March 5: Numbers 19:1 – Numbers 21:35

Laws for Purification – Numbers 19

• God tells Moses to have the people bring a red heifer (with no defect and on which a yoke has never been placed) and give it to Eleazar. He will take it outside the camp and sacrifice it, then sprinkle some of its blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times. It should then be burned along with cedarwood, hyssop, and scarlet yarn. The priest and anyone else involved will then bathe and wash their clothes. The ashes (of this sin offering) will then be used for cleansing unclean people.
• Instructions are given for uncleanness after touching a dead body, and for using ashes from the sin offering, water, and hyssop to cleanse unclean people and their belongings. Unclean people are to be cleansed on the third and seventh days, and then they will be clean. Those who do not cleanse themselves will be cut off from the people.

The Death of Miriam – Numbers 20

• In the first month, Miriam dies in Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, and is buried there.

The Waters of Meribah

• The Hebrew people complain to Moses and Aaron because they have no water. Moses and Aaron fall on their faces before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and God tells Moses to assemble the people and tell the rock before them to yield water for the people and cattle.
• Moses does as instructed, but instead of speaking to the rock to bring water, he hits it with his staff (as he did in Exodus 17). For this disobedience, God tells Moses that he will not bring the people into the Promised Land.

Edom Refuses Passage

• Moses sends messengers to the king of Edom (the people descended from Esau), asking that he and the Hebrew people be allowed passage through the land. He assures the king that they will not go through fields or vineyards, and will not take water from any wells, only following the King's Highway.
• The king refuses them passage, and comes against them with a large army. Israel turns away.

The Death of Aaron

• The Hebrew people journey from Kadesh to Mount Hor. There God tells Moses to bring Aaron and his son Eleazar up onto Mount Hor and place Aaron's garments on Eleazar, because Aaron will die there. Moses does as instructed, and Aaron dies on the mountain top. Moses and Eleazar return to the people belong, and Israel weeps for thirty days.

Arad Destroyed – Numbers 21

• When the Canaanite, the king of Arad, hears that Israel is coming, he fights against them and takes some captive. Israel vows that if the Lord will give over the king and his people to their hand, they will destroy the cities (Deut. 20 states that Canaanite cities that resist Israel will be destroyed). The Lord gives over the Canaanites, and Israel destroys their cities.

The Bronze Serpent

• Israel sets out toward the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. The people complain about being in the wilderness with no food or water, and the Lord sends fiery serpents among the people. They bite the people, and many people die.
• The people go to Moses, repent for their sins, and ask Moses to pray to God to take away the serpents. Moses prays, and God tells him to take a serpent of bronze and place it on a pole, and that when whoever has been bitten sees it, he will live. Moses does as instructed.

The Song of the Well

• Israel journeys on. When they reach Beer, God tells Moses to gather people together at a well. The Hebrew people sing of the well, and then move on, ending up in the valley by the top of Pisgah, in the region of Moab.

King Sihon Defeated

• Israel sends messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, asking to pass through their land. Again they say they will stay only on the King's Highway, but Sihon refuses and gathers all his people against Israel. The Hebrew people defeat them and take possession of their land. The Hebrew ballad singers sing of their victory.

King Og Defeated

• Israel lives in the land of the Amorites, and Moses sends out spies to Jazer, and they capture the villages there. The Israelites then head up toward Bashan, and King Og comes against them. They defeat him and his people and take possession of their lands as well.