Numbers 26:33, commentary and pictures

Numbers 26:33 belongs to the second numbering of Israel recorded in Numbers 26, the census taken at the end and near the close of the forty years of wandering in the wilderness, held in the plains of Moab just before entering Canaan. The second numbering was taken nearly forty years after the first numbering made soon after leaving Egypt, forty years after the first census. The census in the plains of Moab was the second of the book's two numberings of Israel, held thirty-eight years after the census at Sinai, falling within the thirty-eight years covered by the thirty-six chapters of Numbers.

By the time of the second numbering the first generation had died in the wilderness, and not one man counted the first time except Caleb and Joshua remained alive to witness it, so that not one rebel remained alive. The first generation failed because the people were wicked and sin was in their midst, breaking out in open, wanton rebellion against God, so by solemn oath He excluded them from the land and doomed them to die in the wilderness. The second numbering proves that God fulfills His threatened judgments.

The numbering at the end of the forty years is to be compared with the numbering in Numbers 1 and the earlier census to note how the tribes changed in number, how some fell off and others increased, how they gained or lost numbers. The verse records that Zelophehad the son of Hepher had no sons but daughters, and that the names of his five daughters were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. The laws concerning the inheritance of daughters are treated later in Numbers 36. The second numbering 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 cannot avail while sin is carried in the heart, which inevitably brings ruin.