Numbers 26:2

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹After the plague had ended, the LORD said to Moses and Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, ²"Take a census of the whole congregation of Israel by the houses of their fathers-all those twenty years of age and older who can serve in the army of Israel."³So on the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho, Moses and Eleazar the priest issued the instruction, ⁴"Take a census of the men twenty years of age and older, as the LORD has commanded Moses." And these were the Israelites who came out of the land of Egypt:

Bible Verse Review
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The plague having swept away the last of that devoted generation, which provoked the Lord to "swear in his wrath that they should not enter" Canaan; he now, after an interval of 38 years, commands another census of the Israelites to be made, to preserve the distinction of families, and to regulate the tribes previous to their entry into the promised land, as well as to ascertain the proportion of land which should be allotted to each tribe. For, though the whole was divided by lot, yet the portions were so disposed, that a numerous tribe did not draw where the lots assigned small inheritances, or the contrary. Numbers 1:2, Numbers 1:3, Exodus 30:12, Exodus 38:25, Exodus 38:26

Reciprocal: Exodus 30:14 - from twenty Numbers 1:19 - General Numbers 32:11 - from twenty

Cross-References

Genesis 12:1
Then the LORD said to Abram, "Leave your country, your kindred, and your father's household, and go to the land I will show you.

Genesis 12:7
Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "I will give this land to your offspring." So Abram built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

Genesis 17:1
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty. Walk before Me and be blameless.

Genesis 18:1
Then the LORD appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre in the heat of the day, while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent.

Genesis 26:10
"What is this you have done to us?" Abimelech said, "One of the people could easily have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us."

Genesis 26:20
But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen and said, "The water is ours!" So he named the well Esek, because they contended with him.

Psalms 37:3
Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Take the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel,.... Excepting the Levites, who were to be numbered by themselves, and at a different age; this sum was to be taken, that it might appear that all of the old generation that came out of Egypt, of the age at which this sum was taken, were now dead, excepting two, as the Lord had threatened; and partly that as they were now about to enter the land of Canaan, it might be divided to them according to their number; as well as to show the faithfulness of God to his word and promise, that he would multiply and make them fruitful, notwithstanding all their provoking sins and transgressions:

from twenty years old and upwards, throughout their father's house; all of that age in every tribe, house, and family:

all that are able to go to war in Israel; for which they must prepare, being about to enter the land of Canaan, and dispossess and drive out the inhabitants of it.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Numbers 26:2. Take the sum of all the congregation — After thirty-eight years God commands a second census of the Israelites to be made, to preserve the distinction in families, and to regulate the tribes previously to their entry into the promised land, and to ascertain the proportion of land which should be allowed to each tribe. For though the whole was divided by lot, yet the portions were so disposed that a numerous tribe did not draw where the lots assigned small inheritances. See Numbers 26:53-56, and also Numbers 1:1; Numbers 1:1.