Numbers 1:17

Numbers 1:17 says, Moses and Aaron took these men which are expressed by their names:   Moses and Aaron divided the people of Israel by tribes, or families.  Verse eighteen adds, And they assembled all the congregation together on the first day of the second month, and they declared their pedigrees after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, by their polls.  Once more, we are told that they were assembled tribes.  This was done on the first day ofthe second month, in the second year after they were delivered from Egypt.  God always works in orderly ways, I believe.  Verse nineteen continues, As the LORD commanded Moses, so he numbered them in the wilderness of Sinai.  The counting of the people of Israel was done as God had told Moses to do it.  Whatever we do for God today must be done in accordance with His instructions.  Verse twenty states, And the children of Reuben, Israel’s eldest son, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, by their polls, every male from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war;  The next several verses break down the number of males of Israel over twenty years old and able to go to war and fight by tribe, beginning with Rueben, the eldest son of Israel, or Jacob.  Verse twenty-one adds, Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Reuben, were forty and six thousand and five hundred.  There were forty-six thousand five hundred men over twenty who could go to war in the tribe of Benjamin. Verse twenty-two says, Of the children of Simeon, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, those that were numbered of them, according to the number of the names, by their polls, every male from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war;  Verse twenty-three adds, Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Simeon, were fifty and nine thousand and three hundred.  Simeon was the next to be numbered by family, and there were fifty-nine thousand, three hundred in his family who fell into this category.   Verse twenty-four states, Of the children of Gad, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war;   Verse twenty-five adds, Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Gad, were forty and five thousand six hundred and fifty.  The tribe of Gad had forty-five thousand six hundred and fifty men over twenty who were able to go to war.  Verse twenty-six says, Of the children of Judah, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war;  Verse twenty-seven adds, Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Judah, were threescore and fourteen thousand and six hundred.  The tribe of Judah numbered seventy-four thousand six hundred men over twenty who were able to go to war.  Verse twenty-eight states, Of the children of Issachar, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war;  Verse twenty-nine adds, These that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Issachar, were fifty and four thousand and four hundred.  The number of men over twenty who could go to war in the tribe of Issachar was fifty-four thousand four hundred.  Verse thirty says, Of the children of Zebulun, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war;   Verse thirty-one adds, Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Zebulun, were fifty and seven thousand and four hundred. The tribe of Zebulun numbered fifty-seven thousand men over twenty who were able to go to war.