And with you there shall be a man for every tribe, a man who is the head of his father's house.
Numbers opens with God ordering a count of Israel. Before the count begins, He appoints twelve men — one from each tribe — to stand with Moses. Two questions follow. Why does God count His people at all? And why must each tribe have its own head in the work?
Why God counts
The count is not paperwork. It is God claiming what belongs to Him.
The book opens with His command to Moses to number the tribes, and it is done with great exactness and care... This was an expression of His rights as Lord of Israel. He had title to take their number, for they were all His own. If He had no right to them, and no prospects in them, He would not have counted their sum. 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." This is the expression of His sovereignty over the armies of heaven. (Psalm 147:4)
The same interest holds today, and it comes with a call to fight:
But God's census in Numbers shows His own vital interest in each one of His people Israel, and that interest is just as real for His saints today... Today all of His saints are fitted for spiritual warfare — women too, and the young and the old — though some are less active than others because of age. Yet the lesson is also clear for us. To take part in practical conflict we need maturity, or full age, which comes through knowing and growing in the word of God.
Appointed, not elected
Verse 4 puts a man from each tribe beside Moses. Who picked them?
Our chapter records that first of all God selected a "head" or prince for each tribe. The choice was not left to the people, or even to Moses. The word to him was, "These are the names of the men who shall assist you…" God chose His own leader for each tribe, and this reminds us that God today chooses His own servants and leaders. He does not put the matter to a popular vote.
One head for each father's house
The verse ties each man to "the house of his fathers." That family order shaped the whole army:
In this muster the organization used is the natural one, by families or "fathers' houses"... The difference between the two is this: the word for "family" implies being under authority, while "father's house" shows that this authority rests on the natural relationship. Such is God's relationship to His people, and the father is the picture of it. Here rule should be easy, and obedience a joy. So they were linked together in family groups in God's army, brother fighting beside brother — an army so closely joined that you would think it could not be beaten.
Twelve names worth reading
So why record twelve names and nothing else about the men?
Of these men nothing is recorded but their own names and their fathers' names. For that very reason, if there could be any doubt otherwise, we can be sure their names are meant to speak to us. All these Bible names should speak, and their link with the tribes they represent must matter. There must be a reason why Elizur, and not Shelumiel or Nahshon, is prince of Reuben. We find that reason by looking into Reuben's history.
Reuben shows how that works:
The leader of the tribe of Reuben was Elizur the son of Shedeur. Elizur means "God is a Rock." What a contrast to his forefather Reuben, of whom we read, "Unstable as water, you shall not have preeminence" (Gen. 49:4). Reuben in the flesh was utter weakness, just as the flesh proves to be in all of us. But the strength and stability of God belong to the new nature.
Who could be counted
The count demanded proof of descent. Not everyone in the camp could give it:
They had to declare their descent, family by family. Only those who could do that had a place in this muster and could be warriors. They had to show their descent because of the mixed crowd that had joined itself to the people of God... Our own line of descent, 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 against flesh and blood, but against the devil and his schemes and the wicked spirits (Eph. 6:11-12).
Summary
- Ownership — God counts Israel because Israel is His. He numbers what belongs to Him and names it, as He names the stars.
- Appointment — God names the twelve heads who stand with Moses. The people do not vote, and Moses does not choose.
- Family — God ranks each man inside his father's house, so brother fights beside brother in one closely joined army.
- Names — God leaves us only these men's names and their fathers'. So the names themselves teach: Elizur, "God is a Rock," answers unstable Reuben.
- Pedigree — God admits no one to the muster without proof of descent. Commentators see the same today in the new birth, which gives a place among His people and a call to spiritual warfare.