Numbers, it has been said, simply records the highlights of Israel’s wilderness trek. To that I would respond, (1) it seems to me to be more of a record of Israel’s low-lights (not highlights) and (2) there’s really nothing “simply” or simple about the book. Not long after the Israelites leave Sinai and approach Canaan, trouble begins—and the trouble is relentless, throughout Numbers. Unfortunately, many read Numbers and castigate the Hebrews for their disbelief, for their complaining, and for their forfeiting their rights to Canaan for a season. The problem, for most, becomes those people over there, those Jews. For me, however, this isn’t as much a story about Jews as it is a story about humanity— all of us.