ND the LORD spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of the congregation, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying,1

2 Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, after their families, by the house of their fathers, with the number of their names, every male by their polls;

3 From twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel: thou and Aaron shall number them by their armies. 4 And with you there shall be a man of every tribe; every one head of the house of his fathers.

5 And these are the names of the men that shall stand with you: of the tribe of Reuben; Elizur the son of Shedeur.

6 Of Simeon; Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai.

7 Of Judah: Nahshon the son of Amminadab.

8 Of Issachar; Nethaneel the son of Zuar.

9 Of Zebulun: Eliab the son of Helon.

10 Of the children of Joseph: of Ephraim; Elishama the son of Ammihud: of Manasseh; Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur.

11 Of Benjamin; Abidan the son of Gideoni.

12 Of Dan; Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai.

13 Of Asher; Pagiel the son of Ocran.

14 Of Gad; Eliasaph the son of Deuel.

15 Of Naphtali; Ahira the son of Enan.

The events that follow are thus represented as beginning one month after the building of the tabernacle, which, as we are told in the last chapter of Exodus, was completed on the first day of the second year.

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NUMBERS I-THE FIRST TRIBES NUMBERED

16 These were the renowned of the congregation, princes of the tribes of their fathers, heads of thousands in Israel.

17

And Moses and Aaron took these men which are expressed by their names:

18 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.

19 As the LORD commanded Moses, so he numbered them in the wilderness of Sinai.

20 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;

21 Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Reuben, were forty and six thousand and five hundred.

22¶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;

23 Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Simeon, were fifty and nine thousand and three hundred.

24¶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;

25 Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Gad, were forty and five thousand six hundred and fifty.

26¶ 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;

27 Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Judah, were three score and fourteen thousand and six hundred.

28¶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:

29 Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Issachar, were fifty and four thousand and four hundred.

30 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

The First Plague

AFTER THE PAINTING BY E. BERNARD.

O

"They could not drink of the water of the river.” -Ex., 7, 24.

NE can scarcely blame the Pharaoh Amenhotep because he did not immediately recog

nize the divine authority of Moses and Aaron. They had shown him that they had great power, that they could do something more wonderful than any of his own magicians; but he had seen many such apparently mysterious things among the Egyptian priesthood. He was not afraid of magic. His real sin lay not there, but in his increasing cruelty to the Israelites, his venting of his rage on them, his refusing them their right of religious worship. In these sins it would seem that his whole nation joined him; for now God told Moses that He would send upon Egypt a series of terrible punishments, until He had broken the pride of the nation and they humbled themselves before Him.

The first punishment or “plague” was that of blood. The Lord commanded Moses to approach Pharaoh as the latter stood beside the Nile, and to smite the river with his terrible rod. Moses obeyed; and at once the water of this river, which the Egyptians held sacred, turned all to blood. For seven days the great stream flowed by as blood. Each day the people must seek elsewhere in wells and cisterns for their water. "And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank."