Numbers 1

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Numbers 1 is the census that gives the book its name. One month after the tabernacle was raised, a year after leaving Egypt, the LORD tells Moses to count every man of twenty and over who can serve in the army, tribe by tribe, with a named leader from each tribe assisting. The chapter lists the twelve leaders, records the twelve totals, from Manasseh's 32,200 to Judah's 74,600, and sums them: 603,550. The Levites are not counted with the others. Instead they are set apart to carry, guard, and camp around the tabernacle, so that no outsider approaches it and no wrath falls on the congregation. The people do everything as the LORD commanded.

장 주석 열기

Numbers 1 is a list, and most readers skip it, but it is a list with a story inside. Israel has been camped at Sinai for almost a year. The law has been given, the tabernacle has been built and filled with God's glory, and now the LORD tells Moses to count the men who can fight, because the nation is about to march. Twelve leaders are named, one per tribe, and the counting begins: Reuben, Simeon, Gad, Judah, and on through Naphtali, each tribe recorded in the same solemn formula, each total set down. Judah is the largest at 74,600 and Manasseh the smallest at 32,200, and the sum is 603,550 men of military age, which with wives, children, and the old means a nation of two million or more on the move. The number has kept scholars busy for centuries. But the chapter's point is not arithmetic. It is that God counts his people by name, one by one, and arranges them around the place where he lives. The Levites are left out of the muster on purpose, because they have a different job: to carry the tabernacle, to guard it, and to camp around it, a ring of priests between the holy presence and the people. The chapter ends with the simple sentence that Israel did everything the LORD commanded. Forty years later, in chapter 26, a second census will count their children, because almost no one on this list lived to enter the land.

핵심 본문

Numbers 1:1-4 Numbers 1:44-46 Numbers 1:47-53 Numbers 26:1-4 Exodus 38:25-26 2 Samuel 24:1-4

Historical and literary context

The scene is the Wilderness of Sinai in the second year after the exodus, on the first day of the second month, a month after the tabernacle was completed at the end of Exodus. Israel is about to break camp for the promised land, and the census is a military muster, organizing a mass of former slaves into an army by tribe and clan. Census lists and tribal musters are known from other ancient Near Eastern armies. The Hebrew title of the book, "In the Wilderness," describes its setting; the English "Numbers" comes from the Greek and Latin translations and refers to the two censuses, this one and the one in chapter 26 taken of the next generation forty years later. Nahshon of Judah, listed here, appears in the genealogy of David and of Jesus.

How the chapter unfolds

Verses 1 to 4 give the command: date, place, who is to be counted, and who is to help. Verses 5 to 16 name the twelve tribal leaders, with Joseph divided into Ephraim and Manasseh so that Levi's absence still leaves twelve. Verses 17 to 19 record the assembly and the counting. Verses 20 to 43 give the results in a fixed formula, one tribe at a time, in the order Reuben, Simeon, Gad, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin, Dan, Asher, Naphtali. Verses 44 to 46 give the total. Verses 47 to 53 exempt the Levites and assign them the tabernacle. Verse 54 records Israel's obedience.

Why this chapter matters

The chapter shows a God who counts by name, one by one, and organizes a nation around his own dwelling in its center. The total of 603,550 fighting men, implying a population of two million or more, is the number behind every calculation about the exodus and has driven a long debate about the Hebrew word for "thousand." The exemption of the Levites establishes the principle that worship has its own guardians, and their camping around the tabernacle is the physical picture of Israel's life ordered around God's presence. Read beside chapter 26, the list is also a roll call of a generation that would die in the wilderness.

Interpretive tension to watch

The census figures are the chapter's chief difficulty. Two million people crossing the Sinai and camping at oases is hard to picture, and the Hebrew word translated "thousand" can also mean a clan or a military unit, which would reduce the totals sharply; but the summary figures in verse 46 and in Exodus 38 treat the word as a number. Readers take the figures literally, symbolically, or as units, and the text does not settle it. There is also the question of why counting Israel here is commanded when David's census in 2 Samuel 24 brought judgment; the difference seems to lie in who ordered it and why.

이 장을 위한 질문

Every man is counted "by name, one by one." What does it mean to be known that way by God?
The Levites camp around the tabernacle so that no wrath falls on Israel. What role does worship play in protecting a community?
Everyone counted here, except two men, would die before reaching the land. How does knowing chapter 26 change the way you read this list?

Study with context

Use this as a chapter guide, then press deeper into the text itself. The goal is to slow down observation, notice structure, and ask better questions before jumping to conclusions.

노트에 추가

1 And the Lord spoke to Moses in the desert of Sinai in the tabernacle of the covenant, the first day of the second month, the second year of their going out of Egypt, saying: 2 Take the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel by their families, and houses, and the names of every one, as many as are of the male sex, 3 From twenty years old and upwards, of all the men of Israel fit for war, and you shall number them by their troops, thou and Aaron. 4 And there shall be with you the princes of the tribes, and of the houses in their kindreds, 5 Whose names are these: Of Ruben, Elisur the son of Sedeur. 6 Of Simeon, Salamiel the son of Surisaddai. 7 Of Juda, Nahasson the son of Aminadab. 8 Of Issachar, Nathanael the son of Suar. 9 Of Zabulon, Eliab the son of Helon. 10 And of the sons of Joseph: of Ephraim, Elisama the son of Ammiud: of Manasses, Gamaliel the son of Phadassur. 11 Of Benjamin, Abidan the son of Gedeon. 12 Of Dan, Ahiezer the son of Ammisaddai. 13 Of Aser, Phegiel the son of Ochran. 14 Of Gad, Eliasaph the son of Duel. 15 Of Nephtali, Ahira the son of Enan. 16 These are the most noble princes of the multitude by their tribes and kindreds, and the chiefs of the army of Israel: 17 Whom Moses and Aaron took with all the multitude of the common people: 18 And assembled them on the first day of the second month, reckoning them up by the kindreds, and houses, and families, and heads, and names of every one from twenty years old and upward, 19 As the Lord had commanded Moses. And they were numbered in the desert of Sinai. 20 Of Ruben the eldest son of Israel, by their generations and families and houses and names of every head, all that were of the male sex, from twenty years old and upward, that were able to go forth to war, 21 Were forty-six thousand five hundred. 22 Of the sons of Simeon by their generations and families, and houses of their kindreds, were reckoned up by the names and heads of every one, all that were of the male sex, from twenty years old and upward, that were able to go forth to war, 23 Fifty-nine thousand three hundred. 24 Of the sons of Gad, by their generations and families and houses of their kindreds were reckoned up by the names of every one from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war, 25 Forty-five thousand six hundred and fifty. 26 Of the sons of Juda, by their generations and families and houses of their kindreds, by the names of every one from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war, 27 Were reckoned up seventy-four thousand six hundred. 28 Of the sons of Issachar, by their generations and families and houses of their kindreds, by the names of every one from twenty years old and upward, all that could go forth to war, 29 Were reckoned up fifty-four thousand four hundred. 30 Of the sons of Zabulon, by the generations and families and houses of their kindreds, were reckoned up by the names of every one from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war, 31 Fifty-seven thousand four hundred. 32 Of the sons of Joseph, namely, of the sons of Ephraim, by the generations and families and houses of their kindreds, were reckoned up by the names of every one, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war, 33 Forty thousand five hundred. 34 Moreover of the sons of Manasses, by the generations and families and houses of their kindreds, were reckoned up by the names of every one from twenty years old and upward, all that could go forth to war, 35 Thirty-two thousand two hundred. 36 Of the sons of Benjamin, by their generations and families and houses of their kindreds, were reckoned up by the names of every one from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war, 37 Thirty-five thousand four hundred. 38 Of the sons of Dan, by their generations and families and houses of their kindreds, were reckoned up by the names of every one from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war, 39 Sixty-two thousand seven hundred. 40 Of the sons of Aser, by their generations and families and houses of their kindreds, were reckoned up by the names of every one from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war, 41 Forty-one thousand and five hundred. 42 Of the sons of Nephtali, by their generations and families and houses of their kindreds, were reckoned up by the names of every one from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war, 43 Fifty-three thousand four hundred. 44 These era they who were numbered by Moses and Aaron, and the twelve princes of Israel, every one by the houses of their kindreds. 45 And the whole number of the children of Israel by their houses and families, from twenty years old and upward, that were able to go to war, 46 Were six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty men. 47 But the Levites in the tribes of their families were not numbered with them. 48 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 49 Number not the tribe of Levi, neither shalt thou put down the sum of them with the children of Israel: 50 But appoint them over the tabernacle of the testimony, and all the vessels thereof, and whatsoever pertaineth to the ceremonies. They shall carry the tabernacle and all the furniture thereof: and they shall minister, and shall encamp round about the tabernacle. 51 When you are to go forward, the Levites shall take down the tabernacle: when you are to camp, they shall set it up. What stranger soever cometh to it, shall be slain. 52 And the children of Israel shall camp every man by his troops and bands and army. 53 But the Levites shall pitch their tents round about the tabernacle, lest there come indignation upon the multitude of the children of Israel, and they shall keep watch, and guard the tabernacle of the testimony. 54 And the children of Israel did according to all things which the Lord had commanded Moses.

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다음 장 읽기 Numbers 2 in Douay-Rheims 1899.

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