Numbers26chapter 26

Numbers 26:1-4

Moses and Aaron took the first census at Sinai. Moses and Eleazar take this one "on the plains of Moab", because Aaron died at Mount Hor in 20:28 and his son now wears the garments. The terms repeat chapter 1, those "twenty years of age or older who can serve in the army of Israel", counted again after the plague of chapter 25 had taken 24,000 men.

Adam Clarke gives this second census three ends: to keep the families distinct, to order the tribes before they entered the land, and to fix the share each tribe would receive. Jamieson, Fausset & Brown put first the proof that Abraham's seed had multiplied in spite of the judgments. The land will follow these fathers' houses.

Matthew Henry notes that Eleazar is joined in the commission as Aaron had been at Sinai. The pairing honoured Eleazar before the elders and confirmed his succession. The place matters as well. Israel is counted at its last camp before the river, with Jericho across the water.

Matthew Henry notes that Moses numbered the people only when God commanded it, and sets this beside David, who counted without a command and paid dearly for it. John Calvin reads the verse as proof that the rule set at Sinai was followed again. The count waited on the word.

Numbers 26:5-11

Reuben's roll stops to tell how "the earth opened its mouth and swallowed" Dathan and Abiram, adding "They serve as a warning sign". Verse 11 adds what chapter 16 never gave: "the line of Korah did not die out". That house sings afterward: 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.

Hezron and Carmi complete the four clans of Reuben. Matthew Henry explains that a family in these rolls means all the descendants of one son of a patriarch, who kept that son's name in his honour. John Wesley adds that each tribe's land was shared among its families according to the number of persons in each.

Reuben stands at 43,730 against 46,500 at Sinai, a loss of 2,770. John Wesley and Jamieson, Fausset & Brown both lay part of it to Korah's conspiracy and to other outbreaks in the tribe. The firstborn's tribe arrives smaller. Its clans, in their reading, were principal households divided into many smaller families.

John Gill notes that Pallu had one son only, Eliab, the father of Dathan and Abiram. Here the roll leaves the clan heads and follows one line down two generations. It has a reason. The next verse names the two rebels that line produced.

Matthew Henry takes chosen by the congregation to mean that these men were well known, able and fit for business, and might have risen in time under God and Moses. Their ambition set them against both. Henry adds that the story returns here so that later readers proud of their pedigree would remember the evildoers in it.

Readers have divided over whether Korah went down with Dathan and Abiram or died in the fire with the 250. John Wesley and Jamieson, Fausset & Brown both mention the rendering the things of Korah, meaning his tent and goods. The point is still argued. Wesley reads the warning sign as a monument against rebellion and against seizing the priest's office.

Two accounts are given of why the sons of Korah lived. Jamieson, Fausset & Brown say either they took no part in the crime or they turned from it in time. John Wesley says they disowned their father's act and left his tent and company. Both readings clear the sons.

Numbers 26:12-18

Simeon comes out of the wilderness at 22,200, down from 59,300 at Sinai, a loss of more than 37,000 men and the largest fall of any tribe. Chapter 25:14 had just named Zimri, the man slain at Peor, as "the leader of a Simeonite family". Gad falls too, by about five thousand, and the chapter reports both numbers and says nothing about either.

Zerah and Shaul close a roll of five Simeonite clans. Matthew Henry and John Wesley note that a sixth, the house of Ohad named at Exodus 6:15, had died out in the wilderness. Its name has no place here. The land shared out in verses 52 to 56 went only to clans that still stood.

At 22,200 Simeon holds little more than a third of its 59,300 at Sinai, as John Wesley puts it. Wesley and Matthew Henry report the conjecture that most of the 24,000 slain at Peor were Simeonites. Its later history stayed small. Moses leaves Simeon out of his blessing in Deuteronomy 33, and Joshua 19:9 gives it a portion inside Judah's lot.

John Gill explains that Gad follows Simeon because both camped under the standard of Reuben. He also notes that several names differ from the list in Genesis 46:16, where Zephon appears as Ziphion. Such variants recur in these rolls. John Wesley suggests that names were sometimes added or changed on occasions Scripture does not record.

Ozni stands where Genesis 46:16 has Ezbon, a variant noted by John Gill. Gill calls it much wider than the other changes in the roll of Gad. The clan kept its place whatever its spelling. Its name would still mark out its share of the ground Gad received.

Arod and Areli bring Gad to seven clans, one of the largest numbers in Matthew Henry's count of families. Only Manasseh, with eight, has more. The number of clans did not settle a tribe's strength. The seven clans of Gad come to fewer men than the single clan of Dan.

Gad counts 40,500, down 5,150 from 45,650 at Sinai, a fall John Wesley puts at above five thousand. Matthew Henry notes that all three tribes under the standard of Judah grew. The camp of Reuben shows the reverse. Reuben, Simeon and Gad, who camped together, all come back smaller.

Numbers 26:19-22

The sons of Judah were Er and Onan: Er and Onan are written into Judah's roll and struck out in one verse, since "they died in the land of Canaan" and left no family. Genesis 38 tells how, and the son born afterward is Perez, whose family stands here and whom Ruth 4:18-22 runs down to David and Matthew 1:3 to Christ. Judah is the largest tribe in both censuses, 76,500 here against 74,600 at Sinai.

Three sons of Judah head clans here, Shelah, Perez and Zerah. Matthew Henry counts five families in Judah, since two sons of Perez head clans of their own in the next verse. Perez's line branches further. Each of the five would hold its own share when Judah's ground was divided.

Hezron and Hamul are grandsons of Judah through Perez, yet each heads a clan beside Judah's sons. The roll does this in several tribes. Machir and Gilead in Manasseh, Ard and Naaman in Benjamin, and Heber and Malchiel in Asher are further cases. Matthew Henry's count of families in each tribe includes all of them.

Judah has grown by 1,900 since Sinai. John Wesley points out that Reuben, Simeon and Gad, the three tribes before it in the roll, had all fallen. Matthew Henry sees meaning in the growth of Judah's whole camp, since Judah was the ancestor of Christ and his church would be built up and multiplied.

Numbers 26:23-28

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.

Jashub stands where the list of Genesis 46:13 has Job, one of two Issacharite names John Gill finds changed between the rolls. Gill counts four families in the tribe. Those four carry the gain of 9,900 men Issachar made since Sinai into the land.

Issachar reaches 64,300 against 54,400 at Sinai. John Gill notes that it is numbered next to Judah because it camped under the standard of Judah. Only Manasseh, Asher and Benjamin grew by more. Issachar now ranks third among the tribes in size.

Zebulun has three clans, the fewest of any tribe after Dan in Matthew Henry's count. John Gill places it after Issachar because it too camped under the standard of Judah. Its muster is large all the same.

Zebulun counts 60,500, a rise of 3,100 on its 57,400 at Sinai, as John Gill records. Its total completes the camp of Judah. The three tribes under that standard now number 201,300 men, up from 186,400 in Numbers 1.

John Gill explains the order by numbers, since Manasseh had now grown the larger of the two. Matthew Henry goes further and suggests that Ephraim had grown proud of Jacob's blessing and looked down on Manasseh. In his reading God raised the weaker brother. The two sons of Joseph still count as two tribes.

Numbers 26:29-34

Manasseh is counted through Machir and Gilead, whose six sons give the tribe's six families. The list reaches Hepher and Zelophehad, then records five names a muster of men who "can serve in the army" had no need of, "Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah", and writes them in anyway. In chapter 27 they ask a share of the inheritance this census is taken to divide.

The roll of Manasseh runs three generations deep, from Machir to Gilead to the sons of Gilead. Iezer and Helek are the first of those sons to head clans. Matthew Henry counts eight families in Manasseh, the most of any tribe. The smallest tribe at Sinai now has the most clans.

Asriel and Shechem continue the clans of Gilead. John Wesley explains that the share falling to a tribe by lot was then given to its families in proportion to their numbers. A clan name in this roll was therefore a title to land.

Hepher closes the six clans of Gilead that John Gill lists under Manasseh. The roll then pauses at his line. Gill traces the whole tribe to one son, Machir, and one grandson, Gilead. From that narrow stem came eight clans and 52,700 men.

Zelophehad's house enters the roll with no man to be counted in it. Jamieson, Fausset & Brown explain that shares were fixed by the number of persons twenty years old at this census. On that rule alone his line would draw nothing. Recording the daughters by name keeps his house in view when the land is shared.

Manasseh has grown from 32,200 to 52,700, a gain of 20,500 and the largest of any tribe. John Wesley ties the rise to the words of Jacob over Joseph at Genesis 49:22. Matthew Henry notes the reversal. The smallest tribe at Sinai is now among the largest.

Numbers 26:35-41

Ephraim loses eight thousand men and comes in at 32,500, 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.

Eran is a grandson of Ephraim through Shuthelah, and his line forms a fourth clan beside the three sons. John Gill notes that it sprang from the first of them. Ephraim has four clans in Matthew Henry's count. Only Zebulun and Dan have fewer.

Ephraim counts 32,500, eight thousand below its 40,500 at Sinai. Matthew Henry notes that the tribe Jacob set first is now one of the least. The house of Joseph as a whole still grew. Manasseh and Ephraim together come to 85,200 against 72,700 in Numbers 1.

John Wesley counts five of the ten sons of Benjamin in this roll and supposes the rest died out with their families. Bela, Ashbel and Ahiram open the list. A lost line had no clan and no share when the land was divided by families.

Shupham and Hupham complete the sons of Benjamin who head clans. John Gill notes that Benjamin is counted next to Ephraim because it camped under the standard of Ephraim. That camp grew most of the four. Its three tribes now number 130,800, against 108,100 at Sinai.

Ard and Naaman appear here as sons of Bela, each heading a clan. Matthew Henry reckons seven of the ten names of Genesis 46:21 as preserved in this roll, which counts these two among the sons of Benjamin. John Wesley counts five sons only. The two readings place these men differently in the family.

Benjamin counts 45,600, up 10,200 from 35,400 at Sinai. Only Manasseh and Asher grew more. Matthew Henry still calls it none of the most numerous tribes, and he draws a lesson from the ten sons Benjamin once had. Providence, he says, does not tie itself to probabilities in building up families.

Numbers 26:42-47

Dan has one son, one family, and 64,400 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, his daughter Serah, whom Genesis 46:17 also names.

The single clan of Dan counts 64,400, a rise of 1,700 on its 62,700 at Sinai. Of the seven tribes that grew, Dan grew least. Matthew Henry says of it that its beginning was small and its latter end greatly increased. John Wesley draws the lesson that the growth of families depends on God's blessing alone.

Imnah, Ishvi and Beriah head the first three clans of Asher. Matthew Henry counts five Asherite families in all. The two sons of Beriah in the next verse supply the other two. The older English text Henry expounds spells the first two names Jimna and Jesui.

Heber and Malchiel are grandsons of Asher through Beriah, and both head clans. The line of Beriah thus supplies three of the five Asherite families in Matthew Henry's count. One son's house branched into three clans. The rise of 11,900 men Asher made since Sinai came through clans like these.

Serah is named between the clans of Asher and their total, and she heads no clan of her own. Matthew Henry's count of five Asherite families leaves her outside it. The roll records her anyway. Her place in it goes unexplained in the chapter.

Asher rises to 53,400 from 41,500, a gain Matthew Henry gives as 11,900. Only Manasseh grew more. John Gill places Asher with Dan and Naphtali under the standard of Dan, and that camp as a whole now stands at 163,200 against 157,600 at Sinai.

Numbers 26:48-51

Naphtali closes the tribes eight thousand men down, and the whole comes to 601,730 against 603,550 at Sinai in 1:46. After forty years, a plague, a rebellion swallowed by the ground and a generation buried, the fighting strength of Israel is smaller by 1,820 men. Every man in this total is a different man from the men in that one.

Jezer and Shillem close the four clans of Naphtali, as John Gill lists them. Naphtali is the last tribe in the roll. Gill explains its place by the camp, since it stood with Asher under the standard of Dan. The roll of tribes keeps the order of the camps.

Naphtali stands at 45,400, eight thousand below its 53,400 at Sinai. Matthew Henry sets it among five tribes that fell, whose losses together outweigh the gains of the other seven. Ephraim lost the same eight thousand. The five losses come to 61,020 men, the seven gains to 59,200.

John Calvin says anyone would have expected a people who had lost a whole generation, and 24,000 in one plague, to be smaller by a fourth. The total barely moved. Calvin calls this a remarkable miracle and ties it to the promise to Abraham in Genesis 22:17. John Wesley sees God's justice, mercy and truth in the one number.