Of the sons of Issachar after their families: of Tola, the family of the Tolaites: of Pua, the family of the Punites:
Of the sons of Issachar the verse names two families, the Tolaites from Tola and the Punites from Pua, as part of Israel's second census recording the families of Issachar. That census was taken by Moses at the Lord's command, and unlike David's census it was authorized by God and brought no trouble.
The second numbering stood at the end and close of the forty years of wandering, nearly forty years after leaving Egypt and just before entering Canaan. It came forty years after the first census recorded in Numbers 1 and was distinct from that first numbering made soon after coming out of Egypt. The book's second census was taken in the plains of Moab thirty-eight years after the census at Sinai. The second numbering matched the first numbering in sameness of tribal order and in giving definite numbers of men of a certain age. In that second census the counted adult males of Issachar rose from 54,400 to 64,300, an increase of 9,900.
The verse is to be compared with the first numbering in Numbers 1 to note how the tribes gained and lost, fell off and increased, and otherwise changed during the wilderness journey. That comparison, standing with various laws and ordinances, contains valuable instruction in diversified reading of interest and profit. The second numbering took place after every man numbered the first time had fallen in the wilderness and died except Caleb and Joshua. That death happened because the people were wicked and broke out in open rebellion against God, so that by solemn oath God excluded them from the land of promise and doomed them to die in the wilderness. The verse therefore shows that God fulfilled His threatened judgment, with not one rebel remaining alive. It warns those upon whom the ends of the world are come that hopes of entering the kingdom of God and tokens of God's favor, presence, and willingness to save, however strong, do not secure entrance if sin is carried in the heart, for sin inevitably brings ruin.
Of the sons of Issachar the verse names two families, the Tolaites from Tola and the Punites from Pua, as part of Israel's second census recording the families of Issachar. That census was taken by Moses at the Lord's command, and unlike David's census it was authorized by God and brought no trouble.
The second numbering stood at the end and close of the forty years of wandering, nearly forty years after leaving Egypt and just before entering Canaan. It came forty years after the first census recorded in Numbers 1 and was distinct from that first numbering made soon after coming out of Egypt. The book's second census was taken in the plains of Moab thirty-eight years after the census at Sinai. The second numbering matched the first numbering in sameness of tribal order and in giving definite numbers of men of a certain age. In that second census the counted adult males of Issachar rose from 54,400 to 64,300, an increase of 9,900.
The verse is to be compared with the first numbering in Numbers 1 to note how the tribes gained and lost, fell off and increased, and otherwise changed during the wilderness journey. That comparison, standing with various laws and ordinances, contains valuable instruction in diversified reading of interest and profit. The second numbering took place after every man numbered the first time had fallen in the wilderness and died except Caleb and Joshua. That death happened because the people were wicked and broke out in open rebellion against God, so that by solemn oath God excluded them from the land of promise and doomed them to die in the wilderness. The verse therefore shows that God fulfilled His threatened judgment, with not one rebel remaining alive. It warns those upon whom the ends of the world are come that hopes of entering the kingdom of God and tokens of God's favor, presence, and willingness to save, however strong, do not secure entrance if sin is carried in the heart, for sin inevitably brings ruin.