John Calvin Commentary Numbers 1
John Calvin Commentary
Numbers 1
John Calvin Commentary
Numbers 1
"And Jehovah spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying," — Numbers 1:1 (ASV)
And the Lord spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai. Although this is the first recorded numbering of the people, still, since God had already imposed a tax on every person (the amount of which has been recorded), we infer that it was, in fact, the second.
The reason for this second numbering of the people was that they were soon to move their camp from the wilderness of Sinai to take possession of the promised land.
However, since their impiety prevented them from doing so, a third census was taken just before their actual entrance into the land. Its purpose was to make it obvious, on comparison, how marvelously the people had been preserved through the emergence of a new generation, despite so many plagues and so much slaughter; for although a large proportion of them had been cut off, almost as many people were found as before.
Further, it must be noted that the people were not numbered except by God’s command, so that He might thereby assert His supreme dominion over them.
Also, the method of taking the census was so arranged that there would be no confusion of ranks through either fraud or irregularity. For this reason, each tribe had its superintendents to prevent anyone from slipping into a tribe to which he did not belong. This is expressly mentioned to provide assurance, because otherwise many might suspect that such a great multitude could not easily be distinguished into classes with certainty, ensuring the total sum was calculated without error.
"And the children of Reuben, Israel`s first-born, their generations, by their families, by their fathers` houses, according to the number of the names, by their polls, every male from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war;" — Numbers 1:20 (ASV)
And the children of Reuben, Israel’s eldest son. If any contentious person should argue that one family could not increase to such a large number in 250 years, and therefore reject as fanciful anything that surpasses the ordinary rules of nature, we must remember what I have already stated: since this increase depended on God's power, it is utterly absurd to measure it by ordinary standards. For the Spirit's intention is to display before our eyes the incredible power of God through a clear and significant miracle.
Meanwhile, if you compare the tribe of Reuben with some of the others, its numbers show some marks of the curse, so that we may infer that Reuben was degraded from the honors of his primogeniture. For the tribes of Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali were more numerous, while from Joseph alone, who was one of the youngest, descended a posterity that almost doubled Reuben's numbers.
God’s blessing, however, is most evident in the tribe of Judah, in keeping with Jacob's prophecy. For by this prerogative, so to speak, Judah was already called to the right of primogeniture and to supremacy, since it surpassed all the leading tribes.
"But the Levites after the tribe of their fathers were not numbered among them." — Numbers 1:47 (ASV)
But the Levites, after the tribe of their fathers — we will indeed see later that they also were numbered, but Moses means that they were not included in the general census of the people, because God had chosen them to be His own property and thus had severed them from the rest of the people. He writes, therefore, that they “were not numbered in the midst of the others,”419 i.e., so as to be indiscriminately part of the multitude.
Now, so that no one would object that Moses acted ambitiously in thus bestowing extraordinary distinction on his own tribe, he declares that he did not do this spontaneously, but that it was at God’s bidding that the Levites had a separate class assigned to them. For translators translate this passage incorrectly, “And God said to Moses,”420 as if he stated that the tribe of Levi was then first set apart when the people were counted, since it would have been absurd to omit a part unless God’s will had already been declared.
Moses, therefore, shows why he passed over his own tribe: namely, because God had consecrated the Levites for the keeping and service of the tabernacle. Now, if it was not lawful for the tabernacle to be carried or set up by all persons indiscriminately, its sanctity was enforced by this symbol.
For religion would not have been held in so much reverence if it had been allowable for all, without distinction, to meddle with the sacred things. Meanwhile, the Israelites were reminded that all, without exception, were unworthy to present themselves before God when they were forbidden from access to the sanctuary.
The dignity conferred upon a single tribe was, however, no ground for boasting, since it depended merely on the good pleasure of God. God, then, gave the Levites access to His tabernacle, not because they had deserved that honor by any virtue of their own, but to provide a testimony of His gratuitous favor.
At the same time, under this image He represented the future priesthood of Christ, so that believers might be assured that the Mediator, through whom others might have access to God, was to be of the human race. Therefore, God declares by Isaiah that He would take the Levites under the kingdom of Christ from the general and dispersed body of the people (Isaiah 66:21).
As to what relates to their office, this should be sought in its proper place.
419 Among them. — A. V.
420 So the Vulgate, v. 48..
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