Numbers 26:4, commentary and pictures

Numbers 26:4 commands the second numbering of Israel at the close of the forty years in the wilderness, shortly before entering Canaan. It directs the counting of men from twenty years old and upward, as the Lord commanded Moses and those who came out of Egypt. It belongs to the second of the book's two censuses, taken about forty years after the first numbering in Numbers 1, thirty-eight years after Sinai, in the plains of Moab. Compared with the first census, the total number of adult males had changed little over nearly forty years, though individual tribes had changed greatly, with Simeon decreasing sharply and Manasseh growing markedly. The new numbering proves that God's threatened judgment was accomplished, for except Caleb and Joshua every man counted before had died in the wilderness because of open rebellion against God, which warns those upon whom the ends of the world are come that cherished sin will likewise bring ruin, while numbering at the Lord's command itself was not sinful as David's census was.

Second Census Described

The command is for the second numbering of Israel, taken at the end and close of the forty years in the wilderness, after the wilderness journey and shortly before the people entered Canaan. It directs the counting, as the Lord commanded Moses and the children of Israel who went forth out of the land of Egypt, of those from twenty years old and upward. That count included men only, males alone being reckoned.

It belongs to the second of the book's two censuses, made about forty years after the first numbering in Numbers 1 taken at the beginning of the forty years in the wilderness. That interval is reckoned as thirty-eight years after the census at Sinai, with this second census taken in the plains of Moab. This census is to be compared with the first census in Numbers 1 to note the difference in the tribes. By that comparison is seen which tribes increased and which decreased, and how they gained or lost members.

Compared with the census soon after the exodus, the total number of adult males had changed little over nearly forty years. Yet individual tribes had changed greatly, with some increasing greatly and others declining. Simeon had decreased sharply, while Manasseh had grown markedly.

Judgment Fulfilled and Applied

The second numbering proves beyond dispute that God's threatened judgment had been accomplished, for every man counted in the first census had fallen and died in the wilderness except Caleb and Joshua. Not one man who rebelled against God remained alive, and the new count was calculated to impress the people that God will fulfill His threatened judgments. It makes manifest that exclusion from the promise and death in the wilderness are the certain end of rebellion.

That exclusion came simply because the people were wicked. Sin in their midst broke out in open, wanton rebellion against the God of Heaven, so that by a solemn oath He shut them out of the land and doomed them to die in the wilderness.

The second numbering is therefore full of instruction to the people upon whom the ends of the world are come. Their hopes of entering the kingdom cannot be stronger, and their tokens of God's favor and presence and willingness to save cannot be greater, than Israel's were at the first numbering. Yet they too will come short of the promise if they carry sin in their hearts, for sin inevitably brings ruin.

Numbering the people is not in itself sinful when done at the Lord's command, as this numbering of those twenty years old and upward was. David's census stands on different ground, because it was taken without the Lord's consent.