Title: Second Census/Numbers 26:1∼65
Content 50. Second Census
Numbers 26:1-65
Now, it seems that the time for the Israelites to finish their long journey in the wilderness and conquer Canaan is near. God calls Moses and Eleazar son of Aaron to reorganize the army to conquer the Promised Land and to conduct a second census for the purpose of distributing the land of Canaan by tribe.
“Now, take a census of the people of Israel. Let them search by tribe for those who are 20 years old or older who can go to war.
As a result of the second census conducted in the plains of Moab (total of 601,730 people), a total of 1,000 You will find that 820 people have decreased. Looking at this by tribe, we can see that the number of the five tribes, including Judah Issachar, Zebulun, Manasseh, Benjamin, Dan, and Asher, has decreased.
Among them, the one that draws our attention is the tribe of Simeon. This is because the number of people in the population of 59,300 at the first census decreased by 37,100 to 22,200 at the second census. Why have so many been reduced?
It is deeply related to the sin of the tribe of Simeon. Shimei, the head of the tribe of Simeon, will remember the fornication of Baal-peor (Chapter 25). As a result of that incident, as many as 24,000 people of the Simeon tribe who died from the plague were an absolute factor in the population decline.
The second census was ostensibly down 0.3% from the first census. This fact cannot take away the impression that God's promise to Abraham to be fruitful and prosperous has waned. However, we have discovered that this has something to do with Israel's sin.
Isn't the recent decline in the number of Korean church members also because of our sins?