Numbers part 2

 In the last post I talked about the going through the book of numbers, I could see four points that needed to be made. I started in part one by going over the first census and then I followed that with why the old generation would not inherit the promised land. That leaves the second census and the new generation inheriting the promised land. Let's look at Numbers chapter 26 to read about the second census.

Chapter 26

The Second Registration of Israel’s Troops

After the plague had ended, the LORD said to Moses and to Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, 2 “From the whole community of Israel, record the names of all the warriors by their families. List all the men twenty years old or older who are able to go to war.” 

3 So there on the plains of Moab beside the Jordan River, across from Jericho, Moses and Eleazar the priest issued these instructions to the leaders of Israel: 4 “List all the men of Israel twenty years old and older, just as the LORD commanded Moses.” 

This is the record of all the descendants of Israel who came out of Egypt. 

And now the results:

Results of the Registration

51 In summary, the registered troops of all Israel numbered 601,730. 

52 Then the LORD said to Moses, 53 “Divide the land among the tribes, and distribute the grants of land in proportion to the tribes’ populations, as indicated by the number of names on the list. 54 Give the larger tribes more land and the smaller tribes less land, each group receiving a grant in proportion to the size of its population. 55 But you must assign the land by lot, and give land to each ancestral tribe according to the number of names on the list. 56 Each grant of land must be assigned by lot among the larger and smaller tribal groups.” 

Now that we have a total number of people, we can start to figure out where to put everyone. Now we just need to figure out who is going to lead them. Let's look at Numbers 27:12-23

Joshua Chosen to Lead Israel

12 One day the LORD said to Moses, “Climb one of the mountains east of the river, and look out over the land I have given the people of Israel. 13 After you have seen it, you will die like your brother, Aaron, 14 for you both rebelled against my instructions in the wilderness of Zin. When the people of Israel rebelled, you failed to demonstrate my holiness to them at the waters.” (These are the waters of Meribah at Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.) 

15 Then Moses said to the LORD, 16 “O LORD, you are the God who gives breath to all creatures. Please appoint a new man as leader for the community. 17 Give them someone who will guide them wherever they go and will lead them into battle, so the community of the LORD will not be like sheep without a shepherd.” 

18 The LORD replied, “Take Joshua son of Nun, who has the Spirit in him, and lay your hands on him. 19 Present him to Eleazar the priest before the whole community, and publicly commission him to lead the people. 20 Transfer some of your authority to him so the whole community of Israel will obey him. 21 When direction from the LORD is needed, Joshua will stand before Eleazar the priest, who will use the Urim—one of the sacred lots cast before the LORD—to determine his will. This is how Joshua and the rest of the community of Israel will determine everything they should do.” 

22 So Moses did as the LORD commanded. He presented Joshua to Eleazar the priest and the whole community. 23 Moses laid his hands on him and commissioned him to lead the people, just as the LORD had commanded through Moses. 

This going to be a fairly short post, but I wanted to lay some groundwork for the book of Deuteronomy. We looked at the second census and we are starting to see the people prepare for entering into the promised land. The rest of the book focuses on offerings, boundaries and leaders. Leviticus and Numbers are not the most exciting books, but they are setting everything up to enter the promised land. When we talk about God's chosen people, We knew that we somehow had to go from Egypt to the promised land and we also knew that somehow along the way, things had to happen to separate these people from being just like everyone else.