EPISODE 46 :: NUMBERS 1 THRU 3 :: GOD'S PROMISE TO ABRAHAM IS FULFILLED

NUMBERS

1 THRU 3

NUMBERS 1:2-3 MOSES ORDERED TO TAKE A CENSUS OF THE MALES

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 3from twenty years old and upward, whoever is able to go out to war in Israel, you and Aaron shall number them by their armies.

                A question was raised in my mind which was, “Why did God ask Moses to take this census?”  The answer has been already given to us from the Book of Genesis

1. There are several reasons I’m sure, but one reason was to demonstrate the realization of the promise God made to Abraham which is that God would multiply the seed of Abraham exponentially.  Then a time came when God reintroduced the promise to Jacob by telling him that his seed would be as plentiful as the dust of the earth.  So that there would be no guessing, conjecture or mistake about their number, God wanted Israel to know how vast of an army they had and come to appreciate how God grew their numbers for His glory and their benefit.  Everyone of age had to be counted so that those who were deformed, sick, mentally ill and not fit for battle could be eliminated and thus end up with the exact number of fighting men.  Also, this was an opportunity for Israel to witness the power of God’s providence and the truth of His promise which could be acknowledged by all.  Certainly, they would have to acknowledge this with the understanding that Jacob went down into Egypt as a family of seventy-five souls.