miraculously (17:1–12). As a result of their hazardous responsibility guarding the tabernacle, the priests and the Levites are granted specified endowments (chap. 18). Further instruction aimed at cultic regulation (chaps. 18–19) again emphasizes the national need for purity and separation. God’s purposes for Israel have not lapsed, rebellion notwithstanding. Numbers 10:11–20:29 is designed to show the disastrous results of Israel’s contact with the profane in the wilderness and of her incessant