Numberschapter 26
65 verses · Moses, by tradition · 15th to 13th century BC · The Law
Key verse
Indeed, the land must be divided by lot; they shall receive their inheritance according to the names of the tribes of their fathers.
It stands in Land divided by number and by lot, verses 52 to 56.
The chapter
Chapter summary
The second census. On the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, Moses and Eleazar number those from twenty years old and upward. Total 601,730. Slightly less than the first census thirty-eight years earlier, but a wholly different people: ‘among these there was not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron the priest numbered … save Caleb … and Joshua’. The land will be divided by lot according to the size of the tribes; the inheritance will be set by name. The Levites numbered separately. 23,000 males from a month old. The bracket closes: a new generation is counted where the old generation fell.
Context
Law · Moses · Numbers overview
The world behind this chapter
Numbers 26The history
The count is taken by Moses and Eleazar. The first census was taken by Moses and Aaron, and Aaron died at Mount Hor in 20:28, so his son wears the garments now.
The year is the fortieth and the place is the last camp before the crossing. The count follows the plague of chapter 25, which had taken twenty four thousand men.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
The occasion is the division of the land. Verses 52 to 56 say the land is to be divided as an inheritance according to the number of names, with the ground itself settled by lot.
A first hearer knew that counting people produced two things a government wanted, a tax roll and a muster roll. He knew the terms of this count were military, every man of twenty and upward who could serve in the army.
He knew the clan structures the counting ran through, because the same families are named in Genesis 46 and in Exodus 6. The roll is the backbone of later Israelite descent.
He also knew why a daughter in a muster roll was worth noticing. A count of fighting men had no place for one, and this list names Serah the daughter of Asher and the five daughters of Zelophehad anyway.
The totals themselves were the report. Six hundred and one thousand seven hundred and thirty, against the six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty of Numbers 1:46. Simeon was down by more than thirty seven thousand and Manasseh up by more than twenty thousand.
What it meant to them
The chapter ends by saying that among these there was not one of those counted at Sinai except Caleb and Joshua. God had said the whole generation would fall in the wilderness, and this is the ledger showing it done.
And the total was nearly the same. Forty years of judgment had not shrunk Israel, and the people standing at the river were as many as the people who had refused to cross it.
Sources cited
- Timothy R. Ashley, The Book of Numbers (NICOT)
- K. A. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament
- J. W. Wenham, Large Numbers in the Old Testament, Tyndale Bulletin 18, 1967
Where the chapter sits
Numbers 26 falls in Second census and preparations (chapters 26–36). A new generation numbered; inheritance laws; Joshua commissioned; cities of refuge and tribal boundaries.
The second census. A new generation numbered; a new census to match the promise.
Before it: Approach to Moab, chapters 21–25.
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. Counting the generation born in the wilderness
1. (vv. 1-4)
Numbers 26:1
“After the plague - These words serve to show approximately the date at which the census was taken, and intimate the reason for the great decrease in numbers which was found to have taken place in certain tribes. Compare Deu 4:3 and Num 26:5 note in this chapter.”
Numbers 26:2
“Take the sum of all the congregation - After thirty-eight years God commands a second census of the Israelites to be made, to preserve the distinction in families, and to regulate the tribes previously to their entry into the promised land, and to ascertain the proportion of land which should be allowed to each tribe. For though the whole was divided by lot, yet the portions were so disposed that a numerous tribe did not draw where the lots assigned small inheritances. See Num 26:53-56, and also see the note on Num 1:1.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Numbers 26:3
“And Moses and Eleazar the priest spake with them,....”
Numbers 26:4
“Take the sum of the people, from twenty years old and upward,....”
The first census was taken by Moses and Aaron in the wilderness of Sinai. This one is taken by Moses and Eleazar in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, because Aaron died at mount Hor in 20:28 and his son wears the garments now. The terms are word for word what chapter 1 used, from twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go to war. Counting begins again after the plague of chapter 25, which had taken twenty and four thousand men.
2. (vv. 5-11)
Numbers 26:5
“Reuben, the eldest son of Israel,.... the number of his tribe is taken first on that account; there were four families that descended from him, the Hanochite, Palluite, Hesronite, and Carmite, and the number of men from twenty years old and upwards, fit for war, were 43,730; so that, since the last numbering, this tribe was decreased 2770; which may in part be accounted for by the families of Dathan and Abiram being cut off for their rebellion, who were this tribe, and whose affair is briefly related in the following verses, and it may be to point out this unto us.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 26:5
“Following The tribes are mentioned in the same order as in the earlier census Num. 1, except that Manasseh here precedes Ephraim; probably as being now the larger tribe.”
Numbers 26:7
“These are the families of the Reubenites--the principal households, which were subdivided into numerous smaller families. Reuben had suffered great diminution by Korah's conspiracy and other outbreaks [Nu 16:1].”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Numbers 26:8
“And the sons of Pallu,.... Or son, the plural for the singular, Pallu having but one son, whose name was Eliab, the father of Dathan and Abiram; Num 26:9.”
Numbers 26:9
“Though the story had been largely related but a few chapters before, yet here it comes in again, as fit to be had in remembrance and thought of by posterity, whenever they looked into their pedigree and pleased themselves with the antiquity of their families and the glory of their ancestors, that they might call themselves a seed of evil doers.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Numbers 26:10
“Together with Korah - The Samaritan text does not intimate that Korah was swallowed up, but that he was burnt, as appears in fact to have been the case. And the earth swallowed them up, what time that company died; and the fire devoured Korah with the two hundred and fifty men, who became a sign.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 26:10
“With Korah - According to this translation Korah was not consumed by fire with his two hundred and fifty men, but swallowed up by the earth. But others rather think he was devoured by the fire, and render these words, and the things of Korah, or belonging to Korah, namely, his tent and goods, and family, children excepted, as here follows.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Numbers 26:11
“The children of Korah died not - Compare Num 26:58. Samuel the prophet was of this family, and Heman, “the king’s seer” 1Ch 6:22, 1Ch 6:33; 1Ch 25:5. Several of the Psalms appear from the titles to have been composed for the sons of Korah: compare titles of Psa 42:1-11; 44; 45, etc.”
The roll of Reuben stops in the middle of itself to tell a story. Dathan and Abiram are entered in their place in the family tree, and the text says what became of them, that the earth opened her mouth and they became a sign. Verse 11 then adds a line the narrative of chapter 16 never gave, that the children of Korah died not. That house sings afterward, since 1 Chronicles 6:22 and 6:33 run Samuel and Heman out of it and eleven psalms carry the sons of Korah in their titles.
3. (vv. 12-18)
Numbers 26:12
“The sons of Simeon, after their families,....”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 26:12
“Thus God's justice and holiness, as well as His truth and faithfulness, were strikingly displayed: His justice and holiness in the sweeping judgments that reduced the ranks of some tribes; and His truth and faithfulness in the extraordinary increase of others so that the posterity of Israel continued a numerous people.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Numbers 26:14
“For Zimri, a ring-leader in that iniquity, was a prince of that tribe. Simeon is not mentioned in Moses's blessing, Deut. xxxiii, 1-29. And the lot of that tribe in Canaan was inconsiderable, only a canton out of Judah's lot, Josh. xix, 9.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Numbers 26:15
“The children of Gad, after their families tribe was numbered next to Simeon,.... because it lay encamped with that under the standard of Reuben. There is a little variation in the names of two or three of his sons, from those by which they are called Gen 46:16, instead of Ziphion, here Zephon; and for Haggai, here Haggi; and what is much wider, for Ezbon, here Ozni.”
Simeon comes out of the wilderness at twenty and two thousand and two hundred, down from fifty and nine thousand and three hundred at Sinai. That is a loss of more than thirty seven thousand men and the heaviest fall of any tribe, and 25:14 had just named Zimri, the man slain at Peor, as a prince of a chief house among the Simeonites. Gad falls too, by about five thousand. The chapter reports both numbers and says nothing about either.
4. (vv. 19-22)
Numbers 26:19
“And the sons of Judah were Er and Onan,....”
The sons of Judah were Er and Onan: Er and Onan are written into Judah's roll and struck out of it in the same verse, since they died in the land of Canaan and left no family to carry a name. Genesis 38 is where that happened, and the son born afterward is Pharez, whose family stands here. Ruth 4:18-22 runs Pharez down to David and Matthew 1:3 runs him down to Christ. Judah is the largest tribe in both censuses, seventy and six thousand and five hundred here against seventy and four thousand and six hundred at Sinai.
5. (vv. 23-28)
Numbers 26:23
“Of the sons of Issachar, after their families,.... This tribe was numbered next to Judah, because it was under his standard. Two of his sons are a little differently named than they are Gen 46:13 instead of Phuvah one is called Pua, and instead of Job another is called here Jashub; this tribe consisted of four families, and the number of warlike men in it was 64,300; their increase since the last numbering of them is 9900.”
Numbers 26:26
“Of he sons of Zebulun, after their families,.... This is numbered next to Issachar, because it was encamped under the standard of Judah; it consisted of three families, whose numbers were 60,500, so that this tribe was increased 3100.”
Numbers 26:28
“Jacob had crossed hands upon their heads, and had preferred Ephraim before Manasseh, which perhaps the Ephraimites had prided themselves too much in, and had trampled upon their brethren the Manassites; but, when the Lord saw that Manasseh was despised, he thus multiplied him exceedingly, for it is his glory to help the weakest, and raise up those that are cast down.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Issachar and Zebulun both grow, Issachar by nine thousand nine hundred and Zebulun by three thousand one hundred. The tribes are taken in the order chapter 1 used, with one change, that Manasseh is named before Ephraim. Jacob crossed his hands to set Ephraim first at Genesis 48:14, and the numbers in the verses that follow run the other way.
6. (vv. 29-34)
Numbers 26:34
“Fifty two thousand and seven hundred - Whereas they were but thirty two thousand and two hundred, in chap. i, 35. So they are now increased above twenty thousand, according to that prophecy, Gen. xlix, 22.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Manasseh is counted through Machir and Gilead, and the six sons of Gilead give the six families of the tribe. The list reaches Hepher, then Zelophehad, and then records five names a muster roll had no need of, Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah. A daughter has no standing in a count of men able to go to war, and these five are written in anyway. Chapter 27 is where they come and ask for a share of the inheritance this census is being taken to divide.
7. (vv. 35-41)
Numbers 26:35
“These are the sons of Ephrain, after their families,.... Which were but three, the Shuthalhite, the Bachrite, and the Tahanite, only from the former sprung another family, called the Eranite; the number of the whole was 32,500; there was a decrease in this tribe of 8000.”
Numbers 26:38
“The sons of Benjamin - Who were ten, Gen. xlvi, 21, whereof only five are here mentioned, the rest probably, together with their families, being extinct.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Ephraim loses eight thousand men and comes in at thirty and two thousand and five hundred, twenty thousand below Manasseh. Benjamin had ten sons at Genesis 46:21 and five of them head families here, and the chapter gives no reason for the other five. Benjamin has grown by ten thousand men since Sinai even so.
8. (vv. 42-47)
Numbers 26:42
“These are the sons of Dan, after their families,.... Though he had but one son, the plural being put for the singular; or by sons are meant his posterity; his son's name was Shuham, and by transposition Hushim, in Gen 46:23 from him was the family of the Shulamite; and yet, though but one, consisted of 64,400 men; there was an increase of 1700 in this tribe.”
Numbers 26:43
“Threescore and four thousand and four hundred - All from one son and family, whereas of Benjamin who had ten sons, and five families, there were only forty five thousand and six hundred, to shew that the increase of families depends singly upon God's blessing and good pleasure.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Numbers 26:44
“Of the children of Asher, after their families,....”
Dan has one son, one family, and sixty and four thousand and four hundred men, second in size only to Judah. Ten sons of Benjamin produced fewer fighting men than the one son of Dan. Asher grows by nearly twelve thousand, and his roll closes on a woman, Sarah his daughter, whom the list of Genesis 46:17 calls Serah. She and the five daughters of Zelophehad are the only women this census names.
9. (vv. 48-51)
Numbers 26:48
“Of the sons of Naphtali, after their families,.... This tribe, which is the last of them, was numbered next to Asher, because it was with that under the standard of Dan; it had four families in it, the Jahzeelite, Gunite, Jezerite, and Shillemite, and its number was 45,400, being less by 8000 than it was when first numbered.”
Numbers 26:51
“These were the numbered - Very nigh as many as there were before, chap. i, 46. So wisely and marvelously did God at the same time manifest his justice in cutting off so vast a number; his mercy in giving such a speedy and numerous supply; and his truth in both.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Naphtali closes the tribes eight thousand men down. The whole comes to six hundred thousand and a thousand seven hundred and thirty, against six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty at Sinai in 1:46. Forty years, a plague, a rebellion swallowed by the ground and a generation buried, and the fighting strength of Israel is smaller by one thousand eight hundred and twenty men. Every man in this total is a different man from the men in that one.
B. Land divided by number and by lotvv. 52-56
Here the chapter says what the counting was for. The land is divided according to the number of names, more to the many and less to the few, and it is also divided by lot. Two rules govern one act, the size of a tribe fixing how much ground it holds and the lot fixing which ground. Joshua 14 to 19 is where this is carried out, and Proverbs 16:33 gives the ground the lot stands on.
Numbers 26:52
“And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... After the sum of the people of Israel had been taken: saying; as follows.”
Numbers 26:53
“The land shall be divided - The land was divided into nine parts and an half, respect being had in such division to the goodness as well as to the largeness of the several portions, and the lot gave each tribe their part.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Numbers 26:54
“To many thou shalt give the more inheritance, and to few thou shalt give the less inheritance,....”
Numbers 26:55
“The land shall be divided by lot - The word גורל goral, translated lot, is supposed by some to signify the stone or pebble formerly used for the purpose of what we term casting lots.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Numbers 26:55
“And thus Christ, our Joshua, when he was urged to appoint one of his disciples to his right hand, another to his left in his kingdom, acknowledged the sovereignty of his Father in the disposal: It is not mine to give. Joshua must not dispose of inheritances in Canaan according to his own mind. But it shall be given to those for whom it is prepared of my Father.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Numbers 26:55
“The manner in which the lot was taken has not been recorded. But it is evident that the lot was cast for determining the section of the country in which each tribe should be located--not the quantity of their possessions.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Numbers 26:56
“According to the lot ... - This method was adopted not only in order to preclude jealousies and disputes, but also that the several tribes might regard the territories as determined for them by God Himself: compare Pro 16:33.”
C. Levi counted apart from the restvv. 57-62
Levi is counted apart, as in chapter 3, and by another rule, every male from a month old and upward rather than every man of twenty able to fight. Verse 62 gives the reason in the same breath, that there was no inheritance given them among the children of Israel. The roll stops at Amram's house to name Jochebed, and at Aaron's to record that Nadab and Abihu died when they offered strange fire, which Leviticus 10:1-2 tells. Levi comes to twenty and three thousand, a thousand more than at Sinai.
Numbers 26:57
“And these are they that were numbered of the Levites, after their families,....”
Numbers 26:62
“The total number of male Levites, 23,000, shows an increase of 1,000 on the number at Sinai Num 3:39. It is doubtless to be taken as a round number; and, as before, includes the male children from a month old and upward, as well as the male adults.”
D. Only Caleb and Joshua are leftvv. 63-65
This is the verse the book has been moving toward since Kadesh. Of the six hundred thousand men counted in the wilderness of Sinai there was not a man of them left, and the sentence passed at 14:29-30 is reported here as carried out. Two names are the exception, Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, the two who brought back the other report. Deuteronomy 2:14-15 says the last of that generation was gone before Israel crossed the brook Zered.
Numbers 26:63
“These are they that were numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest,.... That is, these were the Levites, their families, and the number of males in them, which was taken by Moses and Eleazar, who might be only concerned in numbering the Levites, of which tribe they were: and who also numbered the children of Israel; all the tribes of them, with the assistance of their princes: in the plains of Moab, by Jordan, near Jericho; as they were commanded by the Lord.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 26:63
“34 These are the families of Manasseh, and those that were numbered of them, fifty and two thousand and seven hundred. 35 These are the sons of Ephraim after their families: of Shuthelah, the family of the Shuthalhites: of Becher, the family of the Bachrites: of Tahan, the family of the Tahanites. 36 And these are the sons of Shuthelah: of Eran, the family of the Eranites.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Numbers 26:64
“It appears from Deu 2:14-15 that the generation numbered at the former census had perished before the host crossed the brook Zered.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 26:64
“The goodness of God to this people, notwithstanding their provocations. Though that murmuring race was cut off, yet God raised up another generation, which was as numerous as they, that, though they perished, yet the name of Israel might not be cut off, lest the inheritance of the promise should be lost for want of heirs.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Numbers 26:65
“For the Lord had said of them, they shall surely die in the wilderness,.... This was threatened them, Num 14:32 and now it was fulfilled: and there was not left a man of them, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun; the only two of the spies that brought a good report of the land of Canaan; all the rest of them, and those that murmured on the ill report of theirs, were now dead.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 26:65
“Not left a man - Only of the Levites, who being not guilty of that sin did not partake of their judgment.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
This page carries no textual note on Numbers 26. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
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 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.