Numbers 1: Group Study Handout

How to use: read Numbers 1 aloud together, then take the questions in order. One page is enough for an evening.

Overview

Yahweh spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai and commanded him to take a census of the men. This census should include every male from twenty years old and upward who could go to war (vv. 1-3).

Key verse

“As Yahweh commanded Moses, so he counted them in the wilderness of Sinai.”
Numbers 1:19 (WEB)

Outline

Numbers 1:1–16 God Commands the Census
Numbers 1:17–19 Assembly and Ancestry
Numbers 1:20–46 Tribal Counts
Numbers 1:47–54 Exclusion of the Levites

Discussion questions

In v2, what specific demographic is Moses instructed to count among the Israelites?
What is the total number of men counted in v46 who are able to go out to war?
The command in v49 about the Levites: why are they excluded from the census of Israel?
In v53, what does it mean for the Levites to encamp around the Tabernacle of the Testimony?
When have you felt a need for organization and structure in your own community like the Israelites did?

Go deeper

Passages that echo Numbers 1: Numbers 2, Numbers 26, Numbers 7.

Before next time: read Numbers 2.