Matthew Henry on Numbers 1:1-16
I. We have here a commission issued out for the numbering of the people of Israel; and David, long after, paid dearly for doing it without a commission. Here is,
1. The date of this commission, Num 1:1. (1.) The place: it is given at God's court in the wilderness of Sinai, from his royal palace, the tabernacle of the congregation. (2.) The time: In the second year after they came up out of Egypt; we may call it the second year of that reign. The laws in Leviticus were given in the first month of that year; these orders were given in the beginning of the second month.
2. The directions given for the execution of it, Num 1:2, Num 1:3. (1.) None were to be numbered but the males, and those only…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Numbers 1:3
Aaron shall number them by their armies--or companies. In their departure from Egypt they were divided into five grand companies (Exo 13:18), but from the sojourn in the wilderness to the passage of the Jordan, they were formed into four great divisions. The latter is here referred to.
John Gill on Numbers 1:3
From twenty years old and upwards,.... All that had entered into their twentieth year, or, as it should rather seem, who were full twenty years of age, and all that were above it without any limitation; though some limit it to fifty, and others to sixty years, when men may be reasonably excused going to war; for to know who were fit for it seems to be a principal design of this order, as follows:
all that are able to go forth to war in Israel; who being about to journey, might expect to meet with enemies, with whom they would be obliged to engage in battle; and therefore it was proper to know their strength, and whom to call out upon occasion: Aben Ezra observes, that the phrase "in Israel"…
Read the whole note in the consoleJohn Calvin on Numbers 1:1-19
And the Lord spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai Although this is the first numbering of the people, of which we have an account, still, inasmuch as God had already imposed a tax upon every person, the amount of which has been recorded, we infer that it was in fact the second. But the reason for thus numbering the people a second time was, because they were very soon about to remove their camp from the wilderness of Sinai to take posession of the promised land. Since, however, their impiety withheld thmn from doing so, there was a third census taken just before their actual entrance into the land, and with this object, that it might be obvious, on comparison, how marvellously the peo…
