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Context No. 679 of 4322 · Numbers

Context · Reflection

Numbers 26:1-16: in context

1After the plague, the LORD spoke to Moses and to Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, saying, 2“Take a census of all the congregation of the children of Israel, from twenty years old and upward, by their fathers’ houses, all who are able to go out to war in Israel.” 3Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke with them in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying, 4“Take a census, from twenty years old and upward, as the LORD commanded Moses and the children of Israel.” These are those who came out of the land of Egypt. 5Reuben, the firstborn of Israel; the sons of Reuben: of Hanoch, the family of the Hanochites; of Pallu, the family of the Palluites; 6of Hezron, the family of the Hezronites; of Carmi, the family of the Carmites. 7These are the families of the Reubenites; and those who were counted of them were forty-three thousand seven hundred thirty. 8The son of Pallu: Eliab. 9The sons of Eliab: Nemuel, Dathan, and Abiram. These are that Dathan and Abiram who were called by the congregation, who rebelled against Moses and against Aaron in the company of Korah when they rebelled against the LORD; 10and the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up together with Korah when that company died; at the time the fire devoured two hundred fifty men, and they became a sign. 11Notwithstanding, the sons of Korah didn’t die. 12The sons of Simeon after their families: of Nemuel, the family of the Nemuelites; of Jamin, the family of the Jaminites; of Jachin, the family of the Jachinites; 13of Zerah, the family of the Zerahites; of Shaul, the family of the Shaulites. 14These are the families of the Simeonites, twenty-two thousand two hundred. 15The sons of Gad after their families: of Zephon, the family of the Zephonites; of Haggi, the family of the Haggites; of Shuni, the family of the Shunites; 16of Ozni, the family of the Oznites; of Eri, the family of the Erites;

By this point in Numbers the wilderness years are nearly over, and the generation that left Egypt has almost all died under the sentence for their unbelief. So, after the plague at Peor, God orders a second census, a counting of the fighting men in the plains of Moab. It is a roll of the new generation, the children who will actually cross into the land. The list moves tribe by tribe, family by family, a column of names and numbers.

But the census will not stay a bare list. When it reaches Reuben, it stops to remember. Two of this line, Dathan and Abiram, had joined Korah's revolt against Moses, and the earth opened and swallowed them while fire took the two hundred and fifty. The census recalls the judgment, and then adds one quiet line that changes the tone: the sons of Korah did not die. The rebel's own children were spared, and that surviving line would one day stand in the temple and sing; a dozen psalms still carry their name. Even in a ledger of soldiers, the text pauses to say that the son did not inherit the father's grave.

The census stopped to note that the rebel's sons were spared and went on to sing. What am I still carrying as my inheritance from a parent's failure, that I was never actually sentenced to?

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