The 144,000
Numbers 1:1-46;
Revelation 7:1-8
"Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel."
(Revelation 7:4)
No small amount of mystery and controversy surrounds the interpretation of our reading today. Those issues notwithstanding, John tells his original hearers that blessing is to be found in the reading and hearing of this visionary letter, which would include this passage (Revelation 1:3). So, what blessing can we obtain from this image?
The background provided by Numbers 1 suggests that this image of the church gets at her militant character in this age. The church is an army of tightly regimented and sealed disciples who fight not against political regimes but against the world, the flesh, and the devil. We don't fight with guns or tanks, but with the "sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God" (Ephesians 6:17). Yet we are fighting a battle whose final outcome has already been secured. This army's General is the Lamb of God who conquered the forces of sin by laying down His life for His enemies. So we can fight with courage, knowing that the victory belongs to the Lord (Proverbs 21:31).
INSIGHT
"Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, With the cross of Jesus, going on before!"
(S.B. Gould, 1865)
READ THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Ezekiel 29-30
Psalm 145
2Thessalonians 1-3
Numbers 1:1-46;
Registration of Israel’s Troops
1 A year after Israel’s departure from Egypt, the Lord spoke to Moses in the Tabernacle[a] in the wilderness of Sinai. On the first day of the second month[b] of that year he said, 2 "From the whole community of Israel, record the names of all the warriors by their clans and families. List all the men 3 twenty years old or older who are able to go to war. You and Aaron must register the troops, 4 and you will be assisted by one family leader from each tribe.
5 "These are the tribes and the names of the leaders who will assist you:
Tribe — Leader
Reuben — Elizur son of Shedeur
6 Simeon — Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai
7 Judah — Nahshon son of Amminadab
8 Issachar — Nethanel son of Zuar
9 Zebulun — Eliab son of Helon
10 Ephraim son of Joseph — Elishama son of Ammihud
Manasseh son of Joseph — Gamaliel son of Pedahzur
11 Benjamin — Abidan son of Gideoni
12 Dan — Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai
13 Asher — Pagiel son of Ocran
14 Gad — Eliasaph son of Deuel
15 Naphtali — Ahira son of Enan
16 These are the chosen leaders of the community, the leaders of their ancestral tribes, the heads of the clans of Israel."
17 So Moses and Aaron called together these chosen leaders, 18 and they assembled the whole community of Israel on that very day.[c] All the people were registered according to their ancestry by their clans and families. The men of Israel who were twenty years old or older were listed one by one, 19 just as the Lord had commanded Moses. So Moses recorded their names in the wilderness of Sinai.
20-21 This is the number of men twenty years old or older who were able to go to war, as their names were listed in the records of their clans and families[d]:
Tribe — Number
Reuben (Jacob’s[e] oldest son) — 46,500
22-23 Simeon — 59,300
24-25 Gad — 45,650
26-27 Judah — 74,600
28-29 Issachar — 54,400
30-31 Zebulun — 57,400
32-33 Ephraim son of Joseph — 40,500
34-35 Manasseh son of Joseph — 32,200
36-37 Benjamin — 35,400
38-39 Dan — 62,700
40-41 Asher — 41,500
42-43 Naphtali — 53,400
44 These were the men registered by Moses and Aaron and the twelve leaders of Israel, all listed according to their ancestral descent. 45 They were registered by families—all the men of Israel who were twenty years old or older and able to go to war. 46 The total number was 603,550.
Footnotes:
a. Numbers 1:1 Hebrew the Tent of Meeting.
b. Numbers 1:1 This day in the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar occurred in April or May.
c. Numbers 1:18 Hebrew on the first day of the second month; see 1:1.
d. Numbers 1:20 In the Hebrew text, this phrase (This is the number of men twenty years old or older who were able to go to war, as their names were listed in the records of their clans and families) is repeated in 1:22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42.
e. Numbers 1:20 Hebrew Israel’s. The names "Jacob" and "Israel" are often interchanged throughout the Old Testament, referring sometimes to the individual patriarch and sometimes to the nation.
New Living Translation (NLT)
Revelation 7:1-8
or the sea, or even on any tree. 2 And I saw another angel coming up from the east, carrying the seal of the living God. And he shouted to those four angels, who had been given power to harm land and sea, 3 "Wait! Don’t harm the land or the sea or the trees until we have placed the seal of God on the foreheads of his servants."
4 And I heard how many were marked with the seal of God—144,000 were sealed from all the tribes of Israel:
5 from Judah — 12,000
from Reuben — 12,000
from Gad — 12,000
6 from Asher — 12,000
from Naphtali — 12,000
from Manasseh — 12,000
7 from Simeon — 12,000
from Levi — 12,000
from Issachar — 12,000
8 from Zebulun — 12,000
from Joseph — 12,000
from Benjamin — 12,000
New Living Translation (NLT)
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