Numbers 18 – Levites and priests

• Numbers 18:1-7 – God reminds them of their roles.
• Numbers 18:9-19 – The priests get the portions of the offerings and sacrifices.
• Numbers 18:20-24 – The tribe of Levi would have no land inheritance in Canaan. They would have the tithe.
• Numbers 18:25-32 – The Levites would need to give a tithe of the tithe to the Lord.

Numbers 19

• Numbers 19:1-9 – This was to be purification from sin, but seems to also have been for hygiene. See Exodus 15:26.
  • None of These Diseases by S.I. McMillen, MD and David E. Stern, MD
• Numbers 19:11-13 – Uses for the water of purification.
  • Germ theory – Dr Ignaz Semmelweis
• Numbers 19:14-22 – Rules for uncleanness. All of these are spiritual laws, but make sense as rules for hygiene as well.

Numbers 20 – Meribah

• Numbers 20:1 – Miriam dies and is buried.
• Numbers 20:2-13 – Moses sins in bringing water to the people.
  • Exodus 17:1-7
  • Psalms 106:32-33 – Moses “spoke rashly with his lips.”
• Numbers 20:14-21 – Edom refuses passage of Israel through his land.
• Numbers 20:22-29 – Aaron dies. Moses sets up Aaron’s son Eleazer as his successor.

Numbers 21

• Numbers 21:1-3 – God gives Israel victory at Hormah, the same place they had lost a battle forty years earlier.
• Numbers 21:4-9 – The bronze serpent.
  • II Kings 18:4 – The Israelites started worshipping this serpent and were still doing so 700 years later!
  • John 3:14-15
• Numbers 21:21-35 – Israel starts defeating kings of Canaan.