The Book Of Numbers

Who is the Author?

Along with the entire Pentateuch, the book of Numbers is traditionally attributed to Moses. This classical perspective, which is supported by biblical and extra-biblical testimony, prevailed until the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. At that time, some scholars proposed that the first five books of the Bible were actually composed over a span of several centuries by various “redactors” who integrated different source materials into a coherent anthology.1 Today, most evangelical scholars today recognize that the Pentateuch contains both pre-Mosaic sources and post-Mosaic glosses and elaborations.2

Consistent with this line of thinking, though Numbers most likely includes both preexisting source material and subsequent additions and glosses, the book itself consistently maintains that Moses was the recipient of the divine revelation that forms the substance of the work (Num 1:1; 2:1; 4:1).3 Numbers credits Moses as the writer of chapter 33 (Num 33:2).