NUMBERING ISRAEL

NUMBERS

CHAPTER 1 - 2

            A very warm welcome back to Daily Bread!  We're moving right along now and we're already up to the fourth book of Moses called Numbers.  The title "Numbers" comes from the act of the numbering or counting of the Israelites.  The stories in the book of Numbers are about Israel's experiences as they wander in the wilderness on their journey to the Promised Land.

            The Lord told Moses to take a census of the children of Israel, every male twenty years old and up that are able to go to war in Israel.  Moses and Aaron were told to number them according to their families and they would be the armies of Israel.

            There was a man from each tribe who God chose as the chosen of the congregation, princes of the tribes of their fathers and heads of thousands.  They are named in Numbers 1:5-15. 

            After one month they gathered together and told Moses their numbers.  This is an account of how many there were from 20 years old and up in each tribe (Family bloodline):

Reuben                       46,500

Simeon                        59,300

Gad                             45,650

Judah                          74,600

Issachar                      54,400

Zebulon                       57,400

Joseph

Ephraim                      40,500

Manasseh                  32,200

Benjamin                    35,400

Dan                             62,700

Asher                          41,500

Naphtali                      53,400

            All together there were 603,550 that were able to go to war in Israel.  But the Levites weren't counted with them because the Lord told Moses, Don't count the tribe of Levi, but appoint them over the tabernacle of testimony and over all the vessels and things that belong to it.  They'll carry the tabernacle and all the things with it and minister to it and they'll camp round about the tabernacle.  They'll take it down and set it up and any stranger that comes near it will be put to death.

            God told Moses where each tribe would pitch their tents in the camp and the children of Israel did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses.

            If you would like to research this further, Chapter 2 tells who the Lord named captains of each tribe and the locations around the camp where each would pitch their tents whenever they moved from place to place in the wilderness.

            It's interesting to note how organized God kept His people.  When they traveled they always traveled in the same order and manner with the camp of Judah, which included the tribes of Judah, Issachar and Zebulun, always breaking camp first and in the first rank.  Next went the camp of Reuben which included the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, and Gad.  They were the second rank.  Then the tabernacle of the congregation with the camp of the Levites was next.  After that the camp of Ephraim, which included the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin, making up the third rank.  And breaking camp last and bringing up the fourth rank was the camp of Dan, which included the tribes of Dan, Asher, and Naphtali.

            So that was the way the armies of God came about.  They didn't have automatic machine guns or nuclear, biological or any other weapons other than the swords that they brought with them out of Egypt ... and the best Commander a soldier could ever hope for.

            Join us again next time to journey with the children of Israel and the armies of God through the wilderness, as we sojourn through the book of Numbers here at Daily Bread.  At ease.

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