Title: God's Faithfulness
God's faithfulness
Numbers 26:1-65 (1-4,51,62-65)
God is faithful and always keeps His promises. God had promised the Israelites the land of Canaan long ago as an inheritance. So God brought them out of Egypt and led them through the wilderness. But in the wilderness, the Israelites suffered God's wrath for their unbelief and disobedience, and many people died. In chapter 25, just before the Baal-peor incident, 24,000 people were killed. Even before that, many people died while rebelling against God. But if the people who will inherit the land of Canaan die like this, how can the Israelites take possession of the land? The record of the census in the text clears away these doubts. And it shows that God's faithfulness shines brightly and beautifully like a rainbow in all these events and history.
Our God is faithful. God will surely do what He says. The God who showed his faithfulness in the history of Israel is still faithful to us today. Are you always convinced of God's faithfulness and live by experience?
after the plague
Verse 1 says, “After the plague”. “After the plague, the Lord spoke to Moses and to Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, saying,” These words refer to the Baal-peor incident, in which 24,000 people died. 38 years ago, the Israelites decided not to enter the land of Canaan after hearing reports of unbelief from spies at Kadesh-Barnea. And while blaming God and Moses, he asked to appoint another leader and return to Egypt. God was angry with them and said that no one over the age of 20 at that time would enter the land of Canaan. Then they went out into the wilderness again and had to wander for 40 years. During those 40 years, everyone over the age of 20 died. In the last case of Baal-peor in chapter 25, all those who rebelled against God in Kadesh-Barnea, complaining that they could not enter Canaan, and all those who clamored died. How many people have died so far? More than 600,000 people died in the wilderness. So many people have died, so how on earth were there still those who would enter the land of Canaan?
God has commanded a census after many people have died from the plague. “Count the number of all the congregation of the children of Israel according to their ancestral houses, and count all those who are twenty years old and older in Israel who are able to go to war” (verse 2). It shows that although more than 600,000 (two million) died in the wilderness in 38 years, God still had enough people ready to conquer the land of Canaan.
the second census
Forty years ago, God commanded the people of Israel to take a census when they came out of Egypt and encamped in the wilderness (Numbers 1-3). God's command of the census was a theocratic and political act that showed that God was King of Israel.
In Israel, the census was always done by God's command. This means that only God is their Lord and King. Later, David was disciplined by God for taking a census even though God had not commanded him. David, not according to God's command, wanted to show off his mighty military power and kingship and to feel satisfied, so he carried out the census despite the persuasion of his servants. This event confirmed once again that the true king of Israel was not David, but God.
The first census was to organize Israel into an army in the wilderness. However, after all the people who were counted at that time died, the census was conducted again. Again, the purpose of reorganizing the army was to count those over the age of 20 who could go to war. But the census had a more important purpose than that. It was to distribute the land when they entered the land of Canaan. God took a population count for each tribe so that the corporations were divided fairly in proportion to the population.
Lessons learned from the second census
The results of the second census were as follows.
tribal name
1st Investigation
Second Investigation
increase/decrease
tribal name
1st Investigation
Second Investigation
increase/decrease
Reuben
46,500
43,730
2,770
Manasseh
32,200
52,700
+ 20,500
Simeon
59,300
22,200
37,100
benjamin
35,400
45,600
+ 10,200
lampshade
45,650
40,500
5,150
only
62,700
64,400
+ 1,700
Judah
74,600
76,500
+ 1,900
Asher
41,500
53,400
+ 11,900
Issachar
54,400
64,300
+ 9,900
Naphtali
53,400
45,400
1,820
Zebulun
57,400
60,500
+ 3,100
Ephraim
40,500
32,500
8,000
system
603,550
601,730
1,820
* Leviticus 22,000 → 23,000 + 1,000
Despite many deaths, the second census results were similar in overall numbers to the first. The Israelites have been wandering in the wild and barren wilderness for the past 38 years, but their population has hardly decreased. How could more than two million people survive for 40 years in a wilderness with no food or anything they need to live? It was by the grace and power of God. Israel had now finished all the trials and trials in the wilderness.
If you look at the results of the second census, the total number of Israelis is almost the same as at the first census. There were only 1,820 fewer