheritance.⁷ We will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance has come to us on this side of the Jordan to the east.”⁸

So Moses said to them, “If you do this—if you take up arms to go before the Lord for the war, and all those of you who bear arms cross the Jordan before the Lord, until he has driven out his enemies from before him and the land is subdued before the Lord—then after that you may return and be free of obligation to the Lord and to Israel, and this land shall be your possession before the Lord.⁹ But if you do not do this, you have sinned against the Lord; and be sure your sin will find you out.¹⁰ Build towns for your little ones, and folds for your flocks; but do what you have promised.”

Then the Gadites and the Reubenites said to Moses, “Your servants will do as my lord commands.¹¹ Our little ones, our wives, our flocks, and all our livestock shall remain there in the towns of Gilead; but your servants will cross over, everyone armed for war, to do battle for theLord, just as my lord orders.”

So Moses gave command concerning them to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua son of Nun, and to the heads of the ancestral houses of the Israelite tribes. And Moses said to them, “If the Gadites and the Reubenites, everyone armed for battle before the Lord, will cross over the Jordan with you and the land shall be subdued before you, then you shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession; but if they will not cross over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan.”¹²

The Gadites and the Reubenites answered, “As the Lord has spoken to your servants, so we will do. We will cross over armed before the Lord into the land of Canaan, but the possession of our inheritance shall remain with us on this side of the Jordan.”

Moses gave to them—to the Gadites and to the Reubenites and to the half-tribe of Manasseh¹³ son of Joseph—the kingdom of King Sihon of the Amorites and the kingdom of King Og of Bashan, the land and its towns, with the territories of the surrounding towns. And the Gadites rebuilt Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer, Atroth-shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah, Beth-nimrah, and Beth-haran, fortified cities, and folds for sheep. And the Reubenites rebuilt Heshbon, Elealeh, Kiriathaim, Nebo, and Baal-meon (some names being changed), and Sibmah; and they gave names to the towns that they rebuilt. The descendants of Machir son of Manasseh went to Gilead, captured it, and dispossessed the Amorites who were there;¹⁴ so Moses gave Gilead to Machir son of Manasseh, and he settled there. Jair son of Manasseh went and captured their villages, and renamed them Havvoth-jair.¹⁵ And Nobah went and captured Kenath and its villages, and renamed it Nobah after himself.¹⁶

1 Surprising request, but it makes sense – they conquered the land, the land is good, why leave it?

2 Good counterpoint

3 Ugly reminder of the past.

4 Extreme condemnation

5 According to Moses, the Lord abandoning Israel is still a possibility

6 Interesting compromise

7 A promise

8 A concession

9 Moses sees the wisdom of the plan and accepts it.

10 A warning

11 They are obedient to Moses.

12 Huh? That's an odd compromise. If they don't go, then they have possession in Canaan?

13 Manessah comes out of nowhere, and only half.

14 Another war, for no expressed purpose other than taking land that isn't even part of the promised land.

15 More and more village capturing. Did these captures involve genocide too?

16 As pointed out earlier, there's no evidence of this mass destruction and rebuilding at one time.


Take-home: An explanation is given as to why the Reubanites, Gadites, and half of Mannessah settled on the wrong side of the Jordan. The necessity of Israelite solidarity and obedience to Moses is emphasized.

Numbers 31:1-54

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Avenge the Israelites on the Midianites;¹ afterwards you shall be gathered to your people.”²

So Moses said to the people, “Arm some of your number for the war, so that they may go against Midian, to execute the Lord’s vengeance on Midian³. You shall send a thousand from each of the tribes of Israel to the war.” So out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe were conscripted, twelve thousand armed for battle.

Moses sent them to the war, a thousand from each tribe, along with Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, with the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for sounding the alarm in his hand.⁴ They did battle against Midian, as the Lord had commanded Moses,⁵ and killed every male.⁶ They killed the kings of Midian: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian, in addition to others who were slain by them; and they also killed Balaam son of Beor⁷ with the sword. The Israelites took the women of Midian⁸ and their little ones⁹ captive;¹⁰ and they took all their cattle, their flocks, and all their goods as booty. All their towns where they had settled, and all their encampments, they burned, but they took all the spoil and all the booty, both people and animals.¹¹ Then they brought the captives and the booty and the spoil to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the Israelites, at the camp on the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.

Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the congregation went to meet them outside the camp. Moses became angry with the officers of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, who had come from service in the war. Moses said to them, “Have you allowed all the women to live? These women here, on Balaam’s advice,¹² made the Israelites act treacherously against the Lord in the affair of Peor, so that the plague came among the congregation of the Lord. Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones,¹³ and kill every woman who has known a man by sleeping with him.¹⁴ But all the young girls who have not known a man by sleeping with him, keep alive for yourselves.¹⁵ Camp outside the camp for seven days; whoever of you has killed any person or touched a corpse, purify yourselves and your captives on the third and on the seventh day.¹⁶ You shall purify every garment, every article of skin, everything made of goats’ hair, and every article of wood.”

Eleazar the priest said to the troops who had gone to battle: “This is the statute of the law that the Lord has commanded Moses: gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, and lead— everything that can withstand fire, shall be passed through fire, and it shall be clean. Nevertheless it shall also be purified with the water for purification; and whatever cannot withstand fire, shall be passed through the water. You must wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you shall be clean; afterwards you may come into the camp.”

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “You and Eleazar the priest and the heads of the ancestral houses of the congregation make an inventory of the booty captured, both human and animal. Divide the booty into two parts, between the warriors who went out to battle and all the congregation. From the share of the warriors who went out to battle, set aside as tribute for the Lord one item out of every five hundred,¹⁷ whether persons,¹⁸ oxen, donkeys, sheep, or goats. Take it from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest as an offering to the Lord. But from the Israelites’ half you shall take one out of every fifty,¹⁹ whether persons, oxen, donkeys, sheep, or goats—all the animals—and give them to the Levites who have charge of the tabernacle of the Lord.”

Then Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord had commanded Moses:²⁰

The booty remaining from the spoil that the troops had taken totalled six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep, seventy-two thousand oxen, sixty-one thousand donkeys, and thirty-two thousand persons in all, women who had not known a man by sleeping with him.

The half-share, the portion of those who had gone out to war, was in number three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep and goats, and the Lord’s tribute of sheep and goats was six hundred and seventy-five. The oxen were thirty-six thousand, of which the Lord’s tribute was seventy-two. The donkeys were thirty thousand five hundred, of which the Lord’s tribute was sixty-one.²¹ The persons were sixteen thousand,²² of which the Lord’s tribute was thirty-two persons.²³ Moses gave the tribute, the offering for the Lord, to Eleazar the priest,²⁴ as the Lord had commanded Moses.²⁵

As for the Israelites’ half, which Moses separated from that of the troops, the congregation’s half was three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep and goats, thirty-six thousand oxen, thirty thousand five hundred donkeys, and sixteen thousand persons. From the Israelites’ half Moses took one of every fifty, both of persons and of animals, and gave them to the Levites who had charge of the tabernacle of the Lord; as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Then the officers who were over the thousands of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, approached Moses, and said to Moses, “Your servants have counted the warriors who are under our command, and not one of us is missing.²⁶ And we have brought the Lord’s offering, what each of us found, articles of gold, armlets and bracelets, signet rings, ear-rings, and pendants, to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.”²⁷

Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from them, all in the form of crafted articles. And all the gold of the offering that they offered to the Lord, from the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels. (The troops had all taken plunder for themselves.) So Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tent of meeting as a memorial for the Israelites before the Lord.
1 Israelite men are punishing Midianite men for something that the Israelite men willfully did with Midianite women.

2 God commands violent retribution as the final act of Moses's life.

3 Moses emphasizes that the preparations for war are actually God's judgement.

4 The presence of the priest and the temple vessels show God's presence with the Israelite army.

5 Moses is obedient to the end.

6 Almost genocide?

7 Balaam? Wasn't he a prophet who spoke loyally God's word?

8 Wait, wasn't taking the Midianite women the whole problem in the first place? So shouldn't the warriors now be punished doubly for repeating the act even after the first judgement?

9 Little ones!

10 This appears to be slavery.

11 Emphasizing the booty again.

12 Balaam is to blame for the women's actions? This seems quite different from the portrayal of Balaam in Numbers 20-22.

13 The slaughter of children who had nothing to do with the sin of the Israelite men.

14 Moses recognizes the problem, but his solution is disturbing. Why aren't these warriors punished like the previous men were?

15 “Keep alive for yourselves”. The boys, who were no more to blame than the virgin girls, are killed, while the girls seem to be kept just for the lust/benefit of the Israelite warriors. This passage turns my stomach.

16 Slightly jarring reminder of the purity laws.

17 One out of 500 seems like a small tithe.

18 How will these persons be used as a “tribute to the Lord”?

19 The Levites get somewhat more of this group.

20 Obedience is still emphasized.

21 All in all, that's an enormous number of animals.

22 That's a huge number of virgins for just 12,000 warriors. Perhaps many were married off to their sons and other relatives.

23 To be sacrificed/offered or what?

24 What will Eleazar do with 32 virgins?

25 Yet again, obedience.

26 Tens of thousands of men killed without the Israelites suffering a single death themselves.

27 The warriors give an offering of gold willingly, without the Lord's command.

Take-home: Corrupting forces that could lead Israel away from God, like the Midianites, are so dangerous they must be completely destroyed. God is given the credit for their destruction, and receives offerings from the booty in recognition of this.

Usually I use this space to focus on the actual point of the text, and not secondary questions of origin or historicity or morality. But this passage moved me so much I have to respond here. I have heard a range of justifications for this passage – that holiness supersedes everything and the Midianites were threatening the holiness of God's people; that the Midianites were so sinful they all deserved to die, including the children who God knew would be sinful themselves in the future; that Israel was God's one hope for the world and all measures were acceptable for them to survive; that without prisons and police force or national defense, only total war could prevent retribution; that slavery for the women was actually a blessing considering their men were gone. In fact, I have believed or retold most of those answers myself over the years.

But further study and time with God have given me doubts, often based on problems in the text itself, and I no longer buy these answers. The Israelites have shown themselves exceedingly capable of abandoning God en masse without any external influence, from the golden calf of Exodus 32 to the constant grumbling and revolts in Numbers 11-21. And Israel was God's hope, but wouldn't the methodical slaughter of captives and children darken their hearts and make it harder for them to spread the message of God's love? As far as disobedient people being a bad influence, Israel in the future will actually be given over to the foreign pagan nations like Babylon, the very epitome of sin, in order to teach them a lesson, so the corrupting influence of foreign gods can't be that dangerous a concern. And in the Pentateuch there already have been, and will continue to be, many examples of Israel engaging in war without total war being necessary. Finally, the slaughter of men, women, and male children, but the keeping of female virgins for themselves, can only be seen as self-serving.

These problems can be aded to the external historical difficulties. There is no evidence of an exodus of 2,000,000 slaves from Egypt at any point in history, nor of Pharaoh and his men dying in the way that is described or anything like it. There is no evidence that the Israelite nation was remotely this large until many hundreds of years after these events, if Israelites as a people even existed at all yet. There is no historical evidence of the wars in question or of such peoples and cities being destroyed at these times. And there is no evidence that these events set in 1400 B.C. were written any earlier than 600-800 B.C. at the earliest. 

Taking all that into account and putting it before God in prayer, I have come to my best understanding that this narrative does not reflect actual historical events. It likely was oral tradition circulating in the 9^th-7^th centuries B.C., but the degree to which it is rooted in actual events 500-700 years earlier is likely very limited. (Is there any other example of 500-700 year old oral tradition reflecting actual historical events accurately without having being written down much earlier?) Instead, it should be read as an explanation in story form for what Israel understood about God. God is THIS holy that we can't mix with sin, the consequences of wandering from Him are THIS big, if God were to protect us in our obedience to Him the outcome would be THIS lopsided, and God should be obeyed in ALL circumstances. There are numerous examples of Jewish people taking these lessons from the text. But I know of no examples of the Jewish nation ever actually trying to replicate genocide and the mass slavery of foreign virgins with this text as their teacher. I do not believe the text was ever written to encourage such violence.

However, there is still the question of secondary effects. Could passages like this be used to in part justify war, massacre, genocide, slavery or sexual domination of women? Yes, and they have, even by the Church. Such an understanding completely misses the main point of the text, but the interpretation could still be made and many have been deceived, especially those claiming Christ. I do not believe that the text was written with justifying slaughter in mind. God's direct command to Moses was not going to have any repeated historical parallels. But, in the imperfection of the Jewish authors, they used a storytelling device that could be twisted, and men who intend ill for others will twist it to this day.

That, in a nutshell, is why I believe that this passage tells us something about God, and is honest to God in describing true attributes about God, but is not meant to depict actual historical events. And I do not believe that God condones the events that are described here, or condones even the way in which the story is told except in his great grace and willingness to let humans lead the way in leading other humans to Him, however many mistakes they may make along the way.