מבן עשרים שנה. והטעם שנשאו את חשבונם כאשר צוה ה' את משה: FROM TWENTY YEARS OLD AND UPWARD. This means that they took the sum of the people10In other words, From twenty years old and upward is short for: they took up the sum of the people from twenty years old and up. as God commanded Moses.
וטעם ובני ישראל היוצאים מארץ מצרים. כי היו בספורים רבים מיוצאי מצרים והקרוב להיותם חצים והחל מראובן בספורים הראשונים במדבר סיני: [AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, THAT CAME FORTH OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT.] Scripture states the aforementioned because there were many among those who were numbered who came out of Egypt.11Those who were under the age of twenty when they left Egypt did not die in the wilderness. They most likely came to about half the number of the Israelites. Scripture starts with Reuben in imitation of the manner in which the Israelites12See Num. 1:20. were first numbered in the wilderness of Sinai.