CHAPTER 26

^{25:18b 1}And it happened after the scourge that the LORD said to Moses and to Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, saying, ²“Count the heads of all the community of Israelites from twenty years and up by their fathers’ houses, everyone who goes out in the army in Israel.” ³And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, spoke with them in the steppes of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho, saying, ⁴“From twenty years and up, as the LORD charged Moses and the Israelites who came out of the land of Egypt. ⁵Reuben firstborn of Israel. The sons of Reuben: Enoch, clan of the Enochite, for Pallu, clan of the Palluite. ⁶For Hezron, clan of the Hezronite. For Carmi, clan of the Carmite. ⁷These are the clans of the Reubenite, and their reckonings came to forty-three thousand seven hundred and thirty. ⁸And the sons of Pallu, Eliab. ⁹And the sons of Eliab, Nemuel and Dathan and Abiram, these are Dathan and Abiram, called forth from the community, who incited against Moses and against Aaron in the community of Korah, when they incited against the LORD. ¹⁰And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and Korah when the community died, when the fire consumed two hundred and fifty men and they became a sign. ¹¹But the sons of Korah did not die. ¹²The sons of Simeon by their clans: For Nemuel, the clan of the Nemuelite. For Jamin, the clan of the Jaminite. For Jachin, the clan of the Jachinite. ¹³For Zerah, the clan of the Zerahite. For Saul, the clan of the Saulite. ¹⁴These are the clans of the Simeonite, twenty-two thousand and two hundred. ¹⁵The sons of Gad by their clans. For Zephon, the clan of the Zephonite. For Haggi, the clan of the Haggite. For Shuni, the clan of the Shunite. ¹⁶For Ozni, the clan of the Oznite. For Eri, the clan of the Erite. ¹⁷For Arod, the clan of the Arodite. For Areli, the clan of the Arelite. ¹⁸These are the clans of the sons of Gad by their reckonings, forty thousand and five hundred. ¹⁹The sons of Judah, Er and Onan, and Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. ²⁰And these are the sons of Judah by their clans. For Shelah, the clan of the Shelanite. For Perez, the clan of the Perezite. For Zerah, the clan of the Zerahite. ²¹And these are the sons of Perez. For Hezron, the clan of the Hezronite. For Hamul, the clan of the Hamulite. ²²These are the clans of Judah by their reckonings, seventy-six thousand and five hundred. ²³The sons of Issachar by their clans. Tola, the Tolaite clan. For Puvah, the clan of the Punite. ²⁴For Jashub, the clan of the Jashubite. For Shimron, the clan of the Shimronite. ²⁵These are the clans of Issachar by their reckonings, sixty-four thousand and three hundred. ²⁶The sons of Zebulun by their clans. For Sered, the clan of the Seredite. For Elon, the clan of the Elonite. For Jahleel, the clan of the Jahleelite. ²⁷These are the clans of the Zebulunite by their reckonings, sixty thousand and five hundred. ²⁸The sons of Joseph by their clans, Manasseh and Ephraim. ²⁹The sons of Manasseh. For Machir, the clan of the Machirite, and Machir begot Gilead. For Gilead, the clan of the Gileadite. ³⁰These are the sons of Gilead: Iezer, clan of the Iezerite. For Helek, clan of the Helekite. ³¹And Asriel, clan of the Asrielite. And Shechem, clan of the Shechemite. ³²And Shemida, clan of the Shemidaite. And Hepher, clan of the Hepherite. ³³But Zelophehad son of Hepher had no sons but daughters, and the names of the daughters of Zelophehad were Mahlah and Noa, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. ³⁴These are the clans of Manasseh by their reckonings, fifty-two thousand and seven hundred. ³⁵These are the sons of Ephraim by their clans. For Shuthelah, the clan of the Shuthelahite. For Becher, the clan of the Becherite. For Tahan, the clan of the Tahanite. ³⁶And these are the sons of Shuthelah. For Eran, the clan of the Eranite. ³⁷These are the clans of the sons of Ephraim by their reckonings, thirty-two thousand and five hundred. These are the sons of Joseph by their clans. ³⁸The sons of Benjamin by their clans. For Bela, the clan of the Belaite. For Ashbel, the clan of the Ashbelite. For Ahiram, the clan of the Ahiramite. ³⁹For Shuphupham, the clan of the Shuphumamite. For Hupham, the clan of the Huphamite. ⁴⁰And Bela’s sons were Ard and Naaman. The clan of the Ardite. For Naaman, the clan of the Naamanite. ⁴¹These are the sons of Benjamin by their clans, and their reckonings were forty-five thousand and six hundred. ⁴²These are the sons of Dan by their clans. For Shuham, the clan of the Shuhamite. ⁴³These are the clans of Dan by their clans. All the clans of the Shuhamite by their reckonings, sixty-four thousand and four hundred. ⁴⁴The sons of Asher by their clans. For Imnah, the clan of the Imnite. For Ishvi, the clan of the Ishvite. ⁴⁵For Beriah, the clan of the Beriitite. For the sons of Beriah. For Heber, the clan of the Heberite. For Malchiel, the clan of the Malchielite. ⁴⁶And the name of the daughter of Asher was Serah. ⁴⁷These are the clans of the sons of Asher by their reckonings, fifty-three thousand and four hundred. ⁴⁸The sons of Naphtali by their clans. For Jahzeel, the clan of the Jahzeelite. For Guni, the clan of the Gunite. ⁴⁹For Jezer, the clan of the Jezerite. For Shillem, the clan of the Shillemite. ⁵⁰These are the clans of Naphtali by their clans, and their reckonings were forty-five thousand and four hundred. ⁵¹These are the reckonings of the Israelites: six hundred one thousand seven hundred and thirty.”

⁵²And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ⁵³“To these shall the land be apportioned as an estate by the number of names. ⁵⁴For the many you shall make their estate large and for the few you shall make their estate small, each according to his reckonings shall his estate be given. ⁵⁵But by lot shall the land be apportioned, by the names of their fathers’ tribes shall they inherit. ⁵⁶According to lot shall their estate be apportioned, whether many or few.”

⁵⁷And these are the reckonings of the Levites by their clans. For Gershon, the clan of the Gershonite. For Kohath, the clan of the Kohathite. For Merari, the clan of the Merarite. ⁵⁸These are the clans of Levi. The clan of the Libnite, the clan of the Hebronite, the clan of the Mahlite, the clan of the Mushite, the clan of the Korahite. And Kohath begot Amram. ⁵⁹And the name of Amram’s wife was Jochebed daughter of Levi whom she bore to Levi in Egypt, and she bore to Amram Aaron and Moses and Miriam their sister. ⁶⁰And to Aaron were born Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. ⁶¹And Nadab and Abihu died when they brought forward unfit fire before the LORD. ⁶²And their reckonings were twenty-three thousand, every male from a month old and up, for they were not reckoned in the midst of the Israelites, for they were not given an estate in the midst of the Israelites. ⁶³These are the reckonings of Moses and Eleazar the priest, who reckoned the Israelites in the steppes of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho. ⁶⁴And among these there was not a man from the reckonings of Moses and Aaron the priest, who reckoned the Israelites in the Wilderness of Sinai. ⁶⁵For the LORD had said of them, “They are doomed to die in the wilderness.” And no man was left of them save Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

CHAPTER 26 NOTES

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25:18b. And it happened after the scourge. Although these words occur at the end of chapter 25 in the conventional chapter break, they clearly belong here.

2. Count the heads . . . from twenty years and up. The principal narrative sequence of the Book of Numbers, consisting largely of a series of incidents of rebellion, is framed by a census at the beginning (chapter 1) and a census at the end. The aim of the first census was a military conscription for the march through the wilderness, and that function was reflected in the numbering of all males twenty years old and above. Here, on the other hand, the census is intended to lay the grounds for the division of the land as the Israelites encamp opposite Jericho, the first point of attack in the conquest; and the stipulation of males twenty years old is to indicate that the Wilderness generation fated not to enter the land has died out, with a new generation having grown up to take its place.

4. as the LORD charged Moses and the Israelites who came out of the land of Egypt. The most plausible construction of this clause is that the present census follows the pattern of the census that the Israelites were commanded to conduct at the beginning of the Wilderness wanderings for the generation that experienced the Exodus.

9. these are Dathan and Abiram. Coming after a series of narrative incidents, this census, unlike the earlier one, takes space for parenthetical glosses of figures in the lineage cut off by premature death.

10. the earth opened its mouth . . . when the fire consumed. The reference to the two different agencies of destruction is a transparent effort to harmonize the imperfectly blended accounts of the two different rebellions in chapter 16. In fact, the Reubenites Dathan and Abiram and their followers were swallowed up by the earth while the priestly rebels led by Korah were consumed by fire.

a sign. The Hebrew nes generally means “banner” or “standard.” Here the sense is a sign of warning.

11. But the sons of Korah did not die. In fact, the Korahites ended up playing a prominent role in the later temple cult.

19. Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. In this instance, the gloss on the particular descendants of one of Jacob’s sons who died without leaving offspring refers to an episode not in Numbers but in Genesis (chapter 38).

30. Iezer. This name is a contraction of Abiezer. In the parallel list in Joshua 17:2 the full form of the name is given.

33. the names of the daughters of Zelophehad. This exceptional stipulation of daughters by name anticipates the issue of inheritance through daughters raised in the next chapter with the case of Zelophehad’s daughters as legal precedent. Two of these names have been found on ostraca in Samaria dating from around 800 B.C.E. and are the names of cities in the region. Other names in this census list may also be place-names figuring as the designation of clans.

51. six hundred one thousand seven hundred and thirty. As in the earlier census, the total number of adult males makes up a figure that is just a little over the legendary and formulaic tally of 600,000.

53. by the number of names. That is, each clan here registered by name in the census shall have territory inalienably assigned to it.

55. But by lot shall the land be apportioned. At first glance, this would seem to contradict the condition just stated that the territory is to be divided according to the varying size of the clans and the tribes. The use of lots, however, is in all likelihood restricted to the selection of particular regions and does not apply to the size of the territories granted.

57. the reckonings of the Levites. As in the earlier census, the tally of the Levites is given after the general census because the Levites had no land as estate (and in the previous census, they were not subject to military conscription).

65. save Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. These two are, of course, the sole exceptions to the death sentence on the adults of the Wilderness generation because they were the only scouts who brought back a positive report about the prospects for conquering the land. Mentioning them by name here at the end of the census aligns this textual unit with the inception of the conquest at the beginning of the Book of Joshua. Caleb will be the first mentioned to take an inheritance in the land, and Joshua will lead the conquest.