" The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying"
Numbers 1:1
Historically, so far as the story of God's people is concerned, Numbers follows Exodus: indeed, its first verse follows hard upon Exodus 40:2ff, with no more than a month elapsing between them. A brief recapitulation of the 'story' unfolded up to this point may be useful: In the beginning God made man in His own image, made him for fellowship with Himself, and ordained Him for a destiny bright with hope and promise. But sin entered the world; tragedy overtook the divine creation, and whereas in the beginning all was light, now sin entered and brought darkness. But God said, so to speak, 'I must bring light again into this darkness'. And in the fulness of the time, there came One who said, 'I am the light of the world'. Now, the whole of the Old Testament is a time of preparation for the coming of that One. As soon as man fell into sin, God gave the promise of redemption: 'The seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent.’ That is the primal promise, and from that seed, there comes the growth of the great Tree of life whose leaves are for the healing of the nations.