民一1~3　以色列人出埃及地后，第二年二月初一日，耶和华在西乃的旷野，在会幕中对摩西说，你们要按以色列人全会众的家族、宗族，照人名的数目，逐一计算所有男丁的总数。凡以色列中，从二十岁以上能出去打仗的，你和亚伦要按他们的军队数点。

　　多数关于民数记的解经书都给人这样的印象：这卷书论到飘流和一再的失败。这不太正确。正确地说，民数记这卷书不是论到失败，乃是论到得胜和荣耀。神在地上不仅有住处，而且有军队，这岂不荣耀么？（李文集一九六四年第四册，三二九页）

　　Num. 1:1-3 Then Jehovah spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of Meeting,...saying, Take the sum of all the assembly of the children of Israel, by their families, by their fathers' households, according to the number of names, every male, head by head. From twenty years old and upward, all who are able to go forth for military service in Israel, you and Aaron shall number them by their companies.

　　Most expositions of Numbers give the impression that it is a book of wanderings and repeated failures. This is not quite accurate. Properly speaking, Numbers is not a book of failures but a book of victory and glory. Is it not glorious that on this earth God not only has a dwelling place but also a camp with an army? (CWWL, 1964, vol. 4, "The Vision of God's Building," p. 245)

　　民数记二章说，“耶和华对摩西、亚伦说，以色列人要各归自己的纛下，在自己宗族的旗号那里，对着会幕，在四边安营。”（1~2）在会幕的四围，每支派有明确的地方支搭自己的帐幕。在东边的支派是犹大、以萨迦和西布伦；在南边的支派是流便、西缅和迦得；在西边的支派是以法莲、玛拿西和便雅悯；在北边的支派是但、亚设和拿弗他利（3~31）。在中心的是利未人，负责照管帐幕（一50~53，二17）。祭司绝不能与帐幕隔开；他们与帐幕是一，并且总是随着帐幕。十二支派在帐幕四围安营，利未人在中央，这幅图画乃是要来之新耶路撒冷的预影。启示录描绘的那座城有十二个门，四边各有三门，门上写着以色列十二支派的名字（二一12~13）。那就是说，新耶路撒冷不是在启示录才有的新观念，乃是在许多世纪以前，已经启示在民数记中。因此，我们再次看见，整本圣经乃是在一条线上，与神的建造这件事有关。旧约的帐幕怎样是以色列十二支派的中心，神和羔羊也照样是新耶路撒冷中心的殿（启二一22）。

　　民数记自始至终是一卷荣耀的书。一开始神将以色列人编组成军，末了则记载如何分配这军队所征服之地。开始时，众营列阵预备争战。

　　民数记陈明一个荣耀的景象，有纛和旗号，编组成军，有秩有序。这一切全是我们今天可应用的。十二支派组成的军队分成四队，每队有三个支派。我们……看见三和四这两个数字—三一神与人调和。调和的原则由三乘四（等于十二）所代表。十二这数字表征神不仅加给我们，也与我们调和。启示录一开始记载七个召会，分成一组四个加上一组三个（二1~三22）。七这数字表征三一神加于受造之物，就像三加四，结果等于七。但启示录结束在新耶路撒冷，那里一切的数字都是十二的倍数，也就是三乘四，表征神与人调和。神真实的建造乃是神与人的调和（李文集一九六四年第四册，三二九至三三一页）。

　　在民数记所描绘的图画中，神的行动是在约柜连同帐幕里，就是在作神具体化身的基督（西二9）这位神、人调和的神人（见出二五11注1），连同作神地上居所的召会里（林前三16，弗二21~22，提前三15）；召会乃是基督的扩大，扩增（见出二六15注）。民数记的图画表明，三一神与祂所拣选的人调和一起成为一个实体，使神能在地上行动并征服祂的仇敌，为要重新得着这地，以完成祂永远的定旨（参徒一8）（圣经恢复本，民一1注1）。

　　参读：神建造的异象，第九篇。

　　In Numbers 2 we read, "Then Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, The children of Israel shall encamp each by his own standard with the ensigns of their fathers' households; they shall encamp facing the Tent of Meeting on every side" (vv. 1-2). Each tribe had a specific place in which to pitch its tents round about the Tent of Meeting. The tribes on the east were Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun; those on the south were Reuben, Simeon, and Gad; on the west were Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin; and on the north were Dan, Asher, and Naphtali (vv. 3-31). In the very center were the Levites, who cared for the tabernacle (1:50-53; 2:17). The priests could never be separated from the tabernacle; they were one with the tabernacle and always with it. This picture of the twelve tribes encamped on the four sides of the tabernacle with the Levites in the center is a preview of the coming New Jerusalem. That city portrayed in Revelation has twelve gates, three on each of its four sides, containing the names of the twelve tribes (21:12-13). That means that the New Jerusalem in Revelation is not a new concept. It was revealed many centuries before, in the book of Numbers. Thus, we see again that the whole of the Scriptures is of one line, related to one thing—God's building. Even as the tabernacle in the Old Testament was the center of the twelve tribes of Israel, so God and the Lamb are the temple in the center of the New Jerusalem.

　　From beginning to end the book of Numbers is a glorious book. In the beginning God formed the army, and at the end we have a record of the dividing of the land conquered by this army. In the beginning the camps were arrayed in preparation for battle.

　　The book of Numbers presents a glorious scene with the standards and ensigns, the formations and the order. All these things are full of application for us today. The army consisted of twelve tribes in four divisions, with three tribes in each division....We see the numbers, three and four—the Triune God mingled with man. The principle of mingling is represented by three times four, which equals twelve. God is not only added to us but also is mingled with us. The book of Revelation begins with a record of the seven churches, which are divided into one section of four plus another section of three. This signifies that the Triune God is added to the creature, as three is added to four, equaling seven. But Revelation ends with the New Jerusalem, where all the numbers are twelve; that is, three times four, signifying God's mingling with us. The real building of God is this mingling of God with man. (CWWL, 1964, vol. 4, "The Vision of God's Building," pp. 245-247)

　　In the picture portrayed in Numbers, God's move was in the Ark with the tabernacle, that is, in Christ, the God-man, the mingling of God and man (see footnote 1 on Exo. 25:11), as the embodiment of God (Col. 2:9), with the church, the enlargement, the increase, of Christ...as God's dwelling place on the earth (1 Cor. 3:16; Eph. 2:21-22; 1 Tim. 3:15). The picture in Numbers shows the Triune God and His chosen people mingled together as one entity that God may move on the earth and conquer His enemy in order to regain the earth for the fulfillment of His eternal purpose (cf. Acts 1:8). (Num. 1:1, footnote 1)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1964, vol. 4, "The Vision of God's Building," ch. 9