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Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The Men Of Renown Who Managed The Census
Numbers 1:5-16
D. Young

I. THEY ARE MERE NAMES TO US. Were we asked who Eliab was, we should say the eldest, envious, angry brother of David, not the census-taker for Zebulun; or Gamaliel, he who stood up in the council, not the census-taker for Manasseh. High as they may have been once, their position in human history is little better than oblivion.

"The long, proud tale of swelling fame
Dried to a brief and barren name."

II. Yet though mere names now, they WERE ONCE WELL KNOWN. Every child of Zebulun would be taught to look up to Eliab.

III. Though mere names to us, THEY DID A USEFUL WORK IN THEIR TIME. It would be no small satisfaction to them, if they looked at the thing rightly, to consider that they had been able to undertake for Moses such an important work as making sure of the fighting strength of each tribe.

IV. There was doubtless some appreciation of their services AT THE TIME, both by Moses and the sober-minded of the people.

V. But in any case GOD HAS MARKED WHAT THEY DID. He has the record of all the faithful and the holy who have only their names in human history, and the far greater part of them not even that. - Y.

Biblical Illustrator
In the wilderness of Sinai.
Numbers 1:1
In the desert
W. Jones.
I. THE NATURAL TRIALS OF THE DESERT.

1. Barrenness. Temporal and material things cannot satisfy spiritual beings.

2. Homelessness. The soul cannot find rest in this wilderness world.

3. Pathlessness. Man, if left .to himself, is bound to stray and lose himself.

4. Perilousness. The wiles of the devil, the seductions of the world, and the lusts of the flesh.

5. Aimlessness. The years pass, opportunities come and go, and so little seems accomplished, so little progress made in our character, so little true work done.

II. THE DIVINE PRESENCE IN THE DESERT.

1. Divine communication in the desert. God's voice is never silent. He is ever speaking in the sounds and silences of nature; through Scripture; and by His Holy Spirit.

2. Divine provision in the desert. "The Lord will give grace and glory; no good will He withhold from them that walk uprightly." "Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things." "My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."

3. Divine shelter and rest in the desert (Psalm 90:1).

4. Divine direction in the desert.

(1)By the leadings of His providence.

(2)By the teachings of the sacred Scriptures.

(3)By the influences of the Holy Spirit.

5. Divine protection in the desert. "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper." "If God be for us, who can be against us?" "Who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?"

III. THE DIVINE USES OF THE DESERT.

1. That the generation of slaves might pass away. There is much in us that must die and be buried before we can enter upon the inheritance of spiritual perfection. Our craven-hearted fears, our carnal lusts, our miserable unbelief, must be buried in the desert.

2. That a generation of free men might be educated. In the desert we are being trained by God into spiritual perfection and power for service and blessedness.Conclusion:

1. Ponder well the Divine design of our life in this world.

2. By the help of God seek its realisation in ourselves.

(W. Jones.)

People
Aaron, Abidan, Ahiezer, Ahira, Ammihud, Amminadab, Ammishaddai, Asher, Benjamin, Dan, Deuel, Eliab, Eliasaph, Elishama, Elizur, Enan, Gad, Gamaliel, Gideoni, Helon, Israelites, Issachar, Joseph, Levi, Levites, Manasseh, Moses, Nahshon, Naphtali, Nethaneel, Ocran, Pagiel, Pedahzur, Reuben, Reuel, Shedeur, Shelumiel, Simeon, Zebulun, Zuar, Zurishaddai
Places
Egypt, Sinai
Topics
Deuel, Deu'el, Eliasaph, Eli'asaph, Gad, Reuel
Outline
1. God commands Moses to number the people
5. The princes of the tribes
17. The number of every tribe
47. The Levites are exempted for the service of the Lord

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Numbers 1:1-16

     5700   headship

Numbers 1:1-49

     5249   census

Library
The Consolation
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received at the LORD 's hand double for all her sins. T he particulars of the great "mystery of godliness," as enumerated by the Apostle Paul, constitute the grand and inexhaustible theme of the Gospel ministry, "God manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1

The Census of Israel
Thirty-eight years had passed away since the first numbering at Sinai, and the people had come to the borders of the Promised Land; for they were in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho. The time had come for another census. The wisdom which commanded the counting of Israel at the beginning of the wilderness journey, also determined to count them at the end of it. This would show that he did not value them less than in former years; it would afford proof that his word of judgment had been fulfilled …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 37: 1891

The Child-Life in Nazareth
THE stay of the Holy Family in Egypt must have been of brief duration. The cup of Herod's misdeeds, but also of his misery, was full. During the whole latter part of his life, the dread of a rival to the throne had haunted him, and he had sacrificed thousands, among them those nearest and dearest to him, to lay that ghost. [1084] And still the tyrant was not at rest. A more terrible scene is not presented in history than that of the closing days of Herod. Tormented by nameless fears; ever and again …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Genealogy According to Luke.
^C Luke III. 23-38. ^c 23 And Jesus himself [Luke has been speaking about John the Baptist, he now turns to speak of Jesus himself], when he began to teach, was about thirty years of age [the age when a Levite entered upon God's service--Num. iv. 46, 47], being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son [this may mean that Jesus was grandson of Heli, or that Joseph was counted as a son of Heli because he was his son-in-law] of Heli, 24 the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Hebrews and the Philistines --Damascus
THE ISRAELITES IN THE LAND OF CANAAN: THE JUDGES--THE PHILISTINES AND THE HEBREW KINGDOM--SAUL, DAVID, SOLOMON, THE DEFECTION OF THE TEN TRIBES--THE XXIst EGYPTIAN DYNASTY--SHESHONQ OR SHISHAK DAMASCUS. The Hebrews in the desert: their families, clans, and tribes--The Amorites and the Hebrews on the left bank of the Jordan--The conquest of Canaan and the native reaction against the Hebrews--The judges, Ehud, Deborah, Jerubbaal or Gideon and the Manassite supremacy; Abimelech, Jephihdh. The Philistines, …
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 6

And thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, too little to be among the thousands of Judah
"And thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, too little to be among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall come forth unto Me (one) [Pg 480] to be Ruler in Israel; and His goings forth are the times of old, the days of eternity." The close connection of this verse with what immediately precedes (Caspari is wrong in considering iv. 9-14 as an episode) is evident, not only from the [Hebrew: v] copulative, and from the analogy of the near relation of the announcement of salvation to the prophecy of disaster …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Numbers
Like the last part of Exodus, and the whole of Leviticus, the first part of Numbers, i.-x. 28--so called,[1] rather inappropriately, from the census in i., iii., (iv.), xxvi.--is unmistakably priestly in its interests and language. Beginning with a census of the men of war (i.) and the order of the camp (ii.), it devotes specific attention to the Levites, their numbers and duties (iii., iv.). Then follow laws for the exclusion of the unclean, v. 1-4, for determining the manner and amount of restitution …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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