Catholic Commentary on Numbers 1

"The Israelites did all this just as the LORD commanded Moses." (Numbers 1:54)

The Book of Numbers

Numbers takes its name from the two censuses it records, but its Hebrew title, Bemidbar, in the wilderness, better captures its spirit. It is the book of the long middle: the years between Sinai and the promised land, the testing of a people who have received the Law but must now learn to live by it on the road. Numbers is full of failure and grace, rebellion and mercy, the slow shaping of a covenant community for the inheritance that awaits them.

God commands Moses to take a census of the whole Israelite community by their clans and families, listing every man twenty years old and over who is able to serve in the army. The total of all the Israelites counted is 603,550, excluding the Levites who are appointed to care for the tabernacle. The census is both practical, establishing the military strength of the nation, and theological, confirming that the promise to Abraham of innumerable descendants is being fulfilled. Each tribe is counted by name, each family registered, each person acknowledged. The Catechism draws from this careful counting the principle of the dignity of the individual within the community: God does not deal with masses but with named persons (CCC 357). The Israelites did all this just as the LORD commanded Moses.

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, you are counted. The census of Numbers is not bureaucratic exercise but the registration of a redeemed people, each one known and numbered before God. Jesus will say that even the hairs of your head are numbered. The God who counted every Israelite in the wilderness counts you as one who belongs to his covenant people. You are not lost in the crowd. You are registered by name.

Prayer

Lord God, you counted your people in the wilderness and knew each one by name. You know our names. Count us among your redeemed and appoint us to our place in your purposes, as you appointed each tribe to its place around the tabernacle. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Numbers
1
The First Census of Israel
(Numbers 26:1–4)
1 On the first day of the second month of the second year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt, the LORD spoke to Moses in the Tent of Meeting in the Wilderness of Sinai. He said: 2 “Take a census of the whole congregation of Israel by their clans and families, listing every man by name, one by one.
 
3 You and Aaron are to number those who are twenty years of age or older by their divisions—everyone who can serve in Israel’s army. 4 And one man from each tribe, the head of each family, must be there with you.
The Leaders of the Tribes
 
5 These are the names of the men who are to assist you:
 
From the tribe of Reuben, Elizur son of Shedeur;
 
6 from Simeon, Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai;
 
7 from Judah, Nahshon son of Amminadab;
 
8 from Issachar, Nethanel son of Zuar;
 
9 from Zebulun, Eliab son of Helon;
 
10 from the sons of Joseph:
 
from Ephraim, Elishama son of Ammihud,
 
and from Manasseh, Gamaliel son of Pedahzur;
 
11 from Benjamin, Abidan son of Gideoni;
 
12 from Dan, Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai;
 
13 from Asher, Pagiel son of Ocran;
 
14 from Gad, Eliasaph son of Deuel;
 
15 and from Naphtali, Ahira son of Enan.”
 
16 These men were appointed from the congregation; they were the leaders of the tribes of their fathers, the heads of the clans of Israel.
The Number of Every Tribe
 
17 So Moses and Aaron took these men who had been designated by name, 18 and on the first day of the second month they assembled the whole congregation and recorded their ancestry by clans and families, counting one by one the names of those twenty years of age or older, 19 just as the LORD had commanded Moses.
 
So Moses numbered them in the Wilderness of Sinai:
 
20 From the sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, according to the records of their clans and families, counting one by one the names of every male twenty years of age or older who could serve in the army, 21 those registered to the tribe of Reuben numbered 46,500.
 
22 From the sons of Simeon, according to the records of their clans and families, counting one by one the names of every male twenty years of age or older who could serve in the army, 23 those registered to the tribe of Simeon numbered 59,300.
 
24 From the sons of Gad, according to the records of their clans and families, counting the names of all those twenty years of age or older who could serve in the army, 25 those registered to the tribe of Gad numbered 45,650.
 
26 From the sons of Judah, according to the records of their clans and families, counting the names of all those twenty years of age or older who could serve in the army, 27 those registered to the tribe of Judah numbered 74,600.
 
28 From the sons of Issachar, according to the records of their clans and families, counting the names of all those twenty years of age or older who could serve in the army, 29 those registered to the tribe of Issachar numbered 54,400.
 
30 From the sons of Zebulun, according to the records of their clans and families, counting the names of all those twenty years of age or older who could serve in the army, 31 those registered to the tribe of Zebulun numbered 57,400.
 
32 From the sons of Joseph:
 
From the sons of Ephraim, according to the records of their clans and families, counting the names of all those twenty years of age or older who could serve in the army, 33 those registered to the tribe of Ephraim numbered 40,500.
 
34 And from the sons of Manasseh, according to the records of their clans and families, counting the names of all those twenty years of age or older who could serve in the army, 35 those registered to the tribe of Manasseh numbered 32,200.
 
36 From the sons of Benjamin, according to the records of their clans and families, counting the names of all those twenty years of age or older who could serve in the army, 37 those registered to the tribe of Benjamin numbered 35,400.
 
38 From the sons of Dan, according to the records of their clans and families, counting the names of all those twenty years of age or older who could serve in the army, 39 those registered to the tribe of Dan numbered 62,700.
 
40 From the sons of Asher, according to the records of their clans and families, counting the names of all those twenty years of age or older who could serve in the army, 41 those registered to the tribe of Asher numbered 41,500.
 
42 From the sons of Naphtali, according to the records of their clans and families, counting the names of all those twenty years of age or older who could serve in the army, 43 those registered to the tribe of Naphtali numbered 53,400.
 
44 These were the men numbered by Moses and Aaron, with the assistance of the twelve leaders of Israel, each one representing his family. 45 So all the Israelites twenty years of age or older who could serve in Israel’s army were counted according to their families. 46 And all those counted totaled 603,550.
The Exemption of the Levites
 
47 The Levites, however, were not numbered along with them by the tribe of their fathers. 48 For the LORD had said to Moses: 49 “Do not number the tribe of Levi in the census with the other Israelites. 50 Instead, you are to appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the Testimony, all its furnishings, and everything in it. They shall carry the tabernacle and all its articles, care for it, and camp around it.
 
51 Whenever the tabernacle is to move, the Levites are to take it down, and whenever it is to be pitched, the Levites are to set it up. Any outsider who goes near it must be put to death.
 
52 The Israelites are to camp by their divisions, each man in his own camp and under his own standard. 53 But the Levites are to camp around the tabernacle of the Testimony and watch over it, so that no wrath will fall on the congregation of Israel. So the Levites are responsible for the tabernacle of the Testimony.”
 
54 Thus the Israelites did everything just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

Public Domain