Numbers 26:40

_THE SONS OF BENJAMIN AFTER THEIR FAMILIES: OF BELA, THE FAMILY OF THE BELAITES: OF ASHBEL, THE FAMILY OF THE ASHBELITES: OF AHIRAM, THE FAMILY OF THE AHIRAMITES:_ The sons of Benjamin after their families - (see the note at Genesis 46:21). OF BELA - or Belah (Genesis 46:21: cf. 1 Chronicles 7:6; 1 Chronicles 8:1) [Septuagint, Bale]. The Belaites comprised a list of several influential houses. The most distinguished person connected with them was Ehud. Becher, though not mentioned in this passage, stands in the other lists ...

1-51 Moses did not number the people but when God commanded him. We have here the families registered, as well as the tribes. The total was nearly the same as when numbered at mount Sinai. Notice is here taken of the children of Korah; they died not, as the children of Dathan and Abiram; they seem not to have joined even their own father in rebellion. If we partake not of the sins of sinners, we shall not partake of their plagues....

EXPOSITION THE SECOND MUSTERING (Numbers 26:1). NUMBERS 26:1 IT CAME TO PASS AFTER THE PLAGUE. This plague was the last event which seriously diminished the numbers of the Israelites; perhaps it was the last event which diminished them at all, for it seems to be throughout implied that none died except through their own fault. It is often supposed that this plague carried off the last survivors of the generation condemned at Kadesh (see Numbers 26:64); but this is opposed to the statement in Deuteronomy 2:14,...

Numbers 26:38...

3. THE SECOND NUMBERING CHAPTER 26 _ 1. The command to number (Numbers 26:1)_ 2. The census taken (Numbers 26:5) 3. The total number (Numbers 26:51) 4. The inheritance (Numbers 26:52) 5. The Levites (Numbers 26:57) 6. The new generation (Numbers 26:63) The reader will find the comparison of these two numberings in the annotations of the first chapter. The increase and decrease of the different tribe

NUMBERS 26. PARTICULARS OF A SECOND CENSUS TAKEN 38 YEARS AFTER THE FIRST. Numbers 26:1. The Numbers of the Twelve Secular Tribes. The census was again confined to men over twenty. The total is Numbers 18:20 less than on the earlier occasion; there are increases in seven tribes, and decreases in five. Some of the names which purport to be those of persons are identical with the names of localities, _e.g._ Gilead, Jezer (_i.e._ Abiezer, Judges 8:2), Tirzah (1 Kings 15:21). Many of the appellations appear in a variant form in Genesis 46:8

OF ARD. Ellipsis should be supplied thus: "[to Ard] pertiained"....

The twelve secular tribes are numbered, the sacred tribe of Levi being omitted. The names are based upon Genesis 46:8-27, but with the addition of Ephraim and Manasseh, who, having been born in Egypt, could not be reckoned in Gen. among those who went down into Egypt. The total number at the first census, thirty-eight years before (ch. 1) was 603,550; now it is 601,730. The order of the tribes is the same, except that Manasseh (Numbers 26:29) precedes Ephraim (Numbers 26:35). Reuben, Simeon, Gad, Ephraim and Naphtali have decreased in numbers, while the other seven have increased. The impossibility of the figures is shewn in note on Nu

D. THE SECOND CENSUS (NUMBERS 26:1-51) TEXT Numbers 26:1. And it came to pass after the plague, that the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, saying, 2. Take the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, from twenty years old and upward, throughout their fathers-' house, all that are able to go to war in Israel. 3. And Moses and Eleazar the priest spake with them in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying, 4. Take the sum of the people, from twenty years old and upward; as the Lord commanded Moses and the children of Israel, which went forth out of the land of Egypt. 5. Reuben, the eldest son of Israel; the children of Reuben; Hanoch, of whom cometh the family of the Hanbchites: of Pallu, the family of the Palluites: 6. Of Hezron,

THE SECOND NUMBERING OF THE PEOPLE The first took place thirty-eight years before (see Numbers 1) at Mt. Sinai. The people are shortly to enter Canaan, and this second enumeration is made in view of the prospective division of the land among the twelve tribes: see Numbers 26:52. The total result shows a decrease of 1,820. While Manasseh has increased by no less than 20,500, Simeon has decreased by the extraordinary amount of 37,100. The latter tribe may have suffered most severely in the recent plague, seeing that Zimri was a Simeonite (Numbers 25:14)....