The Wilderness Years

Moses gave the tribute to Eleazar the priest as an offering for the LORD, as the LORD had commanded Moses.

From the Israelites’ half, which Moses had set apart from the men who had gone to war,

this half belonged to the congregation: 337,500 sheep,

36,000 cattle,

30,500 donkeys,

and 16,000 people.

From the Israelites’ half, Moses took one out of every fifty persons and animals and gave them to the Levites who kept charge of the tabernacle of the LORD, as the LORD had commanded him.

Then the officers who were over the units of the army—the commanders of thousands and of hundreds—approached Moses

and said, “Your servants have counted the soldiers under our command, and not one of us is missing.

So we have brought to the LORD an offering of the gold articles each man acquired—armlets, bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces—to make atonement for ourselves before the LORD.”

So Moses and Eleazar the priest received from them all the articles made out of gold.

All the gold that the commanders of thousands and of hundreds presented as an offering to the LORD weighed 16,750 shekels.

Each of the soldiers had taken plunder for himself.

And Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds and brought it into the Tent of Meeting as a memorial for the Israelites before the LORD.

Now the Reubenites and Gadites, who had very large herds and flocks, surveyed the lands of Jazer and Gilead, and they saw that the region was suitable for livestock.

So the Gadites and Reubenites came to Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the leaders of the congregation, and said,

“Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon,

which the LORD conquered before the congregation of Israel, are suitable for livestock—and your servants have livestock.”

“If we have found favor in your sight,” they said, “let this land be given to your servants as a possession. Do not make us cross the Jordan.”

But Moses asked the Gadites and Reubenites, “Shall your brothers go to war while you sit here?

Why are you discouraging the Israelites from crossing into the land that the LORD has given them?

This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to inspect the land.

For when your fathers went up to the Valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the Israelites from entering the land that the LORD had given them.

So the anger of the LORD was kindled that day, and He swore an oath, saying,

‘Because they did not follow Me wholeheartedly, not one of the men twenty years of age or older who came out of Egypt will see the land that I swore to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—