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45 Those who were 20 years old or older and could fight in the army 46 totaled 603,550.

Three times God calls the Israelites to count their people. In Exodus 30, they count the population to develop an orderly funding program for the construction of the congregation tent. Here God tells them to count the men eligible for fighting in their militia; and in chapter 26, after a plague has ravaged the people, they will once again determine the size and makeup of their fighting force. It is interesting to note the change in the number of warriors within each of the extended families. Some tribes experience a tremendous loss in the number of fighters, and other tribes have a considerable increase:

47-49 The Levites were not included in this registration and organizing of the extended families’ tribe members because the Eternal One had expressly told Moses not to count them.

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