Numbers by the Numbers

Tribe of Reuben 46,500
Tribe of Simeon 59,300
Tribe of Gad 45,650
Tribe of Judah 74,600
Tribe of Issachar 54,400
Tribe of Zebulun 57,400
Tribe of Ephriam 40,500
Tribe of Manasseh 32,200
Tribe Benjamin 35,400
Tribe of Dan 62,700
Tribe of Asher 41,500
Tribe of Naphtali 53,400

One silver plate weighing one hundred and thirty shekels
One young bull, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, five male lambs
Two hundred and fifty men were offering the incense
14,700 people died from the plague
Build me seven altars
A grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah, with the ram, two-tenths
Prepare the food for seven days
On the first day of the seventh month
On the tenth day of the seventh month
With each of the thirteen bulls, prepare two rams, fourteen male lambs…
On the fifth day prepare nine bull, two rams and fourteen lambs…
On the eighth day hold an assembly
From the soldiers, set apart one out of every five hundred…
The plunder was 675,000 sheep, 72,000 cattle, 61,000 donkeys, 32,000 virgins.
[yes, I said virgins]
Eleazar presented 16,750 shekels
Two and half tribes received their inheritance

Whew! My head is whirring. So I try to look at the broader application here. When I read such specifics, (and trust me, I only quoted a fraction here from Numbers) I am impressed by the apparently incredible accuracy in record-keeping. My conflict (and you must be getting used to my being conflicted) lies in the persona of God being so absorbed with numbers Himself. You must offer to me precisely one___, two___one-half___exactly four feet ___ and not more than ____ of exactly ___. God: the ultimate micro manager! I just see God as a macro manager, a “big picture” kind of guy who need not tax himself with minutia. Maybe I am wrong.

Speaking of numbers, here’s something to chew on: Yesterday, University of Arizona anthropologists reported finding a 1.2 million year old female pelvis. Boy that screws up biblical record-keeping! That is, unless you are a former creationist colleague of mine who, when asked to explain compelling remnant evidence of evolution found in the Grand Canyon, explained it away as “God’s placing of these objects to trick the non-believers.” WHAT?! I say, WHAT?! So now we can add the attribute of conniving to this God image.

Confession #39: These numerical details add credibility to this document being some sort of valid record of EVENTS. But it does nothing for me as evidence of the Lord’s actual so-called spoken directions to Moses and company.