Numbers 1:1

First census

1 The LORD spoke to Moses in the Sinai desert in the meeting tent on the first day of the second month,^[a] in the second year after they left the land of Egypt:

Numbers 1:1 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 1:1

And the Lord spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai
Which is different from the wilderness of Sin, ( Exodus 16:1 ) ; and had its name from the mountain so called, on which God gave the law of the decalogue, and where the Israelites had been encamped eleven months, ( Exodus 19:1 Exodus 19:2 ) ;

in the tabernacle of the congregation;
which had now been set up a whole month, and out of which the Lord had delivered to Moses the several laws recorded in the preceding book in that space of time, ( Exodus 40:17 ) ( Leviticus 1:1 ) ;

on the first [day] of the second month;
the month Ijar, as the Targum of Jonathan, which answers to part of our April, and part of May, and was the second month of the ecclesiastical year, which began with Abib or Nisan:

in the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt;
that is, the children of Israel, who had now been a year and half a month out of it:

saying,
as follows.

Numbers 1:1 In-Context

1 The LORD spoke to Moses in the Sinai desert in the meeting tent on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they left the land of Egypt:

2 Take a census of the entire Israelite community by their clans and their households, recording the name of every male,

3 20 years old and above, who is eligible for military service in Israel. These you and Aaron will enlist in their military units.

4 Take with you one man from each tribe who is the head of his household.

5 These are the names of the men who will assist you: from Reuben, Elizur, Shedeur's son;

Footnotes

• [a]. April–May, Iyar