Day Ten - Adding it all up . . .

Leviticus 26:27 to Numbers 8:14

Today we complete our reading in Leviticus and dive headlong into the aptly named Book of Numbers.  In the opening chapters there's a lot of counting going on beginning with a census of all the men in Israel who are twenty years old or more and able to serve in the army.  The grand total reaches 603,550 not including the Levites who apparently receive a deferment from military service to take care of the Tabernacle and the accompanying work of keeping intact the holiness of the community.  My mind began to wander with all these numbers and I was trying to guess the total size of the Israelite population once you add in all the women and children.  And then I wondered how so many people could fit in the camps that encircled the Tabernacle?

As a side note to these thoughts, last night I watched a portion of the movie "Titanic" including the scene when some passengers were walking along the deck with the ship's designer.  The young woman said to him that she had been doing some computations in her mind regarding the number of lifeboats onboard and the stated capacity of each boat.  She said it would seem there were not enough lifeboats to accommodate all the people should it ever become necessary to abandon the ship.  The designer said that he had planned on additional lifeboats but it was decided that adding them would make the ship look too cluttered.  Another man quickly spoke up to the young woman and added that there was no need to worry or to think about the numbers since the Titanic had been built to be unsinkable.

Sometimes it is perhaps best not to dwell on the numbers.  I will try to keep that in mind as I continue through today's reading.