That title might have you thinking you are reading the world news instead of a blog article about the Exodus.
I love those words that lead into Numbers, Chapter 26; “After the plague.”
Are we there yet?
STAND AND BE COUNTED
The Israelites had arrived in a place where they knew they were past contagious and not going to manifest anymore symptoms. They were probably a lot like us; both relieved and yet; afraid to relax.
Something else was the same as us too.
It was time for another census.
Have you turned in your census for 2020 yet? It should have arrived and they are expecting you to report as soon as possible.
Just like in those days with Israel; our families all need to stand and be counted.
SO MANY HAD DIED IN THE WILDERNESS
Remember the census that was taken at the beginning of this forty year journey?
A lot has happened since then. I’m sure the people were thinking that their numbers had surely shrank by a large portion.
You know there was that time with Korah and his followers and their rebellion?
Remember how the earth opened up its mouth and swallowed them?
Remember how the fire had burned up 250 men as a warning sign?
Think way back and remember the episode with the golden calf. Some people died in that plague too.
That time with the snake on the pole; remember that? How many died that day? Just those who would not look up.
The point here is that the crowd of Israelites wandering through the desert should probably be a whole lot smaller; right?
Can you recall that time when the people complained about not having meat and the quail came swooping down and got consumed? Who would have ever known that they were poisonous? Lots of people went missing on that day.
In spite of all of this; Korah’s people had not died out. Somehow they had multiplied and replaced those who were lost.
So many of the original people who had begun the journey had already died. Right off the bat I can think of Aaron and Miriam. Somehow though; they all had been replaced by the next generation, and the numbers did not seem to be less than when they all started out. together.
Go figure that one out.
Only God!
TAKING THE NEW CENSUS
There by the plains of Moab, right on the banks of the Jordan; Moses and Eleazar conducted a census; because God had commanded that they do so.
They were about to go to war with the inhabitants of Canaan and they needed to know they were strong in number. This same scene had taken place 38 years earlier and after receiving a bad report the Israelites of that time had decided not to fight. They simply did not have enough faith. Now the counting was happening again.
TRIBE BY TRIBE
The tribe of Reuben was counted. They had lost 2,770 men, or 6% of their fighting power.
The tribe of Simeon was counted. They had lost 37, 100 men, 63% of their fighting power.
The tribe of Gad was counted. They had lost 5,150 men. 11% of their fighting power was gone.
The tribe of Judah was counted. They had gained! There were 1,900 MORE men of Judah, which was a 3% gain in power for them.
The tribe of Issachar was counted. They had gained too! There were 9,900 more men now in the tribe of Issachar; this was an 18% increase.
The tribe of Zebulun had also gained manpower. They had an increase of 3,100 men; or 5% more than before.
The tribe of Manessah was counted. They had gained 20,500 men or 64% of their tribe had increased in manpower.
The tribe of Ephraim was counted. They were 8,000 men less than before; and had suffered a 20% loss in manpower.
The tribe of Benjamin was counted. They had gained 10,200 men which gave their tribe a 29% gain in manpower.
The tribe of Dan was counted. They were found to have 1,700 more men than before; a 3% gain.
The tribe of Asher was counted. They were increased from before by 11,900 men; or a 29% gain in manpower.
The last tribe to be counted was Naphtali. They had lost 8000 men; which calculated out to a 15% loss.
SOME LOSSES; SOME GAINS
We can see from these numbers that five tribes had suffered loss, and seven tribes had made gains. The tribe of Simeon had lost the most; and the tribe of Manesseh had gained the most.
The number of men in the military in the accounting of the first census had been 603,550. The number of men in the military in the point of time that we are studying in Numbers Chapter 26 (38 years later) was 601,730. From these numbers we can see there was a loss of only 1,820 men, or a 3% loss.
NO GROWTH DUE TO UNBELIEF
All of those years of wondering aimlessly without entering the Promised Land were basically years that the nation of Israel did not grow. We think this was largely due to their unbelief. A whole generation of unbelief had now died off and a new generation of faith had arrived.
This new generation was ready to enter The Promised Land.
Upon that entry; each tribe would be given land according to their numbers; the largest tribes receiving the most land and the smaller tribes receiving less land. The land was to be given out by lot. The 23,000 Levites were not allotted any land. The LORD was their inheritance and they were said to have received the largest inheritance of all.