NUMBERS
Numbering the people
1
📚And the LORD spoke to Moses in the desert of Sinai, in the tabernacle of the congregation 📖, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, 2 📚“Take a census of all the congregation of the children of Israel by their families, by the households of their fathers, with the number of their names, every male, head by head, 3 📚twenty years old or more, all who are able to go out to war in Israel. You and Aaron shall number them by their armies. 4 📚And a man from each tribe is to be with you; each one the head of the household of his fathers. 5 📚And these are the names of the men who are to stand with you: “From the tribe of Reuben, Elizur the son of Shedeur; 6 📚from Simeon, Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai; 7 📚from Judah, Nahshon the son of Amminadab; 8 📚from Issachar, Nethaneel the son of Zuar; 9 📚from Zebulun, Eliab the son of Helon; 10 📚from the children of Joseph: from Ephraim, Elishama the son of Ammihud; from Manasseh, Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur; 11 📚from Benjamin, Abidan the son of Gideoni; 12 📚from Dan, Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai; 13 📚from Asher, Pagiel the son of Ocran; 14 📚from Gad, Eliasaph the son of Deuel; 15 📚from Naphtali, Ahira the son of Enan”. 16 📚These are those named by the congregation, leaders of the tribes of their fathers, heads of thousands in Israel.
17 📚And Moses and Aaron took these men whose names were given, 18 📚and they assembled all the congregation together on the first day of the second month. And the people registered their ancestry by their families, by the households of their fathers, according to the number of names, twenty years old or more, head by head. 19 📚So Moses numbered them in the desert of Sinai, just as the LORD had commanded him.
20 📚And from the descendants of Reuben, Israel’s eldest son, by their generations, by their families, by the households of their fathers, according to the number of names, head by head, every male twenty years old or more, all who were able to go out to war, 21 📚the numbered men from the tribe of Reuben were forty-six thousand five hundred.
22 📚From the descendants of Simeon, by their generations, by their families, by the households of their fathers, their numbered men according to the number of names, head by head, every male twenty years old or more, all who were able to go out to war, 23 📚the numbered men from the tribe of Simeon were fifty-nine thousand three hundred.
24 📚From the descendants of Gad, by their generations, by their families, by the households of their fathers, according to the number of names, twenty years old or more, all who were able to go out to war, 25 📚the numbered men from the tribe of Gad were forty-five thousand six hundred and fifty.
26 📚From the descendants of Judah, by their generations, by their families, by the households of their fathers, according to the number of names, twenty years old or more, all who were able to go out to war, 27 📚the numbered men from the tribe of Judah were seventy-four thousand six hundred.
28 📚From the descendants of Issachar, by their generations, by their families, by the households of their fathers, according to the number of names, twenty years old or more, all who were able to go out to war, 29 📚the numbered men from the tribe of Issachar were fifty-four thousand four hundred.
30 📚From the descendants of Zebulun, by their generations, by their families, by the households of their fathers, according to the number of the names, twenty years old or more, all who were able to go out to war, 31 📚the numbered men from the tribe of Zebulun were fifty-seven thousand four hundred.
32 📚From the descendants of Joseph, from the descendants of Ephraim, by their generations, by their families, by the households of their fathers, according to the number of names, twenty years old or more, all who were able to go out to war, 33 📚the numbered men from the tribe of Ephraim were forty thousand five hundred.
34 📚From the descendants of Manasseh, by their generations, by their families, by the households of their fathers, according to the number of names, twenty years old or more, all who were able to go out to war, 35 📚the numbered men from the tribe of Manasseh were thirty-two thousand two hundred.
36 📚From the descendants of Benjamin, by their generations, by their families, by the households of their fathers, according to the number of names, twenty years old or more, all who were able to go out to war, 37 📚the numbered men from the tribe of Benjamin were thirty-five thousand four hundred.
38 📚From the descendants of Dan, by their generations, by their families, by the households of their fathers, according to the number of names, twenty years old or more, all who were able to go out to war, 39 📚the numbered men from the tribe of Dan were sixty-two thousand seven hundred.
1:2-3 The purpose of this census is indicated by the words “able to go out to war”. There were enemies to be faced, a country to be conquered which was inhabited by powerful peoples. Israel needed to be prepared. They were not to depend on the number of their fighting men but on Jehovah God alone, who was the head of their armies (Josh 5:13-15). But they were to know what military resources were available to them. God could have defeated all their enemies by Himself by miraculous activity as He did the Egyptians in the Red Sea. But God wanted them to fight and conquer the land He gave them – always, of course, trusting Him and not themselves.
So it is with believers in Christ in this age of grace. They have spiritual enemies to face (Eph 6:12), and they need to be aware of their resources in Christ. God now could utterly destroy Satan and all the forces of evil arrayed against believers. But He wants us to fight in His strength and win the victory. He wants us to be active conquering soldiers, not passive puppets (Eph 6:10-18; 1 Tim 6:12; 2 Tim 2:3-4; Rom 8:37; 2 Cor 2:14; Rev 21:7). See notes at Josh 1:17; Jud 3:2.⚜
40 📚From the descendants of Asher, by their generations, by their families, by the households of their fathers, according to the number of names, twenty years old or more, all who were able to go out to war, 41 📚the numbered men from the tribe of Asher were forty-one thousand five hundred.
42 📚From the descendants of Naphtali, by their generations, by their families, by the households of their fathers, according to the number of names, twenty years old or more, all who were able to go out to war, 43 📚the numbered men from the tribe of Naphtali were fifty-three thousand four hundred.
44 📚These are those who were numbered. They were numbered by Moses and Aaron and the leaders of Israel, twelve men, each of whom represented the household of his fathers. 45 So all those who were numbered of the children of Israel, by the households of their fathers, twenty years old or more, all who were able to go out to war in Israel, 46 📚all the numbered men were six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty.
47 📚But the Levites of the tribe of their fathers were not numbered among them. 48 For the LORD had spoken to Moses, saying, 49 📚“However you shall not number the tribe of Levi, or take their census among the children of Israel. 50 📚But you shall appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of testimony, and over all its furnishings, and over everything that belongs to it. They shall carry the tabernacle and all of its furnishings. They shall take care of it, and shall camp around the tabernacle.
51 📚And when the tabernacle is to move forward, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle is to be set up, the Levites shall set it up. And an outsider who approaches shall be put to death.
1:51 God gave the whole tribe of Levi to Aaron and his sons to do the work of the tabernacle – Num 8:19. No one who was not a Levite, that is, no one who was not chosen by God for the work of the tabernacle could have anything to do with it. Here again God’s holiness and the holiness of all that pertained to Him are emphasized. It was an exceedingly serious error for an unconsecrated person to touch holy things (Num 3:10, 38; 2 Sam 6:6-7. Note on God’s holiness at Lev 20:7).⚜
52 📚And the children of Israel shall pitch their tents, each man by his own camp, and each man by his own standard, according to their armies. 53 📚But the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of testimony so that no wrath 📖 comes on the congregation of the children of Israel; and the Levites shall keep charge of the tabernacle of testimony”.
54 📚And the children of Israel did so. They did according to all that the LORD commanded Moses.