OVERVIEW: There are three relevant topics in the book of Numbers with its eight relevant passages located in six chapters (out of thirty-six). However, these three topics have been already discussed in each of the three previous studies (on Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus).
Because of the repetition seen in Numbers regarding the phrase “gathered to your people,” it now can be said that Scripture has quoted God as telling both Abraham and Moses that the time had come for them to die, and furthermore, God specifically told both of them they would be gathered together with their people.
The second subject is the name of the place where the minds of the deceased are gathered at death, Sheol. What is new with these passages in Numbers is that Moses himself is quoted as mentioning Sheol as the destination of those Israelites (e.g., Korah) that had sinned horribly against God. As soon as Moses finished speaking, vv. 31-32 tell us that the ground opened up where the rebels had assembled and swallowed them up due to their disobedience.
The third subject is the wicked being cut off with three more instances where God has been quoted using this terminology. Rather than repeating some of what is contained in my study of Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus, the reader is referred to them.
One biblical commentator, Timothy Ashley, will be quoted here from his “Book of Numbers” contribution to the NICOT series. In his preface he wrote the following.
In spite of the difficulties that confront modern readers of this book, “the point of the book of Numbers is important for God’s people in any age: Exact obedience to God is crucial. Numbers makes the point most especially through examples of disobedience such as those found in chapters 11-21. Although it is clear that God punishes disobedience, at the heart of the book of Numbers is the God who, while demanding exact obedience, is constantly revealing ways in which Israel can render that obedience through new torah (i.e., teaching) [Ashley, ix].”
Section A: Gathered to your people at death
There are three passages in Numbers that repetitively describe what God had told Moses about what will happen to him at death using the phrase, gathered to your people.
“The Lord said to Moses … you will be gathered to your people (Num 31:1-2, NIV).”
“The Lord said to Moses, ‘Go up this mountain of the Abarim range, and see the land that I have given to the Israelites. When you have seen it, you also shall be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was (Num 27:12-13, NRSV).”
“The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor by the border of the land of Edom, saying: ‘Aaron shall be gathered to his people, for he shall not enter the land which I have given to the children of Israel, because you rebelled against My word at the water of Meribah … for Aaron shall be gathered to his people and die there’ (Num 20:23-24, 26, NKJV).”
Section B: Gathered to Sheol at death
Numbers tells us that Moses knew about Sheol, referred to Sheol, and described Sheol as something that happens when people die. As the next passage of Scripture shows, the scarcity of details about Sheol may be suggesting that people back then already were aware of it.
“Moses said … ‘If the Lord brings about an entirely new thing and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that is theirs, and they descend alive into Sheol, then you will understand that these men have spurned the Lord’ (Num 16:28, 30, NASB).”
Ashley offers the following comments on Sheol. “Sheol is the realm of the dead. It is difficult to know from this passage the concept of Sheol at this time, except to say that it was conceived of as . . . a place where someone would not normally go while still alive. That these men might go to Sheol alive may indicate that they would suffer in a way more intense than those who were dead [Ashley, 318].” Ashley also writes there that “Sheol was evidently thought of as dark (e.g.. Job 7:9-10; 10:21; 38:17; Ps. 88:11-13) and silent (Ps. 94:17) [Ashley, 318, fn 68].” The biblical citations in this quote above are original with the author.
Section C: Cut off from your people at death
Notice the following three passages in Numbers that say a person is to be “cut off.” To fully understand this divine action, it is necessary to include many passages in the NT with this OT study (and particularly in the Gospels which quote Jesus and his description of it).
“But the person who acts defiantly, whether native or resident alien, blasphemes the Lord. That person is to be cut off from his people (Num 15:30, CSB).”
“Whosoever [disobeys God’s commandments] … defileth the tabernacle of the Lord; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel (Num 19:13, KJV).”
“If anyone who is unclean does not purify himself from sin, then that soul will be cut off from the midst of the assembly, for the sanctuary of Yahweh has he defiled (Num 19:20, CVOT).”
Ω Ω Ω
This concludes my study on Numbers. Six of the eight primary Bible translations have been quoted once (NIV, NRSV, NKJV, NASB, CSB, and KJV). Only one version from the secondary list (CVOT) has been used here.
Quoted Passages in Numbers (8 total / 3 highly rated verses):
Rating of 5:
None
Rating of 4:
Numbers 20:23-24, 26
Numbers 27:12-13
Numbers 31:1-2
Rating of 3:
Numbers 15:30
Numbers 16:28, 30
Numbers 16:33
Numbers 19:13
Numbers 19:20
Rating of 2:
None
Quoted Passages Not in Numbers:
None quoted