After the plague, the Lord told Moses and Eleazar to take a census of those twenty years old and above who were able to go to war (v1-4). Moses and Eleazar did as the Lord commanded. The first census at the beginning of the book, which we understand was thirty-eight years before, was to know how many fighting men they had. This second census was clearly for them to know how many fighting men they now had. They were to be numbered in their tribes and families.
The tribe of Reuben, the eldest, were numbered at 43,730 (v5-11). Dathan and Abiram are mentioned who joined with Korah in the rebellion (chapter 16) against Moses and Aaron and therefore against the Lord. They were destroyed when the earth opened up and swallowed them and the fire destroyed 250 persons. The children of Korah were spared. God had not overlooked the rebellion, and we are told that they became a sign, a warning to others.
The tribe of Simeon (v12-14) were numbered at 22,200. This was an amazing reduction since the first census – a loss of 37,100 men. The tribe of Gad (v15-18) were numbered at 40,500. The tribe of Judah (v19-22) at 76,500. The tribe of Issachar (v23-25) 64,300, an increase of 9,900. The tribe of Zebulun (v26,27) at 60,500. The tribe of Manasseh (v28-34) at 52,700, a huge increase of 20,500. An interesting factor in the tribe of Manasseh is the reference to the daughters of Zelophehad who had no sons. Of course they were not included in the fighting men. The tribe of Ephraim (v35-37) at 32,500. The tribe of Benjamin (v38-41) at 45,600, an increase of 10,200. The tribe of Dan (v42-43) at 64,400. The tribe of Asher (v44-47) at 53,400, an increase of 11,900. The tribe of Naphtali (v48-50) at 45,400.
The total number of men ready for war (v51) was 601,730 an overall decrease of 1,820. After 38 year’s wandering one would have expected their numbers to increase but they were, despite some gains and some losses, virtually the same. We have to remember that a generation died because of their unbelief. We are not specifically told why some had losses and some gains but one must assume it was the unbelief on some tribes more than others and vice versa. The sad thing was overall no growth and remaining largely stagnant. We need to remember that all those who left Egypt with exception of Joshua and Caleb never reached the Promised Land and none of the men in the second census had been included in the first (v63-65).
The Lord told Moses to divide the land as an inheritance, larger tribes were allocated more than smaller ones (v52-56). The tribe of Levi were not numbered in the census as ready to go to war, they were not to fight (v57-62). They were counted, however, every male from one month and above and were 23,000 but they were not allocated an inheritance. They were to serve the Lord as we saw earlier in chapter 18.
The remarkable thing about all this was that they had not yet entered the Promised Land, but the Lord would keep His word, and they would do so.
