CHAPTER 1
We start off with the event that gives this book its name –
the first ever census of the Children of Israel. It’s not a complete census, just a tally of men over the age of
20 who are able to serve militarily. It’s about 600,000 (603,500 in all) – a
figure almost exactly the same as we’d been told marched out of Egypt. That makes sense – it’s just a year later,
after all. So if there’s 600,000 able
bodied men, there’s at least 600,000 able bodied women, plus elderly and lame
of both genders, plus kids. Plus
there’s the Levitites, who aren’t tallied because they do priestly duties. You could have 2,000,000 or so in all.
Quick note – all Leviticus long, we were told that Aaron and
sons were the priests. Now its all
Levites. What’s going on? Well, I don’t have my copy of Richard Elliot
Friedman with me for the next few days, but I’m assuming it’s a different
author. The P author handled nearly all
of Leviticus. This is probably E author.
D author came later and just wrote Deuteronomy, so it ain’t him. That leaves J and E. J is associated with the priests of Judah,
who saw themselves descended form Aaron.
They wouldn’t want to minimize their ancestor. E was from the divided kingdom of Israel to the north and saw
themselves aligned with Moses, not Aaron.
So it makes the most sense that it’s him.
Mind you, all that above is pure guessing. When I get ahold of Friedman it could easily
turn on that I’m wrong. The Bible
always has its oddities, no matter how you try to minimize them.
As for the census itself, here’s how it stacks up, tribe by
tribe.
74,600 in Judah
62,700 in Dan
59,300 in Simeon
57,400 in Zeubulan
54,400 in Issachar
53,400 in Naphtali
46,500 in Reuben
45,600 in Gad
41,500 in Asher
40,500 in Ephraim
35,400 in Benjamin
32,200 in Manasseh
The tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh are named after the sons
of Joseph. All other tribes are named
after the children of Jacob. Judah is
biggest and will always be the biggest. Benjamin will end up the smallest. One reason the 10 tribes will later
breakaway is they fear excessive power by Judah – which by then makes up I
believe half of all Israel by itself.
Only Benjamin sticks with Judah, because it’s so small and next to
Judah.
CHAPTER 2
This is just bookkeeping.
Now that we’ve had a census, time to divvy them up in camp. People are to live with their tribe. On the East side, go Judah, Issaachar, and
Zebulun, 186,400 strong. They have the
honor of marching first (for when that time comes). On the South are Reuben, Simeon, and Gad: 151,400 strong. In the middle go the Levites. As keepers of the tabernacle, they get to
serve as the heart of the community in the middle. To the west goes the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin –
hey, it’s the children of Jacob’s favorite wife! There are just 108,100 of them and they’ll march third. Marching last and pitching tents to the
south are the remaining tribes: Dan, Naphtail, and Asher: 157,600 strong.
That’s it. That’s
the chapter. It’s just logistical
matters.
CHAPTER 3
Time to count up Levi.
It’s divided into three sections and its men are given specific tasks
with the altar. Two things – first,
this is a very small tribe. In total,
they are just 22,000. They’d need to improve by 50% just to hit the next
largest group (Manasseh). Most tribes
are over double this size, and Judah is 3.5 times as large. No wonder they’re not a full-fledged
tribe. They’re too small. They are the Pluto of Jacob’s loins.
Second, while still small, their numbers are comically too
large for the tasks given them. 7,500
men to look after the tabernacle?
Really? Man, lotta dead weight
there. OK, let the most holy guys do it
and the others, what? Are they
eternally on break or something? It’s
just too much for their duties while still being too small to be a tribe.
That said, this chapter answers my question above. The top of Chapter 3 says Aaron’s sons do
the top tier priestly duties, and these guys do the lower tier stuff. So
they’re the outsourced priestly laborers.
CHAPTER 4
Yawn. All this
chapter does is discuss particular priestly duties that need to be done. Stuff
like this is my least favorite part of the Bible. It’s not about people.
It’s not about God. It’s a bunch
of priests – because that’s who wrote the Torah – telling the word all sorts of
minutia about their jobs. It’s navel
gazing at its worst. What matters most
of all to them isn’t how people live or what makes a just law, but the utterly
trivial details of their jobs. At least
the impression I get is that, when they go on for so long about so
comparatively little.
EDITED to add: Click here to continue with Numbers: Chapters 5 to 9.
7,500 men to look after the tabernacle? Really? Man, lotta dead weight there.
ReplyDeleteYou're kidding, right? You've just finished a whole book dedicated to grain offerings, sin offerings, unintentional sin offerings, repayment offerings, fellowship offerings, etc.
Even if only five percent of the people were to come each day (and, believe me, that is a very low estimate; for I can assure you, more than five percent of the people will be involved in some kind of sin every day) you've got one hundred thousand people coming to the meeting tent EVERY DAY.
And they're not coming empty handed. No; they've got bulls; they've got sheep; they've got goats; they've even got birds. Someone's has to keep this people in line, make sure they're comfortable, keep them from passing out, get their order, direct them to the right priest, make sure the cattle about to be slaughtered don't stampede, etc.
And remember, this is a traveling circus. They've got to be ready at a moment's notice to pack everything up, cart it all away, and then unpack it all somewhere else. Many, many, times. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Perhaps I'm the one misjudging the tasks that need to be performed, but I don't see any of the Levites having a lot of free time on their hands.
Peace and Love,
Jimbo
I guess, but I just assume that not everyone if perfectly observant.
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