Numberschapter 1
54 verses · Moses, by tradition · 15th to 13th century BC · The Law
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,
Introduction
Moses, by tradition, The Law, Numbers Overview.
Numbers opens a year after the Exodus, with Israel still camped at the mountain where it received the law. Tradition gives the book to Moses, and this first chapter reads as the working record of men who had to move a nation. Its first hearers were former slaves being made into an army. Listen for the formula that repeats for every tribe, and notice how the families and their leaders carry as much weight as the totals. Watch for the one tribe kept out of the count, and ask why. A people is counted here before it is asked to march.
Context
- Who
- A camp of former slaves being organised into an army with a marching order
- What
- A census of every man of twenty years and older fit for war, taken tribe by tribe, with the tribe of Levi set apart for the tabernacle.
- Where
- The Tent of Meeting in the Wilderness of Sinai, with the whole camp gathered around it.
- When
- The first day of the second month of the second year after the Exodus, about 1444 BC on the traditional dating.
- Why
- To turn the crowd that left Egypt into an ordered nation ready to march toward the land promised to Abraham.
Historical context
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.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
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.
Significance
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.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
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.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
How it is read
Rashi opens the book at the census and gives it a motive before he gives it a rule. He records that God counts Israel again and again "because they were dear to him". He lists three occasions: when they went out of Egypt, when many fell after the golden calf, and when the Tabernacle was ready for the Shechinah to dwell among them (Rashi on Numbers 1:1:1). Rashi is quoted in this row from the Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A. M. Silbermann, 1929 to 1934, which the corpus marks public domain. He then dates the two points from the text. The Tabernacle was erected on the first of Nisan, and the counting followed on the first of Iyar.
The rules of the count follow verse by verse. A man is registered by families "in order to ascertain the number of individuals in each tribe" (Rashi on Numbers 1:2:1). Where the parents belong to two tribes, the son "shall take his stand with the tribe of his father", and Rashi sends the reader to Bava Batra 109b for it (Rashi on Numbers 1:2:2). The age of twenty is read as the floor for military service, since the verse "tells us that no one less than twenty years of age goes forth to the host" (Rashi on Numbers 1:3:1). The princes stand beside Moses while the count is taken (Rashi on Numbers 1:4:1). They are the men "who were called upon for every matter of importance that happened in the congregation" (Rashi on Numbers 1:16:1). The registration itself was documentary. Rashi holds that the people "brought the records of their pedigree and witnesses to confirm the prevalent presumption regarding their parentage" (Rashi on Numbers 1:18:1).
Two commentators read the tribal order against the family history behind it. Sforno reads the naming of Reuben as the firstborn of Israel this way: "he had not lost his status in the books kept in heaven as he had repented his sin". His birthright on earth had passed to Joseph (Sforno on Numbers 1:20:1, Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash). Ramban asks why Ephraim is named before Manasseh here and again at the standards. He answers from Jacob's blessing, which gave Ephraim the honour of the firstborn, and from the count itself, since Ephraim's sons were then the more numerous. At the second census in the plains of Moab the order reverses. By then Manasseh's sons outnumbered Ephraim's and took their inheritance first (Ramban on Numbers 1:32:1, Commentary on the Torah by Ramban, translated by Charles B. Chavel, Shilo, New York, 1971 to 1976). Sforno reads the closing total as personal work rather than a return of figures, holding that every man counted "had been personally counted by Moses and Aaron" (Sforno on Numbers 1:44:1).
The exemption of Levi is where a Christian reader should listen closely. Rashi gives two reasons and keeps both. The first is honour: "The legion of the King is worthy to be numbered by itself", which he draws from Midrash Tanchuma, Bamidbar 15. The second is mercy with a merit under it. God foresaw the decree that everyone numbered from twenty years upward would die in the wilderness. He left the Levites out of that count "because they are Mine, since they did not sin by worshipping the golden calf" (Rashi on Numbers 1:49:1). Rashi cites Numbers Rabbah 3:7 and Bava Batra 121b, and the corpus carries that second locator on this chapter. The tribe's place in the camp is then set by the same care. The Levites take the Tabernacle apart and set it up at each station (Rashi on Numbers 1:51:1). Israel camps by its banners, three tribes to a banner (Rashi on Numbers 1:52:1). The warning that there be no anger on the congregation is read forward to Korah, "for there is anger gone forth from the Lord" (Rashi on Numbers 1:53:1). This site reads the same census as the roll of the generation that would fall at Kadesh-barnea, and it holds that no tribe's record at the calf earns its standing before God. The classical reading here rests the exemption on the tribe's conduct, and the difference is stated rather than smoothed. Ibn Ezra comments across the chapter at 1:1:1, 1:5:1, 1:10:1, 1:19:1, 1:45:1, 1:47:1 and 1:54:1, and Malbim at 1:48:1. The corpus carries no English text for either under its licence, so both stand here cited and unquoted.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries forty locators on this chapter and the text of none, so each is cited here and never quoted. The Talmudic ones are three. Bava Batra 121b is anchored on the third verse, Jerusalem Talmud Chagigah 1:1:17 on the fiftieth, and Avot DeRabbi Natan 15:3 on the fifty-first.
The midrashic locators run to thirty-seven, and Bamidbar Rabbah carries the heaviest run of them. It stands at 1:1, 1:2, 1:10, 1:11, 1:12, 1:13, 2:19, 2:20, 5:2, 5:7, 6:6, 10:1, 12:16, 13:5, 18:2, 18:5 and 20:7, anchored from the opening verse to the last. Midrash Aggadah anchors on the princes one by one, at Numbers 1:6:1, 1:7:1, 1:8:1, 1:9:1, 1:11:1, 1:12:1, 1:14:1 and 1:15:1. Midrash Lekach Tov stands at Numbers 1:20:1, 1:42:1, 1:44:1 and 1:45:1, and three of its locators read the second census back onto the first, at Numbers 26:5:1, 26:14:1 and 26:46:1. Beside them stand Devarim Rabbah 3:3 on the third and fourth verses, Bereshit Rabbah 94:9 and 97:5, Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Vayechi 32, and Ein Yaakov, Sotah 7:19 in the Glick Edition. What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Numbers 1:1:1 to 1:53:1, the Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A. M. Silbermann, 1929 to 1934, public domain; Sforno, Sforno on Numbers 1:20:1 and 1:44:1, Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash; Ramban, Ramban on Numbers 1:32:1, Commentary on the Torah by Ramban, translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel, Shilo, New York, 1971 to 1976; Ibn Ezra, Ibn Ezra on Numbers 1:1:1 to 1:54:1, cited by ref because the licence Sefaria reports does not permit the text here; Malbim, Malbim on Numbers 1:48:1, cited by ref because Sefaria holds no English version; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/numbers/1.json, the 3 Talmud and 37 Midrash locators of this chapter.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Number the men of war; twelve princes named
Numbers 1:1-4
The census falls one month after the tabernacle was set up at Exodus 40:17. Verse 3 counts those “twenty years of age or older” who can serve in the army, so this is a muster roll of fighting men. Exodus 30:12 had tied a ransom to any census so that “no plague will come upon them”, and 2 Samuel 24 records what a count without it cost David.
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
The count is taken by clans and families, so every man is placed in his house as well as counted. Matthew Henry says the record let each man know his own regiment and let the leaders know where to find him. Henry thinks Exodus 38:26 kept no family register.
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
Adam Clarke lists who stands outside this count: women, children, strangers, the Levites and old men. Matthew Henry adds that illness, blindness and lameness also excused a man. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read divisions as companies of the army.
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
1 more voice on this verse
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
Each tribe sends one man to stand with Moses and Aaron at the count. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown describe the headship of a tribe as hereditary, held by the eldest son or by the one the birthright passed to. Matthew Henry adds that such a man knew his tribe.
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
Numbers 1:5-16
Twelve leaders are named to assist Moses, one for each tribe, with Levi absent and Ephraim and Manasseh counted separately, which holds the number at twelve. “Nahshon son of Amminadab” stands for Judah, and his name runs on into Ruth 4:20, 1 Chronicles 2:10 and the line of Christ at Matthew 1:4. His sister Elisheba had married Aaron at Exodus 6:23.
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.”
Simeon's prince is Shelumiel, and Matthew Henry reads the name as saying that God is his peace. Most of the twelve names carry El, the word for God, and Henry reads them as a sign that Israel kept God's name in mind through Egypt. Shelumiel offers on the fifth day at Numbers 7:36.
Numbers 1:6
“Of Simeon; Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai. See Gill on Num 1:5.”
Judah's prince stands third in this list, where the names follow the order of birth and Levi is left out. John Wesley gives the order as the sons of Leah, then of Rachel, then of the handmaids. At 2:3, 7:12 and 10:14 Nahshon goes first.
Numbers 1:7
“Of Judah; Nahshon the son of Amminadab. See Gill on Num 1:5.”
Matthew Henry gives Nethanel as the gift of God. Issachar was Jacob's ninth son, and Nethanel brings the second offering at Numbers 7:18. The twelve days of offering follow the order of the camp in chapter 2, with Issachar beside Judah.
Numbers 1:8
“Of Issachar; Nethaneel the son of Zuar. See Gill on Num 1:5.”
Matthew Henry reads Eliab as a name calling God a Father. Another Eliab belongs to Reuben's line and is the father of Dathan and Abiram at Numbers 16:1 and 26:9. The prince named here is Helon's son, of Zebulun.
Numbers 1:9
“Of Zebulun; Eliab the son of Helon. See Gill on Num 1:5.”
Joseph's two sons each receive a prince. Elishama leads Ephraim and Gamaliel leads Manasseh, and Matthew Henry reads the names as God has heard and God is the reward. Ephraim, the younger, is named first, as Jacob set him at Genesis 48:20.
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.”
Abidan leads Benjamin, placed after the two princes of Joseph. Matthew Henry notes that the three tribes of Rachel's line camp together on the west in chapter 2. Abidan offers on the ninth day, at Numbers 7:60.
Numbers 1:11
“Of Benjamin; Abidan the son of Gideoni. See Gill on Num 1:5.”
Dan heads the sons of the handmaids in this list, as the first son of Bilhah. Matthew Henry notes that Dan is later made a leading tribe though born to a concubine, and Ahiezer commands the rear guard for all units at Numbers 10:25. He offers on the tenth day, at Numbers 7:66.
Numbers 1:12
“Of Dan; Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai. See Gill on Num 1:5.”
Matthew Henry reads Pagiel as meeting God. Asher is named here ahead of Gad, though Gad was the elder son of Zilpah at Genesis 30:10-13. Adam Clarke lays out the four sons of the handmaids with Bilhah's two framing Zilpah's two.
Numbers 1:13
“Of Asher; Pagiel the son of Ocran. See Gill on Num 1:5.”
Matthew Henry reads Eliasaph as God has added. Adam Clarke weighs Deuel against Reuel, the form some copies give at 2:14, and concludes from the manuscripts and from 10:20 that Deuel is the original. The Berean reads Deuel in all four places.
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
Ahira closes the list of princes, and Matthew Henry notes that the same twelve men become the captains of chapter 2. Ahira brings the twelfth and last offering at Numbers 7:78. He leads the last division at 10:27.
Numbers 1:15
“Of Naphtali; Ahira the son of Enan. See Gill on Num 1:5.”
Adam Clarke and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown give the Hebrew as the called of the congregation, men summoned by name. Albert Barnes holds that they were mostly the same men chosen months before at Jethro's counsel in Exodus 18:21-26. The same twelve present the offerings of Numbers 7:2.
Tribe by tribe, six hundred thousand strong
Numbers 1:17-19
Moses and Aaron took these men: The people “recorded their ancestry by clans and families”, so the count rests on registers already kept. A man's place in Israel was a matter of record before it was a matter of arms, and Ezra 2:62 and Nehemiah 7:64 show men excluded from the priesthood when they could not find theirs. The order came on the first day of the second month, and the assembly gathered that same day.
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.”
on the first day of the second month: Matthew Henry reckons the count a single day's work, and John Wesley reads the text the same way. Henry thinks the records of the half-shekel count, taken a little before, made the work quick. Each man's descent was entered with his name.
This count was taken at God's order. Joab needed nine months and twenty days for David's count at 2 Samuel 24:8, and Matthew Henry notes that Israel then lay scattered and Satan proposed it. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown place David's guilt in acting without God's authority.
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
Numbers 1:20-31
Six tribes are numbered here, each with the same enrolment formula. Judah is the largest at 74,600, which John Calvin reads beside Genesis 49:10, “The scepter will not depart from Judah”, and chapter 2 sets Judah first on the march. Gad at 45,650 is the only total not ending in a round hundred, a detail Adam Clarke takes from Henry Ainsworth.
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.”
Reuben, the firstborn, musters 46,500, seventh of the twelve. John Calvin reads the figure as a mark of the curse on Reuben, since Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali all outnumber him. At Numbers 26:7 the tribe stands at 43,730, down 2,770.
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.”
Among the twelve tribal entries, the words one by one stand only with Reuben and Simeon. From Gad at verse 24 the entry reads counting the names, and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown gloss the fuller phrase as individually, one by one. Every tribe was counted by one rule, Matthew Henry says.
Numbers 1:22
“Of the children of Simeon, by their generations,.... See Gill on Num 1:20.”
Simeon and Levi stand together under the word of Genesis 49:7, that the two would be dispersed in Jacob. Here Simeon musters 59,300, third of the twelve, while Levi is taken off the roll for the sanctuary. Matthew Henry traces Levi's honour to Exodus 32:26.
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.”
Leah named Zilpah's first son Gad at Genesis 30:11, saying How fortunate. Gad is counted third here, in the place Levi would hold, and John Wesley says Gad is fitly added to Reuben's camp in Levi's room. Jacob foretold raiders against Gad at Genesis 49:19.
Numbers 1:24
“Of the children of Gad, by their generations,.... See Gill on Num 1:20.”
Gad's 45,650 is the one figure ending in fifty. Matthew Henry mentions those who see a special providence in the round numbers, and he thinks it more likely that the men were counted through the rulers of hundreds and fifties of Exodus 18:25. At Numbers 26:18 Gad stands at 40,500.
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
Leah named her fourth son Judah at Genesis 29:35, as a word of praise to the LORD. Jacob took up the name at Genesis 49:8, and Matthew Henry reads the tribe's great numbers as God honouring Judah for the sake of the Messiah to come from it. Hebrews 7:14 names that descent.
Numbers 1:26
“Of the children of Judah, by their generations,.... See Gill on Num 1:20.”
Matthew Henry measures Judah against the rest: more than double Benjamin and Manasseh, and almost 12,000 above any other tribe. He links the strength to the post Judah is about to take at the head of the march. Judah grows to 76,500 by Numbers 26:22.
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
Leah named Issachar for reward at Genesis 30:18. Jacob's word at Genesis 49:15 pictures him bending his shoulder to labor in a pleasant land. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the size of every tribe here as the dying patriarch's blessing worked out.
Numbers 1:28
“Of the children of Issachar, by their generations,.... See Gill on Num 1:20.”
Issachar stands fifth of the twelve at 54,400. By Numbers 26:25 the tribe has 64,300 and ranks third, behind Judah and Dan. 1 Chronicles 12:32 later remembers the men of Issachar as those who understood the times.
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.”
Zebulun is Leah's sixth son, named at Genesis 30:20 in hope that her husband would honour her. Jacob and Moses both name Zebulun ahead of his elder brother Issachar, at Genesis 49:13 and Deuteronomy 33:18. John Wesley notes the count keeps the order of birth.
Numbers 1:30
“Of the children of Zebulun, by their generations,.... See Gill on Num 1:20.”
Zebulun outnumbers his elder brother Issachar by 3,000 men at Sinai. At Numbers 26:27 Zebulun stands at 60,500, a gain of 3,100, and Issachar has passed him. Judges 5:18 remembers Zebulun as a people who risked their lives.
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.”
Numbers 1:32-43
Joseph is counted as two tribes, and Ephraim at 40,500 stands above Manasseh at 32,200. Jacob had crossed his hands at Genesis 48:14-20 and said “his younger brother shall be greater than he”, and the roll reads that way generations later. Benjamin, with ten sons at Genesis 46:21, musters 35,400, while Dan, with one son at Genesis 46:23, musters 62,700, second only to Judah.
Numbers 1:32
“Of the children of Joseph, namely, of the children of Ephraim, by their generations,.... See Gill on Num 1:20.”
John Wesley sets Ephraim's lead of over 8,000 above Manasseh beside the loss of 1 Chronicles 7:21-22, where men of Gath killed Ephraim's sons and their father mourned many days. Adam Clarke adds Deuteronomy 33:17, the myriads of Ephraim and the thousands of Manasseh. By Numbers 26:37 Ephraim has fallen to 32,500.
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
Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh at Genesis 41:51, because God had made him forget his hardship. Jacob adopted both of Joseph's sons at Genesis 48:5, just as Reuben and Simeon, and Matthew Henry reads their separate entries here as that adoption carried out. The elder stands second.
Numbers 1:34
“Of the children of Manasseh, by their generations,.... See Gill on Num 1:20.”
Joseph's two tribes together muster 72,700, and Matthew Henry notes that they come almost to Judah's 74,600. Manasseh supplies the smaller share. Jacob had called Joseph a fruitful vine at Genesis 49:22, and Henry reads both figures as that blessing.
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.”
Rachel named her second son Ben-oni as she died, and his father called him Benjamin, at Genesis 35:18. He closes the sons of Rachel in the count, after Joseph's two tribes. Adam Clarke's table groups Ephraim, Manasseh and Benjamin as Rachel's sons.
Numbers 1:36
“Of the children of Benjamin, by their generations,.... See Gill on Num 1:20.”
John Wesley calls Benjamin's figure the smallest but one, though Benjamin had more sons than any brother, and he reads it as one of the great changes God makes in families, citing 1 Samuel 2:5. The tribe grows to 45,600 by Numbers 26:41. Judges 20:47 later leaves it 600 men.
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
Rachel named Bilhah's first son Dan at Genesis 30:6, as a sign that God had vindicated her. Jacob's word at Genesis 49:16 plays on the name, Dan shall provide justice for his people. Matthew Henry recalls it when Dan gets his own standard.
Numbers 1:38
“Of the children of Dan, by their generations,.... See Gill on Num 1:20.”
Matthew Henry notes that Dan went down to Egypt with one son and remained a single clan, the Shuhamites of Numbers 26:42. That one family now musters 62,700, second only to Judah. Judges 18:1 finds the tribe still seeking land.
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.”
Adam Clarke's table sets Asher as Zilpah's second son, named at Genesis 30:13 for the happiness she felt. Moses asks at Deuteronomy 33:24 that Asher be the most blessed of sons. Anna the prophetess of Luke 2:36 is of this tribe.
Numbers 1:40
“Of the children of Asher, by their generations,.... See Gill on Num 1:20.”
Asher stands ninth of the twelve at Sinai with 41,500. At Numbers 26:47 the tribe has 53,400, a gain of 11,900 that lifts it to fifth. Only Manasseh grows more.
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.”
Rachel named Bilhah's second son Naphtali at Genesis 30:8, for her wrestling with her sister. Adam Clarke's table sets him last of all, as the second son of Bilhah. Jacob calls him a doe set free at Genesis 49:21.
Numbers 1:42
“Of the children of Naphtali, throughout their generations,.... See Gill on Num 1:20.”
Naphtali musters 53,400 at Sinai and 45,400 at Numbers 26:50. Ephraim falls by the same 8,000, from 40,500 to 32,500 at 26:37. Those two tribes, with Reuben, Simeon and Gad, are the five that shrink.
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.”
Numbers 1:44-46
The total of 603,550 is the exact figure Exodus 38:26 had given from the half shekel paid by every man numbered, so this count confirms one already made. Seventy went down into Egypt at Genesis 46:27. This list and the one in chapter 26 frame the book, and of every man on it 26:65 says, “Not one was left except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.”
John Gill reads the verse as the sum of every tribe except Levi, men healthy and strong enough for war. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown reckon that women, children, old men and the Levites would bring the whole people to about 2,400,000. Verse 46 counts fighting men only.
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.”
The total matches Exodus 38:26 to the last man, though months had passed. Matthew Henry holds that those who came of age replaced those who had died, and he mentions the view that the earlier count included the Levites, now removed. John Wesley gives both explanations.
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
Levi not counted, but camped around the tent
Numbers 1:47-49
Levi is left out by a command spoken to Moses, which John Gill reads as clearing Moses of partiality toward his own tribe. Levi is counted in chapter 3 on another basis, all the males a month old or more, with a total of 22,000 at 3:39. Albert Barnes reads Exodus 32:26-29, where “all the Levites gathered around” Moses, as the ground of the charge given here.
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).”
The words had said place this order before the count began. John Calvin notes that the people were numbered only at God's command, which asserted His rule over them. The exception of Levi came by the same command.
John Wesley ties the exclusion to the purpose of the muster, which counted men for war, while the Levites served the tabernacle. Matthew Henry notes that the Hebrew of Numbers 4:23 calls the Levites' service at the Tent a warfare. Both call the ministry work enough for a whole man.
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
Numbers 1:50-53
Levi is moved to another service, carrying the tabernacle and camping around it. “Any outsider who goes near it must be put to death”, meaning any Israelite outside Levi, a rule repeated at 3:10, 3:38 and 18:7 and tested by Korah in chapter 16. Levi camps as a ring between the tribes and the tabernacle “so that no wrath will fall on the congregation of Israel”.
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
The Levites strike and raise the tabernacle at every move. Matthew Henry reads the rule as guarding the holy things from being seen or touched by any but those God had called, and Numbers 4:15 sets a further limit inside Levi itself. The Kohathites carry the holy objects, but they must not touch them.
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
Two units are named, the camp and the standard. Albert Barnes reads the standard as the mark of a division of three tribes, so four standards served the whole people, with a family ensign for each house beneath it. Chapter 2 fills in the four camps.
John Wesley notes that the wrath is named with no qualifier, the wrath of God set apart as the most terrible kind. Numbers 18:5 repeats the purpose after Korah's rebellion, so that wrath may not fall on the Israelites again. At 16:46 it had fallen as a plague.
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
The chapter closes on the Israelites doing “everything just as the LORD had commanded Moses”, which John Gill reads as a note on how readily and how exactly the order was kept. Chapters 1 to 10 keep landing on lines of that kind. From 11:1 the book records the opposite, when the people complained and “fire from the LORD blazed among them”.
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.”
How this psalm is built
The form: A muster roll of the men able to bear arms, taken tribe by tribe, as Clarke classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| The twelve leaders named one by one | Verses 5 to 15 give one man for each tribe with his father's name, and no figure is reported until verse 21. John Wesley states the order the list keeps, the children of Leah first, then of Rachel, and then of the handmaids. Adam Clarke prints the same twelve as a table under those three heads.John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, 1765, on Numbers 1:5. | Numbers 1:5, Numbers 1:15, Numbers 1:16 |
| The enrolment formula repeated for every tribe | Verses 20 to 43 give each tribe the same wording, the records of their clans and families, the men of twenty years and older who could serve in the army, and then the figure. Two words change from entry to entry, the name of the tribe and the number. John Gill writes his note once at verse 20 and sends the reader of every later tribe back to it.John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament, 1748 to 1763, on Numbers 1:20 and on each tribe after it. | Numbers 1:20, Numbers 1:26, Numbers 1:42 |
| The command at the head and the obedience at the close | The chapter opens with the LORD's order to Moses and closes on Israel doing everything just as the LORD had commanded Moses, and the same clause stands in the middle at verse 19. John Gill reads the doubled ending as a note on how readily, punctually and perfectly the order was kept.John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament, 1748 to 1763, on Numbers 1:54. | Numbers 1:1, Numbers 1:19, Numbers 1:54 |
The size of the count
12 more paragraphs on the patterns
The figure at verse 46 is 603,550 men of twenty years and older, and the reading of that figure is a contested point this site already carries with its holders (src/components/book/dossier-content/numbers.ts). The first position takes it as a straight count of fighting men, which is the plain sense of the Hebrew text and the reading held by most historic Jewish and Christian interpreters. On that reading the size of the camp is the point, since a body of roughly two million people fed in a wilderness for forty years is what the book asks a reader to weigh.
The second position turns on one word. The Hebrew eleph carries the sense of a clan or a troop as well as the sense of a thousand, and on that reading the lists count military units or family groups. It is proposed by J. W. Wenham in "Large Numbers in the Old Testament", Tyndale Bulletin 18, 1967, and by George Mendenhall, and it yields a much smaller total population. The site's word study of eleph stands at Strong's h505 in the same dossier file, and the book's guide names the word as the one the whole question turns on.
This page states no verdict. The text as it stands gives the numbers plainly, and Numbers 26 counts the next generation on the same terms.
The shape of the figures
Albert Barnes observes that the enrolment was taken principally for military purposes, so it would naturally be arranged by hundreds and fifties. In eleven tribes the number enrolled consists of complete hundreds (Notes, 1832 to 1869, on Numbers 1:20). Gad at 45,650 is the one exception, and Barnes lays that difference to the pastoral and nomadic habits of the tribe, which made it hard to bring all its members together at once.
Adam Clarke reports the same observation from Henry Ainsworth and draws the other conclusion from it, that the round figures show God's providence in the increase (Commentary on the Bible, 1832, on Numbers 1:25). Matthew Henry records that some think it a special providence that the tribes came out in even numbers at this time (Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, on Numbers 1:25). The two readings agree on what is on the page and differ on what it shows.
Where the total has already been reached
The same figure stands at Exodus 38:26, where it is reached by another road, the half shekel taken of every man of twenty years and older toward the tabernacle. Albert Barnes reads the census of this chapter as resting on that earlier collection rather than on a fresh registration of individuals (Notes, 1832 to 1869, on Numbers 1:2). Adam Clarke sets the total beside the seventy souls who went down into Egypt at Genesis 46:27 and holds that God's promise cannot fail (Commentary on the Bible, 1832, on Numbers 1:46).
What this roll becomes
The list of this chapter and the list of Numbers 26 frame the book. The dossier's theology entry on the two censuses makes the difference between them the book's own subject. The men counted here refused to enter the land, and the men counted there crossed into it. Numbers 26:64 and 26:65 report what became of every man on this roll.
A name from this list in the New Testament
Nahshon son of Amminadab stands for Judah at verse 7. His name runs on into Ruth 4:20 and 1 Chronicles 2:10 and into the genealogy of Christ at Matthew 1:4, where the King James spells it Naasson. Albert Barnes notes that the leaders named here were for the most part the same men chosen a few months earlier at the counsel of Jethro (Notes, 1832 to 1869, on Numbers 1:5). Exodus 18:21 to 26 records that choosing.
Keep studying
Studies2
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 form and classifications
Adam Clarke; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, 1832 to 1869, on Numbers 1:2 and This site's published canon sections, src/lib/bible/book-sections.ts, the entry "Numbers": "law".
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; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.