Numbers
Numbers 1
1Yahweh spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of Meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, 2“Take a census of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, every male, one by one, 3from twenty years old and upward, all who are able to go out to war in Israel. You and Aaron shall count them by their divisions. 4With you there shall be a man of every tribe, each one head of his fathers’ house. 5These are the names of the men who shall stand with you:
Of Reuben: Elizur the son of Shedeur.
6Of Simeon: Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai.
7Of Judah: Nahshon the son of Amminadab.
8Of Issachar: Nethanel the son of Zuar.
9Of Zebulun: Eliab the son of Helon.
10Of the children of Joseph: of Ephraim: Elishama the son of Ammihud; of Manasseh: Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur.
11Of Benjamin: Abidan the son of Gideoni.
12Of Dan: Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai.
13Of Asher: Pagiel the son of Ochran.
14Of Gad: Eliasaph the son of Deuel.
15Of Naphtali: Ahira the son of Enan.”
16These are those who were called of the congregation, the princes of the tribes of their fathers; they were the heads of the thousands of Israel. 17Moses and Aaron took these men who are mentioned by name. 18They assembled all the congregation together on the first day of the second month; and they declared their ancestry by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, one by one. 19As Yahweh commanded Moses, so he counted them in the wilderness of Sinai.
20The children of Reuben, Israel’s firstborn, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, one by one, every male from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war: 21those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Reuben, were forty-six thousand five hundred.
22Of the children of Simeon, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, those who were counted of it, according to the number of the names, one by one, every male from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war: 23those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Simeon, were fifty-nine thousand three hundred.
24Of the children of Gad, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war: 25those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Gad, were forty-five thousand six hundred fifty.
26Of the children of Judah, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war: 27those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Judah, were seventy-four thousand six hundred.
28Of the children of Issachar, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war: 29those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Issachar, were fifty-four thousand four hundred.
30Of the children of Zebulun, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war: 31those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Zebulun, were fifty-seven thousand four hundred.
32Of the children of Joseph: of the children of Ephraim, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war: 33those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Ephraim, were forty thousand five hundred.
34Of the children of Manasseh, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war: 35those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Manasseh, were thirty-two thousand two hundred.
36Of the children of Benjamin, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war: 37those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Benjamin, were thirty-five thousand four hundred.
38Of the children of Dan, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war: 39those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Dan, were sixty-two thousand seven hundred.
40Of the children of Asher, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war: 41those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Asher, were forty-one thousand five hundred.
42Of the children of Naphtali, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war: 43those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Naphtali, were fifty-three thousand four hundred.
44These are those who were counted, whom Moses and Aaron counted, and the twelve men who were princes of Israel, each one for his fathers’ house. 45So all those who were counted of the children of Israel by their fathers’ houses, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war in Israel— 46all those who were counted were six hundred three thousand five hundred fifty. 47But the Levites after the tribe of their fathers were not counted among them. 48For Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 49“Only the tribe of Levi you shall not count, neither shall you take a census of them among the children of Israel; 50but appoint the Levites over the Tabernacle of the Testimony, and over all its furnishings, and over all that belongs to it. They shall carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings; and they shall take care of it, and shall encamp around it. 51When the tabernacle is to move, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle is to be set up, the Levites shall set it up. The stranger who comes near shall be put to death. 52The children of Israel shall pitch their tents, every man by his own camp, and every man by his own standard, according to their divisions. 53But the Levites shall encamp around the Tabernacle of the Testimony, that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the children of Israel. The Levites shall be responsible for the Tabernacle of the Testimony.”
54Thus the children of Israel did. According to all that Yahweh commanded Moses, so they did.
Commentary
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What others are saying
4 commentators · 71 notes on this chapter
Matthew Henry4
Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.
Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.
I. We have here a commission issued out for the numbering of the people of Israel; and David, long after, paid dearly for doing it without a commission. Here is, 1. The date of this commission, Num 1:1. (1.) The place: it is given at God's court in the…
We have here the speedy execution of the orders given for the numbering of the people. It was begun the same day that the orders were given, The first day of the second month; compare Num 1:18 with Num 1:1. Note, When any work is to be done for God it is good…
We have here the sum total at the foot of the account; they were in all 600,000 fighting men, and 3550 over. Some think that when this was their number some months before (Exo 38:26) the Levites were reckoned with them, but now that tribe was separated for…
John Gill54
The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.
Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.
And the Lord spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai,.... Which is different from the wilderness of Sin, Exodus 16:1; and had its name from the mountain so called, on which God gave the law of the decalogue, and where the Israelites had been encamped…
Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel,.... Excepting the Levites; nor were any account taken of the mixed multitude that came out of Egypt with the children of Israel, only of them; and this account was taken, partly to observe the…
From twenty years old and upwards,.... All that had entered into their twentieth year, or, as it should rather seem, who were full twenty years of age, and all that were above it without any limitation; though some limit it to fifty, and others to sixty…
Keil & Delitzsch4
The technical one, and Old Testament only. Expect Hebrew grammar, textual argument, and direct engagement with nineteenth-century critical scholarship — closer to a scholarly apparatus than a devotional read. Where a modern critic claims a text is late or composite, this is where the conservative counter-argument was made.
Why this voice is here: Old Testament only, and heavy going — but the place to look when someone asserts a passage cannot mean what it appears to.
Muster of the Twelve Tribes, with the Exception of that of Levi. - Num 1:1-3. Before the departure of Israel from Sinai, God commanded Moses, on the first of the second month in the second year after the exodus from Egypt, to take the number of the whole…
Moses and Aaron, who were commanded to number, or rather to muster, the people, were to have with them "a man of every tribe, who was head-man of his fathers' houses," i.e., a tribe-prince, viz., to help them to carry out the mustering. Beth aboth ("fathers'…
This command was carried out by Moses and Aaron. They took for this purpose the twelve heads of tribes who are pointed out (see at Lev 24:11) by name, and had the whole congregation gathered together by them and enrolled in genealogical tables. התילּד, to…
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown9
The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.
Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.
Aaron shall number them by their armies--or companies. In their departure from Egypt they were divided into five grand companies (Exo 13:18), but from the sojourn in the wilderness to the passage of the Jordan, they were formed into four great divisions. The…
with you there shall be a man of every tribe, &c.--The social condition of the Israelites in the wilderness bore a close resemblance to that of the nomad tribes of the East in the present day. The head of the tribe was a hereditary dignity, vested in the…
these are the names of the men that shall stand with you, &c.--Each is designated by adding the name of the ancestors of his tribe, the people of which were called "Beni-Reuben," "Beni-Levi," sons of Reuben, sons of Levi, according to the custom of the Arabs…
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