Numbers 1:2 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
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;
to lift · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
sum
רֹאשׁ֙roSh
H7218
the head (as most easily shaken) · noun, common masculine singular construct
congregation
עֲדַ֣ת'a.Dat
H5712
a stated assemblage (specifically · noun, common feminine singular construct
children
בְּנֵֽיbe.nei-
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לYis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
families
לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֖םle.mish.pe.cho.Tam
H4940
a family · preposition + noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
house
לְבֵ֣יתle.Veit
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
fathers
אֲבֹתָ֑ם'a.vo.Tam
H1
father · noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
number
בְּמִסְפַּ֣רbe.mis.Par
H4557
a number · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
names
שֵׁמ֔וֹתshe.Mot
H8034
an appellation · noun, common feminine plural construct
male
זָכָ֖רza.Khar
H2145
properly · adjective, masculine singular absolute
polls
לְגֻלְגְּלֹתָֽםle.gul.ge.lo.Tam
H1538
a skull (as round) · preposition + noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Exodus 30:12 When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the LORD, w…
Exodus 38:26 A bekah for every man, that is, half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for every one that went to be numbered, from twenty years…
Numbers 1:18 And they assembled all the congregation together on the first day of the second month, and they declared their pedigrees after their familie…
Numbers 1:22 Of the children of Simeon, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, those that were numbered of them, acco…
Numbers 26:2-4 Take the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, from twenty years old and upward, throughout their fathers’ house, all that…
Genesis 49:1-3 And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.
Exodus 1:1-5 Now these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt; every man and his household came with Jacob.
Exodus 6:14-19 These be the heads of their fathers’ houses: The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel; Hanoch, and Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi: these be the…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Numbers 1:1-16
I. We have here a commission issued out for the numbering of the people of Israel; and David, long after, paid dearly for doing it without a commission. Here is,
1. The date of this commission, Num 1:1. (1.) The place: it is given at God's court in the wilderness of Sinai, from his royal palace, the tabernacle of the congregation. (2.) The time: In the second year after they came up out of Egypt; we may call it the second year of that reign. The laws in Leviticus were given in the first month of that year; these orders were given in the beginning of the second month.
2. The directions given for the execution of it, Num 1:2, Num 1:3. (1.) None were to be numbered but the males, and those only…
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, only of them; and this account was taken, partly to observe the fulfilment of the divine promise to Abraham concerning the multiplication of his seed, and partly that it might be observed, that at the end of thirty eight years from hence, when they were numbered again, there were but three left of this large number, their carcasses falling in the wilderness because of their sins; and chiefly, as Aben Ezra observes, this sum was now taken to fix their standards, and for their better and more orderly…
And the Lord spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai Although this is the first numbering of the people, of which we have an account, still, inasmuch as God had already imposed a tax upon every person, the amount of which has been recorded, we infer that it was in fact the second. But the reason for thus numbering the people a second time was, because they were very soon about to remove their camp from the wilderness of Sinai to take posession of the promised land. Since, however, their impiety withheld thmn from doing so, there was a third census taken just before their actual entrance into the land, and with this object, that it might be obvious, on comparison, how marvellously the peo…
The Church Fathers
Not all are worthy of the divine numbers, but those who ought to be included within the number of God are marked out by certain definite prerogatives. And this book, which is entitled Numbers, contains a clear indication of this matter. In it we are told that, by the command of God, neither are women brought into the number — being obstructed, no doubt, by the impediment of feminine weakness — nor any of the slaves, inasmuch as they are degenerate in life and character. But not even any of the Egyptians who had mingled with them is numbered, precisely because they were foreigners and barbarians; but the Israelites alone are numbered, and not even all of these, but those from twenty years old and upward. Nor is only the observance of age maintained, but it is asked whether one also displays a strength fit for war; for it is prescribed by the word of God that everyone be numbered "who goes forth in the might of Israel." Therefore not age alone, but might too, is required in an Israelite. Boyish age is not numbered, nor is it reckoned fit for the divine reckonings, unless perhaps they be firstborn or descend from a priestly or Levitical stock; these alone among the boys are brought to the number. But of the women none whatever is brought forward. And what is the meaning of this? Can these things be empty of mysteries, and is the Holy Spirit, who dictated that these things be written, to be believed to have taken care of this alone, that we might know who were then numbered in that people and who remained without number? And what profit will be given from this to those who are eager to be instructed in the sacred volumes? For what does it benefit to have learned these things? Or what is contributed to the soul for its salvation, if it should know that some part of the people was numbered in the desert, while another part was left unnumbered? But if, following Paul's judgment, we believe the law to be spiritual and hear the things it contains spiritually, an immense profit to the soul will appear in the things that are written. For the present reading teaches me that, if I transcend the folly of boyish age, if I cease to be a child in understanding and, having become a man, lay aside the things that are a child's — if, I say, I become a young man, and such a young man as may conquer the evil one — I shall appear fit for those of whom it is written, "all who go…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Golgotha — The common name of the spot where Jesus was crucified. It is interpreted by the evangelists as meaning “the place of a skull” (Matt. 27:33; Mark 15:22; John 19:17). This name represents in Greek…
Levites — (descendants of Levi). Sometimes the name extends to the whole tribe, the priests included, (Exodus 6:25; Leviticus 25:32; Numbers 35:2; Joshua 21:3,41) etc; sometimes only to those members of the…
Weights And Measures — A. WEIGHTS.—The general principle of the present inquiry is to give the evidence of the monuments the preference on all doubtful points. All ancient Greek systems of weight were derived, either…
Armies · E — E
Armies Of Israel, The · Persons liable to serve in — Persons liable to serve in
Desert, Journey Of Israel Through The · Second numbering of the people — Second numbering of the people
Tribes Of Israel, The · Each of: Divided into families — Each of: Divided into families
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Muster of the Twelve Tribes, with the Exception of that of Levi. - Num 1:1-3. Before the departure of Israel from Sinai, God commanded Moses, on the first of the second month in the second year after the exodus from Egypt, to take the number of the whole congregation of the children of Israel, "according to their families, according to their fathers' houses (see Exo 6:14), in (according to) the number of their names," i.e., each one counted singly and entered, but only "every male according to their heads of twenty years old and upwards" (see Exo 30:14), viz., only צבא כּל־יצא "all who go forth of the army," i.e., all the men capable of bearing arms, because by means of this numbering the tr…
men twenty years old or older who are able to go to war: In this effort to register Israel’s men of military age, more information was gathered than in the previous registration (cp. Exod 38:26). • the tribes and the names of the leaders: Hebrew culture was tribal, built around clans and families. The tribal leaders were readily identified and appear again as a group in Num 7. • Moses and Aaron did not include Levi’s tribe in this registration, since it had a special status in Israelite society (cp. 1:47-53; 26:51-62; Deut 18:5; 33:8-11).
Rashi on Numbers 1:2
למשפחתם — [TAKE YE THE SUM OF THE CONGREGATION …] AFTER THEIR FAMILIES — in order to ascertain the number of individuals in each tribe.
לבית אבתם BY THE HOUSE OF THEIR FATHERS — One whose father belongs to one tribe and his mother to another tribe shall take his stand with the tribe of his father (cf. Bava Batra 109b).
לגלגלתם BY THEIR POLLS — i. e. by means of shekels — “a beka a head (לגלגלת)”, as was prescribed on a previous occasion (Exodus 38:26).
