פרשת במדבר תשי"א - מפקד ישראל

וידבר… במדבר סיני … באחד לחדש וגו׳ AND [THE LORD] SPOKE [UNTO MOSES] IN THE DESERT OF SINAI … ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE [SECOND] MONTH … [TAKE YE THE SUM OF ALL THE CONGREGATION] etc. — Because they were dear to him, He counts them every now and then: when they went forth from Egypt He counted them (Exodus 12:37), when many of them fell in consequence of their having worshipped the golden calf He counted them to ascertain the number of those left (cf. Rashi Exodus 30:16); when he was about to make His Shechinah dwell amongst them (i. e. when He commanded them to make a Tabernacle), He again took their census; for on the first day of Nisan the Tabernacle was erected (Exodus 40:2) and shortly afterwards, on the first day of Iyar, He counted them.

ואלה שמות בני ישראל NOW THESE ARE THE NAMES OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL — Although scripture has already enumerated them by name whilst they were living, when they went down into Egypt (Genesis 46:8-27), it again enumerates them when it tells us of their death, thus showing how dear they were to God — that they are compared to the stars which also God brings out and brings in by number and name when they cease to shine, as it is said, (Isaiah 40:26) “He bringeth out their host by number, He calleth them all by name” (Exodus Rabbah 1:3; Tanchuma Yashan 1:1:2).

שאו את ראש כל עדת, from this point on the Israelites were headed for the land of Israel, and all males over the age of 20 were enlisted in the army for that purpose, because on the 20th of the second month the Torah speaks of the people leaving the region of Mount Sinai, the cloud having lifted off the Tabernacle and begun to move ahead of the people. (Compare Numbers 10,11). In that chapter, verse 29, Moses invited his father-in-law Yitro to accompany the people who were now “journeying” toward the promised land. G’d issued the command to count the people so that one could keep track of how many soldiers there were. [and know if any would have become casualties in any battle. My words. Ed.]

שאו את ראש, to organise them so that they could proceed to the land of Israel immediately, without delay, each one of them knowing to which unit (flag) he belonged. At that point, no war of conquest had even been envisaged, the assumption having been that G’d would remove the inhabitants of the land of Canaan so that no face-to-face encounter would even be necessary. Evidence from Isaiah 17,9 suggests that in fact, at least partially, this even occurred after the 40 years in the desert. The prophet there reports that once again, as at the time when the Emorite and the Hittite abandoned their cities in the face of the advancing armies of the Israelites, history will repeat itself. [based on the Septuagint. Our author assumes that Isaiah may have referred to the tribe of the Girgashi, quoting Jerusalem Talmud Sh’viit 6,1 Ed.]
At any rate, due to the sin of the spies the seven Canaanites nations survived another 40 years during which they added to their sins so that at the end of that time G’d did not merely exile them but exterminated them.

And all those that were numbered of the children of Israel by their fathers’houses, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war in Israel;

even all those that were numbered were six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty.

But the Levites shall pitch round about the tabernacle of the testimony, that there be no wrath upon the congregation of the children of Israel; and the Levites shall keep the charge of the tabernacle of the testimony.’

ולא יהיה קצף THAT THERE BE NO ANGER [UPON THE CONGREGATION] — If you act according to My commands there will be no anger, but if not, — i.e., that strangers take part in this their (the Levites’) service, there will be anger, just as we find at the incident with Korah (Numbers 17:11): “for there is anger gone forth [from the Lord]”.

But the Levites shall pitch round about the tabernacle of the testimony, that there be no wrath upon the congregation of the children of Israel; and the Levites shall keep the charge of the tabernacle of the testimony.’

על עדת בני ישראל, against a member of the community of Israel, not against the whole community. We find similar construction in Exodus 21,11: אם שלש אלה לא יעשה לה, which does not mean that the master has not done ail these three procedures for the servant maid, but that he has failed to do even one of them. Compare also: ויקבר בערי הגלעד, “he was buried in the towns of Gilead;” (Judges 12,7) The meaning is not that different parts of Yiftach were buried in different towns, but that his remains were buried in one of those towns. Compare also Zecharyah 9,9, ועל עיר בן אתונות, “but riding on a young donkey, born by asses.” The meaning is not that this donkey had more than one mother, but “by one of the many sheasses.” (Ibn Ezra)

אך את מטה לוי לא תפקד ONLY THOU SHALT NOT NUMBER THE TRIBE OF LEVI — The legion of the King is worthy to be numbered by itself (cf. Midrash Tanchuma, Bamidbar 15). — Another explanation is: The Holy One, blessed be He, foresaw that a decree would once be made against all those that had been numbered from twenty years and upwards, viz., that they should die in the wilderness (Numbers 14:29). He therefore said: Let these (the Levites) not be included amongst those now counted, in which case they must die, because they are Mine, since they did not sin by worshipping the golden calf (cf. Numbers Rabbah 3:7; Bava Batra 121b).

ואתה הפקד את הלוים BUT THOU SHALT APPOINT THE LEVITES OVERSEERS [OVER THE TABERNACLE etc.] — Understand the word הפקד as the Targum does: ,מני “appoint”; it (the word מני) is an expression for appointing a person to control that thing over which he has been appointed; similar is, (Esther 2:3) “and let the king appoint (ויפקד) officers”.

יורידו אתו [AND WHEN THE DWELLING SETTETH FORWARD] THE LEVITES SHALL TAKE IT DOWN — Understand יורידו as the Targum does: they shall take it apart. Whenever they were about to set out on a journey in the wilderness from one station to another (cf. Rashi Exodus 40:38) they took the structure apart (lit., they took it apart from its state of being put up) and carried it to the place where the cloud afterwards abode, and there they encamped and erected it (the Tabernacle).

And the owner shall also die. According to the Mechilta it means that he will die at the hands of heaven. There are a number of instances in the Torah in which “he shall die” has this meaning.

באתת [EVERY MAN OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL SHALL ENCAMP BY HIS OWN STANDARD] WITH THE SIGNS [OF THEIR FATHERS’ HOUSES] — Each banner shall have a different sign — a piece of coloured cloth hanging on it, the colour of the one not being the same as the colour of another, but the colour of each tribe shall be like that of his stone that is fixed in the breastplate (of. Exodus 28:21), and by this means everybody will be able to recognise his banner . Another explanation of באתת לבית אבתם is: by the signs (i.e., following the signs) which their father Jacob gave them severally when they carried him out from Egypt, as it is said, (Genesis 50:12) “And his sons did unto him exactly as he had commanded them”. For he had commanded that Judah, Issachar and Zebulun should carry him, having their position at the east side of the bier, Reuben, Simeon and Gad at the south side, etc., — as it is related in Tanchuma on this section (Midrash Tanchuma, Bamidbar 12; cf. Rashi on Genesis 50:12).

באתת [EVERY MAN OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL SHALL ENCAMP BY HIS OWN STANDARD] WITH THE SIGNS [OF THEIR FATHERS’ HOUSES] — Each banner shall have a different sign — a piece of coloured cloth hanging on it, the colour of the one not being the same as the colour of another, but the colour of each tribe shall be like that of his stone that is fixed in the breastplate (of. Exodus 28:21), and by this means everybody will be able to recognise his banner . Another explanation of באתת לבית אבתם is: by the signs (i.e., following the signs) which their father Jacob gave them severally when they carried him out from Egypt, as it is said, (Genesis 50:12) “And his sons did unto him exactly as he had commanded them”. For he had commanded that Judah, Issachar and Zebulun should carry him, having their position at the east side of the bier, Reuben, Simeon and Gad at the south side, etc., — as it is related in Tanchuma on this section (Midrash Tanchuma, Bamidbar 12; cf. Rashi on Genesis 50:12). מנגד AT SOME DISTANCE [AROUND THE APPOINTED TENT THEY SHALL ENCAMP] — at a distance of a mile (2000 cubits), for it is said, (Joshua 3:4) “Yet there shall be between you (the Israelites) and it (the Ark), about two thousand cubits”; the reason for this distance, which was that of a Sabbath day’s journey, was that they might be able to come unto the vicinity of the Tabernacle for instruction on Sabbath, for Moses, Aaron and his sons and the Levites were encamped quite close to it (Bemidbar Rabbah 2:9; cf. Exodus 33:7 and Rashi thereon).

Then the tent of meeting, with the camp of the Levites, shall set forward in the midst of the camps; as they encamp, so shall they set forward, every man in his place, by their standards.