Numbering the Israelites

Numbers 1-4 

Key Scriptures

1:1-5   In the desert wilderness of Sinai, God instructed Moses, “Count all the Israelites by families and clans and list the names of all grown men. Every male twenty years or older who is able to fight as a soldier is to be registered under his tribe. A man from each of the twelve tribes is to be chosen to assist you in the census.”

1:19-46   So Moses counted the Israelites…and among the Reubenites there were 46,500 men of age. …The tribe of Simeon had 59,300. …Gad numbered 45,650…while Judah had 74,600. …The number of men from the tribe of Issachar was 54,400…and Zebulun numbered 57,400. Ephraim was numbered with 40,500…and Manasseh contained 32,200.  Benjamin had 35,400 men…and the tribe of Dan had 63,700. …Asher numbered 41,500…and Naphtali totaled 53,400. …In all, the number of able-bodied men capable of fighting in the Israelite army totaled 603,500.

1:47-51   The Levites were not counted with the rest, for the Lord had said to Moses, “The tribe of Levi is in a special category and not to be numbered with everyone else in the census…because I use them to maintain and transport the tabernacle and everything associated with it. They will be in charge of setting it up and taking it down whenever the camp is moved. Any non-Levite who even goes near my tabernacle will die.”

2:1-30   “Arrange for the Israelites to camp around the tabernacle with their tents facing it. Everyone’s tent is to be under the banner representing his tribe. …On the east side of the tabernacle Judah is to camp under its tribal banner.…Next to them will be Issachar…and then Zebulun. …On the south side of the tabernacle Reuben’s tribe is to set up camp.… Next to them will camp Simeon…followed by Gad.  In the center will be the tabernacle immediately surrounded by the encampment of the Levites. …On the west side will be the companies of Ephraim…with the tribe of Manasseh next to them…followed by Benjamin. …On the north side will be the camp of Dan…with Asher next to them…and then Naphtali.”

 3:5-13   “God told Moses, “Present the tribe of Levi to Aaron the priest that they may provide assistance for him. Their task shall be to work for Aaron and the people performing all the duties required at the tabernacle. …The Levites represent all the people of Israel as substitutes for the firstborn son of every Israelite mother. Therefore the Levites belong to me, just as every firstborn son is dedicated to me.”

3:14-38   Then the Lord gave Moses the order to count the Levites, dividing them according to their family and clan. …The groups were numbered according to Levi’s three sons: Gershon, Kohath and Merari.  The Gershonites were put in charge of caring for the tabernacle and all the coverings that hung at the entrance to the tabernacle tent, plus the cords and coverings that hung in the courtyard that surrounded it. …The Kohathites were made responsible for the sanctuary…caring for and carrying the Chest of the Presence and all the articles used for worship in the sanctuary, including the table, lampstands, and altar. ...The Merarite clans were made responsible to care for the entire support framework related to the tablernacle. …Moses, Aaron and his sons were to camp directly east of the tabernacle, and they were given the responsibility and oversight to care for the sanctuary itself. Anyone else who even approached the sanctuary would die.

4:46-49   Then Moses, Aaron and some Israelite elders counted all the Levites according to family clans—every man between the age of thirty and fifty. They numbered 8,580 men, and each was assigned a specific task of tabernacle service to perform.

Basic Message

At Sinai God told Moses to take a general census to include of all the male members over twenty years of age capable of joining a fighting force The total came to over 600,000. The Levites, however, were registered separately because God had set them apart for his service associated with the tabernacle and all the details of setting it up, taking it down, moving it, and performing sacrifices. In God’s view, the Levite men were substitutes for each firstborn Israelite male, who belonged to him. The Levite census only included males between thirty and fifty years of age. There were 8,580 such men. Among the Levites, there were three main divisions according to family ancestry traced to the three sons of Levi. Each group was assigned specific duties to perform associated with setting up and moving the tablernacle. Each Levite within his clan was assigned his own specific duties to perform under the overall direction of Moses and Aaron. God warned Moses and Aaron to protect those Levites who served by making sure that only authorized persons carried out the assigned duties. The threat of death applied to anyone who approached the tabernacle in an unauthorized manner.

The twelve tribes were each assigned a specific place to camp around the tabernacle, surrounding it in a pattern that placed three tribes in each of the four directions: north, south, east, and west. The Levites were to camp immediately surrounding the tabernacle, separating it from the rest of the people. Moses and Aaron and his sons camped immediately to the east of it. 

Comments

*   The census had practical as well as psychological value. Taking control of the Promised Land would not come easy; warfare was required. After all, its inhabitants would not simply welcome the Israelites and turn over their land. Thus, counting and organizing the fighting force was a necessary measure for the days ahead. But beyond the practical side, the census meant that every person counted, so to speak. Everybody knew he or she was important and had a legitimate place within the community as a whole, which was strengthened by each member being associated with one of the twelve tribes. The fact that only men of fighting age were counted could be seen as chauvinistic. But every person was accounted for and valued through their relationship to adult males in Israelite culture, which was so family oriented that “being single” or unassociated with a family was essentially a non-option. Many cultures today also sublimate the individual within the family and tribe. The individual finds meaning and purpose only within the context of the group—a fairly alien concept for Western cultures in which individuals are acculturated to seek independence as though family obligations were a detriment.

*   The scheme for placing each tribe in a pattern around the tabernacle reinforced the idea that everyone had a place within Israelite society. There were no shanty-towns or a “bad side of the tracks.” Each and every person was an integral part of the whole. Those of us who live in large-scale societies like the United States have no idea just how important that sense of belonging is to the physical, emotional, and spiritual welfare of all community members. We seek out the same security in groups, clubs, cliques and other subcultures. God instituted it into the culture of the early Israelites, making sure each individual belonged.

*   The Levites were set apart as substitutes for the firstborn males of all the tribes. They were the human equivalent of the tithe offerings of each Israelite’s first produce, crops, and newborn animals, which the Law stipulated as belonging to God. The firstfruits principal instilled in the Israelites a mindset that every blessing and everything of value came from God. By honoring him with the first of all that was valued, the Israelites were acknowledging their thankfulness and the recognition that they were utterly dependent on God to meet all their needs. It is a lesson lost in the modern world, where we erroneously think we are each the “master of our own fate.”

*   The fact that the Levites were set apart for God conveyed an important message that had to be inculcated into the overarching Israelite worldview. Even though God had revealed himself as personal and present among the people, he was at the same time utterly holy and other. The Levites were a constant reminder of that fact. They represented an intermediary between God and man—a spiritual buffer zone as it were—to protect sinful man from the repercussions of close proximity to God in his absolute holiness; for his was a holiness so pure and powerful that absolutely no tolerance for sin was possible—just as a bright light consumes all shadows within its sphere of illumination. It would have been a comfort to the Israelites to know that the Levites camped round about the tabernacle, connecting but also separating the other Israelites from the awesome presence of the Creator of the universe.

*   The light from the rising sun that first struck the tribes camped east of the tabernacle would have made its way across Moses and Aaron’s camp before hitting the tabernacle itself.  Thus, even the spreading sunlight would have symbolized the intermediary role Moses, Aaron, and the other Levites played between God and the people of Israel. As the spreading daylight first touched the tribes to the east—Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun—it would be “purified” as it then passed over the Levites—Moses and Aaron in particular— before reaching God’s dwelling in the center of the camp.  This symbolism was not lost on the Israelites, in whom reverence would have been inspired alongside the comfort of knowing that a go-between separated them and their imperfections from their most holy God. Similarly, as the fading sunlight would spread from the tabernacle to the tribes camped toward the west, God’s presence would make the whole community holy, like leavening spreading out from the center and permeating every corner of every tribe camped around the tabernacle. Here, too, the Levites position surrounding God’s tabernacle would have been viewed symbolically as representing their role as administrators of the sacrificial system—the means through which all were made right with God, releasing his blessings to flow forth into the community unimpeded.

*   Centuries later, the Apostle Paul (a Levite himself) would proclaim, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus…” (I Tim. 2:5). Jesus, as God’s High Priest (Hebrews 4:14), now stands between God and man, taking not only God’s wrath for man’s sin but also providing the means for God’s love and blessings to be dispensed to all humankind. God still dwells in our midst, only now it is through Christ’s priestly presence.

Biblical Themes