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The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 26:3
Spake with them, i.e; no doubt with the responsible chiefs, who must have assisted in this census, as in the previous one (Numbers 1:4), although the fact is not mentioned.
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 26:4
Take the sum of the people. These words are not in the text, but axe borrowed from Numbers 26:2. Nothing is set down in the original but the brief instruction given to the census-takers—"from twenty years old and upward…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 26:5
The children of Reuben. The four names here registered as distinguishing families within the tribe of Reuben agree with the lists given in Genesis 46:9; Exodus 6:14; 1 Chronicles 5:3.
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 26:7
These … the families of the Reubenites. The mustering according to families was the distinguishing feature of this census, because it was preparatory to a territorial settlement in Canaan, in which the unity of the fami…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 26:8
And the sons of Pallu. This particular genealogy is added because of the special interest which attached to the fate of certain members of the family. The plural "sons" is to be explained here not from the fact (which h…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 26:10
Swallowed them up together with Korah. יַתִּבְלַע אֹתָם וְאֶת־קֹרַח. Septuagint, κατέπειν αὐτοὺς καὶ κορέ. This distinct statement, which is not modified in the Targums, seems decisive as to the fate of Korah. If i…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 26:11
The children of Korah died not. The confused nature of the narrative in Numbers 16:1-50 is well exemplified by this statement; we should certainly have supposed from Numbers 16:32 that Korah's sons had perished with him…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 26:12
The sons of Simeon. As in Genesis 46:10; Exodus 6:15, with the omission of Ohad, who may not have founded any family. In such cases it is no doubt possible that there were children, but that for some reason they failed…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 26:15
The children of Gad. Cf. Genesis 46:16, the only other enumeration of the sons of Gad.
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 26:20
The sons of Judah after their families. The Beni-Judah, or "men of Judah," according to their sub-tribal divisions, are clearly distinguished from the "sons of Judah" as individuals, two of whom are mentioned in the pre…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 26:23
The sons of Issachar. As in Genesis 46:13; 1 Chronicles 7:1, except that in Genesis we have Job instead of Jashub; the two names, however, appear to have the same meaning.
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 26:26
The sons of Zebulun. As in Genesis 46:14.
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 26:29
The sons of Manasseh. There is considerable difficulty about the families of this tribe, because they are not recorded in Genesis, while the details preserved in 1 Chronicles 7:14-17 are so obscure and fragmentary as to…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 26:33
Zelophehad … had no sons, but daughters. This is mentioned here because the case was to come prominently before the lawgiver and the nation (cf. Numbers 27:1; Numbers 36:1; 1 Chronicles 7:15).
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 26:35
The sons of Ephraim. These formed but four families, three named after sons, one after a grandson. In 1 Chronicles 7:21 two other sons of Ephraim are mentioned who were killed in their father's lifetime, and a third, Be…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 26:38
The sons of Benjamin. These formed seven families, five named after sons, two after grandsons. The list in Genesis 46:21 contains three names here omitted, and the rest are much changed in form. Them is still more diver…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 26:42
The sons of Dan. These all formed but one family, named alter Shuham (elsewhere Hushim), the only son of Dan that is mentioned. It is possible that Dan had other children, whose descendants were incorporated with the Sh…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 26:44
The children of Asher. Of these three families were named after sons, two after grandsons. In Genesis 46:17; 1 Chronicles 7:30, 1 Chronicles 7:31 a sixth name occurs, Ishuah, or Isuah. It is possible that its similarity…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 26:48
The sons of Naphtali. As in Genesis 46:24; 1 Chronicles 7:13.
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 26:51
These were the numbered of the children of Israel. The results of this census as compared with the former may be tabulated thus:— Tribe No. of families. First Census Second Census Decrease Increase Reuben. 4 46,500 43,7…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 26:52-56
THE LOT IS TO DECIDE WHERE EVERY TRIBE SHALL RECEIVE ITS INHERITANCE Seventy years ago a party of emigrants from the Scottish border found themselves at the entrance of the valley in South Africa which had been assigned…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 26:53
According to the number of the names. The intention clearly was that the extent of the territory assigned to each tribe, and called by its name (Numbers 26:55, b), should be regulated according to its numbers at the dis…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 26:55
Notwithstanding the land shall be divided by lot. This can only be reconciled with the preceding order by assuming that the lot was to determine the situation of the territory, the actual boundaries being left to the di…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 26:58
These are the families of the Levites. The three Levitical sub-tribes have been named in the preceding verse, and the present enumeration of families is an independent one. The Libnites were Gershonites (Numbers 3:21),…