The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 371

HOMILETICS. Vere. 1~5.-The final numbering of the elect. Both the numberings of the -ehildren of Israel are to be spiritually interpreted of that knowledge which God has of his elect, and of their inscription in the registers of life. The people of God are to him as his dock is to the shepherd ; he knows his sheep, and calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out to the journey, or lee.deth them in to rest. Again, the people of God are to him as his anny is to the captain ; tbey are drawn up (rmiy,.evo,, Acts xiii. 48) and set in array unto eternal life, -every one in hie proper place, so that each may act most to his own advantage, and to the advantage of all. "The Lord knoweth them that are his" (2 Tim. ii. 19), ·according to the saying," I know thee by name" (Exod. xxxiii. 17; cf. Isa. xliii. 1), and," I will not blot out his name out of the book of life" (Rev. iii. 5; cf. Philip. iv. .3). But as the numberings of Israel were two, and a great distinction between them, so God's knowledge of his elect has a double character, which is in some im• ,portant respects strongly contrasted. The first numbering (see the homiletic notes ,on eh. i.) was for that march which was to prove a fiery trial to all, and did in fact involve the destruction of most, albeit entirely through their own default; the second numbering was for the actual entry into and possession of their lon~-promised rest. In like manner there is a twofold election on the part of God, accordmg to which his _people are counted his indeed, and are personally known to him. There is the elec- tion unto grace, whereby we have been called out of darkness, and made the soldiers of the cross, and assigned our place in the "one body" (Col. iii. 15), to share in its privileges and tiials, its strifes and consolations; there is also the election unto glory, ·whereby, when the probation is past and the temptation overcome, we a.re numbered unto eternal life a11d inheritance among the saints. On this distinction hangs all the teaching of this chapter. Consider, therefore, with respect to tMs mU1Jtering as <& whole-- I. THAT THERE SHOULD HAV!l BEEN BUT ONE CENSUS TAKEN, SINO!!: ALL WHO WEBB NUMBERED AT SINAI WERE NUMBERED FOR VICTORY AND FOR SPEEDY INHERITANCE IN -0ANAAN. That a second muster was needful at all was entirely due to the rebellion .ut Kadesh, and the subsequent rejection of that generation. Even eo there is iu the 368 THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. (oa; XXVI. 1-66~