all they that were numbered were six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty.
The verse closes the first census with one figure. Every man in Israel aged twenty and over, fit for war, came to 603,550. Two questions sit under it. Why did God want His people counted? And what does the total say about the camp He led into the desert?
This is not a population survey. It is a muster roll, and it sets the tone for the whole book.
Here we find ourselves at once "in the wilderness," where the only ones counted are those "able to go forth to war." This stands out clearly. In Genesis the offspring of Israel were still unborn, in their father Abraham. In Exodus they were in the brick-kilns of Egypt. In Leviticus they gathered round 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.
Not everyone travelling with Israel was inside this figure. There was a test to pass first.
They had to declare their family line, and only those who could do that had a place in this mustering and could be warriors. This was necessary because of the mixed multitude who had joined themselves to the people of God. "A mixed multitude also went up with them" (Exod. 12:38)... Our family line, which gives us a place among the people of God, is the new birth, by which we become children of God. And our calling is to a spiritual warfare, not with flesh and blood, but against the devil and his schemes and the wicked spirits (Eph. 6:11-12).
So how many people were in the camp altogether?
Exodus 12:37-38 told us that about 600,000 men besides children left Egypt, and a "mixed multitude" went with them too... Since the count left out all males under twenty and all females, we can safely assume the whole company numbered over two million.
The count came with a payment attached, and one tribe stayed outside it.
At least 603,550 Israelite males, twenty years old and upward, paid the atonement money collected from the children of Israel in the wilderness, when God numbered His people. This number did not include the tribe of Levi (see Num. 1:46-47), which was set apart for the service of the tabernacle.
The money was not a tax. It answered a danger inside the counting itself.
The numbering gave flesh a chance to boast — about their numbers as a whole, and about each person being noticed. But they had to acknowledge this: the Lord could take account of them only on the ground of redemption. They had to be reminded that they belonged to God (Deut. 7:6), and each one had to pay a ransom for himself.
An owner counts what belongs to him. That is the reason behind this census.
This was an expression of His rights as Lord of Israel. He had the right to count them, for they were all His own. If He had no right to them, and no future purpose in them, He would not have counted them. Scripture says the same of His divine title in another part of His dominions: "He determines the number of the stars; He gives to all of them their names." This is the expression of His sovereignty among the heavenly hosts. (Psalm 147:4) So the Lord says of His saints, "They shall be Mine... in the day when I make up My treasured possession." (Mal. 3) He may make up, that is, number, and hide, and secure them, because they are His own.
The figure returns at the end of the journey — and the second count exposes what happened in between.
In it we have the record of the second numbering of the people, as they were about to enter upon the promised land. How sad to think that only two of the six hundred thousand men of war counted at the first census remain — Joshua and Caleb! All the rest lay in the dust, buried beneath the sand of the desert, all passed away. The two men of simple faith remained to have their faith rewarded. As for the men of unbelief, the inspired apostle tells us "their bodies fell in the wilderness."
- Counted — 603,550 men aged twenty and over were fit for war. Add women, children and younger males, and the camp likely passed two million.
- Claimed — God counted them because they were His own. He numbers what belongs to Him, just as He numbers and names the stars.
- Ransomed — that same total had paid the atonement money. No one entered the register except on the ground of redemption.
- Enlisted — every man counted had to declare his family line. That kept the mixed multitude out. This was a call-up for war, not a headcount.
- Tested — of that whole army, only Joshua and Caleb reached the land. The rest fell in the desert through unbelief.
But the Levites after the tribe of their fathers were not numbered among them.
The census in Numbers 1 ends with a total of 603,550 fighting men. Then one tribe is left out of the count. This was not an oversight. God commanded it. So why should one family in Israel stand outside the army list?
Levi was held back for other work.
The tribe of Levi is not included. The end of this chapter gives the reason. They were not to be among the warriors, but appointed over the tabernacle of testimony, over all the vessels, and what belonged to it. They were to bear it and their place was round about the tabernacle.
The choice of this tribe is startling once you know its record. The words spoken over Levi were a curse, not a blessing.
But why the Levites? Why was this tribe specially marked off from all the others, and set apart for so holy and elevated a service? Was there any special sanctity or goodness about them to account for their being so distinguished? Not by nature, and not by practice either. We can see this in the following words: "Simeon and Levi are brothers; weapons of violence are their swords… Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel." Such was Levi by nature and by practice — self-willed, fierce, and cruel. How remarkable that such a one should be singled out and brought into a place of such high and holy privilege! Surely we may say it was grace from first to last. It is the way of grace to take up the very worst cases. It stoops to the lowest depths and gathers its brightest trophies from there.
Levi's place did not begin with their work. It began with being rescued.
They were redeemed by blood, and counted emphatically to belong to the Lord. In place of Israel's firstborn He accepted the Levites. "They shall be mine."… So the Levites were identified with mercy — the great mercy that rescued Israel from the doom of Egypt and set them apart. That fitted them all the better for the service of the sanctuary. How can anyone take up the service of God without knowing that God has accepted him on the ground of redemption? Salvation precedes ministry.
Levi was not just skipped. The later count of this tribe followed different rules — a different starting age, and no land of its own.
The Levites were counted apart from the other tribes, because they had no property of their own as an inheritance. Also they were not required to go to war, but to serve the Lord. Therefore their census did not begin with those of the age of twenty years, but with one month old boys. Training in the things of God is to begin almost from birth. Training for physical warfare needs the strength of a grown man.
It is easy to read the numbered tribes and the uncounted Levites as two different groups of people. Commentators warn against that.
The very same persons are pictured in one aspect by the numbered tribes of Israel. In another aspect they are Levites, not numbered as yet, because they belong to God and to Him alone. This then is the double aspect… The natural mind is always prone to set the two things in opposition. It argues that the Levites were contrasted with the other tribes of Israel, so what each represents must hold a wholly different position now. This does not follow, and the reverse is true in fact; the types indicate different relations of the same persons.
Levi's place was at the centre of the camp, around the sanctuary. That position carries its own lesson.
In the centre of the camp stands the tent of meeting, with its Levite guard. The Levites were devoted to the sanctuary and surrounded it. They present the thought of consecration, and this is at the heart of all successful warfare. There is little said about Levi here: it is his glory to be overshadowed by the glory of God. And this is the moral character of all true consecration: what boasts of itself is not consecration at all.
- Grace chooses. Levi carried a curse for fierceness and cruelty, yet God singled out this tribe — proof that grace "takes up the very worst cases."
- Redemption qualifies. The Levites stood in place of the firstborn spared in Egypt. They belonged to God by blood before they ever touched a sacred vessel. Salvation comes before service.
- Separation shapes. No inheritance, no place in the army, counted from a month old instead of twenty. Training for God's things starts at the beginning of life, not at the age of strength.
- Nearness follows. Left out of the ranks, Levi camped at the centre, around the tent. Their consecration is what makes the camp's warfare succeed.
- Both are yours. The numbered soldier and the uncounted Levite are not two kinds of people. They are two relationships of the same believer: counted by God for the march, and His alone for the sanctuary.