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Bible chapter guide
Numbers 1
In the wilderness of Sinai Moses counts the men of Israel twenty years old and up who can go to war, tribe by tribe: 603,550 in all. The Levites are not counted with them but are set over the tabernacle and camp around it.
Summary written for the Labs; read the chapter itself for the full text.
See it in the Labs
- Trace the Bible family tree from Adam to Jesus
- Walk through the tabernacle in 3D
- Follow the Exodus route in 3D, from the Red Sea to Sinai
- The Biblical Family TreeNahshon · The Biblical Family TreeOpen
- The TabernacleThe east side of the camp · The TabernacleOpen
- The Exodus: through the Sea to SinaiOut of Egypt: Rameses to Succoth · The Exodus: through the Sea to SinaiOpen
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How sure can we be?
- Textually stated
Judah camped on the east toward the sunrise, and Moses, Aaron and his sons camped before the Tent of Meeting on the east.
Stated directly in the text; the Levites camped round the tabernacle so that wrath would not come on the congregation.
- Textually stated
The text says about 600,000 men on foot, besides children.
Exodus 12:37; the census of Numbers 1:46 gives 603,550.
- Speculative
The Hebrew word 'eleph' ('thousand') may here mean a clan or a military unit, giving a far smaller total.
'Eleph' can mean a clan (Judges 6:15). Scholars such as Petrie, Mendenhall and Humphreys proposed totals from about 20,000 to 70,000. The census sums in Numbers still add up as thousands, which this view must explain.