19 Sons of Judah `are' Er and Onan; and Er dieth -- Onan also -- in the land of Canaan.
And it cometh to pass, at that time, that Judah goeth down from his brethren, and turneth aside unto a man, an Adullamite, whose name `is' Hirah; and Judah seeth there the daughter of a man, a Canaanite, whose name `is' Shuah, and taketh her, and goeth in unto her. And she conceiveth, and beareth a son, and he calleth his name Er; and she conceiveth again, and beareth a son, and calleth his name Onan; and she addeth again, and beareth a son, and calleth his name Shelah; and he was in Chezib in her bearing him. And Judah taketh a wife for Er, his first-born, and her name `is' Tamar; and Er, Judah's first-born, is evil in the eyes of Jehovah, and Jehovah doth put him to death. And Judah saith to Onan, `Go in unto the wife of thy brother, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother;' and Onan knoweth that the seed is not `reckoned' his; and it hath come to pass, if he hath gone in unto his brother's wife, that he hath destroyed `it' to the earth, so as not to give seed to his brother; and that which he hath done is evil in the eyes of Jehovah, and He putteth him also to death.
Sons of Judah: Er, and Onan, and Shelah, three have been born to him of a daughter of Shua the Canaanitess. And Er, first-born of Judah, is evil in the eyes of Jehovah, and He putteth him to death. And Tamar his daughter-in-law hath borne to him Pharez and Zerah. All the sons of Judah `are' five. Sons of Pharez: Hezron, and Hamul. And sons of Zerah: Zimri, and Ethan, and Heman, and Calcol, and Dara; all of them five. And sons of Carmi: Achar, troubler of Israel, who trespassed in the devoted thing. And sons of Ethan: Azariah.
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Commentary on Numbers 26 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 26
Nu 26:1-51. Israel Numbered.
1. after the plague—That terrible visitation had swept away the remnant of the old generation, to whom God sware in His wrath that they should not enter Canaan (Ps 95:11).
2. Take the sum of all the congregation—The design of this new census, after a lapse of thirty-eight years, was primarily to establish the vast multiplication of the posterity of Abraham in spite of the severe judgments inflicted upon them; secondarily, it was to preserve the distinction of families and to make arrangements, preparatory to an entrance into the promised land, for the distribution of the country according to the relative population of the tribes.
7. These are the families of the Reubenites—the principal households, which were subdivided into numerous smaller families. Reuben had suffered great diminution by Korah's conspiracy and other outbreaks [Nu 16:1].
10. the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up together with Korah—rather, "the things of Korah." (See on Nu 16:35; compare Ps 106:17).
11. Notwithstanding the children of Korah died not—Either they were not parties to their father's crime, or they withdrew from it by timely repentance. His descendants became famous in the time of David, and are often mentioned in the Psalms [Ps 42:1; 44:1; 45:1; 46:1; 47:1; 48:1; 49:1; 84:1; 85:1; 87:1; 88:1], also in 1Ch 6:22, 38.
12. The sons of Simeon—It is supposed that this tribe had been pre-eminent in the guilt of Baal-peor and had consequently been greatly reduced in numbers.
Thus God's justice and holiness, as well as His truth and faithfulness, were strikingly displayed: His justice and holiness in the sweeping judgments that reduced the ranks of some tribes; and His truth and faithfulness in the extraordinary increase of others so that the posterity of Israel continued a numerous people.
53. the land shall be divided according to the number of names—The portion of each tribe was to be greater or less, according to its populousness.
54. To many thou shalt give the more inheritance—that is, to the more numerous tribes a larger allotment shall be granted.
according to those that were numbered—the number of persons twenty years old at the time of the census being made, without taking into account either the increase of those who might have attained that age, when the land should be actually distributed, or the diminution from that amount, occasioned during the war of invasion.
55. the land shall be divided by lot—The appeal to the lot did not place the matter beyond the control of God; for it is at His disposal (Pr 16:33), and He has fixed to all the bounds of their habitation. The manner in which the lot was taken has not been recorded. But it is evident that the lot was cast for determining the section of the country in which each tribe should be located—not the quantity of their possessions. In other words, when the lot had decided that a particular tribe was to be settled in the north or the south, the east or the west, the extent of territory was allocated according to the rule (Nu 26:54).
58. families of the Levites—The census of this tribe was taken separately, and on a different principle from the rest. (See Ex 6:16-19).
62. twenty and three thousand—so that there was an increase of a thousand (Nu 3:39).
males from a month old and upward—(See on Nu 3:14).
64. among these there was not a man … numbered … in the wilderness of Sinai—The statement in this verse must not be considered absolute. For, besides Caleb and Joshua, there were alive at this time Eleazar and Ithamar, and in all probability a considerable number of Levites, who had no participation in the popular defections in the wilderness. The tribe of Levi, having neither sent a spy into Canaan, nor being included in the enumeration at Sinai, must be regarded as not coming within the range of the fatal sentence; and therefore it would exhibit a spectacle not to be witnessed in the other tribes of many in their ranks above sixty years of age.