Take the sum of the whole assembly of the children of Israel, after their families, according to their fathers' houses, by the number of the names, every male, according to their polls;
God has brought Israel out of Egypt, given them the law, and taught them how to worship. Now He tells Moses to count them — which raises real questions: who has the right to take such a count, and why are people listed by family, by name, and one head at a time?
The count opens a book set in the wilderness. One writer lines up the books of Moses. Each one finds Israel in a different place, and the mood changes as soon as Numbers begins:
Here we find ourselves at once "in the wilderness," where the only ones counted are those "able to go to war." The difference stands out. In Genesis the seed of Israel was still unborn, in their father Abraham. In Exodus they were making bricks in Egypt. In Leviticus they gathered around the tent of meeting. In Numbers we see them in the wilderness... But as soon as we open the book of Numbers, we read of men of war, of armies, of standards, of camps, and trumpets sounding the alarm.
A census is an owner's act. So why may God take this one? Because of who Israel belong to:
This showed His rights as Lord of Israel. He had the right to count them, because they were all His own. If He had no right to them, and no purposes for them, He would not have counted their total. The same is said of His divine title in another part of His realm: "He determines the number of the stars; He gives to all of them their names." That is how He shows His sovereignty among the armies of heaven. (Psalm 147:4.)
The same act, done by the wrong man for the wrong reason, brought disaster:
After Israel left Egypt, over a year passed before this census took place. When David decided to number the people (2 Sam. 24:2-10), his motive was pride in ruling a great nation, and 70,000 people died as a result. But God's census in Numbers shows His own deep interest in each one of His people Israel — an interest that is just as real for His saints today.
Nobody made the list just by standing in the camp. Each man had to show where he came from, and Israel's history explains why:
They had to show their family line, and only those who could do it had a place in this muster and could be soldiers. They needed that proof because of the mixed multitude of outsiders who had joined themselves to the people of God. "A mixed multitude also went up with them" (Exod. 12:38)... Our own family line, which gives us a place among the people of God, is the new birth, by which we become children of God.
Older translations render "head by head" as "by their polls." The word behind it is plain:
The skull or head, but used to mean a person. Num. 1:2-22.
The count reaches every man, one at a time. That carries a comfort we are slow to take:
We can all understand how sweet it is to be counted for heaven, and that is where most hearts turn. But even those who take the greatest comfort in God's purposes, which secure them for eternity, easily forget the interest the Lord takes right now in all our movements, ways, conflicts, and trials. This is the first thing the book opens with.
God had counted Israel before, and each count had its own purpose. One writer sets the first two side by side:
The aim of the first numbering (Ex. 38:25-27) was to collect the silver... so that count was made for the Lord, with the worship of Him in view. The second numbering (Num. 1:2-3) came when Israel was about to fight the enemy, and its aim was to find how many men were able to go to war. This was according to God. Every Israelite from twenty years old and upward needed to understand his own responsibility in the battles of the Lord.
Only the men were counted. One writer carries the point across to today:
The difference is that in Israel only the males over 20 years of age were numbered... Today all of His saints are fitted for spiritual warfare, women and young and old too.
- Owned. God counts Israel because Israel is His. The census is a claim of ownership, like the God who numbers the stars and names every one.
- Named. What He owns He knows one by one — "head by head," each man a person, not a statistic.
- Placed. Each name sits inside a clan and a father's house. Belonging to the crowd is not enough.
- Armed. The list is an army roll. This book opens with armies and trumpets, not with worship at the sanctuary.
- Accountable. Being counted meant personal responsibility in the Lord's battles. A count taken out of pride, as David's was, brought judgment instead.
from twenty years and upward, all that go forth to military service in Israel ye shall number them according to their hosts, thou and Aaron.
This command counts Israel's fighting men and sets the tone for the whole book. The road ahead is a march that is also a campaign. Why did God want only men from twenty upward, and why does a book of journeys open with a muster roll?
Scripture records more than one counting of Israel, and each one had a different purpose. One writer sets this census beside the others to show what makes it distinct:
The first numbering (Exodus 38:25-27) was to gather the silver, a bekah per man. That silver was meant to form the bases of the pillars of the tabernacle. So that numbering was done for the Lord and with a view to worshipping Him. The second numbering (Num. 1:2-3) came when Israel was about to fight the enemy. It was meant to count the men able to go to war. This was according to God. Every Israelite from twenty years old and upward needed to understand his own responsibility in the battles of the Lord.
The tone of the whole book changes at this point, and the change is deliberate.
Here we find ourselves at once "in the wilderness." Only those who are "able to go to war" are counted. This stands out clearly. In Genesis the seed of Israel were in the loins of their father Abraham. In Exodus they were in the brick-kilns of Egypt. In Leviticus they were gathered round the tent of meeting. In Numbers they are seen in the wilderness... But as soon as we open the book of Numbers, we read of men of war, armies, standards, camps, and trumpets sounding the alarm.
God's plan for the road ahead is why they had to be ready:
We must remember that God's plan was to carry them straight into the land of promise. But the route was not "by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near" (Ex. 13:17). The people had seen no war from their very beginning. They were not to face it within a few days of their rescue, yet they had to be ready for it. Indeed Amalek attacked them within a couple of months and came under God's undying curse for doing so.
Twenty marked the point at which a man was counted grown:
The Israelites were numbered from twenty years old and upwards. That was the age at which they were able to go out to war. It was also the age at which they were regarded as having grown up to manhood and fit for the service of life (Num. 1:3; 14:29; Lev. 27:3).
Verse 2 tells Moses to register the men by clan and family line. That rule had a reason:
They had to declare their family line. Only those who could do that had a place in this muster and could be warriors. Showing their family line was necessary because of the mixed multitude that had joined themselves to the people of God... What gives us a place among the people of God is the new birth, by which we become children of God. Our calling is to a spiritual war. It is not against flesh and blood, but against the devil and his schemes and the wicked spirits (Eph. 6:11-12).
Who orders a count, and why, makes all the difference.
In David's time, when he decided to number the people (2 Sam. 24:2-10), his motives were pride in reigning over a great nation, and this resulted in the death of 70,000 people. But God's census in Numbers shows His own deep interest in each one of His people Israel. That interest is just as true of His saints today.
That interest runs wider than the battlefield.
The main object in the early chapters is a count of the males who were fit for war. But the numbering goes beyond this. There are other aims than war and warlike purposes. Whatever the aim may be in different parts of the book, God impresses one thing on us: the care and interest He takes in everyone who belongs to Him.
The list held only men fit to fight. What does that ask of us?
Surely the lesson is that we are to long to be men. Of course it is not now a question of sex in this matter; a sister may be a man of God (2 John 10). And in Romans 16, where we get a list of God's mighty men (corresponding to the mighty men of David's army, 2 Sam. 23), we find that a large number of them are women. So it is not a matter of sex, but of spiritual strength and growth. Every child of God should desire to grow and be strong for the Lord, for it is written, "Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong."
- Counted — God orders this census Himself. Unlike David's proud count, it shows His interest in every person who belongs to Him.
- Named — Each man had to name his family and father's house. That marked off true Israelites from the mixed crowd who came out of Egypt with them.
- Aged — Twenty was the mark of full growth, the point at which a man was fit for war and for the service of life.
- Armed — Numbers opens with armies, standards and trumpets. God meant to bring Israel into the land, and they had to be ready to fight.
- Answerable — Each man had to grasp his own responsibility in the Lord's battles. Today the test is not gender but spiritual strength and growth.