Ãâó: http://archive.catholic.com/thisrock/1995/9512otg.asp
O l d T e s t a m e n t G u i d e
NUMBERS
By Antonio Fuentes
THIS book is a narrative running from the second years after the
Israelites leave Egypt up to almost the end of Moses' life-a total of about
thirty-nine years' wandering in the wilderness. It takes its name in the Hebrew
Bible from bammidbar (= in the wilderness). The Greek translation of the
Septuagint, however, prefers to call it "Numbers", and the Latin
follows suit. As a title this is less than satisfactory, because the counting of
the people does not take up much of the book, which really is a history of the
main events of the wanderings in the desert.
The book begins with God's express command to Moses to make a census of the
people, the effect of which will be to show that God indeed has kept his promise
to Abraham: "I will indeed bless you, and I will multiply your descendants
as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore. And your
descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies" (Gen. 22:17). The
seventy-member family of Jacob which entered Egypt, now, some 450 years later,
numbered around 600,000. Even if this statistic is not mathematically exact
(that is not the purpose of the Bible) there is no doubt about the Jews being a
very numerous people.
The book can be divided into three parts:
1. In Sinai. This part, which goes up to chapter 10, presents Israel as a
holy people, in line with its vocation: its holiness comes from God, not from
its own merits. It is divided into twelve tribes, according to Israel's twelve
sons, taken in groups of three. They all gather round the tent of meeting, with
the Levites in the place of honour. The Israelites closeness to the tabernacle,
with which they journeyed, meant that they had to have a high degree of legal
purity; the regulations contained in chapters 5ff were aimed at ensuring this.
2. The journey through the wilderness. This is described in chapters
10-21. Moses maintains order while they are encamped in the Sinai. Then the
entire people starts out again on its journey, conscious that they travel under
the protection of Yahweh, who appears to them in the form of a cloud. They reach
Cades, where they stop. Moses uses this respite to reconnoitre the land of
Canaan and to promulgate a series of laws aimed at clarifying the basis of
Moses' and Aaron's authority. Then, because of the opposition of the king of
Edom they have to backtrack. Their entry into Canaan is delayed for thirty-eight
years. If they had been docile to the Lord's commandments, they would not have
had to undergo all these privations. As it was, most of those who set out from
Egypt did not live to enter Canaan.
3. On the plains of Moab. The third and last part of the book, up to
chapter 36, describes events just prior to the entry into the promised land.
Almost at its gates, Israel meets its last obstacle, Balac, King of Moab. Balac
had tried to get Balaam, a seer, to put a curse on the chosen people, but
providentially not only does Balaam not cooperate: he extols the privileges and
promises God has given his people.
After this, when the Israelites cavort with the daughters of Moab and turn from
Yahweh, a second census is held and towards the end of the book Moses
establishes new laws to govern the life of Israel -laws more suited to a settled
than a nomadic people, which will apply as soon as the Israelites take
possession of Canaan.
The events narrated in Numbers do bring out into the open the infidelities and
rebellious nature of the people of Israel. However, we would be mistaken if we
thought that the lessons and punishments contained in the book applied only to
these people. We are guilty of the same faults as they. We may be surprised at
their hardness of heart, given all the miracles God worked for them, but the
truth is that the same thing happens among Christians. If we carefully examine
our own attitudes, we will be even more surprised: the Son of God dies for us to
reconcile us to God and redeem us from sin and from the power of the devil; he
gives us the great gift of divine sonship, and we respond not just ungratefully
but with daily signs of infidelity, even to the point of insulting God's
majesty.
Israel's pilgrimage through the wilderness has a deep religious meaning for
Christians. We are "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's
own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out
of darkness into his marvellous light" (1 Pet. 2:9). God lives in our
midst, in each of us personally, provided we stay faithful to his grace. But
just as the people of Israel fall foul of temptation by dreaming about
advantages of life in Egypt, so too Christians are easily deflected from the
search for holiness and union with God by being attached to material
possessions, ambition, sensuality or the easy life. The history of the chosen
people as they make their way through the desert is often reflected in each
Christian's own story.
Antonio Fuentes teaches theology at the University of Navarre, Spain.
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