Geographic Setting
The book of Numbers contains three geographic settings, providing a thematic and theological program for the book. The Desert of Sinai (Nu 1:1–10:10) is where the Israelites who had departed from Egypt spent almost a year encamped at the base of Mount Sinai, the mountain of God. There Moses and the Israelites encountered God, received the gift of the law, constructed the tabernacle and its holy furnishings, and prepared for the journey through the wilderness to the promised land. The final location was the plains of Moab, across the Jordan River from Jericho (Nu 22:1–36:13), where the second generation of Israelites was prepared for the conquest of their promised inheritance in the land of Canaan. The Israelites journeyed for more than 38 years through several rugged wilderness regions between Mount Sinai and the plains of Moab (the second setting: chs. 10:11–21:35).
Historical Setting
Archaeologists and historians date the Israelite wilderness sojourn to the middle or latter part of the Late Bronze Age (1550–1200 BC) in the ancient Near East. The world of Egypt, the eastern Mediterranean and Mesopotamia experienced dramatic political and territorial transitions during this era. Egypt would conquer the lands of Canaan and beyond under the Eighteenth Dynasty kings Thutmose I and Thutmose III, but Egyptian power would diminish under the reign of Amenhotep IV/Akhenaton. During the fifteenth century BC, Egypt exacted extensive political and economic control over the region extending to the Hittite border to the north. Yet in the fourteenth century BC, as the Amarna letters reflect, the Egyptians experienced a significant loss of power among loyal Canaanite puppet-kings due to invasions from the Hapiru, Shasu and other marauding bands. Then the Nineteenth Dynasty kings Seti I and Ramses II restored the Egyptian hegemony over much of Canaan, having established a boundary with the Hittites at Qadesh on the Orontes River.
The importance of this information is that whatever the specific dates of these events (see the article “Historicity of the Exodus”), God delivered the Israelites from Egypt during the reign of a powerful pharaoh who oversaw a vast empire that stretched through much of the land of Canaan. The wilderness sojourn in the Sinai wilderness as described in the book of Numbers came at a time when Egyptian focus was on maintaining the lucrative trade routes through northern Sinai and into Canaan. The southern two-thirds of the Sinai region was less in focus during this era. Thus the Israelites’ experiences with God were less likely to be impacted by the imperial pursuits of her former taskmasters. ◆
Key Concepts
• Some generations fail and lose benefits and privileges, but God faithfully offers new opportunities for faithfulness.
• Submission to God and trust in his plan and provision are essential to God’s people.