Details

Principle

God told Israel to destroy all Canaanites and cleanse the land of Canaan.

Explanation

As Israel was preparing to enter the land of Canaan, GOD told Moses:

50 Now the Lord spoke to Moses west of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho, saying, 51 “Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘You are crossing over the Jordan into the land of Canaan. 52 Then you shall destroy all the inhabitants of the land before your face; and you shall remove their high places, and as for all their molten idols, you shall destroy these; and you shall remove all their pillars. 53 You shall also destroy all the inhabitants of the land and dwell in it, for I give you their land as an inheritance. 54 Therefore you shall inherit their land by lot among your tribes; to the larger you shall give a larger inheritance, and to the smaller you shall give a smaller inheritance; there everyone’s inheritance shall be whatever falls to him by lot. You shall inherit according to the tribes of your fathers. 55 But if you do not destroy the inhabitants of the land from before your face, it shall be that those whom you let remain shall be thorns in your eyes and arrows in your sides; and they shall be at enmity with you in the land where you dwell. 56 Moreover, it shall be that I will do to you as I thought to do to them.’”
(Numbers 33:50-56 OSB)

Special instructions were given for the Amalekites because of what they had done to Israel earlier:

Details

Principle

The tribes of Gad and Reuben, and half of Manasseh, received their inherited land east of the Jordan River.

Explanation

As Israel was preparing to enter the land of Canaan, the tribes of Gad and Reuben brought a request to Moses:

1 Now the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle, and they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead; and they saw the place was a place for cattle. 2 So the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad came and spoke to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the rulers of the congregation, saying, 3 “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Shebam, Nebo, and Beon, 4 the country the Lord delivered over to the children of Israel, is a land appropriate for feeding cattle; and your servants have cattle.” 5 Therefore they said, “If we have found grace in your sight, let this land be given to your servants as a possession. Do not make us cross over the Jordan.”
(Numbers 32:1-5 OSB)

Apparently, Moses perceived this request as an expression of faithless cowardice, for he responded:

Details

Principle

Joshua succeeded Moses as Israel's leader.

Explanation

As Israel was preparing to enter the land of Canaan, GOD told Moses to appoint Joshua as his successor:

18 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Take Joshua the son of Nun with you, a man who has the Spirit in himself, and put your hand on him; 19 and stand him before Eleazar the priest and give orders to him before all the congregation, and give orders concerning him before them. 20 You shall then give some of your glory to him, that the children of Israel may obey him. 21 So he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, and they shall inquire before the Lord for him by the judgment of the Urim. At his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, he and all the children of Israel in one accord, even all the congregation.” 22 So Moses did as the Lord commanded him, and taking Joshua, he stood him before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation. 23 Then he put his hands on him and appointed him, as the Lord commanded Moses.
(Numbers 27:18-23 OSB)

 

Biblical Principles List

Details

Principle

The land of Israel was divided by the population of the tribe in order by lot.

Explanation

As Israel was preparing to enter the land of Canaan, GOD gave Moses instructions for how to distribute each person's inheritance:

52 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 53 “To these the land shall be divided as an inheritance based on the number of names. 54 To a large tribe you shall give a larger inheritance, and to a small tribe you shall give a smaller inheritance. Each shall be given its inheritance based on its census. 55 But the land shall be divided by lot; they shall inherit according to the names of the tribes of their fathers. 56 By allotment their inheritance shall be divided between the larger and the smaller.”
(Numbers 26:52-56 OSB)

 

Biblical Principles List

Details

Principle

The children of Israel were numbered via census twice by Moses and once by David.

Explanation

Twice, GOD told Moses to take a census of the Israelites, by tribe, according to the number of men capable of fighting in the army.

The first census occurred at Mount Sinai and is recorded in Numbers 1. The second census occurred after the plague killed 24,000 due to Israel's idolatry and fornication with Midian. The second census is recorded in Numbers 26.

The third census was taken by King David, as recorded in 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21. While it was perfectly acceptable to take a census, something about David's census made it sinful and brought great calamity upon Israel. Most likely, this was because David failed to collect the ransom payment from those numbered, as GOD had instructed Moses:

11 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 12 “When you take the census of the children of Israel for their number, then every man shall give a ransom for his soul to the Lord, so there may be no plague among them when you number them. 13 This is what everyone among those who are numbered shall give: half a drachma according to the drachma of the sanctuary (a drachma is twenty obols). The half-drachma shall be an offering to the Lord. 14 Everyone included among those who are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering to the Lord. 15 The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a drachma when you give an offering to the Lord to make atonement for your souls. 16 You shall take the money of the offering of the children of Israel and shall give it for the service of the tabernacle of testimony, that it may be a memorial for the children of Israel before the Lord to make atonement for your souls.”
(Exodus 30:11-16 OSB)

These three census numberings went as follows. The number of men capable of serving in the army were:

  • Census 1 – At Sinai: 603,530 (Numbers 1:46)
  • Census 2 – At Moab: 601,730 (Numbers 26:51)
  • Census 3 – David's: 1,100,000 (1 Chronicles 21:5)

Later, as recorded in 2 Chronicles 2:16-17, King Solomon took a census of the 153,600 foreigners in the land of Israel, pressing many of them into slave labor in building Solomon's temple.

 

Biblical Principles List