Of Gad the appointed leader for the first census was Eliasaph the son of Deuel. He stood as the representative of his tribe when each tribe was counted separately under its appointed inspectors. The chapter records the numbers of men of specified ages in each tribe.
The verse belongs to the first of the two numberings under Moses, taken at Sinai when Israel had been in the desert about one year. It came after the law had been proclaimed from the flaming mount, after the tabernacle had been erected with the ark containing the law deposited in its most holy place, after the cloud of glory had taken possession of it, after bread from heaven had been given every morning and water had been given from the smitten rock, while the pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night remained over the camp. It came after the building of the tabernacle and the establishing of its services and the sin of Nadab and Abihu, and before the leaving of Mount Sinai, when at the close of that first year God directed the numbering and Moses performed it. The book also records the second census in the plains of Moab thirty-eight years later.
That numbering enrolled by name only men able to go forth to war, of specified ages, counted carefully tribe by tribe. It totaled 603,550, excluding the tribe of Levi altogether, and excluding all females and all under twenty years of age. It took down all their names and marshaled the host in completest order preparatory to marching into the land of promise.
Everything then indicated speedy entrance into Canaan, with the work seeming almost accomplished. Every man counted expected an inheritance in the land of promise, which each might have had after such tokens of God's loving-kindness, presence, and provision as no other people ever witnessed. The first census counted the people who were expected to enter the promised land.
The first census in Numbers 1 is the starting point for comparison with the second census in Numbers 26 at the end of the forty years, to see how the tribes gained or lost. That comparison shows changes in the tribes' numbers over the forty years of wandering, with some growing greatly while others declined. The first numbering thus serves as the basis for measuring what rebellion and wandering cost tribe by tribe.
Apart from Caleb and Joshua, all those counted the first time died in the wilderness because of rebellion and sin. The later census therefore showed that God fulfilled His threatened judgments. The numbering belongs to the connected story of Israel after the tabernacle and before leaving Sinai, told for children with practical moral lessons woven in.
Of Gad the appointed leader for the first census was Eliasaph the son of Deuel. He stood as the representative of his tribe when each tribe was counted separately under its appointed inspectors. The chapter records the numbers of men of specified ages in each tribe.
The verse belongs to the first of the two numberings under Moses, taken at Sinai when Israel had been in the desert about one year. It came after the law had been proclaimed from the flaming mount, after the tabernacle had been erected with the ark containing the law deposited in its most holy place, after the cloud of glory had taken possession of it, after bread from heaven had been given every morning and water had been given from the smitten rock, while the pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night remained over the camp. It came after the building of the tabernacle and the establishing of its services and the sin of Nadab and Abihu, and before the leaving of Mount Sinai, when at the close of that first year God directed the numbering and Moses performed it. The book also records the second census in the plains of Moab thirty-eight years later.
That numbering enrolled by name only men able to go forth to war, of specified ages, counted carefully tribe by tribe. It totaled 603,550, excluding the tribe of Levi altogether, and excluding all females and all under twenty years of age. It took down all their names and marshaled the host in completest order preparatory to marching into the land of promise.
Everything then indicated speedy entrance into Canaan, with the work seeming almost accomplished. Every man counted expected an inheritance in the land of promise, which each might have had after such tokens of God's loving-kindness, presence, and provision as no other people ever witnessed. The first census counted the people who were expected to enter the promised land.
The first census in Numbers 1 is the starting point for comparison with the second census in Numbers 26 at the end of the forty years, to see how the tribes gained or lost. That comparison shows changes in the tribes' numbers over the forty years of wandering, with some growing greatly while others declined. The first numbering thus serves as the basis for measuring what rebellion and wandering cost tribe by tribe.
Apart from Caleb and Joshua, all those counted the first time died in the wilderness because of rebellion and sin. The later census therefore showed that God fulfilled His threatened judgments. The numbering belongs to the connected story of Israel after the tabernacle and before leaving Sinai, told for children with practical moral lessons woven in.