Numbered and Not Found Wanting

Numbers 26:1-65 

    1 And it came to pass, after the plague, that the LORD spoke to Moses and 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 above, by their fathers’ houses, all who are able to go to war in Israel.” 3 So Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke with them in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho, saying: 4 “Take a census of the people from twenty years old and above, just as the LORD commanded Moses and the children of Israel who came out of the land of Egypt.”

5 Reuben was the firstborn of Israel. The children of Reuben were...
12 The sons of Simeon.... 15 The sons of Gad... 19 The sons of Judah...
23 The sons of Issachar... 26 The sons of Zebulun... 28 The sons of Joseph...
35 These are the sons of Ephraim... 38 The sons of Benjamin...
42 These are the sons of Dan... 44 The sons of Asher... 48 The sons of Naphtali...

    51 These are those who were numbered of the children of Israel: six hundred and one thousand seven hundred and thirty.
    52 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 53 “To these the land shall be divided as an inheritance, according to the number of names. 54 To a large tribe you shall give a larger inheritance, and to a small tribe you shall give a smaller inheritance. Each shall be given its inheritance according to those who were numbered of them. 55 But the land shall be divided by lot; they shall inherit according to the names of the tribes of their fathers. 56 According to the lot their inheritance shall be divided between the larger and the smaller.”
    57 And these are those who were numbered of the Levites according to their families: of Gershon, the family of the Gershonites; of Kohath, the family of the Kohathites; of Merari, the family of the Merarites. 58 These are the families of the Levites: the family of the Libnites, the family of the Hebronites, the family of the Mahlites, the family of the Mushites, and the family of the Korathites. And Kohath begot Amram. 59 The name of Amram's wife was Jochebed the daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt; and to Amram she bore Aaron and Moses and their sister Miriam. 60 To Aaron were born Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. 61 And Nadab and Abihu died when they offered profane fire before the LORD.  62 Now those who were numbered of them were twenty-three thousand, every male from a month old and above; for they were not numbered among the other children of Israel, because there was no inheritance given to them among the children of Israel.
    63 These are those who were numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who numbered the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho. 64 But among these there was not a man of those who were numbered by Moses and Aaron the priest when they numbered the children of Israel in the Wilderness of Sinai. 65 For the LORD had said of them, “They shall surely die in the wilderness.” So there was not left a man of them, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.

This second census (of all over twenty years old) ordained by God showed that they had multiplied to six hundred and one thousand seven hundred and thirty, along with twenty-three thousand priests of the Levites accounted for separately.   This was important to divide the inheritance of the promised land fairly by he number of each familial tribe, and also to demonstrate God’s faithfulness in the promises to multiply His people whom He called as His just as He promised to Abraham and his descendants.  He was and is ever faithful and true.  These numbers notably were from all those born in forty years of wandering in the desert, as all the original ones delivered from Egypt’s bondage died there for their disbelief of rebellious sin in the wilderness.  All except Caleb and Joshua who believed God and their call to the promised country, that is.  This shows us that many are called by the gospel, but few are chosen and few find the way to life in the new heavenly kingdom to come (Matthew 22:14, 7:14).  We are faithful who take Gods at His word (John 6:29, 1 John 5:13) in trust that what He promises, that He absolutely will do (Romans 4:21).  Hebrews 11:1 reminds us that this faith, this trust in God’s faithfulness, is the substance of hope and evidence of the unseen because God said it and promised it (Numbers 23:19).  We have been numbered by God in Christ as promised and will certainly enter into that promised land in eternity and not found wanting because we are in Christ’s grace and righteousness.  Amen.