50 Fun Facts About Book of Numbers

Which animal, beaten three times by Balaam on the road to Moab, opened its mouth and spoke to him?

A donkey saw the angel with the drawn sword that Balaam could not, and only after the third beating did it ask, 'What have I done to you?' Balaam then saw the angel too and offered to turn back.

What did Moses raise on a pole so the bitten could look and live, an object Hezekiah later smashed?

A bronze serpent on a pole healed anyone who looked at it, and Israel kept it for centuries until Hezekiah broke it up because people were burning incense to it, calling it Nehushtan. Jesus compares himself to it in John 3:14.

How many years was Israel sentenced to wander, one year for each day the spies had explored Canaan?

Forty years meant everyone counted in the census aged twenty or over would die in the desert, and only the two spies who had dissented were spared to enter the land.

What did Moses' spies carry on a pole between two men from the Valley of Eshkol in Canaan?

A cluster of grapes so heavy it took two men to carry gave the valley its name, Eshkol, 'cluster', and the scene of the spies hauling fruit home is the logo of Israel's Ministry of Tourism.

What fate befell Dathan and Abiram, with their households, for defying Moses in Korah's revolt?

Swallowed by the earth, they 'went down alive into the realm of the dead', yet Korah's own sons survived, and eleven psalms, Psalm 84 among them, are headed 'of the sons of Korah'.

What did Aaron's staff sprout overnight when laid before the ark beside the other tribes' staffs?

Almonds, along with buds and blossoms, settled that only Aaron's line held the priesthood, and the staff was kept before the ark as a warning; Hebrews 9:4 says it lay inside the ark itself.

How many times did Moses strike the rock at Meribah, the act that barred him from the Promised Land?

Twice he struck it although God had said only to speak to it, and the rock still gushed for the whole community; for failing to 'honor me as holy', both Moses and Aaron were barred from Canaan.

Who was struck leprous, 'as white as snow', for speaking against Moses over his Cushite wife?

Miriam, Moses' sister, was shut outside the camp for seven days while the whole nation waited, and she died and was buried at Kadesh before Israel's final march.

Which spy, like Joshua, was allowed into Canaan because he 'followed the LORD wholeheartedly'?

Caleb, 'because he has a different spirit', was promised the land he had scouted, and in Joshua 14 he claims Hebron at eighty-five, 'still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out'.

What did a wind from the sea pile two cubits deep around the camp after Israel grew sick of manna?

Quail fell a day's walk in every direction, but while the meat was still between their teeth a plague struck, and the place was named Kibroth Hattaavah, 'graves of craving'.

Which word completes the Priestly Blessing: 'the LORD make his face shine on you and be ___ to you'?

Gracious is the word, and this blessing from Numbers 6 is the oldest known Bible passage ever dug up, scratched on two silver amulets found at Ketef Hinnom in Jerusalem and dated to about 600 BC.

From what age were Levite males counted, when every other tribe was counted only from age twenty?

One month was the threshold because the Levites were being counted as substitutes for Israel's firstborn sons, and the tally came to 22,000 males.

Which vow in Numbers 6 bans wine, razors and corpses, and was later kept from birth by Samson?

Nazirite vows normally ended with the hair shaved and burned under the fellowship offering, and in Acts 21 Paul pays the expenses of four men completing theirs.

What was Joshua's name before Moses renamed him, as recorded in the list of the twelve spies?

Hoshea means 'salvation' and Yehoshua 'the LORD is salvation', a name that passed through Greek as Iesous, the same form the New Testament uses for Jesus.

Whose descendants, living at Hebron, made ten of the spies feel 'like grasshoppers' by comparison?

Anak's descendants are linked in the report to the Nephilim, the giants of Genesis 6, and three of them, Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, are named as living at Hebron.

How many cities of refuge, split evenly across the two banks of the Jordan, did Moses set aside?

Six cities were among the 48 towns given to the Levites, who owned no territory of their own, and they sheltered only those who killed without intent, pending trial before the assembly.

Until what event could a killer sheltering in a city of refuge go home, safe from the victim's kin?

The death of the high priest freed every refugee at once, which is why, the Mishnah says, the priest's mother sent them food and clothing so they would not pray for her son to die.

Which king of Moab hired a seer from the Euphrates to curse the Israelites camped on his border?

Balak son of Zippor led the seer to three different hilltops and built seven altars at each, and got a blessing on Israel every time instead of a curse.

Which sign in Balaam's oracle, 'I see him, but not now', gave the rebel Bar Kokhba his name?

A star, kokhav in Hebrew, is why Simon bar Kosiba's followers hailed him as Bar Kokhba, 'son of the star', when he led the revolt against Rome that erupted in 132.

What does the synagogue prayer Mah Tovu call 'beautiful', in words lifted from Balaam's blessing?

Jacob's tents are praised in Numbers 24:5, which makes Mah Tovu the one prayer in regular Jewish use that was composed by a non-Jew, and a hired curser at that.

Which god did Israel 'yoke themselves to' after Moabite women invited the men to their sacrifices?

Baal of Peor cost 24,000 lives in the plague that followed, a toll Paul gives as 23,000 'in one day' in 1 Corinthians 10:8.

What did Zelophehad's five daughters win from Moses, since their father had died leaving no sons?

The right to inherit land passed to daughters when a man died without sons, a ruling the LORD himself endorsed, 'What Zelophehad's daughters are saying is right', on condition they married within their tribe.

On which mountain did Aaron die after Moses stripped his priestly garments and put them on his son?

Mount Hor, on the border of Edom, is where Aaron died aged 123 and was mourned for 30 days, and tradition places his tomb on Jabal Harun, the twin-peaked mountain above Petra.

Which son of Aaron had the 250 rebels' censers hammered into sheets to overlay the altar?

Eleazar collected the censers from the charred remains as a sign that only Aaron's descendants could burn incense, and he later succeeded Aaron in office.

What punishment did the whole assembly carry out on a man caught gathering wood on the Sabbath?

Stoning outside the camp was ordered only after the man had been held in custody because 'it was not clear what should be done to him', and the ruling came straight from the LORD.

What, each with a blue cord, were Israelites told to wear on the corners of their garments?

Tassels with a blue thread became the tzitzit on the Jewish prayer shawl, and the blue dye, tekhelet, was made from a Mediterranean sea snail, Hexaplex trunculus.

Which Midianite did Moses beg to be Israel's 'eyes', since he knew where to camp in the wilderness?

Hobab son of Reuel is called Moses' father-in-law here and his brother-in-law in Judges 4, and his Kenite descendants settled in the Negev near Arad.

Which king of Heshbon barred Israel from the King's Highway and lost his land from Arnon to Jabbok?

Sihon's defeat is celebrated in a poem quoted in Numbers 21, and Heshbon was later rebuilt by the herd-owning tribes who chose to settle east of the Jordan.

Which king of Bashan, whose army met Israel at Edrei, was the last of the giant Rephaites?

Og's iron bed, Deuteronomy adds, was more than nine cubits long, about four metres, and could still be seen in Rabbah of the Ammonites; his land went to half the tribe of Manasseh.

Which two tribes asked Moses for Jazer and Gilead, east of the Jordan, to graze their huge herds?

Reuben and Gad got Gilead on condition their fighting men crossed the Jordan first, with Moses' warning, 'you may be sure that your sin will find you out'.

How many men aged twenty or over and fit for war did the first census count in the Desert of Sinai?

603,550 fighting men is the figure behind the book's Greek name Arithmoi, 'numbers', and the second census 38 years later came to 601,730, with nobody from the first list still alive but two men.

Which tribe, the largest in both censuses, camped on the east and always marched first?

Judah numbered 74,600 in the first census and 76,500 in the second, and its leader Nahshon was the first of the twelve chiefs to bring dedication gifts for the altar.

What did the manna, ground in hand mills and cooked in pots, taste like according to Numbers 11?

Pastry made with olive oil is the taste Numbers gives it, while Exodus 16 had said 'wafers made with honey', and the people wept for Egypt's fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic.

How many elders did Moses gather at the tent of meeting to share the Spirit and his burden?

Seventy elders prophesied when the Spirit rested on them, and two who had stayed in camp, Eldad and Medad, prophesied too, prompting Moses to wish 'that all the LORD's people were prophets'.

What did Moses have made of hammered silver to summon the assembly and signal the camps to move?

Two trumpets blown by Aaron's sons carried a code: both together gathered the whole assembly, one alone summoned the clan heads, and short blasts sent the camps on their way.

How many stops does Numbers 33 list on Israel's journey from Rameses in Egypt to the plains of Moab?

42 stops are named in a travelogue Moses 'recorded at the LORD's command', running from Rameses to the Jordan opposite Jericho, with the Desert of Sinai and Kadesh among them.

What share of the tithes they received did the Levites owe to Aaron as the LORD's portion?

A tenth of the tithe, 'a tithe of the tithe', went to the priests, so the Levites, who owned no farmland of their own, still paid tithes on what they were given.

Between which ages, under Numbers 4, were Kohathites counted for service at the tent of meeting?

Thirty to fifty was the Kohathite span in Numbers 4, though Numbers 8 lets Levites start at twenty-five, and after fifty they could only assist and 'work no longer'.

What did Numbers 5 make a wife suspected of adultery drink to reveal whether she was guilty?

Water mixed with floor dust from the tabernacle, with written curses washed into it, was the sotah ordeal, which the Mishnah says was abolished 'when adulterers became many'.

What did Moses say whenever the ark set out: 'Rise up, LORD! May your enemies be ___'?

Scattered is the word, and Psalm 68 opens by echoing it, 'May God arise, may his enemies be scattered', while the ark's halt had its own line, 'Return, LORD, to the countless thousands of Israel'.

Which lost work is quoted in Numbers 21 for a fragment about 'Zahab in Suphah and the ravines'?

The Book of the Wars of the LORD is referenced nowhere else in the Bible, one of several works scripture cites that have since been lost, such as the Book of Jashar.

Which quality does Numbers 12:3 credit Moses with more than any other man then alive?

Humility, 'very meek' in the King James, is claimed for Moses in the very chapter where his own brother and sister challenge his authority, and his sister is left leprous for seven days.

What does the name Meribah mean, shared with the Exodus 17 spring that was also called Massah?

Quarrelling is the sense of Meribah, and Psalm 95 warns 'do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah', whose own name means 'testing'.

How did Balaam, the seer who had blessed Israel from the hilltops, die according to Numbers 31?

Cut down in battle alongside the five kings of Midian, Balaam is blamed in Numbers 31:16 for advising the Midianites to lure Israel into sin, so the blessing and the betrayal came from the same mouth.

How many Israelites marched against Midian with Phinehas and came home with not one man missing?

12,000 men came back and their officers reported 'not one is missing', so they gave all the gold they had taken, 16,750 shekels of it, as an atonement offering.

What is the Hebrew title of the Book of Numbers, a word taken from its opening verse?

Bemidbar comes from the first verse's 'in the Desert of Sinai', while the English title follows the Greek Arithmoi, a nod to the two censuses that bracket the wandering years.

What did Moses do to Joshua before the whole assembly to commission him as Israel's next leader?

Laid his hands on him, and Deuteronomy 34 adds that Joshua was 'filled with the spirit of wisdom' as a result, the act Jewish tradition treats as the first rabbinic ordination, semikhah.

What title does Numbers 35 give the relative entitled to kill a murderer on sight?

The avenger of blood, go'el ha-dam, uses the same Hebrew word as the kinsman-redeemer who marries Ruth: a near relative duty-bound to act for the family.

From which range was Moses told to climb a mountain and view the land he would never enter?

Abarim is the range Deuteronomy 32 names again when Moses is sent up Mount Nebo to die there 'just as your brother Aaron died'.

How many died in the plague after Korah's revolt, before Aaron ran into the crowd with his censer?

14,700 died before Aaron's incense checked the plague as he 'stood between the living and the dead', on top of the 250 who had burned with their censers the day before.