What is a Census? What is the purpose of one? A census is a great equalizer that just states facts and puts together data. It is the best way to work for a large number of people in a group. It puts groups into categories.
Numbers begins with a census. The purpose was to figure out just how many people are in the Israelite community, so that Moses and Aaron could accurately assign the tribes to their career path.
God wanted to them know just how many belonged to each tribe, so they could see why the promised land would be divided as it was. It also let them see how many workers and warriors that they had. The Levites were excluded because they were people set apart for God's service, but that does not mean that they were not involved.
The Israelites had left Egypt two years earlier taking an indirect route to deter their enemies from attaching them. God felt like it was time for Moses to take a census. This is how each tribe got their leaders. The leaders counted every male 20 or older. They came up with 603,550 men.
A census had a lot of good points to them. The can help make a decision. However, they are time consuming and should not be done without the guidance of God. If people do it without God leading them, then it becomes personally driven. We start looking at our numbers and feel weak or more powerful than we really are. We may forget who really has the power and twist it to suite our own desires.
Numbers 1
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