The Book of Numbers Is Not a Book Created Out of Whole Cloth

Numbers is not a book created out of whole cloth by one person in one sitting. Rather, the book of numbers as we know it was edited to at some point in israel's history from various earlier sources. Most of numbers is from the so called priestly source, which is usually referred to as p. It has things like legal codes and regulations for formal worship. We also see in numbers other sources, some that can't be easily categorized, but others that do pop up also in genesis and exodus.