THE FOURTH BOOK OF MOSES, CALLED NU MBER S. Year before the common Year of Christ, 1490.-Julian Period, 3224.-Cycle of the Sun, 27.-Dominical Letter, D.-Cycle of the Moon, 9.-Indiction, 6.—Creation from Tisri or September, 2514. CHAPTER I. On the first day of the second month of the second year after Israel came out of Egypt, God commands Moses to number all the males of the people from twenty years and upward, who were effective men and able to go to war, 1-3. A chief of each tribe is associated with Moses and Aaron in this business, 4; the names of whom are given, 5-16. Moses assembles the people, who declare their pedigrees according to their families, 17-19. The descendants of REUBEN are numbered, and amount to 46,500, ver. 20, 21. Those of SIMEON, 59,300, ver. 22, 23. Those of GAD, 45,650, ver. 24, 25. Those of JUDAH, 74,600, ver. 26, 27. Those of Issachar, 54,400, ver. 28, 29. Those of ZEBULUN, 57,400, ver. 30, 31, Those of EPHRAIM, 40,500, Those of MANASSEH, 32,200, ver. 34, 35. Those of BENJAMIN, 35,400, ver. 36, 37. 62,700, ver. 38, 39. Those of ASHER, 41,500, ver. 40, 41. Those of NAPHTALI, 53,400, The amount of all the effective men in Israel, from twenty years old and upward, was 44-46. The LEVITES are not numbered with the tribes, because they were dedicated to the Their particular work is specified, 47-54. ver. 32, 33. Those of DAN, ver. 42, 43. 603,550, ver. service of God. B. C. 1490. An. Exod. Isr. 2. а d A. M. 2514. Exod. Isr. 2. A. M. 2514. AND the LORD spake unto of the children of Israel, after Moses in the wilderness their families, by the house of An. of Sinai, in the tabernacle of their fathers, with the number b the congregation, on the first day of the of their names, every male by their polls; second month, in the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying, 2 Take ye the sum of all the congregation a Exod. xix. 1; chap. x. 11, 12.- b Exod. xxv. 22. c Exod. xxx. 12; xxxviii. 26; chap. xxvi. 2, 63, 64; 2 Sam. с NOTES ON CHAP. I. Verse 1. The Lord spake unto Moses-on the first day of the second month] As the tabernacle was erected upon the first day of the first month, in the second year after their coming out of Egypt, Exod. xl. 17; and this muster of the people was made on the first day of the second month, in the same year; it is evident that the transactions related in the preceding book must all have taken place in the space of one month, and during the time the Israelites were encamped at Mount Sinai, before they had begun their journey to the promised land. Verse 2. Take ye the sum, &c.] 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 sub 3 From twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel: thou and Aaron shall number them by their armies. xxiv. 2; 1 Chron. xxi. 2.- d Exod. xxx. 14; Deut. iii. 18. e Exod. xii. 17. jects 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. 3. That the tribes and families might be properly distinguished; that all litigations concerning property, inheritance, &c., might, in all future times, be prevented. 4. That the promise concerning the Messiah might be known to have its due accomplishment, when in the fulness of time God should send him from the seed of Abraham through the house of David. And, 5. That they might know their strength for war; for although they should ever consider God as their protector and defence, yet it was necessary that they should be assured of their own fitness, naturally speaking, to cope with any ordinary enemy, or to surmount any common difficulties. Verse 3. From twenty years old and upward] In this census no women were reckoned, nor children, 6 Of Simeon; Shelumiel the son of Zuri- ing to the number of the names, by their polls, shaddai. 7 Of Judah; Nahshon the son of Amminadab. 8 Of Issachar; Nethaneel the son of Zuar. 9 Of Zebulun; Eliab the son of Helon. 10 Of the children of Joseph of Ephraim; Elishama the son of Ammihud: of Manasseh; Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur. 11 Of Benjamin; Abidan the son of Gideoni. 12 Of Dan; Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai. 13 Of Asher; Pagiel the son of Ocran. 14 Of Gad; Eliasaph the son of £ Deuel. 15 Of Naphtali; Ahira the son of Enan. 16 8 These were the renowned of the congregation, princes of the tribes of their fathers, h heads of thousands in Israel. 17 And Moses and Aaron took these men which are expressed by their names: 18 And they assembled all the congregation together on the first day of the second month, and they declared their pedigrees after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, by their polls. Chap. vii. 48; chap. x. 22; chap. ii. 14, he is called Reuel. nor strangers, nor the Levites, nor old men, which, Verse 14. Eliasaph, the son of Deuel.] This person is called Reuel, chap. ii. 14. As thedaleth is very like the resh, it was easy to mistake the one for the other. The Septuagint and the Syriac have Reuel in this chapter; and in chap. ii. 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 chap. x. 20; we may safely conclude therefore that not Reuel, was the original reading. See Kennicott. Deuel, every male from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war; 21 Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of i Reuben, were forty and six thousand and five hundred. 22 Of the children of Simeon, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, those that were numbered of them, according to the number of the names, by their polls, every male from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war; 23 Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Simeon, were fifty and nine thousand and three hundred. 1 24 of the children of 1 Gad, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war; 25 Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Gad, were forty and five thousand six hundred and fifty. Chap. ii. 10, 11; chap. xxvi. 7. Gen. xxix. 33; chap. xxxiv. 25-30.- Gen. xxx. 10, 11. Verse 16. These were the renowned] Literally, the called, of the congregation-those who were summoned by name to attend. The order of the tribes in the above enumeration may be viewed thus:1. Reuben 2. Simeon 3. Judah 4. Issachar 5. Zebulun 6. Ephraim Sons of Leah. 7. Manasseh Sons of Rachel. 9. Dan Ist son of Bilhah, Rachel's maid. 2d son of Zilpah, Leah's maid. 1st son of Zilpah. 12. Naphtali 2d son of Bilhah. An ancient Jewish rabbin pretends to solve every Verse 25. Forty and five thousand six hundred and difficulty by saying that "Eliasaph was a proselyte; fifty.] Mr. Ainsworth has remarked that Gad, the that before he embraced the true faith he was called handmaid's son, is the only one of all the tribes whose the son of Reuel, but that after his conversion he was number ends with fifty, all the others are by thou called the son of Deuel." As Reuel may be trans-sands, and end with hundreds; which shows God's lated the breach of God, and Deuel the knowledge of admirable providence and blessing in multiplying them God, I suppose the rabbin grounded his supposition on so, that no odd or broken number was among all the the different meanings of the two words. tribes. But see on ver. 46. 26 An. Exod. Isr. 2. by their generations, after their Ijar or Zif. families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war; 27 Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Judah, were threescore and fourteen thousand and six hundred. 28 Of the children of " Issachar, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number. of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war; 29 Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Issachar, were fifty and four thousand and four hundred. 30. Of the children of Zebulun, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war; 31 Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Zebulun, were fifty and seven thousand. and four hundred. 32 Of the children of P Joseph, namely, of the children of Ephraim, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war; 33 Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Ephraim, were forty thousand and five hundred. 34 Of the children of Manasseh, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war; 35 Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Manasseh, were thirty and two thousand and two hundred. m Gen. xxix. 35 Gen. xxx. 18.- Lo Gen. xxx. 20.- -P Gen. XXX. 24.- - Gen. xlviii. 5, 6. the several tribes. A. M. 2514. B. C. 1490. 36 Of the children of Benjamin, by their generations, after An. Exod. Isr. 2. their families, by the house of Ijar or Zif. their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war; 37 Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Benjamin, were thirty and five thousand and four hundred. t 38 Of the children of Dan, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war; 39 Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Dan, were threescore and two thousand and seven hundred. 40 Of the children of Asher, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war; 41 Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Asher, were forty and one thousand and five hundred. 42 Of the children of Naphtali, throughout their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war; 43 Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Naphtali, were fifty and three thousand and four hundred. Gen. xxxv. 16-18."Chap. xxvi. 64. from the beginning; his infinite wisdom embraces all occurrences, and it is his province alone to determine what is right, and to predict what himself has pur Verse 33. The tribe of Ephraim-forty thousand and five hundred.] Ephraim, as he was blessed beyond his eldest brother Manasseh, Gen. xlviii. 20, so here he is increased by thousands more than Manas-posed to accomplish. seh, and more than the whole tribe of Benjamin, and his blessing continued above his brother, Deut. xxxiii. 17. And thus the prophecy, Gen. xlviii. 19, was fulfilled: His younger brother (Ephraim) shall be greater than he, (Manasseh.) No word of God can possibly fall to the ground: he alone sees the end VOL. I. ( 40 ) Verse 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. xlvi. 27, about 215 years before, where latterly they had endured the greatest hardships! But God's promise cannot fail, 609 The Levites are not numbered. A. M. 2514. B. C. 1490. A. M. 2514. B. C. 1490. six hundred thousand and three | ward, the Levites shall take it An. Exod. Isr. 2. thousand and five hundred and down and when the tabernacle An Exod. Isr. 2. Ijar or Zif. is to be pitched, the Levites shall 47 But the Levites after the tribe of their set it up: and the stranger that cometh nigh fathers were not numbered among them. shall be put to death. fifty. ▾ Exod. xxxviii. 26; see Chap. ii. 33; see chap. Chap. ii. 33; xxvi. 62.iv. 15, 25, 26, 27, 33. Exod. xii. 37; chap. ii. 32; xxvi. 51. iii., iv., xxvi. 57; 1 Chron. vi., xxi. 6. -y Exod. xxxviii. 21; chap. iii. 7, 8; Chap. iii. 23, 29, 35, 38. (Gen. xvi. 5;) and who can resist his will, and bring to naught his counsel? That a comparative view may be easily taken of the state of the tribes, I shall produce them here from the first census mentioned in the first chapter of this book, in their decreasing proportion, beginning with the greatest and proceeding to the least; and in the second census, mentioned chap. xxvi., where the increase of some and the decrease of others may be seen in one point of view. It may be just remarked, that except in the case of Gad in this chapter, and Reuben in chap. xxvi., all the numbers are what may be called whole or round numbers, beginning with thousands, and ending with hundreds, Gad and Reuben alone ending with tens; but the Scripture generally uses round numbers, units and fractions being almost constantly disregarded. 1. Judah 1st census, ch. i. 2d census, ch. xxvi. 74,600 C 52 And the children of Israel shall pitch their tents, every man by his own camp, and every man by his own standard, throughout their hosts. 53 But the Levites shall pitch round about the tabernacle of testimony, that there be no wrath upon the congregation of the children of Israel: fand the Levites shall keep the charge of the tabernacle of testimony. 54 And the children of Israel did according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did they. a Chap. x. 17, 21.ii. 2, 34. d Ver. 50.xviii. 5; 1 Sam. vi. 19.3, 4, 5; xxxi. 30, 47; 1 seventh place for number. Seven of the tribes had an increase; five a decrease. Manasseh had an increase of 20,500; Judah, 1,900; Issachar, 9,900; Zebulun, 3,100; Benjamin, 10,200; Dan, 1,700; Asher, 11,900. Chap. iii. 10, 38; xviii. 22.- Chap. Le Lev. x. 6; chap. viii. 19; xvi. 46; Chap. iii. 7, 8; viii. 24, 25, 26; xviü Chron. xxiii. 32; 2 Chron. xiii. 10. On the contrary there was a decrease in Reuben of 2,770; in Simeon, 37,100; Gad, 5,150; Ephraim, 8,000; Naphtali, 8,000. Decrease in the whole, 61,020 effective men. See on chap. xxvi.; but balanced with the increase, the decrease was upon the whole only 1,820. On the subject of these enumerations, and the manner in which this vast multitude sprang in about four generations from seventy-five persons, Scheuchzer has some valuable calculations, though liable to some ob jections, which I shall take the liberty to insert, as they tend to throw considerable light upon the subject. "We find in the writings of Moses three enumerations of the Jewish people, that follow each other pretty closely : The first, which was made at their departure from Egypt, Exod. xii. 37, amounted to 600,000 One year after, to 76,500 603,550 "We find the same number, on adding that of each tribe given us in detail, which is the best proof of the exactness of the calculation. "I think I shall afford the reader some degree of pleasure by presenting him, in this place, the number of each tribe separately, beginning at their earliest ancestors. We shall see, by this means, how faithfully God fulfilled the promise he had made to Abraham, as well as the great utility of the mathematics for the right understanding of the Holy Scriptures. ( 40 ) I shall begin with a Genealogical Table of that family NAPHTALI 53,400. Num. i. 43. I.-REUBEN 46,500. "Let us now descend to the particular enumeration of each tribe. REUBEN had four sons: now if we suppose that one of these four sons had seven, and 46,500. Num. i. 21, that each of the other three had eight, we shall find the number 31 for the first Egyptian generation. If we afterward suppose that each of these 31 sons had five sons, the second generation will amount to 155, which, multiplied by 15, will produce 2,325 for the 59,300. Num. i. 23. third generation; and these, multiplied by 19, will make 44,175 for the fourth; so that the third, together with the fourth, will make 46,500. We shall have the same product if the given sum, 46,500, be { Linie 7,500. Num. iii. 22. divided by the most probable number of children, for example, by the number 19; we shall then have 2,447 for the third generation; which sum being deducted 8,600. Num. iii. 26. from the sum total, there will remain 44,053 for the fourth generation, which is exactly the number that is produced in multiplying 2,440 of the third genera6,200. Num. iii. 34. tion by 18, and the other 7 by 19. If we wish to make the same calculation with respect to the preceding generations, i. e., divide them by the most pro74,600. Num. i. 27. bable number of children, we shall have the following Amram sums: Children of JACOB by ZILPAH. Haggai "SIMEON had six sons. Let us suppose that each of the three first had six children, and each of the three 45,650. Num. i. 25. others seven, we shall have thirty-nine for the first generation. If we multiply 31 of this number by 9, and 8 by 10, we shall have for the second generation 359; of which number, if we multiply 355 by 11, and 4 by 12, the third generation will give us 3,953. Let us then multiply 3,948 of these by 14, and 5 of them by 15, and we shall have for the fourth 55,347. 41,500. Num. i. 41. The third and fourth, added together, will make 59,300. III.-LEVI 22,300. "Gershon, Levi's eldest son, had two children: let us give to one of these 16 children, and to the other 17, and we shall have 33 for the second generation; 28 of which, multiplied by 15, and 5 by 16, will produce 500 for the third. Multiply each by 14, and these will produce 7,000; and the third and fourth together, 7,500. "Kohath, Levi's second son, had four sons, which form the first line. Give to one of them 10 sons, and 11 to each of the other three, for the second generation there will be 43. Multiply them by 10, there will be 430 for the third; these, multiplied by 19 for the fourth, will produce the number of 8,170. The third and fourth added together make 8,600. "Merari, the third son of Levi, had two sons. Give |