Números 1

Números 1

Morgan - “So the Israelites had been slaves in the land of Goshen; their tasks were appointed, and their taskmasters compelled their obedience. Their difficulties had been great, their bondage cruel, but they were free from the necessity of thought and arrangement. Having escaped from their taskmaster, they imagined that freedom meant escape from rule. They had been taught in their year of encampment under the shadow of the mountain that they had to submit to law, and it was irksome to them, and they became discontented. This discontent resulted from lack of perfect confidence in God.” NUMBERS 1:1—How could Moses have written Numbers when critics claim it was written centuries after his death? PROBLEM: Many modern critics claim that Moses did not write the first five books of the Bible traditionally attributed to him (see comments on Ex. 24:4). But the Bible declares here that “the Lord spoke to Moses” (1:1) and that “Moses wrote down” the events of this book (33:2). SOLUTION: The critics have no real evidence for their claim, either historical or literary. The fact that Moses used different names for God (Elohim, Jehovah [Yahweh]) is no proof. Each name of God informs us of another characteristic of God that fits the narrative in which it is used (see comments on Gen. 2:4). Furthermore, there is strong evidence that Moses wrote the Book of Numbers. First, there is all the evidence mentioned earlier (in comments on Ex. 24:4+) that the book reflects a detailed, first-hand knowledge of the time, places, and customs of the period it describes—all of which Moses possessed. Second, the book claims to have been written by Moses (Nu 1:1; Nu 33:2). This would make the book an outright fraud, unless Moses is really its rightful author. Third, there are a number of NT citations from the Book of Numbers which are associated with Moses (Acts 7; 13; 1 Cor. 10:2–8; Heb. 3:7–16). If Moses did not write Numbers, then these inspired NT books would be in error too. Fourth, our Lord quoted from Numbers and verified that it was indeed Moses who lifted up the serpent in the wilderness (John 3:14/joh/john-3-commentary#3:14; cf. Num. 21:9). This places the stamp of Christ’s authority on the authenticity of the question. (When Critics Ask - Norman Geisler) Question: What was the tent of meeting? Answer: The phrase tent of meeting is used in the Old Testament, specifically in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, as the name of a place where God would meet with His people, Israel. Usually, the “tent of meeting” was used as another name for the Tabernacle of Moses. However, before the tabernacle was constructed, God met with Moses in a temporary tent of meeting: “Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the ‘tent of meeting.’ Anyone inquiring of the Lord would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp. . . . As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the Lord spoke with Moses” (Exodus 33:7, 9). The fact that Moses set up the tent of meeting outside of the camp underscored that the people had broken fellowship with God at Sinai when they had made the golden calf (see Exodus 33:3). After the tabernacle was built, Moses no longer needed his temporary tent, and the term tent of meeting began to be applied to the tabernacle. In the Law that God gave Moses, God provided specific instructions to build a place of worship (Exodus 25—27). This “tent of meeting” or tabernacle could be taken up and moved each time they changed locations while wandering in the wilderness. The word tabernacle is an English rendition of the Hebrew word miskan, or “dwelling place.” The tabernacle was a temporary dwelling place for the Ark of the Covenant and the other holy items that the Israelites were instructed to use in the worship of and sacrifice to Yahweh. Interestingly, the word tent or tabernacle is also used in the New Testament to draw profound spiritual conclusions about salvation. Both Paul and the writer of Hebrews make a distinction between a heavenly tent and an earthly tent, between what was “built by human hands” and what is “not part of this creation” (2 Corinthians 5:1; Hebrews 9:11). Hebrews 9:1–10 describes the earthly tabernacle, or “tent of meeting,” as a place into which the priests would go to offer sacrifices for the sins of the people. Then, in verse 11, Christ is shown to be a better “high priest” who entered once through the “greater and more perfect tent,” referring to His body, to offer a sacrifice that would satisfy the wrath of God completely, for all time. This refers to His blood shed on the cross. The point of the passage is to show how, if the blood of animals could temporarily cleanse worshipers of the guilt of sin, the perfect blood of Christ, the Lamb of God, would cleanse His followers perfectly—that is, eternally—of their sins. In Hebrews 10:14+, the writer says that Jesus has “perfected forever those who are being (ED: present tense in divine passive = continually being = A PROCESS) sanctified.” This verse expresses a spiritual paradox. By entering the “tent of meeting,” which was His own body, and offering up His own blood, Christ “perfected forever” those who have faith in Him. And the result of belief in Christ is sanctification, a continual upward spiral of holiness and closeness to God, as the Holy Spirit performs His work within Christ’s followers. In this way, we are eternally “perfect” because of the preciousness of Christ’s blood applied to our lives (ED: OUR ETERNAL POSITION IN CHRIST = "POSITIONAL SANCTIFICATION" - DESCRIBED IN Hebrews 10:12+ WHERE SANCTIFIED IS perfect tense = PAST COMPLETED ACTION, ONGOING EFFECT), yet at the same time we are “being sanctified” (divine passive) by the Holy Spirit Who indwells us and changes us into the image of Christ (Ephesians 2:8–9+; Romans 8:29+; ED: cf 2 Cor 3:18+). Paul also mentions the “tent of meeting” or the tabernacle, comparing it to the earthly human body: “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee” (2 Corinthians 5:1–5+). When Paul says, “The tent that is our earthly home,” he is referring to our earthly body, our temporary dwelling place. Just as the Israelites moved the tent of meeting from place to place waiting for entrance to the Promised Land, believers in Christ are wanderers on the earth—people who are not “at home” in the world and who “seek a city that is to come” (Hebrews 13:14). Paul says that those who belong to God will be “further clothed” with immortality upon their deaths and that their earthly tent (their body) will be replaced with a “heavenly dwelling.” God does the work of preparing us for that day of glorification by the process of sanctification by the Spirit, and that work happening within us is a “guarantee” that our inheritance and our heavenly dwelling are real. “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:13–15+).(Source: Gotquestions.org) Numbers 1:2 "Take a census of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, by their families, by their fathers' households, according to the number of names, every male, head by head NET Numbers 1:2 "Take a census of the entire Israelite community by their clans and families, counting the name of every individual male. NLT Numbers 1:2 "From the whole community of Israel, record the names of all the warriors by their clans and families. List all the men ESV Numbers 1:2 "Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel, by clans, by fathers' houses, according to the number of names, every male, head by head. NIV Numbers 1:2 "Take a census of the whole Israelite community by their clans and families, listing every man by name, one by one. KJV Numbers 1:2 Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, after their families, by the house of their fathers, with the number of their names, every male by their polls; YLT Numbers 1:2 'Take ye up the sum of all the company of the sons of Israel by their families, by the house of their fathers, in the number of names -- every male by their polls; LXE Numbers 1:2 Take the sum of all the congregation of Israel according to their kindreds, according to the houses of their fathers' families, according to their number by their names, according to their heads: every male ASV Numbers 1:2 Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, every male, by their polls; CSB Numbers 1:2 "Take a census of the entire Israelite community by their clans and their ancestral houses, counting the names of every male one by one. NKJ Numbers 1:2 "Take a census of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of names, every male individually, Take a census. Nu 26:2-4,63,64 Ex 30:12 38:26 2Sa 24:1-3 1Ch 21:1,2 27:23,24 of the sons of Israel: Ge 49:1-3 Ex 1:1-5 after: Nu 1:18,22,26-54 Ex 6:14-19 Numbers 1 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries TAKE A CENSUS OF ISRAEL Take a census of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, by their families, by their fathers' households, according to the number of names, every male, head by head - God calls for a literal "head count" for the Hebrew word for head is gulgoleth which gives us the Greek transliteration of Golgatha comes from this noun (Mt. 27:33; Mk 15:22+; Lk 23:33+, Jn 19:17). The phrase head by head is rendered in the KJV as "by their polls" which "means “by their heads,” that is, one by one. The modern “poll tax” means “head tax.” In ancient times, men “polled” their heads, i.e., thinned out their hair (2 Sam. 14:26)." (Wiersbe) Note that the census was begun on the very day that God commanded it to be taken. Gaebelein has an interesting comment on by their families, by their fathers' households - "They had to declare their pedigrees after their families, and only those who could do that had a place in this mustering and could be warriors. This showing of their pedigree was necessary on account of the mixed multitude which had joined themselves to the people of God. "And a mixed multitude went up also with them" (Exod. 12:38). This mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting (Num. 11:4). Therefore only those who could show by their pedigree their rightful place among the people of God were mustered and could go to war. Our pedigree, which gives us a place among the people of God, is the new birth, by which we become children of God. And our calling is to a spiritual warfare, not with flesh and blood, but against the devil and his wiles and the wicked spirits (Eph. 6:11-12). (Commentary) Weinberg - Midbar (wilderness) ahead, ADONAI-Tsva’ot (the LORD of Hosts/Armies) reorganizes Yisra’el into a military camp. God orders a census in the second year on the new moon of Iyar, two weeks after Passover. In contrast to the count at Sinai by half-shekel ransom (Ex. 30:12, 38:26), this count lifts up individuals l’gul’g’lotam (by their skulls, Nu. 1:2). Head (01538)(gulgolet from galal = to roll, roll away) means a skull, head, and thus a person (as in Ex 1616, Ex 38:26, Nu 3:47) and is usually used for counting people (Ex. 16:16; 38:26; Nu. 1:2, 18, 20, 22). In Jdg 9:53 it describes Abimelech’s head, specifically "crushing his skull." When Jezebel was killed, her skull was one of the few remnants of her body when people buried her (2 Ki. 9:35). The Philistines hung up Saul's head in the temple of Dagon (1 Chr. 10:10). Gulgolet - 12x - apiece(2), census(2), head(11), skull(2). - Exod. 16:16; Exod. 38:26; Num. 1:2; Num. 1:18; Num. 1:20; Num. 1:22; Num. 3:47; Jdg. 9:53; 2 Ki. 9:35; 1 Chr. 10:10; 1 Chr. 23:3; 1 Chr. 23:24 Henry Morris on their names - In accord with the Biblical principle of plenary verbal inspiration, even the long lists of names and numbers in this book (as well as similar apparently mundane information in other books) have divine purposes. Among those that might be suggested are: (1) to illustrate God's concern for all individuals and each one's distinct role in God's economy (Ge 1:27); (2) to emphasize that God is a God of order and structure, not chaos and randomness (1 Cor 14:33); (3) to demonstrate His faithfulness to Abraham, fulfilling His promise to multiply Abraham's seed (Ge 12:2+); (4) to confirm His interest in maintaining the integrity of families, as well as individuals. (Defender's Study Bible) God is not a God of confusion but of peace -- 1 Cor 14:33a Gaebelin - It must not be overlooked that there was a previous numbering of the people in connection with the atonement money. Then all who were twenty years and above, the same as in this census, were numbered. This took place nine months before, and the number of men twenty years and over was 603,550. The same number is given in this first chapter. See Exodus 38:25-26+ and Nu. 1:46+.