Go to Related Reading
About this book

Numbers

About this book
Chapter 2

1 The Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron: 2 “Every one of the Israelites must camp under his standard with the emblems of his family; they must camp at some distance around the tent of meeting.⁠ 3 “Now those who will be camping on the east, toward the sunrise, are the divisions of the camp of Judah under their standard. The leader of the people of Judah is Nahshon son of Amminadab. 4 Those numbered in his division are 74,600. 5 Those who will be camping next to them are the tribe of Issachar. The leader of the people of Issachar is Nethanel son of Zuar. 6 Those numbered in his division are 54,400. 7 Next will be the tribe of Zebulun. The leader of the people of Zebulun is Eliab son of Helon. 8 Those numbered in his division are 57,400. 9 All those numbered of the camp of Judah, according to their divisions, are 186,400. They will travel at the front. 10 “On the south will be the divisions of the camp of Reuben under their standard. The leader of the people of Reuben is Elizur son of Shedeur. 11 Those numbered in his division are 46,500. 12 Those who will be camping next to them are the tribe of Simeon. The leader of the people of Simeon is Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai. 13 Those numbered in his division are 59,300. 14 Next will be the tribe of Gad. The leader of the people of Gad is Eliasaph son of Deuel. 15 Those numbered in his division are 45,650. 16 All those numbered of the camp of Reuben, according to their divisions, are 151,450. They will travel second. 17 “Then the tent of meeting with the camp of the Levites will travel in the middle of the camps. They will travel in the same order as they camped, each in his own place under his standard.⁠ 18 “On the west will be the divisions of the camp of Ephraim under their standard. The leader of the people of Ephraim is Elishama son of Ammihud. 19 Those numbered in his division are 40,500. 20 Next to them will be the tribe of Manasseh. The leader of the people of Manasseh is Gamaliel son of Pedahzur. 21 Those numbered in his division are 32,200. 22 Next will be the tribe of Benjamin. The leader of the people of Benjamin is Abidan son of Gideoni. 23 Those numbered in his division are 35,400. 24 All those numbered of the camp of Ephraim, according to their divisions, are 108,100. They will travel third. 25 “On the north will be the divisions of the camp of Dan, under their standards. The leader of the people of Dan is Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai. 26 Those numbered in his division are 62,700. 27 Those who will be camping next to them are the tribe of Asher. The leader of the people of Asher is Pagiel son of Ocran. 28 Those numbered in his division are 41,500. 29 Next will be the tribe of Naphtali. The leader of the people of Naphtali is Ahira son of Enan. 30 Those numbered in his division are 53,400. 31 All those numbered of the camp of Dan are 157,600. They will travel last, under their standards.” 32 These are the Israelites, numbered according to their families. All those numbered in the camps, by their divisions, are 603,550.⁠ 33 But the Levites were not numbered among the other Israelites, as the Lord commanded Moses. 34 So the Israelites did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses; that is the way they camped under their standards, and that is the way they traveled, each with his clan and family.

Texts in conversation

Compare Numbers 2:32 and 2 Samuel 24:8

Hebrew Bible

Share:

Summary

Numbers reports a census of over 600,000, a figure many interpreters find unrealistic. 2 Samuel gives similar totals for Israel and Judah, suggesting the census total in Numbers may reflect a later total added by an editor.

Passages

Numbers 2:32

Hebrew Bible
31 All those numbered of the camp of Dan are 157,600. They will travel last, under their standards.” 32 These are the Israelites, numbered according to their families. All those numbered in the camps, by their divisions, are 603,550. 33 But the Levites were not numbered among the other Israelites, as the Lord commanded Moses.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Numbers

2 Samuel 24:8

Hebrew Bible
8 They went through all the land and after nine months and twenty days came back to Jerusalem. 9 Joab reported the number of warriors to the king. In Israel there were 800,000 sword-wielding warriors, and in Judah there were 500,000 soldiers. 10 David felt guilty after he had numbered the army. David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly by doing this! Now, O Lord, please remove the guilt of your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.”
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 2 Samuel

References

"... Six hundred three thousand five hundred fifty ... Add to this the underage and elderly men, the women of all ages, and the Levites, and the total number of Israelites must approach two million. It has been calculated that by these numbers, marching eight across, when the first Israelites reach Mount Sinai, half of them would still be in Egypt! The extraordinary size of this population is a famous old problem in traditional and critical biblical scholarship. The numbers appear far too high; but they do not appear to be entirely invented, either, because what would be the motive for contriving them in all of this tribe-by-tribe detail for the first four chapters of Numbers? Some suggest that the word for 'thousand' here means rather a 'clan', but that is not correct. One possibility is that these are the numbers from the census that is attributed to King David (2 Samuel 24). Coming centuries later, in a period in which Israel is settled in the land, the numbers are more understandable in the Davidic era (though they are questionably high even for that period). In this scenario, the records here would have come from old documents among the archives which would have come to be mixed in with documents that were used as sources for the Torah ..."
Richard Elliott Friedman, Commentary on the Torah: With a New English Translation (New York: Harper Collins, 2003), 1122–1123.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Tags

Your feedback

Numbers 2:32 and 2 Samuel 24:8

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library