The number 22,200 is the count of men in the tribe of Simeon at the second census in Numbers 26:14.
In Numbers 26:14, the number of Simeonites is given as 22,200 in the second census conducted on the plains of Moab, toward the end of the wilderness journey. This represents a dramatic decline from the first census in Numbers 1:23, where the tribe of Simeon counted 59,300 men—a reduction of over 37,000. Thus, Simeon is the tribe that experienced by far the greatest decrease between the two censuses. This marked reduction has been linked to the incident at Peor (Num 25), where a Simeonite leader, Zimri son of Salu, was among the prominent sinners. The decline in the tribe of Simeon can therefore be read as an expression of God’s judgment against apostasy and idolatry. According to rabbinic tradition, most of those who died in the plague at Peor (Num. 25:9), where 24,000 perished, were from the tribe of Simeon. This explains the dramatic decline in population. The tribal inheritance of Simeon was later incorporated into the territory of Judah (Josh. 19:1–9), which is seen as connected to Jacob's prophecy in Gen. 49:7 that Simeon would be scattered in Israel. The second census in Numbers 26 was carried out to distribute the land of Canaan according to the size of each tribe (Num. 26:53–56), and Simeon's reduced numbers meant a correspondingly smaller area of land.*