Scripture Daily

Context No. 1589 of 4322 · Numbers

Context · Reflection

Numbers 1:28-33: in context

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.

This passage is part of the great census taken at Sinai, in which each tribe of Israel was numbered. Tribe by tribe the count proceeds, Issachar, Zebulun, Ephraim, and the rest, each recorded by families and fathers' houses, counting all the men twenty years old and upward, everyone able to go out to war. The numbers are given for each: fifty-four thousand from Issachar, fifty-seven thousand from Zebulun, and so on. It is a muster, a counting of those fit and available for the service ahead.

The recurring phrase in this census is worth catching: all who were able to go out to war. The count was not of the whole population but of those fit and available for the task ahead, those ready to serve when the nation was called. Each man numbered was reckoned as able and available, counted among those who could be relied upon when the time came to act. There is a quiet challenge in that for our own readiness to serve. God still musters his people for his purposes, and the question the census implicitly raises is whether we are among those counted able and available when he calls. It is possible to belong to God's people in name while being, in practice, unavailable, unready, not to be counted on when there is work to be done or a stand to be taken. The muster counted those ready to go out; and it is worth asking whether we would be counted among the ready, the available, the ones who can be relied upon when God calls his people to serve, or whether we would be found unfit or unwilling when the muster came. To be numbered among God's people is meant to include being available for his service, ready to go out when called, not merely present in the count but able and willing to serve. The census counted those able to go out to war; the question it puts to us is whether, when God musters his people for his work, we are among those he can count on.

Am I among those God can count on when he musters his people for his work, ready and available to serve when called, or would I be found, though numbered among his people, unfit or unwilling when the summons came?

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