And these are the sons of Shuthelah: of Eran, the family of the Eranites.
The verse names Eran as a son of Shuthelah and as the ancestor of the family of the Eranites, in a family-by-family listing of adult males by tribe that makes up the tribal totals, the Eranites belonging to Ephraim. It is one entry in the second numbering of Israel answering to the first numbering at the opening of the book, the later of the two censuses in Numbers counted at the end of the forty years of wandering in the wilderness. That numbering was taken nearly forty years after leaving Egypt just before entering Canaan in the plains of Moab, thirty-eight years after the census at Sinai. The book is called Numbers from the Greek Arithmoi, whose thirty-six chapters cover nearly the thirty-eight years between the two enumerations.
The census was taken at the Lord's command, in contrast with David's census, which was sinful because he took it without the Lord's consent. The chapter's census is to be compared with the numbering in Numbers 1 to see how the tribes changed in size during the wilderness journey, how some fell off and others increased. Some grew greatly while others declined. Ephraim was numbered at 32,500, a decrease of 8,000 from 40,500 soon after leaving Egypt, and the whole nation was numbered at 601,730 compared with 603,550 at first.
None of the men counted in the first numbering except Caleb and Joshua lived to be counted in the second numbering, with not one man left alive to witness it, every other person falling in the wilderness. That complete disappearance proves that God's threatened judgments were fulfilled against a wicked people whose sin in their midst broke out in open, wanton rebellion. Whom He excluded by solemn oath from the land of promise and doomed to die in the wilderness. The second numbering therefore teaches those upon whom the ends of the world are come that strong hope of entering the kingdom of God and great tokens of God's favor, presence, and willingness to save cannot avail while sin is carried in the heart, because cherished sin will inevitably bring ruin.
The verse names Eran as a son of Shuthelah and as the ancestor of the family of the Eranites, in a family-by-family listing of adult males by tribe that makes up the tribal totals, the Eranites belonging to Ephraim. It is one entry in the second numbering of Israel answering to the first numbering at the opening of the book, the later of the two censuses in Numbers counted at the end of the forty years of wandering in the wilderness. That numbering was taken nearly forty years after leaving Egypt just before entering Canaan in the plains of Moab, thirty-eight years after the census at Sinai. The book is called Numbers from the Greek Arithmoi, whose thirty-six chapters cover nearly the thirty-eight years between the two enumerations.
The census was taken at the Lord's command, in contrast with David's census, which was sinful because he took it without the Lord's consent. The chapter's census is to be compared with the numbering in Numbers 1 to see how the tribes changed in size during the wilderness journey, how some fell off and others increased. Some grew greatly while others declined. Ephraim was numbered at 32,500, a decrease of 8,000 from 40,500 soon after leaving Egypt, and the whole nation was numbered at 601,730 compared with 603,550 at first.
None of the men counted in the first numbering except Caleb and Joshua lived to be counted in the second numbering, with not one man left alive to witness it, every other person falling in the wilderness. That complete disappearance proves that God's threatened judgments were fulfilled against a wicked people whose sin in their midst broke out in open, wanton rebellion. Whom He excluded by solemn oath from the land of promise and doomed to die in the wilderness. The second numbering therefore teaches those upon whom the ends of the world are come that strong hope of entering the kingdom of God and great tokens of God's favor, presence, and willingness to save cannot avail while sin is carried in the heart, because cherished sin will inevitably bring ruin.