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Numbers

Numbers 1

The First Census of Israel

Numbers 1:1-4

The tabernacle had been erected 1 month earlier (see Exodus 40:17) at the opening of Numbers.  They had now been encamped at Sinai for 11 months.  This book starts 14 months after the Exodus. 

The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness.  This is the area around the mountain, not the mountain itself.  This happened in the tabernacle of meeting.  The tabernacle was a portable meeting place and a place to worship the Lord by offering sacrifices.  God ordered a census of all males 20 and older.  A census was a means of conscripting men for service, either military of government projects.  We'll learn in numbers 10:11 that this process took 20 days to complete.  Moses and Aaron conducted this census and the tribal chiefs were to join them.  The total was 603,550.  With the 22,000 Levites added and assuming females and children there was likely over 2 million people. 

 

Numbers 1:5-19

The tribal leaders were to stand with Moses and assist the count of their tribes.  Twenty-four names are listed, sixteen of which will never appear anywhere else.

  • Tribe of Reuben; Elizur – God the rock.
  • Tribe of Simeon; Shelumiel – Friend of God, God's peace
  • Tribe of Judah; Nahshon – enchanting, ominous; one who foretells.
  • Tribe of Issachar – Nethanel – God gave, given of God
  • Tribe of Zebulun – Eliab – my Father is God
  • Tribe of Ephraim – Elishama – God the hearer, God will hear
  • Tribe of Manasseh – Gamaliel – Recompense of God; benefit of God
  • Tribe of Benjamin – Abidan – The father judges
  • Tribe of Dan – Ahiezer – Brother of help
  • Tribe of Asher – Pagiel – Prayer of God, answer from God
  • Tribe of Gad – Eliasaph – God has added, or gathered
  • Tribe of Naphtali – Ahira – brother of evil or wrong

These were the leaders of their father's tribes, the chieftains or heads of the divisions.  Each of these men gathered with Moses and recited the name of the twenty-year-old men; by ancestry by family,

 

Numbers 1:20-46

These numbers create an incredible army of over 600,000.  Scholars struggle with the size of the army, if nothing else for logistical reasons.  An army this size could never have been conquered or pushed around in those days. 

The Egyptian army at the time had about 100,000 men total. At the Battle of Kadesh, a major battle of the early 13th century bc, the Egyptians fielded an army of about 20,000 against a Hittite force of about 17,000. A few hundred years later, the Assyrians subjugated most of Mesopotamia and the Levant with around 175,000 men. A few hundred years after that, the Persians fielded the largest armies of ancient times with 350,000 to 400,000. An Israelite army of 600,000 men, even unarmed and enslaved, had a six-to-one numerical advantage over their captors and would hardly have needed divine intervention to make their escape from Egypt. (Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., Whitehead, M. M., Grigoni, M. R., & Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Nu 1:20–46). Lexham Press.)

  • Reuben – 46,500
  • Simeon -59,300
  • Gad – 45,650
  • Judah – 74,600
  • Issachar – 54,400
  • Zebulun – 57,400
  • Joseph/Ephraim – 45,200
  • Joseph/Manasseh – 32,200
  • Benjamin – 35,400
  • Dan – 62,700
  • Asher – 41,500
  • Naphtali – 53,400

The total count was 603,550.  Many scholars see this was hyperbole.  They see problems with this many people being able to travel, having food and water.  Going through the Red sea in a single night appear logistically impossible.  Was the exodus a smaller group that was later joined by other smaller groups?  We don't know how to reconcile these problems.   Maybe we aren't supposed to but to read what the bible says. 

 

Numbers 1:47-54

The Levites were excluded from going to war and thereby not numbered.  They are appointed to serve at the tabernacle, a higher calling.  They were to carry it, set it up, supply it, operate it, take it down as commanded by the Lord.  Anyone not a Levite was not to take part in this service.  Attempting to do so would result in death.  The Levites were to camp around the tabernacle.  They were to guard it, keep it clean and holy.  They lived in closest proximity to the holiness of the tabernacle.  They acted as a buffer to the every day life and those that made war.  To the inside of their camp was the holiness of God, to the outside was the world, the common and unclean.

The other tribes camped around the tabernacle, outside the circle of Levites.  Each tribe by their standard, according to armies.  The word translated 'standard' is debated.  This may be a military designation or symbol of their tribe. 

 

Note:  In Egypt each army division was named after a deity, and the standard for that division bore a representation of that deity.  (Matthews, V. H., Chavalas, M. W., & Walton, J. H. (2000). The IVP Bible background commentary: Old Testament (electronic ed., Nu 1:52). InterVarsity Press.)

 

© 2023 Doug Ford, Calvary Chapel Sweetwater