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THE CENSUS OF THE TWELVE TRIBES OF ISRAEL 

In the previous book, Leviticus, God spoke to Moses from the tent of meeting. This book starts by saying that God meets with Moses inside the tent of meeting. Because Moses follows the laws listed in Leviticus, he is able to be closer to God! 

God tells Moses to take a census of each of the twelve tribes, descendants of the twelve sons of Jacob, where they are all accounted for and numbered. Often, a census signifies preparation for war. 

The Levites are excluded from this count and are instead responsible for transporting and protecting the tabernacle. There are still twelve tribes included in the census, even without the Levites because the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim, Joseph’s two sons, are included. 

Judah is the largest of the twelve tribes. Judah is significant throughout scripture because God chose the tribe of Judah to be the ancestors of Jesus.