Numbers 1:19

19 Moshe counted them in the Sinai Desert, just as ADONAI had ordered him.

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 Moshe and Aharon took these men who had been designated by name;

18 and, on the first day of the second month, they gathered the whole assembly to state their genealogies by families and clans and recorded the names of all those twenty years old and over, as well as their total numbers.

19 Moshe counted them in the Sinai Desert, just as ADONAI had ordered him.

20 The men twenty years old and over who were subject to military service were recorded by name, family and clan, starting with the descendants of Re'uven, Isra'el's firstborn. Here are the totals:

21 Descendants of Re'uven 46,500