The book of Numbers is one of the less-studied books of the Bible, but it contains a wealth of wisdom for the people of God. It is primarily a narrative about the Israelites’ journey through the wilderness to the Promised Land. This narrative is interspersed with legal regulations that govern the relationship between God and his people, both during their journey and after they settle in the Promised Land. The book takes its name from the fact that the narrative is dominated by two military censuses (1:1–46; 26:1–65), one at the beginning of their sojourn in the wilderness, and the other at the end of their sojourn. But it contains much more than a couple of censuses. The theological purpose of the book is to show that while God punished the first generation of Israelites for their failure to enter and take possession of the Promised Land (Numbers 13–14), God mercifully allowed their descendants to take possession of it. Due to the shortness of time and space, we are not able to explore every part of this book, but we have chosen a representative sample of key passages, which reflect the major movements in the book and the most important theological themes.