Thematic Bible: Numbers the people


Thematic Bible



David did not count those less than twenty years old, because Jehovah promised that the people of Israel would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. Joab, son of Zeruiah, started to count them but did not finish. God was angry with Israel because of this, and the report from it was never included in the official records of King David.

The king made Joab and his officers obey his order. They left his presence and went out to count the people of Israel. They crossed the Jordan and camped south of Aroer, the city in the middle of the valley, in the territory of Gad. Then they went north to Jazer. They went to Gilead and to Kadesh in Syria. Then they went to Dan (Dan-jaan), Ijon, and on toward Sidon. read more.
They came to the fortress of Tyre. They went through every town of the Hivites and the Canaanites. Finally, they went to Beersheba in the Southern Desert of Judah. After they went through the whole land, they went back to Jerusalem. It took them nine months and twenty days. Joab told David: In Israel there is eight hundred thousand who can serve in the army. In Judah there are five hundred thousand.

But the king made Joab obey the order. Joab traveled through the whole country of Israel, and then returned to Jerusalem. He reported to King David the total number of men capable of military service. There were one million one hundred thousand in Israel and four hundred seventy thousand in Judah.