Guidelines is our series of Bible reading notes for readers interested in in-depth study: people who want to engage deeply with the text and a wide range of contemporary biblical scholarship. Instead of the usual dated daily readings, Guidelines provides weekly units, broken into six sections, plus an introduction giving context for the passage, and a final section of points for thought and prayer. Published three times a year, the issue covering May to August is available now. To give you a taste of what Guidelines offers, this is an extract from Helen Paynter’s reflections entitled ‘Numbers: discipleship in the desert’, which ran from 19 May to 1 June. You may like to have a Bible to hand (or onscreen) as you read.
15 June 2025
Numbers: discipleship in the desert
When I agreed in 2021 to write a commentary on the book of Numbers for Wipf and Stock’s ‘Bible in God’s World’ series, I didn’t know the book very well. I’d read it many times, of course, but not studied it. When I read it through again, this time with the commentary in mind, I couldn’t suppress a wry chuckle. If the average Christian in the pew thinks that the Old Testament is violent or boring, Numbers could be said to tick both boxes!
As the director of the Centre for the Study of Bible and Violence, I’m used to thinking about violent texts. So while I haven’t bottomed out my thoughts yet, I feel I’m starting to get a handle on them. I won’t particularly focus on them in this set of readings, though. You can’t do everything, and quite frankly Numbers has blown me away with the depth and scope of its relevance and liveliness for discipleship and ministry.
Liveliness? Yes, really. The book has been done a sad disservice by whoever chose to name it ‘Numbers’. It sounds boring before you start reading it, and as the first couple of chapters read like the phone directory, readers could be excused for setting it aside for more pacey texts.
Our Jewish brothers and sisters have been much wiser. They call the book bǝmidbar, which means ‘in the wilderness’. Now you’re talking! Suddenly the book is fraught with peril, crackles with excitement and promises psychological depth.
And so it proves. But for those of us who read it as Christians, there is an extra blessing. Because if, as scripture clearly teaches, the Passover event is paralleled by the rescue of the cross, and if the settlement in the land of Canaan is a mirror to the eschatological rest of the saints, then the period in between reflects where we are now. Here we will see doubts and anxieties like our own. It is the mirror to the Christian life of discipleship.
The book of Numbers is fraught with peril, crackles with excitement and promises psychological depth.
The thin Levite line
We begin with one of those ‘phone directory’ passages that we tend to skim or to skip altogether. But there is important theology here. If you have the time and inclination, pause and make a sketch of the arrangement of the camp, as described in these verses and in chapter 3.
What becomes clear when we do this is the double-ring arrangement of the tribes around the tabernacle. The twelve (which double-counts Joseph through his sons Manasseh and Ephraim, and excludes Levi) form a great ring ‘some distance’ (Numbers 2:2) from the sanctuary. Within that is a much thinner ring comprised of the Levites, by clan. Levi’s sons Gerson, Merari and Kohath, now three clans, each cover one point of the compass. The east side of the tabernacle, where the entrance was (compare Exodus 38:13), is covered by Moses, Aaron, and their sons (Numbers 3:38).
If you have the time and inclination, pause and make a sketch of the arrangement of the camp.
A protecting role
What is the significance of this? A theme word in this passage is šmr, which is translated in a range of ways, including ‘care for’, ‘be in charge of’, and in its nounal form, ‘duty’ (see, for example, Numbers 3:7–8). At its core, this word means ‘guard’, and this helps us understand the purpose of this double-ring arrangement. This protecting role is made explicit in 1:53: ‘The Levites will camp around the tabernacle of the testimony, so there may be no anger upon the company of the sons of Israel.’ They are to protect the people from the presence of the Lord, which is dangerous (compare Leviticus 10:1–2; Numbers 16:35). But they are also to guard the tabernacle itself (3:7–10, 38), especially from unauthorised intrusion (1:52; 3:10).
The physical arrangement of the camp, then, speaks of the unapproachable holiness of God, and to the priestly role of managing the encounter between humans and God without harm or desecration. This is also the place of mediation, where the intercessor makes a bridge between heaven and earth (cf. Numbers 8:19). We see Moses doing this in Exodus 32:9–12, 32, and Aaron doing it in an emergency situation in Numbers 16:46–48, in addition to the prescribed rituals (e.g. Numbers 15:22–31).
Ultimately it speaks of the great high priest who has made a permanent bridge between heaven and earth (e.g. Hebrews 4:14—5:7) and of our own role as a holy priesthood for the blessing of the world (1 Peter 2:5).
The physical arrangement of the camp speaks of the unapproachable holiness of God and to the priestly role of managing the encounter between humans and God without harm or desecration.
Bearing and setting the Name
In 1979, a child helping out on an archaeological dig in the Hinnom Valley discovered a lower burial chamber that had been hidden from grave robbers by a rockfall. Among the many finds was a small silver scroll, hidden in a clay pot. It contained these words from the book of Numbers. Dating from the 7th century BC, it is the earliest fragment of scripture that we possess.
And what a beautiful piece of scripture it is! Its loving presentation in silver and its placement beside the body of a deceased loved one suggest that the ancient people of God thought so, too.
Although most modern translations use two different words for God’s face in verses 25 and 26, the same Hebrew word is used for both. Here is a relatively unusual example of parallelism between two verses rather than within a verse (such as in Proverbs 1:28). Translated more literally, the two verses read:
May Yahweh cause his face to shine upon you, and may he be gracious to you.
May Yahweh lift up his face towards you, and may he give you peace.
The priestly blessing from the book of Numbers is the earliest fragment of scripture that we possess.
The Ketef Hinnom scrolls on display at the Israel Museum © Bachrach44 licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped
The face of God
The ‘face’, that is the presence, of God is viewed as a source of great blessing. Compare this with Moses’ words in Exodus 33:14–16 or the psalmist’s in Psalm 139. In Psalm 80, the request for the radiant face of God forms a refrain in a song that longs for salvation.
What is the result of this presence? As the priestly blessing sets it out: grace (v. 25) and peace (v. 26). Grace to cover over the past, and peace for the future. It is surely no coincidence that the apostles sent greetings to their churches with these words (e.g. Romans 1:7; 1 Peter 1:2; 2 John 3).
In speaking these words, the priest would ‘set the name of Yahweh’ upon the people (v. 27). The idea of bearing the name of the Lord is one that runs through both testaments and has to do with representing him to the world around (e.g. Acts 9:15). This is an awesome responsibility (cf. Exodus 20:7; Matthew 6:9), but it is a privilege that we must rise to: speaking blessing; being agents of grace and peace; and pointing people towards the radiant face of God.
We, like them, can be sustained by our daily bread, feasting not on manna but on the Bread of Life.
Guidelines
If, as I suggested earlier, the Israelites’ time in the wilderness somehow mirrors our own discipleship, located between the resurrection and the eschaton, then the book of Numbers contains rich themes for meditation.
There is much to reflect on concerning our role as a royal priesthood, standing as it were between heaven and earth and called by God to represent him in the world. The New Testament’s teaching of the priesthood of all believers, or, more properly, the priesthood of the church (rather than the individual priesthood of millions of individuals) invites us to lean into the Aaronic roles of blessing and intercession. And while, of course, atonement is the once-and-for-all and particular achievement of Jesus, the one true priest, the church is called to participate by helping people to step into its benefits.
There are also rich themes for meditation in terms of individual discipleship. The mistakes that Israel made are mistakes that we, too, are prone to: forgetfulness, ingratitude, faithlessness, grumbling. But we, like them, can be sustained by our daily bread, feasting not on manna but on the Bread of Life. And the faithfulness of God, his unwavering commitment to his promises, his steadfast love – these never change, and are worthy of our utmost devotion.
