Pilgrims' progress

John Woods reviews L. Michael Morales' Numbers commentaries.

The Book of Numbers is often a deserted stretch of highway on the preacher’s journey, or it is reduced to a swift greatest-hits tour through the more accessible bits. There are two problems for readers of the fourth book of the Pentateuch. First, its name, Numbers – who gets excited by chapter upon chapter of statistics? Secondly, it is a long and complex book that can often be difficult to follow.

Morales reminds us that the better name for the book is: “In the Wilderness”. That more helpfully points us to the spiritual journey aspect of this book, which resonates with the Christian’s journey of following Jesus. Morales is a competent and reliable guide, who can conduct the reader through the complexities of this often-neglected Biblical book.