Of Arod, the family of the Arodites: of Areli, the family of the Arelites.
Of Arod and Areli came the families of Gad named the Arodites and the Arelites. The listing belongs to Israel's second numbering, taken in the plains of Moab just before entering Canaan at the end and close of the forty years of wandering. It came nearly forty years after the first numbering soon after leaving Egypt and at Sinai, the two numberings covering nearly thirty-eight years. It was taken after every man counted in the first numbering except Caleb and Joshua had fallen and died in the wilderness.
As part of the inspired arithmetic that gives the book its name, the census keeps the same tribal divisions as the first numbering and gives definite numbers of men of a certain age by family. In this census Gad is counted at 40,500 adult males, a decrease of 5,150 from 45,650 in the first census. The entire nation of adult males changed little from 603,550 to 601,730, though the several tribes changed considerably.
This second numbering is to be compared with the first numbering in Numbers 1, taken forty years earlier, to note the difference in the tribes and how they have gained and lost. Some tribes fell off and declined while others increased and prospered. The referring back to the first count shows how the tribes have gained and lost.
The second numbering proves that God fulfills His threatened judgments, showing beyond dispute that not one man who rebelled against God remained alive. The failure came because the people were wicked, breaking out in open, wanton rebellion against God, so that by solemn oath He excluded them from the promised land and doomed them to die in the wilderness. The record warns those upon whom the ends of the world are come that hopes of entering the kingdom of God no stronger than Israel's at the first numbering, and tokens of God's favor and presence and willingness to save no greater than theirs, will not avail if sin is carried in the heart, for sin inevitably brings ruin.
Of Arod and Areli came the families of Gad named the Arodites and the Arelites. The listing belongs to Israel's second numbering, taken in the plains of Moab just before entering Canaan at the end and close of the forty years of wandering. It came nearly forty years after the first numbering soon after leaving Egypt and at Sinai, the two numberings covering nearly thirty-eight years. It was taken after every man counted in the first numbering except Caleb and Joshua had fallen and died in the wilderness.
As part of the inspired arithmetic that gives the book its name, the census keeps the same tribal divisions as the first numbering and gives definite numbers of men of a certain age by family. In this census Gad is counted at 40,500 adult males, a decrease of 5,150 from 45,650 in the first census. The entire nation of adult males changed little from 603,550 to 601,730, though the several tribes changed considerably.
This second numbering is to be compared with the first numbering in Numbers 1, taken forty years earlier, to note the difference in the tribes and how they have gained and lost. Some tribes fell off and declined while others increased and prospered. The referring back to the first count shows how the tribes have gained and lost.
The second numbering proves that God fulfills His threatened judgments, showing beyond dispute that not one man who rebelled against God remained alive. The failure came because the people were wicked, breaking out in open, wanton rebellion against God, so that by solemn oath He excluded them from the promised land and doomed them to die in the wilderness. The record warns those upon whom the ends of the world are come that hopes of entering the kingdom of God no stronger than Israel's at the first numbering, and tokens of God's favor and presence and willingness to save no greater than theirs, will not avail if sin is carried in the heart, for sin inevitably brings ruin.