Isaiah chapter 4 - Numbers

The Holy Spirit used the words ‘number’ or ‘numbered’ 114 times in the 36 chapters of the book of Numbers. What was God doing in the book of Numbers? The people were wandering in the desert because they had been faithless. They did not trust the Lord to take them into and give them victory in the promised-land. They were to wander for forty years until an entire generation of Israelites died in the desert because of their unbelief. God was purging Israel of her unbelievers. And, what do we find in Isaiah chapter four?

“When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.” (Isaiah 4:4)

God would purge Israel again in the time period being forecast by Isaiah’s prophecy, but here’s one connection to the fourth book of the Bible, Numbers, and notice that it is chapter four and verse four. Then, in the next verse of Isaiah chapter four we read:

“And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defense.” (Isaiah 4:5)

A cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night? That’s what Numbers 14:14 says.

“And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that thou LORD art among this people, that thou LORD art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night.” (Numbers 14:14)

Finally, in Isaiah 4:6 we find the word “tabernacle”. Isaiah isn’t talking about the Holy Tabernacle that traveled with Israel in the desert. He’s talking about a shelter from the heat of the day and from the storms, but the book of Numbers uses the word ‘tabernacle’ ninety-one times. There are only six verses in the forth chapter of Isaiah, but we find the word tabernacle there, and why is that? It seems almost out of place. Look at verse six.

“And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.”

Once again, there are only six verses in Isaiah chapter four, but three of them draw a connection to the forth book of the Bible, the book of Numbers. Chapter four of Isaiah; book four of the Bible. They are connected.