This verse belongs to the first numbering of Israel in the wilderness, when the people had been in the desert about one year and stood at the beginning of the forty years of wandering. It came after the law of God had been proclaimed from the flaming mount, after the tabernacle had been erected with the ark containing God's law deposited in its most holy place and the cloud of God's glory taking possession of it, and while God gave bread from heaven every morning, gave water from the smitten rock, and stayed with the camp in the pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night. It came before leaving Mount Sinai for the journey toward Canaan, when everything indicated speedy entrance into the land of promise. The numbering was taken at God's direction and command to Moses to number the people and marshal the host in the completest order, with their names taken down, preparatory to marching into the land of promise.
It counted only men twenty years old and upward who were able to go forth to war, and it did not include the tribe of Levi at all, nor any females, nor any under twenty years of age, for a total of 603,550 men of war, more than 600,000 men. Every one counted expected an inheritance in the land of promise and might have received it after such tokens of God's loving-kindness, presence, and willingness to save. The verse gives one name in that numbering, identifying Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai as the man, representative, and leader of the tribe of Dan in the first census taken at Sinai. Dan encamped under its tribal standard as one of four great standards around the central sanctuary, with Dan traditionally associated with the eagle.
The initial census in Numbers 1 stands against the second census in Numbers 26 at the end of the forty years, and comparing them shows how the tribes changed in number, with some falling off and others increasing. Not one of the men counted the first time except Caleb and Joshua lived to witness the second numbering, for nearly all the more than 600,000 others fell and died in the wilderness after rebelling against God. The first numbering therefore did not guarantee entry into the promised land. Its outcome shows that sin brings ruin and that God fulfills His threatened judgments, for the people were wicked with sin in their midst breaking out in open, wanton rebellion against God, so that by solemn oath He excluded them from the land and doomed them to die in the wilderness.
Moses' census shows that numbering the people was not in itself sinful because it was done at God's command, unlike David's census which was taken without the Lord's consent.
This verse belongs to the first numbering of Israel in the wilderness, when the people had been in the desert about one year and stood at the beginning of the forty years of wandering. It came after the law of God had been proclaimed from the flaming mount, after the tabernacle had been erected with the ark containing God's law deposited in its most holy place and the cloud of God's glory taking possession of it, and while God gave bread from heaven every morning, gave water from the smitten rock, and stayed with the camp in the pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night. It came before leaving Mount Sinai for the journey toward Canaan, when everything indicated speedy entrance into the land of promise. The numbering was taken at God's direction and command to Moses to number the people and marshal the host in the completest order, with their names taken down, preparatory to marching into the land of promise.
It counted only men twenty years old and upward who were able to go forth to war, and it did not include the tribe of Levi at all, nor any females, nor any under twenty years of age, for a total of 603,550 men of war, more than 600,000 men. Every one counted expected an inheritance in the land of promise and might have received it after such tokens of God's loving-kindness, presence, and willingness to save. The verse gives one name in that numbering, identifying Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai as the man, representative, and leader of the tribe of Dan in the first census taken at Sinai. Dan encamped under its tribal standard as one of four great standards around the central sanctuary, with Dan traditionally associated with the eagle.
The initial census in Numbers 1 stands against the second census in Numbers 26 at the end of the forty years, and comparing them shows how the tribes changed in number, with some falling off and others increasing. Not one of the men counted the first time except Caleb and Joshua lived to witness the second numbering, for nearly all the more than 600,000 others fell and died in the wilderness after rebelling against God. The first numbering therefore did not guarantee entry into the promised land. Its outcome shows that sin brings ruin and that God fulfills His threatened judgments, for the people were wicked with sin in their midst breaking out in open, wanton rebellion against God, so that by solemn oath He excluded them from the land and doomed them to die in the wilderness.
Moses' census shows that numbering the people was not in itself sinful because it was done at God's command, unlike David's census which was taken without the Lord's consent.