• : Numbers Chapters
• 15:
• 30-41
• , 17, 20:
• 1-13, 22-29
• , 21:
• 4-9
• , 27:
• 12-23
• Deliberately sinning & stoning Sabbath violator
• Phylacteries
• Aaron's rod buds
• Moses's error at Kadesh
• Aaron dies
• Eleazar made the high priest
• The bronze serpent
• Moses ordains Joshua
• Key Verses and Themes
• Chapter 15
• Phylacteries:
• Num. 15:37-40

These tassels are known as "phylacteries".

• Chapter 17
• Aaron's rod buds:

Num. 17:8

Aaron's rod buds among the 12 rods of the tribes of Israel, blossoming and yielding ripe almonds.

• Chapter 20
• Water from the rock:
• Num. 20:11

Moses strikes a rock twice, and abundant waters flow out.

• Aaron dies:

Num. 20:27-29

Aaron dies atop Mount Hor, and his eldest remaining son, Eleazar, is made high priest by Moses.

• Chapter 21
• Serpent lifted up:

Num. 21:8-9

Moses sets a bronze serpent on a pole (of wood) to save those bitten by the venomous snakes of the plague.

• Chapter 27
• Laying on of hands:

Num. 27:18-20

God commands Moses to lay his hand on his successor, Joshua, in front of all the people.

References to the New Testament & our Church practices

Matthew 23:1-5

V.5 talks about these tassels! Now you know! Also, V.1 mentions Moses's seat, but that's not in the Bible; we have not, nor will, read that... so Jesus does not uphold "Sola Scriptura" 🙂

• Aaron's rod
• Hebrews 9:4

Now we know what all 3 things inside the Ark of the Covenant were!

• Water from the rock

1 Corinthians 10:3-4

Discussed in Week 4 of Exod. Here, the rock is struck twice because there were 2 planks of wood on the cross.

• Serpent lifted up
• John 3:14-15

See discussion questions.

• Laying on of hands

Acts 6:2-6, Acts 8:14-17, Acts 13:1-3, 1 Timothy 4:14. 2 Timothy 1:6

There are many verses here, so absolutely see the discussion questions below for this very important topic!!!

• Discussion Questions
• Numbers 15

What does “presumptuously” mean in V.30?

It means anyone who sins deliberately AND in defiance. The person who sins that way is to be cut off and bears his guilt. This is why in the first few chapters of Leviticus, there is no sin offering outline for intentional sin; under the Law, it was assumed you would never intentionally sin, and if you did, then you were guilty and would face death.

Why is the man gathering sticks on the Sabbath stoned?

Consider the context; just before this event is told are the verses on not deliberately and defiantly sinning. So this person not only has this going against him, but also remember that in

Exod. 31:14-15

, it says anyone who does “any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death”.

Why are we reading this? Think about the past few chapters with the Israelites complaining/rebelling and what God did to punish them…

Now consider it every time you skip a Sunday raza, the Lord’s Day, because you want to sleep in, go on a trip, don’t feel like it, or choose anything else that is invalid...

• READ AFTER CHAP 15:

Chapter 16 Summary

Chapter 16 describes two rebellions against Moses and Aaron and their spiritual authority, particularly Aaron’s priesthood: The rebellion of 250 Israelite chieftains at the instigation of Korah, a Levite, and the uprising of Dathan and Abiram, both of which are woven together in the chapter. Korah, Dathan, & Abiram are swallowed by the land, and the 250 are burnt alive while offering unwarranted incense.

After that, the Israelites STILL complain about Moses and Aaron, prompting the Lord to again tell Moses “Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment”, again revealing to Moses that he can interceded and save them,

see Exod. Week 7 Moses’s intercession.

Moses and Aaron this time intercede, with Aaron atoning for the people in the midst of them dying from a plague the Lord sent, stopping it after 14,700 additional Israelites die.

• Numbers 17

What happens in this chapter?

Coming off the rebellions in chapter 16, God further demonstrates His authority and emphasizes that Aaron and Moses are His designated leaders for the people of Israel. Korah’s rebellion in ch. 16 was an attempt to usurp the divinely ordained priesthood; this chapter offers up a test to convince the people that Aaron’s authority was greater than that of the tribal chieftains, like Korah and his men.

So Moses placed a rod for each father’s house, meaning one rod representing each of the 12 tribes, i.e. Judah, Levi, Issachar, etc., before the Ark inside the Holy of Holies, and Aaron’s rod budded.

Moses had special access to the Holy of Holies despite not being a high priest because of his rank as a prophet and chosen servant of God, sort of suggesting he was “above the law”. This is another example of him being a prefigurement of Christ, because Christ as God is literally the Giver of the law. Remember also Moses’s closeness to God.

Chapters 18-19 cover more laws regarding the priests, and purification for touching a corpse.

• Numbers 20

What was Moses’s error in this chapter?

God said to speak to the rock in front of all the Israelites, and water would flow out, but Moses said “must

• we

bring out water from this rock…” and struck it twice with his rod.

How did God react to Moses not listening to Him?

He promised that Moses would not enter the promised land nor lead the people into it. Aaron also would not enter for this same reason, and dies a little after this incident.

Why did Moses himself put Aaron’s high priestly clothes on Eleazar, and why did they go on top of the mountain to do it?

They went atop the mountain so that all of Israel could see, preventing dispute or rebellion about Eleazar’s authority after Aaron’s death.

Moses places the clothes to remove suspicion of human ambition — the people would see that Eleazar did not take the office himself, but received it through God’s command via Moses.

Why are Aaron’s own garments passed down?

Aaron’s garments symbolize the dignity of the priesthood. Their being passed from Aaron to Eleazar shows the continuity of God’s covenant — priesthood did not die with a man, but was handed on.

So too, apostolicity does not die with the original apostles; it is passed down through the laying on of hands.

• Numbers 21
• SERPENT LIFTED UP:

What does Christ mean in John 3:14-15?

He is obviously referring to what we just read in Numbers, that’s first.

But why does He compare Himself to this bronze serpent?

The Israelites were bitten by these fiery serpents and died from their wounds.

1. Sins & vices, strike and wound man, leading to spiritual & physical death

• (the wages of sin are death, remember this from
• Romans 6:23

FOREVER)

. Adam & Eve, a.k.a man, were led into sin by a serpent, and from being immortal, they became mortal

• (died)

by sinning. These fiery serpents thus represent sin.

he Serpent was the likeness of the fiery serpents; made of bronze, it was not venomous.

2. Christ took on the likeness of our flesh, His body was made of human flesh but without sin.

The serpent was lifted up on a pole; whoever, physically looked at it with eyes, was saved from the fatal bites and lived.

3. Christ was lifted up on the Cross; whoever looks with spiritual eyes at the body of the Messiah nailed and suspended on the cross and believes in Him will live spiritually.

The serpent, being bronze, by nature cannot die.

4. Christ, being God, cannot die (in Divine nature).

The serpent, a symbol of death, became an instrument for healing and life.

5. The Cross, an instrument of shame and death, becomes the symbol of healing and life.

St. Justin the Marty

r “God through Moses announced a mystery by which He proclaimed that He would break the power of the serpent, who prompted the sin of Adam. He promises that He would deliver from the bites of the serpent (that is, evil actions, idolatries and other sins) all those who believe in Him who was to be put to death by this sign, namely, the Cross”.

• Numbers 27
• LAYING ON OF HANDS:

Why does Moses lay his hand on Joshua if he has the Spirit?

• In
• v.18
• , God says that Joshua
• already

has the Spirit in him.

Very quick side note on this. The Holy Spirit, being eternal, as it’s 1 person of the Trinity, did not come into existence at Pentecost. The OT Spirit was given in measures to empower roles, like prophets, kings, and leaders. In the NT, the Holy Spirit is abundantly given out to the Church and to man for eternal life, Christ-like Holiness, and to dwell permanently in man as temples of the Spirit. We will discuss this eventually.

Back to Joshua… if God said he already had the Spirit, then why does Moses need to lay his hand on him?

To teach us:

Joshua already had a personal endowment of the Spirit, but Moses laying his hands on him marked him out as successor in governance, giving him the office and authority of himself.

Like how Moses took Aaron’s garments and gave them to Eleazar in the audience of all the Israelites, it also shows that Joshua was divinely chosen, not chosen by man.

But do we see this elsewhere in the Bible?

Abraham’s successors received the laying on of hands too, remember Isaac, Jacob, & Joseph’s 2 sons.

Does the New Testament share this idea?

First, remember that Christ gave His apostles explicit authority, and the Holy Spirit.

• Authority:
• Matthew 16:18-19
• to St. Peter, then
• Matthew 18:18,
• to all disciples
• Holy Spirit:

John 20:21-23

to all disciples. Christ breathes the Spirit because God breathed Adam’s spirit in

• Gen. 2:7
• Power to forgive sins:
• John 20:23

to all disciples. Remember, this means in authority to withhold Eucharist.

Christ clearly gave the disciples authority, without explicitly laying His hands, because, as God, He breathed onto them like how God breathed into Adam his spirit, and how God appointed Moses divinely and by signs. So God in His initial appointments of people, we can say does not lay hands, i.e. God directly to man won’t lay His hand. Examples are:

• God ⇒ Abraham
• God ⇒ Moses

Christ ⇒ Apostles

But Abraham’s successors and Moses’s successors both receive the laying on of hands, so

God⇒ man⇒ man

calls for this, no? We know that man himself does not choose his successor, because God chose Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and now Joshua to succeed, but the laying on of hands still occurred.

Do the apostles continue the God⇒ man⇒ man trend?

• Acts 6:2-6
• Acts 8:14-17

Acts 13:1-3,

Does St. Paul agree that the laying on hands is necessary and gives full measure of the Holy Spirit?

• 1 Timothy 4:14

2 Timothy 1:6

So the Church ordains by laying on hands. The Church gives authority by laying on hands. The Church gives the Holy Spirit’s full measure by laying on hands.

St. John Chrysostom,

“what was then done with Moses and Joshua is now fulfilled with the apostles & those appointed”.

• This Week's Study

Prepare for a short exam and game review next week.