Numbers 19 completes a section on the work of the Levites. After establishing that they in charge of the Tent of Meeting, where God is centered and worshipped, 19 gives the authority of the Levites to restore those people who are made ritually unclean and unable to be in the camp.
The clean/unclean distinction is one of religious ritual, God centered on life and proper worship, the unclean those things of even every day life that take away from that. These rules have been fulfilled in Christ, whose death and resurrection have transcended the rules of Moses, the rules that set aside the Jews as God's Chosen People, to all of us.
In 20,there are disasters in the life of Moses. He loses his sister and his brother at the beginning and end of the passage. When the people complain yet again, this time that they have no water, Moses gets so angry and frustrated that he disobeys God's command and, instead of commanding rocks to bring forth water, he strikes them with his staff. The result of his disobedience is that Moses too will not live to see the people enter the Promised Land. In the midst of all of this, as they are traveling, the Israelites try to go through the lands of Edom, of Esau, their relatives. Remember that Esau is the brother of Israel (or Jacob), the father of the tribes of Israel. When Edom refuses, they have to go around the long way.
In 21, the Israelites begin that journey. They are moving across the Negev, the desert in the south of modern Israel, then around to the western edge of modern day Israel, in the modern country of Jordan. First is a battle over Arad, a Canaanite fortress city on the southern edge of Canaan. Then, as they move around Edom, they complain to God yet again that they aren't in Egypt. God responds with poisonous snakes taking their toll on the people (last time was a plague). A brass snake is built by Moses to end the plague. Finally, they move up into position across the Jordan River, marching through Moab, and defeating the kings of the Amorites and Bashan to get to the place where they will be ready to cross.
In Acts 22 and 23, Paul tells his story to the Jewish leadership, who aren't too interested. The Roman tribune pulls Paul out, and would flog him to get the truth until the tribune finds out Paul is a Roman citizen. Then the game changes. Roman citizens are subject to one set of rules, the rest of the people to another set. Roman rules require due process, courtesy, and humane treatment and protection. The rest of the people were little better than animals.
So now it is on the tribune's shoulders to find out exactly what Paul is charged with to respect Paul's rights as a citizen. So they appear before the High Priest and the governing Council. It appears to be going nowhere good for Paul, so Paul confounds the Council by playing on the differences between the Pharisees and Sadducees. Once again, the tribune has to pull Paul out for his own safety.
Where the Jerusalem church is in all this fuss is unknown. Follow Aslan's reasoning and they might be abandoning Paul to his fate at the hands of the Jewish authorities to maintain the local peace. In 23:11, the Lord speaks to Paul and tells him this arrest is how Paul is to be sent to Rome.
Things begin to move more quickly. Paul is summoned to come to the Council yet again on the next day. But a conspiracy forms where 40 or more bind themselves to come out and kill Paul in his way that morning. The conspiracy is that large to overcome the Roman escort Paul is sure to have. Paul's family gets wind of it, tips off the Romans, and the tribune evacuates Paul from Jerusalem completely, 200 soldiers and 70 cavalry to get Paul to the relative safety of the Roman fortress city of Caesarea on the coast.
Notice how things have shifted since Jesus was put on trial. Pilate, the Roman Governor, served in Jerusalem, at least for part of the time. Felix, the new governor, appears not even to set foot in Jerusalem, instead leaving the Roman governance of the city to a Colonel (tribune) in the Roman Army.
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