[Brother V]

Numbers 1-3

Welcome to Numbers, the fourth book of the Torah. The fourth of the Mosaic books.

Today we get:

• Duh, NUMBERS!
• Leaders
• More numbers
• Possibly even more numbers.

Numbers 1

1 And the LORD spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of the congregation, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying,

2 Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, after their families, by the house of their fathers, with the number of their names, every male by their polls;

On the first day of the second month of the second year out of Egypt, God said... Start counting!

Before the counting, We are given a list of the leaders/elders of each tribe.

1. Reuben; Elizur
2. Simeon; Shelumiel
3. Judah; Nahshon
4. Issachar; Nethaneel
5. Zebulon; Eliab
6. Joseph; (of Ephraim, Elishama) (of Manasseh, Gamaliel)
7. Benjamin; Abidan
8. Dan; Ahiezer
9. Asher; Pagiel
10. Gad; Eliasaph
11. Naphtali; Ahira
(12 is understood to be both Moses and Aaron of Levi)

16 These were the renowned of the congregation, princes of the tribes of their fathers, heads of thousands in Israel.

Then, they started counting.

First, they counted all the men who could fight. Every male 20 and older.

1. Reuben; 46,500
2. Simeon; 59,300
3. Gad; 45,650
4. Judah; 74,600
5. Issachar; 54,400
6. Zebulon; 57,400
7. Joseph (Ephriam, 40,500) (Manasseh, 32,200) 62,700
8. Benjamin; 35,400
9. Dan; 62,700
10. Asher; 41,500
11. Naphtali; 53,400

46 Even all they that were numbered were six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty.

603,550

The Levites weren't numbered. They are the priests, and the people with the responsibility for the tabernacle, so they don't have to go to war.

Numbers 2

2 Every man of the children of Israel shall pitch by his own standard, with the ensign of their father's house: far off about the tabernacle of the congregation shall they pitch.

God tells them how they are to form the camp. We also get the complete count of the tribe.

On the east Judah; then Issachar, then Zebulon. Judah's entire army was 186,400.
On the South of the camp Reuben; Simeon, Gad, Reuben's entire army was 151,450.
The west army was Ephriam, Manasseh, Benjamin. Ephriam (Joseph's) entire army was 108,100.
Dan occupied the north, with Asher, Naphtali. Their entire army was 157,600.

It sure was nice of Numbers 2, to tell us the same numbers as in Numbers 1. It also was nice to remind us of who the captains of each army was.

Once again, God tells Moses to not count the Levi tribe.

Numbers 3

1 These also are the generations of Aaron and Moses in the day that the LORD spake with Moses in mount Sinai.

So we will get the number of Levites.

2 And these are the names of the sons of Aaron; Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

Didn't two of them get consumed by fire of the LORD?

4 And Nadab and Abihu died before the LORD, when they offered strange fire before the LORD, in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children: and Eleazar and Ithamar ministered in the priest's office in the sight of Aaron their father.

Yep.

6 Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister unto him.

I wonder if they will get counted?

We'll find out later; maybe.

Moses tells the Levites that instead of fighting, they will be the keepers of the Tabernacle.

The Levites will be given to the LORD as a sacrifice, instead of being able to do real work, they do the priest work.

15 Number the children of Levi after the house of their fathers, by their families: every male from a month old and upward shalt thou number them.

That's odd, all the other tribes were counted of the males of fighting age. But the Levites were numbered from a month up.

Levi had three boys.

Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

Kohath had four boys, of which Moses and Aaron came from Amram.

Gershon's tribe was 7,500.
Kohath's tribe was 8,600.
Merari's tribe was 6,200.

Each of these tribes was assigned a responsibility for the moving of the tabernacle.

25 And the charge of the sons of Gershon in the tabernacle of the congregation shall be the tabernacle, and the tent, the covering thereof, and the hanging for the door of the tabernacle of the congregation,

Gershon was responsible for the tent itself.

31 And their charge shall be the ark, and the table, and the candlestick, and the altars, and the vessels of the sanctuary wherewith they minister, and the hanging, and all the service thereof.

Kohath (where the Kohanim come from) were responsible for the gold things (God's stuff) in the tentbernacle.

36 And under the custody and charge of the sons of Merari shall be the boards of the tabernacle, and the bars thereof, and the pillars thereof, and the sockets thereof, and all the vessels thereof, and all that serveth thereto,

The Merari were responsible for the tent poles.

Then Moses made a redemption fee, and collected 1365 shekels. Again, why a wandering people had currency is beyond me, but... he gave that money to Aaron.

So what have we learned today?

1. If you have to be a Jew, be a Levite, specifically of Kohath. You won't have to work, go to war or even gather food, the rest will get it for you.

2. There were 603,550 fighting age men in the tribes.

3. God likes to remind everyone He's the LORD. He said it again in 3:13, 41 and 45.

YIC
V