46 Were six hundred and three thousand, five hundred and fifty.
Those who were numbered of the children of Israel were six hundred and one thousand, seven hundred and thirty.
A beka, that is, half a shekel by the holy scale, for everyone who was numbered; there were six hundred and three thousand, five hundred and fifty men of twenty years old and over.
These are all who were numbered of the children of Israel, in the order of their fathers' families: all the armies in their tents together came to six hundred and three thousand, five hundred and fifty.
And Joab gave the king the number of all the people: there were in Israel eight hundred thousand fighting men able to take up arms; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand.
And there came to my ears the number of those who had the mark on their brows, a hundred and forty-four thousand, who were marked out of every tribe of the people of Israel. Of the tribe of Judah were marked twelve thousand: of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand: of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand: Of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand: of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand: of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand: Of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand: of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand: of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand: Of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand: of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand: of the tribe of Benjamin were marked twelve thousand. After these things I saw a great army of people more than might be numbered, out of every nation and of all tribes and peoples and languages, taking their places before the high seat and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes, and with branches in their hands,
And by faith Sarah herself had power to give birth, when she was very old, because she had faith in him who gave his word; So that from one man, who was near to death, came children in number as the stars in heaven, or as the sand by the seaside, which may not be numbered.
This is the number of them, listed by their families, the captains of thousands of Judah: Adnah, the captain, and with him three hundred thousand men of war; Second to him Jehohanan, the captain, and with him two hundred and eighty thousand; After him Amasiah, the son of Zichri, who freely gave himself to the Lord, and with him two hundred thousand men of war; And the captains of Benjamin: Eliada, a great man of war, and with him two hundred thousand armed with bows and body-covers; And after him Jehozabad, and with him a hundred and eighty thousand trained for war. These were the men who were waiting on the king, in addition to those placed by the king in the walled towns through all Judah.
And Joab gave David the number of all the people; all the men of Israel, able to take up arms, were one million, one hundred thousand men; and those of Judah were four hundred and seventy thousand men, able to take up arms.
Judah and Israel were as great in number as the sand by the seaside, and they took their food and drink with joy in their hearts.
Your fathers went down into Egypt with seventy persons; and now the Lord your God has made you like the stars of heaven in number.
Who is able to take the measure of the dust of Jacob or the number of the thousands of Israel? May my death be the death of the upright and my last end like his!
And he said, I am God, the God of your father: go down to Egypt without fear, for I will make a great nation of you there: I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will see that you come back again, and at your death Joseph will put his hands on your eyes.
Your seed will be like the dust of the earth, covering all the land to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south: you and your seed will be a name of blessing to all the families of the earth.
Keep in this land, and I will be with you and give you my blessing; for to you and to your seed will I give all these lands, giving effect to the oath which I made to your father Abraham;
I will make you very fertile, so that nations will come from you and kings will be your offspring.
And he took him out into the open air, and said to him, Let your eyes be lifted to heaven, and see if the stars may be numbered; even so will your seed be.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Numbers 1
Commentary on Numbers 1 Matthew Henry Commentary
An Exposition, With Practical Observations, of
The Fourth Book of Moses, Called Numbers
Chapter 1
Israel was now to be formed into a commonwealth, or rather a kingdom; for "the Lord was their King' (1 Sa. 12:12), their government a theocracy, and Moses under him was king in Jeshurun, Deu. 33:5. Now, for the right settlement of this holy state, next to the institution of good laws was necessary the institution of good order; and account therefore must be taken of the subjects of this kingdom, which is done in this chapter, where we have,
Num 1:1-16
Num 1:17-43
We have here the speedy execution of the orders given for the numbering of the people. It was begun the same day that the orders were given, The first day of the second month; compare v. 18 with v. 1. Note, When any work is to be done for God it is good to set about it quickly, while the sense of duty is strong and pressing. And, for aught that appears, it was but one day's work, for many other things were done between this and the twentieth day of this month, when they removed their camp, ch. 10:11. Joab was almost ten months numbering the people in David's time (2 Sa. 24:8); but then they were dispersed, now they lived closely together; then Satan proposed the doing of it, now God commanded it. It was the sooner and more easily done now because it had been done but a little while ago, and they needed but review the old books, with the alterations since made, which probably they had kept an account of as they occurred.
In the particulars here left upon record, we may observe,
Num 1:44-46
We have here the sum total at the foot of the account; they were in all 600,000 fighting men, and 3550 over. Some think that when this was their number some months before (Ex. 38:26) the Levites were reckoned with them, but now that tribe was separated for the service of God, yet so many more had by this time attained to the age of twenty years as that still they were the same number, to show that whatever we part with for the honour and service of God it shall certainly be made up to us one way of other. Now we see what a vast body of men they were. Let us consider,
Num 1:47-54
Care is here taken to distinguish from the rest of the tribes the tribe of Levi, which, in the matter of the golden calf, had distinguished itself, Ex. 32:26. Note, Singular services shall be recompensed with singular honours. Now,