Numbers 1:21

Study note

Setting — Moses and Aaron record a military census of Israel at Sinai, counting every male twenty years or older from each tribe. The verse specifically reports the final tally for Reuben's contingent.

The words — The text employs פְּקֻדֵיהֶם (pequdehem, "their enrolled [men]") and לְמַטֵּה רְאוּבֵן (le-matte Reuben, "to the tribe of Reuben") to identify the exact group being quantified.

The thread — This baseline count is later contrasted in Numbers 26:7, which documents a reduced registration of 43,730 for the same tribe after the wilderness generation. The military positioning of Reuben's division is also noted in Numbers 2:10.

Why it lands — The verse functions as a precise administrative ledger, requiring the reader to observe how divine command is executed through structured, quantifiable community organization.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.