4 Numbers

The book of Numbers matches the second half of Isaiah chapter 3 and Isaiah chapter 4. Numbers sits in slot 4 of the book order. The focus is on Miriam and the second census.

This is one of a number of places in Isaiah where the chapter break and the book break do not align. The reason for shifting Numbers back into Isaiah 3 is simply because there's no content in Leviticus that matches the theme in the second half of Isaiah 3, but the story of Miriam in the book of Numbers matches the theme just fine.

One effect of pushing Numbers back into the second half of Isaiah 3 is Numbers ends up with twice as much column space as Leviticus. One explanation for this is the way Leviticus has very little narrative. It's almost entirely a style of writting called "law." Numbers on the other hand is mostly narrative with law scattered in at places. For whatever reason Isaiah is commentating on story, not law.

One last consideration for why Numbers would back up into Leviticus comes from looking at the overall flow of things. Leviticus matches into Isaiah on the story of Aaron's ordination. Numbers begins matching into Isaiah on the story of Miriam's leprousy. There are 28 chapters between the two stories that Isaiah skips to make a deliberate linkage between the two stories. It appears that Isaiah does this because it wants us to compare the stories.

Aaron was ordained through a 7 day process that involved isolation in the tent. Afterwards God showed up in power. In Miriam's case the reverse happens. After bad mouthing Moses she is called to the tent where God shows in power. When he lifts she is found leprous and is isolated outside the camp for 7 days. Same story. Aaron's ordination is a type of promotion and carries a sense of honor. Miriam's story is a type of demotion (when she was trying to promote herself) and it is a disgrace.

To see a theme develop between where Isaiah leaves off matching in Leviticus and where he begins matching in Numbers is yet another piece of evidence that it is right to push Numbers back into Isaiah chapter 3 and that Leviticus is followed by Numbers in the book order.

Leaders Err

Two specific details in this quote from Isaiah 3 match what was happening in the story with Miriam in Numbers.

Isaiah	Numbers
13 Isaiah 3:12 ¹²The princes will pluck my people out, and women will rule over them. My people, your leaders have caused you to err, and disturbed the way of your paths.	4 Numbers 12:1-2 ¹And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married; for he had married a Cushite woman. ²And they said, Has Yahvah spoken only by Moses? Has he not also spoken by us? And Yahvah heard it.

The first detail is that the leaders are making the people err. In Numbers it was Aaron and Miriam who spoke wrongly about Moses. What we don't know from Numbers is that they spoke this way to the community in general and not just other leaders. Isaiah says the leaders led the people astray, not other leaders astray. It's also interesting to note from the Isaiah passage that God is apparently so pissed that he's talking to the community about what the leaders did wrong. This is profound, he's not talking to Aaron and Miriam, he's not telling the leaders that "you" did wrong. He's going behind their backs, like they did to Moses, and he's telling everyone else they blew it. He's restoring Moses' dignity. If Aaron and Miriam told you one thing about Moses and God another who would you believe? I'd go with what God says.

The second detail in this match is the way it specifies women ruling the people. Something was going on with Miriam that caused her to break out with leprousy where Aaron did not. Though Aaron was in the wrong, it is clear that Miriam was severly wrong in her attempt to elevate her role as a leader. Women will rule, or at least attempt to rule, over the people, and in so doing lead them astray. I don't think this means women can never lead, Isaiah is just dealing with what was happening in this story, which is a woman going about trying to lead in the wrong way and having an adverse effect on the community as a result. Similar stories occur later in Numbers and involve men trying to usurp, but with worse consequences (see Numbers 16).

Yahvah Judges

When Yahvah hears what Miriam had been saying about Moses and his wife he comes to the rescue and takes Aaron and Miriam to task.

Isaiah	Numbers
13 Isaiah 3:13-15 ¹³Yahvah stands up to plead, and stands to judge his people. ¹⁴Yahvah will enter into judgment with the elders of his people, and its princes; for you have burned the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses. ¹⁵Why did you sting my people, and shame the faces of the poor? says Yahvah, master of hosts.	4 Numbers 12:3-9 ³Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men that were on the face of the land. ⁴And Yahvah spoke suddenly to Moses and to Aaron and to Miriam, Come out, you 3, to the meeting tent. And the 3 of them came out. ⁵And Yahvah came down in a pillar of cloud and stood in the door of the tent and called Aaron and Miriam; and they both came forth. ⁶And Yahvah said to them, Hear now my words: If you are prophets, I, Yahvah, will reveal myself to you in a vision and will speak to you in a dream. ⁷Not so with my servant Moses, who is faithful in all my house. ⁸I will speak with him mouth to mouth, in a vision, and not in similes; and the glory of Yahvah he has seen: then why were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? ⁹And the anger of Yahvah was kindled against them; and he departed.

Isaiah

Numbers

13 Isaiah 3:13-15
¹³Yahvah stands up to plead, and stands to judge his people.
¹⁴Yahvah will enter into judgment with the elders of his people, and its princes; for you have burned the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
¹⁵Why did you sting my people, and shame the faces of the poor? says Yahvah, master of hosts.

4 Numbers 12:3-9
³Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men that were on the face of the land.
⁴And Yahvah spoke suddenly to Moses and to Aaron and to Miriam, Come out, you 3, to the meeting tent. And the 3 of them came out.
⁵And Yahvah came down in a pillar of cloud and stood in the door of the tent and called Aaron and Miriam; and they both came forth.
⁶And Yahvah said to them, Hear now my words: If you are prophets, I, Yahvah, will reveal myself to you in a vision and will speak to you in a dream.
⁷Not so with my servant Moses, who is faithful in all my house.
⁸I will speak with him mouth to mouth, in a vision, and not in similes; and the glory of Yahvah he has seen: then why were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?
⁹And the anger of Yahvah was kindled against them; and he departed.

There are several correlations in this match. First, Yahvah comes to judge the "elders" of the people. Isaiah is treating Aaron and Miriam as elders, or leaders, which we've already seen.

The second correlation is the question that occurs in both passages. In Isaiah the question is "Why did you shame the face of the poor?" The word for "poor" () here in Isaiah shares a two-letter root with the word "meek" () used to describe Moses in Numbers 12:3. So the question, "Why did you shame the poor?", can be treated as, "Why did you shame Moses?". It's a direct match. God asks the same question in the Numbers passage, "Why were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?"

Leprousy

The answer to why Miriam was not araid to speak against Moses in an attempt to elevate her leadership in the community apparently is an effect of the sins of the community. Stated another way, she's feeling political pressure to make a name for herself as a woman. Read on and see what you think.

Isaiah	Numbers
13 Isaiah 3:16-25 ¹⁶Because the daughters of Zion have become haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks, and wanton eyes, making a tinkling with their feet, and thus provoking Yahvah; ¹⁷therefore master will bring low the heads of the daughters of Zion, and Yahvah will lay bare their secret parts. ¹⁸In that day master will take away the beauty of their apparel; ¹⁹and their adornments and their necklaces and the braids of their hair and their chains and their hats and their veils, ²⁰the paint of their faces, their earrings and their strings of beads ²¹and the ornaments of their legs and their bracelets and nose rings, ²²the garments of varied colors and the mantles and the fine linens, the purple garments, ²³the long outer garments, the purple robes, the scarlet robes, the wardrobe of all their adornments. ²⁴And it will come to pass, that instead of a sweet smell there will be a stink; and instead of an ornamental belt, a worker's apron; and instead of curled hair, baldness; and instead of purple robes, a girding of sackcloth; for their beauty will be destroyed. ²⁵Your mighty men will fall by the sword, and your valiant men in the battle.	4 Numbers 12:10-13 ¹⁰And the cloud departed from off the tent; and look, Miriam became leprous, white as snow; and when Aaron turned toward Miriam, look, she was leprous; ¹¹then Aaron said to Moses, My master, I beg you, do not lay the sin on us, in which we have done foolishly and in which we have sinned. ¹²Do not let her be as one dead, of whom the flesh is 1/2 consumed when he comes out of his mother's womb. ¹³And Moses cried to Yahvah saying, Now heal her god, I beg you.

Isaiah

Numbers

13 Isaiah 3:16-25
¹⁶Because the daughters of Zion have become haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks, and wanton eyes, making a tinkling with their feet, and thus provoking Yahvah;
¹⁷therefore master will bring low the heads of the daughters of Zion, and Yahvah will lay bare their secret parts.

¹⁸In that day master will take away the beauty of their apparel;
¹⁹and their adornments and their necklaces and the braids of their hair and their chains and their hats and their veils,
²⁰the paint of their faces, their earrings and their strings of beads
²¹and the ornaments of their legs and their bracelets and nose rings,
²²the garments of varied colors and the mantles and the fine linens, the purple garments,
²³the long outer garments, the purple robes, the scarlet robes, the wardrobe of all their adornments.
²⁴And it will come to pass, that instead of a sweet smell there will be a stink; and instead of an ornamental belt, a worker's apron; and instead of curled hair, baldness; and instead of purple robes, a girding of sackcloth; for their beauty will be destroyed.
²⁵Your mighty men will fall by the sword, and your valiant men in the battle.

4 Numbers 12:10-13
¹⁰And the cloud departed from off the tent; and look, Miriam became leprous, white as snow; and when Aaron turned toward Miriam, look, she was leprous;
¹¹then Aaron said to Moses, My master, I beg you, do not lay the sin on us, in which we have done foolishly and in which we have sinned.
¹²Do not let her be as one dead, of whom the flesh is 1/2 consumed when he comes out of his mother's womb.
¹³And Moses cried to Yahvah saying, Now heal her god, I beg you.

Because the women of Zion are a certain way, Miriam attempts to rise in leadership. Wrong reason. Since the women of Zion effect someone like Miriam this way Yahvah turns around and deals with them and eventually stips them. Miriam on the other hand is made leprous for a time. These are a match in the sense that being unclothed reveals what's underneath and the leprousy on Miriam revealed something about her heart, something on the inside. This match also keys us into a gender dynamic in play that we don't otherwise see in this Israelite/Egyptian population.

Isaiah commits a lot of column space to describing the women of Zion. I think there's a mistake in how the grammar is parsed. It looks to me like Isaiah 3:15 should have a comma followed by a period after verse 16. And verse 17 should begin a new sentence and thought. This is a different parse then I've seen, but it makes sense of the context in Isaiah and agrees with the parallel matches going by in the book of Numbers.

The last thought in the Isaiah passage about the mighty men dying in battle seems out of place. Perhaps there's a translational issue here, but otherwise it may be the end result of this feminizing of leadership issue that is being addressed. Men suddenly cannot do what men sometimes have to do, like win against men from another country in a war. Curious thought. What do you think?

7 Days

The time frame for Miriam's leprousy and isolation outside the camp was 7 days according to Numbers. In Isaiah there are 7 women who have an issue with "disgrace."

Isaiah	Numbers
13 Isaiah 4:1 ¹And in that day 7 women will take hold of 1 man saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel; only let us be called by your name, to take away our disgrace.	4 Numbers 12:14-15 ¹⁴And Yahvah said to Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed 7 days? Let her be shut out from the camp 7 days, and after that let her come in again. ¹⁵And Miriam was shut out from the camp 7 days; and the people did not journey until Miriam came in again.

There's a principle in Scripture that whenever the Holy Spirit gives a count of something, whatever else it may be, it's a count of time. Joseph establishes this principle when he interprets the dreams given by the Holy Spirit to the baker and cupbearer (see Genesis 40). In this match we have 7 days and 7 women. The count of 7 women is a match to the 7 days of Miriam's (a woman) isolation outside the camp. The issue for the 7 women is their "disgrace." The words about Miriam in Numbers is that she is spending 7 days of "shame" outside the camp. So these passages match on the count and subject.

These women in Isaiah are apparently unclothed. These are, after all, the women of Zion that Yahvah just stripped at the end of Isaiah chapter 3. Now they need covering, whether clothes or a man, to remove their disgrace. In the Numbers account Miriam needs to come back into the camp, under the right leadership, to remove her shame.

Grapes

Now the focus shifts to the story of spying out the promised land.

Isaiah	Numbers
13 Isaiah 4:2 ²In that day the glory and honor of Yahvah will shine forth, and the fruit of the land will be excellent and pleasing for the remnant of Israel.	4 Numbers 13:23-24 ²³And they came as far as the valley of Eshcol, and cut down from there a branch with 1 bunch of grapes, and they carried it between 2 of them on a pole; and they brought some pomegranates and some figs. ²⁴That place was called the valley of Eshcol, because of the bunch of grapes which the sons of Israel cut down from there.

Isaiah talks about the "fruit of the land." In Numbers the story that follows Miriam's is the story of spying out the land, and one of the key details in that story is the branch of grapes the spies brought back to the camp to show how good the fruit of the land was. In fact, the fruit of the land was so good it took two men to carry one bunch of grapes. Isaiah says the fruit of the land will be enjoyed by the "remnant." The remnant will turn out to be the children that do not die in the desert over the next 38 years. It's to the remnant that we go next.

Second Census

There are two correlations in this match. See if you can spot them.

Isaiah	Numbers
13 Isaiah 4:3 ³And it will come to pass, that he who is left in Zion, and he who remains in Jerusalem, will be called holy, even everyone who is written among the living in Jerusalem,	4 Numbers 26:1-4 ¹And it came to pass after the plague that Yahvah said to Moses and to Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, ²Take a census of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, from 20 years old and upward, throughout their fathers' houses, all that are able to go to war in Israel. ³And Moses and Eleazar the priest talked with the people in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho. ⁴And Moses numbered them from 20 years old and upward, as Yahvah commanded Moses and the sons of Israel who went forth out of the land of Egypt.

Isaiah

Numbers

13 Isaiah 4:3
³And it will come to pass, that he who is left in Zion, and he who remains in Jerusalem, will be called holy, even everyone who is written among the living in Jerusalem,

4 Numbers 26:1-4
¹And it came to pass after the plague that Yahvah said to Moses and to Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest,
²Take a census of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, from 20 years old and upward, throughout their fathers' houses, all that are able to go to war in Israel.
³And Moses and Eleazar the priest talked with the people in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.
⁴And Moses numbered them from 20 years old and upward, as Yahvah commanded Moses and the sons of Israel who went forth out of the land of Egypt.

The first correlation is that we're dealing with "survivors." The ones that survived the 38 years in the wilderness to be counted in the second generation census are the children (19 and younger) of the adults who left Egypt. They are survivors because for 38 years everyone has been dying while wandering around the wilderness.

The second correlation is that these survivors are going to be "written" down. The census was most surely written down. We have the tribal counts to this day, written in the book of Numbers.

Death of Zelophehad

In Numbers the story following the second census is the daughters of Zelophehad coming to Moses to ask about inheritance rights in the law.

Isaiah	Numbers
13 Isaiah 4:4 ⁴when master will have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and will have purged the bloodshed from the middle of Jerusalem, by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of purging.	4 Numbers 27:1-4 ¹Then came the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Makir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph. And these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Tirzah. ²And they stood before Moses and before Eleazar the priest and before the princes and all the congregation at the door of the meeting tent saying, ³Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not in the company of those who revolted before Yahvah in the company of Korah; but he died in his own sins and had no sons. ⁴Why should the name of our father be lost from among his family because he had no son? Give to us therefore a possession among the brothers of our father.

Isaiah

Numbers

13 Isaiah 4:4
⁴when master will have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and will have purged the bloodshed from the middle of Jerusalem, by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of purging.

4 Numbers 27:1-4
¹Then came the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Makir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph. And these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Tirzah.
²And they stood before Moses and before Eleazar the priest and before the princes and all the congregation at the door of the meeting tent saying,
³Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not in the company of those who revolted before Yahvah in the company of Korah; but he died in his own sins and had no sons.
⁴Why should the name of our father be lost from among his family because he had no son? Give to us therefore a possession among the brothers of our father.

The testimony of these women is that their father died in the wilderness for his sins. Isaiah is dealing with how God "purged" (past tense) the filfth of the women of Zion. This is interesting because it suggests the women of Zion stuff earlier has some application to the whole generation of people that died in the wilderness, such as Zelophehad, the father of these women. It also suggests that these women are not like the women of Zion, for they are rightly submitted to Moses and the law and have survived the "purging."

Daily Offerings

The next story in Numbers is the schedule for daily offerings that the priests were to make. In Isaiah a picture is painted of a cloud and smoke and fire that provides a covering.

Isaiah	Numbers
13 Isaiah 4:5-5:0 ⁵And Yahvah will create on every dwelling place of mount Zion, all around, a cloud by day, and the smoke and shining of a flaming fire by night; for the glory of Yahvah will be a shelter over all. ⁶And there will be a shelter for a shade in the day time from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a shelter from the storm and from the rain.	4 Numbers 28:1-8 ¹And Yahvah spoke to Moses and said to him, ²Command the sons of Israel and say to them, My offerings and the bread of my offerings made by fire for a sweet savor to me they will observe, to offer to me in their due season. ³And you will say to them, This is the offering made by fire which you will offer to Yahvah: 2 lambs of the 1st year without blemish day by day for a continual burnt offering. ⁴The one lamb you will offer in the morning and the other lamb you will offer at evening; ⁵and 1/10th part of an ephah of fine flour for a meal offering, mixed with 1/4th part of a hin of beaten oil. ⁶It is a continual burnt offering which was ordained in mount Sinai for a sweet savor, a sacrifice made by fire to Yahvah. ⁷And its drink offering will be a 4th of a hin for the one lamb; in the holy place you will pour out the old wine before Yahvah for a drink offering. ⁸And the other lamb you will offer at evening; as the meat offering of the morning and as its drink offering you will offer it, a sacrifice made by fire for a sweet savor to Yahvah.

Isaiah

Numbers

13 Isaiah 4:5-5:0
⁵And Yahvah will create on every dwelling place of mount Zion, all around, a cloud by day, and the smoke and shining of a flaming fire by night; for the glory of Yahvah will be a shelter over all.
⁶And there will be a shelter for a shade in the day time from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a shelter from the storm and from the rain.

4 Numbers 28:1-8
¹And Yahvah spoke to Moses and said to him,
²Command the sons of Israel and say to them, My offerings and the bread of my offerings made by fire for a sweet savor to me they will observe, to offer to me in their due season.
³And you will say to them, This is the offering made by fire which you will offer to Yahvah: 2 lambs of the 1st year without blemish day by day for a continual burnt offering.
⁴The one lamb you will offer in the morning and the other lamb you will offer at evening;
⁵and 1/10th part of an ephah of fine flour for a meal offering, mixed with 1/4th part of a hin of beaten oil.
⁶It is a continual burnt offering which was ordained in mount Sinai for a sweet savor, a sacrifice made by fire to Yahvah.
⁷And its drink offering will be a 4th of a hin for the one lamb; in the holy place you will pour out the old wine before Yahvah for a drink offering.
⁸And the other lamb you will offer at evening; as the meat offering of the morning and as its drink offering you will offer it, a sacrifice made by fire for a sweet savor to Yahvah.

There are several correlations in this match. First the fire and smoke that provides "covering" mentioned in Isaiah is the same fire and smoke of the daily burnt offerings scheduled in Numbers. A burnt offering clearly is a fire and puts off smoke and provides a covering for the sins of the community. This correlation has three details.

The second correlation in this general match is the time. Isaiah says there will be a cloud by day and a fire by night. In Numbers the schedule for the daily offerings involves a morning and evening sacrifice. So the morning sacrifice would burn in the daylight, making a cloud of smoke, and the evening sacrifice would burn in the dark, where the fire becomes the most visible sign.

People often want to link this reference with the pillar of fire and cloud that Israel followed in the wilderness, and that's not necessarily wrong, it's probably related in fact, but the way the second half of Isaiah chapter 3 and Isaiah chapter 4 match stories in Numbers, one after another, this fire and smoke reference in Isaiah is best explained as a description of the normal activity of the daily burnt offering performed by the priests. This does make me think, though, that the way God manifested as a pillar of fire by night and a cloud (of smoke?) by day was prefiguring the daily sacrifice that he eventually established in Israel.

By Ryan Eaton
Posted Thursday, Gad 20, 13001