These were the numbered of the children of Israel, six hundred thousand and a thousand seven hundred and thirty.
This verse records the second numbering of Israel, taken at the Lord's command in the plains of Moab thirty-eight years after the numbering at Sinai, at the end of the forty years of wandering and wilderness experiences just before entering Canaan. It gives the total of that second census as 601,730, counting adult males. The total is to be compared with the first numbering in Numbers 1, taken nearly forty years earlier, to show how the tribes changed during the wilderness journey. The nation's overall total had changed little, but the numbers in individual tribes had shifted substantially, with some tribes growing greatly while others declined, fell off, gained or lost.
Not one man counted in the first numbering was alive to witness the second numbering except Caleb and Joshua, because every other person of that generation had fallen and perished in the wilderness. That failure happened because of wickedness, with sin in their midst breaking out in open and wanton rebellion against God. For this, by a solemn oath God excluded that generation from the promised land and doomed them to die in the wilderness. The second numbering proves that God's threatened judgments are surely fulfilled.
It instructs those upon whom the ends of the world are come that hope of entering God's kingdom and tokens of God's favor, presence, and willingness to save, however strong, will not avail if sin is carried in the heart, for cherished sin inevitably brings ruin. The census shows that numbering Israel was not sinful in itself, unlike David's census, which was taken without the Lord's consent and in pride and confidence in military strength.
This verse records the second numbering of Israel, taken at the Lord's command in the plains of Moab thirty-eight years after the numbering at Sinai, at the end of the forty years of wandering and wilderness experiences just before entering Canaan. It gives the total of that second census as 601,730, counting adult males. The total is to be compared with the first numbering in Numbers 1, taken nearly forty years earlier, to show how the tribes changed during the wilderness journey. The nation's overall total had changed little, but the numbers in individual tribes had shifted substantially, with some tribes growing greatly while others declined, fell off, gained or lost.
Not one man counted in the first numbering was alive to witness the second numbering except Caleb and Joshua, because every other person of that generation had fallen and perished in the wilderness. That failure happened because of wickedness, with sin in their midst breaking out in open and wanton rebellion against God. For this, by a solemn oath God excluded that generation from the promised land and doomed them to die in the wilderness. The second numbering proves that God's threatened judgments are surely fulfilled.
It instructs those upon whom the ends of the world are come that hope of entering God's kingdom and tokens of God's favor, presence, and willingness to save, however strong, will not avail if sin is carried in the heart, for cherished sin inevitably brings ruin. The census shows that numbering Israel was not sinful in itself, unlike David's census, which was taken without the Lord's consent and in pride and confidence in military strength.