Numbers 26:1-4
1 And it came to pass after the plague, that the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, saying,
2 Take the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, from twenty years old and upward, throughout their fathers' house, all that are able to go to war in Israel.
3 And Moses and Eleazar the priest spake with them in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying,
4 Take the sum of the people, from twenty years old and upward; as the LORD commanded Moses and the children of Israel, which went forth out of the land of Egypt.
51-65, the Census of the Nation
The terrible visitation of the preceding chapter swept away the survivors of the old generation. See Psalms 95:11. This new census was very important, partly as showing the numbers to which Israel had grown, and partly as fixing families and clans, preparatory to their entrance into Canaan.
The census of the Levites was taken separately, and conducted on different principles. It showed an increase of 1000 since the numbering, forty years before, Numbers 3:39. That this was no greater was probably due to Korah's rebellion.
God is ever writing up His people. Can we claim to be included in the divine enumeration and enrolled in the Lamb's book of life? Compare Psalms 87:5; Revelation 3:5. We are born to a great inheritance, but must claim it by faith.