Message from the Author. On the first day of the second month of the second year after the sons of Israel departed Egypt, at the base of Mount Sinai, God directs Moses to take a census of the congregation of the sons of Israel by their families, by their fathers' households, according to the of names, every male, head by head from twenty years old and upward, whoever is able to go out to war in Israel. This book details thirty-eight years of wandering in the desert. Spies were sent out to investigate the Land of Canaan. They brought back a disparaging report displeasing to God. The next thirty-eight years are tumultuous. Miriam, Moses' sister becomes leprous, Moses' authority is challenged by Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. God affirms Aarons's priesthood, fiery serpents, encounters with Balaam and Balak, and a second census is taken. A successor is named to succeed Moses, apportioning of the Land of Canaan for an inheritance, and women's rights are set forth.