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The book of Numbers is named for two censuses of the Israelite tribes. It covers 40 years of wandering in the wilderness between Sinai and the Promised Land.
It contains one chapter that breaks more commandments simultaneously than any other passage in the Bible.
Let's start there.
The commandments: Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods.
Chapter 31 — God commands Moses to take vengeance on the Midianites.
"And they warred against the Midianites, as the LORD commanded Moses; and they slew all the males."
They attacked the Midianites and killed every man and boy, just as God told Moses to do.
Thou shalt not kill.
Every male. Not soldiers. Not combatants. Every male.
"And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives, and their little ones, and took the spoil of all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods. And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt, and all their goodly castles, with fire."
They captured every woman and child. They took all the livestock and possessions. Then they burned every city and settlement to the ground.
Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods.
But Moses was angry. Not because of the killing. Because of what they didn't kill.
"And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive? ... Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him."
Moses said: Why did you let the women live? Now go back and kill every boy child. Kill every woman who has ever slept with a man.
"But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves."
But the virgin girls — keep them for yourselves.
"For yourselves."
The virgin girls. Kept alive. For the men who just killed their fathers, their brothers, and their mothers.
Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods.
Five commandments. One chapter. Under God's direct command, carried out by Moses.
"And the booty, being the rest of the prey which the men of war had caught, was six hundred thousand and seventy thousand and five thousand sheep, and threescore and twelve thousand beeves, and threescore and one thousand asses, and thirty and two thousand persons in all, of women that had not known man by lying with him."
Here's what was taken: 675,000 sheep. 72,000 cattle. 61,000 donkeys. 32,000 virgin girls.
The girls are listed alongside the livestock.
Counted the same way. Catalogued the same way. Distributed the same way.
"And the persons were sixteen thousand; of which the LORD's tribute was thirty and two persons."
Of the 32,000 virgin girls, 32 were given to God as a tribute offering.
What does God do with 32 virgin girls as a tribute offering?
The text doesn't say. It just counts them.
The commandment: Thou shalt not kill.
Chapter 25 — Israelite men begin worshipping Moabite gods and sleeping with Moabite women. God's response:
"And the LORD said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the LORD against the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may be turned away from Israel."
God told Moses: Take the leaders and impale them in broad daylight so my anger will subside.
Not tried. Not warned. Displayed.
"And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand; and he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly."
Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron the priest, saw an Israelite man with a Midianite woman. He grabbed a spear, followed them into a tent, and drove it through both of them at once.
"And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel ... Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace: and he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood."
God's response to the double killing: He rewarded Phinehas with an everlasting covenant of peace and made his family line priests forever.
A man kills two people with a single thrust of a spear.
God gives him a covenant of peace.
"And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand."
Total dead: 24,000 people.
The commandment: Keep holy the Lord's day.
"And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day ... And the LORD said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp."
While the Israelites were in the wilderness, they found a man picking up sticks on the Sabbath. God told Moses: He must be killed. Have the entire congregation take him outside the camp and stone him to death.
"And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the LORD commanded Moses."
So the entire congregation took him outside the camp and threw stones at him until he was dead. Because God said so.
A man picked up sticks. On the wrong day.
The commandment says keep the day holy.
The punishment is execution by the entire community.
Is stoning a man to death keeping the day holy?
The commandment: Thou shalt not kill.
Chapter 16, Verses 31–35 — Korah and 250 leaders challenge Moses's authority. They question whether Moses and Aaron have elevated themselves above the congregation.
God's response:
"And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods. They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them."
The ground split open and swallowed them alive — along with their families, their homes, and everything they owned. The earth closed over them. Then fire came down and burned the 250 leaders alive.
Their families. Their households. Their children.
For a question about authority.
"But on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of the LORD ... Now they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred."
The next day, the people said: You killed God's people. So God sent a plague that killed 14,700 more of them.
They questioned the killing. So more of them were killed.
What system punishes you for questioning the punishment?
Numbers 31 — genocide, theft, and the keeping
of 32,000 virgin girls as spoils of war.
Five commandments broken in a single chapter.
Numbers 25 — 24,000 dead. A double murder
rewarded with an everlasting covenant of peace.
Numbers 15 — a man stoned to death
by the entire congregation
for picking up sticks on the Sabbath.
Numbers 16 — families swallowed by the earth
for questioning authority.
Then 14,700 more killed
for questioning the killing.
What are these?
Numbers.
That's all the book reduces people to. Numbers. Counted, catalogued, inventoried, and distributed — the sheep, the cattle, the donkeys, and the girls. The 3,000 at the golden calf. The 24,000 in the plague. The 14,700 who questioned. The 32,000 kept alive "for yourselves."
The book is called Numbers.
And that's exactly what it turns people into.
The next book is Joshua.
The commandments said don't kill, don't steal, don't covet.
Joshua is the story of doing all three
as God's explicit instruction.
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