Even all they that were numbered were six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty.
The verse gives the total of the first census at Sinai as 603,550 men fit for war, meaning males twenty years old and upward, apart from the Levites, women, and children. The counting was made about a year after entering the wilderness, as the host was organized to march toward Canaan in expectation of inheriting the promised land. It is the first of the two numberings that give the book of Numbers its name, the other being taken in the plains of Moab thirty-eight to forty years later at the close of the forty years. It stands as the opening baseline for comparison with the second census in Numbers 26, to show the gain or loss of each tribe. Though the national total had changed little by the later census, the tribes themselves had changed considerably, marking this as the generation that, except for Caleb and Joshua, perished in the wilderness for rebellion, proving that sin brings ruin and that God fulfills His threatened judgments.
The First Census Total
The total recorded is 603,550 men able to go to war. Those counted were males twenty years old and older, and the reckoning excluded the Levites, females, and males under twenty. It was Israel's first census after leaving Egypt, counting only adult males of the specified age, with definite numbers given for the tribes.
The counting was made at Sinai about a year after Israel entered the wilderness. It was made as the people were organized to march toward Canaan in expectation of inheriting the promised land, so that a vast host expected to receive an inheritance there. It stands in the opening chapters that continue Leviticus before the narrative of the journey from Sinai toward Kadesh-barnea is resumed.
Together with women, children, and older people, the people present at Sinai numbered about three million.
The numbering was carefully conducted, with each tribe counted separately under appointed census inspectors. It is the first of the two censuses that give the book of Numbers its name. The other numbering was made in the plains of Moab thirty-eight to forty years later at the end of the forty years, forty years before which the first numbering had been made.
Comparison and Significance
The total of 603,550 is the first census at the beginning of the forty years of wandering, providing the baseline for comparison with the second census in Numbers 26 at the end of the forty years. Comparing the two numberings shows the difference in the tribes, how each tribe gained or lost during the forty years, with some increasing greatly and others declining. Compared with the later census before entering Canaan, the nation's total had changed little over nearly forty years, though the numbers of the individual tribes had changed considerably.
That total marks the generation that was organized to go into Canaan and expected to enter it, but whose members, except Caleb and Joshua, later died in the wilderness after rebelling against God, as the later census showed. Their fate demonstrates that sin brings ruin and that God fulfills His threatened judgments.
The census in Numbers 1 is singled out as a factual claim that its critics call absurd. It was one of two censuses Moses took at the Lord's command, unlike David's census, which was sinful because he ordered it without the Lord's consent and relied on the size of his forces. The count is the basis for saying that Moses commanded an army of about 600,000 men for forty years after he was eighty years old.
The verse gives the total of the first census at Sinai as 603,550 men fit for war, meaning males twenty years old and upward, apart from the Levites, women, and children. The counting was made about a year after entering the wilderness, as the host was organized to march toward Canaan in expectation of inheriting the promised land. It is the first of the two numberings that give the book of Numbers its name, the other being taken in the plains of Moab thirty-eight to forty years later at the close of the forty years. It stands as the opening baseline for comparison with the second census in Numbers 26, to show the gain or loss of each tribe. Though the national total had changed little by the later census, the tribes themselves had changed considerably, marking this as the generation that, except for Caleb and Joshua, perished in the wilderness for rebellion, proving that sin brings ruin and that God fulfills His threatened judgments.
The First Census Total
The total recorded is 603,550 men able to go to war. Those counted were males twenty years old and older, and the reckoning excluded the Levites, females, and males under twenty. It was Israel's first census after leaving Egypt, counting only adult males of the specified age, with definite numbers given for the tribes.
The counting was made at Sinai about a year after Israel entered the wilderness. It was made as the people were organized to march toward Canaan in expectation of inheriting the promised land, so that a vast host expected to receive an inheritance there. It stands in the opening chapters that continue Leviticus before the narrative of the journey from Sinai toward Kadesh-barnea is resumed.
Together with women, children, and older people, the people present at Sinai numbered about three million.
The numbering was carefully conducted, with each tribe counted separately under appointed census inspectors. It is the first of the two censuses that give the book of Numbers its name. The other numbering was made in the plains of Moab thirty-eight to forty years later at the end of the forty years, forty years before which the first numbering had been made.
Comparison and Significance
The total of 603,550 is the first census at the beginning of the forty years of wandering, providing the baseline for comparison with the second census in Numbers 26 at the end of the forty years. Comparing the two numberings shows the difference in the tribes, how each tribe gained or lost during the forty years, with some increasing greatly and others declining. Compared with the later census before entering Canaan, the nation's total had changed little over nearly forty years, though the numbers of the individual tribes had changed considerably.
That total marks the generation that was organized to go into Canaan and expected to enter it, but whose members, except Caleb and Joshua, later died in the wilderness after rebelling against God, as the later census showed. Their fate demonstrates that sin brings ruin and that God fulfills His threatened judgments.
The census in Numbers 1 is singled out as a factual claim that its critics call absurd. It was one of two censuses Moses took at the Lord's command, unlike David's census, which was sinful because he ordered it without the Lord's consent and relied on the size of his forces. The count is the basis for saying that Moses commanded an army of about 600,000 men for forty years after he was eighty years old.