The Numbering of the Soldiers
26: 1-4
The numbering of the soldiers DIG: Compare this census with the first one found in Chapter 1. What is the reason for this Second Census? How were the land allocations decided? What tribe suffered a drastic decline in numbers? Why did that happen?
REFLECT: According to the record in Joshua, some of the tribes gladly accepted their inheritance and went to work making it home, some complained about the land they were given, and some went out and conquered more territory. What parallels can you draw between this and how believers might react to the situations God has put them in?
It was an entirely new generation of Israelites, who were encamped on the east bank
of the Jordan River, ready for an attack on the land of Canaan.
Numbers 26:1a begins with a significant opening phrase: After the plague . . . which was the one recorded in Numbers 25 that had put to death those who had participated in the worshiping of the idols of Mo’ab (to see link click Ea – Taking a Stand for God: The idolatry of Israelite men). While the wilderness generation was more faithful than their parents, they were no less sinful. Even before entering the Promised Land, Moshe (under the influence of the Ruach Ha’Kodesh), commanded: When ADONAI your God hands it over to you, you are to strike all its males with the sword. Only the women, children, livestock and all that is in the city – all its spoil – may you take as plunder for yourself (Deuteronomy 20:13-14). Which they did not do, and as a result, had countless problems for the nation for many years to come, culminating in the period of the judges where Isra’el had no king and everyone did what they saw fit (Judges 21:25).
ADONAI said to Moshe and the high priest Eleazar, the son of Aaron (26:1b). God’s command for the First Census (see Ai – The First Census: The Old Generation of Rebellion) was given to Moses and Aaron. Now following Aaron’s death (see Df – The Death of Aaron), his successor took his place. The aged Moshe would also die soon as well (see the commentary on Deuteronomy Gj – The Death of Moses). This is the only place that ADONAI addresses Eleazar directly. Why he was needed for the census is not clear. It is possible that the tribes of Jacob were counted by Eleazar, and Moses was merely to record the totals.570
How sad it must have been for Moses to realize what might have been! Yet, there must have been enormous satisfaction to realize that it still might be . . . yet without him. This was a bittersweet time, one of ruing the past while still anticipating the future. It was the same task: number the able-bodied men over the age of twenty to muster them for the army of Isra’el. But, at the same time, it was a different task. The place had changed from Sinai to Mo’ab. The personnel had changed: Moses now assisted his nephew Eleazar. More importantly, the people had changed: they were a new generation.
Nearly forty years had transpired since the First Census, and now the LORD said: Take a census of the entire assembly of the people of Isra’el twenty years old and over, by their ancestral clans, all who are subject to military service in Isra’el (26:2). The instructions are identical to, but briefer than, the corresponding ones of the First Census. The sequence in the list of the twelve tribes is identical except for the minor reversal in the order of Ephraim and Manasseh. All the men over twenty in the Exodus generation had died; therefore, it was time for the wilderness generation to be numbered and mustered for the campaign of conquest that now awaited them.
Moshe and Eleazar the priest spoke with them on the plains of Mo’av by the Jorden across from Jericho, explaining, take a census of the people from twenty years old and over who came out of the land of Egypt, as ADONAI ordered Moshe and the people of Isra’el (26:3-4). These words actually serve as the section heading for the tribe-by-tribe list that follows. How impressive it is that the phrasing includes the departure from Egypt. The wilderness generation were historically included with their parents who came out of Egypt. In other words, in a positive sense, the wilderness generation was given credit as being part of the Exodus. They were either under the age of twenty or not even born yet. But God wanted them to know that they were part of it all. In a sense, it seems as though the story begins anew, as though the people had just left the bondage in Egypt.571
Opposed to the First Census, the Second Census is more interested in the clans and families rather than the founders of the clans (who were long dead), for families are the basis of society (see the commentary on Ephesians Bu – The Necessary Foundation). The list of Jacob’s sons in Genesis 46:6-26 forms the basis of this clan list, with the names of the sons transformed into clan names. The reason for adding the clan names of each tribe in the Second Census is to reinforce the sense that another new generation had been added to this Second tribal Census. Notice that all the figures in the book of Numbers are even numbers with the exception in 3:43 where there were 22,273 first born Israelite men over twenty (see As – The Census and the Redemption of the Firstborn). Because the census was taken primarily for military purposes, it would naturally be arranged by hundreds, fifties, and so on. Since the Levites were not to have a physical inheritance in the land of Canaan itself (18:20), they are not included in the census with the other twelve tribes, but have their own numbering (see Er – The Second Numbering of the Levites).
It is interesting to compare the numbers counted in the two census lists in Numbers 1 and Numbers 26. The total number for all twelve tribes decreases only slightly from the First to Second Census list: a total of 603,550 in Numbers 1:46, and a total of 601,730 in Numbers 26:51. The difference is less than two thousand people. God had faithfully brought the little ones (14:3) to the edge of the Promised Land, in spite of the fears of the Exodus generation that their little ones would only die in the wilderness or in the conquest of Canaan. One tribe among the twelve experienced a dramatic decrease in its numbers, the tribe of Simeon. There were 59,300 Simeonites in Numbers 1 and only 22,000 in Numbers 26. The dramatic act of faithlessness and disobedience of Zimri the Simeonite in Numbers 25 probably reflected this decline, an example of God visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children to the third and fourth generation (Numbers 14:18). The overall effect of the total numbers remaining relatively the same in spite of all the rebellions of the preceding generation and all the rigors of life in the wilderness is to affirm that ADONAI is abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but by no means clearing the guilty (14:18).
Two important passages in Numbers 26 guide the interpretation of this Second Census. First of all, 26:52-56 indicates that this second head count of all the tribes is primarily for the purpose of distributing fair amounts of land to the tribes based on their relative sizes. The larger the tribe, the larger will be their allotment of territory in Canaan. The location of the land, however, will be determined by lot. This land distribution function of the Second Census is a shift from the purpose of the previous list in Numbers 1, which focused on military preparation for war. The formula all who are subject to military service in Isra’el, which was repeated fourteen times in the First Census does not appear at all in the Second Census, except once here in 26:2. The census in Chapter 26 is no longer for estimating available military strength and the numbers of warriors as a means of gaining the Land. The goal of the Second Census is more to ensure that each tribe would receive its fair share of God’s gift of the Land according to the needs of its particular population.572
Dear Heavenly Father, Praise You for being so wonderful and loving! You have such a strong desire to love and to bless Your people. What blocks You from blessing Your people is their own sinful attachment to going their own way, and not following your way. You discipline out of love to bring Your selfish child back to Yourself so You can bless him. Because ADONAI disciplines the one He loves and punishes every son He accepts (Hebrews 12:6). Forty years of discipline seems long and harsh; but that generation had seen all Your mighty miracles that rescued them from Egypt. They could remember and retell the stories that they had seen that evidenced Your Almighty power and love. Knowledge of how great You are is one thing; but true love that is willing to follow and obey You in both the good and the hard times is another thing.
The selfishness of mankind is constantly ready to make a captive whenever life gets easy. Once in the land and ruled by judges, Seven cycles occurred in the book of Judges where Isra’el listened to their own sinful selfish ways, served other gods causing God in righteous anger and love to sell Isra’el into the hands of other nations (Judges 3:8 Mesopotamia, 3:12 Eglon King of Moab, 4:2 Jabin king of Canaan, 6:1 Midian, 10:7 Philistines and Ammonites, 13:1 Philistines). Their captivity was not because Your back was turned, but in open-eyed love You sought to bring them back to obedience to Your love so that You could bless Isra’el.
How much your heart must have rejoiced when Isra’el cried to you again in true sincerity by turning back to you in love. They did not just cry out to you for help with their voices; but their actions showed hearts of true repentance when they put away foreign gods and worshiped you. Then Bnei-Yisrael said to ADONAI, “We have sinned. Do to us whatever seems good to You, but please, deliver us this day.” Then they removed the foreign gods from among them, and worshiped ADONAI. So His soul could not bear the misery of Israel (Judges 10:15-16). Then Your Spirit came upon Jephthah, by whom You rescued Isra’el from the hand of the Ammonites (Judges 11:33).
You are so worthy of all our worship! May Your people learn righteousness from Your discipline and not have to be disciplined again and again. May they lovingly follow You with all their heart. My soul longs for You at night, yes, my spirit within me seeks You. For when Your judgments are on the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. Though grace is shown to the wicked, he does not learn righteousness. Even in a land of uprightness he will act wrongly, not perceiving the majesty of ADONAI (Isaiah 26:9-10). It is a joy to worship and bow before you our majestic, wonderful and loving Heavenly Father! Thank You for seeking to purify Your people by trials (First Peter 1:7) and captivities, so Your people will come running back to Your love and You can bless them! In Your holy Name and power of resurrection. Amen
Leave A Comment