1And YHWH spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the Tent of Meeting on the first day of the second month in the second year of their exodus from the land of Egypt, saying,
1:1. wilderness. Wilderness emerges through the narrative not only as a setting but also as a theme of considerable significance. The Hebrew title of the book, b
midbar, “In the Wilderness,” which derives from the opening verse (“And YHWH spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai [bmidbar sînay] … ”), is a better indicator of the book’s contents than the Greek title, arithmoi (from which comes the English “Numbers”). It also better captures the pervasive feeling of the book. The wilderness depiction conveys two quite different qualities. On the one hand, the wilderness years constitute a kind of ideal. The people’s life is orderly, protected, close to God. It is a period of incubation, of nurturing. All is provided: food, water, direction. The miraculous is the norm. At the same time, though, the wilderness is depicted as terrible. Conditions are bad. The environment is hostile. There is rebellion from within and fighting with peoples whom they encounter on the way. There are power struggles and fear. And this is pictured as having been almost entirely avoidable, a fate that has come upon the people for having rejected the opportunity to enter the land. Numbers thus expresses pervasively a notion that is only begun in Leviticus, namely that closeness to the divine is both glorious and dangerous. This dual picture of the ideal and the awesome sides of the wilderness years is perhaps the most striking and singular aspect of the book of Numbers. Numbers alone among the books of the Hebrew Bible recounts the story of a single generation of the nation, involving the entire nation, in a condition unlike that of any other time. In the earthly events and in the cosmic aspect of both continuous and situational miracles, the wilderness generation is like no other, and the book that tells its story is correspondingly unique.
2“Add up the heads of all of the congregation of Israel by their families, by their fathers’ houses, with the number of names of every male by their heads.
3From twenty years old and up, everyone going out to the army in Israel: you shall count them by their army units, you and Aaron.
4“And a man for each tribe shall be with you; each is the head of his fathers’ house.
5And these are the names of the men who will stand with you: For Reuben, Elizur son of Shedeur.
6For Simeon, Shelumiel son of Zurishadday.
7For Judah, Nahshon son of Amminadab.
8For Issachar, Nethanel son of Zuar.
9For Zebulun, Eliab son of Helon.
10For the children of Joseph: for Ephraim, Elishama son of Ammihud; for Manasseh, Gamaliel son of Pedahzur.
11For Benjamin, Abidan son of Gideoni.
12For Dan, Ahiezer son of Ammishadday.
13For Asher, Pagiel son of Ochran.
14For Gad, Eliasaph son of Deuel.
15For Naphtali, Ahira son of Enan.”
16These were the prominent ones of the congregation, chieftains of their fathers’ tribes. They were heads of Israel’s thousands.
17And Moses and Aaron took these men who were designated by name,
18and they assembled all of the congregation on the first day of the second month, and they were recorded by their families, by their fathers’ houses, with the number of names, from twenty years old and up, by their heads,
19as YHWH commanded Moses. And he counted them in the wilderness of Sinai.
20And the children of Reuben, Israel’s first-born, were: by their records, by their families, by their fathers’ house, with the number of names, by their heads, every male from twenty years old and up, everyone going out to the army,
21the tribe of Reuben’s counts were forty-six thousand five hundred.
22For the children of Simeon: by their records, by their families, by their fathers’ house, their counts with the number of names, by their heads, every male from twenty years old and up, everyone going out to the army,
23the tribe of Simeon’s counts were fifty-nine thousand three hundred.
24For the children of Gad: by their records, by their families, by their fathers’ house, with the number of names, from twenty years old and up, everyone going out to the army,
25the tribe of Gad’s counts were forty-five thousand six hundred fifty.
26For the children of Judah: by their records, by their families, by their fathers’ house, with the number of names, from twenty years old and up, everyone going out to the army,
27the tribe of Judah’s counts were seventy-four thousand six hundred.
28For the children of Issachar: by their records, by their families, by their fathers’ house, with the number of names, from twenty years old and up, everyone going out to the army,
29the tribe of Issachar’s counts were fifty-four thousand four hundred.
30For the children of Zebulun: by their records, by their families, by their fathers’ house, with the number of names, from twenty years old and up, everyone going out to the army,
31the tribe of Zebulun’s counts were fifty-seven thousand four hundred.
32For the children of Joseph:
For the children of Ephraim: by their records, by their families, by their fathers’ house, with the number of names, from twenty years old and up, everyone going out to the army,
33the tribe of Ephraim’s counts were forty thousand five hundred.
34For the children of Manasseh: by their records, by their families, by their fathers’ house, with the number of names, from twenty years old and up, everyone going out to the army,
35the tribe of Manasseh’s counts were thirty-two thousand two hundred.
36For the children of Benjamin: by their records, by their families, by their fathers’ house, with the number of names, from twenty years old and up, everyone going out to the army,
37the tribe of Benjamin’s counts were thirty-five thousand four hundred.
38For the children of Dan: by their records, by their families, by their fathers’ house, with the number of names, from twenty years old and up, everyone going out to the army,
39the tribe of Dan’s counts were sixty-two thousand seven hundred.
40For the children of Asher: by their records, by their families, by their fathers’ house, with the number of names, from twenty years old and up, everyone going out to the army,
41the tribe of Asher’s counts were forty-one thousand five hundred.
42The children of Naphtali: by their records, by their families, by their fathers’ house, with the number of names, from twenty years old and up, everyone going out to the army,
43the tribe of Naphtali’s counts were fifty-three thousand four hundred.
44These are the counts that Moses and Aaron and Israel’s chieftains made. (They were twelve men, one each for his fathers’ house.)
45And they were all of the counts of the children of Israel, by their fathers’ house, from twenty years old and up, everyone going out to the army in Israel.
46And all of the counts were six hundred three thousand five hundred fifty.
47And the Levites, by their fathers’ tribe, were not counted among them,
48for YHWH spoke to Moses, saying,
49“Except: you shall not count the tribe of Levi, and you shall not add up their heads among the children of Israel.
50And you: appoint the Levites over the Tabernacle of the Testimony and over all its equipment and over everything it has. They shall carry the Tabernacle and all its equipment, and they shall attend to it, and they shall camp around the Tabernacle.
51And when the Tabernacle travels, the Levites shall take it down; and when the Tabernacle camps, the Levites shall set it up. And an outsider who comes close shall be put to death.
52And the children of Israel shall camp, each at his camp, each at his flag, by their army units,
1:52. flag. Hebrew degel refers to some visible sign of the group to which each Israelite belongs: a standard, banner, or flag of some sort.
53and the Levites shall camp all around the Tabernacle of the Testimony, so there will not be a rage on the congregation of the children of Israel, and the Levites shall keep the charge of the Tabernacle of the Testimony.”
1:53. a rage. The Levites are to form a protective barrier to prevent anyone from violating the Tabernacle, its equipment, and its functions. When such a violation occurs in the Korah rebellion and its aftermath, such a rage occurs, producing a plague that Aaron prevents from spreading (Num 17:11); and then the Levites are again commanded to perform this protective function (18:2–5).
54And the children of Israel did according to everything that YHWH had commanded Moses. They did so.
