The Bible in a Year

Old Testament

Leviticus 19 to Numbers 2
Read this coming week:
Feb 28 Lev 19‐20, Ps 55, Luke 19 Mar 1 Lev 21‐22, Ps 56, Luke 20 Mar 2
Lev 23‐24, Ps 57, Luke 21 Mar 3 Lev 25, Ps 58, Luke 22 Mar 4 Lev 26, Ps
59, Luke 23 Mar 5 Lev 27, Ps 60, Luke 24 Mar 6 Num 1, Ps 61, John 1 Mar
7 Num 2, Ps 62, John 2

Reading Questions
For next week you’re reading Leviticus 19 to Numbers
2. Answer the following:
• What is the punishment for child sacrifice?
• Whose funeral can an Israelite priest attend?
• List the 7 feasts of the Lord.
• What is the “Year of Jubilee” and how often does it
occur?
• Name a blessing for following God’s laws from
Leviticus.
• What is a “vow” as Leviticus defines it?
 • Why is the tribe of Levi not included in the census
in Numbers?
• Where are the Levites camped in the camp of
Israel?

The Unfortunate Name of

Numbers
We call the 4 book of the Pentateuch “Numbers”
because of the name given to it by the Greek translation
of the Old Testament in the 130’s BC (the Septuagint).
This widely popular translation of the Old Testament
named the book “arithmoi” meaning “Numbers”.

The Hebrew Old Testament, however, names this book

“B’midbar” or “of the wilderness”. While the book is
filled with several different censuses, it is much better
to think of this book as being “of the wilderness” as it is
the story of Israel’s 40 year wandering in the
wilderness.

The book of Numbers is often avoided simply because

people read its first chapter and get scared away
thinking “this book is nothing but censuses”. That is not
the case. The book of Numbers includes various
interesting stories about God’s people in the wilderness
including the fiery serpents and snake on a pole, Moses’
sin that disqualified him from the promised land, and
the story of Balaam’s donkey to name just a few.

The book of Numbers is a rich historical account of what

happens during Israel’s wilderness wanderings, and
without it several of the items in the rest of Israel’s
history make less sense.
Please don’t throw this away. If you’re not going to use it, leave it for
someone else to use.