“A tenth of the land’s produce, whether grain from the ground or fruit from the trees, is GOD’s. It is holy to GOD. If a man buys back any of the tenth he has given, he must add twenty percent to it. A tenth of the entire herd and flock, every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd’s rod, is holy to GOD. He is not permitted to pick out the good from the bad or make a substitution. If he dishonestly makes a substitution, both animals, the original and the substitute, become the possession of the Sanctuary and cannot be redeemed.”
These are the commandments that GOD gave to Moses on Mount Sinai for the People of Israel.
INTRODUCTION
NUMBERS
Becoming a truly human community is a long, complex, messy business.
Simply growing up as a man or woman demands all the wisdom and patience and courage that we can muster.
But growing up with others, parents and siblings and neighbors, to say nothing of odd strangers and mean enemies, immensely complicates the growing up.
The book of Numbers plunges us into the mess of growing up. The pages in this section of the biblical story give us a realistic feel for what is involved in being included in the people of God, which is to say, a human community that honors God, lives out love and justice in daily affairs, learns how to deal with sin in oneself and others, and follows God’s commands into a future of blessing. And all this without illusions.
Many of us fondle a romanticized spirituality in our imaginations. The “God’s in his heaven/all’s right with the world” sort of thing. When things don’t go “right” we blame others or ourselves, muddle through as best we can, often with considerable crankiness, and wish that we had been born at a different time—“Bible times” maybe!—when living a holy life was so much easier. That’s odd because the Bible, our primary text for showing us what it means to be a human being created by God and called to a life of obedient faith and sacrificial love, nowhere suggests that life is simple or even “natural.” We need a lot of help.
We need organizational help. When people live together in community, jobs have to be assigned, leaders appointed, inventories kept. Counting and list-making and rosters are as much a part of being a community of God as prayer and instruction and justice. Accurate arithmetic is an aspect of becoming a people of God.
And we need relational help. The people who find themselves called and led and commanded by God find themselves in the company of men and women who sin a lot—quarrel, bicker, grumble, rebel, fornicate, steal—you name it, we do it. We need help in getting along with each other. Wise discipline is required in becoming a people of God.
It follows that counting and quarreling take up considerable space in the book of Numbers. Because they also continue to be unavoidable aspects of our becoming the people of God, this book is essential in training our imaginations to take in some of these less-than-romantic details by which we are formed into the people of God.
From:
Moses was a humble guy, but year after year of the people’s bickering and complaints about his leadership wore him down. Sometimes he lost his temper, and once he got so mad he took credit for something God was doing. That moment of ego cost him his chance to enter the Promised Land. It was essential to God that a leader keep his ego on a short leash.
To
: The runaway slaves who followed Moses out of Egypt had no experience governing themselves as a united people. Like high school cliques, they were stubbornly loyal to their own families and clans, focused on looking out for their own. They defaulted to whining and quarreling at the least sign of stress. They had to learn to stick together—to value both organization and relationship in the larger body—if they were going to make it in the Promised Land, where there would be real enemies to deal with.
Re
: Possibly 1280-1240 B.C. Some scholars think the Chinese were more advanced in their use of bronze tools and weapons than the Middle Eastern peoples in this period. Chinese Shang Dynasty kings had a taste for human sacrifice: When a king was buried, a hundred slaves might be buried with him.
Census in the Wilderness of Sinai
001
GOD spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai at the Tent of Meeting on the first day of the second month in the second year after they had left Egypt. He said, “Number the congregation of the People of Israel by clans and families, writing down the names of every male. You and Aaron are to register, company by company, every man who is twenty years and older who is able to fight in the army. Pick one man from each tribe who is head of his family to help you. These are the names of the men who will help you:
from Reuben: Elizur son of Shedeur
from Simeon: Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai
from Judah: Nahshon son of Amminadab
from Issachar: Nethanel son of Zuar
from Zebulun: Eliab son of Helon
from the sons of Joseph,
from Ephraim: Elishama son of Ammihud
from Manasseh: Gamaliel son of Pedahzur
from Benjamin: Abidan son of Gideoni
from Dan: Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai
from Asher: Pagiel son of Ocran
from Gad: Eliasaph son of Deuel
from Naphtali: Ahira son of Enan.”
These were the men chosen from the congregation, leaders of their ancestral tribes, heads of Israel’s military divisions.
Moses and Aaron took these men who had been named to help and gathered the whole congregation together on the first day of the second month. The people registered themselves in their tribes according to their ancestral families, putting down the names of those who were twenty years old and older, just as GOD commanded Moses. He numbered them in the Wilderness of Sinai.
The line of Reuben, Israel’s firstborn: The men were counted off head by head, every male twenty years and older who was able to fight in the army, registered by tribes according to their ancestral families. The tribe of Reuben numbered 46,500.
The line of Simeon: The men were counted off head by head, every male twenty years and older who was able to fight in the army, registered by clans and families. The tribe of Simeon numbered 59,300.
The line of Gad: The men were counted off head by head, every male twenty years and older who was able to fight in the army, registered by clans and families. The tribe of Gad numbered 45,650.
The line of Judah: The men were counted off head by head, every male twenty years and older who was able to fight in the army, registered by clans and families. The tribe of Judah numbered 74,600.
The line of Issachar: The men were counted off head by head, every male twenty years and older who was able to fight in the army, registered by clans and families. The tribe of Issachar numbered 54,400.
The line of Zebulun: The men were counted off head by head, every male twenty years and older who was able to fight in the army, registered by clans and families. The tribe of Zebulun numbered 57,400.
The line of Joseph: From son Ephraim the men were counted off head by head, every male twenty years and older who was able to fight in the army, registered by clans and families. The tribe of Ephraim numbered 40,500.
And from son Manasseh the men were counted off head by head, every male twenty years and older who was able to fight in the army, registered by clans and families. The tribe of Manasseh numbered 32,200.
The line of Benjamin: The men were counted off head by head, every male twenty years and older who was able to fight in the army, registered by clans and families. The tribe of Benjamin numbered 35,400.
The line of Dan: The men were counted off head by head, every male twenty years and older who was able to fight in the army, registered by clans and families. The tribe of Dan numbered 62,700.
The line of Asher: The men were counted off head by head, every male twenty years and older who was able to fight in the army, registered by clans and families. The tribe of Asher numbered 41,500.
The line of Naphtali: The men were counted off head by head, every male twenty years and older who was able to fight in the army, registered by clans and families. The tribe of Naphtali numbered 53,400.
These are the numbers of those registered by Moses and Aaron, registered with the help of the leaders of Israel, twelve men, each representing his ancestral family. The sum total of the People of Israel twenty years old and over who were able to fight in the army, counted by ancestral family, was 603,550.
The Levites, however, were not counted by their ancestral family along with the others. GOD had told Moses, “The tribe of Levi is an exception: Don’t register them. Don’t count the tribe of Levi; don’t include them in the general census of the People of Israel. Instead, appoint the Levites to be in charge of The Dwelling of The Testimony—over all its furnishings and everything connected with it. Their job is to carry The Dwelling and all its furnishings, maintain it, and camp around it. When it’s time to move The Dwelling, the Levites will take it down, and when it’s time to set it up, the Levites will do it. Anyone else who even goes near it will be put to death.
“The rest of the People of Israel will set up their tents in companies, every man in his own camp under its own flag. But the Levites will set up camp around The Dwelling of The Testimony so that wrath will not fall on the community of Israel. The Levites are responsible for the security of The Dwelling of The Testimony.”
The People of Israel did everything that GOD commanded Moses. They did it all.
Marching Orders
002
GOD spoke to Moses and Aaron. He said, “The People of Israel are to set up camp circling the Tent of Meeting and facing it. Each company is to camp under its distinctive tribal flag.”
To the east toward the sunrise are the companies of the camp of Judah under its flag, led by Nahshon son of Amminadab. His troops number 74,600.
The tribe of Issachar will camp next to them, led by Nethanel son of Zuar. His troops number 54,400.
And the tribe of Zebulun is next to them, led by Eliab son of Helon. His troops number 57,400.
The total number of men assigned to Judah, troop by troop, is 186,400. They will lead the march.
To the south are the companies of the camp of Reuben under its flag, led by Elizur son of Shedeur. His troops number 46,500.
The tribe of Simeon will camp next to them, led by Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai. His troops number 59,300.
And the tribe of Gad is next to them, led by Eliasaph son of Deuel. His troops number 45,650.
The total number of men assigned to Reuben, troop by troop, is 151,450. They are second in the order of the march.
The Tent of Meeting with the camp of the Levites takes its place in the middle of the march. Each tribe will march in the same order in which they camped, each under its own flag.
To the west are the companies of the camp of Ephraim under its flag, led by Elishama son of Ammihud. His troops number 40,500.
The tribe of Manasseh will set up camp next to them, led by Gamaliel son of Pedahzur. His troops number 32,200.
And next to him is the camp of Benjamin, led by Abidan son of Gideoni. His troops number 35,400.
The total number of men assigned to the camp of Ephraim, troop by troop, is 108,100. They are third in the order of the march.
To the north are the companies of the camp of Dan under its flag, led by Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai. His troops number 62,700.
The tribe of Asher will camp next to them, led by Pagiel son of Ocran. His troops number 41,500.
And next to them is the tribe of Naphtali, led by Ahira son of Enan. His troops number 53,400.
The total number of men assigned to the camp of Dan number 157,600. They will set out, under their flags, last in the line of the march.
These are the People of Israel, counted according to their ancestral families. The total number in the camps, counted troop by troop, comes to 603,550. Following GOD’s command to Moses, the Levites were not counted in with the rest of Israel.
The People of Israel did everything the way GOD commanded Moses: They camped under their respective flags; they marched by tribe with their ancestral families.
The Levites
003
This is the family tree of Aaron and Moses at the time GOD spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai.
The names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab the firstborn, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar—anointed priests ordained to serve as priests. But Nadab and Abihu fell dead in the presence of GOD when they offered unauthorized sacrifice to him in the Wilderness of Sinai. They left no sons, and so only Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests during the lifetime of their father, Aaron.
GOD spoke to Moses. He said, “Bring forward the tribe of Levi and present them to Aaron so they can help him. They shall work for him and the whole congregation at the Tent of Meeting by doing the work of The Dwelling. Their job is to be responsible for all the furnishings of The Dwelling, ministering to the affairs of The Dwelling as the People of Israel come to perform their duties. Turn the Levites over to Aaron and his sons; they are the ones assigned to work full time for him. Appoint Aaron and his sons to minister as priests; anyone else who tries to elbow his way in will be put to death.”