Numbers 1-2
05 Sep 2026 - Theology
Numbering the People
Numbers 1
The book of Numbers is called “Numbers” in English because it begins with the counting or numbering of the people:
Numbers 1:1-3 - “And the Lord spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of the congregation, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying, Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel… every male by their polls; From twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel: thou and Aaron shall number them by their armies.”
What follows is a list of the tribes and the head of each tribe. This count includes only males that are at least 20 years old and able to bear arms for war:
- Reuben - 46,500
- Simeon - 59,300
- Gad - 45,650
- Judah - 74,600
- Issachar - 54,400
- Zebulun - 57,400
- Ephraim - 40,500
- Manasseh - 32,200
- Benjamin - 35,400
- Dan - 62,700
- Asher - 41,500
- Naphtali - 53,400
Numbers 1:46 - “Even all they that were numbered were six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty [603,550].”
Historians tell us that if this were true, there would have been more than 2 million Israelites wandering in the wilderness! Surely only the Lord could provide enough food and water for such a mass of people in the desert wilderness.
The Levites (members of the tribe of Levi) were not recorded among them in this census. They were to be put in charge of the Tabernacle.
Numbers 1:50-51 - “But thou shalt appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of testimony, and over all the vessels thereof, and over all things that belong to it: they shall bear the tabernacle, and all the vessels thereof; and they shall minister unto it, and shall encamp round about the tabernacle. And when the tabernacle setteth forward, the Levites shall take it down: and when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.”
Numbers 2
The Lord commanded Moses and Aaron to give each tribe a place around the Tabernacle to set up its flag (“the ensign of their father’s house”) and place its camp. (1-2)
Another list repeats the same numbers as before, again totaling the Israelites ready to be warriors as 603,550.
East:
- Judah
- Issachar
- Zebulun
“These shall first set forth” (9).
South:
- Reuben
- Simeon
- Gad
“And they shall set forth in the second rank” (16).
Numbers 2:17 - “Then the tabernacle of the congregation shall set forward with the camp of the Levites in the midst of the camp: as they encamp, so shall they set forward, every man in his place by their standards.”
West:
- Ephraim
- Manasseh
- Benjamin
“And they shall go forward in the third rank” (24).
North:
- Dan
- Asher
- Naphtali
“They shall go hindmost with their standards” (31).
Each tribe now had its own campsite around the Tabernacle, and each tribe knew where to march when the Israelites were on the move.
Numbers 2:32 - “These are those which were numbered of the children of Israel by the house of their fathers: all those that were numbered of the camps throughout their hosts were six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty [603,550].”
Here we see the total number of Israelites in the congregation is repeated. This number only counts males that are at least 20 years old, and who are able to bear arms for war.
Numbers 2:33-34 - “But the Levites were not numbered among the children of Israel; as the Lord commanded Moses. And the children of Israel did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses: so they pitched by their standards, and so they set forward, every one after their families, according to the house of their fathers.”
The Tabernacle, or Tent of Meeting?
Depending on the translation of the Bible that you use, you may see either “the Tabernacle” (Mishkan) or “the Tent of Meeting” (Ohel Moed) used. Sometimes both names are used and seem to be referrencing the same thing. So it is time to answer the question: Are the Tent of Meeting and the Tabernacle the same, or are they different?
In multiple verses in Numbers 2 (and depending on translation), the Torah states that the Tent of Meeting is inside the Israelite camp.
Numbers 2:2 (NIV) - “The Israelites are to camp around the tent of meeting some distance from it, each of them under their standard and holding the banners of their family.”
Numbers 2:17 (NIV) - “Then the tent of meeting and the camp of the Levites will set out in the middle of the camps…”
In Exodus, the Torah states that the Tent of Meeting was placed outside of the camp by Moses:
Exodus 33:7 (NIV) - “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.”
Exodus 33:7 (KJV) - “And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that every one which sought the Lord went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp.”
Is this just a translation issue, or is there something more here?
Many scholars think the Tent of Meeting was just a simple tent, different from the ornate Tabernacle. They believe that the Tent of Meeting set up outside the camp was a temporary tent, which lasted just until the Tabernacle was constructed according to the Lord’s specifications. Then the Tabernacle came to be known by two names which were used interchangeably to mean the same thing - “the tabernacle”, and “the Tent of Meeting”.
Other scholars believe there were two different versions of the years of wandering, one using the Tabernacle, and the other using the Tent of Meeting, and that these two tellings were later combined into one story. The Torah never gives a clear answer.
References
- The Hebrew - Greek Key Study Bible (KJV Version)
- The Torah Portion-by-Portion by Rabbi Seymour Rossel (2007)