Numbers 1:2-3 Take you the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, after their families, by the house of their fathers… I. A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE CENSUS, which is being taken to-day in every town, every hamlet, every remote habitation of the United Kingdom. The Israelites dealt largely in statistics. At all the great turning-points in their history a census was taken. This Book of Numbers owes its name to the fact that it records two census-takings; one at the beginning, the other at the close of the forty years' sojourn in the wilderness. An admonition to fill up the census-papers with exactness and for conscience' sake. II. MEDITATIONS PROPER TO THE CENSUS DAY. 1. The filling up of a census-paper is, in itself, a piece of secular business. Yet I do not envy the man who can perform it without being visited with holy feeling. The setting down of the names of one's household brings up many tragic memories. The setting down one's own age, after a lapse of ten years, summons us to count our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom. 2. The Lord keeps an exact register of His people. There is a Book of Life in which are inscribed the names of all whom He has chosen. How true this is the whole Scripture bears witness (Exodus 32:30; Isaiah 4:3; Ezekiel 13:9; Luke 10:20; Philippians 4:3; Hebrews 12:23; Revelation 13:8). We commonly think of this as a book which is shut and sealed. The Lord only knoweth them that are His. A man may ascertain his own acceptance with God. (W. Binnie, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, after their families, by the house of their fathers, with the number of their names, every male by their polls; |
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