Numbers 1:20

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18 and they assembled all the congregation together on the first day of the second month; and they recited their ^aancestry by families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, each one individually.

19 As the Lord commanded Moses, so he numbered them in the Wilderness of Sinai.

20 Now the ^achildren of Reuben, Israel’s oldest son, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, every male individually, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war:

21 those who were numbered of the tribe of Reuben were forty-six thousand five hundred.

22 From the ^achildren of Simeon, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, of those who were numbered, according to the number of names, every male individually, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war:

Commentaries:

Barnes' Notes

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Numbers 1:21 >>

Numbers 1:20-46

The enrollment, being taken principally for military purposes (compare Numbers 1:3, Numbers 1:20), would naturally be arranged by hundreds, fifties, etc. (cf. II Kings 1:9, II Kings 1:11, II Kings 1:13). In eleven tribes the number enrolled consists of complete hundreds. The difference, in this respect, observable in the case of the tribe of Gad here Numbers 1:25, and of the tribe of Reuben at the later census Numbers 26:7, is probably to be accounted for by the pastoral, and consequently nomadic, habits of these tribes, which rendered it difficult to bring all their members together at once for a census. Judah already takes precedence of his brethren in point of numbers (compare Genesis 49:8 note), and Ephraim of Manasseh (compare Genesis 48:19-20).

**Other Barnes' Notes entries containing Numbers 1:20:**

Numbers 1:20-46
Deuteronomy 33:6

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Numbers 1:21 >>

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