The Book of Numbers opens with these words: “The LORD spoke to Moses...He said, ‘Take a census of the whole Israelite community...listing every man by name, one by one...Number all the men in Israel...’” (Numbers 1:1-3). The LORD of Hosts is concerned with counting and listing, numbering and recording. We see this work of God, not just in the book called “Numbers”; we see this throughout His Holy Word. Long lists of numbers are part of God’s Wonderful Word! They are even part of His Glorious Gospel! From the beginning of the Bible to its end we see God counting and listing—and we must see these divine activities as part of the “awesome deeds of the LORD.”
How does the Bible begin? In the opening verses of Genesis, God numbers the days of creation, and each day’s number becomes its name: the first day, the second day, the third day... until the Seventh Day, the Sabbath Day, the holy day of rest (Genesis 1:1; 2:3). How does the Bible end? In the Bible’s final book we repeatedly see the number of all things brought to perfection. Revelation is riddled with numbers of symbolic significance. Again and again the numbers of perfection are revealed: three, seven, ten, twelve (or three fours), twenty-four (or two twelves), one hundred and forty-four (or twelve twelves), and a thousand.
There is only one book in the Bible that we call “Numbers,” but numbers fill the Scriptures from beginning to end. Think about Exodus: This book deals with the Ten Plagues, a number which corresponds with the actual number of plagues, but which also represents the perfection of God’s Judgement (Exodus 7-11); the Ten Commandments, a number which represents the perfection of God’s Law (Exodus 20); and the exact dimensions of the Tabernacle (Exodus 26 & 27), which is “a copy and shadow of what is in heaven”—the Perfect Tabernacle, “the True Tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man” (Hebrews 8:5,2). Think also of Leviticus: This book deals with the precise number of sacrifices to be offered each year
