Week 7 Numbers 10
A couple of years ago while I was reading Numbers I noticed that during the second year after Israel’s departure from Egypt…the Israelites set out from the wilderness of Sinai and travelled on.
I made a note of it then because it surprised me. I knew that Israel arrived at Mount Sinai in the Sinai wilderness back in Exodus 19: the Israelites arrived in the wilderness of Sinai exactly two months after they left Egypt. Did that mean that the 22-chapters left in Exodus + all of Leviticus + the first 10-chapters of Numbers took place at Sinai? All 59-chapters in the one location?
I figured that this year I’d try tracking it a bit more carefully. I jotted it down on a list every time Sinai was mentioned between Exodus 19 and Numbers 10 (and since I know from experience how easy it is to fall into a reader’s trance I ended up double-checking my list in a word book ).
I found half a dozen Sinai-mentions in Exodus. Plus four in Leviticus. And seven in Numbers 1-9 (the last verse of Leviticus and the first verse of Numbers agreed on the location – still in Sinai).
So I’m pretty sure that out of the 187 chapters in the five books of Moses 59 of them – almost 32% – took place in the Sinai wilderness.
I realize this doesn’t really qualify as Critical Information to Know. But it answered a question that had me curious.
Note: quotes from Numbers 10:11-12 Exodus 19:1 (NLT)