Daily reading

Today’s reading is: Lev. 27; Num. 1

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Leviticus Chapter Twenty-Seven

  1. The Book of Leviticus concludes with a passage concerning vows and service over and above all the legal requirements of chapters 1-26.
  2. A difficult vow.
    1. נָדַר nādar #5087: to vow, make a vow; נֵדֶר nēder #5088: vow, votive offering (Gen. 28:20; 31:13; Lev. 7:16; 22:18,21,23; 23:38; 27:2; Num. 6:2,5; Deut. 23:21-23).
    2. Difficult.  פָּלָא pālā’ #6381: beyond one’s power, difficult (Lev. 27:2; Num. 6:2).  When used of God, it refers to an activity that is marvelous, or wonderful.  Such God-things are of course beyond human ability, and are thus difficult, or practically impossible.
  3. Believers may become overwhelmingly appreciative for the Lord’s service, and may desire to sacrifice and serve Him with a greater capacity that typically observed (Lk. 7:40-50).
  4. Such vows are not to be taken lightly, and the believer is better off not making any such vows at all (Deut. 23:21-23).
  5. Such vows for the Lord’s service may be of people (Lev. 27:3-8), animals (Lev. 27:9-13), houses (Lev. 27:14,15), or fields (Lev. 27:16-25).
  6. Certain people & things could not be devoted to the Lord’s service (Lev. 27:26-29).
    1. Items under the ban, or condemned men to be cut off (Lev. 27:28b,29).
    2. Items that belong to the Lord in the first place (Lev. 27:28a).
  7. The tithe is something that belongs to the Lord in the first place (Lev. 27:30-33).
    1. 1/10th of the increase was given to the Lord.
    2. An agricultural economy includes crops (Lev. 27:30), and livestock (Lev. 27:32).
    3. Abraham (Gen. 14:20) and Jacob (Gen. 28:22) understood the principle of the tithe, but the Mosaic Law requirements will be developed later (Num. 18:21-32; Deut. 12:6-19; 14:22-29).

Numbers Chapter One

  1. The Lord commanded Moses to enroll the muster of the nation of Israel, structuring the nation’s fighting capacity.
    1. The muster was taken by (tribes, clans) families, and households (Num. 1:2).
    2. The muster specifically enumerated the fighting men from 20 years of age and upward (Num. 1:3).
  2. Moses and Aaron were to conduct this muster with a committee of 12 Tribal leaders (Num. 1:4-19). These men were listed in Day 048 when they brought offerings as per Num. 7.
  3. The muster figures are widely divergent based upon the usages of ’eleph and mē’owth. Biblical considerations must focus on the text itself and not on speculation.
    1. The number of firstborn males (Num. 3:43). The ratio of adult males to first-born males, roughly 27 to 1. In other words an average family consisted of 27 sons, and presumably an equal number of daughters. The average mother must then have had more than 50 children!
    2. Other texts acknowledge too few Israelites to occupy the land all at once (Ex. 23:29,30; Dt. 7:1,6,7,22).
    3. Other texts showing much smaller fighting forces (Josh. 7:5; Jdg. 18:16 cf. Num. 1:38,39).
    4. No concerns for God’s capacity to feed millions of people or any other such logistical concerns.
    5. Curious mathematical observations. The “hundreds” figures are all in the 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700 ranges and never in the 000, 100, 800, or 900 ranges. Perhaps the “hundreds” aren’t numbers either but rather “battle units” or “companies” referred to as “hundreds” (a descriptive rather than strictly numeric term).
    6. Taking ’eleph and mē’āh numerically results in humongous numbers. Taking them descriptively (chiefs/battle units) results in a more reasonable understanding of Israel’s wartime Table of Organization.*
  4. The reconstructed TO&E {and unrevised traditional numbers} (Num. 1:20-46).
    Each ’eleph (chief) is a captain of a thousand or hundred (Num. 31:48) (or even fifty or ten Dt. 1:15) depending on how the tribes structured their mē’owth (companies). There are 2-3 chiefs for every company, with companies likely grouped into battalions.
    1. Reuben (v.21) 45 ’eluphiym (chiefs) & 15 mē’owth (battle units) i.e. 2 battalions with 8+7 companies {46,500}
    2. Simeon (v.23) 57 ’eluphiym (chiefs) & 23 mē’owth (battle units) i.e. 3 battalions with 8+8+7 companies {59,300}
    3. Gad (v.25) 44 ’eluphiym (chiefs) & 16.5 mē’owth (battle units) i.e. 2 battalions with 8+8.5 companies {45,650}
    4. Judah (v.27) 72 ’eluphiym (chiefs) & 26 mē’owth (battle units) i.e. 3 battalions with 9+9+8 companies {74,600}
    5. Issachar (v.29) 52 ’eluphiym (chiefs) & 24 mē’owth (battle units) i.e. 3 battalions with 8+8+8 companies {54,400}
    6. Zebulun (v.31) 55 ’eluphiym (chiefs) & 24 mē’owth (battle units) i.e. 3 battalions with 8+8+8 companies {57,400}
    7. Joseph
      1. Ephraim (v.33) 39 ’eluphiym (chiefs) & 15 mē’owth (battle units) i.e. 2 battalions with 8+7 companies {40,500}
      2. Manasseh (v.35) 31 ’eluphiym (chiefs) & 12 mē’owth (battle units) i.e. 2 battalions with 6+6 companies {32,200}
    8. Benjamin (v.37) 34 ’eluphiym (chiefs) & 14 mē’owth (battle units) i.e. 2 battalions with 7+7 companies {35,400}
    9. Dan (v.39) 60 ’eluphiym (chiefs) & 27 mē’owth (battle units) i.e. 3 battalions with 9+9+9 companies {62,700}
    10. Asher (v.41) 40 ’eluphiym (chiefs) & 15 mē’owth (battle units) i.e. 2 battalions with 8+7 companies {41,500}
    11. Naphtali (v.43) 51 ’eluphiym (chiefs) & 24 mē’owth (battle units) i.e. 3 battalions with 8+8+8 companies {53,400}
  5. The reconstructed Table of Organization {and unrevised traditional numbers}.
    1. Totals: 580 ’eluphiym (chiefs) & 235.5 mē’owth (battle units) i.e. 30 battalions w/ (6)7/8(9) companies {603,550}
    2. Tribal Ranges: 31-72 א (chiefs) & 12-27 מ (battle units) i.e. 1-2 battalions w/ (6)7/8(9) companies {32,200-74,600}
    3. Largest: Judah 72/26 א/מ {74,600},  Joseph* 70/27 א/מ {72,700}, Dan 60/27 א/מ {62,700}.
    4. Smallest: Asher 40/15 א/מ {41,500}, Ephraim 39/15 א/מ {40,500}, Benjamin 34/14 א/מ {35,400}, Manasseh 31/12 א/מ {32,200}.
  6. The Levites were exempted from the muster, as they were set apart for the ministry of the tabernacle (Num. 1:47-54).

*Adapted from Clark, R.E.D. “The Large Numbers of the Old Testament.” Journal of the Transactions of The Victoria Institute 87 (1955). Wenham, J. W. “Large Numbers in the Old Testament.” Tyndale Bulletin 18 (1967). Kennedy, Titus. The Population of the Israelites in the Exodus and Wandering (unpublished paper, forthcoming book) (2016).