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1Yahweh spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of Meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, 2“Take a census of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, every male, one by one, 3from twenty years old and upward, all who are able to go out to war in Israel. You and Aaron shall count them by their divisions. 4With you there shall be a man of every tribe, each one head of his fathers’ house. 5These are the names of the men who shall stand with you:

Of Reuben: Elizur the son of Shedeur.

6Of Simeon: Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai.

7Of Judah: Nahshon the son of Amminadab.

8Of Issachar: Nethanel the son of Zuar.

9Of Zebulun: Eliab the son of Helon.

10Of the children of Joseph: of Ephraim: Elishama the son of Ammihud; of Manasseh: Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur.

11Of Benjamin: Abidan the son of Gideoni.

12Of Dan: Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai.

13Of Asher: Pagiel the son of Ochran.

14Of Gad: Eliasaph the son of Deuel.

15Of Naphtali: Ahira the son of Enan.”

16These are those who were called of the congregation, the princes of the tribes of their fathers; they were the heads of the thousands of Israel. 17Moses and Aaron took these men who are mentioned by name. 18They assembled all the congregation together on the first day of the second month; and they declared their ancestry by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, one by one. 19As Yahweh commanded Moses, so he counted them in the wilderness of Sinai.

20The children of Reuben, Israel’s firstborn, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, one by one, every male from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war: 21those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Reuben, were forty-six thousand five hundred.

22Of the children of Simeon, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, those who were counted of it, according to the number of the names, one by one, every male from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war: 23those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Simeon, were fifty-nine thousand three hundred.

24Of the children of Gad, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war: 25those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Gad, were forty-five thousand six hundred fifty.

26Of the children of Judah, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war: 27those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Judah, were seventy-four thousand six hundred.

28Of the children of Issachar, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war: 29those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Issachar, were fifty-four thousand four hundred.

30Of the children of Zebulun, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war: 31those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Zebulun, were fifty-seven thousand four hundred.

32Of the children of Joseph: of the children of Ephraim, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war: 33those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Ephraim, were forty thousand five hundred.

34Of the children of Manasseh, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war: 35those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Manasseh, were thirty-two thousand two hundred.

36Of the children of Benjamin, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war: 37those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Benjamin, were thirty-five thousand four hundred.

38Of the children of Dan, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war: 39those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Dan, were sixty-two thousand seven hundred.

40Of the children of Asher, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war: 41those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Asher, were forty-one thousand five hundred.

42Of the children of Naphtali, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war: 43those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Naphtali, were fifty-three thousand four hundred.

44These are those who were counted, whom Moses and Aaron counted, and the twelve men who were princes of Israel, each one for his fathers’ house. 45So all those who were counted of the children of Israel by their fathers’ houses, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war in Israel— 46all those who were counted were six hundred three thousand five hundred fifty. 47But the Levites after the tribe of their fathers were not counted among them. 48For Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 49“Only the tribe of Levi you shall not count, neither shall you take a census of them among the children of Israel; 50but appoint the Levites over the Tabernacle of the Testimony, and over all its furnishings, and over all that belongs to it. They shall carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings; and they shall take care of it, and shall encamp around it. 51When the tabernacle is to move, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle is to be set up, the Levites shall set it up. The stranger who comes near shall be put to death. 52The children of Israel shall pitch their tents, every man by his own camp, and every man by his own standard, according to their divisions. 53But the Levites shall encamp around the Tabernacle of the Testimony, that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the children of Israel. The Levites shall be responsible for the Tabernacle of the Testimony.”

54Thus the children of Israel did. According to all that Yahweh commanded Moses, so they did.

Place

Hebron

Type
City
Location
31.524, 35.109
Site Study | Brian Kvasnica

Beyond the important connections between Abraham, the other patriarchs, and the matriarchs centered around the Machpelah Cave (see above at Gen 23:3), Hebron continued to be a central city in Biblical history, earning the place of one of the four most sacred cities in Jewish tradition. Hebron was a city of refuge and a Levitical city (Josh 21:11-13 and 1 Chr 6:55-57)  as well as the place where David first centered his reign: at the pool (traditionally connected with Birket es-Sultan), David executed the two sons of Rimmon who had murdered Saul’s son Ishboshet (2 Sam 4:12); and  where David was crowned king (2 Sam 2:3-4; 5:5)  and reigned for 7 ½ years where six sons were born to him before conquering Jerusalem where he had 13 more sons.  Even after the Exile in the sixth century BC, Jews returned to Hebron (Neh 11:25) probably living alongside Edomites.  In the second-century BC Simon Maccabeus took Hebron from the Edomites (1 Macc 5:65; Josephus, Antiquities, XII, viii, 6) and in the Great revolt of AD 70, first Simon bar-Gioras captured the city (Josephus, War, IV, ix, 7), and then Vespasian’s general Cerealis conquered it, slaughtering its inhabitants and burning it (War IV, ix, 9).

Hebron in the Land of Canaan

Site Study | Brian Kvasnica | Hebron

23:2 Hebron was first built as a Canaanite city seven years prior to Zoan (Greek Tanis) in Egypt (Num 13:22) and is located 3,040 ft. above sea-level in the southern tribal allotment of Judah.  The city is also called Kiriath-Arba (Gen 23:2, etc.) possibly after a forefather of the Anakim (Josh 14:15; 15:13), or as of the four cities, thus “City-of-Four” (Hebrew arba, “four”; see Josh 15:54; 2 Sam 2:3; Neh 11:25). Here Abram’s name was changed to Abraham (Gen 17:5) and here (in conjunction with Mamre), came the three angels with the promise of a son (18:1 ff.).  At Hebron, Isaac and Jacob often lived (35:27; 37:14).  From Hebron Jacob sent Joseph to seek his brothers (37:14).  There also Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt (46:1).  Abraham purchased the cave of Machpelah from Ephron in order to bury Sarah (Genesis 23), and Abraham himself was buried there (Gen 25:9-10), as was Isaac (Gen 35:27-29), and all the patriarchs and their wives except Rachel (49:30ff; 50:13).  Today the site is known as Tel Hebron or Jebel Rumeidah and is inhabited by a few dozen Jewish families after excavations were carried out by P.C. Hammond in the 1960’s but not published and in the 1980’s by A. Ofer as well as M. Anbar and N. Na’aman.  More recently Emanuel Eisenberg excavated the north side of the tell and Jeffrey Chadwick is beginning to write up Hammond’s report.  In Arabic today, the town is known as el Khalil ("the friend” of God), a favorite name for Abraham, as seen also in James 2:23.  The gigantic edifice built by Herod the Great still stands and is a place for many pilgrimages even today.  For later Biblical and post-biblical connections see further site study on Hebron at 1 Chr 3:1.

Person & place data: Theographic Bible Metadata by Robert Rouse (Viz.Bible), CC BY-SA 4.0.