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 wereableto 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 wereableto go to war:
23 those who were numbered of the tribe of Simeon were fifty-nine thousand three hundred.
24 From the achildren of Gad, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, all who wereableto go to war:
25 those who were numbered of the tribe of Gad were forty-five thousand six hundred and fifty.
26 From the achildren of Judah, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, all who wereableto go to war:
27 those who were numbered of the tribe of Judah wereaseventy-four thousand six hundred.
28 From the achildren of Issachar, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, all who wereableto go to war:
29 those who were numbered of the tribe of Issachar were fifty-four thousand four hundred.
30 From the achildren of Zebulun, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, all who wereableto go to war:
31 those who were numbered of the tribe of Zebulun were fifty-seven thousand four hundred.
32 From the sons of Joseph, the achildren of Ephraim, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, all who wereableto go to war:
33 those who were numbered of the tribe of Ephraim were forty thousand five hundred.
34 From the achildren of Manasseh, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, all who wereableto go to war:
35 those who were numbered of the tribe of Manasseh were thirty-two thousand two hundred.
36 From the achildren of Benjamin, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, all who wereableto go to war:
37 those who were numbered of the tribe of Benjamin were thirty-five thousand four hundred.
38 From the achildren of Dan, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, all who wereableto go to war:
39 those who were numbered of the tribe of Dan were sixty-two thousand seven hundred.
40 From the achildren of Asher, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, all who wereableto go to war:
41 those who were numbered of the tribe of Asher were forty-one thousand five hundred.
42 From the children of Naphtali, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, all who wereableto go to war:
43 those who were numbered of the tribe of Naphtali were fifty-three thousand four hundred.
44aThese are the ones who were numbered, whom Moses and Aaron numbered, with the leaders of Israel, twelve men, each one representing his father’s house.
45 So all who were numbered of the children of Israel, by their fathers’ houses, from twenty years old and above, all who wereableto go to war in Israel—
46 all who were numbered were asix hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty.
47 But athe Levites were not numbered among them by their fathers’ tribe;
This phrase, "all who were able to go to war," appears 14 times in this one section! What is the significance of God commanding a census to be taken of all males twenty years old and above and able to go to war? Obviously, God wanted Israel to comprehend the size of its army. God was preparing the Israelites for the certainty of warfare with the people of the land.
Notice the precise dating in verse 1: It was "the first day of the second month, in the second year" following their flight from Egypt. Exodus 19:1 tells us, "In the third month after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on the same day, they came to the Wilderness of Sinai." The giving of the law, then, occurred three months after they left Egypt. Exodus 40:17 adds another time marker: "And it came to pass in the first month of the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was raised up."
Thus, after receiving the law and making the covenant, God gave instructions concerning the Tabernacle, and it was constructed. It was erected on Abib/Nisan 1, the first day of the first month, of the second year. At this point, the Israelites have now been out of Egypt just two weeks shy of a full year. Once the Tabernacle had been erected and was in operation, God gave to Moses all the instructions in the book of Leviticus, and the priesthood began to put the ceremonial practices into operation.
In Numbers 1:1, thirteen more months have passed, and Israel is still at Mount Sinai. However, their stay is soon to end. The events of Numbers 13 and 14 did not take place until near the end of this second year after leaving Egypt. Therefore, before the Israelites even began the serious part of their trek to take over the Promised Land, the initial preparation for their being forged into an army, a force intended to fight against the people of the land, had already taken place.
They fully understood that Exodus 23 was not an unconditional promise that God would fight all their wars for them. They knew they would not just walk into the land and take it over while hornets maddeningly buzzed around their enemies' heads!
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