And when you have seen it, you also shall be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother was gathered (Numbers 27:13).

God told Moses that he could see the Promised Land of Canaan but not enter into it. He only got to look at it because he did not honor God at the waters of Meribah. Moses even pleaded with God that he might go into the land to look:

At that time I pleaded with the Lord: “Sovereign Lord, you have begun to show to your servant your greatness and your strong hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works you do? Let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan—that fine hill country and Lebanon” (Deuteronomy 3:23-25).

But God did not budge in His determination (Deuteronomy 3:26).

Moses led the people forty years through the wilderness. He had to deal with their grumbling and complaining. He had to often intercede for them, as they often incited God's wrath, which led to the death of hundreds and even thousands of them. At times he seemed to prefer death to the assignment he had been given. After all of that, he was at the cusp of getting the reward that would make all his labors worthwhile. He was about to enter the Promised Land. He was about to enjoy its fruits. He was about to find rest from all the wandering. He was about to gain a forever homeland, even a new kingdom for Israel. But because of one "little" sin, one occasion of frustration and pride, he would not be able to enjoy any of it, only see it from afar. 

Yet, was the Promised Land, the fulfillment of one arm of the Abrahamic covenant, really the great reward God intended for Moses and for Israel? God promised the land of Canaan by covenant in Genesis 15:

On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites,Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites” (Genesis 15:18-21).

But before this, He promised Abraham something else, something greater:

Do not be afraid, Abram.
    I am your shield,
    your very great reward (Genesis 15:1).

The LORD was Abraham's great reward. The LORD was Moses' great reward. The LORD was Israel's great reward. Thus, God told them, "Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD" (Deuteronomy 8:3). So we have these declarations:

LORD, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure (Psalm 16:5).

I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him" (Lamentations 3:24).

Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever (Psalm 73:25-26).

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21).

What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ (Philippians 3:8).

Friends, the LORD is our portion. Jesus is our great reward. As John Piper discovered: "Heaven is not heaven without Jesus." Piper has written a good book entitled God is the Gospel (link). Here are a few excerpts that capture the thrust of the book:

“Christ did not die to forgive sinners who go on treasuring anything above seeing and savoring God. And people who would be happy in heaven if Christ were not there, will not be there. The gospel is not a way to get people to heaven; it is a way to get people to God. It's a way of overcoming every obstacle to everlasting joy in God. If we don't want God above all things, we have not been converted by the gospel.” 

“The critical question for our generation—and for every generation—
is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the
friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and
all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties
you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no
human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with
heaven, if Christ were not there? ” 

“The ultimate good of the gospel is seeing and savoring the beauty and value of God. God’s wrath and our sin obstruct that vision and that pleasure. You can’t see and savor God as supremely satisfying while you are full of rebellion against Him and He is full of wrath against you. The removal of this wrath and this rebellion is what the gospel is for. The ultimate aim of the gospel is the display of God’s glory and the removal of every obstacle to our seeing it and savoring it as our highest treasure. “Behold Your God!” is the most gracious command and the best gift of the gospel. If we do not see Him and savor Him as our greatest fortune, we have not obeyed or believed the gospel.” 

“Long looking with admiration produces change. From your heroes you pick up mannerisms and phrases and tones of voice and facial expressions and habits and demeanors and convictions and beliefs. The more admirable the hero is and the more intense your admiration is, the more profound will be your transformation. In the case of Jesus, he is infinitely admirable, and our admiration rises to the most absolute worship. Therefore, when we behold him as we should, the change is profound.” 

“Part of what we pick up in looking at Jesus in the gospel is a way of viewing the whole world. That worldview informs all our values and deeply shapes our thinking and decision-making. Another part of what we absorb is greater confidence in Jesus' counsel and his promises. This has its own powerful effect on what we fear and desire and choose. Another part of what we take up from beholding the glory of Christ is greater delight in his fellowship and deeper longing to see him in heaven. This has its own liberating effect from the temptations of this world. All these have their own peculiar way of changing us into the likeness of Christ. Therefore, we should not think that pursuing likeness to Christ has no other components than just looking at Jesus. Looking at Jesus produces holiness along many different paths.” 

In Psalm 73:28 Asaph considered all the "good" life had to offer and all the blessings God, and he concluded, "Nearness to God is my good" (NASB). Let us learn to enjoy God above all His benefits. May Christ be our highest delight. 

I found this interesting note on the mention of a daughter to Asher in Numbers 26:46 from Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible:

And it is remarked that Asher had a daughter named Serah, and who also is particularly mentioned as a sister of Asher's sons in Genesis 46:17 no doubt but she was a remarkable woman, either for religion, or for wisdom and prudence, or some amiable virtue or grace or another, that she is so particularly taken notice of: according to Maimonides (p) she was an heiress; for though Asher had many sons, this was his wife's daughter by another man, who had no sons, and the inheritance was his daughter's, and therefore is so particularly mentioned; she inheriting as the daughters of Zelophehad did.

But among these there was not a man of those who were numbered by Moses and Aaron the priest, who numbered the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. For the Lord had said of them, “They shall surely die in the wilderness.” And not a man was left of them, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun (Numbers 26:64-65).

God spoke and it came to pass. This is the recurring theme of the entire Bible. Here was the original decree back in Numbers 14:29-35,

In this wilderness your bodies will fall—every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me. Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected. But as for you, your bodies will fall in this wilderness. Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness. For forty years—one year for each of the forty days you explored the land—you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.’ I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against me. They will meet their end in this wilderness; here they will die.”

God's Word will come to pass without failing, whether in judgment or blessing.

As the rain and the snow
    come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
    without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
    It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it (Isaiah 55:0-11).

The people of Israel placed their entire hope on God's Word, specifically on His decreed promises (i.e. His covenants). Since God's Word is so sure, there hope was also sure. 

Now, dear friends, as God's Word of judgment was sure, and as His Word of promise was sure, so is His Word regarding the hearing of faith, by which we have come to believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. So we read in Romans 10:17,

"Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." 

As I have shared before on this passage, the reference to "the Word of God" is more precisely a reference to His command or decree rather than the sixty-six books, which had not completely been written on the occasion of the writing of the Book of Romans. Therefore, what has God decreed? He has decreed the hearing that leads to faith. Is this not what Jesus meant when He said, "Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear"? God gives us ears to hear. God gives us the ability to believe. Is this not what Jesus also meant when He said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father enables them" (John 6:65)?

To those of you that trust in God's Word more than your "free will," you have this great assurance that what God has decreed, He will fulfill to completion (cf. Philippians 1:6). To those of you still hanging on to a conviction based on "free will," how uncertain, unstable, and shaky is the ground upon which you think you stand. 

I seem to notice in everyones comments and studies show that everyone always lists the tribes as twelve. There were actually 13 tribes. If we fail to note that there are actually 13 tribes, our study of Revelation and other prophetic teaching will be off. Let us not forget to count the Levite Tribe that was divided up among the the twelve.
This will keep in line with the 13 disciples to the ordering of the 12 tribes of Revelation.

Yujin responds... In one sense there were 13 tribes because the tribe of Joseph was subdivided into Ephraim and Manasseh for the inheritance of land (i.e. Joseph got the honor of the first born birthright even though he was not the firstborn, cf. 1 Chronicles 5:1-2); however, these two were not part of the original Twelve, which seems to be the number God would honor, for throughout the Scriptures the tribes of Israel are always referred to as "the Twelve Tribes of Israel" and never "the Thirteen Tribes of Israel" (e.g. Genesis 49:28; Exodus 24:4; 28:21; 39:14; Numbers 17:2,6; 31:5; Deuteronomy 1:23; Joshua 3:12; 4:8; 1 Kings 18:31; Matthew 19:28; James 1:1; Revelation 21:12). It is notable that in Ezekiel 48:31-34 there is described the new Jerusalem, and upon the gates of the city are written the names of the twelve tribes, and those listed are the original twelve. 

Nevertheless, the number would sometimes be obtained through the exclusion of the tribe of Levi in the count, but not always by this means. For example, in Revelation 7:5-8, there are again twelve tribes listed; however, while Levi is included there, the tribe of Dan is excluded, and while Manasseh is there, Ephraim's name seems to have been replaced with his father Joseph. 

I'm not sure why you say that thirteen tribes are necessary to properly understand the Book of Revelation, especially when the Book of Revelation itself seems always to refer to twelve tribes rather than thirteen. Even the vision of the woman in Revelation 12 speaks of twelve stars on her head. At least one major understanding of this vision, which I happen to agree with, suggests the woman represents Israel and the twelve stars represent the twelve tribes of Israel. But I am curious about your perspective, so please explain further.

I would like to share with you the Faithfullness of God today from today's reading.  Since last night when I was in SMT class with Yujin, the word "faithfulness" got stuck in my mind, and the Lord allowed me to see this great attribute of Himself here in Numbers 26.  When the first census was taken among the Israelites at Kadesh Barnea before their first attempt to go into the Promised Land, the total number was 603550.  As we already saw it, their unbelief angered God and resulted in wandering in the wilderness for almost 40 years.  Over 2 million people had wandered in such a harsh environment let alone their rebellion against God which resulted in mass destruction several times.  However, you don't see much difference in number at the end even after two battles with the Ammonites and Bashan.  The second census was taken just before their entrance into the Promised Land from the Plains of Moab across the Jordan River, the number turned out to be 601730.  The Lord's zeal for being faithful to the Covenant that he made with Abraham can be seen here in grand scale!!!  That is why He is worthy of all praises from us!  There's nothing we can boast about.  Let us praise Him for His Faithfulness today and be encouraged and strengthened in our faith, being fully pursuaded that He has power to do what He promised in Jesus and sealed in the Holy Spirit-our salvation.

In this section of our reading, a second census is taken. Although the total number remains similar, there is a huge difference within individual tribes.  Most significantly, the tribe of Simeon dropped from 59,300 (Numbers 1:22) to 22,200 (Numbers 26:14) a 63% declined.  So what happened to the tribe of Simeon?

If we go back to Genesis 46:10 and Exodus 6:15, six sons of Simeon are listed: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar and Shaul.  In the First Census, only the total numbers are listed but doesn't name the individual clans. However, in the Second Census, only 5 clans of Simeon are listed.  Simeon's son, Ohad, is missing entirely from this census.  1 Chronicles 4:24 also only list 5 sons, again Ohad is missing from this list ...So what happened to the clan of Ohad?

The previous chapter described the plague that killed 24,000. Numbers 25:14 also says that it was a Simeonite leader, Zimri son of Salu, that brought the Midianite woman into the Israeli camp, but it doesn't say that the 24,000 killed were all Simeonites, although perhaps we can assume that many, or perhaps the majority were Simeonites. Perhaps Zimri was the leader of the Ohad clan (?), it is a possibility but still speculation as well. 

In any case, an entire clan of Simeonites went missing during the time of their wandering in the wilderness.  In Deuteronomy 33, Moses blesses all the tribes of Israel before he dies, however, Simeon is missing from this list. It seem perhaps the sins of Numbers 25 was much deeper than we first thought. When the lands are alloted to the Israelites, Levi is not given an inheritance of land (they are given cities) and Simeon gets a portion of land within Judah. In Genesis 49:5-7, Jacob does curse Simeon and Levi because of their anger and violence in the massacre involving their sister, Dinah and the Shechemites (Genesis 34), "I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel." But the Lord is faithful and does not completely wipe out all the Simeonites, they are named among the 144,000 in Revelations 7.

Although we are all individually responsible for our actions, this does show how a leader can pave the course of destruction for his followers. Although we may not be the head of a clan, we are leaders within our own family and so must take that responsibility seriousness.  Our children follow our example whether we tell them or not.

Likewise, a good leader can inspire others to follow as well. Yesterday, Pakistan Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti was shot dead in broad daylight. He was the only Christian cabinet member.  He was openly against the anti-blasphemy laws and received numerous death threats. In an interview 4 months ago, he openly declared that he was a follower of Jesus Christ and that he was willing to die for the cause. It is amazing how the LORD works, when he was alive, I knew nothing about him, but in his death, the message he proclaimed as a "follower of the Cross" is being spread thoughout the world.

 Let us pray for the persecuted church and those who face life and death choices for their faith in Jesus Christ.

Census Figures in Numbers 1 and 26

This chart is adapted from the charts by Walton and Hill, SOT, 137; and La Sor et al, OTS, 167; Wenham, Numbers, 60.

We reach a watershed moment in Gods covenant with Abraham, Moses and Israel - the apportioning of Canaan. (Numbers 26:53-56) "To these the land must be divided as an inheritance according to the number of the names. To a larger group you will give a larger inheritance, and to a smaller group you will give a smaller inheritance. To each one its inheritance must be given according to the number of people in it. The land must be divided by lot; and they will inherit in accordance with the names of their ancestral tribes. Their inheritance must be apportioned by lot among the larger and smaller groups. "  God delivers on his promise to give Israel a land of their own - a land of "milk and honey".

I was trying to consider the importance of Canaan in defining Israels relationship with God, after all its just a strip of land - right? Does Canaan have any specific physical or symbolic meaning?  Physically the location of Canaan has significance - in Gen 15 God tells Abraham his land (Canaan) will be bounded by the Euphrates and the Nile (of Egypt) - Israel sits between these rivers.  Euphrates is mentioned in Genesis 2 as one of four rivers that's origin (source) is the Garden of Eden.  And in Revelations Euphrates will dry up as a sign during the tribulation.  Symbolically, Canaan was the fulfillment of a promise, in fact repeated disobedience by Israel led to its literal eviction from Canaan. Part of the promise was Gods provision and protection - David writes in Psalm 95:11 Canaan was (Gods) rest. Thus Canaan was more than land, but symbolic of Gods rest or provision and protection of Israel.

Paul tells us in the NT that all Christians are children of the promise(made to Abraham) - but yet we receive no inheritance in Canaan. The inheritance that Christians receive is deliverance from the bondage of Sin and Fear. In Matt 11:28 Christ summarizes this "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" and in this context I believe the promise is the same as Gods to Israel.

In this reading the Israelites take another census and God commands that the lands be divided equally among the families.  God then appoints Joshua as Moses’ successor and reminds Moses that he will not enter into the Promised Land.
 
Again, Moses will not enter the Promised Land because he struck the rock rather than speaking to it.  It is wonderful to know that we can be punished for our sins without it affecting our salvation.  Hallelujah!

Yujin added... How aweful it must have been for Moses. The event of his dishonoring God at the waters of Meribah likely happened in the final year of their forty years of wandering. He was almost done, and then this happened, and he was forbidden to realize the dream of entering the Promised Land. When you read Deuteronomy, you get a sense of his despondency because Moses repeatedly brings up this topic with Israel, even blaming them for his misfortune (cf. Deut 3:26; 4:21). It appears he also complained often to God, so that God had to tell him, "Enough! You are not going enter the Promised Land!" (cf. Deut 3:26). Yet, as you mention, I'm sure Moses still praised God that this was not the end of his story. Yet, for many who died in the wilderness during that period of wandering, this would be the end of their story, because not only did they die but God decreed that they would "never enter His rest," and so never enter the glory of heaven (cf. Hebrews 3:7-4:11).