The book of Numbers covers the period of the Israelites wandering in the wilderness. The Holman Concise Bible Commentary (HCBC) mentions in the introduction to Numbers that the Hebrew name for the book is bedmidbar meaning ‘in the desert.’ The Hebrew names for our Old Testament books generally come from the first or first few words of the Hebrew text. Our English names for the books come from the Greek version of the Hebrew Bible referred to as the Septuagint. The Hebrew name for the book of Leviticus that we just finished could be translated ‘then called.’ Most of the time the names in the Septuagint are more informative about the book than the Hebrew name. But for the book of Numbers the Hebrew name is more informative. The book is about the wanderings of the Israelites ‘in the desert or wilderness’ for almost 40 years. The name ‘Numbers’ comes from two censuses found in chapter one and twenty-six of the book. Introduction devotional video.

Numbers is almost like a travel journal of Moses as God led them through the Sinai Peninsula. You would expect a travel journal to be arranged chronologically. But Moses doesn’t record everything in chronological order. In Num. 1:1 we have a time reference to the first day of the second month of the second year after leaving Egypt. Num. 7:1-9:15 occurs in the first two weeks of the second year, before what’s described in Numbers chapter one, see Num: 9:1 and Ex. 40:2. Also there are several genres or literary types found in the book of Numbers. From census lists to narrative history, cultic laws and rituals and even poetry. See the list in HCBC pages 50-51 under Literary Forms. Many newer print English translations will have a way to indicate Hebrew poetry. The CSB, ESV, NASB, NIV, and NLT will use some form of indention to indicate the section is Hebrew poetry. Look at Num. 23:1-17 in your newer translations and you will see the different indentation style for verses 7b through 10. This formatting feature may not be shown in your Bible app. It is shown in the Logos Bible app. As we continue through our reading of the Old Testament, we will see quite a lot of the text is Hebrew poetry. What is Hebrew poetry anyway? There is a basic explanation in the HCBC beginning at the bottom of page 199 by Duane Garrett. It reads,

Parallelism is a device in which one line of poetry is followed by a second that in some way reiterates or reinforces the first. Several types of parallelism are found. In synonymous parallelism the second line says the same thing in the same word order as the first line. Only the vocabulary differs. For example: “A false witness will not go unpunished / and he who pours out lies will not go free” (Prov. 19:5). See also Psalm 114:8: “Who turned the rock into a pool, / the hard rock into springs of water.” In antithetic parallelism the second line often reinforces the first by stating the same thought from a negative perspective. For example, “The Lord is king forever and ever; / the nations will perish from his land” (Ps. 10:16). Also: “A gentle answer turns away wrath, / but a harsh word stirs up anger” (Prov. 15:1). With synthetic parallelism the second line is not actually parallel to the first, but it reinforces the idea expressed by adding a reason or explanation. For example: “Train a child in the way he should go, / and when he is old he will not turn from it” (Prov. 22:6); “Stay away from the foolish man, / for you will not find knowledge on his lips” (Prov. 14:7).

In an acrostic poem each line or section begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The first begins with aleph, the second with beth, the third with gimel, and so on. The twenty-two stanzas of Psalm 119, the Bible’s largest acrostic, have eight verses for each consecutive Hebrew letter.^[1]

If you didn’t purchase the HCBC there is a copy in the Church Library. Garrett also discusses chiasms and other literary structures that are found throughout the Old Testament. Recognizing these literary structures will bring even greater appreciation of the Biblical authors and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

^[1] Garrett, Duane A. 1998. “The Poetic and Wisdom Books.” In Holman Concise Bible Commentary, edited by David S. Dockery, 199–200. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.