And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
Unto these shall the land be divided for an inheritance according to the number of the names;
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
to the many thou shalt increase their inheritance, and to the few thou shalt diminish their inheritance; to every one shall his inheritance be given according to those that were numbered of him.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
Notwithstanding the land shall be divided by lot; according to the names of the tribes of their fathers shall they inherit;
Numbers 26 ends the second counting of Israel, just before they enter Canaan. God turns that count into a rule: the size of a tribe sets the size of its share, but the lot decides which share it gets.
God Himself used this method first, and Israel used it to find out His mind.
Look at Joshua 7:14-18 and you will see how the lot showed the mind of the LORD among His people. The text does not say so in so many words, but this would be how they found out. It is striking that the LORD first used this way of choosing in Leviticus 16:8. It was the divine way of choosing between the two goats. Numbers 26:55, Joshua 13:6 and many other places show this is what it means.
The practical method was simple, and God stood behind the result.
God also commanded Israel to divide the land by lot (Numbers 26:55-56)... Among His people God controlled how the lot fell, as Proverbs 16:33 says: "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD." People marked the names, dates and other choices on pieces of wood or pottery. They then shook these 'lots' together in a container or in the fold of a garment until one came out.
So Israel had nothing to arrange and nothing to argue about — only a decision to trust.
None could choose what property he might have... The LORD decided this, and all were to be content with His decision. We are not told how the size was matched with the LORD's decision, but this would be no problem for Him.
The lot did not cover every part of Israel's land, and it did not settle everything about the parts it did cover.
Casting the lot marked how the land was shared out on the west side of the Jordan; the east side was divided without it. By the lot God made His mind plain, more clearly than any other way could. Scripture itself says, "its every decision is from the LORD" (Proverbs 16:33). But the lot appears to have fixed only the position of these possessions, not their size. That left room to redraw boundary lines as tribes grew larger or smaller through their faithfulness or unfaithfulness.
These numbers were not neutral statistics. They record how each tribe had fared on the way, and a warning sits inside them.
These numbers clearly stand for gains or losses the tribes were responsible for. As they had flourished, so they would inherit... The section holds a very solemn warning for us. The "lot" that governed the division makes the result come from the LORD even more directly (Proverbs 16:33).
One writer takes the count further: the journey shapes how much a person can hold.
Compare the numbers of the different tribes and you see many hints of how the journey through this world affects different people. This enumeration is, however, with reference to the coming inheritance. There is a solemn link between the walk through the wilderness and how much of the eternal inheritance a person can hold. Each one will inherit all that he is capable of enjoying, but this present world forms those capacities.
The verse also ties each portion to the tribe of the fathers, and one writer draws two lessons from that.
The inheritance was not to pass from tribe to tribe. Each one was to hold to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers... God's care that each of His people should keep the inheritance allotted to him teaches us the unchangeable character of His giving, for He decided it all by lot. It also teaches us that He means each person's own individuality to be kept in the inheritance. The person and his portion are so joined in His mind that nothing is to separate them. Individuality, distinctness and lasting character are all involved in this.
In Ephesians 1:11 the ESV says believers "have obtained an inheritance." One writer shows the word behind it.
In Ephesians 1:11 some have translated it "we were made a heritage."... The Greek means 'we have been placed by lot in possession of,' or 'have obtained a lot, or inheritance,' and the point is important. We are joint-heirs with Christ.
- Given — no one claimed or chose his land. It fell by lot, and all were "to be content with His decision."
- Placed — the lot fixed where each tribe sat. The count fixed how much land it got, and boundaries could move as tribes grew or shrank.
- Earned — the numbers stood for "gains or losses the tribes were responsible for." The wilderness record fed straight into the size of the portion.
- Formed — each one will inherit all he can enjoy, and "this present world forms those capacities."
- Kept — what God allots, He means to stand; His giving never changes. The same word says believers too "have been placed by lot in possession of" their inheritance with Christ.
according to lot shall his inheritance be divided to each, be they many or few in number.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And these are the numbered of the Levites, after their families of Gershon, the family of the Gershonites; of Kohath, the family of the Kohathites; of Merari, the family of the Merarites.
Numbers 26 counts a new generation on the edge of the promised land. Then it stops to handle Levi on its own — not by fighting men, but by the three families that came from Levi's sons. Why does this one tribe get its own list, and why are Gershon, Kohath and Merari named again here?
The census of the other tribes had two purposes: war and land. Levi fits neither, and the way they are counted shows it.
The Levites were counted separately from the other tribes, because they had no property of their own as an inheritance. They were also not required to go to war, but to serve the Lord. So their count did not start with men of twenty years old, but with boys one month old (v.62). Training in the things of God is to begin almost from birth, while training for physical war needs the strength of a grown man.
Levi received no land. Their food came from what Israel brought to God.
The priests had all the offerings and sacrifices that a man was allowed to eat. The Levites had the tithes from all Israel. The one was fed from within, the other from outside. But both received from the Lord, for He was their inheritance. Otherwise they were miserable: what else did they have?
These three names mark out three jobs. Each family carried its own part of the tabernacle — God's tent among Israel — and each name means something.
The tribe was divided into three families: Gershon, which means "stranger"; Kohath, "assembly"; and Merari, "bitterness." Gershon's care was the curtains, Kohath's the holy vessels, and Merari's the boards, sockets and pillars of the tabernacle.
Merari's share was the heavy frame of the building — the part people give up on.
His name — Merari, "bitterness" — points to the painful nature of this kind of service. Self-love will break down under it, or run off into some odd path that is easier on flesh and blood. In our own day the family of Merari has shrunk to a very small number, and their work has been done very badly. Who cares about these boards and bars, these pillars and pins and cords? Who thinks about God's plan and pattern, and all the small details He has appointed?
The Levite list in this chapter is not a clean record. It includes Korah's people, who led a revolt, and two of Aaron's sons who died under judgment.
We now find the families of Levi listed on their own, with their number. Besides the three main families of Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, we find the Korahites, who also belong to Kohath, but whose history gives them an exceptional place. From Kohath come Aaron and his priestly house, Moses, and Miriam as well. Aaron's four sons are named, and the death of Nadab and Abihu. Nowhere is evil more obvious than in the tribe of Levi; nowhere is the victory of grace over it clearer.
The totals make the same point in plain arithmetic:
Despite the rebellion of Korah, who was a Levite, the tribe grew from 22,000 (ch.1:39) to 23,000 (v.62). So we learn that the Lord does graciously recover from failure, and we must not be discouraged when we do fail.
Levi's history began badly. Jacob sentenced Simeon and Levi to be divided and scattered, and that sentence became Levi's blessing.
The children of Levi came from the third son of Jacob, and from him came Aaron and Moses too, a double picture of Christ. His name means "joined," and it fits the history of the tribe exactly. Their first father was joined to Simeon in acts of violence, and this brought on them, as discipline, the sentence, "I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel." Yet in the end it is true blessing. Levi, in whom this is carried out more fully than in Simeon, is only more fully blessed by it. He is joined to the Lord, and the Lord becomes his portion. If he is scattered in Israel, it is as spiritual seed to bring forth fruit to God all over the land.
- Joined. Levi's name means "joined." First the tribe joined Simeon in violence; in the end it was joined to the Lord, who became its portion.
- Counted apart. Levi is listed on its own because it had no land to claim and no war to fight — only the Lord to serve.
- Counted from a month old. Training for God's service starts at birth; training for battle waits for a man's strength.
- Divided three ways. One work, three shares: Gershon carried the curtains, Kohath the holy vessels, Merari the boards and pillars. The dullest share is the one people drop first.
- Grown, not shrunk. Levi's record holds Korah's revolt and the death of Nadab and Abihu. Yet the tribe left the wilderness larger than it entered. Grace recovers what failure spoils.
These 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 Korahites. -- And Kohath begot Amram.
Numbers 26 counts a new generation on the edge of the promised land, and the record pauses to list the families of Levi. Why is this tribe counted on its own, and why these five names — including the sons of the rebel Korah?
Levi is not folded into the fighting totals of the other tribes. Commentators tie this separate count to the one thing Levi existed for:
The Levites surround the tabernacle. This declares that they are taken up entirely and only with the service of God. They are not left for war, or for any purpose on earth other than God's own sanctuary.
The verse names only some of Levi's branches. One name on the list stands out because of its history:
We now find separately the families of Levi, and their number. The tribe as a whole was divided into three main families: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. Within Gershon, the family of Libni stands out; within Kohath, the family of Hebron; while Merari's two sons have gained an equal rank. The list also adds the Korahites, who came from Kohath too, but whose history gives them an exceptional place. Finally, of Kohath also come Aaron and his priestly house, Moses, and Miriam... Nowhere is evil more obvious than in the tribe of Levi. Nowhere is the victory of grace over it more plain. Once known, these depths and heights are well suited to produce effective ministers and joyful worshipers, the kind of people this tribe pictures.
The same writer reads the family names as a connected lesson. Kohath's own name speaks of gathering, and his sons' names trace what follows from it:
Kohath's first son is Amram, "people of the Exalted One" — a beautiful name, if we connect it with that gathering to Christ which his own name seems to speak of. The next is Jitzhar, "oil," the undoubted type of the Spirit as the Anointer. Then we have Hebron, "union," as some put it, "communion," as we have interpreted it elsewhere. Either way, it is clearly the effect of the Spirit's work.
The Mahlites and Mushites of this verse come from Merari. Their names speak of the cost of serving God's people:
Last of Levi's three sons we find Merari, "bitter," with his two sons, Mahli, "sick," and Mushi, "yielding"... His work is mainly what we may call church work. And who that has taken it up has not found the bitterness that Merari's name expresses? A man who could not feel it would be poorly fitted for ministry.
The last line of the verse points to where Israel's leader and priests came from. Commentators see God's choice of this tribe as unearned:
The high place of the tribe of Levi shows the sovereignty of God. God's grace shines out fully in His choice of this tribe. He could not have chosen this tribe because of a worthy character. We read in Jacob's prophecy words concerning Simeon and Levi which reveal their sin... "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" (Genesis 49:7). Yet out of this tribe Jehovah took Moses to lead His people. He took Aaron and his sons as priests. He took the whole tribe, instead of all the firstborn, for the special ministry.
Korah led a rebellion, and judgment fell. That his family appears on this list at all is the point:
We need only recall the terrible crisis in Israel's history when Korah's sons were saved as through fire. Compare Numbers 16 with Numbers 26:11. Mercy that day triumphed over judgment... Even if testimony to Jehovah fails for now, God cannot stop being God and infinitely good. And who is more suited to sing than the rescued sons of the rebellious Levite?
Later, this spared family received two duties in God's house:
Descendants of Korah, the grandson of Kohath. Their two main duties were the service of song and keeping the doors of the sanctuary.
- Curse — Levi's story starts with anger and cruelty, and a word of scattering over the tribe. Nothing in its character earned what follows.
- Grace — yet from that same tribe God took Moses as leader and Aaron's house as priests. He took the whole tribe in place of Israel's firstborn.
- Calling — God counts Levi apart from the armies. The tribe exists only for the service of His sanctuary, not for war.
- Character — the family names read as a picture of that service: Amram, "people of the Exalted One"; Hebron, "union" or "communion"; and Merari's line, "bitter," "sick," "yielding."
- Song — the Korahites, spared when judgment fell on their father, still stand on the roll. Later they receive the service of song and the keeping of the sanctuary doors. Where evil in Levi shows most, the victory of grace shows most.
And the name of Amram's wife was Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt; and she bore to Amram Aaron and Moses, and Miriam their sister.
In the middle of a national census on the plains of Moab, the record pauses to name one mother and her three children. Why does a list of names stop for a woman, and what does her tie to Levi tell us?
Two censuses bracket the wilderness years in this book. God takes this second one with the land in view.
The journey is now over. God numbers His people afresh, and counts them by name, as heirs ready to take possession of the inheritance. He has kept them through everything, and brought them as far as Canaan; even their clothing did not wear out.
Verse 59 sits in a short section given to Levi alone. There is a reason for counting that tribe by itself.
The first numbering left the Levites out. They were counted later, so that they might take the place of the firstborn of all the people. The second numbering did count them, and the total was only slightly higher than before. Our chapter stresses one thing. The other tribes were to receive their inheritance by their number and by lot. The Levites were to have no inheritance among them, since God set them apart for His service.
The verse calls Jochebed a daughter of Levi, born to him in Egypt. That one phrase settles two things: who Amram married, and how long Israel stayed in Egypt.
The mother of Moses (Jochebed) was Levi's daughter (Num. 26:59), so Amram married his own aunt (Ex. 6:20). Levi lived only a hundred and thirty-seven years in all. Suppose he lived eighty-eight of them in Egypt, which can be roughly proved. Then Jochebed was born during those years. Say Moses was born when she was forty-seven, and that Moses was eighty at the exodus. These sums (88 + 47 + 80 = 215 years) show that Israel may have been in Egypt about two hundred and fifteen years. That is the length of stay most now accept.
This marriage happened before Sinai, not after it. The law Moses later wrote would rule such a match out.
Until Israel came to Sinai, we have no hint of any marriage law laid down by God. Even in Abraham's day such unions do not seem to have been unlawful. Sarah was Abraham's half sister. Jochebed was Amram's own aunt, his father's sister. By the law of Leviticus, such unions as Abraham and Sarah, Amram and Jochebed, and Jacob and Rachel, were plainly forbidden (18:11-12, 18).
God's word does not soften the record to protect the family of its own writer.
It is beautiful to trace the unbending authority of revelation. God inspired Moses to forbid such a marriage as that of Abraham and Sarah, to say nothing of others. There is no apology for the past, though of course the guilt would have been greater for the future.
The verse names three children of one couple who lived under a hostile king.
What magnificent courage this devoted couple showed, when they were not afraid of the king's commandment! It was a trial of their faith. And how God honoured their faith! Each of their three children became one of His own honoured servants.
Miriam is named here beside her brothers, and elsewhere she carries a title of her own.
Sister of Aaron and Moses: Scripture stresses her title, "Miriam the prophetess." She was probably the sister who watched the ark in which her brother Moses was laid. In later years she led the procession of women, when with tambourines and dancing they answered the song of Moses at their deliverance out of Egypt and through the Red Sea.
Jochebed appears in this census as a mother. The smallest things she did reached further than she could see.
But how little any of us know what we may be doing when we do the humblest duty that lies nearest to hand! Poor Jochebed thought she was only making a rush basket. In reality she was making an ark that would save one nation, and carry a cargo of blessing to all others. Little Miriam thought she was only minding the baby, when she was watching over the destinies of the world.
- Counted. The second census names the people as heirs about to take the land. One name God keeps is a mother's.
- Set apart. Her tribe stands in a list of its own. Levi received no inheritance among the others, because God kept that tribe for His service.
- Rooted. She was Levi's own daughter, born in Egypt, and Amram married his aunt. From that link comes a stay in Egypt of about 215 years.
- Recorded. The law later given through her own son forbade such a marriage. Scripture still records it, with no apology for the past.
- Fruitful. From that one household came three servants of God: Aaron, Moses and Miriam the prophetess. The humblest duty, done in faith, carried blessing far beyond a mother's sight.
And to Aaron were born Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
This verse drops four names into the middle of a census. The count comes at the edge of the promised land, and Aaron's four sons appear inside the tribe of Levi. The next verse tells us two of them were already dead. So why does the register of the priestly family keep the record of its own disaster?
The list belongs to the tribe of Levi, and inside Levi stands the priestly family. One writer notes why these names appear here:
Last of all, from Kohath come Aaron and his priestly family, Moses, and Miriam. Aaron's four sons are named, and so is the death of Nadab and Abihu. Nowhere is evil more obvious than in the tribe of Levi. Nowhere is the victory of grace over it clearer. Knowing both those depths and those heights is well suited to produce the effective ministers and joyful worshippers this tribe pictures.
Nadab and Abihu were not outsiders. God had set them apart as priests, and that is what makes their end so severe:
God set them apart to serve Him as priests. Yet the very first time they acted as priests for Israel, they offered unauthorized fire, which the Lord had not commanded, and fire from God struck them down... That fire was never to go out, and the fire Abihu should have used was surely the fire on the bronze altar... Everywhere else we read that everything was to be done "as the Lord commanded Moses." But of what Nadab and Abihu did, Scripture says plainly that it was not commanded. So it was sin, and it dishonoured God.
The same entry draws a lesson from this. Not every kind of worship pleases God. Outward worship is not enough; it must match what God has revealed. Worship "separated from the sacrifice of Christ" is only "the energy of nature, and is offensive to God."
The two who fell were not the least privileged of the four. One writer draws out the pattern:
The two who died under judgment, almost as soon as God made them priests, had no excuse for their sin... It often happens that failure is most obvious in those who are given the greatest privilege.
Eleazar and Ithamar are not spare parts. One writer finds a message in what their names mean:
Here we do find terrible failure and the judgment of God. The first two sons are cut off. The third son is Eleazar, whose name means "help of God." That name speaks of the resurrection-power by which God acts when all human power has come to an end. Ithamar, whose name means "where the palm tree is," follows Eleazar. His name seems to point to the uprightness and fruitfulness that Scripture keeps linking with the palm tree, for "the righteous flourish like the palm tree." (Psalm 92:12.)
Both surviving sons had real work to do, and their two families later took turns at the high priesthood:
Ithamar had charge of the Gershonites and Merarites, who carried parts of the tabernacle. The high priesthood came into Ithamar's family in Eli. It returned to Eleazar's descendants in Zadok, when Solomon removed Abiathar from office.
This family carries a warning, but it also carries comfort, and it points beyond itself:
There is comfort as well as warning in Aaron's family. How beautiful to see Eleazar step into his father's place when Aaron died!... The honour of the priesthood, through these two sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, continued as long as the priesthood "after the order of Aaron" lasted. Now another Great High Priest has arisen, after the order of Melchizedek and not after the order of Aaron. And in Him there is no failure.
- Counted — The census names all four of Aaron's sons, so the priestly family enters the record with its history attached.
- Cut off — Nadab and Abihu died because they brought fire God had not commanded. Worship that people invent is not worship God accepts.
- Cautioned — Failure is often most obvious in those given the most privilege. Nearness to holy things protects no one who is careless.
- Continued — Eleazar means "help of God" and Ithamar means "where the palm tree is." God carried His service on through the two sons left.
- Completed — Aaron's line rose and fell through Eli and Zadok. Another Priest has now arisen, after the order of Melchizedek, and in Him there is no failure.
And Nadab and Abihu died, when they presented strange fire before Jehovah.
In the second counting of Israel, the list of Aaron's family pauses to explain why only two of his four sons carry on. The two eldest had already died before the Lord, and the census keeps that on record — a reminder of what God asks of those who come near Him.
The judgment fell right after God set up the priesthood.
Here we have what, alas, is always the case with man. The first day the priesthood is established, it comes short of the glory of God. Nadab and Abihu offer strange fire, acting as natural men in their relationship with God, not founding their service on the altar of sacrifice, and they die.
Older translations call it "strange fire" where the ESV says "unauthorized." The fault was not in their equipment but in one part of it.
We note here that as Aaron's sons they had the right of approach. We see too that God does not find fault with the censers or the incense, but with what came with them — "the fire." What brought out the fragrance was the fault, and this led to the rejection of it all. Every priest should have known the fire that burned continually on the bronze altar... There could be no approach to God apart from the death of the victim upon this bronze altar. And the fire needed to produce the fragrance of the incense had to be taken from off this altar.
Notice what the charge against them does not say.
The sin is will-worship — "strange fire, which He had not commanded them" — the will of man dictating in spiritual things, a sin that people now think little of... Liberty is never found in following our own wills, but in obedience to what God has given us... Yet in Nadab and Abihu the sin is not said to have been in doing what God had forbidden, but simply in doing what He had not commanded.
Everything about these men looked right, and the fire that killed them came from an unexpected place.
Here we see men who seem to be preparing to worship God. There is the fire, the incense, the censer, and the priest. And note, they were not false or counterfeit priests. They were true sons of Aaron, part of the priestly house God had truly set apart, wearing the priestly robes He appointed. Yet they were struck dead — and by whom? By Him whom we call our God and Father!... The fire which consumed these false worshippers came from off the mercy-seat. It was not from the top of Mount Sinai that this fire came, but out "from before the Lord."
Moses gave the reason for the judgment, and Aaron answered with silence.
Moses explained to Aaron, and to us, why God stepped in to judge: "This is what the LORD has said: 'Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.' And Aaron held his peace" (Lev. 10:3). Those who are nearest to God have the greatest privilege. With it comes a matching responsibility to uphold the honour and glory of the Lord in their testimony. Wilful disobedience to God's commandment brings severe judgment.
What made them do it? One writer offers a guess and then refuses to press it.
Their act may have been due to intoxication, judging from the ninth verse of the tenth chapter, but of this we cannot be sure. What a swift and awful judgment on those in the place of greatest privilege, who dare to approach God in their own way! How terrible to see the eldest son, the one in line for the wonderful office of High Priest, cut off in a moment!
The same test applies to worship today.
The incense was right but the fire was wrong... They may have thought that if the incense was right any fire would do to bring out its fragrance. But no, the fire must be God's fire and not man's. Let us learn from this that though in our worship the words we use are altogether right, if the energy behind their utterance is of the flesh, all is wrong. Worship must be by the Spirit of God.
The census shows the priesthood going on through the two younger brothers.
Nadab and Abihu were judged for their sin. And so in the priestly family we again see that the history of the natural man comes first and then is entirely set aside. After Nadab and Abihu come Eleazar and Ithamar.
- Nearness — as Aaron's sons they had every right to come near. The closer the place, the heavier the duty to honour God there.
- Fire — the censer and incense were faultless. The fire was wrong, because the only accepted fire came from the altar where the victim had died.
- Will — their sin was not doing what God forbade. It was doing what He had not commanded.
- Judgment — the fire came out from before the Lord, from the mercy-seat itself. Aaron heard the reason and kept silent.
- Carrying on — the natural line is set aside, the priesthood goes on through Eleazar and Ithamar, and the warning stays on record for everyone who worships.
And those that were numbered of the [Levites] were twenty-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.
Israel is counted a second time on the edge of the land, tribe by tribe. Each family's share of the land is in view. Levi is counted apart, by a different rule, and gets no share at all. The verse gives the reason in one line. It also raises a question every servant of God meets: what do you live on when you own nothing?
From the first census, Levi stood outside the army. The reason was not that they were excused, but that they had other work. One writer describes where they camped, and why:
The Levites camp all around the tabernacle. This shows that they are given up to the service of God, and to that alone. They are not left for war, or for any purpose on earth other than God's own sanctuary.
The second census makes the same distinction, and ties it directly to the land about to be divided:
Our chapter stresses that the inheritance of the tribes was to be according to their number, and by lot. But the Levites were to have no inheritance among the others, since God had separated them to His service.
Every other tribe was counted from twenty years old — the age of a soldier. Levi's count starts at one month, and the reason lies in their work:
The Levites were numbered on their own, 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. So their census did not begin at twenty years of age, but with boys one month old. Training in the things of God starts almost at birth. Training for physical warfare needs the strength of a grown man.
Counting babies says something about what God values in a person:
They are numbered from a month old and upward, as the firstborn are, and for the same reason. If only men in their strength were to be redeemed or numbered, would it not look as if God took "pleasure in the legs of a man"? But it is the soul He values, and the soul of an infant is precious in His sight.
Why does Levi's count start so early? Their whole place in Israel goes back to Egypt, and to the firstborn sons:
They were taken by the Lord instead of the firstborn sons of the whole nation. The blood in Egypt had sheltered these firstborn sons from judgment. The Lord claimed them as His own. But He took the tribe of Levi instead of them, for special service in His house and for His Name. They were a privileged people, called to devote themselves to God's interests and to be specially cared for by Him.
Levi held no land. Their living came through what Israel brought to God:
The Levites are shown in a different light from the rest of Israel. They had no inheritance among the people of Israel. The Lord was their inheritance, and His provision for them came another way: "The tithes of the people of Israel, which they present as a contribution to the Lord, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance."
Living this way asked something of them:
The workmen of the Lord stood on different ground from the rest of His people. God called them to a special confidence in His provision for them and in His word about them. If they failed in this, could they wonder that their words had little power?
Set this total beside the first census, and something surprising appears:
In spite of the rebellion of Korah, who was a Levite, the tribe increased from 22,000 to 23,000. So we learn that the Lord does graciously recover from failure, and we must not be discouraged when we do fail.
Commentators apply the tribe to Christians today. One writer sets service beside fighting and worship:
As men of war, we are called to fight. As priests, we are privileged to worship. But as Levites, we are responsible to serve. Our service is to carry through this dreary desert the very thing the tabernacle pointed to, and that tabernacle was a picture of Christ. This is our distinct line of service. To this we are called — to this we are set apart.
- Claimed. Levi was taken in place of the firstborn spared by the blood in Egypt. The tribe belonged to God before it ever served Him.
- Counted. God counts them from a month old, not from fighting age, because He values the soul, not the strength.
- Consecrated. God kept them out of the army so that His service could have them completely.
- Cared for. They had no land. They lived on what Israel brought to God — a life that called for confidence in His provision, and lost power when that confidence failed.
- Recovered. Even after Korah, the tribe grew — 22,000 to 23,000. God restores after failure.
These are they that were numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who numbered the children of Israel in the plains of Moab, by the Jordan of Jericho.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
But among these there was not a man numbered by Moses and Aaron the priest, who numbered the children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai.
God orders a second census as Israel prepares at last to enter the land. Verse 64 records the result. Of the hundreds of thousands counted forty years earlier at Sinai, not one man carries over to this new list.
God told that generation they would die in the desert. This roll call is the proof.
At the end of the chapter we are told that God had carried out the sentence He pronounced on the people who came out of Egypt (Num. 14:29, 38). God kept His Word, as He always will.
Another writer sees the same outcome at the end of all human history:
The seventh section brings us to the striking close. Here we see how surely God fulfilled His word about the generation that sinned in the wilderness. In the same way the history of man will at last show His faithfulness and truth all through, until the final "It is done" confirms the new heavens and new earth in eternal blessedness.
Verse 64 sounds total, yet two men from the first count were still alive. Commentators trace the empty list to one cause.
How sad to think that, out of the six hundred thousand men of war counted at the first, only two 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."
The same writer turns it on believers now:
Now it was the lack of this blessed faith that kept Israel out of Canaan, and caused six hundred thousand bodies to fall in the wilderness. And it is the lack of this faith that keeps thousands of God's people in bondage and darkness, when they ought to be walking in liberty and light. It keeps them in depression and gloom, when they ought to be walking in the joy and strength of God's full salvation.
God counts them one name at a time, and that shows two things at once.
If God numbers His people name by name, He shows at the same time His government and His faithfulness. Though He had kept them as a people, none of the first count were left except Caleb and Joshua. He remembers also all their long journey through the wilderness; each stage is before His eyes and in His memory.
So what kept these two standing when everyone their age fell? Not their own record:
Joshua and Caleb were the only two of the older generation who reached the goal of their journey. Joshua was the faithful leader of the armies of Jehovah, and Caleb could truly say that he had "wholly followed Jehovah his God." Yet surely both would have gladly admitted that, but for His sustaining and pardoning grace, they must have fallen in the wilderness like the rest.
Their faith did not spare them the long way round:
Caleb and Joshua must go the long way round too. They had not joined the people in their evil. But the march was painful and hard because of the unbelief of the others, and they still had to go with the people and bear their share of it. This is what we must make up our minds to. If the church has failed, we must make up our minds to accompany it in its course of sorrow, though not in its course of sin.
The tribe totals are not all losses.
It is not true that the wilderness only weakens. On the contrary, going through it rightly renews strength. There is Judah, who gains nearly two thousand in those forty years of trial. Did Caleb's faith stimulate them all?… Caleb, at the close of his journey, could say, "I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me." So Judah's numbers speak of strength that has not faded. May it be so with us at the close.
This second count looks forward, not back.
Now that the journey is over, God numbers His people afresh and counts them by name, as heirs ready to take possession of the inheritance. He has kept them through everything, and brought them as far as Canaan; their clothing did not even wear out.
- Word kept. God carried out the sentence of Numbers 14 to the letter. He keeps His word in judgment as surely as in promise.
- Word refused. Unbelief, not the desert, emptied that list. The same unbelief still keeps believers in darkness who should be walking in liberty.
- Word held. Caleb and Joshua stand alone. By their own admission, God's sustaining and pardoning grace kept them alive, not their own strength.
- Word shared. Faith like Caleb's spreads. Judah gained nearly two thousand men in the years that buried a generation, so the wilderness need not weaken anyone.
- Word fulfilled. God counts heirs, named one by one, their clothing not worn out — His government and His faithfulness in one chapter.
For Jehovah had said of them, They shall surely die in the wilderness. And there was not left a man of them, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
Numbers 26 counts Israel family by family, ready to inherit the land. Its last verse raises a harder question: why did only two men of the six hundred thousand counted the first time survive?
God had sentenced that generation to die in the desert. One writer reads the new roll against that sentence.
One striking fact emerges at the end of the chapter. Among all these males of twenty years and over, numbering just over 600,000, there was not one individual left alive who had been in the earlier census, except Caleb and Joshua. We turn back to Numbers 14, and reading verses 20-32 again, we see with what absolute exactness God fulfils the word He has spoken. A solemn fact for the unbeliever, but one in which we who believe can heartily rejoice.
The numbers make the verse painful.
How sad to think that, out of the six hundred thousand men of war counted at the first, only two remain — Joshua and Caleb! All the rest lay decaying 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."
Commentators trace those deaths to one root, and apply it to readers today.
Now it was the lack of this blessed faith that kept Israel out of Canaan. That lack caused six hundred thousand bodies to fall in the wilderness. And it is the lack of this faith that keeps thousands of God's people in bondage and darkness, when they ought to be walking in liberty and light. It keeps them in depression and gloom, when they ought to be walking in the joy and strength of God's full salvation. It keeps them in fear of judgment, when they ought to be walking in the hope of glory.
God gave His own reason for sparing Caleb. One writer sets it beside what Caleb was counting on, and what he finally received.
The Lord said of Caleb, "because he has a different spirit and has followed Me fully." Caleb had seen that the land "is an exceedingly good land"; but he counted on the good pleasure of the Lord in His people. "If the Lord delights in us, He will bring us into this land and give it to us." Caleb's soul rested entirely on the grace and power of God. That grace and power had caused them to triumph at the Red Sea, and it alone could lead them into possession of the land. On this, and this alone, he counted. Caleb had to learn that grace and power for forty years in the wilderness, and in the end it put him in possession of the very part of the land he had walked on.
The same census that shows who is missing also lists who will inherit.
The journey is now over. God numbers His people afresh, and counts them by name, as heirs ready to take possession of the inheritance. He has kept them through everything, and brought them as far as Canaan; even their clothes did not wear out. He settles the details of the inheritance, and appoints a leader in place of Moses to bring them into the land of promise.
Read on its own, the verse says that nobody else from the earlier list reached Canaan. Yet Eleazar and Phinehas, of the tribe of Levi, did.
Caleb and Joshua alone had their names registered in the present census. This, however, is to be understood with a qualification. It is clear from Joshua 14:1 and 22:13 that both Eleazar and Phinehas did enter the promised land. How is this consistent with the statement made here? We reply that the sentence of exclusion applied to the other tribes. Those tribes were counted on two former occasions, and the Levites were not included. We do not read that they had any share in the action that brought God's condemnation on the mass of the people. This tribe did not, like the others, send a spy into Canaan. And it does not appear that they joined in the general grumbling that the spies' report produced.
- Word kept. The missing names show that God fulfils what He says "with absolute exactness". That is solemn for unbelief and a comfort for faith.
- Word refused. Unbelief emptied the first census. The same unbelief still keeps God's people in gloom instead of liberty.
- Word trusted. Caleb counted on God's delight in His people and on nothing else. In the end he received the very ground he had walked on.
- Word preserved. The God who buried one generation brought the next as far as Canaan with their clothes unworn. He now counts them by name as heirs.
- Word applied. The Levites were spared, since they had no share in the sin. The sentence fell where the guilt fell.