🔢WEB · Numbers 1:39
What does Numbers 1:39 mean?
"those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Dan, were sixty-two thousand seven hundred."
— Numbers 1:39 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Of the children of Benjamin, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war;
those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Benjamin, were thirty-five thousand four hundred.
Of the children of Dan, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war;
those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Dan, were sixty-two thousand seven hundred.
Of the children of Asher, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war;
those who were counted of them, of the tribe of Asher, were forty-one thousand five hundred.
Of the children of Naphtali, their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war;
Explanation
Numbers 1:39 records the results of a census God commanded Moses to take of the Israelite tribes shortly after they left Egypt. This particular verse gives the count for the tribe of Dan: sixty-two thousand seven hundred men. This number, like the counts for the other tribes listed throughout Numbers chapter 1, refers specifically to men twenty years old and upward who were able to serve in Israel's army, as stated earlier in the chapter (Numbers 1:2-3). It does not include women, children, the elderly, or the Levites, who were counted separately for a different purpose related to their service at the tabernacle.
The book of Numbers takes its name from these census accounts, and it was traditionally understood as written by Moses. The setting is the wilderness of Sinai, about a year after the Exodus from Egypt, as Israel prepared to break camp and march toward the Promised Land. Each tribe's fighting strength needed to be known for practical reasons: organizing the march, arranging the camp around the tabernacle, and preparing for potential conflicts with nations that stood in Israel's path, particularly as they approached Canaan.
Theologically, this verse and its surrounding census fit into a larger biblical pattern showing God's faithfulness to His covenant promises. Centuries earlier, God had promised Abraham that his descendants would become as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore (Genesis 15:5; 22:17). A family that began with just a handful of people migrating to Egypt in Genesis had, by this point,
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