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Numbers 29

On New Year’s Day.

1In the seventh month on the first day^* you will declare a holy day, and do no heavy work; it shall be a day on which you sound the trumpet.^a

2You will offer a burnt offering for a pleasing aroma to the LORD: one bull of the herd, one ram, and seven unblemished yearling lambs.

3Their grain offerings will be of bran flour mixed with oil: three tenths of an ephah for the bull, two tenths for the ram,

4and one tenth for each of the seven lambs.

5One goat will be a purification offering to make atonement for yourselves.

6These are in addition to the burnt offering for the new moon with its grain offering, and in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering, together with the libations prescribed for them, for a pleasing aroma, an oblation to the LORD.

On the Day of Atonement.

7On the tenth day of this seventh month^* you will declare a holy day, humble yourselves, and do no sort of work.^b

8You will offer a burnt offering to the LORD, a pleasing aroma: one bull of the herd, one ram, and seven yearling lambs that you are sure are unblemished.

9Their grain offerings of bran flour mixed with oil: three tenths of an ephah for the bull, two tenths for the one ram,

10and one tenth for each of the seven lambs.

11One goat will be a purification offering. These are in addition to the purification offering for purging,^* the regular burnt offering with its grain offering, and their libations.

On the Feast of Booths.

12^* On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you will declare a holy day:^c you shall do no heavy work. For the following seven days you will celebrate a pilgrimage feast to the LORD.

13You will offer a burnt offering, an oblation of pleasing aroma to the LORD: thirteen bulls^* of the herd, two rams, and fourteen yearling lambs that are unblemished.

14Their grain offerings will be of bran flour mixed with oil: three tenths of an ephah for each of the thirteen bulls, two tenths for each of the two rams,

15and one tenth for each of the fourteen lambs.

16One goat will be a purification offering. These are in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and libation.

17On the second day: twelve bulls of the herd, two rams, and fourteen unblemished yearling lambs,

18with the grain offerings and libations for the bulls, rams and lambs in their prescribed number,

19as well as one goat as a purification offering, besides the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and libation.

20On the third day: eleven bulls, two rams, and fourteen unblemished yearling lambs,

21with the grain offerings and libations for the bulls, rams and lambs in their prescribed number,

22as well as one goat for a purification offering, besides the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and libation.

23On the fourth day: ten bulls, two rams, and fourteen unblemished yearling lambs,

24the grain offerings and libations for the bulls, rams and lambs in their prescribed number,

25as well as one goat as a purification offering, besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering and libation.

26On the fifth day: nine bulls, two rams, and fourteen unblemished yearling lambs,

27^d with the grain offerings and libations for the bulls, rams and lambs in their prescribed number,

28as well as one goat as a purification offering, besides the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and libation.

29On the sixth day: eight bulls, two rams, and fourteen unblemished yearling lambs,

30with the grain offerings and libations for the bulls, rams and lambs in their prescribed number,

31as well as one goat as a purification offering, besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering and libation.

32On the seventh day: seven bulls, two rams, and fourteen unblemished yearling lambs,

33with the grain offerings and libations for the bulls, rams and lambs in their prescribed number,

34as well as one goat as a purification offering, besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering and libation.

35On the eighth day^e you will hold a public assembly:^* you shall do no heavy work.

36You will offer a burnt offering, an oblation of pleasing aroma to the LORD: one bull, one ram, and seven unblemished yearling lambs,

37with the grain offerings and libations for the bulls, rams and lambs in their prescribed number,

38as well as one goat as a purification offering, besides the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and libation.

39These are the offerings you will make to the LORD on your festivals, besides your votive or voluntary offerings of burnt offerings, grain offerings, libations, and communion offerings.

Numbers 30

So Moses instructed the Israelites exactly as the LORD had commanded him.

Validity and Annulment of Vows.

2Moses said to the heads of the Israelite tribes, “This is what the LORD has commanded:

3When a man makes a vow to the LORD or binds himself under oath to a pledge,^* he shall not violate his word, but must fulfill exactly the promise he has uttered.^a

4“When a woman makes a vow to the LORD, or binds herself to a pledge, while still in her father’s house in her youth,

5and her father learns of her vow or the pledge to which she bound herself and says nothing to her about it, then any vow or any pledge to which she bound herself remains valid.

6But if on the day he learns of it her father opposes her, then any vow or any pledge to which she bound herself becomes invalid; and the LORD will release her from it, since her father opposed her.

7“If she marries while under a vow or under a rash pledge to which she bound herself,

8and her husband learns of it, yet says nothing to her on the day he learns it, then the vows or the pledges to which she bound herself remain valid.

9But if on the day her husband learns of it he opposes her, he thereby annuls the vow she had made or the rash pledge to which she had bound herself, and the LORD will release her from it.

10(The vow of a widow or of a divorced woman, however, any pledge to which such a woman binds herself, is valid.)

11“If it is in her husband’s house^* that she makes a vow or binds herself under oath to a pledge,

12and her husband learns of it yet says nothing to her to oppose her, then all her vows remain valid or any pledge to which she has bound herself.

13But if on the day he learns of them her husband annuls them, then whatever she has expressly promised in her vows or in her pledge becomes invalid; since her husband has annulled them, the LORD will release her from them.

14“Any vow or any pledge that she makes under oath to humble herself, her husband may either confirm or annul.

15But if her husband, day after day, says nothing at all to her, he thereby confirms all her vows or all the pledges incumbent upon her; he has confirmed them, because on the day he learned of them he said nothing to her.

16If, however, he annuls them^* some time after he first learned of them, he will be responsible for her guilt.”

17These are the statutes which the LORD commanded Moses concerning a husband and his wife, as well as a father and his daughter while she is still in her youth in her father’s house.

Numbers 31

Campaign Against the Midianites.

1The LORD said to Moses:^*

2Avenge the Israelites on the Midianites, and then you will be gathered to your people.

3So Moses told the people, “Arm some men among you for the campaign, to attack Midian and to execute the LORD’s vengeance on Midian.

4From each of the tribes of Israel you will send a thousand men to the campaign.”

5From the contingents of Israel, therefore, a thousand men of each tribe were levied, so that there were twelve thousand men armed for war.

6Moses sent them out on the campaign, a thousand from each tribe, with Phinehas, son of Eleazar, the priest for the campaign, who had with him the sacred vessels and the trumpets for sounding the alarm.

7They waged war against the Midianites, as the LORD had commanded Moses, and killed every male.

8Besides those slain in battle, they killed the kings of Midian: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba, the five kings of Midian;^* and they also killed Balaam, son of Beor, with the sword.

9But the Israelites took captive the women of the Midianites with their children, and all their herds and flocks and wealth as loot,

10while they set on fire all the towns where they had settled and all their encampments.

11Then they took all the plunder, with the people and animals they had captured, and brought the captives, together with the spoils and plunder,

12to Moses and Eleazar the priest and to the Israelite community at their camp on the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho.

Treatment of the Captives.

13When Moses and Eleazar the priest, with all the leaders of the community, went outside the camp to meet them,

14Moses became angry with the officers of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, who were returning from the military campaign.

15“So you have spared all the women!” he exclaimed.

16“These are the very ones who on Balaam’s advice were behind the Israelites’ unfaithfulness to the LORD in the affair at Peor,^a so that plague struck the LORD’s community.

17^* Now kill, therefore, every male among the children and kill every woman who has had sexual relations with a man.

18But you may spare for yourselves all the girls who have not had sexual relations.

Purification After Combat.

19“Moreover, remain outside the camp for seven days; every one of you who has killed anyone or touched someone killed will purify yourselves on the third and on the seventh day—both you and your captives.

20You will also purify every garment, every article of leather, everything made of goats’ hair, and every article of wood.”

21Eleazar the priest told the soldiers who had taken part in the battle: “This is the prescribed ritual which the LORD has commanded Moses:

22gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin and lead—

23whatever can stand fire—you shall put into the fire, that it may become clean; however, it must also be purified with water of purification.^* But whatever cannot stand fire you must put into the water.

24On the seventh day you will wash your garments, and then you will again be clean. After that you may enter the camp.”

Division of the Spoils.

25The LORD said to Moses:

26With the help of Eleazar the priest and of the heads of the ancestral houses of the community, inventory all the spoils captured, human being and beast alike;

27then divide the spoils^* between the warriors who went on the campaign and the whole community.

28You will levy a tax for the LORD on the soldiers who went on the campaign: one out of every five hundred persons, oxen, donkeys, and sheep.

29From their half you will take it and give it to Eleazar the priest as a contribution to the LORD.

30From the Israelites’ half you will take one captive from every fifty human beings, oxen, donkeys, and sheep—all the animals—and give them to the Levites, who perform the duties of the LORD’s tabernacle.

31So Moses and Eleazar the priest did this, as the LORD had commanded Moses.

Amount of the Plunder.

32This plunder, what was left of the loot which the troops had taken, amounted to six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep,

33seventy-two thousand oxen,

34sixty-one thousand donkeys,

35and thirty-two thousand women who had not had sexual relations.

36The half-share that fell to those who had gone out on the campaign was in number: three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep,

37of which six hundred and seventy-five fell as tax to the LORD;

38thirty-six thousand oxen, of which seventy-two fell as tax to the LORD;

39thirty thousand five hundred donkeys, of which sixty-one fell as tax to the LORD;

40and sixteen thousand persons, of whom thirty-two persons fell as tax to the LORD.

41Moses gave the taxes contributed to the LORD to Eleazar the priest, exactly as the LORD had commanded Moses.

42As for the Israelites’ half, which Moses had taken from the men who had fought—

43the community’s half was three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep,

44thirty-six thousand oxen,

45thirty thousand five hundred donkeys,

46and sixteen thousand persons.

47From the Israelites’ half, Moses took one captive from every fifty, from human being and beast alike, and gave them to the Levites, who performed the duties of the LORD’s tabernacle, exactly as the LORD had commanded Moses.

Gifts of the Officers.

48Then those who were officers over the contingents of the army, commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, came up to Moses

49and said to him, “Your servants have counted the soldiers under our command, and not one of us is missing.

50^* So, we have brought as an offering to the LORD articles of gold that each of us has picked up—anklets, bracelets, rings, earrings, or pendants—to make atonement for ourselves before the LORD.”

51Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted the gold from them, all fashioned pieces.

52The gold that was given as a contribution to the LORD—from the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds—amounted in all to sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels.

53What the common soldiers had looted each one kept for himself.^*

54So Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted the gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and put it in the tent of meeting as a reminder on behalf of the Israelites before the LORD.

Numbers 32

Hebrews 5:11-14

Exhortation to Spiritual Renewal.

11^* About this we have much to say, and it is difficult to explain, for you have become sluggish in hearing.

12Although you should be teachers by this time, you need to have someone teach you again the basic elements of the utterances of God. You need milk, [and] not solid food.ⁱ

13Everyone who lives on milk lacks experience of the word of righteousness, for he is a child.

14But solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties are trained by practice to discern good and evil.

Hebrews 6:20

Therefore, let us leave behind the basic teaching about Christ and advance to maturity, without laying the foundation all over again: repentance from dead works and faith in God,^a

2instruction about baptisms^* and laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.^b

3And we shall do this, if only God permits.

4For it is impossible in the case of those who have once been enlightened and tasted the heavenly gift^* and shared in the holy Spirit^c

5and tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,^*

6and then have fallen away, to bring them to repentance again, since they are recrucifying the Son of God for themselves^* and holding him up to contempt.^d

7Ground that has absorbed the rain falling upon it repeatedly and brings forth crops useful to those for whom it is cultivated receives a blessing from God.^e

8But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is rejected; it will soon be cursed and finally burned.^f

9But we are sure in your regard, beloved, of better things related to salvation, even though we speak in this way.

10For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love you have demonstrated for his name by having served and continuing to serve the holy ones.

11We earnestly desire each of you to demonstrate the same eagerness for the fulfillment of hope until the end,^g

12so that you may not become sluggish, but imitators of those who, through faith and patience,^h are inheriting the promises.^*

God’s Promise Immutable.

13^{* i} When God made the promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, “he swore by himself,”

14and said, “I will indeed bless you and multiply” you.^j

15And so, after patient waiting,^k he obtained the promise.^*

16Human beings swear by someone greater than themselves; for them an oath serves as a guarantee and puts an end to all argument.

17So when God wanted to give the heirs of his promise an even clearer demonstration of the immutability of his purpose, he intervened with an oath,^l

18so that by two immutable things,^* in which it was impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to hold fast to the hope that lies before us.^m

19This we have as an anchor of the soul,ⁿ sure and firm, which reaches into the interior behind the veil,^*

20where Jesus has entered on our behalf as forerunner, becoming high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.^o

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The complete Book of Numbers

THE BOOK OF NUMBERS

The Book of Numbers derives its name from the account of the two censuses taken of the Hebrew people, one near the beginning and the other toward the end of the journey in the wilderness (chaps. 1 and 26). It continues the story of that journey begun in Exodus, and describes briefly the experiences of the Israelites for a period of thirty-eight years, from the end of their encampment at Sinai to their arrival at the border of the promised land. Numerous legal ordinances are interspersed in the account, making the book a combination of law and history.

The book divides neatly into two parts. Each part begins with a census of the people (chaps. 1 and 26) and inaugurates a period of preparation prior to entering the promised land. In the first case these preparations come to a tragic end when scouts are sent forth to survey the promised land (chaps. 13–14). Upon their return, the people are so disheartened by the description of the native inhabitants and the seemingly impossible task that lies in front of them that they refuse to enter the land. This results in a decision to doom that entire generation to death and to allow another generation the chance to enter. After the death of the first generation, then, a second census is taken (chap. 26) and again preparations are made to enter the land. In this case, however, the birth of a new generation suggests these preparations will not be in vain. The book ends with the Israelites across the Jordan outside the land of Canaan, underscoring a chief theme of the Pentateuch as a whole: the people anticipating the fulfillment of God’s promise of the land.

In the New Testament numerous allusions to incidents in the Book of Numbers appear: the bronze serpent (Jn 3:14–15), the sedition of Korah and its consequences (1 Cor 10:10), the prophecies of Balaam (2 Pt 2:15–16), and the water gushing from the rock (1 Cor 10:4).

The chief divisions of the Book of Numbers are as follows:

Census and Preparation for the Departure from Sinai (1:1–10:10)
Departure, Rebellion, and Wandering in the Wilderness for Forty Years (10:11–25:18)
Second Census of a New Generation and Preparation to Enter the Promised Land (25:19–36:13)

I. CENSUS AND PREPARATION FOR THE DEPARTURE FROM SINAI

The book of Hebrews

THE LETTER TO THE HEBREWS

As early as the second century, this treatise, which is of great rhetorical power and force in its admonition to faithful pilgrimage under Christ’s leadership, bore the title “To the Hebrews.” It was assumed to be directed to Jewish Christians. Usually Hebrews was attached in Greek manuscripts to the collection of letters by Paul. Although no author is mentioned (for there is no address), a reference to Timothy (Heb 13:23) suggested connections to the circle of Paul and his assistants. Yet the exact audience, the author, and even whether Hebrews is a letter have long been disputed.

The author saw the addressees in danger of apostasy from their Christian faith. This danger was due not to any persecution from outsiders but to a weariness with the demands of Christian life and a growing indifference to their calling (Heb 2:1; 4:14; 6:1–12; 10:23–32). The author’s main theme, the priesthood and sacrifice of Jesus (Heb 3–10), is not developed for its own sake but as a means of restoring their lost fervor and strengthening them in their faith. Another important theme of the letter is that of the pilgrimage of the people of God to the heavenly Jerusalem (11:10; 12:1–3, 18–29; 13:14). This theme is intimately connected with that of Jesus’ ministry in the heavenly sanctuary (Heb 9:11–10:22).

The author calls this work a “message of encouragement” (Heb 13:22), a designation that is given to a synagogue sermon in Acts 13:15. Hebrews is probably therefore a written homily, to which the author gave an epistolary ending (Heb 13:22–25). The author begins with a reminder of the preexistence, incarnation, and exaltation of Jesus (Heb 1:3) that proclaimed him the climax of God’s word to humanity (Heb 1:1–3). He dwells upon the dignity of the person of Christ, superior to the angels (Heb 1:4–2:2). Christ is God’s final word of salvation communicated (in association with accredited witnesses to his teaching: cf. Heb 2:3–4) not merely by word but through his suffering in the humanity common to him and to all others (Heb 2:5–16). This enactment of salvation went beyond the pattern known to Moses, faithful prophet of God’s word though he was, for Jesus as high priest expiated sin and was faithful to God with the faithfulness of God’s own Son (Heb 2:17–3:6).

Just as the infidelity of the people thwarted Moses’ efforts to save them, so the infidelity of any Christian may thwart God’s plan in Christ (3:6–4:13). Christians are to reflect that it is their humanity that Jesus took upon himself, with all its defects save sinfulness, and that he bore the burden of it until death out of obedience to God. God declared this work of his Son to be the cause of salvation for all (Heb 4:14–5:10). Although Christians recognize this fundamental teaching, they may grow weary of it and of its implications, and therefore require other reflections to stimulate their faith (5:11–6:20).

Therefore, the author presents to the readers for their reflection the everlasting priesthood of Christ (Heb 7:1–28), a priesthood that fulfills the promise of the Old Testament (Heb 8:1–13). It also provides the meaning God ultimately intended in the sacrifices of the Old Testament (Heb 9:1–28): these pointed to the unique sacrifice of Christ, which alone obtains forgiveness of sins (Heb 10:1–18). The trial of faith experienced by the readers should resolve itself through their consideration of Christ’s ministry in the heavenly sanctuary and his perpetual intercession there on their behalf (Heb 7:25; 8:1–13). They should also be strengthened by the assurance of his foreordained parousia, and by the fruits of faith that they have already enjoyed (Heb 10:19–39).

It is in the nature of faith to recognize the reality of what is not yet seen and is the object of hope, and the saints of the Old Testament give striking example of that faith (Heb 11:1–40). The perseverance to which the author exhorts the readers is shown forth in the earthly life of Jesus. Despite the afflictions of his ministry and the supreme trial of his suffering and death, he remained confident of the triumph that God would bring him (Heb 12:1–3). The difficulties of human life have meaning when they are accepted as God’s discipline (Heb 12:4–13), and if Christians persevere in fidelity to the word in which they have believed, they are assured of possessing forever the unshakable kingdom of God (Heb 12:14–29).

The letter concludes with specific moral commandments (Heb 13:1–17), in the course of which the author recalls again his central theme of the sacrifice of Jesus and the courage needed to associate oneself with it in faith (Heb 13:9–16).

As early as the end of the second century, the church of Alexandria in Egypt accepted Hebrews as a letter of Paul, and that became the view commonly held in the East. Pauline authorship was contested in the West into the fourth century, but then accepted. In the sixteenth century, doubts about that position were again raised, and the modern consensus is that the letter was not written by Paul. There is, however, no widespread agreement on any of the other suggested authors, e.g., Barnabas, Apollos, or Prisc(ill)a and Aquila. The document itself has no statement about its author.

Among the reasons why Pauline authorship has been abandoned are the great difference of vocabulary and style between Hebrews and Paul’s letters, the alternation of doctrinal teaching with moral exhortation, the different manner of citing the Old Testament, and the resemblance between the thought of Hebrews and that of Alexandrian Judaism. The Greek of the letter is in many ways the best in the New Testament.

Since the letter of Clement of Rome to the Corinthians, written about A.D. 96, most probably cites Hebrews, the upper limit for the date of composition is reasonably certain. While the letter’s references in the present tense to the Old Testament sacrificial worship do not necessarily show that temple worship was still going on, many older commentators and a growing number of recent ones favor the view that it was and that the author wrote before the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. In that case, the argument of the letter is more easily explained as directed toward Jewish Christians rather than those of Gentile origin, and the persecutions they have suffered in the past (cf. Heb 10:32–34) may have been connected with the disturbances that preceded the expulsion of the Jews from Rome in A.D. 49 under the emperor Claudius. These were probably caused by disputes between Jews who accepted Jesus as the Messiah and those who did not.

The principal divisions of the Letter to the Hebrews are the following:

1. Introduction (1:1–4)
2. The Son Higher than the Angels (1:5–2:18)
3. Jesus, Faithful and Compassionate High Priest (3:1–5:10)
4. Jesus’ Eternal Priesthood and Eternal Sacrifice (5:11–10:39)
5. Examples, Discipline, Disobedience (11:1–12:29)
6. Final Exhortation, Blessing, Greetings (13:1–25)