This is from Expositor’s Bible Commentary Introduction to the book of Numbers:
The Book of Numbers is not only a part of Scripture and, hence, inspired, inerrant, and relevant for doctrine, guidance, and instruction in righteous living. It is also an essential part of the Torah, the Pentateuch of Moses. While many acknowledge the foundational nature of the Torah to the development of Scripture, there is rarely a serious consideration of its contributions as authoritative and informing Scripture in the practical outworking of evangelical theology.
Frequently a few passages that are regarded as messianic are selected for study. But the rest of the text seems to be regarded as just “filler.” Genesis, understandably, is read more than the rest of the books of the Torah; Numbers, however, is read very little for basic theology.
Yet the Bible only holds together in so far as it is seen as an organic development from the beginning forward. The books of the Torah are like the bud of a rose; all the flower is present, but not all its inner beauty is expressed. Yet everything the flower will become is already present in the full-bud stage. The Prophets and the Writings are akin to the opening of the rose. They do not present so much new truth as they develop and clarify truth that has been already expressed in the books of the Torah.
In the teaching of Jesus we find the rose of Scripture, as it were, in the full-bloom stage. His words reveal more fully than ever what God has meant from the beginning in his revelation. In a sense we may say that the teaching of Jesus is the full blossom of Torah truth.
The Epistles in the NT are akin to the rose in the full-blown stage. In this stage of the flower, the bloom is still intact, but the petals are opened to their fullest extent. In this stage much attention is given to the fine detail of a given petal, but there is a danger in losing a sense of the form and contours of the flower.