Numbers 1:44

_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;_ 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, 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," 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 tha...

44-46 We have here the sum total. How much was required to maintain all these in the wilderness! They were all provided for by God every day. When we observe the faithfulness of God, however unlikely the performance of his promise may appear, we may take courage as to those which yet remain to be fulfilled to the church of God....

The enrollment, being taken principally for military purposes (compare Numbers 1:3, Numbers 1:20), would naturally be arranged by hundreds, fifties, etc. (cf. 2Ki 1:9, 2 Kings 1:11, 2 Kings 1:13). In eleven tribes the number enrolled consists of complete hundreds. The difference, in this respect, observable in the case of the tribe of Gad here Numbers 1:25, and of the tribe of Reuben at the later census Numbers 26:7, is prob

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

THESE [ARE] THOSE THAT WERE NUMBERED,.... Or, as the Targum of Jonathan, these are the sums of the numbers; namely, those before given of the several respective tribes: WHICH MOSES AND AARON NUMBERED, AND THE PRINCES OF ISRAEL, [BEING] TWELVE MEN; for though the tribe of Levi was not numbered, yet Joseph having a double portion, his two sons are reckoned as distinct tribes; so that one out of each tribe made up the number twelve: EACH ONE FOR THE HOUSE OF HIS FATHERS; for the tribe he belonged to, with which it might reasonably be supposed he was best acquainted, and could more readily take the number of them....

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

TWELVE MEN: one man for one tribe (Numbers 1:4). MEN. Hebrew. _Ish_. App-14....

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.

C. TOTAL OF THE MARTIAL CENSUS vv. 44-46 TEXT Numbers 1:44. These are those that were numbered, which Moses and Aaron numbered, and the princes of Israel, being twelve men: each one was for the house of his fathers. 45. So were all those that were numbered, of the children of Israel, by the house of their fathers, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war in Israel; 46. Even all they that were numbered were six hundred and three thousand and five hundred and fifty. PARAPHRASE Numbers 1:44. These are the ones who were counted, whom Moses and Aaron numbered with the assistance of the leaders of Israel, twelve men, each representing his father's house. 45. So the entire number of the children of Israel, according to their father's houses, from twenty years