Numbers 26:35
These are the sons of Ephraim after their families: of Shuthelah, the family of the Shuthalhites: of Becher, the family of the Bachrites: of Tahan, the family of the Tahanites. These are the sons of Ephraim after their families: of Shuthelah, the family of the Shuthalhites: of Becher, the family of the Bachrites: of Tahan, the family of the Tahanites.
This verse belongs to the second numbering of Israel in Numbers 26, answering to the first numbering at the opening of Numbers in Numbers 1. That second numbering was taken nearly forty years after the first, which was made soon after leaving Egypt at Sinai, and was made at the end of forty years of wandering just before entering Canaan. It was taken in the plains of Moab about thirty-eight years after the census at Sinai, and the thirty-six chapters of Numbers very nearly cover the thirty-eight years between the enumerations. The book is called Numbers from the Greek Arithmoi given about B.C. 300 because it contains this inspired arithmetic of the people.
The verse gives the families of Ephraim, listing three clans descended from Shuthelah, Becher, and Tahan as the Shuthalhites, Bachrites, and Tahanites. The adult males of Ephraim then numbered 32,500, a decrease of 8,000 from 40,500 at the first numbering, while the adult males of the whole nation changed little from 603,550 to 601,730. The second numbering is to be compared with the first census to see how the tribes fell off and increased, gained or lost numbers, and to note the differences among the tribes.
The second numbering showed that the generation numbered the first time had died in the wilderness, with not one man numbered the first time still alive except Caleb and Joshua, as God had threatened because of their rebellion. Every other person had fallen in the wilderness. The second numbering impresses that God fulfills his threatened judgments, for the failure came simply because the people were wicked and sin in their midst broke out in open, wanton rebellion against God, so by a solemn oath he excluded them from the land and doomed them to die in the wilderness. Changes in the tribal numbers show that some tribes prospered through greater faithfulness to God while others declined, though no specific change is given here for Ephraim. The verse stands with various laws and ordinances containing valuable instruction in a diversified reading of interest and profit.