Numbers 26

¹And it came to pass after the plague, that the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, saying,

Nu 26:1-51. Israel Numbered. 1. after the plague--That terrible visitation had swept away the remnant of the old generation, to whom God sware in His wrath that they should not enter Canaan (Psa 95:11).

²Take the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, from twenty years old and upward, throughout their fathers' house, all that are able to go to war in Israel.

2. Take the sum of all the congregation--The design of this new census, after a lapse of thirty-eight years, was primarily to establish the vast multiplication of the posterity of Abraham in spite of the severe judgments inflicted upon them; secondarily, it was to preserve the distinction of families and to make arrangements, preparatory to an entrance into the promised land, for the distribution of the country according to the relative population of the tribes.

⁷These are the families of the Reubenites: and they that were numbered of them were forty and three thousand and seven hundred and thirty.

7. These are the families of the Reubenites--the principal households, which were subdivided into numerous smaller families. Reuben had suffered great diminution by Korah’s conspiracy and other outbreaks [Nu 16:1].

¹⁰And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up together with Korah, when that company died, what time the fire devoured two hundred and fifty men: and they became a sign.

10. the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up together with Korah--rather, “the things of Korah.” (See on Nu 16:35; compare Psa 106:17).

¹¹Notwithstanding the children of Korah died not.

11. Notwithstanding the children of Korah died not--Either they were not parties to their father’s crime, or they withdrew from it by timely repentance. His descendants became famous in the time of David, and are often mentioned in the Psalms [Psa 42:1; 44:1; 45:1; 46:1; 47:1; 48:1; 49:1; 84:1; 85:1; 87:1; 88:1], also in 1Ch 6:22, 38.

¹²The sons of Simeon after their families: of Nemuel, the family of the Nemuelites: of Jamin, the family of the Jaminites: of Jachin, the family of the Jachinites:

12. The sons of Simeon--It is supposed that this tribe had been pre-eminent in the guilt of Baal-peor and had consequently been greatly reduced in numbers. Thus God’s justice and holiness, as well as His truth and faithfulness, were strikingly displayed: His justice and holiness in the sweeping judgments that reduced the ranks of some tribes; and His truth and faithfulness in the extraordinary increase of others so that the posterity of Israel continued a numerous people.

⁵³Unto these the land shall be divided for an inheritance according to the number of names.

53. the land shall be divided according to the number of names--The portion of each tribe was to be greater or less, according to its populousness.

⁵⁴To many thou shalt give the more inheritance, and to few thou shalt give the less inheritance: to every one shall his inheritance be given according to those that were numbered of him.

54. To many thou shalt give the more inheritance--that is, to the more numerous tribes a larger allotment shall be granted. according to those that were numbered--the number of persons twenty years old at the time of the census being made, without taking into account either the increase of those who might have attained that age, when the land should be actually distributed, or the diminution from that amount, occasioned during the war of invasion.

⁵⁵Notwithstanding the land shall be divided by lot: according to the names of the tribes of their fathers they shall inherit.

55. the land shall be divided by lot--The appeal to the lot did not place the matter beyond the control of God; for it is at His disposal (Pr 16:33), and He has fixed to all the bounds of their habitation. The manner in which the lot was taken has not been recorded. But it is evident that the lot was cast for determining the section of the country in which each tribe should be located--not the quantity of their possessions. In other words, when the lot had decided that a particular tribe was to be settled in the north or the south, the east or the west, the extent of territory was allocated according to the rule (Nu 26:54).

⁵⁸These are the families of the Levites: the family of the Libnites, the family of the Hebronites, the family of the Mahlites, the family of the Mushites, the family of the Korathites. And Kohath begat Amram.

58. families of the Levites--The census of this tribe was taken separately, and on a different principle from the rest. (See Ex 6:16-19).

⁶²And those that were numbered of them were twenty and three thousand, all males from a month old and upward: for they were not numbered among the children of Israel, because there was no inheritance given them among the children of Israel.

62. twenty and three thousand--so that there was an increase of a thousand (Nu 3:39). males from a month old and upward--(See on Nu 3:14).

⁶⁴But among these there was not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron the priest numbered, when they numbered the children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai.

64. among these there was not a man ... numbered ... in the wilderness of Sinai--The statement in this verse must not be considered absolute. For, besides Caleb and Joshua, there were alive at this time Eleazar and Ithamar, and in all probability a considerable number of Levites, who had no participation in the popular defections in the wilderness. The tribe of Levi, having neither sent a spy into Canaan, nor being included in the enumeration at Sinai, must be regarded as not coming within the range of the fatal sentence; and therefore it would exhibit a spectacle not to be witnessed in the other tribes of many in their ranks above sixty years of age.

Tribes Chap. 1 Chap. 26 Increase Decrease Reuben 46,500 43,730 -- 2,770 Simeon 59,300 22,200 -- 37,100 Gad 45,650 40,500 -- 5,150 Judah 74,600 76,500 1,900 -- Issachar 54,400 64,300 9,900 -- Zebulun 57,400 60,500 3,100 -- Ephraim 40,500 32,500 -- 8,000 Manasseh 32,200 52,700 20,500 -- Benjamin 35,400 45,600 10,200 -- Dan 62,700 64,400 1,700 -- Asher 41,500 53,400 11,900 -- Naphtali 53,400 45,400 -- 8,000 Total 603,550 601,730 59,200 61,020 Total decrease 1,820