Where Is Jesus Found in the Book of Numbers?
Short answer
Jesus is found in the book of Numbers most clearly in two places. In John 3:14-15 he links the bronze serpent Moses lifted up in the wilderness to his own lifting up, and in 1 Corinthians 10:4 Paul names the rock that followed Israel as Christ. Other Christian readings, including the Star out of Jacob in Numbers 24:17, the red heifer, and the cities of refuge, are traditional readings rather than direct New Testament statements.
Jesus is found in the book of Numbers most clearly in two passages. The bronze serpent in Numbers 21 is linked to his own lifting up in John 3:14-15, and the rock in Numbers 20 is named as Christ by Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:4. Other Christian readings of the book rest on tradition.
Numbers covers wilderness journeys, census lists, camp laws, and rebellions. Its connections to Christ are uneven. The New Testament explicitly connects only some of its scenes to Jesus, and the rest depend on how readers interpret the text.
The Bronze Serpent Lifted Up in Numbers 21
In Numbers 21:8-9, the Lord tells Moses to make a fiery serpent and set it upon a pole. Anyone bitten by a serpent who looks at it will live. Moses makes a serpent of brass, and the text says that a bitten man who beheld it lived.
John 3:14-15 supplies the link. Jesus says that as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, the Son of man must be lifted up. The verse then names the result for the one who believes.
That reader should not perish but have eternal life. Jesus himself makes the comparison, so it is the clearest New Testament link in the book. The wording of the story also matters.
The command calls the serpent fiery, but the object Moses makes is brass. The text ties the living to looking at it.
The Rock That Gave Water in Numbers 20
The rock is the second firm link, and Paul states it outright. In 1 Corinthians 10:4, he says the people drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. The New Testament names the rock, so it is a clear link.
Numbers 20:11 describes Moses lifting his hand and striking the rock twice. The water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank. Exodus 17 gives an earlier account in which Moses strikes the rock once.
In Numbers 20 he is told to speak to the rock, but he strikes it instead. Many readers set the two accounts side by side. They see the single strike in Exodus as a picture of Christ crucified once.
They see the later instruction to speak to the rock as a picture of asking in prayer. Readers see this as one common reading.
The Star Out of Jacob in Numbers 24
The Star out of Jacob is a traditional reading. Balaam speaks the words in Numbers 24:17. He says that he shall see him, but not now, and that there shall come a Star out of Jacob and a Sceptre out of Israel.
Christians have long read the Star as a messianic promise. Many connect it to the star the wise men followed in Matthew 2. That connection is a traditional Christian reading.
The New Testament does not quote Numbers 24:17 directly. Jewish readers have also read this verse as messianic, so the messianic reading is not limited to Christian interpreters. The verse also describes the smiting of the corners of Moab and the destruction of the children of Sheth.
The Red Heifer, the Passover Rule, and the Cities of Refuge
Numbers 19 describes the red heifer and the water of purification for those made unclean by contact with the dead. Hebrews 9:13-14 sets a New Testament comparison beside the ritual. It sets the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean beside the blood of Christ, who offered himself without spot to God, so that the conscience could be purged from dead works. Numbers 9:12 gives the Passover rule that none of it is to be left until the morning and no bone of it is to be broken.
John 19:36 says, "A bone of him shall not be broken." Readers connect the Passover rule with that verse. Some link John 19:36 to Exodus 12:46 or Psalm 34:20 as well, so the source text readers choose varies. Numbers 35 sets up cities of refuge where a person who killed someone accidentally could flee. Hebrews 6:18 speaks of those who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.
Many readers see Christ as that refuge, drawing on the fled-for-refuge language. The New Testament does not call the cities of refuge a type of Christ in so many words.
The Priestly Blessing and a Later Theological Reading
Numbers 6:24-26 gives the priestly blessing. The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. Some readers see the threefold shape of the blessing as a hint of the Trinity.
This is a later theological reading. It is not stated in the text. A reader who does not hold the Trinitarian reading still has a blessing that the text gives directly.
The words ask for the Lord's keeping, his face shining, his grace, and his peace. Those requests can be prayed as they stand.
What the New Testament Says and What Is Tradition
John 3:14-15 links the bronze serpent, and 1 Corinthians 10:4 links the rock. The two firm links rest on direct New Testament statements, so they can be held with confidence. Jesus names the serpent, and Paul names the rock.
The Star, the red heifer, the Passover rule, the cities of refuge, and the blessing are traditional readings and should be held more loosely. Some rest on Hebrews 9:13-14 or Hebrews 6:18, and readers link the Passover rule to John 19:36.
How to Read Numbers for Christ Without Overreading
Start with the two firm passages before any traditional reading. Read Numbers 21:8-9 beside John 3:14-15. Then read Numbers 20:11 beside 1 Corinthians 10:4.
Those four passages hold the two clearest Christ connections the New Testament makes. Next, mark each traditional reading in your own notes. Write firm beside the serpent and the rock.
Write traditional beside the Star, the red heifer, the Passover rule, the cities of refuge, and the blessing. Use the traditional readings for devotion, but keep the wording of the passage in front of you. When you pray through Numbers 21, ask God to help you look to Christ and live, which pairs the looking of Numbers 21 with the believing of John 3:15.
Key Bible verses
- And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. — Numbers 21:8-9
- And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. — John 3:14-15
- And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also. — Numbers 20:11
- And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. — 1 Corinthians 10:4
- I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth. — Numbers 24:17
Frequently asked questions
Where is Jesus found in the book of Numbers?
Jesus is found in Numbers most clearly in two places. The bronze serpent in Numbers 21 is linked to his lifting up in John 3:14-15, and the rock in Numbers 20 is named as Christ in 1 Corinthians 10:4. Other connections, such as the Star out of Jacob and the red heifer, are traditional readings that Christians have drawn from the text.
What does the bronze serpent in Numbers 21 have to do with Jesus?
Jesus compares himself to the bronze serpent in John 3:14-15. He says that as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, the Son of man must be lifted up, so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Is the rock in Numbers 20 Christ?
Yes, 1 Corinthians 10:4 says the spiritual Rock that followed Israel was Christ, so the New Testament makes this link directly. Readers then differ on the details. Exodus 17 has Moses strike the rock once, while Numbers 20 has him strike it twice after being told to speak to it, and many readers see that contrast as a reading rather than a stated teaching.
Is Numbers 24:17 about Jesus?
Christians have long read the Star out of Jacob in Numbers 24:17 as a messianic promise, often connected to the star the wise men followed in Matthew 2. Jewish readers have also read the verse as messianic. The New Testament does not quote Numbers 24:17 directly, so the Christian reading rests on tradition.
Does the New Testament quote the book of Numbers about Christ?
The New Testament explicitly links two passages in Numbers to Christ: John 3:14-15 for the bronze serpent and 1 Corinthians 10:4 for the rock. Hebrews 9:13-14 sets the ashes of the heifer from Numbers 19 beside the blood of Christ as a comparison. The cities of refuge link rests on the language of Hebrews 6:18.
What is the red heifer and how does it relate to Jesus?
The red heifer is described in Numbers 19 as the source of a water of purification for people made unclean by contact with the dead. Hebrews 9:13-14 compares the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean with the blood of Christ, who offered himself without spot to God. Readers connect that comparison to this ritual.