The Census of Year 0002
After the tabernacle had been dedicated and in use for a month, God ordered a national census of all males 20 years old and upward, all that were able to go to war.
Exodus 40:17; Numbers 1:1-3.
Tribe |
Representative Elder |
Males 20 years old and upwards |
|
1. |
Reuben | Elizur |
46,500 |
2. |
Simeon | Shelumiel | 59,300 |
3. |
Judah | Nahshon | 74,600 |
4. |
Issachar | Nethaneel | 54,400 |
5. |
Zebulun | Eliab | 57,400 |
6. |
Joseph/Ephraim | Elishama | 40,500 |
7. |
Joseph/Manasseh | Gamaliel | 32,200 |
8. |
Benjamin | Abidan | 35,400 |
9. |
Dan | Ahiezer | 62,700 |
10. |
Asher | Pagiel | 41,500 |
11. |
Gad | Eliasaph | 45,650 |
12. |
Naphtali | Ahira | 53,400 |
|
Total: |
603,550 | |
|
Levi | not numbered |
Meditation Points:
- Joseph, as promised by Jacob, receives a double representation.
- The Levites, because of their tabernacle responsibilities, are excused from military obligations–a religious deferment.
- The government is a theocracy, with representatives of the governed speaking and acting for their tribes; this is not a democracy.
- If there were more than half a million men over the age of 20, how many younger men and women and children must there have been?
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