Census

CEN'SUS. In the O.T. there is mention made of twelve censuses. 1.The earliest was under Moses, in the third or fourth month after the Exodus. Its object was to raise money for building the tabernacle, each person numbered נi. e. every male from 20 years and upward נbeing obliged to pay half a shekel. The census showed there were 603,550 men. Ex 38:26. 2. In Num 1:2 there is the order for a second numbering, in the second month of the second year after the Exodus. The result showed the same figures. Num 1:46. This fact has led some to suppose that these two numberings were in fact one, but applied to different purposes. 3. The next census was made immediately before the entrance of the Hebrews into Canaan. Num 26. The total number of males fit for military service was 601,730, while the Levite males from a month old were 23,000. 4. For a long time after that there was no reckoning made. But David, instigated by Satan, out of mere curiosity and ambition to know how large a people he governed, ordered a count, which showed that the men of Israel over 20 years of age were 800,000, and of Judah 500,000. 2 Sam 24:9; 1 Chr 21:1. These are round figures, and do not quite agree with those of 1 Chr 21:5. 5. Solomon completed the census by causing the foreigners and remnants of the conquered nations resident within Palestine to be numbered. 2 Chr 2:17-18. We read of much more frequent censuses after this:6. Rehoboam, 1 Kgs 12:21; 7. Abijam, 2 Chr 13:3, 17; 8. Asa, 2 Chr 14:8-9; 9. Jehoshaphat. 2 Chr 17:14-19; 10. Amaziah, 2 Chr 25:5-6; 11. Uzziah, 2 Chr 26:13. All these must have kept at least an account of how many could bear arms, since we find in the passages cited the number of their troops. Besides, the numbers referred to are those of the separate tribes and companies נe. g. Jud 7:3; 1 Kgs 20:15; Jer 52:30. 12. The last general census was that made at the time of the Return. Ezr 2:64 and Ezr 8:1-14 give the numbers of males in the first and second caravan. These figures indicate the importance attached to the census, though no scientific use was made of it, as by us. It would appear that the kingdom of Judah was most populous under Jehoshaphat. The numbers, in proportion to the area of the country, have been quoted as an objection to the narrative. But while it must be freely granted that the population was dense, still the density has been paralleled, and even exceeded, in modern times. Palestine, it should be remembered, was a very fertile land. On the census of Cyrenius, Luke 2:2, see Taxing, Days of the

CENTU'RION. Matt 8:5. The title of an officer of the Roman army who had command of 100 soldiers. See Captain.