Relations between the Israelites, Moabites and Midianites go back to Numbers 22. The children of Israel had just set off from Jericho and stories of their conquests in other nations had gone before them. Their number was great as well and so both the Moabites and the Midianites were terrified by them. This was when the elders of both nations sort to pay Balaam a fee to curse the children of Israel. I wouldn’t go into that story much, however, it is important for us to note that Balaam couldn’t curse the Israelites, anytime he opened his mouth he spoke blessings instead. 

In Numbers 25 we read about how the children of Israel (specifically, the men) started whoring after the women of Moab and Midian and eventually worshipping their god, Baal of Peor. This angered God so much. Therefore when Phinehas impaled Zimri and his Midianite woman Cozbi, it pleased the Lord. In the full glare of the whole congregation, Zimri walked with his Midianite woman to present her to his family. This is quite similar to the story of Samson; here again, we see men falling for the women from their enemy’s camp. It is worthy of note that it was Balaam who advised Balak to tempt the men of Israel into committing sexual immorality with the Midianite/Moabite women which eventually caused the men of Israel to worship their gods. Again, this part of the story is similar to Solomon’s, where we see him forsake the LORD to worship the gods of his numerous wives. The Moabites and Midianites combined could not stand against the armies of Israel. However, the trap they set for them, exploiting the sinful passions of the men, worked. I love how Matthew Henry put it. He said, ‘… those are smitten with this harlots that could not be smitten with his sword’. 

But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. Revelation 2:14

(this was also said in Numbers 31:16)

So God punished the chiefs of the people of Israel for the misdeeds of the men after they went into the worship of Baal of Peor. However, he also had it in mind to punish the Midianites for “putting a stumbling block” in the way of the men of Israel or by tempting them. 

In Numbers 31, the Lord asked Moses to select 12,000 men from Israel, 1000 from each tribe, to raid Midian. The men went to Midian and killed the Kings;  they also killed Balaam (for obvious reasons). The men came back with just the women and children of Midian and Moses was infuriated, especially because they kept the women alive since they were the ones who tempted the men of Israel. Hence, the men killed the women and the male children and kept only the virgins alive. Moses asked them to stay out of the camp for about a week to purify themselves. The plunder they came back with is what has been visualized in the featured image above: sheep, cattle, donkeys and persons (virgins). The Lord asked them to divide the plunder into two and give one half to the men who went to war and the other half to the entire congregation. The Lord demanded a tribute from the portion given to the men who went to war. 1 out of 500 of the sheep, cattle, donkeys and persons were to be reserved for the Lord. The portion of the plunder given to the Lord has been visualized in the bar graph below.

1 out of 50 of the booty given to the entire congregation was supposed to be given to the Levites as well. The men of war also brought an offering of gold crafted articles to the Lord, all measured at 16,750 shekels. In all of this what I find extremely fascinating is the fact that after the men came back from Midian with all the booty, the officers of the army counted all of them and realized that none of them had been killed. All 12000 of them were alive. God preserved their lives and brought them back home safely.

There are 2 major censuses conducted in the book by Moses and they are the central theme of this blog post. We are going to examine some similarities and differences in both of them. The book basically opens with the first one in Numbers 1. We are told that God commanded Moses to do a census in Israel and count the number of males who were 20 years and above and were capable of going to war. They were to be counted according to clans and ‘fathers’ houses’. The tribe of Levi was to be excluded because they were given the charge to take care of the tabernacle. At the end of the first census, Moses counted 603,550 men. This census was conducted by Moses and Aaron in the wilderness of Sinai. The visualization above is a representation of the data collected by Moses and how the tribes of Israel encamped around the tent of meeting.

Throughout the remaining chapters of the book, we see the children of Israel sin against God at different times and God strikes with different forms of fatal punishments. Notable amongst them is the story of Korah, Dathan and Abiram who rebelled against Moses, asking why he had exalted himself above the entire congregation when everybody else was as holy as he was. This kindled the anger of God so he caused the earth to split open and swallow these men together with their families. Just the following day, the children of Israel started grumbling, accusing Moses of Killing the three men. Again God’s anger was kindled and he struck the camp with a plague that killed 14,700 people.

In Numbers 25, the Lord struck the children of Israel again with a plague. While the entire congregation dwelt in the land of Shittim, the men of Israel started whoring after the daughters of Moab which led them to sacrifice to the gods of Moab. While the issue was being discussed by Moses and the judges of Israel, one of such men, Zimri, was seen openly walking with a Midianite woman, Cozbi. It infuriated Phinehas (the grandson of Aaron the Priest) and he took a spear and impaled both of them. This act by Phinehas greatly pleased God so he stopped the plague. However, 24,000 people had lost their lives already as a result of the plague.

After this plague, the Lord commanded Moses to and Eleazar the priest and son of Aaron to conduct another census. Similar to the first one, God commanded them to count males who were 20+ years old and were able to go to war. The total number of people counted was 601,730. Again, the tribe of Levi was excluded from this census for the same reason as the first. In some tribes, the people counted in the second census exceeded the number counted in the first census and in other tribes the number reduced. Do check out the visualization below to compare the first census to the second one.

What really struck me about the second census is found in the verse below:

But among these there was not one of those listed by Moses and Aaron the priest, who had listed the people of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai, for the LORD had said of them, “They shall die in the wilderness.” Not one of them was left except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. Numbers 26:64-65 ESV

Only 2 of the men counted in the first census were alive to see the second. This is a testament to the fact that God hates sin and he deals with it severely. Also find below another visualization that displays the percentage increase or percentage decrease in the populations for each tribe after the second census.

The above visualization tells us that the population of the tribe of Simeon decreased by 63% while that of Manasseh increased by 64% after the second census. Judah and Dan recorded the slightest change in number as both tribes increased by 3%. While Asher and Benjamin both increased in number by 29%.

The book of Numbers was named as such because of these 2 censuses and their significance to the Israelites right after they left Egypt and just before they entered the promised land. To me, the most interesting fact about these 2 censuses is that after Moses counted 603,550 men in the first census, only 2 of them (Joshua and Caleb) lived to see the second census. The second census was conducted only 38 years after the first one, according to Adam Clarke. This shows us how many Israelites died in 38 years most probably as punishment for their sins and rebellion.