Bibliotheca Sacra 111 (441)
(Jan. 1954): 47-53
[Copyright © 1954 Dallas
Theological Seminary; cited with permission;
digitally prepared for use at
Department of English
Bible Exposition
THE BOOK CALLED "NUMBERS"
BY ALLAN A. MACRAE,
PH.D.
Too many Christians, have been
diverted from giving the
fourth book of the Bible the amount of study that it
deserves
by the unattractiveness of its title and the dull
impression
which they have received from a glance at its opening
chapters.
An unfortunate habit has developed in American
pub-
lishing in recent years, of
giving books flashy titles, which
often tell nothing about their actual contents. These
titles
may help in securing sales for a book when it first
appears,
but probably in the long run they cause less
attention to be
paid to it than would be the case if the title
pointed clearly
to the real subject of the book. In relation to
the Book of
Numbers,
something even worse has occurred. A dull title
has been affixed, which gives little idea of the
subject of the
book as a whole, and therefore has been doubly
effective
in keeping Bible students from reaping the rich
treasures
which the book contains.
NAMING
THE BOOKS OF MOSES
A truly scientific approach to the Bible, as to
any other
subject requires that we examine each separate
feature
carefully in order to determine exactly what it
means and
how dependable and authentic it is. It thus becomes
impor-
tant for us to ask whether
the names of the Old Testament
books are, like their contents, a part of the
inspired Word
of God. Many of our English titles are taken from
the Greek
translation and were not in the Hebrew Old Testament
at
all. It
would seem most likely that there were no titles on
any of the books when first written, and that the
titles were
added later. This is certainly true in the case of
the Penta-
teuch. The Jews have
ordinarily spoken of these five books
(47 )
48
Bibliotheca
Sacra
as the Law of Moses, and sometimes have referred
to them
as "the five fifths." In our printed
Hebrew Bibles, the head-
ing placed before each book
of the Pentateuch simply con-
sists of one or more of the
words with which it begins. This
seems hardly consistent with the idea that these
headings
were titles put in by the original author. It would
look rather
in the direction of their being merely identifying
labels,
added by some later copyist.
The Greek translation of the Pentateuch, which
is known
as the Septuagint, was made in
300
and 200 B.C. In it new titles are placed over the five
books of Moses. Four of these titles are good
descriptions of
the books, and some of them are decided
improvements over
the headings used in the Hebrew Bible. It is quite
different,
unfortunately, in the case of the
Book of Numbers.
Printed Hebrew Bibles place over the Book of
Genesis a
Hebrew word which means "in the
beginning."
This is
simply the first word of the book. The Greek
translation
bears the title Genesis, "beginning," which
in this case is
almost an exact translation of the Hebrew word and is
also
a good description of the actual contents of the
book.
Similarly, in our printed Hebrew Bibles, the
second book
of Moses bears as a heading the two Hebrew words
with
which it begins. These words may be translated
"and these
are the names." Sometimes the book is
designated simply
by the second of these words and called
"Names." This
Hebrew
title, however, gives no idea of the contents of the
book. While the book begins by naming the sons of
Jacob
who went down into
the Greek translation a descriptive title was
substituted,
consisting of the Greek word Exodos, which means "going
out." This title is an excellent description
of the contents of
the book, and is clearly an improvement over the
Hebrew
designation.
In the Hebrew Bible, the title of the third book
consists
of its first word, "and he called." This
gives practically no
idea of its contents. In the Greek translation the
word
Leuitikon was substituted,
indicating that the book contains
The Book Called "Numbers" 49
directions or the activities of the Levitical priests and their
Levitical assistants.
Skipping over the fourth book for a moment, we
note
that the fifth book is designated in the Hebrew by
means of
its first two words "and these are the
words." This is very
similar to the title of Exodus, "and these
are the names," or
of Leviticus, "and he called." The Greek
version has sub-
stituted the title Deuteronomion,
which means "Second Law."
The
book consists almost entirely of the addresses which
Moses
gave to the people shortly before their entrance into
which had already been presented in Exodus and making
certain changes in it to fit their circumstances
after they
would settle in the promised land. Thus, the Greek
title
aptly describes the contents of the book, and is very
appropri-
ate.
In three of these four instances, the Greek
title is clearly
an improvement over the Hebrew title, while in the
case of
Genesis
the two are substantially identical. In all four cases,
our English Bibles use a simple transliteration of
the Greek
word. Surely it would have been better if these
titles had
been translated into English instead of being merely
trans-
literated from the Greek.
Although the word genesis is something used in
common
English
to mean "beginning," it would probably be easier
for the mass of English speaking people if the word
had
been translated into English, and the book entitled
"The
Book of Beginnings."
Similarly the word exodus is occasionally used
as a
common term in modern English, but it would be more
easily understood by many of our people if the book
were
entitled "The Departure of the Israelites
from
perhaps still better, "The Deliverance of
the Israelites from
Leviticus designates the third
book fairly well, but it
might be even better if we were to lengthen the title
a little
and call it "The Levitical
Legislation," or "Rules for the
Priests."
50
Bibliotheca
Sacra
Most English readers have little
idea what the name
Deuteronomy
means. It is “all Greek” to them. Would it not
have been better if in English this book had borne
such a
title as “Moses’ Farewell,” or “The Final Advice of
the
Great Leader”?
PROBLEM OF NAMING
“NUMBERS”
Returning to the fourth book, we
find that the situation
is altogether different. In the Hebrew Bible, it
is not its
first word, but its fourth, that is used as a title.
This word
forms an admirable description of the contents of the
book.
The
Greek translators gave it a descriptive title, which
instead of fitting excellently, as in the case
of the other four
books, is not at all well selected. In English, instead of trans-
literating the Greek title, we
have in this sole instance trans-
lated it, thus compounding
the injury done by the poor
selection of the title in the Greek.
The Greek title of the book is Arithmoi, the
word from
which our English word arithmetic is derived. Probably less
damage would have been done if this word had been
trans-
literated, so that most English
readers would simply take it
as a meaningless title and look into the book to
see what it
contains.
Unfortunately, the misleading title has been trans-
lated, and the average reader
gains the impression that the
book is simply a dry list of statistics. It is true that its
first
two chapters describe the taking of a census, and
another
census is described in chapter 26. Yet if a few
chapters
were taken out, there would be less numbers remaining
than
in many another book of the Bible.
The Hebrew title, “in the
wilderness,” aptly describes
the contents of this book, since it deals with the
wilderness
journey of the Israelites from
the promised land.
It begins with the preparation for the
journey; it goes on to tell of many interesting
and impor-
tant events along the way;
finally, it describes the prepara-
tions for entrance into
What a shame that in the one case
where the Greek has
made a poor selection of a title, this title should
not only
have been taken over into the English version, but
actually
The Book Called "Numbers" 51
translated instead of being merely transliterated,
as was
done in the other four cases. This has doubtless led
to much
neglect of a book which, as a matter of fact, is
as vital and
important for the Christian today as any book in
the entire
Old Testament.
This may seem to be a rather extreme statement,
but
proves not to be so when we examine the situation.
Genesis
describes the creation of the world and the
beginning of the
conditions which face us here. This is very
interesting and
worthwhile, and yet its interest to us may seem to
be some-
what indirect. We face a situation; it is valuable
to know
how it came about, but we are more interested in
knowing
what to do about it now.
Exodus describes how the Israelites were
delivered from
Christian
in being delivered from the domain of sin and
redeemed by the death of Christ. Exodus is
extremely im-
portant to the non-Christian
who desires to learn how he
may be redeemed. It is valuable in strengthening
the under-
standing of the Christian as he looks back over
the marvel-
ous salvation which the
Lord has given him. This crucial
event in the life of every Christian is strikingly
typified in
Exodus
by the Passover, with its shedding of the blood of
the lamb without spot or blemish, and the placing
of the
blood of the lamb on the lintel of the door.
Nevertheless,
for the Christian, all of this represents something
that is al-
ready in the past. Vital and important as it is for
him, it
is the background of his present life rather than
the situa-
tion which he now faces.
CHRISTIAN
APPLICATION OF "NUMBERS"
The Book of Numbers, however, describes the
journey of
people who have already been redeemed and delivered
from
It
exactly corresponds to the situation of the Christian in
this age. He has been redeemed through the blood of
Christ.
He
has left
of the powers of sin and of darkness. However, he
has not
yet entered the promised land. There is still a
rest awaiting
52 Bibliotheca
Sacra
the people of God, a rest toward which we are
pushing
forward. The Christian is on a pilgrim journey.
He is press-
ing forward to the great
prize ahead of him. This was exactly
the situation of the Israelites in the Book of
Numbers. No
other book of the Old Testament contains so much that
is
exactly parallel to the pilgrim journey of the
Christian in
the present age.
A correct understanding on this point can be of
real
value for every Christian. Many a Christian thinks of
himself
as back in the experience described in the early
part of
Exodus. He is constantly worrying about his past
sins,
fretting about whether he really is a child of
God or not.
He
needs to realize that if he has truly looked to Christ for
salvation and been born again by simple faith in
Him, he
has been delivered from
headed for the promised land. He needs to learn to
possess
the possessions which God has given him, and to
rejoice in
them. He must never forget that his sins are under
the blood;
Jesus
has died for him; the transaction is completed; he is
now launched on his pilgrim journey.
Other Christians tend to make the opposite
mistake. They
think themselves to be already in the promised land.
This
can lead to an exaggerated idea of the extent of
one's
sanctification, or to undue
discouragement along the way.
We
need to realize that we are pilgrims, and that this world
is still Satan's territory. We must constantly
look to Christ
for protection and guidance. The Book of Numbers is
the
book that typifies our present situation. All
through it we
find illustrations marvelously planned to show us
what
we need.
The Christian, then, needs to study this
wonderful book.
In
its first part, 1:1 to
of the Israelites for their wilderness journey.
All of this is
meaningful for his own life. It shows the
orderliness, sepa-
ration from uncleanness, and constant reliance on
divine
protection and leadership, which are so vital if he
is to go
forward in his pilgrim journey.
The actual journey begins in
The Book Called "Numbers" 53
for us (cf. 1 Cor,
10:1-11). In the mistakes and rebellions
of
the Israelites we see the very errors into which we
ourselves
may fall, if we fail to keep our eyes fixed on our
Leader. At
every stage the divine provision for nourishment and
pro-
tection is wonderfully illustrated,
typifying the supernatural
assistance so necessary for our own pilgrim
journey.
The Balaam incident (22:2-25:18) is rather
unique, and
yet it illustrates the type of spiritual opposition
which we
must face, and shows how capably our Lord can turn
back
the clever plans of Satan to destroy us.
In the final section of Numbers, the promised land is
just ahead,
must be laid for entering
not become satisfied with the present age. He is a
citizen of
another kingdom, and must always keep this in
mind. De-
tailed study of this part of the book shows that it,
like the
earlier section, is filled with lessons that we
need to ponder
and to heed.
What a shame that an ill-chosen title should
have hin-
dered Christians from
receiving the many rich blessings and
important lessons which God has placed in this
marvelous
fourth book of the Bible!
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