ABSTRACT
The book of Numbers starts with Israel at Sinai. The main fireworks of revelation by Yahweh and making a covenant, together with its main stipulations, have already been dealt with in the books of Exodus and Leviticus. The narrative starts to look towards the conquest of the land. The Israelites first establish an organised military-based community that is to march towards the land of Canaan. At the end of the first segment of the book, they march out from Sinai, guided by Yahweh's presence through the ark and a pillar of cloud. The first chapter of Numbers depicts a census that serves to shape the community towards its goal of setting out from Sinai towards the promised land so as to conquer it. The description of a test for adultery belongs to legal material only loosely connected with its narrative context.
