Numbers 1:2

Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel,.... Excepting the Levites; nor were any account taken of the mixed multitude that came out of Egypt with the children of Israel,

Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, after their families, by the house of their fathers, with the number of their names, every male by their polls; No JFB commentary on this verse.

This is not the same muster with that , as plainly appears, because that was before the building of the tabernacle, which was built and set up on the first day of the first month, ; but this was after it, to wit, on the first day of the second month, as is said . And they were for differing ends; that was to tax them for the charges of the tabernacle, but this was for other ends; partly, that the great number of the people might be known to the praise of God’ s faithfulness, in making good his promises of multiplying them, and to their own comfort and encouragement; partly, for the better ordering of their camp and march, for they were now beginning their journey; and partly, that this account might be compared with the other in the close of the book, where we read that not one of all this vast number, except Caleb and Joshua, were left alive; which was an evident discovery of the mischievous nature of sin, by which so vast a company were destroyed, and a fair warning to all future generations to take heed of rebelling against the Lord, for which their ancestors had been so dreadfully plagued even to extirpation. It is true, the sums and numbers agree in this and that computation, which is not strange, because there was not much time between the two numberings, and no eminent sin among the people in that interval whereby God was provoked to diminish their numbers. Some conceive, that in that number, Exodus 30 Exodus 38, the Levites were included, which are here excepted, , and that in that interval of time there were grown up as many more men of those years as there were Levites of the same age. Of the children of Israel; so the stranger mixed with them were not numbered. The people were divided into twelve tribes, the tribes into great families, ; these great families into lesser families, called the houses of their fathers, because they were distinguished one from another by their fathers.

Numbers 1:2 Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, after their families, by the house of their fathers, with the number of [their] names, every male by their polls;Ver. 2. Take ye the sum.] Hence this book is named in the Greek, Numbers.

(2) After their families.—The family or clan, mishpahah, included several fathers’ houses (see Kurtz’s Hist. of the Old Covenant, 2, pp. 8-10). With the number of their names.—Better, according to the number of names. The reference is probably to the previous numbering recorded in Exodus 30:12. There is no corresponding clause in the account of the later numbering in Numbers 26:2. By their polls—i.e., man by man. The word gulgoleth denotes a man’s head, or skull. Cf. Matthew 27:33.

Verse 2. Take ye the sum, c.] God, having established the commonwealth of Israel by just and equitable laws, ordained every thing relative to the due performance of his own worship, erected his tabernacle, which was his throne, and the place of his residence among the people, and consecrated his priests who were to minister before him he now orders his subjects to be mustered, 1. That they might see he had not forgotten his promise to Abraham, but was multiplying his posterity. 2. That they might observe due order in their march toward the promised land. 3. That the tribes and families might be properly distinguished; that all litigations concerning property, inheritance, c., might, in all future times, be prevented. 4. That the promise concerning the Messiah might be known to have its due accomplishment, when in the fulness of time God should send him from the seed of Abraham through the house of David. And, 5. That they might know their strength for war for although they should ever consider God as their protector and defence, yet it was necessary that they should be assured of their own fitness, naturally speaking, to cope with any ordinary enemy, or to surmount any common difficulties.

2. their families] Rather their clans, i.e. groups of families related by blood. fathers’ houses] here denotes families, smaller groups consisting of close relations; see Numbers 1:4, Exodus 12:3. The term is, however, elastic. It may denote even an entire tribe, as being descended from a single ancestor (Numbers 17:2), or the main subdivision of a tribe, i.e. a ‘clan’ (Numbers 3:24, Exodus 6:14). their polls] lit. skulls, a metaphor for ‘individual persons.’ Cf. our word ‘poll-tax,’ and the ‘poll’ at an election. This expression and ‘fathers’ houses’ are not found earlier than P.

2. Take ye the sum — The chief object of this enrolment was probably for the more efficient organization of the military force of the nation. It may, however, have also subserved other purposes.