Numbers 26:26
Of the sons of Zebulun after their families: of Sered, the family of the Sardites: of Elon, the family of the Elonites: of Jahleel, the family of the Jahleelites. Of the sons of Zebulun after their families: of Sered, the family of the Sardites: of Elon, the family of the Elonites: of Jahleel, the family of the Jahleelites.
The verse records the adult males of Zebulun by families in three lines of descent from Zebulun's sons, Sered giving the Sardites, Elon giving the Elonites, and Jahleel giving the Jahleelites. It belongs to the second numbering of Israel in the wilderness at the end of the forty years of wandering, taken after the wilderness generation had perished and just before entering Canaan. That second census came nearly forty years after leaving Egypt, with nearly thirty-eight years between the first and second numberings. Those who reckon it roundly place the second numbering forty years after the first.
By that time none of the rebels or men counted in the first census remained alive except Caleb and Joshua, because rebellion brought God's judgment barring them from the promised land, and the new numbering showed that God had carried out His judgment. The census in Numbers 26:1-51 was taken at God's command, and unlike David's later census Moses took it at the Lord's command, so the act itself was not sinful. The second numbering stands alongside and is to be compared with the first numbering in Numbers 1 to note the differences among the tribes.
That comparison shows how the tribes gained or lost members during the wilderness journey, with some tribes falling off in number and others increasing, some prospering greatly while others declined. Zebulun's adult males are recorded as 60,500 compared with 57,400 soon after leaving Egypt, an increase of 3,100, while the whole nation's adult males changed little from 603,550 to 601,730.