The Book of Numbers spans almost the entire 40 year period in the desert, documenting numerous events that occurred to the Jews as they wandered. I count only 5 dates mentioned in the text (listed in order of appearance in the book in the format DD/MM/YY with the Exodus as an epoch):
- The first census (1:1) -- 01/02/02
- The Commandment concerning the Korban Pesach (9:1) -- 01/01/02
- The first journey from Mount Sinai (10:11) -- 20/02/02
- The death of Miriam (20:1) -- 01/01/40
- The death of Aharon (33:38) -- 01/05/40
The last two dates are definitely not the first ones I would have chosen to include, especially considering the dearth of dates in the book (no date on the spies, Asafsuf, Korach, any of the wars), and the dearth of Yahrtzeit's in Tanach in general (I can't think of any others off the top of my head). Why were these dates included?
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