Matthew Poole's Commentary 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, God commands Moses and Aaron to number the people that were fit for war, Num 1:1-3. Twelve captains chose, of every tribe one; their names; the number of each tribe, Num 1:4-16, The Levites exempt; to take care of the tabernacle; the other tribes camping round it, Num 1:47-54. They now had been in the wilderness a full year, or near it, as may be gathered by comparing this place with Exo 19:1 40:17, and other places. In the tabernacle; from the mercy seat. B.C. 1490 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; This is not the same muster with that Exodus 38:26, as plainly appears, because that was before the building of the tabernacle, which was built and set up on the first day of the first month, Exodus 40:2; but this was after it, to wit, on the first day of the second month, as is said Numbers 1:1. And they were for differing ends; that was to tax them for the charges of the tabernacle, but this was for other ends; partly, that the great number of the people might be known to the praise of God’s faithfulness, in making good his promises of multiplying them, and to their own comfort and encouragement; partly, for the better ordering of their camp and march, for they were now beginning their journey; and partly, that this account might be compared with the other in the close of the book, where we read that not one of all this vast number, except Caleb and Joshua, were left alive; which was an evident discovery of the mischievous nature of sin, by which so vast a company were destroyed, and a fair warning to all future generations to take heed of rebelling against the Lord, for which their ancestors had been so dreadfully plagued even to extirpation. It is true, the sums and numbers agree in this and that computation, which is not strange, because there was not much time between the two numberings, and no eminent sin among the people in that interval whereby God was provoked to diminish their numbers. Some conceive, that in that number, Exo 30 Exo 38, the Levites were included, which are here excepted, Numbers 1:47, and that in that interval of time there were grown up as many more men of those years as there were Levites of the same age. Of the children of Israel; so the stranger mixed with them were not numbered. The people were divided into twelve tribes, the tribes into great families, Numbers 26:5; these great families into lesser families, called the houses of their fathers, because they were distinguished one from another by their fathers. 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. No text from Poole on this verse. And with you there shall be a man of every tribe; every one head of the house of his fathers. To inspect the work, that it might be faithfully and impartially done. And these are the names of the men that shall stand with you: of the tribe of Reuben; Elizur the son of Shedeur. With you, to wit, with Moses and Aaron, who were the chief managers of the work. The tribes are here numbered according to the order or quality of their birth, first the children of Leah, then of Rachel, and then of the hand-maids. Of Simeon; Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai. No text from Poole on this verse. Of Judah; Nahshon the son of Amminadab. No text from Poole on this verse. Of Issachar; Nethaneel the son of Zuar. No text from Poole on this verse. Of Zebulun; Eliab the son of Helon. No text from Poole on this verse. Of the children of Joseph: of Ephraim; Elishama the son of Ammihud: of Manasseh; Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur. No text from Poole on this verse. Of Benjamin; Abidan the son of Gideoni. No text from Poole on this verse. Of Dan; Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai. No text from Poole on this verse. Of Asher; Pagiel the son of Ocran. No text from Poole on this verse. Of Gad; Eliasaph the son of Deuel. Called Reuel, Numbers 2:14, the Hebrew letters daleth and resh being very like, and oft changed. Of Naphtali; Ahira the son of Enan. No text from Poole on this verse. These were the renowned of the congregation, princes of the tribes of their fathers, heads of thousands in Israel. The renowned, Heb. the named or called, to wit, by Moses and by God’s appointment, to manage this affair, and others as there was occasion. Compare Numbers 16:2 26:9. Heads of thousands. See Exodus 18:21 Numbers 10:4. And Moses and Aaron took these men which are expressed by their names: No text from Poole on this verse. 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. No text from Poole on this verse. As the LORD commanded Moses, so he numbered them in the wilderness of Sinai. No text from Poole on this verse. 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; By their generations, Heb. to wit, their generations, i.e. the persons begotten of Reuben’s immediate children, who are here subdivided into families, and they into houses, and they into particular persons. Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Reuben, were forty and six thousand and five hundred. No text from Poole on this verse. 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; No text from Poole on this verse. Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Simeon, were fifty and nine thousand and three hundred. No text from Poole on this verse. 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; No text from Poole on this verse. Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Gad, were forty and five thousand six hundred and fifty. No text from Poole on this verse. 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; No text from Poole on this verse. Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Judah, were threescore and fourteen thousand and six hundred. Far more than any other tribe, in accomplishing of Jacob’s prophecy, Ge 49. 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; No text from Poole on this verse. Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Issachar, were fifty and four thousand and four hundred. No text from Poole on this verse. 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; No text from Poole on this verse. Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Zebulun, were fifty and seven thousand and four hundred. No text from Poole on this verse. 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; No text from Poole on this verse. Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Ephraim, were forty thousand and five hundred. Above eight thousand more than Manasseh, towards the accomplishment of that promise, Genesis 48:20, which the devil in vain attempted to defeat by stirring up the men of Gath against them, 1 Chronicles 7:21,22 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; No text from Poole on this verse. Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Manasseh, were thirty and two thousand and two hundred. No text from Poole on this verse. 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; No text from Poole on this verse. Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Benjamin, were thirty and five thousand and four hundred. The smallest number, except one, though Benjamin had more immediate children than any of his brethren, Genesis 46:21; whereas Dan had but one immediate son, Genesis 46:23, yet now his number is the biggest but one of all the tribes, and is almost double to that of Benjamin. Such great and strange changes God easily can, and frequently doth, make in families, 1 Samuel 2:5. And therefore let none boast or please themselves too much in their numerous offspring. 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; No text from Poole on this verse. Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Dan, were threescore and two thousand and seven hundred. No text from Poole on this verse. 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; No text from Poole on this verse. Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Asher, were forty and one thousand and five hundred. No text from Poole on this verse. 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; No text from Poole on this verse. Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Naphtali, were fifty and three thousand and four hundred. No text from Poole on this verse. 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. No text from Poole on this verse. 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; No text from Poole on this verse. Even all they that were numbered were six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty. No text from Poole on this verse. But the Levites after the tribe of their fathers were not numbered among them. No text from Poole on this verse. For the LORD had spoken unto Moses, saying, No text from Poole on this verse. Only thou shalt not number the tribe of Levi, neither take the sum of them among the children of Israel: Because they were not generally to go out to war, which was the thing principally eyed in this muster, Numbers 1:3,20,45 but were to attend upon the service or the tabernacle, and therefore are reserved to another distinct muster, Numbers 3:15 4:2, &c. And lost this should bc thought to, be designed and done through Moses’s ambition to give his own tribe the pre-eminence, he assures them it was done by God’s express command. 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. The tabernacle of testimony; so called here, and Exodus 38:21 because it was made chiefly for the sake of the ark of the testimony, 2 Samuel 7:2, which is oft called the testimony, as hath been observed before. 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. The stranger elsewhere is one of another nation, here one of another tribe, one no Levite. That cometh nigh, so as to do the offices mentioned Numbers 1:50. 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. No text from Poole on this verse. 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. No wrath, to wit, from God, who is very tender of his worship, and will not suffer the profaners of it to go unpunished; whose wrath is called simply wrath by way of eminency, as the most terrible kind of wrath. Shall keep the charge, i.e. shall suffer no stranger to approach through curiosity, or any other motive. And the children of Israel did according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did they. No text from Poole on this verse. |
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