1 And the LORD spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of the congregation, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying,A year and a month after the Israelites left Egypt, God talked to Moses at the Wild Mid-East Tabernacle.
2 Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, after their families, by the house of their fathers, with the number of their names, every male by their polls;
3 From twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel: thou and Aaron shall number them by their armies.
4 And with you there shall be a man of every tribe; every one head of the house of his fathers.
5 And these are the names of the men that shall stand with you: of the tribe of Reuben; Elizur the son of Shedeur.
6 Of Simeon; Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai.
7 Of Judah; Nahshon the son of Amminadab.
8 Of Issachar; Nethaneel the son of Zuar.
9 Of Zebulun; Eliab the son of Helon.
10 Of the children of Joseph: of Ephraim; Elishama the son of Ammihud: of Manasseh; Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur.
11 Of Benjamin; Abidan the son of Gideoni.
12 Of Dan; Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai.
13 Of Asher; Pagiel the son of Ocran.
14 Of Gad; Eliasaph the son of Deuel.
15 Of Naphtali; Ahira the son of Enan.
16 These were the renowned of the congregation, princes of the tribes of their fathers, heads of thousands in Israel.
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, by their polls.
19 As the LORD commanded Moses, so he numbered them in the wilderness of Sinai.
20 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 forth to war;
21 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 able to go forth to war;
23 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 upward, all that were able to go forth to war;
25 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 upward, all that were able to go forth to war;
27 Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Judah, were threescore and fourteen thousand and six hundred.
28 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 upward, all that were able to go forth to war;
29 Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Issachar, were fifty and four thousand and four hundred.
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 upward, all that were able to go forth to war;
31 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, all 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 upward, all that were able to go forth to war;
35 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 upward, all that were able to go forth to war;
37 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 upward, all that were able to go forth to war;
39 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 upward, all that were able to go forth to war;
41 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 old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war;
43 Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Naphtali, were fifty and three thousand and four hundred.
44 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 war in Israel;
46 Even all they that were numbered were six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty.
47 But the Levites after the tribe of their fathers were not numbered among them.
48 For the LORD had spoken unto Moses, saying,
49 Only thou shalt not number the tribe of Levi, neither take the sum of them among the children of Israel:
50 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 about the tabernacle.
51 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: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.
52 And the children of Israel shall pitch their tents, every man by his own camp, and every man by his own standard, throughout their hosts.
53 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 testimony.
54 And the children of Israel did according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did they.
He told Moe to run a census (this new chapter is clearly living up to its name), counting up all the males in each family.
Everyone twenty and older who is able (does "other priorities" count as an excuse?) will join Moses and Aaron in a war in Israel.
I wish this thing came with a map, because I'm not sure of where the land of Israel is, relative to Canaan — the land promised to the Israelites and the burial place of Israel/Jacob.
Is "Israel" an alias for the same place? This doesn't sound like a border dispute, since Israel isn't listed as a bordering land.
As you may recall from Genesis 9, Canaan (the person) was the son of Ham. After Ham apparently raped his sleeping father, Noah, the arkman condemned Ham's son, Canaan, to the life of "a servant of servants" to his uncles (Ham's brothers), Shem and Japheth.
Among those serving will be "every one head of the house of his fathers," and they're called out by name and lineage. Eleven of the twelve sons of Israel are represented, and daughter Dinah and any progeny she may have had aren't mentioned at all. Nor, it turns out, is she mentioned anywhere past Genesis.
"These were the renowned of the congregation, princes of the tribes of their fathers, heads of thousands in Israel." But, again, where is this Israel place? Is that what they're calling this wilderness? Is Israel wherever this passel of Israelites might be?
Because the 20+ male population of 603,550 is identical to that derived from the temple-tax records in Leviticus 38. Holy homeostasis, Batman! Pretty impressive that new generations perfectly replaced those put to death for working on the Sabbath and other godly reasons, as well as accidents, leprosy, old age, etc.
The sons of Levi (Moses and Aaron's tribe) were left out of the count and excused from service, like so many Romney missionaries in a time of war.
They also serve who pitch and break down garishly stocked porto-temples, killing strangers who come near.
The soldiering tribes each set up their own mini-camps, and the Levites stay close by the tabernacle.
3 comments:
I'm busy with a few things, so I'll come back to this chapter and the previous a bit later to fill out my comment here much better.
But to address a question you raise here:
The fertile crescent = the agriculturally fertile and hospitable lands in the middle east. If you look at a map it forms a vague crescent to the west, north west, north, and north east, of the Arabian desert.
The Levant = the western part of the fertile crescent. In modern times that means Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and the extremely western parts of Jordan and Syria (where most of the cities are).
Lebanon = two parallel mountain ranges (the Lebanon mountains, and the Anti-Lebanon mountains) stretching down the northern part of the Levant.
Canaan = the southern Levant. Physically distinct from the remainder by being the bit that doesn't contain the Lebanon mountains.
Israel (SRA + El) = a specific tribal confederation (its real eponym is Sarah (SRA) not Jacob). Founded WITHIN Canaan, possibly at Shiloh. Before some point before the Joseph tribe"s" got involved in the confederation, the territory was known as "Jeshurun" (roughly "of the righteous", more literally "of the upright"); there are a few surviving archaic references to Jeshurun (including the "Book of Jasher") in the Bible. Eventually power was centralised and Israel became a kingdom.
Judah = a sparsely populated unimportant and less fertile region south of Israel. The tribes located there (including Jerahmeel, Caleb, and Simeon) VERY gradually merged together into a nation. Nobody really cared about it, but it slowly became a kingdom.
Assyria = Syria (roughly). Very big powerful nation.
Babylon = Iraq (roughly). The city also called "Babylon" (or, more accurately, "Bab Ellyon"="Gate of the Gods") is roughly Baghdad.
Amorites = NW Arabic (ie. Semitic) tribes. Huge cultural influence; their attacks destroyed ancient empires.
Elam = SW Iraq. Small kingdom, but older than the surrounding cultures - the original "natives" of the Middle East. Their language was unrelated to any of the others. A bit like the Basques in France/Spain.
Sumeria = Sumer = Iraq. Very ancient and powerful empire. Lasted almost 1000 years. Not semitic. Destroyed by the Elamites and then taken over by the Amorites and politically split into tiny Amorite nations.
Confused about Sumeria vs Babylon? Well they are basically the same place, but at quite different times in history. It works like this
-1: Sumeria is most powerful nation
-2: Sumeria destroyed
-3: Assyria comes to power
-4: Assyria weakened
-5: Babylon comes to power
This part of the bible is SET roughly between (3) and (4). BUT many elements of this part were actually written between (4) and (5).
To avoid confusion. The Babylon of (5) is usually called "Neo-Babylonian".
Chaldea = The southern part of the Babylon of (5). It eventually became a kingdom, centred at Ur. Hence "Ur of the Chaldees". The phrase "Ur of the Chaldees" only exists after Chaldea became a distinct place, which was after (5), otherwise it would be "Ur of the Sumerians". The bit of Genesis that refers to "Ur of the Chaldees", thus cannot have been written before (5) occurred, because "Chaldean" just didn't exist before; its anachronistic.
Akkad (as in Akkadian) = a city within Sumeria. Basically Akkadia = Sumeria. A cultural shift occurred WITHIN Sumeria due to heavy semitic influence; Akkadian is the Semitic-influenced culture within Sumeria. The Akkadians abruptly gained control of the Sumerian empire (essentially it was a revolution/coup). But the Akkadian culture faded away after just 100 years (the reason for this is basically a bit of a mystery; it co-incides with the mysterious "First Intermediate Period" in Egypt), and non-Semitic culture of Sumeria became dominant once again; the centre of the Sumerian empire moved to Uruk.
Aram = SE Syria (roughly). More a group of tribes than a nation. Aram-Damascus was a nation formed by the Aram tribes that migrated to Damascus (which is SW Syria). Aramaic is the language of the Aram tribes.
Midian = NW Saudi Arabia. Specifically the bit to the NW of Mecca. Unfortunately the bible describes its geographic location vaguely, and in a way that relates it to the location of Sinai; hence there are disputes about the location of Midian by idiots who insist that Sinai was in the Sinai peninsula at modern Mount Sinai (the peninsula and modern Mount Sinai only got their names after the 2nd century AD, and the vast majority of scholarly opinion is that the biblical Sinai was in either SW Jordan or NW Saudi Arabia, NOT in the Sinai peninsula)
Edom = SW Jordan.
Moab = W Jordan, due north of Edom.
AmmoN = NW Jordan, due north of Moab.
Some of the AmmoNite groups became part of Israel. Others were later conquered by the Joseph tribe"s".
The ARaMaeans, AMoRites, and (remaining) AMmoNites all attacked NE Israel from time to time. This can make passages that are coming up in nearby chapters somewhat confusing to read if you don't pay careful attention to which location its referring to.
Edom and Moab were seen as "related" nations to the Israelites, and they were on friendly terms, and sometimes were tributaries (ie. they were occasionally part of the Israelite empire). Hence all that nonsense in Genesis about Lot's daughters getting him drunk, etc.
One thing that can be confusing with Edom is their later name - Idumeans. An arabic group called the Nabataeans invaded Edom roughly in the 4th century BC; the Edomites fled, and migrated to southern Judah, where they became known as the Idumaeans. Idumaea is thus south Judah, but Edom is to the east of that, despite the fact that Edomites = Idumaeans.
Phoenicia = NW Levant. Basically the coastline of modern Lebanon. "Phoenicia" = "purple"; the region was famous for particular dyes, such as Tyrian Blue (from Tyre). "Phoenix" is derived from the same word.
Philistine Territory = the Gaza Strip (roughly). Gaza city is absolutely ancient. The Philistines were a foreign invading force, part of the "Sea Peoples" (who are of unknown origin); they are the group called the Peleset (from which "Philistine" derives). "Palestine" derives from "Philistine", and became the Roman name for the wider region.
When Israel was conquered by Shalmaneser in 722 BC, Judah suddenly became the frontier between Assyria/Babylon and Egypt. At this point it became important.
Judah was never part of Israel. The archaeology clearly shows this, with very distinct cultures, and sharp differences in population and living conditions. But the Bible claims otherwise; this is because the parts making the claim date from after Israel was destroyed - they were essentially trying to justify Judah's attempts to conquer the former territory of Israel.
The Jahwist (J) and Elohist (E) accounts were written before 722BC, but the Priestly Source (P) was written afterwards. The difference in time also affects the geographic concerns.
P is more interested in Egypt and Midian, but J and E are more concerned about Assyria/Babylon and Moab. There's a particular bit at the end of the Book of Numbers where this difference is made starkly obvious, where the enemy "inexplicably" becomes Midian, having been Moab in the previous verses.
Anon,
Thanks for the helpful geography lesson!
I've added it to the links on the right margin.
So, when all is said and done, we don't really know where this wilderness is supposed to be, right?
This is still part of the priestly source, and will be until chapter 11. This chapter is yet another example of a later addition to the priestly source by other Aaronid priestly writers; note the mindless repetition of long phrases like "...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 forth to war; Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe...", which is characteristic behaviour of this author.
Its blatently based on a census from later times. Strangely enough, the Books of Samuel describe king David as having carried out a census....
The numbers here are clearly absurd for desert dwelling; 600,000+ males over 20 and not elderly, means a total population of around 2 million. 2 million people in a single place "hiding" from the Egyptian army in the desert is ridiculous - its like dragging around the entire population of the city of Birmingham (UK) and its vast suburbs through a desert, and thinking no-one would notice. Imagine them marching in line; if you had them in rows of 25 people it would form a line that was over 50 miles long, and that's before you even include their posessions.
As for the geography, basically the story is made up by the priestly source. The exodus narrative originates in the story of the Hyksos being chased AWAY from Egypt; the Hyksos became the Joseph tribe(s), and the narrative came to be applied to the Israelites en-masse. But essentially the geography of the story is that this particular bit is set in the Wilderness of Sin, at Sinai; Sinai is either a mountain in the Hejaz (far NW Saudi Arabia) eg. Jabal al-Lawz - a popular option among fundamentalist Christians - or is part of Mount Seir (SW Jordan) eg. the mountains at Petra - a popular option among academics. So I would say that they are sitting around Petra (which, it must be pointed out, was mostly carved into the magnificent city by the Nabataeans around the 200s BC, although the religious function at the mountain top is much older), all more-people-than-the-2nd-biggest-city-in-the-heavily-industrialised-UK of them.
"family" really means "clan".
One of the things that scholars pay attention to in these lists is the order in which the tribes are listed. The arrangement is Leah tribes, then Rachel tribes, then "handmaid" tribes; except, in the list of actual numbers, Gad is out of place - specifically, Gad has been inserted where Levi would have been... The Aaronid writer has basically fiddled the list in the original document to suit their theology. Dinah, of course, isn't listed because she never existed, not even fictionally, and only exists in the earlier narrative as the background for a story that's really about the ownership of Shechem.
The Levites aren't listed here because the priestly source treats them as a special case - they are listed separately.
The Aaronid writer has added in the last bit to specify what is significant about the Levites, since the Aaronids view non-Aaronid Levites as not being legitimate priests, and therefore have a need to justify why the Levites were special. You'll see more of this in Chapter 3, where it carefully distinguishes between the duties of Aaronids and non-Aaronids.
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