The Book of Numbers - In the Wilderness. Kenneth B. Alexander

Departure (10:1-14:45)

      1. Marching orders (10:1-35)

      2. Complaints in the desert (11:1-12:16)

      3. Spies sent to Canaan (13:1-33)

      4. The people rebel and must wander an additional forty years (14:1-45)

      B. Events in the desert (15:1-21:20)

      1. Laws for the Promised Land (15:1-41)

      2. Rebellion in the desert (16:1-16)

      3. Miracle in the desert (17:1-12)

      4. More laws for the Promised Land (18:1-19:23)

      5. More miracles in the desert (20:1-13)

      6. Setbacks in the desert (20:14-21:20)

      a. Edom refuses passage (20:14-21)

      b. Rebellion and attack by serpents (21:1-20)

      III. Conquests and preparations (21:21-36:13)

      A. Conquests (21:31-31:53)

      1. Sihon and Og defeated (21:21-35)

      2. Balaam’s prophecies and Balak’s defeat (22:1-24:25)

      3. False worship and punishment (25:1-18)

      4. A second numbering (26:1-65)

      5. Daughters of Zelophehad (27:1-11)

      6. Joshua chosen as Moses’successor (27:12-23)

      7. Festivals, offerings, and laws (28:1-30:16)

      8. War against Midian (31:1-54)

      B. Preparations for life in the Promised Land (32:1-36:13)

      1. Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh allowed to settle in Transjordan (32:1-42)

      2. Summary of travels (33:1-49)

      3. Boundaries of Israel’s land (33:50-34:29)

      4. Levitical cities and cities of refuge (35:1-34)

5. Marriage of Zelophehad’s daughters (36:1-13)[iii]

[iii] Achtemeier, Paul J. ; Harper & Row, Publishers ; Society of Biblical Literature: Harper's Bible Dictionary. 1st ed. San Francisco : Harper & Row, 1985, S. 712

      Israel Sets Out

      At length, on the twentieth day of the second month, the signal for departure from Sinai was given. The cloud which had rested upon the Tabernacle moved; the silver trumpets of the priests summoned “the camps” of Israel to their march, and as the Ark itself set forward. Moses, in joyous confidence of faith, spoke those words of mingled prayer and praise which, as they marked the progress of Israel towards the Land of Promise, have ever been the signal in every forward movement of the Church. The general destination of Israel was, in the first place, “the wilderness of Paran,” a name known long before. This tract may be described as occupying the whole northern part of the Sinaitic peninsula, between the so-called Arabah on the east, and the wilderness of Shur in the west, which separates Philistia from Egypt. Here Israel was, so to speak, hedged in by the descendants of Esau—on the one side by the Edomites, whose country lay east of the Arabah, and on the other by the Amalekites, while right before them were the Amorites.

      Such then was the goal and such the line of march before Israel, when, on that day in early summer, the Ark and the host of the Lord moved forward from the foot of Sinai. At the reiterated request of Moses, Hobab, the brother-in-law of Moses, had consented to accompany Israel, and to act as their guide in the wilderness, in the faith of afterwards sharing “what goodness God” would do to His people. Although the pillar of cloud was the real guide of Israel in all their journeying, yet the local knowledge of Hobab would manifestly prove of the greatest use in indicating springs and places of pasturage. And so it always is. The moving of the cloud or its resting must be our sole guide; but under its direction the best means which human skill or knowledge can suggest should be earnestly sought and thankfully used (Nu 10:11-35).