Lost In Translation: Numbers 1-10
A guide to reading and interpreting Numbers 1-10.
Video transcript of Lost in Translation: Numbers 1-10, created by Church of the City:
Welcome back to Lost in Translation!
The Bible isn’t like any other book I’ve read. It’s a beautifully complex mixture of genres, stories, instructions, symbolism, and layers of meaning. It’s incredible!
But it can also be disorienting. Reading the Bible can feel like wandering through a foreign country—or a wilderness. That’s where Lost in Translation comes in: offering guidance to help us find our way.
Today, we’ll learn how to navigate the book of Numbers.
Literary Context
But before we get into Numbers, let’s quickly recap what’s come before it:
In Exodus, God rescued Israel from slavery in Egypt and brought them through the wilderness to Mount Sinai. There, He gave them the law and instructions for building the tabernacle—a sacred space where God’s presence could dwell among His people.
But there was a problem: The people couldn’t get close to the presence of God. They couldn’t enter the tabernacle because God is immortal and holy but humans are not. The book of Leviticus solves this problem: It’s packed with instructions for how Israel can live pure and holy lives and be near God’s presence.
In Numbers, the story picks up with Israel leaving Mount Sinai and traveling through the wilderness toward the land God promised.
Three Movements That Mirror Exodus
At this point, you might want to take some notes—keep those in your Bible and I think they could be a great help when you’re reading through Numbers.
Now, Numbers has a very clear three-part structure. It’s divided into three movements that are the mirror image of the book of Exodus.
In Exodus, God led his people out of a foreign land, through the wilderness, and to Mt. Sinai. In Numbers, God leads Israel from Mt. Sinai, through the wilderness, to a new land. See how Numbers is an inversion of Exodus?
So, the stories in Numbers are sometimes out of chronological order, and blocks of instructions or laws pop up out of nowhere—seemingly at random. But nothing is random. Everything is precisely placed to mirror Exodus.
Keep this in mind when you come across something that seems out of order in Numbers: Ask yourself, “How is this thing connected to something in the book of Exodus? How are these two things alike or different? What does this teach us?”
Replaying Genesis 1-9
But there’s another organizing principle at work in Numbers too. Numbers is organized to mirror Exodus—but also to retell the story of Genesis 1–9 over and over again.
Do you remember the first Star Wars movie—the one that came out in the 1900s? The first time we saw Darth Vader we heard that song, remember? [sing the Imperial March]
In every Star Wars movie after that, when we heard that song we knew Darth Vader was involved: He was somehow connected to what was happening on the screen—even if he wasn’t actually in the scene.
Sometimes the composer didn’t even play us the whole song! We might only hear a few notes but it was enough to remind us of Darth Vader and everything he and the Darkside were about.
In the same way, the author of Numbers will play the music from the Garden of Eden and we’re supposed to remember the choice Adam and Eve made there. He’ll give us a few notes from the flood story and we’re supposed to remember how God purified the land in Noah’s day. Those notes might only be a word or two, so we have to listen closely.
So, when we get lost, when something feels out of place, we need to follow the notes back to the first nine chapters of Genesis. We need to ask, “Where have we heard this song before? What is it supposed to remind us of? What meaning is the author trying to convey by bringing that scene to mind here and now?”
The best way to grasp this way of reading the Bible is to see it in action. So, let’s see how the music of Genesis 1-9 reappears in all three movements of Numbers—starting with Movement One.
Movement One: Numbers 1-10
Movement One covers the first ten chapters of Numbers. Israel is still camped at Mt.Sinai and God is preparing them to travel. Let’s look at just the first six chapters of this movement, listening for the music of Genesis 1-9.
In Numbers 1, a census is taken of the Israelites, and we learn that there are hundreds of thousands of them! God has blessed His people—they’ve been fruitful and multiplied in the wilderness. And we hear the music of Genesis 1, where God created Adam and Eve to “be fruitful and multiply.”
Then, in Numbers 2–4, God organizes the Israelite camp to be a replica of Eden in Genesis 1–2. Both are arranged in three concentric circles.
At the center of the Israelite camp is the tabernacle, where God’s presence dwells. Surrounding the tabernacle are the Levites, tasked with “working and keeping” it. Beyond the Levites are the other tribes of Israel. This layout matches Eden’s design: the Tree of Life at the center, surrounded by the garden that humans were to “work and keep,” with the broader land of Eden beyond that. And both Eden and Israel are surrounded by wilderness—sacred and set apart.
Then, the story is interrupted by four seemingly random laws. But remember, nothing is truly random in Numbers. We need to listen closely for the music.
The first of these laws is in Numbers 5:1–4. God gives instructions for dealing with ritual impurity. When a person becomes impure by touching things associated with decay and death, they’re to be sent outside the camp for a few days and then allowed to rejoin the community. And we hear the notes of Genesis 3, where Adam and Eve were sent out of Eden after their rebellion brought decay and death into the world.
The second law, in Numbers 5:5–10, tells the people what to do when one Israelite wrongs another. The guilty person must confess their sin and make restitution, restoring their relationship with both their brother and God. And there’s the melody from Genesis 4, when Cain murdered his brother Abel and refused to take responsibility.
The third law, in Numbers 5:11–30, is the most bizarre. It tells a husband what to do if he suspects his wife has been unfaithful. The wife is to drink a bitter mixture of sacred water and dust from the tabernacle, prepared by the priest. If she’s guilty, this mixed drink will bring a curse—infertility. But if she’s innocent, she won’t be harmed but she’ll be fruitful.
We’re reminded here of the first time sexual boundaries were crossed. In Genesis 6 the sons of God took the daughters of men. Their offspring spread so much violence in the land that God sent a flood to purify it. This strange ritual in Numbers 5 reenacts that story, when the waters cursed the land, stopping the guilty and vindicating the righteous to be fruitful and multiply.
The fourth and final law, in Numbers 6, introduces the Nazarite vow. Any Israelite—man or woman—can dedicate themselves fully to God and take on the lifestyle of a high priest by abstaining from wine, not cutting their hair, and avoiding contact with the dead. And there’s the melody of Genesis 9, where Noah, after leaving the ark, planted a vineyard, became drunk, and brought shame on himself and his family.
What Does All This Mean?
So, that’s a little sample of how we listen for the storyline of Genesis 1-9 throughout the book of Numbers. But now we need to reflect on why those connections are being made. What is God trying to show us?
In this example, Numbers 1–6 replays the story of Genesis 1–9 to show that God is restoring through Israel all that was lost. God organizes Israel’s camp to recreate Eden, with God dwelling at the center. The people are fruitful and multiplying again! God makes a way for impure exiles to rejoin the community—they aren’t banished from Eden forever like Adam and Eve. God provides a path for repairing the rift between siblings and God, preventing another Cain and Abel situation. God is preventing the unfaithful from producing rebel offspring that corrupt the land. And every Israelite can dedicate themselves fully to God, living the devoted life of a priest, like a new and better Noah. God is showing us that He’s not giving up on humanity. He’s committed to His people…no matter what.
Recap
Let’s review. Today, we learned about the unique design of Numbers: it mirrors the structure of Exodus and it replays the storyline of Genesis 1–9. Knowing this helps us find our way when we come across things that seem random or out of place. We practiced listening for the music of Genesis playing in Numbers and we learned to ask what God might be saying through those connections.
Reading the first movement of Numbers this way revealed how God was forming Israel to be a new Eden. Will this paradise last? Is there a snake in this Eden? Will the people of Israel make better choices than Adam and Eve did?
We’ll find out…in the next episode. See you next time!
