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?
Why This Numbering Was Taken
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.
A Book That Opens With Armies
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.
The Meaning of "Twenty Years Old and Upward"
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).
Counted by Families and Fathers' Houses
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).
Counting That Comes From God, Not From Pride
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.
What the Muster Asks of Us
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."
Summary
- 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.