Numbers 1

The code name for the enterprise was “Operation Overlord.” The more popular name was

“D-Day”—June 6, 1943, when the combined Allied forces landed on Omaha Beach and signaled the beginning of the end of the war in Europe. It was the largest assembly of military personnel and materiel in the history of warfare. Historian Samuel Eliot Morison wrote, “The Allied forces of soldiers, sailors, aviators and supporting services amounted to 2. million men in England.”

Moses was about to launch his own “Operation Overlord,” and his greatest desire was that Jehovah, the Lord of Hosts, truly be Lord over the whole enterprise. More than 2 million Jews were anticipating entering Canaan, conquering the inhabitants, claiming the land, and enjoying their promised inheritance. But before all of this could happen, Moses had to organize this assembly of former slaves who had been enjoying their freedom for only a year. It wasn’t an easy task.

His preparation for conquest involved four stages:

celebrating the Passover (9:1–14), numbering the soldiers (chap. 1), organizing the tribes (chap. 2), and assigning the priestly duties (chaps. 3—4).

The second month of the second year, thirteen months after the Exodus, Israel had to start preparing for battle. If Genesis is the book of beginnings and Exodus the book of redemption, then Numbers is the book of warfare. The Jews were in enemy territory, marching toward the land God would help them conquer, and they had to organize for confrontation and conflict. The phrase “able to go forth to war” is used fourteen times in this chapter. If God were to number the believers in the church today according to their ability to wage spiritual warfare, we wonder how big the army would be.

The order given (vv. 1–3). Over 150 times in the book of Numbers, it’s recorded that God spoke to Moses and gave him instructions to share with the people. In fact, Numbers opens with God speaking to His servant, and it closes with a reminder that God had spoken to Israel through Moses (36:13). One of the Hebrew names for this book is “And He spoke,” taken from Numbers 1:1. Apart from the revelation of God’s will, Israel would not have known what to do or where to camp. “You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron” (Ps. 77: nkjv).

God’s command was that Moses, Aaron, and the tribal leaders take a census of the men who were available to serve in the army. Israel’s army wasn’t made up of volunteers, for each able-bodied man, twenty years of age or older, was expected to take his place and serve the Lord and the people.

Some people are disturbed by the emphasis on warfare in certain parts of the Bible, and a few denominations have even removed from their hymnals militant songs like “Onward, Christian Soldiers.” But their fears and criticisms are unfounded. “The Lord is a man of war” (Ex. 15:3) when it comes to punishing sin and removing evil. The nations that Israel destroyed in Canaan were living in abominable moral filth and sinning against a flood of light, and the Lord had been longsuffering with them (Gen. 15:13–16; Rom. 1:18ff.). Would anybody today criticize a surgeon for removing a cancerous life-threatening tumor from a patient’s body? Yet that’s what God did for society when He used Israel to judge the degenerate nations in Canaan.

Furthermore, the military image is used frequently in the New Testament, even by Jesus (Matt. 16:18) and especially by Paul (Rom. 8:31; Eph. 6:10–18; 2 Cor. 10:3–5; 1 Cor. 9:7; 2 Tim. 2:1–4). The Christian life is a battleground, not a playground, and there’s an enemy to fight and territory to gain for the Lord. God declared war on Satan long ago (Gen. 3:15), and there can be no neutrality in this spiritual conflict, for Jesus said, “He that is not with me is against me” (Matt. 12:30).

The leaders appointed (vv. 4–16). Moses and Aaron were assisted in the census by the appointed leader of each tribe. These tribal leaders are also named in chapters 2; 7; and 10. It wasn’t difficult to make the count because the nation was organized by households, families (clans), and tribes (Josh. 7:14), and there were rulers for each unit of ten, one hundred, and one thousand Israelites (Ex. 18:21). Note that Nahshon (Num. 1:7) was in the family tree of David (Ruth 4:20–22) and therefore an ancestor of Christ (Matt. 1:4). Note also that each person had to prove his lineage (Num. 1:18) so that no unqualified outsider entered the army of the Lord.

The numbers recorded (vv. 17–26). The numbers are rounded off to the nearest hundred, except the report from Gad, which is rounded off to fifty (vv. 24–25). The total number of warriors from age twenty and upward was 603,550 (v. 46). Except for Joshua and Caleb, all these men died during Israel’s years of wandering in the wilderness. The second census totaled 601,730 men (26:51), an army that entered the land and claimed the inheritance.

The Levites exempted (vv. 47–54). The three sons of Levi were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari (Gen. 46:11); Moses and Aaron were descendants of Kohath (Num. 3:14–24), and Aaron was the first high priest. Only the sons of Aaron were allowed to minister at the altar (vv. 1–4) and the Levites assisted the priests in their ministry. Supervised by the high priest, the Levites dismantled the tabernacle when the camp relocated, carried the various tabernacle parts, furnishings, and vessels during the march, and then erected the tabernacle at the new location.

The Levites camped around the tabernacle, which stood in the center of the camp, with Kohath on the south, Merari on the north, and Gershon on the west. Moses and Aaron camped on the east, at the gate of the tabernacle. In this way, the Levites protected the tabernacle from intruders and, being next to the tabernacle, would see when the cloud signaled that the camp was going to move.

Because of their important ministry as assistants to the priests, the Levites were exempted from military duty. The tabernacle was the most important structure in the entire camp, and only the priests and Levites could attend to it. Therefore, they weren’t counted in the military census. Worship and warfare may seem unrelated, but in God’s economy, they go together. One of the major themes of the book of Revelation is God’s warfare against evil on earth and His receiving worship in heaven. Unless the people of God are right with the Lord in their worship, they can’t face their enemies and defeat them in warfare. “Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand” (Ps. 149:6).