Purpose Study Bible 155: The Second Census
In Numbers 26, the people were about to enter the Promised Land when the Lord gave Moses these instructions:
“Take a census of the men twenty years old or more, as the Lord commanded Moses" (Numbers 26:4).
Moses obeyed and came up with a total of 601,730 men over the age of 20. This number didn't include women or children, so the total in the Wilderness could easily have numbered several million. The Lord had no problem caring for all those people along with their flocks and herds in the desert. What a mighty God we serve.
The previous census Moses had done when the people left Egypt totaled 603,550, so the Lord had taken care of that number of people for 40 years. When the second census was completed, the Lord revealed the reason for it:
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These are the ones counted by Moses and Eleazar the priest when they counted the Israelites on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho. Not one of them was among those counted by Moses and Aaron the priest when they counted the Israelites in the Desert of Sinai. For the Lord had told those Israelites they would surely die in the wilderness, and not one of them was left except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun (Numbers 26:63-65).
Why did the Lord want the second census? He did so to prove His promise that none who had doubted Him in the desert would ever get into the Land, except for Joshua and Caleb, had been fulfilled. Notice that the Lord made sure the number of people in the second census was almost exactly that of the first. When God makes a promise and invests Himself in fulfilling it, the end result will be precise and exactly as He wants it. He replaced the doubters of the first generation with the children of the second generation man for man.
Are you walking in faith like Joshua and Caleb, or are you panicking in fear as those who died in the Wilderness did? Are you trusting the God of the census to provide for you in your desert times? Are you looking forward to the fulfillment of His promises to you, delivered just as He promised?
Keep in mind that Joshua and Caleb had to wait 40 years to see their promise fulfilled. If you are waiting, make sure you're thanking God for the ultimate outcome and not despairing of His goodness during the days and years spent in your own wilderness.