The Census

Studies in Numbers

III The Finale

A The Continuity

1 The Census, Text:26:1-51

Title: Preparing For War

INTRODUCTION

This is a chapter which you would expect to find in the book of Numbers and from which it draws its English name, “Numbers.” Remember, the Hebrew name is “In The Wilderness” Undoubtedly most of us reading it are extremely thankful that the whole book isn’t like this. So here is chapter 26, After the plague the Lord said to Moses and Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest,“Take a census of the whole Israelite community by families—all those twenty years old or more who are able to serve in the army of Israel.” So on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho, Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke with them and said, “Take a census of the men twenty years old or more, as the Lord commanded Moses.” These were the Israelites who came out of Egypt: The descendants of Reuben, the firstborn son of Israel, were: through Hanok, the Hanokite clan; through Pallu, the Palluite clan; through Hezron, the Hezronite clan; through Karmi, the Karmite clan. These were the clans of Reuben; those numbered were 43,730. The son of Pallu was Eliab, and the sons of Eliab were Nemuel, Dathan and Abiram. The same Dathan and Abiram were the community officials who rebelled against Moses and Aaron and were among Korah’s followers when they rebelled against the Lord. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them along with Korah, whose followers died when the fire devoured the 250 men. And they served as a warning sign. The line of Korah, however, did not die out. The descendants of Simeon by their clans were: through Nemuel, the Nemuelite clan; through Jamin, the Jaminite clan; through Jakin, the Jakinite clan; through Zerah, the Zerahite clan; through Shaul, the Shaulite clan. These were the clans of Simeon; those numbered were 22,200. The descendants of Gad by their clans were: through Zephon, the Zephonite clan; through Haggi, the Haggite clan; through Shuni, the Shunite clan; through Ozni, the Oznite clan; through Eri, the Erite clan; through Arodi, the Arodite clan; through Areli, the Arelite clan. These were the clans of Gad; those numbered were 40,500. Er and Onan were sons of Judah, but they died in Canaan. The descendants of Judah by their clans were: through Shelah, the Shelanite clan; through Perez, the Perezite clan; through Zerah, the Zerahite clan. The descendants of Perez were: through Hezron, the Hezronite clan; through Hamul, the Hamulite clan. These were the clans of Judah; those numbered were 76,500. The descendants of Issachar by their clans were: through Tola, the Tolaite clan; through Puah, the Puite clan; through Jashub, the Jashubite clan; through Shimron, the Shimronite clan. These were the clans of Issachar; those numbered were 64,300. The descendants of Zebulun by their clans were: through Sered, the Seredite clan; through Elon, the Elonite clan; through Jahleel, the Jahleelite clan. These were the clans of Zebulun; those numbered were 60,500. The descendants of Joseph by their clans through Manasseh and Ephraim were: The descendants of Manasseh: through Makir, the Makirite clan (Makir was the father of Gilead); through Gilead, the Gileadite clan. These were the descendants of Gilead: through Iezer, the Iezerite clan; through Helek, the Helekite clan; through Asriel, the Asrielite clan; through Shechem, the Shechemite clan; through Shemida, the Shemidaite clan; through Hepher, the Hepherite clan. (Zelophehad son of Hepher had no sons; he had only daughters, whose names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milkah and Tirzah.) These were the clans of Manasseh; those numbered were 52,700. These were the descendants of Ephraim by their clans: through Shuthelah, the Shuthelahite clan; through Beker, the Bekerite clan; through Tahan, the Tahanite clan. These were the descendants of Shuthelah: through Eran, the Eranite clan. These were the clans of Ephraim; those numbered were 32,500. These were the descendants of Joseph by their clans. The descendants of Benjamin by their clans were: through Bela, the Belaite clan; through Ashbel, the Ashbelite clan; through Ahiram, the Ahiramite clan; through Shupham, the Shuphamite clan; through Hupham, the Huphamite clan. The descendants of Bela through Ard and Naaman were: through Ard, the Ardite clan; through Naaman, the Naamite clan. These were the clans of Benjamin; those numbered were 45,600. These were the descendants of Dan by their clans: through Shuham, the Shuhamite clan. These were the clans of Dan: All of them were Shuhamite clans; and those numbered were 64,400. The descendants of Asher by their clans were: through Imnah, the Imnite clan; through Ishvi, the Ishvite clan; through Beriah, the Beriite clan; and through the descendants of Beriah: through Heber, the Heberite clan; through Malkiel, the Malkielite clan. (Asher had a daughter named Serah.) These were the clans of Asher; those numbered were 53,400. The descendants of Naphtali by their clans were: through Jahzeel, the Jahzeelite clan; through Guni, the Gunite clan; through Jezer, the Jezerite clan; through Shillem, the Shillemite clan. These were the clans of Naphtali; those numbered were 45,400. The total number of the men of Israel was 601,730.

I THE DRAFT

This is a simple point. Every male was enlisted. When I was younger our nation had a draft. It was the time of the Korean war. Every young man who was not deferred for some physical, psychological or educational reason was carrying what was called a selective service card. If your number came up you were notified to report to a recruiting center for a physical and mental assessment. Those physically qualified who scored the highest mentally were sent to officer training school. Everyone had to undergo basic training. Today we have a volunteer army and navy. One must enlist. The biggest change is that women are free to enlist and now may even be sent to the front lines. The first thing I want you to notice from our text is that only males are numbered. Women are not counted for Israel’s army. That was God’s preference. Unfortunately, we have changed that in our country and sadly also in modern Israel where women are not only welcomed but both genders must serve. God did not want the women who were the life-givers, mothers, and obviously the more delicate gender to go out to battle. Obviously some women did, as in the case of Deborah but it was an exception and not the rule. Deborah lived in the period of the Judges, and was a judge, and the somewhat reluctant leader of the armies of Israel. In Judges, the account of an obviously tumultuous period in Israel, in chapter 5, we encounter the story. It goes like this, Stirred by the wretched condition of Israel Deborah sends a message to Barak, the son of Abinoam, at Kedesh of Naphtali, and tells him that Lord God has commanded him to muster ten thousand troops of Naphtali and Zebulun and concentrate them upon Mount Tabor, the mountain at the northern angle of the great plain of Esdraelon. At the same time she states that the Lord God of Israel will draw Sisera to the River Kishon. Barak declines to go without the prophet. Deborah consents, but declares that the glory of the victory will therefore belong to a woman. This declaration demonstrates that the exception proves the rule. Deborah’s statement is mocking Barak on the basis that women do not belong in battle. Today in the United states, between the universal cowardice of men, and the persistent pushing of the women’s lib movement we have come to a sad state of affairs. I can’t help it. I was raised by parents who taught me, to walk on the curb side when with a lady, open the doors, let her go first, speak with respect, take time to listen, and when a woman is standing in a room or on a bus, if you are seated you get up and surrender the seat to her. And therefore the thought of a woman fighting to protect me is abhorrent, because I should be protecting her. I am not alone in this, Patrick Buchanan writes in The American Conservative, “In the history of civilization, men have fought the wars. In civilized societies, attacks on women have always been regarded as contemptible and cowardly. Even the Third Reich in its dying hours did not send women into battle, but old men and boys.“You don’t hit a girl!” was something every American boy had drilled into him from childhood. It was part of our culture, the way we were raised. A Marine friend told me he would have resigned from the Corps rather than fight women with the pugil sticks used for bayonet practice at Parris Island. Sending women into combat on equal terms seems also to violate common sense. When they reach maturity, men are bigger, stronger, more aggressive. Thus they commit many times the number of violent crimes and outnumber women in prisons 10 to 1.” Obviously God is not politically correct because he orders only men to be conscripted. But not to lose sight of the primary truth here we must affirm that spiritually, while all is the gift of God, all has to be won by efforts of the soul. Before humanity lies a Canaan, a Paradise. But no easy way of acquisition shall ever be found, no other way indeed than has all along been followed. The men of God able to go forth to war need to be numbered and brought under discipline for the conquests that remain. And what is yet to be won by moral courage and devotion to the highest shall have to be kept in like manner.

II THE DARING

We should note that the total number of fighting men would be just over 600,000. That is a considerable ancient army. Many ancient armies were smaller, even the Roman army. However, we must remember that this number includes many who were untrained, and would also be needed to support the war effort. Furthermore, the spies had returned with frightening reports. Ten spies said the land could not be taken, and they said, The people who dwell in the land are strong. The cities are fortified. The cities are very large. The descendants of Anak (giants) are there. We were like grasshoppers in their sight. The land devours its inhabitants. Amalekites live in the south. The Hittites, Jebusites, & Amorites dwell in the mountains. The Canaanites dwell by the sea and by the Jordan River. Two of the spies (Joshua & Caleb), said the land could be taken. The people wept and wanted to stone Joshua and Caleb. The people wanted a new leader to lead them
back to Egypt. God sent a plague upon the ten spies and they died. The people were to wander in the wilderness one year for each day the spies were gone. Of the twelve spies, only Joshua and Caleb were permitted to live to enter Canaan. The answer was not in numbers but in courage. Courage born of faith is the polar opposite of fear, which is born of unbelief. Martin Luther King had courage. He said,” We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.” Winston Churchill said, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” This was possible for God’s people because they had hope based on the Lord’s promise. General Douglas MacArthur in his final visit to West Point said of the men he had led into battle, “I do not know the dignity of their birth, but I do know the glory of their death. They died unquestioning, uncomplaining, with faith in their hearts, and on their lips the hope that we would go on to victory. Always for them: Duty, Honor, Country. Always their blood, and sweat, and tears, as they sought the way and the light and the truth.”

III THE DISCIPLINE

Besides the willingness to serve, and to courage to face the enemy, God gave this people a most unusual gift, Himself. First, He actually reduced the number of the fighting men. You should take note of the fact that He eliminated the ten spies with a plague. That, itself, was a profile in courage when Joshua and Caleb survived to enter the promised land. It should be painfully obvious that God does mot need big numbers. Remember the story of Gideon and the three hundred in Judges 6 and 7? Gideon was a reluctant leader and when he came to battle with thousands God had a different idea and strategy. We read, “And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand. And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. So he brought down the people unto the water: and the Lord said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink. And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water. And the Lord said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place. I do not understand the standard God used to choose the 300, but it must have had something to do with their courage and hope in the Lord. Perhaps it was because those who cupped the water in their hands and brought it to their mouth would be better soldiers, because they kept their eyes on their surroundings even when taking a drink. In any case when it was time it is obvious that God does more with less to show his mighty hand. The other discipline was 40 years wandering for the tired but rebellious people. This was like adding 40 years to a prisoners sentence. But it made them ready to go up when it was time. We take particular note of Caleb. When assigned his territory, he could not wait to go up and take it. He was eighty and yet still a strong and courageous man and he did exactly what he said. We read the story in Joshua 14,“Now then, just as the Lord promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the wilderness. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.” Then Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave him Hebron as his inheritance.

CONCLUSION

God calls us to serve, He calls us to be courageous, and He calls us to discipline so that we sill become faithful servants.