Numbers 1:17

This command was carried out by Moses and Aaron. They took for this purpose the twelve heads of tribes who are pointed out (see at Lev 24:11) by name, and had the whole congregation gathered together by them and enrolled in genealogical tables. התילּד, to announce themselves as born, i.e., to have themselves entered in genealogical registers (books of generations). This entry is called a פּקד, mustering, in Num 1:19, etc. In vv. 20-43 the number is given of those who were mustered of all the different tribes, and in Num 1:44-47 the total of the whole nation, with the exception of the tribe of Levi. "Their generations" (Num 1:20, Num 1:22, Num 1:24, etc.), i.e., those who were begotten by them, so that "the sons of Reuben, Simeon," etc., are mentioned as the fathers from whom the mishpachoth and fathers' houses had sprung. The ל before שׁמעון בּני in Num 1:22, and the following names (in Num 1:24, Num 1:26, etc.), signifies "with regard to" (as in Isa 32:1; Psa 17:4, etc.).

We have here the speedy execution of the orders given for the numbering of the people. It was begun the same day that the orders were given, The first day of the second month; compare Num 1:18 with Num 1:1. Note, When any work is to be done for God it is good to set about it quickly, while the sense of duty is strong and pressing. And, for aught that appears, it was but one day's work, for many other things were done between this and the twentieth day of this month, when they removed their camp, Num 10:11. Joab was almost ten months numbering the people in David's time (Sa2 24:8); but then they were dispersed, now they lived closely together; then Satan proposed the doing of it, now God commanded it. It was the sooner and more easily done now because it had been done but a little while ago, and they needed but review the old books, with the alterations since made, which probably they had kept an account of as they occurred. In the particulars here left upon record, we may observe, 1. That the numbers are registered in words at length (as I may say), and not in figures; to every one of the twelve tribes it is repeated, for the greater ceremony and solemnity of the account, that they were numbered by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, to show that every tribe took and gave in the account by the same rule and in the same method, though so many hands were employed in it, setting down the genealogy first, to show that their family descended from Israel, then the families themselves in their order, then dividing each family into the houses, or subordinate families, that branched from it, and under these the names of the particular persons, according to the rules of heraldry. Thus every man might know w…

1:17-46 The tabulation yields the same number of qualified men (603,550) as mentioned in Exod 38:26. Exodus 12:37 and Num 11:21 give an approximate number of 600,000. These numbers have been interpreted in different ways. They might reflect the literal size of this army (cp. Exod 1:9-10); alternatively, the figures might be symbolic, projected backward from a later period, or simply misunderstood in translation. See also study note on Exod 12:37.