2 `Take ye up the sum of all the company of the sons of Israel by their families, by the house of their fathers, in the number of names -- every male by their polls;
`When thou takest up the sum of the sons of Israel for their numbers, then they have given each an atonement `for' his soul to Jehovah in their being numbered, and there is no plague among them in their being numbered.
a bekah for a poll (half a shekel, by the shekel of the sanctuary,) for every one who is passing over unto those numbered, from a son of twenty years and upwards, for six hundred thousand, and three thousand, and five hundred and fifty.
Of the sons of Simeon -- their births, by their families, by the house of their fathers, its numbered ones in the number of names, by their polls, every male from a son of twenty years and upward, every one going out to the host --
`Take up the sum of all the company of the sons of Israel, from a son of twenty years and upward, by the house of their fathers, every one going out to the host in Israel.' And Moses speaketh -- Eleazar the priest also -- with them, in the plains of Moab, by Jordan, `near' Jericho, saying, `From a son of twenty years and upward,' as Jehovah hath commanded Moses and the sons of Israel who are coming out from the land of Egypt.
And Jacob calleth unto his sons and saith, `Be gathered together, and I declare to you that which doth happen with you in the latter end of the days. `Be assembled, and hear, sons of Jacob, And hearken unto Israel your father. Reuben! my first-born thou, My power, and beginning of my strength, The abundance of exaltation, And the abundance of strength;
And these `are' the names of the sons of Israel who are coming into Egypt with Jacob; a man and his household have they come; Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, Dan, and Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. And all the persons coming out of the thigh of Jacob are seventy persons; as to Joseph, he was in Egypt.
These `are' heads of the house of their fathers: Sons of Reuben first-born of Israel `are' Hanoch, and Phallu, Hezron, and Carmi: these `are' families of Reuben. And sons of Simeon `are' Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul, son of the Canaanitess: these `are' families of Simeon. And these `are' the names of the sons of Levi, as to their births: Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari: and the years of the life of Levi `are' a hundred and thirty and seven years. The sons of Gershon `are' Libni, and Shimi, as to their families. And the sons of Kohath `are' Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel: and the years of the life of Kohath `are' a hundred and thirty and three years. And the sons of Merari `are' Mahli and Mushi: these `are' families of Levi, as to their births.
Of the sons of Judah -- their births, by their families, by the house of their fathers, in the number of names, from a son of twenty years and upward, every one going out to the host -- their numbered ones, for the tribe of Judah, `are' four and seventy thousand and six hundred. Of the sons of Issachar -- their births, by their families, by the house of their fathers, in the number of names, from a son of twenty years and upward, every one going out to the host -- their numbered ones, for the tribe of Issachar, `are' four and fifty thousand and four hundred. Of the sons of Zebulun -- their births, by their families, by the house of their fathers, in the number of names, from a son of twenty years and upward, every one going out to the host -- their numbered ones, for the tribe of Zebulun, `are' seven and fifty thousand and four hundred. Of the sons of Joseph -- of the sons of Ephraim -- their births, by their families, by the house of their fathers, in the number of names, from a son of twenty years and upward, every one going out to the host -- their numbered ones, for the tribe of Ephraim, `are' forty thousand and five hundred. Of the sons of Manasseh -- their births, by their families, by the house of their fathers, in the number of names, from a son of twenty years and upward, every one going out to the host -- their numbered ones, for the tribe of Manasseh, `are' two and thirty thousand and two hundred. Of the sons of Benjamin -- their births, by their families, by the house of their fathers, in the number of names, from a son of twenty years and upward, every one going out to the host -- their numbered ones, for the tribe of Benjamin, `are' five and thirty thousand and four hundred. Of the sons of Dan -- their births, by their families, by the house of their fathers, in the number of names, from a son of twenty years and upward, every one going out to the host -- their numbered ones, for the tribe of Dan, `are' two and sixty thousand and seven hundred. Of the sons of Asher -- their births, by their families, by the house of their fathers, in the number of names, from a son of twenty years and upward, every one going out to the host -- their numbered ones, for the tribe of Asher, `are' one and forty thousand and five hundred. `Of' the sons of Naphtali -- their births, by their families, by the house of their fathers, in the number of names, from a son of twenty years and upward, every one going out to the host -- their numbered ones, for the tribe of Naphtali, `are' three and fifty thousand and four hundred. These `are' those numbered, whom Moses numbered -- Aaron also, and the princes of Israel, twelve men -- each for the house of his fathers, they have been. And they are, all those numbered of the sons of Israel, by the house of their fathers, from a son of twenty years and upward, every one going out to the host in Israel, yea, all those numbered are six hundred thousand, and three thousand, and five hundred and fifty. And the Levites, for the tribe of their fathers, have not numbered themselves in their midst, seeing Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying, `Only, the tribe of Levi thou dost not number, and their sum thou dost not take up in the midst of the sons of Israel; and thou, appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the testimony, and over all its vessels, and over all that it hath; they bear the tabernacle, and all its vessels, and they serve it; and round about the tabernacle they encamp. `And in the journeying of the tabernacle, the Levites take it down, and in the encamping of the tabernacle, the Levites raise it up; and the stranger who is coming near is put to death.' And the sons of Israel have encamped, each by his camp, and each by his standard, by their hosts; and the Levites encamp round about the tabernacle of the testimony; and there is no wrath on the company of the sons of Israel, and the Levites have kept the charge of the tabernacle of the testimony. And the sons of Israel do according to all that Jehovah hath commanded Moses; so they have done.
These `are' those numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who have numbered the sons of Israel in the plains of Moab, by Jordan, `near' Jericho; and among these there hath not been a man of those numbered by Moses, and Aaron the priest, who numbered the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai,
And the anger of Jehovah addeth to burn against Israel, and `an adversary' moveth David about them, saying, `Go, number Israel and Judah.' And the king saith unto Joab, head of the host that `is' with him, `Go to and fro, I pray thee, through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even unto Beer-Sheba, and inspect ye the people -- and I have known the number of the people.' And Joab saith unto the king, `Yea, Jehovah thy God doth add unto the people, as they are, a hundred times, and the eyes of my lord the king are seeing; and my lord the king, why is he desirous of this thing?'
And David hath not taken up their number from a son of twenty years and under, for Jehovah said to multiply Israel as the stars of the heavens. Joab son of Zeruiah hath begun to number -- and hath not finished -- and there is for this wrath against Israel, and the number hath not gone up in the account of the Chronicles of king David.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Numbers 1
Commentary on Numbers 1 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 1
Nu 1:1-54. Moses Numbering the Men of War.
1, 2. on the first day of the second month, &c.—Thirteen months had elapsed since the exodus. About one month had been occupied in the journey; and the rest of the period had been passed in encampment among the recesses of Sinai, where the transactions took place, and the laws, religious and civil, were promulgated, which are contained in the two preceding books. As the tabernacle was erected on the first day of the first month, and the order here mentioned was given on the first day of the second, some think the laws in Leviticus were all given in one month. The Israelites having been formed into a separate nation, under the special government of God as their King, it was necessary, before resuming their march towards the promised land, to put them into good order. And accordingly Moses was commissioned, along with Aaron, to take a census of the people. This census was incidentally noticed (Ex 38:26), in reference to the poll tax for the works of the tabernacle; but it is here described in detail, in order to show the relative increase and military strength of the different tribes. The enumeration was confined to those capable of bearing arms [Nu 1:3], and it was to be made with a careful distinction of the tribe, family, and household to which every individual belonged. By this rule of summation many important advantages were secured: an exact genealogical register was formed, the relative strength of each tribe was ascertained, and the reason found for arranging the order of precedence in march as well as disposing the different tribes in camp around the tabernacle. The promise of God to Abraham [Ge 22:17] was seen to be fulfilled in the extraordinary increase of his posterity, and provision made for tracing the regular descent of the Messiah.
3. Aaron shall number them by their armies—or companies. In their departure from Egypt they were divided into five grand companies (Ex 13:18), but from the sojourn in the wilderness to the passage of the Jordan, they were formed into four great divisions. The latter is here referred to.
4-16. with you there shall be a man of every tribe, &c.—The social condition of the Israelites in the wilderness bore a close resemblance to that of the nomad tribes of the East in the present day. The head of the tribe was a hereditary dignity, vested in the oldest son or some other to whom the right of primogeniture was transferred, and under whom were other inferior heads, also hereditary, among the different branches of the tribe. The Israelites being divided into twelve tribes, there were twelve chiefs appointed to assist in taking the census of the people.
5. these are the names of the men that shall stand with you, &c.—Each is designated by adding the name of the ancestors of his tribe, the people of which were called "Beni-Reuben," "Beni-Levi," sons of Reuben, sons of Levi, according to the custom of the Arabs still, as well as other nations which are divided into clans, as the Macs of Scotland, the Aps of Wales, and the O's and the Fitzes of Ireland [Chalmers].
16-18. These were the renowned—literally, "the called" of the congregation, summoned by name; and they entered upon the survey the very day the order was given.
18. by their polls—individually, one by one.
19. As the Lord commanded Moses, &c.—The numbering of the people was not an act sinful in itself, as Moses did it by divine appointment; but David incurred guilt by doing it without the authority of God. (See on 2Sa 24:10).
20-44. These are those that were numbered—In this registration the tribe of Judah appears the most numerous; and accordingly, as the pre-eminence had been assigned to it by Jacob [Ge 49:8-12], it got the precedence in all the encampments of Israel. Of the two half-tribes of Joseph, who is seen to be "a fruitful bough" [Ge 49:22], that of Ephraim was the larger, as had been predicted. The relative increase of all, as in the two just mentioned, was owing to the special blessing of God, conformably to the prophetic declaration of the dying patriarch. But the divine blessing is usually conveyed through the influence of secondary causes; and there is reason to believe that the relative populousness of the tribes would, under God, depend upon the productiveness of the respective localities assigned to them. [For tabular chart, see on Nu 26:64.]
45, 46. all they that were numbered were six hundred thousand, &c.—What an astonishing increase from seventy-five persons who went down to Egypt about two hundred fifteen years before [see on Ge 46:8], and who were subjected to the greatest privations and hardships! And yet this enumeration was restricted to men from twenty years and upwards [Nu 1:3]. Including women, children, and old men, together with the Levites, the whole population of Israel, on the ordinary principles of computation, amounted to about 2,400,000.
47-54. But the Levites … were not numbered among them—They were obliged to keep a register of their own. They were consecrated to the priestly office, which in all countries has been exempted customarily, and in Israel by the express authority of God, from military service. The custody of the things devoted to the divine service was assigned to them so exclusively, that "no stranger"—that is, no person, not even an Israelite of any other tribe, was allowed, under penalty of death, to approach these [Nu 16:40]. Hence they encamped round the tabernacle in order that there should be no manifestation of the divine displeasure among the people. Thus the numbering of the people was subservient to the separation of the Levites from those Israelites who were fit for military service, and to the practical introduction of the law respecting the first-born, for whom the tribe of Levi became a substitute [Ex 13:2; Nu 3:12].