The Census of Israel

Numbers 1

YHWH spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of Meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, “Y’all must take a census of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, by their ancestral houses, according to the number of the names, every male, head by head, from twenty years old and upward, all who are able to go out to war in Israel. You and Aaron are to count them by their divisions. A man of every tribe is to be with y’all, each one head of his ancestral house. These are the names of the men who are to stand with y’all:

Of Reuben: Elizur the son of Shedeur.

Of Simeon: Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai.

Of Judah: Nahshon the son of Amminadab.

Of Issachar: Nethanel the son of Zuar.

Of Zebulun: Eliab the son of Helon.

Of the children of Joseph: of Ephraim: Elishama the son of Ammihud; of Manasseh: Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur.

Of Benjamin: Abidan the son of Gideoni.

Of Dan: Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai.

Of Asher: Pagiel the son of Ochran.

Of Gad: Eliasaph the son of Deuel.

Of Naphtali: Ahira the son of Enan.”

These are those who were called of the congregation, the leaders of the tribes of their fathers; they were the heads of the thousands of Israel. Moses and Aaron took these men who are mentioned by name. They assembled all the congregation together on the first day of the second month; and they declared their ancestry by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, one by one. As YHWH commanded Moses, so he counted them in the wilderness of Sinai.

The children of Reuben, Israel’s firstborn, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, one by one, every male from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war: those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Reuben, were forty-six thousand five hundred.

Of the children of Simeon, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, those who were counted of it, according to the number of the names, one by one, every male from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war: those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Simeon, were fifty-nine thousand three hundred.

Of the children of Gad, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war: those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Gad, were forty-five thousand six hundred fifty.

Of the children of Judah, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war: those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Judah, were seventy-four thousand six hundred.

Of the children of Issachar, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war: those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Issachar, were fifty-four thousand four hundred.

Of the children of Zebulun, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war: those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Zebulun, were fifty-seven thousand four hundred.

Of the children of Joseph: of the children of Ephraim, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war: those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Ephraim, were forty thousand five hundred.

Of the children of Manasseh, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war: those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Manasseh, were thirty-two thousand two hundred.

Of the children of Benjamin, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war: those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Benjamin, were thirty-five thousand four hundred.

Of the children of Dan, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war: those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Dan, were sixty-two thousand seven hundred.

Of the children of Asher, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war: those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Asher, were forty-one thousand five hundred.

Of the children of Naphtali, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war: those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Naphtali, were fifty-three thousand four hundred.

These are those who were counted, whom Moses and Aaron counted, and the twelve men who were leaders of Israel, each one for his fathers’ house. So all those who were counted of the children of Israel by their fathers’ houses, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war in Israel— all those who were counted were six hundred three thousand five hundred fifty.

Exemption of the Levites

The Levites, however, according to their ancestral tribe were not counted among them. For YHWH spoke to Moses, saying, “Only you must not count the tribe of Levi, or take a census of them among the children of Israel. Instead appoint the Levites over the Tabernacle of the Testimony, and over all its furnishings, and over all that belongs to it. They are to carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings, take care of it, and encamp around it. When the tabernacle is to move, the Levites must take it down. When the tabernacle is to be set up, the Levites must set it up. The stranger who comes near must be put to death. The children of Israel are to camp by their divisions, each man in his own camp, and each man by his standard. But the Levites are to camp around the Tabernacle of the Testimony, so that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the children of Israel. The Levites are responsible for the Tabernacle of the Testimony.”

Thus the children of Israel did. According to all that YHWH commanded Moses, so they did.