The verse records Sarah as the daughter of Asher. It stands in Israel's second census in Numbers 26, taken under Moses during the wilderness journeying. The first census in Numbers 1 was at Sinai at the close of the first year in the wilderness, and this second numbering came forty years later at the end of the forty years. It was taken in the plains of Moab thirty-eight years after the census at Sinai.
The chapter is to be compared with Numbers 1 to see how the tribes changed during the wandering. Some tribes increased greatly and gained, while others declined, lost, or fell off. Moses took his censuses at God's command, unlike David's census, which was taken without the Lord's consent.
Between the two numberings every man counted the first time except Caleb and Joshua fell in the wilderness, so that none of them was alive to witness the second numbering. That generation was excluded from the promised land and doomed by solemn oath to die in the wilderness because of wickedness. Sin in their midst broke out at last in open, wanton rebellion against God.
The second numbering manifests that not one rebel remained alive. It was meant to impress the people that God fulfills his threatened judgments. For those hoping to enter the kingdom of God, whose hopes and tokens of favor cannot be stronger than Israel's at the first numbering, cherished sin inevitably brings ruin and must be put away lest they also come short of the promise.
The verse records Sarah as the daughter of Asher. It stands in Israel's second census in Numbers 26, taken under Moses during the wilderness journeying. The first census in Numbers 1 was at Sinai at the close of the first year in the wilderness, and this second numbering came forty years later at the end of the forty years. It was taken in the plains of Moab thirty-eight years after the census at Sinai.
The chapter is to be compared with Numbers 1 to see how the tribes changed during the wandering. Some tribes increased greatly and gained, while others declined, lost, or fell off. Moses took his censuses at God's command, unlike David's census, which was taken without the Lord's consent.
Between the two numberings every man counted the first time except Caleb and Joshua fell in the wilderness, so that none of them was alive to witness the second numbering. That generation was excluded from the promised land and doomed by solemn oath to die in the wilderness because of wickedness. Sin in their midst broke out at last in open, wanton rebellion against God.
The second numbering manifests that not one rebel remained alive. It was meant to impress the people that God fulfills his threatened judgments. For those hoping to enter the kingdom of God, whose hopes and tokens of favor cannot be stronger than Israel's at the first numbering, cherished sin inevitably brings ruin and must be put away lest they also come short of the promise.