Numberschapter 1
54 verses · Moses, by tradition · 15th to 13th century BC · The Law
Key verse
On the first day of the second month of the second year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt, the LORD spoke to Moses in the Tent of Meeting in the Wilderness of Sinai. He said:
It stands in Number the men of war; twelve princes named, verses 1 to 16.
The chapter
Chapter summary
The first census. On the first day of the second month of the second year after leaving Egypt, the LORD commands a numbering of all males from twenty years old and upward, able to go forth to war. Moses, Aaron, and the twelve tribal princes take the count: 603,550 men of war, not counting the Levites. The Levites are set apart for the tabernacle. To bear it, pitch it, and guard it. And are not to be numbered with the fighting men. The camp arranges itself around the tent. The book opens as a roll call of an army. Henry: the people come out of Egypt a multitude; now they stand up as an ordered host.
Context
Law · Moses · Numbers overview
The world behind this chapter
Numbers 1The history
The order is spoken to Moses, who had brought Israel out of Egypt and had overseen the raising of the tabernacle a month earlier, and he carries it out with Aaron the priest. Jewish and Christian tradition holds Moses the author of Numbers, on the book's own claim at 33:2 that he wrote the record of Israel's journeys. The critical school reads the book as older narrative interwoven with later Priestly census and legal material, and the site names both positions on its Numbers dossier.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
The date is given in the text, the first day of the second month of the second year after the Exodus, which is about 1444 BC on the traditional dating. Exodus 40:17 puts the tabernacle raised one month before this day and Numbers 10:11 puts the cloud lifting nineteen days after it, so the chapter sits in a fixed three week window.
The place is the Wilderness of Sinai, at the Tent of Meeting, with the camp gathered around it. The occasion is the move itself, since a nation travelling toward a land held by others needed to know how many fighting men it had and who answered for each tribe.
A first hearer knew what a count was for, since a census in the ancient world produced a tax roll or a muster roll. This one states its own purpose, every male of twenty years and older who could serve in Israel's army, counted by clan and by family through the heads of the clans. The count of 603,550 fighting men at verse 46 is debated, one reading taking the plain figure and another reading the Hebrew eleph as a clan or a troop.
What it meant to them
A year earlier these men had been a labour force in Egypt. Being written down by name, by family and by fighting age told them that they were now a nation with divisions and commanders, on the way to take a land.
Leaving Levi off the muster said something about what kept Israel safe. The one tribe that would not be fighting was the tribe assigned to guard the tent at the centre of the camp.
Sources cited
- K. A. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament
- Timothy R. Ashley, The Book of Numbers (NICOT)
- J. W. Wenham, "Large Numbers in the Old Testament", Tyndale Bulletin 18, 1967
Where the chapter sits
Numbers 1 falls in First census and camp order (chapters 1–10). Twelve tribes numbered; the camp arranged around the tabernacle; the order of march; the cloud lifts.
After it: From Sinai to Kadesh, chapters 11–14.
The whole shape of Numbers→The structure of this chapter
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. Number the men of war; twelve princes named
1. (vv. 1-4)
Numbers 1:1
“Note, When any work is to be done for God it is good to set about it quickly, while the sense of duty is strong and pressing. And, for aught that appears, it was but one day's work, for many other things were done between this and the twentieth day of this month, when they removed their camp, ch. x.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Numbers 1:2
“Take ye the sum, etc. - God, having established the commonwealth of Israel by just and equitable laws, ordained every thing relative to the due performance of his own worship, erected his tabernacle, which was his throne, and the place of his residence among the people, and consecrated his priests who were to minister before him; he now orders his subjects to be mustered, 1. That they might see he had not forgotten his promise to Abraham, but was multiplying his posterity. 2. That they might observe due order in their march toward the promised land.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 1:2
“It is true, the sums and numbers agree in this and that computation, which is not strange, because there was not much time between the two numberings, and no eminent sin among the people in that interval, whereby God was provoked to diminish their numbers.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Numbers 1:3
“Aaron shall number them by their armies--or companies. In their departure from Egypt they were divided into five grand companies (Ex 13:18), but from the sojourn in the wilderness to the passage of the Jordan, they were formed into four great divisions. The latter is here referred to.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 1:3
“From twenty years old and upward - In this census no women were reckoned, nor children, nor strangers, nor the Levites, nor old men, which, collectively, must have formed an immense multitude; the Levites alone amounted to 22,300. True-born Israelites only are reckoned; such as were able to carry arms, and were expert for war.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Numbers 1:4
“The head of the tribe was a hereditary dignity, vested in the oldest son or some other to whom the right of primogeniture was transferred, and under whom were other inferior heads, also hereditary, among the different branches of the tribe.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 1:4
“And with you there shall be a man of every tribe,....”
The census is dated one month after the tabernacle was reared, which Exodus 40:17 puts on the first day of the first month of the second year, and nineteen days after this order the cloud lifts at 10:11 and the camp moves. Verse 3 says what the count is for, from twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war, so what is being taken is a muster roll rather than a population. Exodus 30:12 had attached a ransom to any such numbering so that there be no plague, and 2 Samuel 24 records what a count taken without that word cost David.
2. (vv. 5-16)
Numbers 1:5
“The princes of the tribes, selected Num 1:4 under divine direction, were for the most part the same persons as those chosen a few months previously at the counsel of Jethro Exo 18:21-26. Nahshon, prince of Judah, is mentioned in Exo 6:23, and Elishama, in 1Ch 7:26-27. The peers of men like these were no doubt entitled, among their fellows, to the epithet “renowned,” Num 1:16.”
Numbers 1:6
“Of Simeon; Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai. See Gill on Num 1:5.”
Numbers 1:7
“Of Judah; Nahshon the son of Amminadab. See Gill on Num 1:5.”
Numbers 1:8
“Of Issachar; Nethaneel the son of Zuar. See Gill on Num 1:5.”
Numbers 1:9
“Of Zebulun; Eliab the son of Helon. See Gill on Num 1:5.”
Numbers 1:10
“Of the children of Joseph: of Ephraim; Elishama the son of Ammihud: of Manasseh; Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur. See Gill on Num 1:5.”
Numbers 1:11
“Of Benjamin; Abidan the son of Gideoni. See Gill on Num 1:5.”
Numbers 1:12
“Of Dan; Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai. See Gill on Num 1:5.”
Numbers 1:13
“Of Asher; Pagiel the son of Ocran. See Gill on Num 1:5.”
Numbers 1:14
“Eliasaph, the son of Deuel - This person is called Reuel, Num 2:14. As the ד daleth is very like the ר resh, it was easy to mistake the one for the other. The Septuagint and the Syriac have Reuel in this chapter; and in Num 2:14, the Vulgate, the Samaritan, and the Arabic have Deuel instead of Reuel, with which reading a vast number of MSS. concur; and this reading is supported by Num 10:20; we may safely conclude therefore that דעואל Deuel, not רעואל Reuel, was the original reading. See Kennicott.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Numbers 1:15
“Of Naphtali; Ahira the son of Enan. See Gill on Num 1:5.”
Twelve princes are named to stand with Moses, one for each tribe. Levi is absent from the list and Ephraim and Manasseh are counted separately, which holds the number at twelve. Nahshon the son of Amminadab stands for Judah, and his name runs on into Ruth 4:20 and 1 Chronicles 2:10 and into the line of Christ at Matthew 1:4, where the King James spells it Naasson, while his sister Elisheba had married Aaron at Exodus 6:23. Gad's prince is Deuel here and Reuel at 2:14, which Adam Clarke lays to the likeness of the Hebrew letters daleth and resh, with 7:42 and 10:20 both reading Deuel.
B. Tribe by tribe, six hundred thousand strong
1. (vv. 17-19)
Numbers 1:17
“And Moses and Aaron took these men,.... They doubtless sent for them, and acquainted them with the nomination of them, by the Lord himself, for such a service; and they took them with them to the place where the number of the people was to be taken: which are expressed by their names: in Num 1:16, and that as declared by the mouth of God himself.”
Numbers 1:18
“And they assembled all the congregation together on the first day of the second month,....”
Numbers 1:19
“As the Lord commanded Moses, &c.--The numbering of the people was not an act sinful in itself, as Moses did it by divine appointment; but David incurred guilt by doing it without the authority of God.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Moses and Aaron took these men: The people declared their pedigrees, and the word pedigrees occurs in this verse and nowhere else in the King James Bible. The count rests on family registers already kept, so a man's place in Israel was a matter of record before it was a matter of arms. Ezra 2:62 and Nehemiah 7:64 are where those registers fail, and men who could not find theirs were put from the priesthood. The order was given on the first day of the second month at verse 1 and the assembly gathered on that same day at verse 18.
2. (vv. 20-31)
Numbers 1:20
“The enrollment, being taken principally for military purposes (compare Num 1:3, Num 1:20), would naturally be arranged by hundreds, fifties, etc. (cf. 2Ki 1:9, 2Ki 1:11, 2Ki 1:13). In eleven tribes the number enrolled consists of complete hundreds. The difference, in this respect, observable in the case of the tribe of Gad here Num 1:25, and of the tribe of Reuben at the later census Num 26:7, is probably to be accounted for by the pastoral, and consequently nomadic, habits of these tribes, which rendered it difficult to bring all their members together at once for a census.”
Numbers 1:21
“Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Reuben, were forty and six thousand and five hundred. 46,500 men. See Gill on Num 1:20.”
Numbers 1:22
“Of the children of Simeon, by their generations,.... See Gill on Num 1:20.”
Numbers 1:23
“Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Simeon, were fifty and nine thousand and three hundred. 59,300 men. See Gill on Num 1:20.”
Numbers 1:24
“Of the children of Gad, by their generations,.... See Gill on Num 1:20.”
Numbers 1:25
“Forty and five thousand six hundred and fifty - Mr. Ainsworth has remarked that Gad, the handmaid’s son, is the only one of all the tribes whose number ends with fifty, all the others are by thousands, and end with hundreds; which shows God’s admirable providence and blessing in multiplying them so, that no odd or broken number was among all the tribes. But see on Num 1:46 (note).”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Numbers 1:26
“Of the children of Judah, by their generations,.... See Gill on Num 1:20.”
Numbers 1:27
“God's blessing, however, is most conspicuous in the tribe of Judah, in correspondence with the prophecy of Jacob; for by this prerogative, as it were, it was already called to the right of primogeniture and to supremacy, inasmuch as it surpassed all the principal ones.”
John Calvin· Commentaries (1554)reformed
Numbers 1:28
“Of the children of Issachar, by their generations,.... See Gill on Num 1:20.”
Numbers 1:29
“Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Issachar, were fifty and four thousand and four hundred. 54,400 men. See Gill on Num 1:20.”
Numbers 1:30
“Of the children of Zebulun, by their generations,.... See Gill on Num 1:20.”
Numbers 1:31
“Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Zebulun, were fifty and seven thousand and four hundred. 57,400 men. See Gill on Num 1:20.”
The six sons of Leah are numbered first and every tribe gets the same enrolment formula word for word. Judah is the largest at seventy four thousand six hundred, which John Calvin reads beside Jacob's word over Judah at Genesis 49:10, and chapter 2 will set Judah first on the east and first on the march. Gad at forty five thousand six hundred and fifty is the only total in the chapter that does not end in a round hundred, a detail Adam Clarke takes from Henry Ainsworth. Reuben is still called Israel's eldest son here and heads the list, and chapter 2 will place him behind Judah.
3. (vv. 32-43)
Numbers 1:32
“Of the children of Joseph, namely, of the children of Ephraim, by their generations,.... See Gill on Num 1:20.”
Numbers 1:33
“The tribe of Ephraim - forty thousand and five hundred - Ephraim, as he was blessed beyond his eldest brother Manasseh, Gen 48:20, so here he is increased by thousands more than Manasseh, and more than the whole tribe of Benjamin, and his blessing continued above his brother, Deu 33:17. And thus the prophecy, Gen 48:19, was fulfilled: His younger brother (Ephraim) shall be greater than he, (Manasseh).”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 1:33
“Ephraim - Above 8000 more than Manasseh, towards the accomplishment of that promise, Gen. xlviii, 20, which the devil in vain attempted to defeat by stirring up the men of Gath against them, 1Chr vii, 21, 22.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Numbers 1:34
“Of the children of Manasseh, by their generations,.... See Gill on Num 1:20.”
Numbers 1:35
“Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Manasseh, were thirty and two thousand and two hundred. 32,200 men. See Gill on Num 1:20.”
Numbers 1:36
“Of the children of Benjamin, by their generations,.... See Gill on Num 1:20.”
Numbers 1:37
“Thirty five thousand - The smallest number, except one, though Benjamin had more immediate children than any of his brethren, Gen. xlvi, 21, whereas Daniel had but one immediate son, Gen. xlvi, 23, yet now his number is the biggest but one of all the tribes, and is almost double to that of Benjamin.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Numbers 1:38
“Of the children of Dan, by their generations,.... See Gill on Num 1:20.”
Numbers 1:39
“Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Dan, were threescore and two thousand and seven hundred. 62,700 men. See Gill on Num 1:20.”
Numbers 1:40
“Of the children of Asher, by their generations,.... See Gill on Num 1:20.”
Numbers 1:41
“Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Asher, were forty and one thousand and five hundred. 41,500 men. See Gill on Num 1:20.”
Numbers 1:42
“Of the children of Naphtali, throughout their generations,.... See Gill on Num 1:20.”
Numbers 1:43
“Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Naphtali, were fifty and three thousand and four hundred. 53,400 men. See Gill on Num 1:20.”
Joseph is counted as two tribes, and Ephraim at forty thousand five hundred stands above Manasseh at thirty two thousand two hundred. Jacob had crossed his hands over those two boys at Genesis 48:14-20 and said the younger would be greater, and the muster roll reads that way generations later. Benjamin comes in at thirty five thousand four hundred though Genesis 46:21 credits him with ten sons going down into Egypt, while Dan, who went down with one son at Genesis 46:23, musters sixty two thousand seven hundred and stands second only to Judah.
4. (vv. 44-46)
Numbers 1:44
“These are those that were numbered,....”
Numbers 1:45
“So were all those that were numbered of the children of Israel,.... Of all the tribes, excepting Levi, that is, all the sums of the number of the children of Israel; all put together made the sum total given in the next verse: by the house of their fathers, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war in Israel; all in every tribe, family, and house, that were above twenty years of age, healthful and strong, and fit for war.”
Numbers 1:46
“All they that were numbered were six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty - What an astonishing increase from seventy souls that went down into Egypt, Gen 46:27, about 215 years before, where latterly they had endured the greatest hardships! But God’s promise cannot fail (Gen 16:5); and who can resist his will, and bring to naught his counsel?”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The total is six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty, and Exodus 38:26 had already given that exact figure from the half shekel taken of every man numbered, so this count confirms one already made. Seventy souls went down into Egypt at Genesis 46:27 and about six hundred thousand men on foot came out at Exodus 12:37. This list and the one in chapter 26 frame the whole book, and 26:64-65 reports what became of every man on it, that there was not left a man of them save Caleb and Joshua.
C. Levi not counted, but camped around the tent
1. (vv. 47-49)
Numbers 1:47
“When a census of the tribe of Levi takes place. Num 3:15; Num 26:62, “all” the males are counted from a month old and upward, and not, as in the other tribes, those only who were of age for service in the field. Num 1:48 had spoken - Render spake. The formal appointment is only now made, in reward for their zeal Exo 32:26-29, though reference to their future office appears previously in Lev 25:32 ff, and they had already acted as assistants to the priests (compare Exo 38:21).”
Numbers 1:48
“For the Lord had spoken unto Moses,....”
Numbers 1:49
“Only thou shall not number the tribe of Levi,.... That is, along with the other tribes, for it might be numbered by itself, as it afterwards was, Num 3:43, neither take the sum of them among the children of Israel; which confirms what is before observed: now this being the declared will of God clears Moses from all partiality to his own tribe, he doing nothing but what he had a command of God for it.”
2 more voices on this verse
Numbers 1:49
“Levi - Because they were not generally to go out to war, which was the thing principally eyed in this muster, ver. 3, 20, 45, but were to attend upon the service of the tabernacle. They that minister upon holy things, should not entangle themselves in secular affairs. The ministry itself is work enough for a whole man, and all little enough to be employed in it.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Numbers 1:49
“The ministry is itself work enough for a whole man, and all little enough to be employed in it. It is an admonition to ministers to distinguish themselves by their exemplary conversation from common Israelites, not affecting to seem greater, but aiming to be really better, every way better than others.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Levi is left out by name, and the text gives the exclusion as a command spoken to Moses, which John Gill reads as clearing Moses of partiality toward his own tribe. Levi is counted, in chapter 3 and on another basis, all the males from a month old and upward rather than the men of fighting age, with the total at 3:39 standing at twenty two thousand. Genesis 49:5-7 had left Levi under a word about being scattered in Israel, and Exodus 32:26-29 records the tribe that came to Moses at the gate of the camp, which Albert Barnes reads as the ground of the charge given here.
2. (vv. 50-53)
Numbers 1:50
“The tabernacle of testimony - So called here, and Exod. xxxviii, 21, because it was made chiefly for the sake of the ark of the testimony, which is often called the testimony.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Numbers 1:51
“The custody of the things devoted to the divine service was assigned to them so exclusively, that "no stranger"--that is, no person, not even an Israelite of any other tribe, was allowed, under penalty of death, to approach these [Nu 16:40].”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Numbers 1:52
“And the children of Israel shall pitch their tents, every man by his own camp,....”
Numbers 1:53
“No wrath - From God, who is very tender of his worship, and will not suffer the profaners of it go unpunished! whose wrath is called simply wrath by way of eminency, as the most terrible kind of wrath.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Levi is taken off one service and put to another, taking the tabernacle down, setting it up, bearing it and camping around it. The stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death, and the stranger meant is any Israelite outside Levi, a rule repeated at 3:10, 3:38 and 18:7 and tested by Korah in chapter 16. Israel pitches by standard at a distance, Levi forms a ring between, and verse 53 states the reason outright, that there be no wrath upon the congregation. The word standard occurs at verse 52 for the first time in Scripture, before chapter 2 names the four.
3. (v. 54)
Numbers 1:54
“And the children of Israel did according to all the Lord commanded Moses,.... Pitched their tents by their own camps and standards; did not come near the tabernacle but kept at a proper distance from it, and did not meddle with things they had no concern, with, and which were peculiar to the Levites: so they did; which is repeated to show how readily, punctually, and perfectly they observed the command of God with respect to this affair.”
The chapter closes on the nation doing according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, and the clause is doubled, so did they. John Gill reads the repetition as a note on how readily and how exactly the order was kept. Chapters 1 to 10 keep landing on lines of that kind, and from 11:1 the book records the opposite, with the fire of the Lord burning among a people who complained.
This page carries no textual note on Numbers 1. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
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Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary on the Four Last Books of Moses Arranged in the Form of a Harmony; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.