Numbers 1:1-46: Taking Names

So today we are talking about a passage that I would be hard pressed to find any one who would say this is the favorite passage. And Most pastors would probably skip over this. It is one of the reasons why people hat reading through the book of Numbers. So lets start off reading the book of numbers.

For everyone sake I am not going to read over ever name. but we are going to read the first 4 verses

Numbers 1:1-46

Numbers 1:1–4 LEB

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses in the desert of Sinai, in the tent of assembly, on the first of the month, in the second year after they came out of the land of Egypt, saying, 2 “Take a census of the entire community of the Israelites according to their clans and their families, according to the number of names, every male individually 3 from twenty years old and above, everyone in Israel who is able to go to war. You and Aaron must muster them for their wars. 4 A man from each tribe will be with you, each man the head of his family.

This book begins with the Lord’s command to Moses to number the people.

The process took about 19 days. The object of this exercise was to list the numbers of men 20 years of age and above. Those able to go to war.

The people we mustering there forces to enter into the promised Land.

As you read this you will see that Moses and Aaron were making the census as the head of the people and the tribe leaders or princes were summoned to help.

The Census

The census was carried out on the same day that it was commanded (vv. 17–19). The result of it was as follows (v. 20ff.):

Reuben 46,500

Ephraim 40,500

Simeon 59,300

Manasseh 32,200

Gad 45,650

Benjamin 35,400

Judah 74,600

Dan 62,700

Issachar 54,400

Asher 41,500

Zebulun 57,400

Naphtali 53,400

In all, the tribes numbered 603,550 men under arms.

One obvious point to note is the unequal strength of the various tribes

Problems with the numbers

Some people take issue with the number of people that this would produce.

Adding women and children to this number yields a total population of 2–3 million. A population of this size would have taken weeks to pass any single point on the route to the promised land. The Levites are excluded from this count (Num 1:47); they would have added another 22,000 men to the total (3:39).

It only took one night for the Israelites to cross the sea during the exodus event (Exod 14:21–22).

Yahweh’s miraculous provision of food for the Israelites only begins roughly 45 days into their journey (Exod 16:1), meaning about 2 million people had to be fed by other means for that time. If they ate livestock from their flocks and herds for that time, they would have had to leave Egypt with millions of animals.

Even after the provision of manna began, a population that size would need to gather over a million gallons of manna per day (see Exod 16:13–21).

The area that Israel’s camp covered is indicated in Num 33:49. The two geographic markers given in that verse are about seven miles apart, suggesting a camp of about 49 square miles.

At 2 million, the population density would be over 40,000 people per square mile—13,000 people per square mile greater than the city of New York in 2010. Either the size of the population is literary hyperbole (exaggeration for effect) or the terms for thousands, hundreds, and fifties are not labels for the actual numbers of the groups (see note on vv. 20–46).

‘elep

Some say ‘elep (thousand) may be an approximation. There were “thousands” of persons in each tribe.

Some say ‘elep (thousand) has lost all sense of a specific numerical value and means simply a troop. Thus each tribe might be composed of 30-70 troops.

Some observed that the term ‘elep (thousand) is very close to the spelling to the word ‘allup - Chieftain. Men would be 5550 men and 598 chiefs

This way population would be 15000 to 18000

Noordtzij, who states that we cannot translate the term 'elep as "thousand" but only by an X as we no longer know how large it was. He concludes that the total complement of the army of Israel in Numbers 1:46 should not be read 603,550, but 603 X + 550 men

If our translation of the word is wrong does it hurt your faith?

Point is not to get caught up in the numbers but worship God in the numbers as he has reviled himself in them.

No man lives unto himself

This census reminds us that No man lives unto himself. We are making our future now, and, it may be, the future of our families also (cf. Is. 58:12, “You shall raise up the foundations of many generations”).

We are fighting a war together and we need to be together. I wonder as we look at numbers and they were taking count, how many of you would know who you are fighting this war with.

We often get caught up in ourselves and forget that we are part of the larger Battle. We loose count and forget that we have a role in the larger war.

Do you know the person in your group that you are serving with. One of the biggest things missing (personal opinion) in churches today is connection.

Are you connected to the larger body?

Next Steps

Do you know who you are serving with?

Bibliography

Gary H. Everett, The Book of Numbers, Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures (Gary Everett, 2011)

Harris, W. Hall, III, Elliot Ritzema, Rick Brannan, Douglas Mangum, John Dunham, Jeffrey A. Reimer, and Micah Wierenga, eds. The Lexham English Bible. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012.

Barry, John D., Douglas Mangum, Derek R. Brown, Michael S. Heiser, Miles Custis, Elliot Ritzema, Matthew M. Whitehead, Michael R. Grigoni, and David Bomar. Faithlife Study Bible. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016.

Philip, James, and Lloyd J. Ogilvie. Numbers. Vol. 4. The Preacher’s Commentary Series. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc, 1987.

Heiser, Michael S. “Large Numbers in the Exodus and Wilderness Journey.” Faithlife Study Bible. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016.

Everett, Gary H. The Book of Numbers. Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures. Gary Everett, 2011.

https://www.elisabblah.com/2019/06/24/the-2-censuses-in-the-book-of-numbers/

https://thescripturesays.org/2017/02/11/bible-art-numbers-1-2-take-a-census-of-all-the-congregation-of-the-people-of-israel/