The Book of Numbers tells about the people of Israel as they traveled from Mount Sinai in the wilderness to the Jordan River. While traveling, the Israelites became discouraged. So they rebelled against the leaders whom God had given them. At the Jordan River, the people of Israel refused to enter the Promised Land. Because the Israelites were afraid and did not trust God, he delayed their entry into the Promised Land for forty years (13:1–14:45). (See: [[rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/promisedland]])
The title of this book, "Numbers," refers to when the number of the Israelites was counted. The people of the project language may already be familiar with the name "Numbers" from other Bible versions. If not, the translator could consider a clearer name for the book, such as "The Counting of the People of Israel." (See: [[rc://en/tw/dict/bible/other/census]])
The writers of both the Old and New Testament present Moses as being very involved with writing the Book of Numbers. However, at a later time, scribes and priests probably put the book into its present form. They may have included text from other sources. One such source was "the scroll of the Wars of Yahweh" (21:14).
The people understood and assumed that God would punish the whole community of Israel if some of the people rebelled against him. God did often punish the entire nation when some of them sinned. All of the people in the ancient Near East would have understood and expected this. However, Moses and Aaron prayed for God to punish only those who were guilty.
#### Why does Moses speak using third person pronouns about himself? ####
When an author wrote about something he was involved in, it was common for him to use the pronoun "he" instead of "I," or "they" instead of "we." The translator may decide to use the project's normal pronouns instead.
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