Synopsis of the Chapter
The Hebrews, about to enter the holy land, are numbered from twenty years and above, by individual tribes, so that the land may be divided among them.
Verse 1: The Lord Said to Moses and Eleazar ¶
1. After the blood of the guilty (those who fornicated with the daughters of Moab and Midian, in the preceding chapter) had been shed, the Lord said to Moses and Eleazar. -- "He said," namely through the pillar of cloud, resting over the entrance of the tabernacle, but not from the propitiatory and the Holy of Holies; for although Moses could enter it whenever he needed to consult God about some matter of doubt, yet Eleazar the high priest could enter it only once a year, namely on the feast of Expiation, according to the law of Leviticus xvi, 2 and 19.
Verse 2: Number the Entire Sum of the Children of Israel ¶
2. Number the entire sum of the children of Israel -- from twenty years and above. -- This was the third general census of the whole people: for the first was taken for the construction of the tabernacle, Exodus xxx, 12, and xxxviii, 25. The second, when the battle lines were arranged for fighting and for encampment, Numbers i and ii: both were done in the second year after the departure from Egypt, at Sinai. The third was done here, in the fortieth year, when they were just about to enter the promised land, so that it could be suitably divided and distributed among the tribes according to the number of each. For it is ridiculous what Rabbi Solomon says, that God did here as a shepherd does who counts his flock which a wolf has ravaged, so that from the number of survivors he may know how many have perished and been seized.
Wherefore all who are numbered here are different from those who were numbered in the second year, Numbers i and ii; for all those had already perished, on account of the murmuring of the spies at Kadesh-barnea, about which see ch. xiv, as is clear from this chapter, verse 64.
Besides these three, there was a fourth census, but a special one, of the firstborn and the Levites, about which see ch. iii, verses 15 and 40.
From twenty years and above -- because these alone were fit for arms and war, which was shortly to be waged with the Canaanites upon entering Canaan. Therefore only warriors are numbered here, and these alone divided the land of Canaan among themselves: those under twenty years, therefore, just as they were not numbered and were not fit for war, so neither did they enter into the inheritance of the land of Canaan on their own, as is clear from verse 53.
Verse 3: Moses and Eleazar Spoke ¶
3. Therefore Moses and Eleazar spoke -- namely what the Lord had said, so that all who were to be numbered would arrange themselves by companies and families, that they might conveniently be numbered. This census seems to have been conducted so that they first numbered the families of each tribe, then the households of each family, and finally the heads of each household.
Over the Jordan -- that is, near the Jordan: so it is said that Jesus, standing over, that is, near her, commanded the fever, Luke iv, 39.
Verse 5: Reuben, the Firstborn of Israel ¶
5. Reuben, the firstborn of Israel. -- In this census the order of the standards and battle lines is observed, which was established in ch. ii; yet so that the first standard is Reuben, with his, as the firstborn; the second is Judah's, who was senior to the rest; the third is Ephraim's, who was descended from a free mother, namely Rachel; the fourth is Dan's, with his, who was born of a handmaid, namely Bilhah.
Verse 10: A Great Miracle ¶
10. And it was a great miracle. -- The Hebrew has: they were for a sign, which the Chaldean, Vatablus, and others refer to what precedes, meaning: Korah, Dathan, Abiram, etc., were for a sign, that is, they were an example to the other children of Israel, by which they were taught not to murmur and quarrel against Moses and their superiors.
But because it follows in the Hebrew: And the sons of Korah did not die, hence our translator, more sagaciously, seeing that these words are connected to what precedes, understood this sign to pertain both to these following words and to the preceding ones, and the meaning to be: Korah, Dathan, and Abiram became a sign, that is, an example -- not any ordinary one, but a portentous and miraculous one -- not only because the earth swallowed them, but also because, when Korah perished, his sons did not perish, but hung suspended in the air, because they had not consented to their father's rebellion. For that the sons of Korah were saved by a miracle is clear from the fact that they seem to have been entirely present with their father Korah in the tent, just as the sons of Dathan and Abiram, who perished with their parents; for when Moses came to them, all their sons and servants flocked to the house for so great a matter and dispute, and the parents would not have allowed their sons to be torn from them in this schism, or to leave the house.
Concerning this miracle, and concerning these sons of Korah, I spoke at ch. xvi, 31.
Verse 12: The Sons of Simeon ¶
12. The sons of Simeon -- In Genesis xlvi, 10, and Exodus vi, 15, six sons of Simeon are numbered; but here and in 1 Chronicles iv, 24, only five are numbered: for the sixth, Ohad, is omitted, because he died without children: hence he did not have a family nor a lot in the land of Canaan. Again, his first son, who is here called Nemuel, in Genesis and Exodus is called Jemuel; and he who is there called Zohar, is here called Zerah; for from the Hebrew Zohar, by metathesis, and at the same time by changing the letter tsade to the related zain, it becomes zerach or Zerah; so in other names there is similar variation: for he who here, verse 30, is called Iezer, in Joshua xvii, 2, is called Abiezer, and he who here, verse 24, is called Jashub, elsewhere is called Job.
Note here that the tribe of Simeon had greatly decreased; for in the former census, which was taken in the second year, the count of this tribe was 59,300, as is clear from Numbers ii, 13: but here only 22,200 are numbered: therefore the tribe was diminished by 37,100 members, which most attribute to the last plague, sent on account of fornication with the Midianite women, ch. xxv, 9, which had raged most severely against this tribe, because very many from it had followed their leader Zambri, whom Phinehas killed, and had fornicated with the Midianite women; and this is sufficiently implied in the preceding chapter, last verse, where God commands the Midianites to be attacked on account of the snares and crime of Cozbi, with whom Zambri had fornicated. So Abulensis.
Hence again, the tribe of Simeon, being small, was joined with the tribe of Judah, and received its lot within the lot of Judah, as is clear from Joshua xix, 9. For the tribe of Judah was the largest and strongest: for it contained 76,500 members, as is clear from verse 22. After Judah, the most numerous was the tribe of Dan, with 64,400 members, verse 43; after Dan was Issachar, with 64,300 members, verse 25, etc.
Verse 38: The Sons of Benjamin ¶
38. The sons of Benjamin. -- Here only five sons of Benjamin are numbered, although he had ten, as is clear from Genesis xlvi, 21. Therefore the remaining five of his sons died without children, or the family perished in their descendants.
Verse 44: Jessui and the Jessuites ¶
44. Jessui, from whom the family of the Jessuites. -- At this passage, someone recently aptly shut the mouth of an ignorant heretic who, as is his custom, was abominating the Society of Jesus and the Jesuits, on the ground that their name was not found in the Sacred Scriptures.
Verse 53: The Land Shall Be Divided ¶
53. The land shall be divided among these, according to the number of names, into their possessions. -- That is, in proportion to the number of families and persons, which customarily have different names, the land shall be divided and possessed by each: it is a metonymy, for the word or name is taken for the thing or person named.
Verse 54: To Each a Possession Shall Be Given ¶
54. To each, as they have now been counted, a possession shall be given. -- "To each," namely to individual men, tribes, families, and especially to the heads of families (for this more closely corresponds to the Hebrew text), so that they in turn would divide the lot received among the individual members of their family who are twenty years old.
Verse 57: The Sons of Levi ¶
57. This also is the number of the sons of Levi, according to their families. -- Here only five families of Levi are numbered, although there were eight, as is clear from Exodus vi, 17, 18, 19, and 1 Chronicles xxiii and following, because he here recounts only the principal ones; for here the Levitical families are not formally numbered as the others are, since they were not to receive a lot with the other tribes in Canaan, as is said in verse 62.
Verse 62: Twenty-Three Thousand Levites ¶
62. And all the (Levites) who were numbered were twenty-three thousand, of the male sex, from one month and above. -- Note: Because the Lord had commanded, ch. iii, 41 and 43, that the firstborn of the Hebrews be exchanged for Levites of one month and above, and this in order to match the small number of Levites to the multitude of firstborn, and at the same time to declare the dignity of the Levites: for this reason He here commands them to be numbered again from one month and above, as His own, since they had formerly at that same age served for the redemption of the firstborn; for those who had not yet completed one month did not serve for this redemption, whence they were not counted as Levites, nor did they belong to God, and therefore are not numbered here. The tribe of Levi was little propagated; for it had the fewest members among all the tribes, both in this census and in the former one, Numbers ch. iii, 43.
Verse 65: Only Caleb and Joshua Remained ¶
65. And none remained of them except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. -- Except the Levites; for of them Moses, Eleazar, Ithamar, and probably many others survived, who had been numbered at Sinai and were of mature age at the time of the spies, and easily exceeded the twentieth year. Caleb at this time was 78 years old, as is deduced from Joshua xiv, 7. Joshua was at least 83 years old. For all these things were done in the fortieth and last year of the Hebrews' wandering in the desert, in which Moses died, whom Joshua immediately succeeded, and who at most led the people for 27 years: Joshua died at the age of 110, as is clear from Joshua, last chapter, 29. Subtract from these 110 years of life the 27 years of his leadership, and you will have 83, his age at the year already mentioned, when Moses died and he succeeded Moses in the leadership.
From this it is clear that in these 38 years, as the fathers died, just as many sons had fully grown up to replace them, who, having completed or exceeded the twentieth year, were fit for war. For in this census, 601,730 warriors were found, as is said in verse 51; in the former census, 38 years earlier at the beginning, 603,550 warriors were found, as is said in ch. i, 46. Therefore the former census exceeds this one by only 1,820 persons.
On the Law of Inheritance
I say from the twentieth year, because those under twenty years of age did not enter into the inheritance in Canaan by their own right, but by another's right, namely their father's, if the father had died: whence just as the father, if he had lived, would have had the right to only one lot, so these sons, even if they were many, nevertheless had the right to only one lot -- the one which would have been their father's -- and this so that they might have a livelihood, and not be a burden to their brothers, and so that their name would not perish from their stock. So Abulensis, Question x.
Therefore each daughter, succeeding to her father's lot that had been divided and assigned to her, from among the sons who were born to her would name one after her father; and he would succeed to his inheritance; but the other sons would take the name and inheritance of the husband, and divide it equally. I except the firstborn. For they received a double portion of the inheritance, as is clear from Deuteronomy xxi, 17. Understand these things concerning inheritance properly so called, or immovable property; for the Hebrews could dispose of movable property at their pleasure, and give it to daughters, not to sons, just as they commonly assigned a dowry to their daughters from such goods. For more on the laws of succession among the Hebrews, see Abulensis here.