Numbers 26:15

The children of Gad after their families: of Zephon, the family of the Zephonites: of Haggi, the family of the Haggites: of Shuni, the family of the Shunites:

Cross-References

The verse gives the families descended from Gad that were counted in the census of adult males. This counting belongs to the second numbering of Israel at the end of the forty years of wandering in the wilderness, taken in the plains of Moab just before entering Canaan, about forty years after the first numbering taken soon after leaving Egypt. It is part of one of the two numberings that give the book of Numbers its name. It is to be compared with the first numbering in Numbers 1 to see how the tribes differed, gained or lost in number, with some falling off and others increasing, some prospering greatly while others declined. At this numbering the tribe of Gad totaled 40,500 men, a decrease of 5,150 from 45,650 at the first numbering, while the whole nation changed little, from 603,550 to 601,730.

The second numbering proves that God's threatened judgments were fulfilled, because the people were wicked and broke out in open, wanton rebellion against God, so that He swore they would be shut out of the promised land and die in the wilderness. Every man numbered the first time had fallen in the wilderness except Caleb and Joshua, so that not one of the rebels remained alive. It stands as instruction and warning to the people upon whom the ends of the world are come, whose hopes of entering the kingdom of God are no stronger and whose tokens of God's favor, presence, and willingness to save are no greater than Israel's at the first numbering, that sin carried in the heart will bring ruin and cause them to come short of the promise as Israel did. It is an example of a census taken at God's command and was not sinful, unlike David's later census, whose wrongdoing was numbering Israel without the Lord's consent and trusting in military strength.

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