Numbers chapter 26

After reading chapter 26

*This chapter contains the numbers of a second census of men twenty years and older who are able to serve in the army, taken after the plague in chapter 25. Remember, this is approximately 40 years after the first census. It does not include women, children, and Levites. The tribe of Rueben was down by 2,770. The tribe of Simeon was down by 27,100! The tribe of Gad was down by 5,150. The tribe of Judah was increased by 1,900. The tribe of Issachar increased by 9,900. The tribe of Zebulon increased by3,100. The tribe of Manasseh increased by 20,500! The tribe of Ephraim decreased by 12,000. The tribe of Benjamin increased by 10,200. The tribe of Dan increased by 1,700. The tribe of Asher increased by 11,900. The tribe of Naphtali decreased by 8,000.

*According to verse 51, there was a net loss of 1,820 fighting men.  Not bad for 40 years in the wilderness. The above numbers were nice and even again. They were also very suggestive. The large number lost to the tribe of Simeon might be accounted for  by the various punishments Yahweh meted out to those that were disobedient.

*Yahweh tells Moses that the promised land is to be portioned out according to the size of the tribe. The bigger the tribe, the more land. Within the tribes, the land was to be distributed by lot, essentially drawing straws. The largest tribe was Judah, of course.

*The Levites, males a month old or more, were counted last. They had increased by exactly 1,000. Amazing. Supposedly, not one of the current population of Israelites was of the group counted by Moses and Aaron, except Caleb and Joshua. (And Moses) Which would have to mean there were no men over the age of 60 at this time.