Counting God’s People started as I was reading through Numbers. In Numbers, God has Moses count His people twice; once in Numbers 1 and then in Chapter 26. Many things were done with these totals, but I will focus on camp/marching order and then division of the land. These are at the beginning of their journey and then before they crossed the Jordan.

In Numbers 1 is the totals for the first census. This, I believe, was for Marching Order and camp placement around the Tabernacle. Numbers 26 is the second census; this is at the end of the journey before crossing the Jordan. Some Tribes increased and some had a decline. Ephraim and Manasseh switch places in the Family List in the second census. (Manasseh was the oldest but Jacob switched the blessing to Ephraim.)

• Ruben – 46,500.                       43,730
• Simeon – 59,300.                     22,200
• Gad – 45,650.                          40,500
• Judah – 74,600.                       76,500
• Issachar – 54,400.                   64,300
• Zebulun – 57,400.                   60,500
• Joseph/Ephraim -40,500.        32,500
• Joseph/Manasseh – 32,200.   52,700
• Benjamin – 35,400.                 45,600
• Dan – 62,700.                          64,400
• Asher – 41,500.                       53,400
• Naphtali – 53,400.                   45,400
• First census total – 603,550.    601,730

Levi

• Gershon – 7,500
• Kohath – 8,600 The NIV has a footnote for – 8,300. This number evens the total to the stated 22,000.
• Merari – 6,200

In Numbers 26 there is no breakdown of the families of Levi, just a total of 23,000. The second census was for the allotment of land for the tribe’s inheritance (26:64). The Levities would receive towns from the other tribes as their inheritance was the Lord.

Toledoth or toledot is the Hebrew term for a family list. These censuses are a toledot of God’s family through Jacob. Seth, Adam’s son, has a toledot in Genesis. Terah is at the end of this list but has his own that features Abram. Ezra 2 and Nehemiah 7 have the same list for the men who returned to repopulate Jerusalem and the Land. Matthew and Luke also have toledots for Jesus. 1 Chronicles has family list and some interesting narratives mixed in; these lists are just one of the things that validate the Bible as history and not a nice story.

David in 2 Samuel 24:1 orders a count of the men of Israel. David should not have done this as the people are the Lord’s; in ordering the count he was “claiming” the people as his. We know that ended with punishment and the purchase of the land for the Solomon’s Temple.