We come here to the second census of Israel and one of the reasons why this book is called ‘Numbers’. One of the reasons for this census now, was so that the Promised Land would be divided fairly among the tribes, according to their size (see v52-56).

In comparing the size of the tribes to what they were almost 40 years earlier, just after they left Egypt, we see that most tribes grew but some got significantly smaller. Simeon in particular dropped from 59,300 (1 v23) to 22,200 (26 v14).  Was the decrease in the size of these tribes down to God’s judgment? It could be judgment, as in the case of the tribe of Simeon, it was associated with the sin at Peor when 24,000 died (25 v3, 9, 14).

The wonderful thing is that despite 40 years in the wilderness and regularly rebelling against God, the number of the Israelites have been sustained by God’s mercy and grace (603,550 in 1v46 and 601,730 in 26v51).

One final thing to note, all the adults who left Egypt, due to their sin died in the wilderness as God promised, with the exception of Caleb and Joshua the two faithful spies (v64-65; see 13 v30).

God is a God of judgement, but Joshua and Caleb remind us that He is also the God of grace for those who are brought to Him in faith.