Numbers 1:19

_AS THE LORD COMMANDED MOSES, SO HE NUMBERED THEM IN THE WILDERNESS OF SINAI._ As the Lord commanded ... 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 the note at 2 Sam divine appointment; but David incurred guilt by doing it without the authority of God (see the note at 2 Samuel 24:10)....

1-43 The people were numbered to show God's faithfulness in thus increasing the seed of Jacob, that they might be the better trained for the wars and conquest of Canaan, and to ascertain their families in order to the division of the land. It is said of each tribe, that those were numbered who were able to go forth to war; they had wars before them, though now they met with no opposition. Let the believer be prepared to withstand the enemies of his soul, though all may appear to be peace....

EXPOSITION THE CENSUS TAKEN (Numbers 1:17-4). NUMBERS 1:17 THESE MEN. Designated by direct command of God; yet probably the same, or some of the same, selected by Moses for obvious personal and social reasons a short time before (Exodus 18:25). NUMBERS 1:18 ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE SECOND MONTH. The natural meaning is that the census was completed in one day. If so, the "census papers," the pedigrees and family lists, must have been ready beforehand. Notice had in fact

AS THE LORD COMMANDED MOSES,.... In this Moses and David differed in numbering the people of Israel; the one did it by an express command from God, and in obedience to it; the other without one, and against his will, 1 Chronicles 21:17; SO HE NUMBERED THEM IN THE WILDERNESS OF SINAI; where they now were when this order was given, Numbers 1:1; and from whence they removed the twentieth day of this month, Numbers 10:11; so that in less than three weeks time, perhaps much sooner, this affair was finished; and it may be, that the place of numbering them at this time is expressly observed, to distinguish it from another numbering of them, recorded in this book, which was done in the plains of Moab,...

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS I. THE PREPARATION FOR THE JOURNEY 1. The People Numbered CHAPTER 1 _ 1. The command to number (Numbers 1:1)_ 2. The appointed helpers for the work (Numbers 1:5) 3. The congregation assembled (Numbers 1:17) 4. The twelve tribes numbered (Numbers 1:20) 5. The Levites separated unto the tabernacle service (Numbers 1:47) It was exactly one month after the erection of the tabernacle that the Lord gave the commandment to Moses to number the people. This is seen by comparing

NUMBERS 1:1 (from P, which is used uninterruptedly as far as Numbers 10:28). THE NUMBERING OF THE SECULAR TRIBES. The date of this census is about eleven months after the arrival at Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19:1), and exactly a month after the erection of the Tabernacle (Exodus 40:17). The numbering, which was to proceed by _families_ (_i.e._ by clans) and by _father_-'_ s houses_ (_i.e._ by families), was to embrace all men over twenty (who might be thought capable of bearing arms). In the undertaking, Moses and Aaron were to be assisted by a representative of each of the tribes. Since the method by which a large propo

AS. according as. WILDERNESS OF SINAI (Numbers 1:1), to distinguish it from the second, which was in the plains of Moab....

The numbers ascertained by the census. There can be no doubt that the numbers given in chs. 1 3 and 26 are purely artificial. Gray (_Numbers_, pp. 10 15) shews that (1) they are impossible, (2) when compared with each other they yield absurd results, (3) they are inconsistent with numbers given in Hebrew literature earlier than P. (1) The number of male Israelites of fighting age is put at 603,550, which appears in round numbers as 600,000 in Numbers 11:21; Exodus 12:37. But the fighting men could form hardly more than a quarter of the whole; so that the population would reach a total of some 2¼ millions. The present population of the Sinaitic peninsula is estimated at from 4,000 to 6,000, and a body of over 2 million people could not find subsistence even if dispersed all over the peninsula.

B. THE COUNTING, TRIBE BY TRIBE vv. 17-43 TEXT Numbers 1:17. And Moses and Aaron took these men Which are expressed by their names: 18. And they assembled all the congregation together on the first day of the second month, and they declared their pedigrees after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, by their polls. 19. As the Lord commanded Moses, so he numbered them in the wilderness of Sinai. 20. And the children of Reuben, Israel's eldest son, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, by their polls, every male from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war; 21. Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Reuben were forty and six thousand and five hundred. 22. Of the children of Simeon, by

THE FIRST NUMBERING OF THE PEOPLE At Sinai Moses receives the command to take the number of the males over twenty years of age in the eleven secular tribes, the tribe of Levi being enumerated separately (Numbers 1:47; Numbers 3:14). The result shows a total of 603,550 (cp. Exodus 12:37; Exodus 38:26; Numbers 11:21). The result of the second numbering, made in the plains of Moab thirty-eight years afterwards (Numbers 26), is 601,730. The credibility of these figures has b