Numbers 1:19

19 just as the LORD had commanded Moses. So Moses numbered them in the Wilderness of Sinai:

Numbers 1:19 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 1:19

As the Lord commanded Moses
In this Moses and David differed in numbering the people of Israel; the one did it by an express command from God, and in obedience to it; the other without one, and against his will, ( 1 Chronicles 21:17 ) ;

so he numbered them in the wilderness of Sinai;
where they now were when this order was given, ( Numbers 1:1 ) ; and from whence they removed the twentieth day of this month, ( Numbers 10:11 Numbers 10:12 ) ; so that in less than three weeks time, perhaps much sooner, this affair was finished; and it may be, that the place of numbering them at this time is expressly observed, to distinguish it from another numbering of them, recorded in this book, which was done in the plains of Moab, ( Numbers 26:2 Numbers 26:3 ) .

Numbers 1:19 In-Context

17 So Moses and Aaron took these men who had been designated by name,

18 and on the first day of the second month they assembled the whole congregation and recorded their ancestry by clans and families, counting one by one the names of those twenty years of age or older,

19 just as the LORD had commanded Moses. So Moses numbered them in the Wilderness of Sinai:

20 From the sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, according to the records of their clans and families, counting one by one the names of every male twenty years of age or older who could serve in the army,

21 those registered to the tribe of Reuben numbered 46,500.