Tag: take a census

Read Numbers 26:1-65

All the people camped near Moab ready to enter the Promised Land were related. Their patriarch was Jacob, and each of his twelve sons are represented by descendants recorded here. A census is the best way to keep track of this huge family. You may recall at the beginning of the book of Numbers a census was taken to register the people of Israel coming out of Egypt. Since that time, as God declared, all but two of those people on the original roster have died. Joshua and Caleb are the exceptions, and how they will be used by God is yet to be seen. We can follow his story as the successor to Moses in the book of Joshua. The circle of life can be a beautiful thing.

God was getting the people ready for the final leg of their pilgrimage through the wilderness. The number of people in this moment would be memorialized for all time. How many people survived the journey? That was the question being answered by this registration process. How many men would there be to fight the battles ahead? As it turns out, there were fewer than previously counted. Continue reading “Numbers 26:1-65 – What a Big Family!”