The Numbering of the Israelites, Part 1

Continuing a chronological Bible study:

(Numbers 1:1) And the LORD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of the congregation, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying,

The entire book of Leviticus which preceded this was almost entirely devoted to laws which God gave to the children of Israel through Moses.  The historical event that preceded that was the erecting of the tabernacle which was done on the first day of the first month of the second year after the Israelites had come out of Egypt (Exo. 40:17).  The book of Numbers begins with God speaking to Moses again in the wilderness of Sinai, specifically in the tabernacle, exactly one month after it had been erected.

(2) "Take a sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, by the house of their fathers, with the number of their names, every male by their polls; (3) From twenty years old and upward, all who are able to go forth to war in Israel; you and Aaron shall number them by their armies."

Gold told Moses to take a census of the children of Israel by their tribes, with the exception of the Levites as we'll find in following verses.  It was to be according to the house of their fathers.  I'm not sure if this means each father as head of household within each tribe, or if it's the case as Dr. John Gill suggested in his Exposition of the Entire Bible, "if the mother was of one tribe, and the father of another, the family was according to the tribe of the father."  They were to be numbered with their names, every male by their "polls" meaning "heads" in this case.  Only the males were to be counted, every male who was twenty years and older, and only those fit for war; Moses and Aaron were both instructed to number them by their armies, that is, by each tribe.  Thus this would seem to be a census of military armies.

(4) “And with you there shall be a man from every tribe, each one the head of the house of his fathers."

Again, excepting the tribe of Levi, who made up the priesthood, Moses and Aaron were to call out the head of each tribe as follows:

(5) "And these are the names of the men who shall stand with you: of Reuben, Elizur the son of Shedeur;

It seems each head of a tribe was to stand with Moses and Aaron as they numbered their armies.  First from the tribe of Reuben was Elizur, said to be the son of Shedeur.  It's interesting to note the Godly names of most of these heads of tribes.  Elizur meant "God of rock" or "my God, the rock".

(6) "Of Simeon, Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai;"

From the tribe of Simeon, the head was Shelumiel, the son of Zurishaddai.  Shelumiel meant "peace of God". 

(7) "Of Judah, Nahshon the son of Amminadab;"

From the tribe of Judah was Nahshon, the son of Amminadab.  Nahshon, also spelled Naashon, meant "enchanter".  From Exodus 6:23 we learned that Aaron took as his wife Elisheba, Nahshon's sister, daughter of Amminadab.

(8) "Of Issachar, Nethanel the son of Zuar;"

From the tribe of Issachar the head was Nethanel, the son of Zuar.  Nethanel meant "given of God".

(9) "Of Zebulun, Eliab the son of Helon;"

From the tribe of Zebulun was Eliab, the son of Helon.  Eliab meant "God is father".

Because Blogger limits the number of labels each post can have, and I want all the heads of the tribes noted, Numbers 1 is continued in the following posts:

The Numbering of the Israelites, Part 2

The Numbering of the Israelites, Part 3