Numbers 1:2-54

"Take ye the sum of the children of Israel by their families ... by their polls ..." (Numbers 1:2). The words here rendered "take ye the sum of" are not the technical word for "census."[4] Also, the mention of "by their polls" indicates that, in this enumeration, use would be made of the census already taken in the instance of collecting the poll tax (Exodus 30:11; 38:24,25). It will be noted that no mention of "by their polls" was made in the second enumeration of Numbers 26. Keil, Cook, Whitelaw and others understood this census, therefore, as identical with the first one, a probability that appears very strongly in the fact of the total number being exactly the same in both. Keil's comment is:

"This correspondence in the number of the male population after the lapse of a year is to be explained simply from the fact that the result of the previous census, which was taken for the purpose of raising head-money from every one who was fit for war, was taken as the basis of mustering all who were fit for war, which took place after the erection of the tabernacle. Strictly speaking, this mustering merely consisted in the registering of those already numbered in the public records, according to their fathers' houses."[5]

As already noted, another census of Israel was taken after about forty years (Numbers 26); and this is a convenient place to present the information gathered from that numbering along with this:

Counting Manasseh and Ephraim together as the posterity of Joseph, it is evident that the families of these two patriarchs predominate in the makeup of Israel. Also, the surprising losses of Simeon during the wilderness journeys are compensated by substantial increases in the tribes of Manasseh, Issachar, Benjamin and Asher.

Of course, the great critical problem with this calculation of the immense size of Israel, indicating perhaps as many as 2,000,000 souls in all, is that unbelieving scholars just don't believe it. Well, what else is new? There is no hard evidence of any kind for setting these figures aside as inaccurate. It is simply of no significance that "learned men" love to pontificate upon the impossibility of so large a population being maintained in the Sinai desert at that time, but the Bible acknowledges that problem by providing the answer that God Himself did indeed feed and clothe Israel during that period, making it unnecessary for the land to sustain them. The land did NOT do it. God did it! The rationalism that denies Biblical miracles is simply UNBELIEF, nothing else. No Christian should pay the slightest attention to such denials. In addition to this, no one can be impressed by what men who live in the 20th century profess to "know" about conditions in the vicinity of Sinai over three thousand years ago!

One other important feature of this record (Numbers 1:1-19) is the choice of the various princes of Israel who would assist Moses in this numbering. These names, with the exception of those of Nahshon and Amminadab, do not appear outside of Numbers; however, we are familiar with Nahshon and Amminadab as being listed in the genealogy of Jesus (Luke 3). It seems also correct to view these "princes" of Israel as the commanders of their corresponding military units.

All of the records of the emergence of Israel as an independent nation are presented in the sacred text in such a manner as to require their acceptance as truth. Allis' comment on this was:

"Not only are these statistical figures given with the utmost care and checked by their use in the construction of the tabernacle, they find support in the character of the narrative itself."[6]

The total number of the males in Israel were required to pay a poll tax, the half-shekel ransom, and the very amount of money thus raised is given, along with the use of it in the construction of the silver sockets of the tabernacle, and the amount of the money is absolutely consistent with the figures given for the total number. Yes, the figures are accurate. Of course, so large a population could not have survived without Divine assistance. So God fed them with manna for forty years, and that is no myth! We are told what the manna looked like, when it fell, how much they gathered, when it started, and when it ceased. We are even told what it tasted like, that the people tired of it, and that it was supplemented with a meat diet. This is the language of history.

It is of interest also that the tribe of Levi was not numbered among those prepared to go to war, their task being solely related to the priesthood and the tabernacle. Their numbers are also given in the first census here as 22,270, and in the second census as 23,000. It should also be noted that these figures take no account of any units less than fifty.

We have included here a diagram of the deployment of the tribes of Israel around the tabernacle which was placed at the center of the large camp of all Israel. This, of course, is the subject of the next chapter.