Numbers 26:31 Meaning and Explanation
“And of Asriel, the family of the Asrielites: and of Shechem, the family of the Shechemites:”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →A clan and a city can share a name, and when they do, a census begins to read like a map. Shechem sat in the hill country the sons of Joseph would occupy, and it already held a place in this family's memory. This short verse links a muster roll taken in Moab to ground Israel's ancestors had walked.
Two more clans of Gilead are entered on the roll, Asriel and Shechem. The second name matches a city in the hill country that already carried deep significance in Israel's memory.
The Context of Numbers 26:31
Moses and Eleazar are numbering Israel in the plains of Moab, and Manasseh's section runs from verse 29 to verse 34. Verse 30 opened the list of Gilead's sons with Jeezer and Helek; verse 31 adds Asriel and Shechem; verse 32 completes it with Shemida and Hepher. The same six names appear in Joshua 17:2 when Manasseh's western portion is assigned, and 1 Chronicles 7:14 mentions Ashriel within Manasseh's line. The colon at the end of verse 31 keeps the sentence running into the next verse, since the whole list forms one long entry.
What Does Numbers 26:31 Mean?
Both halves of the verse use the same construction, and of Asriel, the family of the Asrielites, and of Shechem, the family of the Shechemites. The repetition reflects the shape of an official register, where uniform wording makes a document usable. Asriel carries the divine element El at its end, as several names in these chapters do. Shechem was a name Israel already knew from Genesis, where it belongs to a man of the region beside which Jacob camped. Here it designates a Manassite household. The same word would later name the city itself, standing in the hill country where the border of Manasseh ran, according to Joshua 17:7.
Joshua 17 shows what became of these six names. Machir's descendants had already received Gilead and Bashan east of the Jordan, so the remaining sons of Gilead, Asriel and Shechem among them, took portions west of the river. The tribe of Joseph's elder son ended up straddling the Jordan, with clans on both banks. Verse 31 belongs to the western half of that arrangement. Reading the census beside the allotment records shows how carefully Israel's land was distributed by name, and how a roll taken in Moab governed decisions made years later on the far side of the water.
When Israel finally took the land, the bones Joseph had asked them to carry up from Egypt were laid in the parcel of ground at Shechem that Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor, and that plot became the inheritance of Joseph's children. Joshua also set Shechem apart as a city of refuge in the hill country, and he gathered the tribes at that place near the end of his life to set before them the choice of whom they would serve. The name written in this verse belonged to a household, and it belonged as well to the ground where Israel buried a promise kept and swore its loyalty.
Numbers 26:31 in the Original Language
shekem (שְׁכֶם), 'Shechem' -- the ordinary Hebrew word for the shoulder or upper back, used also of a ridge or slope of ground. The same word therefore suits a person and a hill country town, which is one reason it turns up in Scripture as both.
Bible Verses Related to Numbers 26:31
“There was also a lot for the rest of the children of Manasseh by their families; for the children of Abiezer, and for the children of Helek, and for the children of Asriel, and for the children of Shechem, and for the children of Hepher, and for the children of Shemida: these were the male children of Manasseh the son of Joseph by their families.”
- Joshua 17:2
“And the coast of Manasseh was from Asher to Michmethah, that lieth before Shechem; and the border went along on the right hand unto the inhabitants of Entappuah.”
- Joshua 17:7
“And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for an hundred pieces of silver: and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph.”
- Joshua 24:32
“The sons of Manasseh; Ashriel, whom she bare: (but his concubine the Aramitess bare Machir the father of Gilead:”
- 1 Chronicles 7:14
Where Numbers 26:31 Echoes in Scripture
Genesis 12:6 records that Abram passed through the land to the place of Sichem, and there the LORD appeared to him with the promise that his seed would receive that land. The first promise of Canaan was spoken at the spot whose name now stands in a Manassite clan list. Israel is camped in Moab, still outside the border, and one of Joseph's households already carries the name in the register, generations before the family lived there.
How to Apply Numbers 26:31 Today
Places hold memory in ways that surprise us. A house, a chapel, a stretch of road can carry decades of a family's history, so that standing there brings back what we had misplaced. Israel's registers are full of names that are also places. We might take that seriously enough to revisit somewhere significant to our own family and tell someone younger what happened there. We might also give thought to the ground we occupy now, and to what is being decided in our home, our workplace, our street, that someone will one day want to know about.
Reflection & Prayer
What place in our history would we want to walk a child or a friend through, and what would we tell them there? Father, you have met your people in particular places and kept your promises on real ground. Thank you for the place where you found me. Help me to build something where you have set me that will outlast my time in it. Amen.