Monday, March 8, 2021 is International Women’s Day! Women and children are not always given the honor and recognition that they deserve in society. Women are the ones who give birth to children and they are also generally the ones who invest a considerable amount of time each day raising children until they are sufficiently independent to care for themselves. Both women and children are often forgotten by society at large while this all important investment in the next generation takes place.
How does God view women and children?
This week’s Torah Portion begins with instructions regarding how to count the people. One would think that this would be a fairly straightforward process, however, it is actually quite detailed and a bit obscure at the same time, especially regarding women and children.
A Census: Counting the People
This week’s reading begins in Exodus chapter thirty, which is situated right in the middle of the plans for building the Tabernacle. Immediately following instructions regarding how to build the altar of incense, we read how the people were to conduct a census:
The LORD also spoke to Moses, saying, “When you take a census of the sons of Israel to number them, then each one of them shall give a ransom for himself to the LORD, when you number them, so that there will be no plague among them when you number them. This is what everyone who is numbered shall give: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs), half a shekel as a contribution to the LORD. Everyone who is numbered, from twenty years old and over, shall give the contribution to the LORD. The rich shall not pay more and the poor shall not pay less than the half shekel, when you give the contribution to the LORD to make atonement for yourselves. You shall take the atonement money from the sons of Israel and shall give it for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may be a memorial for the sons of Israel before the LORD, to make atonement for yourselves.” – Ex. 30:11-16
The LORD instructed that a half-shekel be collected from every person who was twenty years old and older who was counted in the census as a sort of ransom: literally, לכפר על נפשותכם – Lechofer Al Nafshotechem – “to make atonement for your souls.” (Ex. 30:17) Why did the Israelites need to pay a price in order to atone for their souls for this simple task of counting the people?
There are many mysteries in the Bible and this commandment to have each person who was counted give a half-shekel to the LORD in order to make atonement for one’s soul is one of them. God also warned that they needed to obey this commandment so that there would be no plague among them when they do take a census among the people. King David disobeyed this commandment and, as a result, a plague killed 70,000 people among the Israelites (1 Chron. 21:14).
Why was God so strict about how the people were to be counted? Again, this is a mystery, however, I do believe that there is a reasonable explanation for this found in the Scriptures.
Who Was Actually Counted?
As if the half-shekel ransom payment for each counted soul was not complicated enough, only a segment of Israeli society was to be counted. Not everyone was to be counted in the census.
We read in the verses above that only those who were aged 20 years old and older were counted but we also know that it was only the men who were counted, as we read in the book of Numbers:
Take a census of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, every male, head by head from twenty years old and upward, whoever is able to go out to war in Israel, you and Aaron shall number them by their armies. – Num. 1:2-3
The LORD was very specific by stating that it was only the military-aged men, 20 years old and older, who were to be counted in the census. The women and children were excluded from the census with only the military-aged men being counted. This principle actually helps to understand the 144,000 of the twelve tribes of Israel who are numbered in the book of Revelation which corresponds to the End Times. To read more about this subject, read the following article by clicking this link: The 144,000
The Women & Children
From the very beginning, the women and children were not included whenever the nation of Israel was counted. We actually see this exclusive of the women and children in the first reference to the numbering of the Israelites when they had recently exited from Egypt:
Now the sons of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, aside from children. – Ex. 12:37
The text specifies that it was approximately 600,000 men not including the children. Both women and children were excluded from this counting.
Why were the women and children not counted?
Did God forget the women and children?
Before making unnecessary accusations about sexism or inequality for women and children, it is worth understanding this from another perspective. When God originally called Abraham, God promised to make him into a great nation (Gen. 12:2). Since Abraham and Sarah were childless for many years this promise seemed impossible, however, we know that God enabled Sarah to conceive in her latter years and the child of promise, Isaac, was born.
The Blessing of Abraham
It was some years later that God tested Abraham regarding his son Isaac and asked him to offer him as a sacrifice. Abraham believed God, even in this situation, and was willing to offer his only son as a sacrifice to the LORD. God kept Abraham from acting on this and rewarded him for his devotion to the LORD:
Then the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” – Gen. 22:15-18
The blessings that God declared over Abraham and his seed are awesome and almost incomprehensible.
God promised to bless the seed of Abraham and multiply his seed as the stars of the heavens and the sand of the seashore! Together with this, all of the nations of the earth would be blessed through the seed of Abraham.
The Uncountable Blessing!
It is this blessing upon the seed of Abraham to such a great extent that his descendants would be uncountable that seems to provide an answer as to why God did not provide a means of making a complete census of His people, including the women and children. This great nation which would come from the loins of Abraham, the Nation of Israel, was compared to the number of stars in the sky and the number of grains of sand on the seashore. It is humanly impossible to count these entities and God wanted to keep it this way.
When God gave instructions regarding how the nation of Israel was to be counted, it was limited to military-aged men who were 20 years old and older. Younger men, women, and children were not counted. The blessing and greatness of the nation of Israel was hidden by the exclusion of the women and children from the census. It was the women and children who completed the full blessing of Abraham for the nation Israel but God wanted this number to remain unknown, except to Himself.
Blessing the Children!
We know that God values every life and that He created man and woman in His image. We also see in the New Testament that the value and dignity of women and children were constantly at the forefront of Yeshua’s ministry. This is best illustrated when mothers brought their children to Yeshua in order for Him to touch them and bless them while His disciples tried to turn them away:
And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them. But when Yeshua saw this, He was indignant and said to them, “Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” And He took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands on them. – Mark 10:13-16
Yeshua elevated all human life when He walked this earth which is clearly illustrated in these verses as Yeshua welcomed the mothers who brought their children and blessed the children.
God Has Not Forgotten the Women & Children
Despite not being included in the census of the nation of Israel, the women and children have never been forgotten by God. What was true 3500 years ago is also true today. God sees each and every one of us and He alone knows the true number of those who are His and who are counted in the Kingdom of God.
Shabbat Shalom!
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*All Scripture take from NASB Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
**The Hebrew name “Yeshua” is used in the biblical quotations in place of the English name “Jesus” to give emphasis to the meaning of this name, salvation. The word “Messiah” is also used in place of the word “Christ” to bring clarity to the office of Yeshua.