“Be sure that the land is distributed by lot. What each group inherits will be according to the names for its ancestral tribe.”
~ Numbers 26:55
Hi James and Ellen,
A census is a survey to find out information about guys, gals and kids who are living in a country, state, city, etc.? Do you know about how many guys, gals and kids there are who are now living in the United States – the country where you are living? Do you know about how many guys, gals and kids there are who are now living in Delaware – the state where you are living and where your grandmaa and dad were born? Do you know about how many guys, gals and kids there are who are now living in Newark – the city where you are living? Do you know about how many guys, gals and kids there are who are now living in South Dakota – the state where your grandpaa and your Aunt Lynn were born? Do you know about how many guys, gals and kids there are who are now living in Israel – where God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids are still living today? Do you know about how many guys, gals and kids there are who are living today on planet Earth? It is estimated that there are 6,354,343,198 guys, gals and kids living today on planet Earth (there are now at the time of this editing over 7,760,790,022 guys, gals and kids now living on planet Earth). It is estimated that there are over 292,801,630 guys, gals and kids living today in the United States (there is now at the time of this editing over 330,256,438 guys, gals and kids now living in the United States). The census that was taken in 2001 has 796,165 guys, gals and kids living in Delaware (there are at the time of this editing 995,764 guys, gals and kids now living in Delaware). The census that was taken in 2001 has 28,547 guys, gals and kids living in Newark (there are at the time of this editing 33,419 guys, gals and kids now living in Newark). The census that was taken in 2001 has 756,600 guys, gals and kids living in South Dakota (there are at the time of this editing 896,581 guys, gals and kids now living in South Dakota). There are today at least 6,631,000 guys, gals and kids living in Israel (there are at the time of this editing 8,772,959 guys, gals and kids now living in Israel). The total land area that makes up the United States is 3,794,083 square miles. The total land area that makes up Delaware is 1,954 square miles. The total land area that makes up South Dakota is 75,885 square miles. The total land area that makes up Israel is 8,463 square miles. Israel’s total land area is more than four times Delaware’s total land area. The number of guys, gals and kids who are living in Israel is more than eight times the number of guys, gals and kids who are living in Delaware. South Dakota’s total land area is more than nine times larger than Israel’s total land area. There are fewer guys, gals and kids living in South Dakota than who are living in Delaware even though South Dakota’s land area is almost forty times larger than Delaware’s land area.
Your grandpaa finds statistics intriguing. Not long after God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids started out on their exodus from Egypt to the land that God told them that they would always have to live in as they very own land if . . . Moses took a census. Moses took this census – or registration, after God had His specially chosen guys, gals and kids stop at Mt. Sinai. God had Moses take another census thirty-eight years later. Moses was closing in by this time of being 120 years old. God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids were finally ready to cross to the other side of the Jordan River into the land that . . . Moses wrote about this second census in Numbers 26. Eleazar – who was Moses’ nephew – helped Moses with this census. God had Moses take this census to find out how many guys that there were among the twelve different Israelite people group’s tribal clans who were twenty years old and older and who were able to fight. The results of the census that Moses took at Mt. Sinai was that there were from the twelve different tribal clans a total of 603,550 guys who were twenty years old and older and who were able to fight. Your grandpaa believes that there had to have been well over 2,000,000 dads, mas and kids who about 3450 years ago left Egypt for the land that . . . to put this number in perspective – picture every dad, ma and kid who is living in Delaware getting together in one place, multiply that number by two and that is still a lot less than the number of God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids who left Egypt for the land that . . . after the first census that God had Moses take, every single guy twenty years old and older and who was able to fight died during the forty year desert timeout that God had His specially chosen guy, gals and kids endure when they and every other guy – with the exception of Caleb and Joshua who stood up for going directly into the land that . . . and gal opted not to trust God to help them to go at that time into the land that . . . Moses in this second census found that there were 601,730 guys who were twenty years old and older and who were able to fight between the twelve different tribal clans that made up God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids. In spite of God having all the twenty years old and older guys who were able to fight die in the desert over the thirty-eight years, the number of guys who were twenty years old and older and who were able to fight among God’s specially chosen guys had only decreased by 1,820 guys.
Another reason for God having Moses take this census at this time was to find out the size of each one of the twelve different tribal clans in order to know how to divide up the land that . . . after they had completely purged by killing them the guys, gals and kids from the land that . . . verse 55 says, “Be sure that the land is distributed by lot. What each group inherits will be according to the names for its ancestral tribe.” Your grandpaa thinks that it is important to pursue and to use data. Your grandpaa believes that in order for him to make a good decision that he needs to have as much data about something as possible. Ask your dad how he goes about making good decisions.
Numbers 26 (467)