Exposition of Numbers

This book has its name from the account it gives of the "numbers" of the children of Israel, twice taken particularly; which name it has with this Greeks and Latins, and so with the Syriac and Arabic versions; but with the Jews it is called sometimes "Vajedabber", from the first word of it, "and the Lord spake"; and sometimes "Bemidbar", from the fifth word of the first verse, "in the wilderness", and sometimes "Sepher Pikkudim"; or, as with Origen {a}, "Ammesph�kodim", the book of musters or surveys. That it was written by Moses is not to be doubted; and is indeed suggested by our Lord himself, Joh 5:46 compared with Nu 3:14, and the references to it, in the New Testament, fully ascertain to us Christians the authenticity of it, as that of our Lord hinted at, and those of the apostle in 1Co 10:4. It contains an history of the affairs of the Israelites, and of their travel in the wilderness for the space of thirty eight years; though the principal facts it relates were done in the second year of their coming out of Egypt, and in the last of their being in the wilderness; and it is not merely historical, but gives a particular account of several laws, ceremonial and judicial, to be observed by the people of Israel, as well as has many things in it very instructive, both of a moral and evangelical nature.

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 1

In this chapter orders are given to Moses to take the number of the children of Israel, from twenty years old and upwards, Nu 1:1; and the men that were to assist in this work, one of each tribe are mentioned by name, Nu 1:4; all which was accordingly done, Nu 1:17; and the particular numbers of each tribe are recorded, as they were taken, Nu 1:20; and the sum total is given, Nu 1:45; the Levites being excepted, who were employed about the tabernacle, and so not to be employed in military service, Nu 1:47; they encamped about that, while the Israelites pitched their tents every man by his own camp and standard, Nu 1:52.

Ver. 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai,.... Which is different from the wilderness of Sin, Ex 16:1; and had its name from the mountain so called, on which God gave the law of the decalogue, and where the Israelites had been encamped eleven months, Ex 19:1;

in the tabernacle of the congregation; which had now been set up a whole month, and out of which the Lord had delivered to Moses the several laws recorded in the preceding book in that space of time, Ex 40:17;

on the first [day] of the second month; the month Ijar, as the Targum of Jonathan, which answers to part of our April, and part of May, and was the second month of the ecclesiastical year, which began with Abib or Nisan:

in the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt; that is, the children of Israel, who had now been a year and half a month out of it:

Ver. 2. Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel,.... Excepting the Levites; nor were any account taken of the mixed multitude that came out of Egypt with the children of Israel, only of them; and this account was taken, partly to observe the fulfilment of the divine promise to Abraham concerning the multiplication of his seed, and partly that it might be observed, that at the end of thirty eight years from hence, when they were numbered again, there were but three left of this large number, their carcasses falling in the wilderness because of their sins; and chiefly, as Aben Ezra observes, this sum was now taken to fix their standards, and for their better and more orderly journeying and encampment; for on the twentieth of this month they set forward on their journey from hence, Nu 10:11; the word for the order is in the plural number, take ye, being given both to Moses and Aaron, who were to take the number, and did, Nu 1:3;

after their families; into which their tribes were divided:

by the house of their fathers; for if the mother was of one tribe, and the father of another, the family was according to the tribe of the father, as Jarchi notes, a mother's family being never called a family, as Aben Ezra observes:

with the number of [their] names; of every particular person, whose name was inserted in a list or register:

every male by their poll; or head {b}; for none but males were numbered: the Lord's spiritual Israel are a numbered people, written in the book of life, placed into the hand of Christ, and exactly known by him, even by name; yea, all that belong to him are numbered, and the very airs of their heads,

{b} לגלגלתם "per capita sua", Pagninus, &c,

Ver. 3. From twenty years old and upwards,.... All that had entered into their twentieth year, or, as it should rather seem, who were full twenty years of age, and all that were above it without any limitation; though some limit it to fifty, and others to sixty years, when men may be reasonably excused going to war; for to know who were fit for it seems to be a principal design of this order, as follows:

all that are able to go forth to war in Israel; who being about to journey, might expect to meet with enemies, with whom they would be obliged to engage in battle; and therefore it was proper to know their strength, and whom to call out upon occasion: Aben Ezra observes, that the phrase "in Israel" excepts the mixed multitude; those were not of Israel, and so not numbered, and perhaps not to be trusted or depended upon in war; nor were they mustered and marshalled by the standards of the several tribes; in a mystical sense, those numbered may signify the valiant of Israel, the same as the young men in 1Jo 2:14; see So 3:7;