Resultados para: "CENSUS"

Here the chapter concludes with gracious promises of the return of God's favour to them upon their repentance, that they might not (unless it were their own fault) pine away in their iniquity. Behold, with wonder, the riches of God's mercy to a people that had obstinately stood it out against the judgments of God, and would never think of surrendering till they were reduced to the last extremity. Yet turn to strong-hold, you prisoners of hope, Zac 9:12. As bad as things are, they may be mended. Yet there is hope in Israel. Observe, I. How the repentance which would qualify them for this mercy is described, Lev 26:40, Lev 26:41. The instances of it are three: - 1. Confession, by which they must give glory to God, and take shame to themselves. There must be a confession of sin, their own and their fathers', which they must lament the guilt of because they feel the smart of it; that thus they may cut off the entail of wrath. They must in their confession put sin under its worst character, as walking contrary to God; this is the sinfulness of sin, the worst thing in it, and which in our repentance we should especially bewail. There must also be a confession of wrath; they must overlook the instruments of their trouble and the second causes, and confess that God has walked contrary to them, and so dealt with them according to their sins. Such a confession as this we find made by Daniel just before the dawning of the day of their deliverance (ch. 9), and the like, Ezr 9:1-15 and Neh 9:2. Remorse and godly sorrow for sin: If their uncircumcised heart be humbled. An impenitent, unbelieving, unhumbled heart, is called an uncircumcised heart, the heart of a Gentile that is a stranger to God, rather than the heart of an Israelite in covenant with him. True circumcision is of the heart (Rom 2:29), without which the circumcision of the flesh avails nothing, Jer 9:26. Now in repentance this uncircumcised heart was humbled, that is, it was truly broken and contrite for sin. Note, A humble heart under humbling providences prepares for deliverance and true comfort. 3. Submission to the justice of God in all his dealings; if they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity (Lev 26:41 and again Lev 26:43), that is, if they justify God and condemn themselves, patiently bear the punishment as that which they have well deserved, and carefully answer the ends o it as that which God has well designed, accept it as a kindness, take it as physic, and improve it, then they are penitents indeed. II. How the mercy which they should obtain upon their repentance is described. 1. They should not be abandoned: Though they have despised my judgments, yet, for all that, I will not cast them away, Lev 26:43, Lev 26:44. He speaks as a tender Father that cannot find in his heart to disinherit a son that has been very provoking. How shall I do it? Hos 11:8, Hos 11:9. Till he had laid the foundations of a church for himself in the Gentile world, the Jewish church was not quite forsaken, nor cast away. 2. They should be remembered: I will remember the land with favour, which is grounded upon the promise before, I will remember my covenant (Lev 26:42), which is repeated, Lev 26:45. God is said to remember the covenant when he performs the promises of it, purely for his faithfulness' sake; not because there is any thing in us to recommend us to his favour, but because he will be as good as his word. This is the church's plea. Psa 74:20, Have respect unto the covenant. He will remember the constitution of the covenant, which is such as leaves room for repentance, and promises pardon upon repentance; and the Mediator of the covenant, who was promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and was sent, when the fulness of time came, in remembrance of that holy covenant. The word covenant is thrice repeated, to intimate that God is ever mindful of it and would have us to be so. The persons also with whom the covenant was made are mentioned in an unusual manner, per modum ascensus - in the ascending line, beginning with Jacob, to lead them gradually to the most ancient promise, which was made to the father of the faithful: thus (Mic 7:20) he is said to perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham. He will for their sakes (Lev 26:45), not their merit's sake, but their benefit's sake, remember the covenant of their ancestors, and upon that score show kindness to them, though most unworthy; they are therefore said to be, as touching the election, beloved for the fathers' sake, Rom 11:28. Note, When those that have walked contrary to God in a way of sin return to him by sincere repentance, though he has walked contrary to them in a way of judgment he will return to them in a way of special mercy, pursuant to the covenant of redemption and grace. None are so ready to repent as God is to forgive upon repentance, through Christ, who is given for a covenant. Lastly, These are said to be the laws which the Lord made between him and the children of Israel, Lev 26:46. His communion with his church is kept up by his law. He manifests not only his dominion over them, but his favour to them, by giving them his law; and they manifest not only their holy fear, but their holy love, by the observance of it; and thus it is made between them, rather as a covenant than a law; for he draws with the cords of a man.

with you there shall be a man of every tribe, &c.--The social condition of the Israelites in the wilderness bore a close resemblance to that of the nomad tribes of the East in the present day. The head of the tribe was a hereditary dignity, vested in the oldest son or some other to whom the right of primogeniture was transferred, and under whom were other inferior heads, also hereditary, among the different branches of the tribe. The Israelites being divided into twelve tribes, there were twelve chiefs appointed to assist in taking the census of the people.

on the east side toward the rising of the sun shall they of the standard of the camp of Judah pitch throughout their armies--Judah, placed at the head of a camp composed of three tribes rallying under its standard, was said to have combined the united colors in the high priest's breastplate, but called by the name of Judah. They were appointed to occupy the east side and to take the lead in the march, which, for the most part, was in an easterly direction. Nahshon--or Naasson (Mat 1:4; Luk 3:32-33). shall be captain--It appears that the twelve men who were called to superintend the census were also appointed to be the captains of their respective tribes--a dignity which they owed probably to the circumstances, formerly noticed, of their holding the hereditary office of head or "prince."

twenty and two thousand--The result of this census, though made on conditions most advantageous to Levi, proved it to be by far the smallest in Israel. The separate numbers stated in Num 3:22, Num 3:28, Num 3:34, when added together, amount to twenty-two thousand three hundred. The omission of the three hundred is variously accounted for--by some, because they might be first-born who were already devoted to God and could not be counted as substitutes; and by others, because in Scripture style, the sum is reckoned in round numbers. The most probable conjecture is, that as Hebrew letters are employed for figures, one letter was, in the course of transcription, taken for another of like form but smaller value.

Take the sum of all the congregation--The design of this new census, after a lapse of thirty-eight years, was primarily to establish the vast multiplication of the posterity of Abraham in spite of the severe judgments inflicted upon them; secondarily, it was to preserve the distinction of families and to make arrangements, preparatory to an entrance into the promised land, for the distribution of the country according to the relative population of the tribes.

To many thou shalt give the more inheritance--that is, to the more numerous tribes a larger allotment shall be granted. according to those that were numbered--the number of persons twenty years old at the time of the census being made, without taking into account either the increase of those who might have attained that age, when the land should be actually distributed, or the diminution from that amount, occasioned during the war of invasion.

Give unto us a possession among the brethren of our father--Those young women perceived that the males only in families had been registered in the census. Because there were none in their household, their family was omitted. So they made known their grievance to Moses, and the authorities conjoined with him in administering justice. The case was important; and as the peculiarity of daughters being the sole members of a family would be no infrequent or uncommon occurrence, the law of inheritance, under divine authority, was extended not only to meet all similar cases, but other cases also--such as when there were no children left by the proprietor, and no brothers to succeed him. A distribution of the promised land was about to be made; and it is interesting to know the legal provision made in these comparatively rare cases for preserving a patrimony from being alienated to another tribe. (See on Num 36:5).

ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude--This was neither an Oriental hyperbole nor a mere empty boast. Abraham was told (Gen 15:5-6) to look to the stars, and though they "appear" innumerable, yet those seen by the naked eye amount, in reality, to no more than three thousand ten in both hemispheres. The Israelites already far exceeded that number, being at the last census above six hundred thousand [Num 26:51]. It was a seasonable memento, calculated to animate their faith in the accomplishment of other parts of the divine promise.

they passed over Jordan--This census was taken first in the eastern parts of the Hebrew kingdom; and it would seem that Joab was accompanied by a military force, either to aid in this troublesome work, or to overawe the people who might display reluctance or opposition. the river of Gad--"Wady" would be a better term. It extends over a course estimated at about sixty miles, which, though in summer almost constantly dry, exhibits very evident traces of being swept over by an impetuous torrent in winter (see Deu 2:36).

whose number was in the days of David two and twenty thousand and six hundred--Although a census was taken in the reign of David by order of that monarch, it is not certain that the sacred historian had it in mind, since we find here the tribe of Benjamin enumerated [Ch1 7:6-12], which was not taken in David's time; and there are other points of dissimilarity.

Joab gave the sum of the number of the children of Israel--It amounted to one million one hundred thousand men in Israel, capable of bearing arms, inclusive of the three hundred thousand military (Ch1 27:1-9), which, being already enlisted in the royal service, were not reckoned (Sa2 24:9), and to four hundred seventy thousand men in Judah, omitting thirty thousand which formed an army of observation stationed on the Philistine frontier (Sa2 6:1). So large a population at this early period, considering the limited extent of the country and comparing it with the earlier census (Num. 26:1-65), is a striking proof of the fulfilment of the promise (Gen 15:5).

Levi and Benjamin counted he not--If this census was ordered with a view to the imposition of taxes, this alone would account for Levi, who were not warriors (Ch1 21:5), not being numbered (see on Num 1:47-54). The population of Benjamin had been taken (see on Ch1 7:6-11), and the register preserved in the archives of that tribe. This, however, was taken on another occasion, and by other agency than that of Joab. The non-numbering of these two tribes might have originated in the special and gracious providence of God, partly because Levi was devoted to His service, and Benjamin had become the least of all the tribes (Jdg. 21:1-25); and partly because God foresaw that they would remain faithful to the house of David in the division of the tribes, and therefore He would not have them diminished [POOLE]. From the course followed in this survey (see on Sa2 24:4-8), it would appear that Judah and Benjamin were the last tribes that were to be visited; and that, after the census in Judah had been finished, Joab, before entering on that of Benjamin, had to return to Jerusalem, where the king, now sensible of his great error, gave orders to stop all further proceedings in the business. Not only the remonstrance of Joab at the first, but his slow progress in the survey (Sa2 24:8) showed the strong repugnance and even horror of the old general at this unconstitutional measure.

Ornan was threshing wheat--If the census was entered upon in autumn, the beginning of the civil year, the nine and a half months it occupied would end at wheat harvest. The common way of threshing corn is by spreading it out on a high level area, and driving backwards and forwards upon it two oxen harnessed to a clumsy sledge with three rollers and some sharp spikes. The driver sits on his knees on the box, while another person is employed in drawing back the straw and separating it from the grain underneath. By this operation the chaff is very much chopped, and the grain threshed out.

the Levites were numbered . . . thirty and eight thousand--Four times their number at the early census taken by Moses (see on Num. 4:1-49; Num. 26:1-51). It was, in all likelihood, this vast increase that suggested and rendered expedient that classification, made in the last year of David's reign, which the present and three subsequent chapters describe. by their polls, man by man--Women and children were not included.

there were more chief men found--The Hebrew may be translated, "There were more men as to heads of the sons of Eleazar." It is true, in point of fact, that by the census the number of individuals belonging to the family of Eleazar was found greater than in that of Ithamar. And this, of necessity, led to there being more fathers' houses, and consequently more chiefs or presidents in the former.

But David took not the number of them from twenty years old and under--The census which David ordered did not extend to all the Israelites; for to contemplate such an enumeration would have been to attempt an impossibility (Gen 28:14), and besides would have been a daring offense to God. The limitation to a certain age was what had probably quieted David's conscience as to the lawfulness of the measure, while its expediency was strongly pressed upon his mind by the army arrangements he had in view.

neither was the number put in the account of the chronicles of King David--either because the undertaking was not completed, Levi and Benjamin not having been numbered (Ch1 21:6), or the full details in the hands of the enumerating officers were not reported to David, and, consequently, not registered in the public archives. the chronicles--were the daily records or annals of the king's reign. No notice was taken of this census in the historical register, as from the public calamity with which it was associated it would have stood as a painful record of the divine judgment against the king and the nation.

Abijah set the battle in array--that is, took the field and opened the campaign. with . . . four hundred thousand chosen men . . . Jeroboam with eight hundred thousand--These are, doubtless, large numbers, considering the smallness of the two kingdoms. It must be borne in mind, however, that Oriental armies are mere mobs--vast numbers accompanying the camp in hope of plunder, so that the gross numbers described as going upon an Asiatic expedition are often far from denoting the exact number of fighting men. But in accounting for the large number of soldiers enlisted in the respective armies of Abijah and Jeroboam, there is no need of resorting to this mode of explanation; for we know by the census of David the immense number of the population that was capable of bearing arms (Ch1 21:5; compare Ch2 14:8; Ch2 17:14).

He saith, yes--that is, "To be sure He does"; as if eager to remove even the suspicion of the contrary. If Peter knew--as surely he did--that there was at this time no money in the bag, this reply must be regarded as a great act of faith in his Master. And when he was come into the house--Peter's. Jesus prevented him--anticipated him; according to the old sense of the word "prevent." saying, What thinkest thou, Simon?--using his family name for familiarity. of whom do the kings of the earth take custom--meaning custom on goods exported or imported. or tribute--meaning the poll-tax, payable to the Romans by everyone whose name was in the census. This, therefore, it will be observed, was strictly a civil tax. of their own children, or of strangers--This cannot mean "foreigners," from whom sovereigns certainly do not raise taxes, but those who are not of their own family, that is, their subjects.