聖書注解書

P.

The second Census

The plague related in Numbers 25:9 was the last of the punishments undergone by the Israelites for their sins and rebellions. When the wanderings were at an end, the numbers of the people would be very different to those at the first census at Sinai. And the priestly writer shews, by implication, how severe the punishments had been; in spite of the increase of population which would naturally accrue by births, the numbers left in Moab are 1820 less than those reckoned at Sinai.

1–4. Moses and Eleazar are commanded by God to number the fighting men of 20 years of age and upwards.

4. Take the sum of the people] This is added conjecturally in E.VV. [Note: .VV. The English Versions, i.e. Authorised and Revised.] , the opening words of the verse having been lost.

5–51. The twelve secular tribes are numbered, the sacred tribe of Levi being omitted. The names are based upon Genesis 46:8-27, but with the addition of Ephraim and Manasseh, who, having been born in Egypt, could not be reckoned in Gen. among those who went down into Egypt.

The total number at the first census, thirty-eight years before (ch. 1) was 603,550; now it is 601,730. The order of the tribes is the same, except that Manasseh (Numbers 26:29-34) precedes Ephraim (Numbers 26:35-37). Reuben, Simeon, Gad, Ephraim and Naphtali have decreased in numbers, while the other seven have increased. The impossibility of the figures is shewn in note on Numbers 1:46.

9–11. The mention of Dathan and Abiram leads the writer, or a later editor, to add a note recalling the incidents of ch. 16. He combines the story of Dathan and Abiram with that of Korah in such a way that the events are inextricably confused.

10. and they became a sign] This is a reference to Numbers 16:38; but there it is not the offenders but their fire-pans, beaten into plates for the altar, that are a sign.

11. and the sons of Korah died not] There is no mention of Korah’s family in ch. 16, but the inference might naturally be drawn from Numbers 26:32 that they were included in his body of adherents. This inference the writer felt it necessary to check, because in his day ‘sons of Korah’ were found in Jerusalem. They were a subdivision of the Levites, a guild which formed one of the temple choirs. To their hymnbook belonged Psalms 42, 44-49, 84 f., 87 f. In Numbers 26:58 (below) they are called ‘the family of the Korahites.’

52–56. The manner in which Canaan is to be divided among the tribes. The territories are to be proportionate to the size of the several tribes.