;

11 Ammihud: of Manasseh; Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur. Of Benjamin; Abidan 12, 13 the son of Gideoni. Of Dan; Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai. Of Asher 14, 15 Pagiel the son of Ocran. Of Gad; Eliasaph the son of Deuel. Of Naphtali; 16 Ahira the son of Enan. These were the renowned of the congregation, princes of the tribes of their fathers, heads of thousands in Israel.

The Muster.

17 And Moses and Aaron took these men which are expressed by their names: 18 And they assembled all the congregation together on the first day of the second month, and 'they declared their pedigrees after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, 19 by their polls. As the LORD commanded Moses, so he numbered them in the wilderness of Sinai.

1920

And the children of Reuben, Israel's 'eldest son, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, by their polls, every male from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go 21 forth to war; Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Reuben, were forty and six thousand and five hundred.

22

Of the children of Simeon, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, those that were numbered of them, according to the number of the names, by their polls, every male from twenty years old and upward, all that were 23 able to go forth to war; Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Simeon, were fifty and nine thousand and three hundred.

24

Of the children of Gad, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and 25 upward, all that were able to go forth to war; Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Gad, were forty and five thousand six hundred and fifty.

-26

Of the children of Judah, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and 27 upward, all that were able to go forth to war; Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Judah, were threescore and fourteen thousand and six hundred. Of the children of Issachar, by their generations, after their families, by 'the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and 29 upward, call that were able to go forth to war; Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Issachar, were fifty and four thousand and four hundred.

28

:30

Of the children of Zebulun, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and 31 upward, all that were able to go forth to war; Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Zebulun, were fifty and seven thousand and four hundred.

32

Of the children of Joseph, namely, of the children of Ephraim, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, call that were able to go forth to war; 33 Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Ephraim, were forty thousand and five hundred.

34

Of the children of Manasseh, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and 35 upward, all that were able to go forth to war; Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Manasseh, were thirty and two thousand and two hundred.

36

Of the children of Benjamin, by their generations, after their families, by 'the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and 37 upward, all that were able to go forth to war; Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Benjamin, were thirty and five thousand and four hundred.

38

Of the children of Dan, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and 39 upward, all that were able to go forth to war; Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Dan, were threescore and two thousand and seven hundred.

40

Of the children of Asher, by their generations, after their families, by 'the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and

41 upward, all that were able to go forth to war; Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Asher, were forty and one thousand and five hundred.

42

Of the children of Naphtali, throughout their generations, after their families, by 'the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years 43 old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war; Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Naphtali, were fifty and three thousand and four hun44 dred. These are those that were numbered, which Moses and Aaron numbered, and the princes of Israel, being twelve men; each one was for 'the house of his fathers.

45

So were all those that were numbered of the children of Israel, by 'the house of their fathers, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to 46 war in Israel; Even all they that were numbered were six hundred thousand and 47 three thousand and five hundred and fifty. But the Levites after the tribe of their

fathers were not numbered among them.

The Levites exempted.

48, 49 For the LORD had spoken unto Moses, saying, Only thou shalt not number 50 the tribe of Levi, neither take the sum of them among the children of Israel: But *thou shalt appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of testimony, and over all the vessels thereof, and over all things that belong to it: they shall bear the tabernacle, and all the vessels thereof; and they shall minister unto it, and shall encamp round 51 about the tabernacle. And when the tabernacle setteth forward, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up: 52 and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death. And the children of

Israel shall pitch their tents every man by his own camp, and every man by his 53 own standard, 'throughout their hosts. But the Levites shall pitch round about the tabernacle of testimony, that there be no wrath upon the congregation of the children of Israel and the Levites shall keep the charge of the tabernacle of tes54 timony. And the children of Israel did according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did they.

[Ver. 1. 1. The of itself gives no proof of our book having a special or organic connection with Leviticus. Were that the case, then a similar inference must be made of a relation between Joshua and Deuteronomy, and between Judges and Joshua. In cases like the present, the Vav. conversive simply introduces what is related as a sequel to events preceding. It is left to the reader to recall what precedes D. The with the inf. const. has here the force of the genitive, as appears from its conjunction with wh. See FUERST sub. τος. Α. 9. It is common in giving dates; comp. Gen. vii. 11; Exod. xix. 1. The inf. is used here as a noun ➡ "their exodus."

Ver. 2. The before three different nouns in this verse is distributive; comp. Josh. vii. 14, 16 " according to your tribes,” “by their tribes.”—By would be a good rendering here.—onas na. This phrase, that occurs so frequently in what follows, has a grammatical peculiarity, or even oddity. ' expresses a single notion 'father's-house," the plural of which is "fathers'-houses." The Hebrew forms the plural by giving a plural ending to the second noun, much as in English it is common to say "the Miss Smiths." On this and other examples, see EWALD, 270, c.

Ver. 10. 137. On the quiescent in the middle of the word see GREEN's Gram., 13 b. But some MSS. conf. xvi. 2," MAURER. They are designated

פְרָה צור and editions read

קְרִיאֵי העדה .16 .Ver

"The K'ri needlessly suggests

"as called men of the congregation, because they were called to the diets of the congregation, as representatives of the tribes." KEIL.

Ver. 18. " an expressive är. Aey.,” LANGE, " to announce themselves as born, i. e., to have themselves entered in genealogical registers" (KEIL).

Ver. 22. "The before 33, in this and the following verses, seems to mean the same as the German auf, to, used in counting." LANGE.

Ver. 47. 17. On the see GREEN Gr, ¿ 96, a.—TR.].

T

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.

which forms a kind of natural theatre, while farther distant on either side of the plain the slopes of the enclosing mountains would afford seats to an almost unlimited number of spectators." (Re

good camping places in the neighboring glens, valleys and mountain sides, especially at the mouth of Wady Leja where there is "an extensive recess, about a mile and a half long by threequarters of a mile broad" (ibid. p. 412). It is exceedingly well watered by four running streams, and there are innumerable fountains and wells. Comp. ROBINSON, Vol. 1, p. 95 sqq.. 100-107, 119-122. STANLEY, Sinai and Palestine, pp. 4044, 73-76.

I. 1-4. And the LORD spake.-The date of the divine command. See the Text. The pur-covery of Jerusalem, pp. 411, 412). There are pose of the command to muster the people.-The whole congregation is to be a host of the King Jehovah, a people in arms;" nevertheless human nature requires that the whole people be represented by the selection of its men able to bear arms. To which end every one who is twenty years old must enter upon military duty; no term is fixed at which military service should cease. The infirm, the women, the children, the unclean must be added to those few who were of course invalidated by age. But the Levites are not here made free from military duty; on the contrary, they form the ideal power of the army, in that it is their office to carry the tabernacle as the banner of Jehovah, as the Theocratic banner of victory. On account of its importance the time of their service is therefore fixed definitely, from twenty-five, relatively thirty, to fifty years. The natural organization of the people served as a basis for the muster; tribes, tribal-branches or clans, fathers'-houses, and finally their sumtotal by individuals, all registered by name. Moses and Aaron were to attend to this business of the muster by having in every tribe a captain chosen from the same to act for them.

The Tabernacle of the congregation.The A. V. renders it, the Tabernacle of congregation, as if the notion "to meet underlying the word must refer to the people, and thus the word itself mean the gathering of the people together. The proper signification is Tent of Meeting, as appears from Ex. xxix. 42, 43, which reads: This shall be a continual burnt-offering throughout your generations at the door of the tent of meeting before the Lord; where I will meet you (TN) to speak there unto thee. And there I will meet () with the children of Israel." The same is suggested by Ex. xxx. 36, and Num. xvii. 19, (A. V., 4). Hither then the Lord summoned those whom He would meet, and to whom He would make special communications, and ordered, x. 3, that trumpets should be sounded to gather the people as well (11) to the Tent of Meeting. Hence God not only comes down to meet His people, but they come up to meet Him. See SMITH's Bib. Dict., article TA

BERNACLE.

On the first day of the second month, i. e., the month Ziph, which in the Talmud is called ", lyar. It corresponds with our April. Ziph the month of "blossoms;" but see SMITH'S Bib. Dict.

The following data given in the Book of Numbers, are here arranged in their chronological order, according to KEIL and others. But see LANGE on vii. 1.

[In the wilderness of Sinai.-Ex. xix. 1, 2, (comp. itinerary xxxiii. 15) shows the order of stations reached in the march to Sinai, to have been Rephidim, the entrance into the wilderness of Sinai, and then the approach to the mountain. Lev. vii. 38 shows the proximity of the wilderness of Sinai to the mountain; x. 12 and xxxiii. 16, show that the wilderness of Sinai stretches as far as the wilderness of Paran. The Ordnance Survey Expedition to the Peninsula of Sinai in 1868-'09, has confirmed in great part the conclusions of ROBINSON and STANLEY, and therefore of tradition. All the members of the expedition, save Mr. HOLLAND, concluded that Rephidim is in the Wady Feiran at Hesy el Khattatin. Mr. HOLLAND alone places it "at the narrow pass of El Watiyeh in Wady es Sheikh," They were unanimous in deciding that the primary camping ground of the wilderness of Sinai was the great plain Er Raheh, and that Mount Sinai is Jebel Musa while the mountain from which the law was delivered, the one "which can be touched," is a peak of Jebel Musa, Res Sufsafeh. In Er Raheh there would be ample room for the entire mass of the people when they gave audience to the law. "A calculation made by Capt. PALMER, from the actual measurements taken on the spot, proves that the space extending from the base of the mountain to the watershed or crest of the plain, is large enough to have accommodated the entire host of the Israelites, estimated at two million souls, with an allow-nai, x. 11: ance of about a square yard for each individual." (The Desert of the Exodus, PALMER, ch. vi.). "The plain itself is upward of two miles long, and half a mile broad, and slopes gradually down from the water-shed on the north to the foot of Ras Sufsafeh. About three hundred yards from the actual base of the mountain there runs across the plain a low, semicircular mound,

(1) The gifts of the oxen and wagons by the
princes; their gifts for the altar on the day of
its anointing, continuing for twelve days, chap.
vii., and the cloud covering the Tabernacle (ix.
15) on the day of its erection; this date is given
in Ex. xl. 17: comp. Lev.
viii. 10, 11:
2 yr.,

(2) The celebration of
the passover, ix, 1-5:
(3) The order for the
muster, i. 1:

(4) Celebration of the
Little Passover, ix. 6-14:
(5) Departure from Si-

1 day.

1 m.,

2

1

14

2

2

1

2

2

14

2

2

20

Tabernacle, which took seven days; the first rites by the priesthood on the eighth day; the trespass by Nadab and Abihu; the remaining body of Levitical law; the princely gifts for moving the Tabernacle and for the dedication of the altar; the descent of the cloud upon the tabernacle; the order for the observance of the passover; its commemoration. This was in the time from one new moon () to the other.

In the period between the order for the muster and the departure from Sinai, the following events took place: The muster itself; the dispo. sition of the camp. the body of law for its regulation; the celebration of the Little Passover; the census of the first-born and consecration of the Levites; all of which occurred in twenty days. A brisk and crowded season.

We observe further in this chronology that events which occurred at an earlier date are placed after the muster; the gifts by the princes and the passover really having preceded the muster. Why? KEIL finds a reason in the desire not to interrupt the essential connection of Sinaitic law; and this opinion is of weight. In the legal books of the Trilogy, chronology is made secondary. As the idea of Leviticus was to give the body of Sacerdotal legislation, and such incidents as related to it, so the object of the Book of Numbers is to give the national organization, in all its theocratic features, and thus what is uppermost for the proper constitution of the immovable state, of course comes first.

SUS.

if the thousands were in a greater or less degree
independent of the number 1,000, yet it does not
then follow that they should always coincide with
the tribe-branches.

They were not passively pressed into service,
but took it upon them voluntarily, like the volun-
teers of Deborah (Judg. xxi.) and of the Messi-
anic King (Ps. cx.); aud that was, so to speak,
their new birth in the higher sense. [These
princes were likely a selection from those of
highest rank among the appointments made ac-
cording to Exod. xviii. 21-26, which occurred
only a few months before this.-TR.]

Vers. 20-47. Number of the fighting men in the tribes see above, Introd. 26. They were mustered in representation of the supreme Commander him

פִקְדִים self; hence

Vers. 48-54. The prohibition against mustering the Levites and adding their number to the sum of the other tribes indicates no exemption from the military service, but an inherited calling to the discharge of the highest service of defence, the care of the headquarters (ver. 53) and of the ensign of the army, the Tabernacle. Therefore, notwithstanding their being so numerous, they were to encamp around the sanctuary and prevent all who were not Levites from approaching on pain of death. All the other divisions of the army were to encamp by their special standards.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.

[The reason for the peculiar service of the Levites that the text gives is that in vers. 51, 53. Ver. 2. The sum of all the congregation It ought thus to have precedence. The Levites of the children of Israel. On the three acwere to guard the Tabernacle against the intrucounts of taking the census see above INTRODUC-sion of the other Israelites. By the stranger TION, 87, a, c, and SMITH's Bib. Dict. art. CEN-(1), for whom it would be death to come nigh, is On the congregation see ibid. under the word. The data are wanting for a clear analymeant a non-Levite (Lev. xxii. 10). The Levites sis of the subdivisions of the congregation would be more ruinous than foes without.-TR.] were to guard against trespasses within that represented by the following terms, families (), fathers'-houses ('). The latter is a subdivision of the former, while in ver. 4 it appears as a subdivision of the tribe The former is thus the grand subdivision of the tribe. This agrees with x. 4 (comp. Josh. xxii. 14) where "the thousands" (DD) appear as equivalent to "the families" (D), the latter designating them according to their social constitution, the former with respect to their proportion of men fit for war and liable to tax. See INTROD., & 6.

.(כטה)

Ver. 3. P means "to muster, marshal," and has reference more to disposition or arrangement than numbering. See a discussion of the word in BUSH in loc.-TR.].

Vers. 5-19. Roll of the captains who were called to aid in numbering the tribes. We furnish their names and the names of their fathers also, with their conjectural significations, since the names of the Israelites attest the religious mind of the people. See above INTROD., 6. Upon the three qualifications of the chief men,

On the whole book.

The name NUMBERS gives no presentiment of the rich significance of this third book [of the Trilogy], unless one were to ascribe to the idea of number a Pythagorcan notion, or, better still, one that belongs to Biblical philosophy of religion.

For, of course, the champions of Jehovah are numbered, as were the intimates or heroes of Odin, and as the latter were selected out to march forth with Odin to conflict at the end of time, so the former are chosen out, numbered and mustered so as to form an army of God, which is destined in a sacred campaign to make the conquest of the holy inheritance of God, Canaan, the promised land, for God's people.

As significant individual types are to be noted especially the persons fit for war; for here, too, the proper estimate of personal life is the signature of true religion and of the kingdom of truth founded on it. But with the persons must be

,noted the most exact regard for their number | (3) נְשִׂיאֵי, מַטוֹת אֲבוֹתָם (2) קְרִיאֵי הָעֵדָה (1)

T:

DN see above, INTROD. 6. "D' synony- to the Apocalypse (Rev. vii.), not excepting the the typical numbering, as it is continued down mous with families' (comp. chap. x. Gospels and Acts of the Apostles. Moreover, the 4; Josh. xxii. 14, et al.), because the number of characteristic diversities of nations, or even of heads of families in the branches of a tribe churches and states in the kingdom of God, find smounted to at least a thousand" (KEIL). Even their type in the organization of the army of

God, the order of Israel's encampment under its | often know not where to turn. The many rebelprinces, the Sanctuary in the midst of the army as the mysterious headquarters of the heavenly sentinel, the Commander in Chief, and the distribution of labor among His servants. Furthermore an important element appears in keeping the camp of the army pure, in which connection is to be considered the restitution for trespass which is too much overlooked [v. 1-10]; also in contrast with this keeping pure, the higher consecration of the Lord's volunteer heroes, the Nazarites [vi. 1–21].