And it came to pass after the plague, that Hashem spoke to Moses and to Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, saying:
verse value 2046 — יְהֹוָה֙ = 26 (Hashem)
Insights
Verse structure: 10 words, 49 letters. Notable word values: "Hashem" (יְהֹוָה֙) = 26, the value of the divine name Hashem. The shortest word is "and·to" (וְאֶ֧ל, 3 letters) and the longest is "the·plague·and·said" (הַמַּגֵּפָ֑הוַיֹּ֤אמֶר, 10 letters). Words sharing gematria 308: Eleazar, son·Aaron. 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "the·plague·and·said" (הַמַּגֵּפָ֑הוַיֹּ֤אמֶר). 8 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "Hashem" (root יהוה, 389x in Numbers); "saying" (root אמר, 246x in Numbers); "and·it·was" (root היה, 180x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·plague·and·said', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 7 words. Full calculation: וַיְהִ֖י [and·it·was] (31) + אַחֲרֵ֣י [after] (219) + הַמַּגֵּפָ֑הוַיֹּ֤אמֶר [the·plague·and·said] (390) + יְהֹוָה֙ [Hashem] (26) + אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה [to·Moses] (376) + וְאֶ֧ל [and·to] (37) + אֶלְעָזָ֛ר [Eleazar] (308) + בֶּן־אַהֲרֹ֥ן [son·Aaron] (308) + הַכֹּהֵ֖ן [priest] (80) + לֵאמֹֽר [saying] (271) = 2046.
Onkelos
And it came to pass after the plague that Hashem spoke to Moses and to Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, saying:
Rashi
ויהי אחרי המגפה AND IT CAME TO PASS AFTER THE PESTILENCE [THAT THE LORD SPOKE TO MOSES … TAKE THE SUM OF ALL THE CONGREGATION] — A parable! This may be compared to the case of a shepherd amongst whose flock wolves found their way and slew some of them, and he counted them to discover the number of those that were left. — Another explanation: When they left Egypt and were entrusted to Moses' care, they were entrusted to him by number, now when he is close to death and has to hand back his sheep, he hands them back by number (Midrash Tanchuma, Pinchas 4).
Ibn Ezra
"And it came to pass after the plague" — Hashem spoke to Moses and to Elazar alongside Moses, just as [we find] "And Moses and the elders of Israel commanded" (Deut. 27:1) and "Then Moses and the Children of Israel sang" (Exod. 15:1). The reason [the census is placed] after the plague is because Hashem had said, "To these shall the land be divided" (v. 53).
Or HaChaim
ויהי אחרי המגפה It was after the plague had stopped, etc. Why was the beginning of this paragraph written as if it were the conclusion of the previous paragraph, with the dividing symbol פ separating it from chapter 26? If you reflect on what I have written previously you will find that this makes perfect sense. The position of our verse at the end of the previous paragraph reflects the Torah's instruction that only by complying with the command to harass the Midianites in the manner we have explained could the Israelites rehabilitate themselves for having entertained idolatrous thoughts, i.e. the worship of Baal Pe-or. Only then would their positive relationship towards G'd become a natural one. Once this had been accomplished, ויהי אחרי המגפה, they would have put the plague behind them. The true disappearance (instead of mere arrest) of the plague occurred as the result of penitence along the lines G'd had indicated. This is why the new paragraph had to begin in the middle of the verse, as it were. [In editions of the Bible based on the church's divisions into chapters and verses, our verse is part of chapter 26 instead of being verse 19 in the last chapter as it ought to be. In either event, the verse is interrupted by the symbol פ which always indicates that what follows has to be a new line in the Torah scroll. Ed.] You may still ask why the Torah did not make this line a verse by itself? The reason is that the Torah also wanted to link our verse to the subject which follows, i.e. that G'd had decided that the time had come to conduct a new census amongst the 12 tribes exclusive of the tribe of Levi whose members were not to share in the distribution of the land of Canaan. Another reason why this verse is positioned so peculiarly and why it seems as if slashed in half, may have to do with a comment by Yalkut Shimoni item 773. The Midrash relates our verse to Psalms 94,18 in which Moses is the speaker. According to the Midrash, the nations of the world protested to G'd for having shown preference for the Jewish people by giving them the Torah. G'd countered asking that they produce proof that they were entitled to equal treatment on the basis of their ancestry. These nations were unable to establish the paternity of the men with whom their mothers had lived with any degree of certainty. As a result, G'd told them they had no claim to special treatment. Now that the Israelites had become guilty of "sleeping around," the nations challenged G'd once more about this, claiming Israel had lost its moral "crown." G'd therefore punished by death all the Israelites whose sins had undermined the image of the whole nation. The meaning of the verse in Psalms then may be that wiping out these people whose foot had slipped was an act of kindness by G'd for the remainder of the nation. In view of this, we can understand why our verse was positioned where it was and why it was also the natural introduction to the count of the Israelites. When the Israelit...
Chizkuni
ויהי אחרי המגפה, “it was after the plague;” the “plague” referred to here is the dying in the desert of the generation of the adult Israelite males who had been redeemed from Egypt, but had lacked the faith to try and conquer the land of Canaan. This short phrase is described as an entire chapter despite its containing only three words. Our sages separated these three words from what preceded them by a cantillation mark indicating that a paragraph had been concluded. This is followed by another census of the Jewish males of military age prior to the crossing of the river Jordan.
Daat Zkenim
ויהי אחרי המגפה, “it was after the plague had ceased, etc.” At that time G–d instructed Moses to conduct another census of the people (males between 20-60 years of age). Joshua would have to know how many soldiers he had at his disposal when commencing his conquest of the land of the Canaanites. The people had been counted twice. In this count the names of the families in each tribe are mentioned. When they had been counted in the desert of Sinai, only the tribal allegiance of each person counted had been recorded. According to the plain meaning of the text, not all tribes entered the land of Israel in accordance with the families of their respective tribes. Some of them did not have male descendants of the requisite age, so that they would be lumped together with their brothers, sons of the same father. For instance, although we know that according to the count of Yaakov’s grandchildren descending to Egypt in Genesis chapter 46, six are listed, when the Torah reports the result of the present census only three, i.e. Ohad, Yachin, and Zochar are mentioned by name. Sometimes the name of the family is that of the third generation, as in the case of Zerach. We had never found that any of the six sons of Shimon included one named Zerach. Similarly, Gilad, a great grandson of Joseph appears to have been the mainstay of Menashe’s descendants, as he had performed deeds of valour. In some instances the names of the original sons of Yaakov were changed slightly by the time they constituted families of substantial numbers. For instance: Yemuel in Genesis became Nemuel in Numbers, and Chusham in Genesis became Chushim in Numbers.
"Take the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, from twenty years old and upward, by their fathers' houses, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel."
verse value 5226
Insights
Verse structure: 13 words, 59 letters. Verse gematria: 5226 is divisible by 26, the value of the divine name Hashem. The shortest word is "take·up!" (שְׂא֞וּ, 3 letters) and the longest is "Israelites" (בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל, 8 letters). Words sharing gematria 151: and·up, all·who·go·out·to. The root בן appears 2 times in this verse. 12 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "Israelites" (root בן, 499x in Numbers); "in·Israel" (root ישראל, 183x in Numbers); "year" (root שנה, 90x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'their·fathers', dividing the verse into phrases of 10 and 3 words. Full calculation: שְׂא֞וּ [take·up!] (307) + אֶת־רֹ֣אשׁ [the·count·of] (902) + כׇּל־עֲדַ֣ת [whole·community·of] (524) + בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל [Israelites] (603) + מִבֶּ֨ן [from·the·age·of] (92) + עֶשְׂרִ֥ים [twenty] (620) + שָׁנָ֛ה [year] (355) + וָמַ֖עְלָה [and·up] (151) + לְבֵ֣ית [by·house·of] (442) + אֲבֹתָ֑ם [their·fathers] (443) + כׇּל־יֹצֵ֥א [all·who·go·out·to] (151) + צָבָ֖א [army] (93) + בְּיִשְׂרָאֵֽל [in·Israel] (543) = 5226.
Onkelos
"Take a census of the entire congregation of the children of Israel, from twenty years of age and upward, according to their fathers' households, all who go out to the army in Israel."
Rashi
לבית אבתם [TAKE THE SUM OF THE CONGREGATION] ACCORDING TO THEIR FATHERS’ HOUSE — after their fathers’ tribes shall they reckon their descent, and not after their mothers’ (Bava Batra 109b).
Chizkuni
שאו את ראש כל עדת בני ישראל, “take the sum of all the congregation of Israel from twenty years old and up;” once the count had been completed the Torah continues (verse 53) “to these the land will be divided up.” It describes that the amount of or quality of the various parts of the country will vary with the size of each tribe, so that it will be distributed fairly. (Numbers 26,54)
Rabbeinu Bahya
שאו את ראש, “take a census.” Our sages (Tanchuma Pinchas 4) explained the reason for this census at this time by means of a parable. A shepherd whose flock had been attacked by wolves which had killed many of his sheep counted the surviving sheep in order to assess his losses. Furthermore, seeing that Moses had counted the people shortly after the Exodus, now that he was close to the end of his career he wanted to prove that he had the same number of people at his command to hand over to his successor. לבית אבותם, “according to their ancestral houses.” Tribal membership was based on the father and not on the mother (Rashi).
Kli Yakar
Take a census, etc. The purpose of this counting now was to inform that even though 24,000 had fallen, nevertheless, 600,000 remained. For a complete multitude is only when there are 600,000, since one can only recite the blessing “Blessed is the One who knows the secrets” when seeing 600,000 (Berakhot 58). Therefore, it comes to inform us that upon their entry to the land, they were a complete multitude. And the reason he sealed all the tribes with the name of God [Yah] specifically in this count, is because they were not previously suspected of harlotry until they failed at Shittim with fornication. This [now] gave the nations grounds to say that their end proves their beginning — just as the males went after foreign women, so too in Egypt the women were promiscuous and breached boundaries because the Egyptians had control over their mothers. Therefore it says “HaChanochi, HaPallui” and sealed them with God’s name [Yah] [the two letters of this name coming at the beginning and end of each family’s appellation], because this name mediates between man and woman, indicating that they were all born from a man and woman with God’s name [Yah] between them. The placement of the letter hei before the yod [which spells God’s name backwards] comes to announce the virtue of the women, as the hei is given to the woman and the yod to the man. Indeed, the women were more guarded from sexual immorality than the men, as evidenced by Scripture publicizing only Shelomith daughter of Dibri, which teaches that she alone was immodest while all other women were modest (Leviticus Rabbah 32:5). But the men were “weeping in their families” over the matter of forbidden relationships, and many of them stumbled at Shittim. Therefore the hei of God’s name precedes the yod, because the main point being conveyed is the virtue of the women — that the Egyptians did not have control over their mothers. Furthermore, in every seal the letters are reversed so that they appear in the correct order on the thing being sealed, and Israel is the seal, as it says Place me as a seal upon your heart (Song of Songs 8:6) — when I am the seal, then the name of God [Yah] will be engraved through me. And what He added further is the name of God [Yah] in three tribes. And they are the Reubenite, the Simeonite, the Zebulunite — these are the families of the Reubenites [HaReuveni], and similarly with Simeon and Zebulun — because these needed two witnesses more than the others. For Reuben stumbled in the matter of Bilhah, and from Simeon came Zimri, and it appears that the 24,000 who fell were mostly from Simeon, and the deficiency in the count of this tribe [as compared to the previous count before the story of Zimri] proves this. And Zebulun shall dwell at the shore of the sea (Genesis 49:13), and our Rabbis of blessed memory said (Ketubot 61a), “The marital duty of sailors is once every six months.” And there is concern that since those who go down to the sea in ships are separated from their wives, perhaps because of this they might come to commit harlotry. Therefore, He sealed the name of God [Yah] a second time on these three to say that they are all seed blessed by God and fenced off from forbidden sexual relations, both in the past and in the future, more than any other nation or tongue.
Tur HaArokh
מבן עשרים שנה ומעלה מבית אבותם, “from twenty years and up according to their respective fathers’ house.” When enumerating the tribe of Reuven, the Torah here omits the addition למשפחותם, ”according to their families,” which we had found in the previous census (Numbers 1,2). The reason is that in the interval of almost 40 years some intermarriage with the members of Korach’s family had occurred, as a result of which such members of Korach’s expanded family perished with him. [This is not surprising, as the discontented Reuvenites had felt sympathy for Korach’s rebellion and intermarriage between them was based on common interests. Ed.] (The author refers the reader to his commentary on Numbers 1,18 where he dealt with this at greater length)
And Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke with them in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying:
verse value 2984
Insights
Verse structure: 10 words, 44 letters. The shortest word is "Moses" (מֹשֶׁ֜ה, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·Eleazar" (וְאֶלְעָזָ֧ר, 6 letters). 10 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "saying" (root אמר, 246x in Numbers); "Moses" (root משה, 217x in Numbers); "and·he·spoke" (root דבר, 149x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'Moab', dividing the verse into phrases of 7 and 3 words. Full calculation: וַיְדַבֵּ֨ר [and·he·spoke] (222) + מֹשֶׁ֜ה [Moses] (345) + וְאֶלְעָזָ֧ר [and·Eleazar] (314) + הַכֹּהֵ֛ן [priest] (80) + אֹתָ֖ם [them] (441) + בְּעַֽרְבֹ֣ת [on·the·steppes·of] (674) + מוֹאָ֑ב [Moab] (49) + עַל־יַרְדֵּ֥ן [at·the·Jordan] (364) + יְרֵח֖וֹ [Jericho] (224) + לֵאמֹֽר [saying] (271) = 2984.
Onkelos
And Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke and said, to number them in the plains of Moab by the Jordan of Jericho, saying:
Rashi
וידבר משה ואלעזר הכהן אתם AND MOSES AND ELEAZAR THE PRIEST SPOKE WITH THEM — They spoke with them (אתם; cf. 5:5) regarding this: that the Omnipresent had (given command to count them. לאמר SAYING they said to them (what they said to them was): You must be counted FROM TWENTY YEARS OLD AND UPWARDS.
Ibn Ezra
"And Moses and Elazar the priest spoke" — [Elazar served] in place of his father; it is possible that he served as Moses' spokesman, as Aaron had. "To them" — as in [the sense of] "speak peaceably."
Or HaChaim
וידבר משה..בערבות מואב, And Moses spoke…in the wilderness of Moav, etc. Why did the Torah have to write that Moses addressed the people "in the wilderness of Moav?" If the location really was of the essence to our understanding what Moses had to say it should have been mentioned when the commandment was introduced, i.e. in verse 1. The reason may be connected to the Midrash we have quoted that Moses had to hand over the people entrusted to him after they had been counted. You will find that whenever counts took place the location is mentioned by the Torah. When we heard about the number the Israelites comprised at the time of the Exodus, the Torah supplied the location, i.e. Ramses. When the Israelites were counted at the beginning of the Book of Numbers we were told that it was in the desert of Sinai. So it may be no more than natural that here too the Torah decided to supply the location for where the count took place. It was here, near the river Jordan opposite the town of Jericho that the loyal shepherd of the Jewish people, Moses, completed his mission. The Torah mentioned that it was after the plague to show that in spite of the plague which had cost so many Jewish lives the total number of Israelites had not shrunk but had considerably increased when we remember that at the first count the whole tribe of Levi had been included and the number given by the Torah was "approx 600.000." This was a testimony to Moses's leadership who could prove he had not lost any of his sheep. This then is the reason why the Torah did not write the location in verse 1. The location was not related to the count but to the fact that Moses used the count to complete his mission and "hand over his flock" to G'd or to a new leader. You might argue that the introduction שאו את ראש suggests that G'd did order a census, quite independently of the considerations we have mentioned; the answer is that the words שאו ראש were not intended to demand a census. After all, even if it turned out that the number of the Israelites had shrunk considerably, who would attribute this to their leader? What comparison is there between a shepherd entrusted with sheep and a leader entrusted with people? We would answer that the count now represented the same idea as the one after the golden calf episode. We had been told at the time that when a pack of wolves have attacked a flock, the shepherd counts the remaining sheep to determine the amount of damage he sustained. When many Israelites had died as a result of the golden calf episode, G'd wanted to count how many had survived. In this instance too, many Israelites had died as the result of the debacle at Shittim so that a count to establish how many had remained alive was called for. Moses exploited this opportunity to do his "own thing," i.e. to demonstrate that he had not lost any of "the sheep" under his care. By mentioning the location in connection with what Moses said (verse 3) instead of in connection with what G'd said (vers...
Chizkuni
וידבר משה ואלעזר הכהן אותם, “Moses and Elazar the priest spoke with them;” They told them that G-d had commanded that another census be taken. An alternate interpretation: the word אותם (spelled without the letter ו) means that they spoke “with” the people not to the people. Compare Ezekiel 16,60: וזכרתי את בריתי אותך בימי נעוריך, “I remembered My covenant with you made when you were in your youth.”.
"[Take the sum of the people,] from twenty years old and upward, as Hashem commanded Moses and the children of Israel, that came forth out of the land of Egypt."
verse value 4088 — יְהֹוָ֤ה = 26 (Hashem)
Insights
Verse structure: 13 words, 56 letters. Notable word values: "Hashem" (יְהֹוָ֤ה) = 26, the value of the divine name Hashem. The shortest word is "from·the·age·of" (מִבֶּ֛ן, 3 letters) and the longest is "who·came·out" (הַיֹּצְאִ֖ים, 6 letters). The root בן appears 2 times in this verse. 12 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "from·the·age·of" (root בן, 499x in Numbers); "Hashem" (root יהוה, 389x in Numbers); "as" (root אשר, 223x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'and·up', dividing the verse into phrases of 4 and 9 words. Full calculation: מִבֶּ֛ן [from·the·age·of] (92) + עֶשְׂרִ֥ים [twenty] (620) + שָׁנָ֖ה [year] (355) + וָמָ֑עְלָה [and·up] (151) + כַּאֲשֶׁר֩ [as] (521) + צִוָּ֨ה [had·commanded] (101) + יְהֹוָ֤ה [Hashem] (26) + אֶת־מֹשֶׁה֙ [Moses] (746) + וּבְנֵ֣י [and·descendants·of] (68) + יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל [Israel] (541) + הַיֹּצְאִ֖ים [who·came·out] (156) + מֵאֶ֥רֶץ [from·the·land·of] (331) + מִצְרָֽיִם [Egypt] (380) = 4088.
Onkelos
"From twenty years of age and upward" — as Hashem had commanded Moses — "and the children of Israel who came out from the land of Egypt."
Rashi
מבן עשרים שנה ומעלה כאשר צוה וגו׳ FROM TWENTY YEARS OLD AND ONWARDS, EVEN AS [THE LORD] HAS COMMANDED [MOSES AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, WHO CAME FORTH FROM EGYPT] that the counting of them (of those who came out from Egypt) should be from twenty years old and upwards, as it is said. (Exodus 30:14): “Every one that passeth amongst them that are numbered [shall be from twenty years old and upwards]”.
Ibn Ezra
"From twenty years old" — the meaning is that they took their count just as Hashem had commanded Moses. The meaning of "and the Children of Israel who came out of the land of Egypt" — for among those counted there were many who had left Egypt; it is likely that they were approximately half. And [the census] begins from Reuben, as in the first census at the wilderness of Sinai.
Sforno
לאמר מבן עשרים שנה ומעלה; Moses and Eleazar told the Israelites to inform them with a list of all the details of the males who had attained the age of 20. This was parallel to what we were told in Numbers chapter 1 at the previous census, hence the words “as G’d had commanded,” etc.; if these words had referred to what occurred now there would have been no need for this phrase. At that time G’d’s instructions had included the words: “according to their families, the houses of their fathers,” i.e. the co-operation of each family in the census had been requested.
Or HaChaim
מבן עשרים שנה ומעלה, from twenty years old and up, etc. Why doesn't the verse tell us the subject matter this number is relevant to as it had done in verse two? Did Moses expect the Israelites to guess the significance of this number? If that were to be assumed, why did the Torah trouble itself in verse two to provide the information that people fit for military service were to be counted? According to what I have explained on verse three that the number (census) and the location i.e. the wilderness of Moav, were interconnected seeing that the objective of the census was to demonstrate that the number of Israelites had not diminished during the years Moses had been in charge, even the younger members of the people ought to have been counted in order to establish Moses' claim. What good would it do the people if the numbers of men fit for military service had not decreased but the number of potential soldiers had decreased due to the families being smaller or mostly girls being bom? Perhaps someone really thought that all the Israelites were counted on this occasion in order to prove Moses' claim that the people were at least as numerous as when Moses had taken over. To prevent us from arriving at that conclusion, the Torah repeated that only males above the age of twenty were included in this census. The reason Moses did not count people younger than twenty was "as G'd had commanded Moses." Had the census been up to Moses' discretion alone, Moses would not have bothered to count the Israelites at all, neither the men of military age nor the ones younger or older. By writing the words: "as G'd commanded Moses," the Torah states that the entire census was G'd's idea. This being so, there was no reason to include any age category in such a census which had not been included in a previous census. ובני ישראל היוצאים מארץ מצרים, and the children of Israel who took part in the Exodus from Egypt. It is quite unclear what the Torah intended with these words. Rabbi Avraham ibn Ezra suggests that the Torah meant that many of the people who were being counted now had actually taken part in the Exodus. Even if he is correct, why would the Torah consider it necessary to tell us about this at this point? Moreover, who needed Rabbi Ibn Ezra to tell us this? It is quite clear that many of the people who were below the age of twenty at the Exodus must have been included in this census! After all, the decree that the generation of the Exodus were to die in the desert after the debacle with the spies had applied only to people who had already reached the age of twenty either at the time of the Exodus or at the time the spies came back with their report! Perhaps it was the intention of the Torah to inform us that the result of this census produced a number equal to that of the census at the time the Israelites left Egypt as opposed to the number which resulted at the time the Israelites were counted at the beginning of the Book of Numbers. At that time the total a...
Chizkuni
כאשר צוה ה׳ את משה ובני ישראל היוצאים מארץ מצרים .“as the Lord G-d had commanded Moses and the Children of Israel when they were departing from the Land of Egypt.” At that time the males twenty years and older had also been counted. (Rashi and B’chor shor)
Reuben, the first-born of Israel: the sons of Reuben: of Hanoch, the family of the Hanochites; of Pallu, the family of the Palluites;
verse value 3455
Insights
Verse structure: 11 words, 51 letters. The shortest word is "descendants·of" (בְּנֵ֣י, 3 letters) and the longest is "Reuben" (רְאוּבֵ֖ן, 5 letters). Words sharing gematria 828: clan, clan. 4 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "Enoch" (חֲנוֹךְ֙), "the·Enochites" (הַחֲנֹכִ֔י), "of·Pallu" (לְפַלּ֕וּא). The root ראובן appears 2 times in this verse. 9 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "descendants·of" (root בן, 499x in Numbers); "Israel" (root ישראל, 183x in Numbers); "clan" (root משפחת, 77x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'Israel', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 8 words. Full calculation: רְאוּבֵ֖ן [Reuben] (259) + בְּכ֣וֹר [first-born·of] (228) + יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל [Israel] (541) + בְּנֵ֣י [descendants·of] (62) + רְאוּבֵ֗ן [Reuben] (259) + חֲנוֹךְ֙ [Enoch] (84) + מִשְׁפַּ֣חַת [clan] (828) + הַחֲנֹכִ֔י [the·Enochites] (93) + לְפַלּ֕וּא [of·Pallu] (147) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan] (828) + הַפַּלֻּאִֽי [the·Palluites] (126) = 3455.
Onkelos
Reuben, the firstborn of Israel. The sons of Reuben: Hanoch — the clan of Hanoch; of Pallu — the clan of Pallu;
Rashi
משפחת החנכי THE FAMILY OF THE HANOCHITES — Because the heathen nations spoke slightingly of Israel, saying, “How can these trace their descent by their tribes? Do they think that the Egyptians did not overmaster their mothers? If they showed themselves master of their bodies, it is quite certain that they did so over those of their wives!”. On this account the Holy One, blessed be He, set His name upon them: the letter ה on one side of their name and the letter י on the other side (חנכיה), to intimate: I bear testimony for them that they are the sons of their reputed fathers (and not of the Egyptians) (Shir HaShirim Rabbah 4:12). This it is that is expressed by David, (Psalms 122:4) שבטי יה עדות לישראל: “that the tribes bear the name of the Lord (יה) is a testimony regarding Israel” — this Divine Name (יה) bears testimony regarding their tribes (i.e. that they rightly attach themselves to those tribes to which they claim to belong). On this account in the case of all of them it is written החנכי and הפלואי but in the case of ימנה (v. 44) it was not felt necessary to state “of the family of הימני”, because the Divine Name is already attached to it — the י at the beginning and the ה at the end (ימנה) (Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 773).
Ramban
[REUBEN, THE FIRSTBORN OF ISRAEL: THE SONS OF REUBEN]: HANOCH, THE FAMILY OF THE HANOCHITES. Perhaps [the reason why the individual families of each tribe are mentioned here is that] when the Land was divided among the tribes [in equal parts] according to the opinion of our Rabbis, so that Simeon, the smallest of the tribes, took [a share] equal to that of Judah, the most populous of the tribes, it was also divided up [amongst each tribe itself] according to the number of families that went down to Egypt. Thus they made out of Reuben’s inheritance four [equal] parts [because it consisted of four main families: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi], and the Hanochites received a share equal to that allotted to the Palluites, the Hezronites, and the Carmites, even though these [four families] were not all equal in the number of names … by their polls This is the reason here for counting [the people] in this manner, [namely] by counting the family according to those who went down to Egypt, and it does not mention [here] by their polls, even though it mentions the numbers [of each tribe] as a whole. And when Scripture states [here]: To the more thou shalt give the more inheritance, [and to the fewer thou shalt give the less inheritance, which seems to indicate that the Land was divided according to population, it refers to the [division amongst the] members of each [small] family, for each [of these minor families] received a share according to their numbers by their polls. It is for this reason that in the Book of Joshua [when speaking of] the division of the Land, it says according to their families, as is stated in the verse, And the lot for the tribe of the children of Judah ‘according to their families,’ and similarly in the case of all the other [tribes]. Or the meaning of [the phrase there] according to their families may be: “to ‘all’ the families of the tribe” [meaning that each minor family of each tribe was taken into account, according to the numbers of its individual members, as explained above]; or that they divided the Land according to their families, so that each family received its share in one place, so that it did not become mixed up with [that of] another family. This [latter interpretation] appears to me to be the correct one.
Or HaChaim
משפחת החנכי, the family of Chanoch. Yalkut Shimoni on our verse (item 773) quotes Rav Idi who says that whenever you have the letter ה at the beginning of a name and the letter י at the end this is a sign that the person named was a son of the person who claimed to be his father. The string of such names here proves that the Israelites practiced marital fidelity. [The two letters discussed here together form the name of G'd i.e. י־ה so that what Rav Idi means is that G'd associated His name with the names of these families. Ed.] Having read Rav Idi's comment, we need to understand why these two letters appear in the reverse order, i.e. ה־י instead of י־ה. We may understand this with the help of some introductory remarks based on Tikkuney Hazohar 10. We are told there that the overall pool of souls of the Jewish people originates from an area beneath the throne of G'd which is called Heychal Kodsho, the Sanctuary of His Holiness. This aspect of G'd is called in our parlance א־ד־נ־י. Our halachic codifiers such as Tur Shulchan Aruch Or Hachayim 5 have told us that when someone utters the name of G'd during his prayers he must think of each single letter in the name of G'd he utters. When he utters names which we are permitted to utter and which are spelled in the prayerbook with the letters א־ד־נ־י, he must think of G'd in terms of His sovereignty. When he encounters the name of G'd spelled י־ה, he is to think of G'd in terms of His being eternal. When he encounters the Ineffable Name, i.e. י־ה־ו־ה, he is to think of G'd in terms of His being supremely powerful. He should also think of G'd as multifaceted as portrayed by the various ways His name appears in print. We have a verse in Psalms 11,4 where the ineffable name of G'd appears both before and after the words היכל קדשו, "the Sanctuary of His holiness." In that instance you will find that the letter ה at the end of the name of G'd before the expression היכל קדשו and the letter י immediately after the expression היכל קדשו form the reverse of the usual י־ה, i.e. ה־י just as in the sequence of the name החנכי. These two letters then may be viewed as the seal of the היכל קדשו, and together they represent the two letters י־ה which form the name of G'd most often manifest in our lives ever since the destruction of the Temple.
Chizkuni
משפחת הפלאי, “the family of the Paliy.” Actually, this family did not reach the land of Israel as the Reuvenites except for the family of Nemuel, the latter’s great grandson perished during the uprising of Korach. (Compare verse 89)
Rabbeinu Bahya
חנוך משפחת החנוכי, “Chanoch the clan of the Chanochites.” According to Rashi, the reason for such detailed emphasis on the certainty of the Israelites’ paternity was necessary to counter the sneering comments by the Gentiles who ridiculed the claim that the Egyptians during their control of the Jewish people had not been able to sleep with their wives. The Torah therefore testifies by the manner these descendants are attributed to their respective fathers that there was never a doubt about an Israelite’s paternity, i.e. his being fathered by an Israelite. By appending the two letters of the Lord’s name ה and י respectively to the front and end of the respective names of these people, G’d testified that the people mentioned were sired by Jews. David proclaims this even more clearly when he speaks about the tribes of Israel being שבטי י-ה, “the tribes of G’d” (Psalms 122,4). The extra letters are absent only in the name ימנה of the tribe of Asher as the name as it is without prefix or suffix already features the letters י and ה, respectively (verse 44).
Tur HaArokh
חנוך משפחת החנוכי, Chanoch, the Chanochi family;” Nachmanides speculates that the reason why suddenly the tribes are divided into their respective families, may have to do with the opinion according to which the land was distributed in equal measure to the 12 tribes, so that the numerically weak tribe of Shimon received as much land as the numerically strong tribe of Yehudah. The Torah would then be telling us that the distribution of the land within each tribe followed a similar pattern, i.e. the basic family units, בית אב which was based on the 20 year olds at the time of the Israelites arriving in Egypt. At that time Reuven had four sons, so that the land allocated to the tribe of Reuven would have been split into 4 equal parts, regardless of demographic changes in the respective numerical strength during the intervening 250 years. [210 in Egypt 40 in the desert. Ed.] Although, at the time of this census, the families of Chanoch, Phalu, Chetzron and Carmi, were quite different from one another numerically, for the purpose of the distribution of their family plots in the land of Israel they were all treated as equal in numerical strength. As far as the Torah instructing (verse 54) לרב תרבה נחלתו ולמעט תמעיט נחלתו איש לפי פקודיו יתן נחלתו, “to the numerically strong you shall increase the amount of his inheritance, whereas to the numerically weak you shall give proportionately less, each according to his count shall be given his inheritance,” this is a principle that is repeated in Joshua This is the reason why at this census the basic units are the composition of the families that had descended from Canaan to Egypt with their patriarch Yaakov. This is also why,- as opposed to the census in Parshat Bamidbar -the word לגולגלותם, “according to their headcount,” does not appear at all.
of Hezron, the family of the Hezronites; of Carmi, the family of the Carmites.
verse value 2978
Insights
Verse structure: 6 words, 32 letters. The shortest word is "of·Hezron" (לְחֶצְרֹ֕ן, 5 letters) and the longest is "the·Hezronites" (הַֽחֶצְרוֹנִ֑י, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 828: clan, clan. 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "the·Hezronites" (הַֽחֶצְרוֹנִ֑י), "of·Carmi" (לְכַרְמִ֕י), "the·Carmites" (הַכַּרְמִֽי). The root משפחת appears 2 times in this verse. 5 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "clan" (root משפחת, 77x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·Hezronites', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 3 words. Full calculation: לְחֶצְרֹ֕ן [of·Hezron] (378) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan] (828) + הַֽחֶצְרוֹנִ֑י [the·Hezronites] (369) + לְכַרְמִ֕י [of·Carmi] (300) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan] (828) + הַכַּרְמִֽי [the·Carmites] (275) = 2978.
Onkelos
of Hezron — the clan of Hezron; of Carmi — the clan of Carmi.
These are the families of the Reubenites; and they that were numbered of them were forty and three thousand and seven hundred and thirty.
verse value 4000 — אֵ֖לֶּה = 36 (double-Chai)
Insights
Verse structure: 11 words, 54 letters. Notable word values: "these" (אֵ֖לֶּה) = 36, double chai. Verse gematria: 4000 is divisible by 50, the years to the Jubilee (yovel). The shortest word is "these" (אֵ֖לֶּה, 3 letters) and the longest is "the·Reubenites" (הָראוּבֵנִ֑י, 7 letters). The root שלוש appears 2 times in this verse. 10 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·they·were" (root היה, 180x in Numbers); "their·enrolled" (root פקד, 103x in Numbers); "thousand" (root אלף, 103x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·Reubenites', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 8 words. Full calculation: אֵ֖לֶּה [these] (36) + מִשְׁפְּחֹ֣ת [clans] (828) + הָראוּבֵנִ֑י [the·Reubenites] (274) + וַיִּהְי֣וּ [and·they·were] (37) + פְקֻדֵיהֶ֗ם [their·enrolled] (239) + שְׁלֹשָׁ֤ה [three] (635) + וְאַרְבָּעִים֙ [forty] (329) + אֶ֔לֶף [thousand] (111) + וּשְׁבַ֥ע [and·seven] (378) + מֵא֖וֹת [hundred] (447) + וּשְׁלֹשִֽׁים [thirty] (686) = 4000.
Onkelos
These are the clans of Reuben, and their counted number was forty-three thousand seven hundred and thirty.
Chizkuni
.אלה משפחות הראובני, “These are the families of the tribe of Reuven, etc.” the letters ה and י, symbolising the name of G-d at the beginning and end respectively of the names of some of these tribes during the census are found only for the tribes Reuven, Shimon and Zevulun. In the case of Reuven and Shimon the reason was to appease them because of Reuven’s their founding father’s indiscretion with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and of the far more recent disgrace of so many of the tribe of Shimon who had become guilty of sleeping with Moabite women at Shittim. In the case of Zevulun, the reason is because members of this tribe had risked their lives several times and they had been commended for this by Devorah in her song of victory in Judges 5,16.
Verse structure: 3 words, 13 letters. The shortest word is "and·sons·of" (וּבְנֵ֥י, 4 letters) and the longest is "Eliab" (אֱלִיאָֽב, 5 letters). 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "Pallu" (פַלּ֖וּא). 3 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·sons·of" (root בן, 499x in Numbers). Full calculation: וּבְנֵ֥י [and·sons·of] (68) + פַלּ֖וּא [Pallu] (117) + אֱלִיאָֽב [Eliab] (44) = 229.
And the sons of Eliab: Nemuel, and Dathan, and Abiram. These are that Dathan and Abiram, the prominent men of the congregation, who strove against Moses and against Aaron in the company of Korah, when they strove against Hashem;
verse value 4944
Insights
Verse structure: 16 words, 81 letters. The shortest word is "who" (אֲשֶׁ֨ר, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·against·Aaron" (וְעַֽל־אַהֲרֹן֙, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 259: and·Abiram, and·Abiram. 5 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "Nemuel" (נְמוּאֵ֖ל), "that·Dathan" (הֽוּא־דָתָ֨ן), "prominent·men·of" (קְרִיאֵ֣י). The root דתן appears 2 times in this verse. 11 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·sons·of" (root בן, 499x in Numbers); "against·Hashem" (root יהוה, 389x in Numbers); "who" (root אשר, 223x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'and·Abiram', dividing the verse into phrases of 5 and 11 words.
Onkelos
And the sons of Eliab: Nemuel, and Dathan, and Abiram — that is Dathan and Abiram, those who contended against the congregation, who gathered against Moses and against Aaron in the congregation of Korah, when they gathered against Hashem.
Rashi
אשר הצו WHO INCITED — i.e., who incited Israel, על משה AGAINST MOSES, בהצתם WHEN THEY INCITED the people AGAINST THE LORD. הצו means they persuaded Israel to strive against Moses — it is a grammatical form denoting “they caused someone to do something".
Ramban
AND THE SONS OF ELIAB: NEMUEL, AND DATHAN, AND ABIRAM. THESE ARE DATHAN AND ABIRAM WHO [QUARRELLED AGAINST MOSES] etc. Scripture mentions this [episode leading to the death of Dathan and Abiram] in order to indicate that the whole inheritance of the Palluite family remained for Nemuel alone, because Dathan and Abiram [the other sons of Eliab] and all their belongings were swallowed up [in the earth, and hence Nemuel was the only surviving son of Eliab, who was in turn the only son of Pallu]. Or it may be, as our Rabbis have said, that [Dathan and Abiram’s death is mentioned here] to allude [to the fact] that they lost their share in the Land even though they were amongst those who came out of Egypt, and were therefore eligible to [receive] an inheritance.
Ibn Ezra
"Who contended" — it has the same sense as "when men quarrel" (Exod. 21:22).
Or HaChaim
הוא דתן ואבירם, "the same Datan and Aviram, etc." What did the Torah want to teach us by referring to Datan and Aviram at this point? If the Torah merely wanted to tell us that these two were the same Datan and Aviram we have encountered in connection with the rebellion of Korach, we knew this. It was hardly likely that two members of the tribe of Reuven both named Eliav each had two sons called Datan and Aviram. Moreover, their names did not need to appear here at all. None of the other families who had died before this census were mentioned in this sequence. Furthermore, why was the Torah so long-winded in telling us how these two brothers "incited in the company of Korach against Moses and Aaron when they incited against G'd?" I believe that the reason the Torah recalls what these brothers had done was to inform us that they had been the cause of Korach's rebellion. It was G'd's wish to publicise the names of the wicked people who had orchestrated the evil in question. By writing אשר הצו, the Torah stresses that these two incited others both against Moses and Aaron as well as against G'd. Rashi explains the verse in the same sense. Once we have heard that these two caused the whole Israelite community to sin, it is quite possible to blame them also for having incited Korach. Although the Torah wrote (Numbers 16,1) "Korach took, etc.," which sounds as if Korach had initiated whatever he did, this may have occurred after something the brothers Datan and Aviram had already done, and that they had incited him. When the Torah repeats here once more what it had written in Numbers 16,32 that "the earth opened its mouth and it swallowed them and Korach," it may be that these two were the root cause why Korach and family were swallowed by the earth and why the 250 men who offered incense were burned to death at the time. The Torah also suggests here that but for the two demagogues Datan and Aviram the Israelites who had gathered threateningly against Moses and Aaron would have done תשובה. The best proof for our theory is the fact that Moses is described as trying to placate only Datan and Aviram when he sent messengers to call them for a chat (Numbers 16,12). When they refused to come, Moses even went to look them up (16,25). The reason was that Moses felt that these two were at the bottom of the whole rebellion. Once we accept this, the death of all the people who perished can be attributed to Datan and Aviram. This results in our being able to find some excuse for both Korach and the 250 men who offered the incense. You find that the Torah wrote in Deut.11,6: "and what He has done to Datan and Aviram, the sons of Eliav, how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their houses, and their tents and every living thing which followed them." Moses attributed the entire debacle exclusively to Datan and Aviram. Having explained this, we can now understand the scholar in Sanhedrin 110 who holds that the company of Korach does not qualify for life i...
Chizkuni
.'בהצותם על ה, “when they agitated against the Lord.” Rav Chisda (in Sanhedrin folio 110) stated that anyone who agitates against his Rabbi is as if he had agitated against the Lord Himself. [Korach had agitated against Moses, his Rabbi. Ed.]
Tur HaArokh
ובני אליאב נמואל ודתן ואבירם וגו', “and the sons of Eliav were Nemuel, Datan and Aviram, distinguished etc.;” Nachmanides writes that the latter detail was recorded here so that we would know that the entire inheritance (of land in the land of Israel) of the family of Palu-i accrued only to Nemuel. We know that both Datan and Aviram were swallowed up by the earth together with their entire families during Korach’s revolt. Alternatively, in accordance with views expressed by our sages, Baba Batra 118, the purpose of singling them out was to tell us that in spite of the principle of the distribution being governed by who arrived as adult in Egypt, the members of these families had forfeited their claim due to their conduct in the desert.
and the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them, and Korah, when that company died; what time the fire devoured two hundred and fifty men, and they became a sign.
verse value 6025
Insights
Verse structure: 15 words, 67 letters. The shortest word is "them" (אֹתָ֛ם, 3 letters) and the longest is "fifty" (אֵ֣ת חֲמִשִּׁ֤ים, 7 letters). 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "and·Korah" (וְאֶת־קֹ֖רַח), "when·consumed" (בַּאֲכֹ֣ל), "fifty" (אֵ֣ת חֲמִשִּׁ֤ים). 15 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·they·became" (root היה, 180x in Numbers); "man" (root איש, 130x in Numbers); "the·earth" (root ארץ, 119x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·congregation', dividing the verse into phrases of 8 and 7 words.
Onkelos
And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, and Korah, in the death of the congregation, when the fire consumed two hundred and fifty men, and they became a sign.
Rashi
ויהיו לנס AND THEY BECAME A נס — a sign and a reminder in order that no stranger should bring himself near to raise further dispute concerning the priesthood (cf. Numbers 17:5).
Ibn Ezra
"And Korah" — I have already explained this. "And they became a sign" — as in "and they became a sign to the Children of Israel" (Num. 17:3).
Rabbeinu Bahya
ותבלע אותם ואת קרח במות העדה באכול האש, “it (the earth) swallowed them and Korach when the congregation died when the fire consumed them;” the verse introduces the name Korach between the words “it swallowed” and the words “when the fire consumed,” in order to teach us that Korach was both swallowed by the earth and burned by the fire. (I already mentioned this in Numbers 16,30). ויהיו לנס, “they remained as an example.” Their fate was a warning for the Israelites not to question the institution of the hereditary priesthood (Rashi).
Verse structure: 2 words, 12 letters. The shortest word is "did·not·die" (לֹא־מֵֽתוּ, 5 letters) and the longest is "and·sons·of·Korah" (וּבְנֵי־קֹ֖רַח, 7 letters). 2 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "and·sons·of·Korah" (וּבְנֵי־קֹ֖רַח), "did·not·die" (לֹא־מֵֽתוּ). 2 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "did·not·die" (root מות, 87x in Numbers). Full calculation: וּבְנֵי־קֹ֖רַח [and·sons·of·Korah] (376) + לֹא־מֵֽתוּ [did·not·die] (477) = 853.
Onkelos
But the sons of Korah did not die.
Rashi
ובני קרח לא מתו BUT THE SONS OF KORAH DID NOT DIE — They were in the plot originally, but at the moment when the rebellion broke out they had thoughts of repentance in their hearts; therefore a high spot was fenced round for them in Gehinnom and they stayed there (Sanhedrin 110a).
Ibn Ezra
"But the sons of Korah did not die" — the proof is Samuel and his sons and his sons' sons, who are the singers, and they are called the Korahites — for the sons of Korah there is a psalm. Also in the Torah itself it is written "the family of the Korahite" (Num. 26:58). Scripture mentions the sons of Korah alongside the sons of Reuben because the sons of Dathan and Abiram — great and small — all died, and thus the wickedness of Dathan and Abiram was graver than that of Korah.
Or HaChaim
ובני קרח לא מתו. However, Korach's sons had not died. It is somewhat surprising that the Torah informs us about this fact here instead of in the story about Korach or in connection with the count of the Levites where we should have been told about which Levites had died. If you accept what we have written it is evident that the Torah chose this occasion to reveal who was the root-cause of Korach's uprising, i.e. Datan and Aviram. If so this was the place to inform us about some other redeeming quality of Korach, namely that his sons were righteous and did not join their father in his rebellion or that they retracted in time. At any rate, whereas Datan and Aviram and all their "houses," i.e. their offspring perished, Korach's sons did not. This is another factor which supports the theory that Datan and Aviram had been the instigators all along.
Chizkuni
ובני קרח לא מתו, “and the sons of Korach had not died;” [during the uprising. Ed.] Even though they were Levites, the Torah here refers to them as if they had been part of the tribe of Reuven, seeing that the wickedness of the members of the tribe of Reuven, Datan and Aviram, had been greater than that of Korach, even. Korach’s sons not having joined the rebellion, or having repented in time, was therefore even more remarkable.
Rabbeinu Bahya
.ובני קרח לא מתו , “and Korach’s sons did not die.” Our sages in Megillah 14 explain these words to mean that there was a special place reserved for them in Gehinom where they remained. The site where the swallowing occurred and where judgment of these individuals occurs is known as Gehinom. Alternatively, the sages meant the real purgatory the entrance to which is close to the point where Korach and company were swallowed. (According to Eyruvin 19 there are a total of three such portals to purgatory). We find that sons (or descendants) of Korach sang hymns in the Holy Temple as we know from Psalms 47,1 and 48,1 and others.
The sons of Simeon after their families: of Nemuel, the family of the Nemuelites; of Jamin, the family of the Jaminites; of Jachin, the family of the Jachinites;
verse value 4699
Insights
Verse structure: 12 words, 65 letters. The shortest word is "sons·of" (בְּנֵ֣י, 3 letters) and the longest is "by·their·clans" (לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם֒, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 828: clan, clan, clan. 6 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "of·Nemuel" (לִנְמוּאֵ֗ל), "the·Nemuelites" (הַנְּמ֣וּאֵלִ֔י), "of·Jamin" (לְיָמִ֕ין). The root משפחת appears 3 times in this verse. 10 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "sons·of" (root בן, 499x in Numbers); "by·their·clans" (root משפחה, 81x in Numbers); "clan" (root משפחת, 77x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·Jaminites', dividing the verse into phrases of 9 and 3 words. Full calculation: בְּנֵ֣י [sons·of] (62) + שִׁמְעוֹן֮ [Simeon] (466) + לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם֒ [by·their·clans] (898) + לִנְמוּאֵ֗ל [of·Nemuel] (157) + מִשְׁפַּ֙חַת֙ [clan] (828) + הַנְּמ֣וּאֵלִ֔י [the·Nemuelites] (142) + לְיָמִ֕ין [of·Jamin] (140) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan] (828) + הַיָּמִינִ֑י [the·Jaminites] (125) + לְיָכִ֕ין [of·Jachin] (120) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan] (828) + הַיָּכִינִֽי [the·Jachinites] (105) = 4699.
Onkelos
The sons of Simeon according to their clans: of Nemuel — the clan of Nemuel; of Jamin — the clan of Jamin; of Jachin — the clan of Jachin;
Ibn Ezra
"The Yimnite" — do not look for strict regularity in the formation of these names: so too from Puvah [comes] Puni, and from Shephupham [comes] Shuphamite; from Jimnah [comes] the family name "Jimnah" (הימנה) — not the expected "Yimnite" (הימיני) as one would form it, the way from Beriah [comes] Beriite. And [the names] Haggi and Shuni are missing the relational yod, or alternatively the relational yod is there but the final letter of the name is dropped — and that is the more correct explanation. After Reuben, Simeon, and Gad, who camped alongside him, only Manasseh precedes Ephraim [here], whereas in the census at Sinai the order is reversed. The correct explanation is that this reflects their numbers: the sons of Ephraim exceeded the sons of Manasseh at the Sinai census by eight thousand three hundred, whereas on the plains of Moab the sons of Manasseh exceeded the sons of Ephraim by twenty thousand two hundred. Similarly, [Scripture] records among the families five sons for Benjamin: Beker, Gera, Naaman, Rosh, and Ard.
Chizkuni
לנמואל, this person is the same as the one who appears elsewhere with the name ימואל. (Genesis 46,10, i.e. ובני שמעון ימואל)
Rabbeinu Bahya
בני שמעון למשפחותם, “the descendants of Shimon according to their families.” They are followed by the tribe of Gad, Yehudah, Issachar, Zevulun, Joseph. When the Torah comes to Ephrayim (one half of the tribe of Joseph) it adds the word אלה, “the following, these.” The same word אלה occurs before the Torah lists the descendants of the tribe of Dan. Why did the Torah add these words only with these two tribes? it is possible that the word אלה is an allusion to idolatry. The fact is that Jerobam, the first king of the Northern Kingdom who erected two golden calves to prevent the people under his rule from making the pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem was guilty of gross idolatry on many counts (compare kings I 12,29). The second of these golden calves was positioned in the territory of the tribe of Dan. The word אלה then is a reminder of the words אלה אלוהיך ישראל spoken by the Jewish people (or some of them) in Exodus 32,4. It is also interesting to note that among the families of these two tribes of the tribe of Ephrayim and Dan we find the names שותלח and שוחם, the first letters in these names are an allusion to the word שור, a simile for the golden calf. Moreover, the letter ש is reminiscent of the attribute of Justice based on what is written in the Sefer Yetzirah 6,1 according to which the letter n represents silence, whereas the letter ש symbolizes “calling out, yelling.” In order to demonstrate that the sin of the golden calf had finally been forgiven and all the tribes are included in the שבטי י-ה, tribes of G’d,” all of these tribes deserve that the Shechinah provide a benevolent presence in their midst. On the other hand, the words: לאלה תחלק הארץ, mean that all these who had sinned and died in the desert. [Although they were originally slated to each have a share in the land, that share in various forms would now be given to their offspring, the next generation.] In verse 64 the Torah makes clear by again using the word אלה, that none of the people participating in this census had participated in the original census listed at the beginning of the Book of Numbers. Here the word אלה clearly means that these people had not had a share in the sin of the golden calf just as the Levites to whom the word אלה is applied in verse 57 had not had a part in the sin of the golden calf.
of Zerah, the family of the Zerahites; of Shaul, the family of the Shaulites.
verse value 2850
Insights
Verse structure: 6 words, 30 letters. Verse gematria: 2850 is divisible by 50, the years to the Jubilee (yovel). The shortest word is "of·Zerah" (לְזֶ֕רַח, 4 letters) and the longest is "the·Saulites" (הַשָּׁאוּלִֽי, 6 letters). Words sharing gematria 828: clan, clan. 2 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "of·Saul" (לְשָׁא֕וּל), "the·Saulites" (הַשָּׁאוּלִֽי). The root משפחת appears 2 times in this verse. 5 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "clan" (root משפחת, 77x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·Zerahites', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 3 words. Full calculation: לְזֶ֕רַח [of·Zerah] (245) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan] (828) + הַזַּרְחִ֑י [the·Zerahites] (230) + לְשָׁא֕וּל [of·Saul] (367) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan] (828) + הַשָּׁאוּלִֽי [the·Saulites] (352) = 2850.
Onkelos
of Zerah — the clan of Zerah; of Shaul — the clan of Shaul.
Rashi
לזרח OF ZERAH — He is identical with Zohar (mentioned in Exodus 6:15 as a son of Simeon), which is an expression equivalent to צהר, shining (a synonym of זרח). However, the family of אהוד (mentioned there) had ceased to exist by now. The same was the case with five families of the tribe of Benjamin, for with ten sons did Benjamin go down to Egypt and here it enumerates only five. Similarly with Ezbon of the tribe of Gad. So you have seven families that had become extinct (cf. Midrash Tanchuma, Pinchas 5). — And I have found in the Talmud Yerushalmi Yoma 1:2 the reason why these seven families were now extinct: that when Aaron died the clouds of glory departed and the Canaanites came to wage war against Israel. These therefore set their hearts on returning to Egypt and turned back eight stages from Mount Hor to Moserah, as it is said, (Deuteronomy 10:6) “And the children of Israel journeyed from Bene Jaakon to Moserah; there Aaron died”. But did he not die at Mount Hor and from Moserah to Mount Hor there were eight stages in a backward direction? But the explanation is that they turned back, and the Levites pursued them to force them to return and slew of them seven families. And besides these, of the sons of Levi there fell four families: the families of Shimei and Uzzieli, and of the three sons of Izhar (Exodus 6:21) only the family of one son, Korah, is enumerated here, v. 58, so that the family of Izhar may be regarded as extinct — making three families missing. And as regards the fourth family I do not know which of those mentioned in 3:21, 27, 33, it was that had become extinct by now (Talmud Yerushalmi Sotah 1:10; Yoma 1:1). But Rabbi Tanchuma (Midrash Tanchuma, Pinchas 5) explained that they (the families not mentioned here) died by the plague in the matter of Balaam. But this can hardly be so, because according to the deficiency that shows itself in the tribe of Simeon in this census, as compared with the first census in the wilderness of Sinai (1:23), it would appear that all the twenty four thousand who died of that plague (Numbers 25:9) must have fallen from the tribe of Simeon.
Ramban
L’ZERACH’ (OF ZERAH). “He is [identical with] ‘Tzochar’ [Zohar — mentioned in Genesis 46: 10 as one of the sons of Simeon who went down to Egypt], and it [the name Zerach (Zerah)] is an expression meaning tzohar [‘shining,’ which is also the meaning of Zerach]. But the family of Ohad [the other son of Simeon mentioned ibid., in Genesis] became extinct. Similarly five families of the tribe of Benjamin [had by now ceased to exist], for he [Benjamin] went down to Egypt with ten sons, and here Scripture only counts five.” This is Rashi’s language. And Rashi has furthermore written: “All the families were called by the names of those [of their ancestors] who went down to Egypt, but those who were born after that time were not called families [in their own right and their own names], except for the families of Ephraim and Menasheh, both of whom were born in Egypt, and Ard and Naaman, the sons of Bela the son of Benjamin. And I have found [it written] in the work of Rabbi Moshe the Preacher that their mother [that of Ard and Naaman — i.e., the wife of Bela] went down to Egypt when she was already pregnant with them [and therefore they formed separate families, since they are also included amongst ‘those who went down’ to Egypt]. Now if this is a tradition, well and good. But if not, I say that Bela had many children, but from each of these two, Ard and Naaman, there came forth a large family, [and therefore they formed families in their own right and in their own names], whereas the descendants of the other sons were called by Bela’s name, and [only] the descendants of these two [Ard and Naaman] were called after their [own] names.” All this is the language of the Rabbi [Rashi], of blessed memory. But I am astonished at [the words of] Rashi. For the difficulty [raised by Rabbi Moshe the Preacher] is not that Scripture counts the family of the Belaites by itself, and [nonetheless counts also] the families of the Ardites and the Naamites his sons, by themselves, for that was [indeed] because they became [large] families, as the Rabbi [Rashi] has said. This is the way of Scripture, as in the case of the children of Judah [where it counts Hezron and Hamul, who were grandchildren of Judah, as forming families by themselves], and [likewise] the children of Menasheh and Ephraim, and likewise the children of Asher. However, if we say that Ard and Naaman were born to Bela, the son of Benjamin, after they went down to Egypt, they should not have been counted here as [separate] families! And should we say that [Ard and Naaman, the sons of Bela] were born to him before [he went down to Egypt], then [the family of Jacob] would consist of more than seventy souls, for then the sons of Benjamin were ten apart from these two sons of Bela [thus the overall total of people who went down to Egypt would be seventy-two, whereas Scripture there only mentions a total of seventy]! It was for this reason [and not for the reason implied by Rashi’s explanation] that Rabbi Moshe...
Or HaChaim
לשאול משפחת השאולי, "of Shaul the family of the Shaulites." Rabbi Yochanan is quoted in Bamidbar Rabbah 21,3 as having said that Zimri had 5 names, one of which was "Shaul son of the Canaanite." It is difficult to understand that the Shaul mentioned here could have been Zimri seeing we have the principle (Yuma 38) of שם רשעים ירקב, "let the names of the wicked rot;" if so, why would G'd associate His name [i.e. the letters ה and י surrounding the name שאול Ed.] with that of such a wicked person? This especially since the Torah has already referred to his Canaanite connection! One of the ways we suggested as appropriate to understand 25,14 אשר הכה את המדינית, had been that Zimri was struck only while in the company of Kosbi. He did not share his afterlife with her. This would explain why at this stage, i.e. after Zimri was dead already, G'd could associate His name with Zimri's because the latter was in עולם הבא by this time. Perhaps the following words in Bamidbar Rabbah 21,3 lend even more weight to what we have just said. The Midrash explained the name שאול to mean that he had "lent himself out to commit a sin." Seeing that loans are subject to return to their origin, Shaul returned to his erstwhile status after his death.
Chizkuni
לזרח, Rashi comments here that the family of Ohad, had become extinct. He adds that also five of the sons of Binyamin’s family had become extinct. Rashi writes further that what was true of the family of Ohad of the tribe of Reuven, also applied to the family of Etzbon of the tribe of Gad. He explains that that Ozni in verse 16 of our chapter was in fact identical with Etzbon. According to the plain meaning of the text this was because they had not founded a family, i.e. had not married. If you were to ask that if this is correct where was the seventh family of which Rashi wrote that it had become extinct? We might have to assume that the missing family is that of Yishveh of the tribe of Asher. (Compare Genesis46,17, and Numbers 26,44, and the discrepancy in those two verses.) Rashi also writes that four families of the tribe of Levi appear to have disappeared between the first and the second census, i.e. the families of Shiee, Azieli, and some of the family of Yitzhar of whom only the family of Korach is listed here. This is certainly not meant to be an enumeration as only one third of the family are mentioned here when compared to the list in Exodus 6,21. Our author continues to quote lengthy comments by Rashi on this problem. [I have decided that the interested reader will prefer to read the text of Rashi for himself. Ed.]
These are the families of the Simeonites, twenty and two thousand and two hundred.
verse value 2973 — אֵ֖לֶּה = 36 (double-Chai)
Insights
Verse structure: 7 words, 33 letters. Notable word values: "these" (אֵ֖לֶּה) = 36, double chai. The shortest word is "these" (אֵ֖לֶּה, 3 letters) and the longest is "the·Simeonites" (הַשִּׁמְעֹנִ֑י, 6 letters). 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "the·Simeonites" (הַשִּׁמְעֹנִ֑י). 7 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "thousand" (root אלף, 103x in Numbers); "two" (root שנה, 90x in Numbers); "and·two·hundred" (root מאה, 90x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·Simeonites', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 4 words. Full calculation: אֵ֖לֶּה [these] (36) + מִשְׁפְּחֹ֣ת [clans] (828) + הַשִּׁמְעֹנִ֑י [the·Simeonites] (475) + שְׁנַ֧יִם [two] (400) + וְעֶשְׂרִ֛ים [twenty] (626) + אֶ֖לֶף [thousand] (111) + וּמָאתָֽיִם [and·two·hundred] (497) = 2973.
Onkelos
These are the clans of Simeon: twenty-two thousand two hundred.
The sons of Gad after their families: of Zephon, the family of the Zephonites; of Haggi, the family of the Haggites; of Shuni, the family of the Shunites;
verse value 4792 — הַֽחַגִּ֑י = 26 (Hashem)
Insights
Verse structure: 12 words, 56 letters. Notable word values: "the·Haggites" (הַֽחַגִּ֑י) = 26, the value of the divine name Hashem. The shortest word is "Gad" (גָד֮, 2 letters) and the longest is "by·their·clans" (לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם֒, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 828: clan, clan, clan. 6 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "of·Zephon" (לִצְפ֗וֹן), "the·Zephonites" (הַצְּפוֹנִ֔י), "of·Haggi" (לְחַגִּ֕י). The root משפחת appears 3 times in this verse. 8 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "sons·of" (root בן, 499x in Numbers); "by·their·clans" (root משפחה, 81x in Numbers); "clan" (root משפחת, 77x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·Haggites', dividing the verse into phrases of 9 and 3 words. Full calculation: בְּנֵ֣י [sons·of] (62) + גָד֮ [Gad] (7) + לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם֒ [by·their·clans] (898) + לִצְפ֗וֹן [of·Zephon] (256) + מִשְׁפַּ֙חַת֙ [clan] (828) + הַצְּפוֹנִ֔י [the·Zephonites] (241) + לְחַגִּ֕י [of·Haggi] (51) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan] (828) + הַֽחַגִּ֑י [the·Haggites] (26) + לְשׁוּנִ֕י [of·Shuni] (396) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan] (828) + הַשּׁוּנִֽי [the·Shunites] (371) = 4792.
Onkelos
The sons of Gad according to their clans: of Zephon — the clan of Zephon; of Haggi — the clan of Haggi; of Shuni — the clan of Shuni;
Chizkuni
לצפון, this man is identical with צפיון in Genesis 46,16.
of Ozni, the family of the Oznites; of Eri, the family of the Erites;
verse value 2422
Insights
Verse structure: 6 words, 28 letters. The shortest word is "of·Eri" (לְעֵרִ֕י, 4 letters) and the longest is "of·Ozni" (לְאׇזְנִ֕י, 5 letters). Words sharing gematria 828: clan, clan. 4 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "of·Ozni" (לְאׇזְנִ֕י), "the·Oznite" (הָאׇזְנִ֑י), "of·Eri" (לְעֵרִ֕י). The root אזני appears 2 times in this verse. 3 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "clan" (root משפחת, 77x in Numbers). First appearance of the root ערי ("of·Eri") in Numbers. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·Oznite', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 3 words. Full calculation: לְאׇזְנִ֕י [of·Ozni] (98) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan] (828) + הָאׇזְנִ֑י [the·Oznite] (73) + לְעֵרִ֕י [of·Eri] (310) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan] (828) + הָעֵרִֽי [the·Erite] (285) = 2422.
Onkelos
of Ozni — the clan of Ozni; of Eri — the clan of Eri;
Rashi
לאזני OF OZNI — I say (cf. Rashi on v. 13) that this is the family of Ezbon, (Genesis 46:16), but I do not know why his family was not called directly by his name.
Or HaChaim
לאזני, "to Ozni, etc." Rashi says: "this was the family of Etzbaun, and I do not know why he is not called by the same name as he appears in Genesis 46,16." Thus far Rashi. I do not see why he had to invent something without giving a reason for it, especially when we have no tradition concerning this amongst the writings of our sages. Moreover, you will find the following comment in Midrash Tanchuma item 4 on our Parshah: "When you examine the list of the children of Gad you will find seven names although Etzbaun does not appear seeing he was missing having followed Bileam's advice." According to the Midrash then, Ozni must have been a different family which originated with Gad but did not appear in the list in Genesis 46,16. This in itself would not be unusual as surely all the tribes had more families than the ones enumerated here, but these were known by the family names of their more numerous brothers. When these sub-categories became numerous they in turn were given separate names. I have found the following in the Pessikta: Ozni is identical with the Etzbaun mentioned in Genesis 46,16. The name is derived from "Atzit" and "he-ezin." Thus far the Pessikta. Accordingly, it was a proper name and the Torah did not care listing the same person here under a different name. Rashi must have been divinely inspired having guessed what the sages have stated [which he did not quote because he had no access to these writings. Ed.]
Chizkuni
לאזני, according to Rashi, he is identical with Etzbon, as I have already explained on verse 13.
of Arod, the family of the Arodites; of Areli, the family of the Arelites.
verse value 2642
Insights
Verse structure: 6 words, 33 letters. The shortest word is "of·Arod" (לַאֲר֕וֹד, 5 letters) and the longest is "the·Arodite" (הָאֲרוֹדִ֑י, 6 letters). Words sharing gematria 828: clan, clan. 4 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "of·Arod" (לַאֲר֕וֹד), "the·Arodite" (הָאֲרוֹדִ֑י), "of·Areli" (לְאַ֨רְאֵלִ֔י). The root משפחת appears 2 times in this verse. 4 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "clan" (root משפחת, 77x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·Arodite', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 3 words. Full calculation: לַאֲר֕וֹד [of·Arod] (241) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan] (828) + הָאֲרוֹדִ֑י [the·Arodite] (226) + לְאַ֨רְאֵלִ֔י [of·Areli] (272) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan] (828) + הָאַרְאֵלִֽי [the·Arelite] (247) = 2642.
Onkelos
of Arod — the clan of Arodi; of Areli — the clan of Areli.
The sons of Judah: Er and Onan; and Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan.
verse value 1797
Insights
Verse structure: 9 words, 34 letters. The shortest word is "Er" (עֵ֣ר, 2 letters) and the longest is "Judah" (יְהוּדָ֖ה, 5 letters). Words sharing gematria 270: Er, Er. The root עור appears 2 times in this verse. 7 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "descendants·of" (root בן, 499x in Numbers); "in·land·of" (root ארץ, 119x in Numbers); "and·he·died" (root מות, 87x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'and·Onan', dividing the verse into phrases of 4 and 5 words. Full calculation: בְּנֵ֥י [descendants·of] (62) + יְהוּדָ֖ה [Judah] (30) + עֵ֣ר [Er] (270) + וְאוֹנָ֑ן [and·Onan] (113) + וַיָּ֥מׇת [and·he·died] (456) + עֵ֛ר [Er] (270) + וְאוֹנָ֖ן [and·Onan] (113) + בְּאֶ֥רֶץ [in·land·of] (293) + כְּנָֽעַן [Canaan] (190) = 1797.
Onkelos
The sons of Judah: Er and Onan. And Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan.
Or HaChaim
בני יהודה, the sons of Yehudah. This whole paragraph (19-22) is full of allusions to the history of the Jewish people. The reason the Torah has chosen to present us with these hints when enumerating the family members of Yehudah is because Yehudah is symbolic of the Jewish people as a whole. We have learned already in Bereshit Rabbah 98,6 that when one used to ask a Jew who was a member of a certain tribe to identify himself he would describe himself first and foremost as a Yehudi, not as a Shimoni or Reuveni, for instance. When our verse starts with the words בני יהודה, the Torah has in mind the descendants of Yehudah, not just his actual sons. Er and Onan respectively are allusions to the premature destruction of both the first and the second Temple. This idea is alluded to in Song of Songs 5,2: "I am asleep but my heart is ער, "awake." This means that while the first Temple was standing G'd was very much "awake," watching over my fate. Onan is an allusion to the second Temple. The Torah refers to it as Onan, an expression denoting אונאה, deception, as many of the holy vessels such as the Holy Ark, etc. were missing during the entire period of the second Temple's operation. The Torah goes on to say that Er and Onan died, a reference to the destruction of both Temples. Departure of the שכינה, G'd's Presence, from the Temple, is described as death. Just as death of a body is the departure of the soul, so the departure of the Holy Presence of G'd is the death of the Temple. The cause, of course, were the sins committed by the Jewish people. Instead of being filled with G'd's Presence, the respective Temples became filled with the negative spiritual forces created through the sins committed. There is also an opinion according to which the specific sins which the original Er and Onan had been guilty of became the cause of the destruction of both Temples (compare Shabbat 62). The Talmud there states that the Jews were causing their bedsteads to become evil-smelling with semen (which was not theirs), committing the same sin as Er who is reported as being "evil" i.e. wasting his semen, in the eyes of G'd (Genesis 38,7). Onan's sin which is held responsible for the destruction of the second Temple, i.e. "senseless hatred" as described in Yuma 9, was that he hated his deceased brother and did not want that his name should be perpetuated through his impregnating his brother's widow (compare Genesis 38,9). The word Onan is derived from the Hebrew אונאה which also describes mutual harassment, i.e. causeless hatred. The Torah concludes verse 19 by mentioning ארץ כנען, to remind us that these sins were committed on holy soil and that the souls of people who died on such soil because of such sins were returned to the domain of Samael, otherwise known as Canaan. There is also an allusion of a more comprehensive nature here. It is that the reason the Israelites did not hold on to ארץ ישראל permanently was that they never completed the command to drive out or...
And the sons of Judah after their families were: of Shelah, the family of the Shelanites; of Perez, the family of the Perezites; of Zerah, the family of the Zerahites.
verse value 5531
Insights
Verse structure: 12 words, 62 letters. The shortest word is "of·Shelah" (לְשֵׁלָ֗ה, 4 letters) and the longest is "descendants·of·Judah" (בְנֵי־יְהוּדָה֮, 8 letters). Words sharing gematria 828: clan, clan, clan. 4 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "of·Shelah" (לְשֵׁלָ֗ה), "the·Shelanite" (הַשֵּׁ֣לָנִ֔י), "of·Perez" (לְפֶ֕רֶץ). The root משפחת appears 3 times in this verse. 10 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "descendants·of·Judah" (root בן, 499x in Numbers); "and·they·were" (root היה, 180x in Numbers); "by·their·clans" (root משפחה, 81x in Numbers). First appearance of the root פרץ ("of·Perez") in Numbers. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·Perezite', dividing the verse into phrases of 9 and 3 words. Full calculation: וַיִּהְי֣וּ [and·they·were] (37) + בְנֵי־יְהוּדָה֮ [descendants·of·Judah] (92) + לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם֒ [by·their·clans] (898) + לְשֵׁלָ֗ה [of·Shelah] (365) + מִשְׁפַּ֙חַת֙ [clan] (828) + הַשֵּׁ֣לָנִ֔י [the·Shelanite] (395) + לְפֶ֕רֶץ [of·Perez] (400) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan] (828) + הַפַּרְצִ֑י [the·Perezite] (385) + לְזֶ֕רַח [of·Zerah] (245) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan] (828) + הַזַּרְחִֽי [the·Zerahite] (230) = 5531.
Onkelos
And the sons of Judah according to their clans were: of Shelah — the clan of Shelah; of Perez — the clan of Perez; of Zerah — the clan of Zerah.
Chizkuni
לפרץ, the sons of Peretz were divided into three families; one bore the name of its founder, and the other two were Chetzron and Chamul.
And the sons of Perez were: of Hezron, the family of the Hezronites; of Hamul, the family of the Hamulites.
verse value 3079
Insights
Verse structure: 8 words, 43 letters. The shortest word is "and·they·were" (וַיִּהְי֣וּ, 5 letters) and the longest is "descendants·of·Perez" (בְנֵי־פֶ֔רֶץ, 6 letters). Words sharing gematria 828: clan, clan. 4 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "descendants·of·Perez" (בְנֵי־פֶ֔רֶץ), "the·Hezronite" (הַֽחֶצְרֹנִ֑י), "of·Hamul" (לְחָמ֕וּל). The root משפחת appears 2 times in this verse. 7 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·they·were" (root היה, 180x in Numbers); "clan" (root משפחת, 77x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·Hezronite', dividing the verse into phrases of 5 and 3 words. Full calculation: וַיִּהְי֣וּ [and·they·were] (37) + בְנֵי־פֶ֔רֶץ [descendants·of·Perez] (432) + לְחֶצְרֹ֕ן [of·Hezron] (378) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan] (828) + הַֽחֶצְרֹנִ֑י [the·Hezronite] (363) + לְחָמ֕וּל [of·Hamul] (114) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan] (828) + הֶחָמוּלִֽי [the·Hamulite] (99) = 3079.
Onkelos
And the sons of Perez were: of Hezron — the clan of Hezron; of Hamul — the clan of Hamul.
The sons of Issachar after their families: of Tola, the family of the Tolaites; of Puvah, the family of the Punites;
verse value 4745
Insights
Verse structure: 9 words, 44 letters. Verse gematria: 4745 is divisible by 13, the value of echad ('one') and ahavah ('love'). The shortest word is "descendants·of" (בְּנֵ֤י, 3 letters) and the longest is "by·their·clans" (לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֔ם, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 828: clan, clan. 4 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "Tola" (תּוֹלָ֕ע), "the·Tolaite" (הַתּוֹלָעִ֑י), "of·Puvah" (לְפֻוָ֕ה). The root משפחת appears 2 times in this verse. 8 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "descendants·of" (root בן, 499x in Numbers); "by·their·clans" (root משפחה, 81x in Numbers); "clan" (root משפחת, 77x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·Tolaite', dividing the verse into phrases of 6 and 3 words. Full calculation: בְּנֵ֤י [descendants·of] (62) + יִשָּׂשכָר֙ [Issachar] (830) + לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֔ם [by·their·clans] (898) + תּוֹלָ֕ע [Tola] (506) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan] (828) + הַתּוֹלָעִ֑י [the·Tolaite] (521) + לְפֻוָ֕ה [of·Puvah] (121) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan] (828) + הַפּוּנִֽי [the·Punite] (151) = 4745.
Onkelos
The sons of Issachar according to their clans: Tola — the clan of Tola; of Puvah — the clan of Puni;
Or HaChaim
בני יששכר, The members of the tribe of Issachar, etc. Inasmuch as the tribe of Issachar is distinguished by intensive Torah study, the Torah alluded to this in its very name, יש שכר, "there is a reward," i.e. this tribe more than any other qualifies for reward. Any benefit secured in this life other than reward for Torah study is not worth the name, as it is transient. Our sages in Berachot 28 tell us that one needs to recite a short prayer when leaving the house of study in which one acknowledges that whereas both the secular people and the Torah scholars invest a great deal of effort in their respective pursuits, the former waste their efforts, whereas the Torah students do not labour in vain. The reason is simple. All comforts and riches in this life are transient, do not accompany man to the hereafter. The reward called שכר which one receives in return for Torah study does endure and one can take it with him to the hereafter. By using the word שכר the Torah also indicates that everything in the world which G'd has created, He created only for the sake of Issachar, i.e. the people studying Torah. We find this thought already in Bereshit Rabbah 1, i.e. that the word בראשית ברא implies that G'd only created the universe for the sake of Torah, i.e. the people who study it. Another allusion contained in this verse is related to what we learned in Uktzin 3,12 that in the messianic future (or even later) G'd will make every righteous person inherit 310 "worlds." The author of that Mishnah bases this on the numerical value of the word יש, from the promise in Jeremiah 31,16 יש שכר לפעולתיך, "there is a reward for your accomplishments." When the Torah continues: לתולע, etc., the Torah utilises the names of the respective families of the tribe of Issachar to describe the conditions which need to be met by the Torah student to qualify for the reward we have described. We are taught in Avot 6,5 that Torah knowledge can be acquired via 48 different paths. The meaning of the name תולע alludes to two of these paths. 1) The student must develop the characteristics of a noble, elegant person, עדין. Our sages in Moed Katan 16 describe David as having possessed this virtue and that is why he was called עדינו העצני (Samuel II 23,8). [This is a completely homiletical interpretation of that whole verse by Rav who describes David as having made himself as delicate as a worm when studying Torah. Ed.] The second aspect of the meaning of תולע is that one needs to make oneself as insignificant as a worm whose only power is its mouth. These two virtues combined represent the ultimate simile for humility, especially when applied to a mighty warrior such as David. If one possesses this virtue one has no need to cultivate any of the other 48 qualities mentioned in that Mishnah. The Torah goes on לפוה משפחת הפוני. We must first explain why the Torah saw fit to add the letter נ in the word הפוני, although this letter is not one found in the name of G'd. We would have expec...
of Jashub, the family of the Jashubites; of Shimron, the family of the Shimronites.
verse value 3556
Insights
Verse structure: 6 words, 31 letters. The shortest word is "of·Jashub" (לְיָשׁ֕וּב, 5 letters) and the longest is "the·Shimronite" (הַשִּׁמְרֹנִֽי, 6 letters). Words sharing gematria 828: clan, clan. 4 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "of·Jashub" (לְיָשׁ֕וּב), "the·Jashubite" (הַיָּשֻׁבִ֑י), "of·Shimron" (לְשִׁמְרֹ֕ן). The root משפחת appears 2 times in this verse. 5 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "clan" (root משפחת, 77x in Numbers); "the·Jashubite" (root ישב, 38x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·Jashubite', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 3 words. Full calculation: לְיָשׁ֕וּב [of·Jashub] (348) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan] (828) + הַיָּשֻׁבִ֑י [the·Jashubite] (327) + לְשִׁמְרֹ֕ן [of·Shimron] (620) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan] (828) + הַשִּׁמְרֹנִֽי [the·Shimronite] (605) = 3556.
Onkelos
of Jashub — the clan of Jashub; of Shimron — the clan of Shimron.
Rashi
לישוב OF JASHUB — He must be identical with Job (Genesis 46:13) who is mentioned amongst those who went down to Egypt, for all the families were called by the names of those who went down to Egypt. But as for those who were born from that time and onwards their families were not called by their own names, except the families of Ephraim and Manasseh, both of whom wore born in Egypt, and Ard and Naaman, the sons of Bela the son of Benjamin (v. 40). And I have found in the work of R. Moses the Preacher why this was so in the case of the two latter — that their mother went down to Egypt when she was already pregnant with them so that they may be regarded as being among those who went down to Egypt, and on this account they formed separate families, just as Chamul and Chezron who were grandchildren of Judah (v. 21), and Cheber and Malkiel who were Asher’s grandchildren (v. 45). If this is an Agada, well and good; but if not, then I say that Bela had many grandchildren and that from these two, Ard and Naaman, there issued from each a large family, and the offspring of the other sons were called after Bela’s name, but the offspring of these two were called after their name. So, too, I say about the sons of Machir who formed two different families, one called after his name, and one called after the name of Gilead, his son, because it was a very large family. Five families are missing from Benjamin’s sons as stated before: here (i.e., by the fact that five of the families had become extinct) there was fulfilled part of his mother’s prophecy which is alluded to in the fact that she called him Ben Oni (my unfortunate son), (Genesis 35:18), whilst by the incident of the concubine in Gibea (Judges 20:35), the whole of it was fulfilled for practically the entire tribe was exterminated. This I found in the work of R. Moses the Preacher.
Chizkuni
לישוב, he is identical with Yov (in Genesis 46,13) in that one ש was added to him from the two ש of his father (יששכר), and therefore, (the 2nd Shin) is not read in his father's name.
The sons of Zebulun after their families: of Sered, the family of the Seredites; of Elon, the family of the Elonites; of Jahleel, the family of the Jahleelites.
verse value 4528
Insights
Verse structure: 12 words, 62 letters. The shortest word is "Descendants·of" (בְּנֵ֣י, 3 letters) and the longest is "by·their·clans" (לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם֒, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 828: clan, clan, clan. 6 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "of·Sered" (לְסֶ֗רֶד), "the·Seredites" (הַסַּרְדִּ֔י), "of·Elon" (לְאֵל֕וֹן). The root משפחת appears 3 times in this verse. 10 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "Descendants·of" (root בן, 499x in Numbers); "by·their·clans" (root משפחה, 81x in Numbers); "clan" (root משפחת, 77x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·Elonites', dividing the verse into phrases of 9 and 3 words. Full calculation: בְּנֵ֣י [Descendants·of] (62) + זְבוּלֻן֮ [Zebulun] (95) + לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם֒ [by·their·clans] (898) + לְסֶ֗רֶד [of·Sered] (294) + מִשְׁפַּ֙חַת֙ [clan] (828) + הַסַּרְדִּ֔י [the·Seredites] (279) + לְאֵל֕וֹן [of·Elon] (117) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan] (828) + הָאֵלֹנִ֑י [the·Elonites] (96) + לְיַ֨חְלְאֵ֔ל [of·Jahleel] (109) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan] (828) + הַיַּחְלְאֵלִֽי [the·Jahleelites] (94) = 4528.
Onkelos
The sons of Zebulun according to their clans: of Sered — the clan of Sered; of Elon — the clan of Elon; of Jahleel — the clan of Jahleel.
Or HaChaim
בני זבלון, The sons of Zevulun, etc. The verse alludes to Zevulun's particular contribution and to that tribe's spiritual achievements. The name סרד containing the same letters as the word סדר, "order or arrangement," means the same thing as סדר, just as the Torah on occasion reverses the order of the letters in the word כשב, "sheep," and spells it כבש. The idea is that Zevulun arranges all the material needs for Issachar so that the latter can study Torah without interruption. אלון is an expression for strength, i.e the oak tree; Proverbs 3,18 describes Torah as the tree of life for those who grasp it and support it. Vayikra Rabbah 25,1 elaborates that instead of speaking of the people who study Torah, Solomon spoke of those who support Torah, i.e. מחזיקים בה. Seeing that Zevulun supported Issachar's Torah study financially, the Torah alludes to this with the letters in the name of one of his sons אלון.
The sons of Joseph after their families: Manasseh and Ephraim.
verse value 1848
Insights
Verse structure: 5 words, 24 letters. The shortest word is "sons·of" (בְּנֵ֥י, 3 letters) and the longest is "by·their·clans" (לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֑ם, 7 letters). 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "and·Ephraim" (וְאֶפְרָֽיִם). 5 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "sons·of" (root בן, 499x in Numbers); "by·their·clans" (root משפחה, 81x in Numbers); "Manasseh" (root מנשה, 21x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'by·their·clans', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 2 words. Full calculation: בְּנֵ֥י [sons·of] (62) + יוֹסֵ֖ף [Joseph] (156) + לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֑ם [by·their·clans] (898) + מְנַשֶּׁ֖ה [Manasseh] (395) + וְאֶפְרָֽיִם [and·Ephraim] (337) = 1848.
Onkelos
The sons of Joseph according to their clans: Manasseh and Ephraim.
The sons of Manasseh: of Machir, the family of the Machirites—and Machir fathered Gilead; of Gilead, the family of the Gileadites.
verse value 3796
Insights
Verse structure: 11 words, 55 letters. Verse gematria: 3796 is divisible by 26, the value of the divine name Hashem. The shortest word is "Descendants·of" (בְּנֵ֣י, 3 letters) and the longest is "the·Machirites" (הַמָּכִירִ֔י, 6 letters). Words sharing gematria 828: clan, clan. 6 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "the·Machirites" (הַמָּכִירִ֔י), "and·Machir" (וּמָכִ֖יר), "begot" (הוֹלִ֣יד). The root מכיר appears 2 times in this verse. 8 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "Descendants·of" (root בן, 499x in Numbers); "clan" (root משפחת, 77x in Numbers); "Manasseh" (root מנשה, 21x in Numbers). First appearance of the root מכיר ("of·Machir") in Numbers. First appearance of the root גלעד ("Gilead") in Numbers. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'Gilead', dividing the verse into phrases of 8 and 3 words. Full calculation: בְּנֵ֣י [Descendants·of] (62) + מְנַשֶּׁ֗ה [Manasseh] (395) + לְמָכִיר֙ [of·Machir] (300) + מִשְׁפַּ֣חַת [clan] (828) + הַמָּכִירִ֔י [the·Machirites] (285) + וּמָכִ֖יר [and·Machir] (276) + הוֹלִ֣יד [begot] (55) + אֶת־גִּלְעָ֑ד [Gilead] (508) + לְגִלְעָ֕ד [of·Gilead] (137) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan] (828) + הַגִּלְעָדִֽי [the·Gileadites] (122) = 3796.
Onkelos
The sons of Manasseh: of Machir — the clan of Machir; and Machir begot Gilead; of Gilead — the clan of Gilead.
Chizkuni
בני מנשה למכיר, “as for the sons of Menashe, the ones of Machir, etc.” The names of all the tribes are listed here in the same sequence as they have been listed in Numbers chapter one, with the exception of Ephrayim andMenashe; in this instance Menashe has been named first. The principal reason maybe that it numbered so many more men of military age than the descendants of Ephrayim. While the Jewish people had been in the desert, the number of members of the tribe of Ephrayim had been greater than that of the descendants of Menashe. Furthermore, the flag of Ephrayim’s army group had been the leader of its group, and in that chapter the subject of the flags had first been mentioned, and a tribe leading such a contingent takes precedence over one that merely is an adjunct. In our chapter where the subject is the impending distribution of parts of the Holy Land to the various tribes of the Jewish people, mentioning Menashe, Joseph’s firstborn son first seems appropriate. After all, half of that tribe had also took a substantial portion of their inheritance on the east bank of the Jordan, alongside the tribes of Reuven and Gad. למכיר “to Machir;” the sons of Machir were divided amongst eight families, one bearing the name of its founding father, and the other bearing the name of Gilead, and the remaining six of the sixth bore the names of six of Gilead’s sons
These are the sons of Gilead: of Iezer, the family of the Iezerites; of Helek, the family of the Helekites;
verse value 2773 — אֵ֚לֶּה = 36 (double-Chai)
Insights
Verse structure: 9 words, 41 letters. Notable word values: "these" (אֵ֚לֶּה) = 36, double chai. The shortest word is "these" (אֵ֚לֶּה, 3 letters) and the longest is "the·Iezerites" (הָאִֽיעֶזְרִ֑י, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 828: clan, clan. 4 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "Iezer" (אִיעֶ֕זֶר), "the·Iezerites" (הָאִֽיעֶזְרִ֑י), "of·Helek" (לְחֵ֕לֶק). The root משפחת appears 2 times in this verse. 8 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "descendants·of" (root בן, 499x in Numbers); "clan" (root משפחת, 77x in Numbers); "these" (root אלה, 76x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·Iezerites', dividing the verse into phrases of 6 and 3 words. Full calculation: אֵ֚לֶּה [these] (36) + בְּנֵ֣י [descendants·of] (62) + גִלְעָ֔ד [Gilead] (107) + אִיעֶ֕זֶר [Iezer] (288) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan] (828) + הָאִֽיעֶזְרִ֑י [the·Iezerites] (303) + לְחֵ֕לֶק [of·Helek] (168) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan] (828) + הַֽחֶלְקִֽי [the·Helekites] (153) = 2773.
Onkelos
These are the sons of Gilead: Iezer — the clan of Iezer; of Helek — the clan of Helek;
and of Asriel, the family of the Asrielites; and of Shechem, the family of the Shechemites;
verse value 3492
Insights
Verse structure: 6 words, 33 letters. Verse gematria: 3492 is divisible by 18, the value of chai ('life'). The shortest word is "and·Shechem" (וְשֶׁ֕כֶם, 4 letters) and the longest is "and·Asriel" (וְאַ֨שְׂרִיאֵ֔ל, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 828: clan, clan. 4 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "and·Asriel" (וְאַ֨שְׂרִיאֵ֔ל), "the·Asrielites" (הָאַשְׂרִֽאֵלִ֑י), "and·Shechem" (וְשֶׁ֕כֶם). The root משפחת appears 2 times in this verse. 5 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "clan" (root משפחת, 77x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·Asrielites', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 3 words. Full calculation: וְאַ֨שְׂרִיאֵ֔ל [and·Asriel] (548) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan] (828) + הָאַשְׂרִֽאֵלִ֑י [the·Asrielites] (547) + וְשֶׁ֕כֶם [and·Shechem] (366) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan] (828) + הַשִּׁכְמִֽי [the·Shechemites] (375) = 3492.
Onkelos
and Asriel — the clan of Asriel; and Shechem — the clan of Shechem;
and of Shemida, the family of the Shemidaites; and of Hepher, the family of the Hepherites.
verse value 3122
Insights
Verse structure: 6 words, 32 letters. The shortest word is "and·Hepher" (וְחֵ֕פֶר, 4 letters) and the longest is "the·Shemidaites" (הַשְּׁמִידָעִ֑י, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 828: clan, clan. 4 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "and·Shemida" (וּשְׁמִידָ֕ע), "the·Shemidaites" (הַשְּׁמִידָעִ֑י), "and·Hepher" (וְחֵ֕פֶר). The root משפחת appears 2 times in this verse. 5 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "clan" (root משפחת, 77x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·Shemidaites', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 3 words. Full calculation: וּשְׁמִידָ֕ע [and·Shemida] (430) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan] (828) + הַשְּׁמִידָעִ֑י [the·Shemidaites] (439) + וְחֵ֕פֶר [and·Hepher] (294) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan] (828) + הַֽחֶפְרִֽי [the·Hepherites] (303) = 3122.
Onkelos
and Shemida — the clan of Shemida; and Hepher — the clan of Hepher.
And Zelophehad the son of Hepher had no sons, but daughters; and the names of the daughters of Zelophehad were Mahlah, and Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.
verse value 3349 — ל֛וֹ = 36 (double-Chai)
Insights
Verse structure: 15 words, 63 letters. Notable word values: "to·him" (ל֛וֹ) = 36, double chai. The shortest word is "to·him" (ל֛וֹ, 2 letters) and the longest is "and·Zelophehad" (וּצְלׇפְחָ֣ד, 6 letters). 5 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "and·Zelophehad" (וּצְלׇפְחָ֣ד), "sons" (בָּנִ֖ים), "only·daughters" (אִם־בָּנ֑וֹת). The root צלפחד appears 2 times in this verse. 12 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "son·of·Hepher" (root בן, 499x in Numbers); "had·no" (root היה, 180x in Numbers); "to·him" (root לכם, 88x in Numbers). First appearance of the root צלפחד ("and·Zelophehad") in Numbers. First appearance of the root נעה ("and·Noah") in Numbers. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'only·daughters', dividing the verse into phrases of 7 and 8 words.
Onkelos
And Zelophehad son of Hepher had no sons, only daughters; and the names of the daughters of Zelophehad were Mahlah, and Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.
These are the sons of Ephraim after their families: of Shuthelah, the family of the Shuthelahites; of Becher, the family of the Becherites; of Tahan, the family of the Tahanites.
verse value 6788 — אֵ֣לֶּה = 36 (double-Chai)
Insights
Verse structure: 12 words, 63 letters. Notable word values: "these" (אֵ֣לֶּה) = 36, double chai. The shortest word is "these" (אֵ֣לֶּה, 3 letters) and the longest is "descendants·of·Ephraim" (בְנֵי־אֶפְרַ֘יִם֮, 8 letters). Words sharing gematria 828: clan, clan, clan. 6 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "of·Shuthelah" (לְשׁוּתֶ֗לַח), "the·Shuthelahites" (הַשֻּׁ֣תַלְחִ֔י), "of·Becher" (לְבֶ֕כֶר). The root משפחת appears 3 times in this verse. 10 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "descendants·of·Ephraim" (root בן, 499x in Numbers); "by·their·clans" (root משפחה, 81x in Numbers); "clan" (root משפחת, 77x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·Becherites', dividing the verse into phrases of 9 and 3 words. Full calculation: אֵ֣לֶּה [these] (36) + בְנֵי־אֶפְרַ֘יִם֮ [descendants·of·Ephraim] (393) + לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם֒ [by·their·clans] (898) + לְשׁוּתֶ֗לַח [of·Shuthelah] (774) + מִשְׁפַּ֙חַת֙ [clan] (828) + הַשֻּׁ֣תַלְחִ֔י [the·Shuthelahites] (753) + לְבֶ֕כֶר [of·Becher] (252) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan] (828) + הַבַּכְרִ֑י [the·Becherites] (237) + לְתַ֕חַן [of·Tahan] (488) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan] (828) + הַֽתַּחֲנִֽי [the·Tahanites] (473) = 6788.
Onkelos
These are the sons of Ephraim according to their clans: of Shuthelah — the clan of Shuthelah; of Becher — the clan of Becher; of Tahan — the clan of Tahan.
Chizkuni
לשותלח, Shutelach’s family was divided into two families one named after its head and the other after Eyran.
And these are the sons of Shuthelah: of Eran, the family of the Eranites.
verse value 2361
Insights
Verse structure: 6 words, 26 letters. The shortest word is "descendants·of" (בְּנֵ֣י, 3 letters) and the longest is "Shuthelah" (שׁוּתָ֑לַח, 5 letters). 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "Shuthelah" (שׁוּתָ֑לַח), "of·Eran" (לְעֵרָ֕ן), "the·Eranites" (הָעֵרָנִֽי). 6 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "descendants·of" (root בן, 499x in Numbers); "clan·of" (root משפחת, 77x in Numbers); "and·these" (root אלה, 76x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'Shuthelah', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 3 words. Full calculation: וְאֵ֖לֶּה [and·these] (42) + בְּנֵ֣י [descendants·of] (62) + שׁוּתָ֑לַח [Shuthelah] (744) + לְעֵרָ֕ן [of·Eran] (350) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan·of] (828) + הָעֵרָנִֽי [the·Eranites] (335) = 2361.
Onkelos
And these are the sons of Shuthelah: of Eran — the clan of Eran.
Rashi
ואלה בני שותלח וגו׳ AND THESE ARE THE SONS OF SHUTHELAH etc. — As for the other sons of Shuthelah their offspring were called after Shuthelah’s name; but out of Eron there issued a large family which was therefore called after his own name so that the children of Shuthelah were reckoned as two different families (the family of Shuthelah and the family of Eron). — Go and reckon and you will find in this section fifty seven families, and of the sons of Levi eight, so that there are sixty five in all. This is the meaning of what is said, (Deuteronomy 7:7): “For you are the least (המעט) [of all the peoples etc.].” The word המעט may be taken to signify: you are five (ה) less (מעט) than the families of all the nations, who are seventy in number. This, also, I understand from the work of R. Moses the Preacher, only that I have been compelled to omit from or add to his words.
Chizkuni
ואלה בני שותלח, “and these are the sons of Shutelach, etc.; Rashi invites us to count all the families listed arriving at a count of 57 families for the 12 tribes plus eight families from the tribe of Levi. Actually, a look at our portion shows that the tribe of Levi comprised only 5 and a half families.
These are the families of the sons of Ephraim according to those that were numbered of them, thirty and two thousand and five hundred. These are the sons of Joseph after their families.
verse value 4676 — אֵ֣לֶּה = 36 (double-Chai)
Insights
Verse structure: 12 words, 61 letters. Notable word values: "those" (אֵ֣לֶּה) = 36, double chai. The shortest word is "those" (אֵ֣לֶּה, 3 letters) and the longest is "descendants·of·Ephraim" (בְּנֵי־אֶפְרַ֙יִם֙, 8 letters). Words sharing gematria 36: those, those. The root אלה appears 2 times in this verse. 10 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "descendants·of·Ephraim" (root בן, 499x in Numbers); "for·their·enrolled" (root פקד, 103x in Numbers); "thousand" (root אלף, 103x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'hundred', dividing the verse into phrases of 9 and 3 words. Full calculation: אֵ֣לֶּה [those] (36) + מִשְׁפְּחֹ֤ת [clans·of] (828) + בְּנֵי־אֶפְרַ֙יִם֙ [descendants·of·Ephraim] (393) + לִפְקֻ֣דֵיהֶ֔ם [for·their·enrolled] (269) + שְׁנַ֧יִם [two] (400) + וּשְׁלֹשִׁ֛ים [thirty] (686) + אֶ֖לֶף [thousand] (111) + וַחֲמֵ֣שׁ [five] (354) + מֵא֑וֹת [hundred] (447) + אֵ֥לֶּה [those] (36) + בְנֵי־יוֹסֵ֖ף [descendants·of·Joseph] (218) + לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָֽם [by·their·clans] (898) = 4676.
Onkelos
These are the clans of the sons of Ephraim according to their counted number: thirty-two thousand five hundred. These are the sons of Joseph according to their clans.
The sons of Benjamin after their families: of Bela, the family of the Belaites; of Ashbel, the family of the Ashbelites; of Ahiram, the family of the Ahiramites;
verse value 5119
Insights
Verse structure: 12 words, 63 letters. The shortest word is "descendants·of" (בְּנֵ֣י, 3 letters) and the longest is "by·their·clans" (לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם֒, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 828: clan·of, clan·of, clan·of. 6 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "of·Bela" (לְבֶ֗לַע), "the·Belaites" (הַבַּלְעִ֔י), "of·Ashbel" (לְאַשְׁבֵּ֕ל). The root משפחת appears 3 times in this verse. 10 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "descendants·of" (root בן, 499x in Numbers); "by·their·clans" (root משפחה, 81x in Numbers); "clan·of" (root משפחת, 77x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·Ashbelites', dividing the verse into phrases of 9 and 3 words. Full calculation: בְּנֵ֣י [descendants·of] (62) + בִנְיָמִן֮ [Benjamin] (152) + לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם֒ [by·their·clans] (898) + לְבֶ֗לַע [of·Bela] (132) + מִשְׁפַּ֙חַת֙ [clan·of] (828) + הַבַּלְעִ֔י [the·Belaites] (117) + לְאַשְׁבֵּ֕ל [of·Ashbel] (363) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan·of] (828) + הָֽאַשְׁבֵּלִ֑י [the·Ashbelites] (348) + לַאֲחִירָ֕ם [of·Ahiram] (289) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan·of] (828) + הָאֲחִירָמִֽי [the·Ahiramites] (274) = 5119.
Onkelos
The sons of Benjamin according to their clans: of Bela — the clan of Bela; of Ashbel — the clan of Ashbel; of Ahiram — the clan of Ahiram;
Rashi
לאחירם OF AHIRAM — He is identical with Ehi (אחי) who went down to Egypt (Genesis 46:21), and because he was called after Joseph’s name (Sotah 36b), who was his (Benjamin’s) brother (אח) and greater, (רם) than he, he was also called Achiram.
Ibn Ezra
"Ahiram" — he is Ehi; Shephupham is Muppim; Hupham is Huppim. And these — Ard and Naaman — are the sons of Bela. Some say that Naaman and Ard were among those who went down to Egypt, and they are the sons of Bela son of Benjamin.
Chizkuni
לבלע, to Bela, etc;” the sons of Bela were divided into three families, one named after its founder, two after Arad and Naamon, לאחירם, he is identical with Ehi.
of Shephupham, the family of the Shuphamites; of Hupham, the family of the Huphamites.
verse value 2946
Insights
Verse structure: 6 words, 33 letters. The shortest word is "clan·of" (מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת, 5 letters) and the longest is "of·Shephupham" (לִשְׁפוּפָ֕ם, 6 letters). Words sharing gematria 828: clan·of, clan·of. 4 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "of·Shephupham" (לִשְׁפוּפָ֕ם), "the·Shuphamites" (הַשּׁוּפָמִ֑י), "of·Hupham" (לְחוּפָ֕ם). The root משפחת appears 2 times in this verse. 5 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "clan·of" (root משפחת, 77x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·Shuphamites', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 3 words. Full calculation: לִשְׁפוּפָ֕ם [of·Shephupham] (536) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan·of] (828) + הַשּׁוּפָמִ֑י [the·Shuphamites] (441) + לְחוּפָ֕ם [of·Hupham] (164) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan·of] (828) + הַחוּפָמִֽי [the·Huphamites] (149) = 2946.
Onkelos
of Shephupham — the clan of Shephupham; of Hupham — the clan of Hupham.
Rashi
לשפופם OF SHEFUFAM - he was identical with Muppim, but was so called also after Joseph because Joseph became enfeebled (שפוף) through his sufferings among the nations.
Chizkuni
לשפופם, he is identical with מופים, in Genesis 46,21. לחופם, he is identical with חופים, in the verse just quoted. Five of Binyamin’s sons had died, i.e. בכר, גרא, נעמן, ראש and ארד. This is what Rashi had referred to on verse 13, when he wrote that 5 of Binyamin’s family were extinct.
And the sons of Bela were Ard and Naaman; [of Ard,] the family of the Ardites; of Naaman, the family of the Naamites.
verse value 2913
Insights
Verse structure: 9 words, 44 letters. The shortest word is "Ard" (אַ֣רְדְּ, 3 letters) and the longest is "sons·of·Bela" (בְנֵי־בֶ֖לַע, 6 letters). Words sharing gematria 828: clan·of, clan·of. 6 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "sons·of·Bela" (בְנֵי־בֶ֖לַע), "Ard" (אַ֣רְדְּ), "and·Naaman" (וְנַעֲמָ֑ן). The root נעמן appears 2 times in this verse. 7 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·they·were" (root היה, 180x in Numbers); "clan·of" (root משפחת, 77x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'and·Naaman', dividing the verse into phrases of 4 and 5 words. Full calculation: וַיִּהְי֥וּ [and·they·were] (37) + בְנֵי־בֶ֖לַע [sons·of·Bela] (164) + אַ֣רְדְּ [Ard] (205) + וְנַעֲמָ֑ן [and·Naaman] (216) + מִשְׁפַּ֙חַת֙ [clan·of] (828) + הָֽאַרְדִּ֔י [the·Ardites] (220) + לְנַֽעֲמָ֔ן [of·Naaman] (240) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan·of] (828) + הַֽנַּעֲמִֽי [the·Naamanites] (175) = 2913.
Onkelos
And the sons of Bela were Ard and Naaman: the clan of the Ardite; of Naaman — the clan of Naami.
Chizkuni
בני בלע ערד ונעמן, the sons of Bela, Ard and Naamon; Bela had named his two sons in commemoration of two of his brothers who had died.
Tur HaArokh
ויהיו בני בלע ארד ונעמן, ”The sons of Bela were Ard and Naaman.” [Our author refers to a Rashi on verse 36 in which Rashi quoted Rabbi Moshe Hadarshon who tried to account for the 5 missing families when we compare with the seventy members of Yaakov’s family that descended to Egypt and who are presumed to be the counterpart of the 70 families of the nations at large enumerated in Parshat Noach as the backbone of mankind. You will note that of the 10 sons of Binyamin enumerated in Parshat Vayigash 46,21, only 5 are appearing in our verse. Rabbi Moshe Hadarshon is quoted as saying that Ard and Naamon may have been in their mother’s womb at the time Yaakov traveled to Egypt, so that their inclusion in the families to whom land would be distributed would pose no problem, is itself problematic, as are other aspects. I will now continue to let the author speak. Ed.] As to Rashi’s quoting Rabbi Moshe Hadarshon that Ard and Naaman descended with Yaakov to Egypt, while their mother was pregnant with them, he does so because he could not reconcile their being listed as heads of families, seeing only people who immigrated to Egypt are considered as such. Nachmanides writes that if it had been possible to argue that these two had indeed immigrated to Egypt at that time, Rabbi Moshe Hadarshon would not have faced any problem at all. As it is, if these two had been born prior to arrival of their fathers in Egypt, the Torah should have listed 72 descendants of Yaakov traveling, not 70, seeing that at that time 10 sons of Binyamin were alive. On the other hand, if they were born after arrival of their mother or father in Egypt, how could they qualify as heads of families that were entitled to a share in the land of Israel under that heading? This is why Rabbi Moshe Hadarshon concluded that they were in the womb of their mother while their mother traveled with her family to Egypt. If we accept this, we need also to accept the notion that Yocheved was born at the entrance to the gates of Egypt, so that she was included in the number 70 that without her is not complete. All of these explanations are extremely forced and difficult if not impossible to substantiate. We may say that Ard and Naamon, the real sons of Binyamin, died in Egypt after having married but before having had children, so that the levirate marriage was performed on their widows and the first child of each of these marriages was named after their deceased father. Seeing that their fathers had been of the family members of Yaakov descending to Egypt, they inherited the right to be regarded as founding members of the people in the distribution of shares in the land of Israel. The correct interpretation is that Ard and Naamon who had been listed in Parshat Shemot [there is no such in the Book of Exodus, I presume what is meant is Genesis Ed] as part of the 70 were in fact grandsons of Binyamin, as they are described here where they are listed as sons of Binyamin’s firstborn son Bela. They are listed similarly in Chronicles I [Ard appears there as Adar Ed.] On the other hand, we must remember that grandsons are often described as sons in the Bible. The best known example may be Genesis 29,5 where Lavan is described as the son of Nachor although we have met him as the son of Betuel, (Genesis 24,9) who was a son of Nachor. If we were to reconstruct history on the basis of what is logical, we must remember that the whole subject of distribution of the land is not dealt with only in terms of who arrived in Egypt and when, but also in terms of who left Egypt and at what age. The enumerating of “families,” משפחות, is not restricted to the ones who existed prior to the descent into Egypt. Examples are the families of Ephrayim and Menashe, whose founders were born in Egypt. It was an old established custom among the Israelites to establish family heads, a custom not as much in evidence among other tribes. It was a source of pride for the descendants of such family heads (founders) to be able to number themselves as members of their respective families. This custom intensified ever since after the Israelites settled in Egypt they began to multiply at an accelerated rate. It became a sort of unwritten law for everybody to know and treasure and correctly trace his ancestry. In view of the enormous growth of the Jewish people during the years they stayed Egypt, the only way to preserve such identities through a number of generations was to know who the founding father of the family had been. Those who were able to trace themselves back to Yaakov in Canaan did so, others traced themselves back to the most distant founding father that could be established with certainty, even if the founding father of that family did not date back to the period prior to the descent of Yaakov to Egypt. The fact is that most of the families mentioned here were able to trace themselves back to the period preceding Yaakov’s descent to Egypt.
These are the sons of Dan after their families: of Shuham, the family of the Shuhamites. These are the families of Dan after their families.
verse value 4447 — אֵ֤לֶּה = 36 (double-Chai)
Insights
Verse structure: 10 words, 48 letters. Notable word values: "these" (אֵ֤לֶּה) = 36, double chai. The shortest word is "Dan" (דָּ֖ן, 2 letters) and the longest is "by·their·clans" (לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֔ם, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 898: by·their·clans, by·their·clans. 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "of·Shuham" (לְשׁוּחָ֕ם). The root משפחה appears 3 times in this verse. 6 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "by·their·clans" (root משפחה, 81x in Numbers); "clan·of" (root משפחת, 77x in Numbers); "these" (root אלה, 76x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·Shuhamites', dividing the verse into phrases of 6 and 4 words. Full calculation: אֵ֤לֶּה [these] (36) + בְנֵי־דָן֙ [descendants·of·Dan] (116) + לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֔ם [by·their·clans] (898) + לְשׁוּחָ֕ם [of·Shuham] (384) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan·of] (828) + הַשּׁוּחָמִ֑י [the·Shuhamites] (369) + אֵ֛לֶּה [those] (36) + מִשְׁפְּחֹ֥ת [clans·of] (828) + דָּ֖ן [Dan] (54) + לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָֽם [by·their·clans] (898) = 4447.
Onkelos
These are the sons of Dan according to their clans: of Shuham — the clan of Shuham. These are the clans of Dan according to their clans.
Rashi
לשוחם OF SHUHAM — he is identical with Hushim (Genesis 46:23).
Ramban
THESE ARE THE SONS OF DAN AFTER THEIR FAMILIES: [OF SHUHAM, THE FAMILY OF THE SHUHAMITES. THESE ARE THE FAMILIES OF DAN AFTER THEIR FAMILIES]. The meaning of this is that Shuham had children who formed families which were called by the name of the [respective] fathers of the family, but they all traced back their lineage to Shuham the head [of them all], and [therefore] they were called by his name, so that one would say [for example]: “Of Daniel, the family of Daniel the Shuhamite; of Ezekiel, the family of Ezekiel the Shuhamite.” Thus [the sons of Shuham] consisted of many families, but [all identified themselves] as the one Shuhamite family, and therefore they are all ascribed to him. And according to those who say that the people traced their lineage [only] to those who went down to Egypt [with Jacob, we must say that] there were many families [descended from Dan] who were called by the name of their ancestor, and who were born in Egypt, and here Scripture described them [i.e., all the families of Dan’s descendants] as Shuhamites, because he [Shuham] alone [as the only son of Dan] went down to Egypt.
Ibn Ezra
"Shuham" — he is Hushim. "These are the families of Dan according to their families" — for Hushim divided into many families.
Tur HaArokh
אלה בני דן למשפחותם, “these are the sons of Dan according to their families.” Nachmanides writes that Shuchim had many sons all of whom started families of their own, all of whom both called themselves in a manner recalling the founding father of the family, as well as reflecting in their name that of their respective immediate fathers. This is why at the end of the paragraph the Torah repeats the word משפחות twice in the line אלה משפחות דן למשפחותם, “these are the families of Dan according to their families.” According to the school of thought that claims that all these people counted traced themselves back to the members of Yaakov’s family that descended to Egypt, there must have been many families that simply called themselves by names born by their forefathers who had been born already in Egypt but that here they were all traced back to Shuchim as he was the only one of Dan’s sons who had been born before he came to Egypt.
All the families of the Shuhamites, according to those that were numbered of them, were threescore and four thousand and four hundred.
verse value 3287
Insights
Verse structure: 8 words, 42 letters. The shortest word is "thousand" (אֶ֖לֶף, 3 letters) and the longest is "all·clans·of" (כׇּל־מִשְׁפְּחֹ֥ת, 7 letters). 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "all·clans·of" (כׇּל־מִשְׁפְּחֹ֥ת). The root ארבע appears 2 times in this verse. 7 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "for·their·enrolled" (root פקד, 103x in Numbers); "thousand" (root אלף, 103x in Numbers); "all·clans·of" (root כל, 98x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'for·their·enrolled', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 5 words. Full calculation: כׇּל־מִשְׁפְּחֹ֥ת [all·clans·of] (878) + הַשּׁוּחָמִ֖י [the·Shuhamites] (369) + לִפְקֻדֵיהֶ֑ם [for·their·enrolled] (269) + אַרְבָּעָ֧ה [four] (278) + וְשִׁשִּׁ֛ים [sixty] (656) + אֶ֖לֶף [thousand] (111) + וְאַרְבַּ֥ע [four] (279) + מֵאֽוֹת [hundred] (447) = 3287.
Onkelos
All the clans of Shuham according to their counted number: sixty-four thousand four hundred.
The sons of Asher after their families: of Imnah, the family of the Imnites; of Ishvi, the family of the Ishvites; of Beriah, the family of the Beriites.
verse value 5491
Insights
Verse structure: 12 words, 60 letters. The shortest word is "descendants·of" (בְּנֵ֣י, 3 letters) and the longest is "by·their·clans" (לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם֒, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 828: clan·of, clan·of, clan·of. 6 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "of·Imnah" (לְיִמְנָ֗ה), "the·Imnites" (הַיִּמְנָ֔ה), "of·Ishvi" (לְיִשְׁוִ֕י). The root משפחת appears 3 times in this verse. 8 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "descendants·of" (root בן, 499x in Numbers); "Asher" (root אשר, 223x in Numbers); "by·their·clans" (root משפחה, 81x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·Ishvites', dividing the verse into phrases of 9 and 3 words. Full calculation: בְּנֵ֣י [descendants·of] (62) + אָשֵׁר֮ [Asher] (501) + לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם֒ [by·their·clans] (898) + לְיִמְנָ֗ה [of·Imnah] (135) + מִשְׁפַּ֙חַת֙ [clan·of] (828) + הַיִּמְנָ֔ה [the·Imnites] (110) + לְיִשְׁוִ֕י [of·Ishvi] (356) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan·of] (828) + הַיִּשְׁוִ֑י [the·Ishvites] (331) + לִבְרִיעָ֕ה [of·Beriah] (317) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan·of] (828) + הַבְּרִיעִֽי [the·Beriites] (297) = 5491.
Onkelos
The sons of Asher according to their clans: of Imnah — the clan of Imnah; of Ishvi — the clan of Ishvi; of Beriah — the clan of Beriah.
Chizkuni
בני אשר the sons of Asher. Yishveh is missing in this list, and this is why Rashi explains concerning Ozni, that he was identical with the family of Itzbon. If we were to assume that the family of Itzbon had died or been killed in war, there would be eight families missing from the previous census not only seven, five from Binyamin, Ohad, Itzbon, and Yishveh. לבריעה, of Beriah; the sons of Betriah were divided into three families, one was named after its founder, and Chever and Malkiel.
Of the sons of Beriah: of Heber, the family of the Heberites; of Malchiel, the family of the Malchielites.
verse value 2807
Insights
Verse structure: 8 words, 43 letters. The shortest word is "of·descendants·of" (לִבְנֵ֣י, 4 letters) and the longest is "the·Malchielites" (הַמַּלְכִּיאֵלִֽי, 8 letters). Words sharing gematria 828: clan·of, clan·of. 5 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "Beriah" (בְרִיעָ֔ה), "of·Heber" (לְחֶ֕בֶר), "the·Heberites" (הַֽחֶבְרִ֑י). The root משפחת appears 2 times in this verse. 7 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "of·descendants·of" (root בן, 499x in Numbers); "clan·of" (root משפחת, 77x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·Heberites', dividing the verse into phrases of 5 and 3 words. Full calculation: לִבְנֵ֣י [of·descendants·of] (92) + בְרִיעָ֔ה [Beriah] (287) + לְחֶ֕בֶר [of·Heber] (240) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan·of] (828) + הַֽחֶבְרִ֑י [the·Heberites] (225) + לְמַ֨לְכִּיאֵ֔ל [of·Malchiel] (161) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan·of] (828) + הַמַּלְכִּיאֵלִֽי [the·Malchielites] (146) = 2807.
Onkelos
Of the sons of Beriah: of Heber — the clan of Heber; of Malchiel — the clan of Malchiel.
Verse structure: 3 words, 11 letters. The shortest word is "and·name" (וְשֵׁ֥ם, 3 letters) and the longest is "daughter·Asher's" (בַּת־אָשֵׁ֖ר, 5 letters). 2 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "daughter·Asher's" (בַּת־אָשֵׁ֖ר), "Serah" (שָֽׂרַח). 3 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "daughter·Asher's" (root אשר, 223x in Numbers); "and·name" (root שם, 75x in Numbers). Full calculation: וְשֵׁ֥ם [and·name] (346) + בַּת־אָשֵׁ֖ר [daughter·Asher's] (903) + שָֽׂרַח [Serah] (508) = 1757.
Onkelos
And the name of the daughter of Asher was Serah.
Rashi
ושם בת אשר שרח AND THE NAME OF THE DAUGHTER OF ASHER WAS SERAH — Because she still remained alive after all these long years (Sotah 13a) it exceptionally mentions her here (Seder Olam 9).
Ramban
AND THE NAME OF THE DAUGHTER OF ASHER WAS SERACH. “Because she was still alive [at the end of Israel’s period of bondage in Egypt, and after forty years in the desert, and was one of the seventy people mentioned in Genesis 46 who went down to Egypt with Jacob], Scripture mentions her here.” This is Rashi’s language. And Onkelos translated [the verse as follows]: “and the name of the daughter of Asher’s wife, was Serach.” By this he intended to say that she was a daughter that possesseth an inheritance [in the Land in her own right], and therefore Scripture mentions her here just as it mentions the daughters of Zelophehad, for she [Serach] is included amongst [those referred to in the verse], Unto these the Land shall be divided. Now had she been the daughter of Asher himself, she would not have inherited [a portion in the Land], since he had male children [as stated in Verse 44]. But she [Serach] was the daughter of his [Asher’s] wife from another man [namely Asher’s wife’s first husband], who did not have a son; therefore his inheritance [in the Land] passed to his daughter. In that case, the reason [why Scripture uses the phrase] and Serach their sister is because she was a [half-]sister to Asher’s sons, but was not his daughter. And therefore it says [here], And the name of the daughter of Asher was Serach, and it does not say “and Asher’s daughter [was Serach],” because [the intention of the verse] is to say that her name was [i.e., she was known as] “Asher’s daughter,” and she was [actually] called Serach. Now if she were still alive [at the end of the period of Israel’s sojourn in the desert], as Rashi explained, then she was like the daughters of Zelophehad as regards [receiving] an inheritance [in the Land in her own right], but if she had died [by then, Scripture mentions her here to indicate that] her family received [a portion in the Land] because of her [since she was amongst those who went down to Egypt].According to the simple meaning of Scripture, Serach had a large family which was called by her name, and she is included in the phrase, These are the families of the sons of Asher according to those that were numbered. Scripture, however, did not want to trace their ancestry to a woman, by saying: “Of Serach, the family of the Serachites,” but instead alluded to this matter [briefly].
Chizkuni
.ושם בת אשר שרח, “whereas the name of Asher’s daughter was Serach.” We would have expected the Torah to write simply בת אשר סרח, “Asher’s daughter was Serach.” It appears that the reason why the Torah chose this longwinded version of saying the same thing was because it wished to give us a reason for why she was called “Serach.” She was generally referred to as “Asher’s daughter,” seeing she had grown up in his house although she was not biologically his daughter but his wife’s daughter. This also seems to be confirmed by the Targum who wrote: “and the name of Asher’s wife daughter was Serach.” The question remains open what was the name of her mother, if one of the sons of Yaakov had sired her, why did he not give her his name? If she was sired by a gentile, why was she counted as part of Yaakov’s offspring in Genesis chapter 46 and as a sister to Asher’s sons?Perhaps we may speculate that since she was known by her first name primarily as she had performed many worthy deeds, the title: “and her name was,” preceded her actual name, as a compliment. In the list of Yaakov’s offspring who went down to Egypt with Yaakov her name is listed preceding her status. (Genesis 46,17). This may have been due to her being much older than her younger brothers. The word: ושם, “and the name of,” before her actual name, suggests that “her name preceded her,” she had been well known for her deeds of charity, etc.
Tur HaArokh
ושם בת אשר,”and the name of the daughter of Asher, etc.” Rashi writes that the reason that lady was singled out by name as the only daughter of whom there must have been many, was that she was still alive at the time when this census was taken. Nachmanides writes that if that were the reason, why did Onkelos translate this verse as ושום בת אחת אשר, “and the name of Asher’s only daughter was Shum.” [This is not the version of Onkelos that appears in our editions where we have ושום בת אשר סרח, “Asher’s daughter’s name was Serach.” Ed.] According to Nachmanides her name was mentioned because seeing that he had only a daughter and no sons, she inherited her father’s portion of the ancestral land when Joshua distributed same. She was mentioned for the same reason that Tzelofchod’s daughters were mentioned by name. If Serach had been the daughter (instead of granddaughter or great granddaughter) she would not have qualified for such an inheritance seeing that Asher did have sons of his own as we know from Genesis 46,17 where 4 sons and their sister Serach are listed. What made her different was that although Asher’s wife was her mother, she did not have the same father as had Asher’s sons who were listed as her “brothers” i.e. half-brothers. This is why the Torah does not simply introduce her as ובת אשר, “and Asher’s daughter, but with the prefix “and the name of Asher’s daughter.” She was known as Asher’s daughter, her name being Serach, although Asher was not her biological father.. I do not understand his words (our author concerning Nachmanides) for the mystery deepens as we do not know who the man was who fathered Serach, and on the strength of her father not having any sons she inherited her father’s portion of the land. After all, Serach was of the people who took part in the Exodus and the people who descended to Egypt were only seventy in number and all of Yaakov’s sons had sons so that they qualified as males. Furthermore, seeing she is listed as being alive when the Israelites arrived in Egypt she must have survived past the Exodus (210 years +) in order to qualify under the heading of the generation that left Egypt. According to the plain meaning of the text, Serach presumably had a great and numerous family, all of whose members were known by the name of their matriarch. The Torah decided to include her in the list of the families of the sons of Asher for purposes of the census, but the Torah did not want to list their genealogy as descended from a female i.e. לסרח משפחת סרח, and that is why the Torah abbreviated here. All of the tribes are listed in the same order as they had been listed in Parshat Bamidbar, i.e. in the order in which the tribes were encamped around the Tabernacle. The only change is that in this census Menashe is mentioned ahead of Ephrayim. Ibn Ezra writes that this change of the order in which Ephrayim and Menashe are listed is because the members of the tribe of Ephrayim had decreased by approximately 8000 souls during the 40 years in the desert. Previously, the members of the tribe of Ephrayim had outnumbered those of the tribe of Menashe by approximately 10000, whereas now the members of Ephrayim numbered approximately 20000 fewer than those of Menashe. 26, 54.
Daat Zkenim
ושם בת אשר שרח, “And Asher’s daughter was called Serach.” Seeing that she had been mentioned by name already in Genesis, when eligibility for army service was quite irrelevant, the Torah mentions her here again. [According to our tradition she was still alive after 250 years after Yaakov had come to Egypt. Ed.] There is reason to wonder why the verse mentioning her commences with the connective letter ו, “and.” There is also reason to wonder why the Targum apparently understood Serach as not being Asher’s daughter though she was the daughter of Asher’s wife. Asher apparently had raised her after her mother had died when she was a baby. This is why the Torah describes her as being Asher’s daughter. This would also account for the letter ו at the beginning of this verse, as if to hint that she did not become his daughter already at her birth. The difficulty with this interpretation is that if she had been born to one of the other tribes why did the Torah not mention this? If she was not born to any of the members of the 12 tribes, why is she listed as such in the count of the people Yaakov brought with him to Egypt? Perhaps she was indeed the biological daughter of Asher, and because already before the family descended to Egypt she had acquired a reputation of being especially pious, the Torah decided to mention her name.
The sons of Naphtali after their families: of Jahzeel, the family of the Jahzeelites; of Guni, the family of the Gunites;
verse value 3682
Insights
Verse structure: 9 words, 48 letters. The shortest word is "descendants" (בְּנֵ֤י, 3 letters) and the longest is "by·their·clans" (לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֔ם, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 828: clan, clan. 4 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "of·Jahzeel" (לְיַ֨חְצְאֵ֔ל), "the·Jahzeelites" (הַיַּחְצְאֵלִ֑י), "of·Guni" (לְגוּנִ֕י). The root משפחת appears 2 times in this verse. 7 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "descendants" (root בן, 499x in Numbers); "by·their·clans" (root משפחה, 81x in Numbers); "clan" (root משפחת, 77x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·Jahzeelites', dividing the verse into phrases of 6 and 3 words. Full calculation: בְּנֵ֤י [descendants] (62) + נַפְתָּלִי֙ [Naphtali] (570) + לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֔ם [by·their·clans] (898) + לְיַ֨חְצְאֵ֔ל [of·Jahzeel] (169) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan] (828) + הַיַּחְצְאֵלִ֑י [the·Jahzeelites] (154) + לְגוּנִ֕י [of·Guni] (99) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan] (828) + הַגּוּנִֽי [the·Gunites] (74) = 3682.
Onkelos
The sons of Naphtali according to their clans: of Jahzeel — the clan of Jahzeel; of Guni — the clan of Guni;
of Jezer, the family of the Jezerites; of Shillem, the family of the Shillemites.
verse value 3086
Insights
Verse structure: 6 words, 28 letters. The shortest word is "of·Jezer" (לְיֵ֕צֶר, 4 letters) and the longest is "clan" (מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת, 5 letters). Words sharing gematria 828: clan, clan. 4 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "of·Jezer" (לְיֵ֕צֶר), "the·Jezerites" (הַיִּצְרִ֑י), "of·Shillem" (לְשִׁלֵּ֕ם). The root משפחת appears 2 times in this verse. 5 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "clan" (root משפחת, 77x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·Jezerites', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 3 words. Full calculation: לְיֵ֕צֶר [of·Jezer] (330) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan] (828) + הַיִּצְרִ֑י [the·Jezerites] (315) + לְשִׁלֵּ֕ם [of·Shillem] (400) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan] (828) + הַשִּׁלֵּמִֽי [the·Shillemites] (385) = 3086.
Onkelos
of Jezer — the clan of Jezer; of Shillem — the clan of Shillem.
These are the families of Naphtali according to their families; and they that were numbered of them were forty and five thousand and four hundred.
verse value 4096 — אֵ֛לֶּה = 36 (double-Chai)
Insights
Verse structure: 10 words, 50 letters. Notable word values: "these" (אֵ֛לֶּה) = 36, double chai. Verse gematria: 4096 = 64². The shortest word is "these" (אֵ֛לֶּה, 3 letters) and the longest is "clan·by·clan" (לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֑ם, 7 letters). The root משפחה appears 2 times in this verse. 8 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "and·their·enrolled" (root פקד, 103x in Numbers); "thousand" (root אלף, 103x in Numbers); "five" (root חמש, 99x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'clan·by·clan', dividing the verse into phrases of 4 and 6 words. Full calculation: אֵ֛לֶּה [these] (36) + מִשְׁפְּחֹ֥ת [clans] (828) + נַפְתָּלִ֖י [Naphtalites] (570) + לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֑ם [clan·by·clan] (898) + וּפְקֻ֣דֵיהֶ֔ם [and·their·enrolled] (245) + חֲמִשָּׁ֧ה [five] (353) + וְאַרְבָּעִ֛ים [and·forty] (329) + אֶ֖לֶף [thousand] (111) + וְאַרְבַּ֥ע [and·four] (279) + מֵאֽוֹת [hundred] (447) = 4096.
Onkelos
These are the clans of Naphtali according to their clans, and their counted number: forty-five thousand four hundred.
Chizkuni
ואלה משפחות נפתלי, “and these are the families from the tribe of Naftali;” this concludes the total of the families from the various tribes excluding those from the tribe of Levi, fifty seven families in all. The southern army command headed by the flag (tribe) of Reuven had four families from Reuven, five from Shimon and seven families from the tribe of Gad. The eastern army command headed by the tribe of Yehudah, had five families from that tribe, four families from the tribe of Issachar, and three families from the tribe of Zevulun. The western army command headed by Menashe comprised eight families from that tribe, four families from the tribe of Ephrayim, and seven families from the tribe of Binyamin. The northern army command, headed by the tribe (flag) of Dan, had one family from that tribe, five families from the tribe of Asher, and four families from the tribe of Naftali.
These are they that were numbered of the children of Israel: six hundred and one thousand, seven hundred and thirty.
verse value 3619 — אֵ֗לֶּה = 36 (double-Chai)
Insights
Verse structure: 10 words, 42 letters. Notable word values: "these" (אֵ֗לֶּה) = 36, double chai. The shortest word is "these" (אֵ֗לֶּה, 3 letters) and the longest is "six·hundred" (שֵׁשׁ־מֵא֥וֹת, 6 letters). The root מאה appears 2 times in this verse. 8 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "sons·of" (root בן, 499x in Numbers); "Israel" (root ישראל, 183x in Numbers); "enrollment·of" (root פקד, 103x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'and·thousand', dividing the verse into phrases of 7 and 3 words. Full calculation: אֵ֗לֶּה [these] (36) + פְּקוּדֵי֙ [enrollment·of] (200) + בְּנֵ֣י [sons·of] (62) + יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל [Israel] (541) + שֵׁשׁ־מֵא֥וֹת [six·hundred] (1047) + אֶ֖לֶף [thousand] (111) + וָאָ֑לֶף [and·thousand] (117) + שְׁבַ֥ע [seven] (372) + מֵא֖וֹת [hundred] (447) + וּשְׁלֹשִֽׁים [and·thirty] (686) = 3619.
Onkelos
These are the counted numbers of the children of Israel: six hundred and one thousand seven hundred and thirty.
Chizkuni
אלה פקודי בני ישראל וגו, “these were those who were numbered among the Children of Israel, six hundred thousand, seventeen hundred and thirty.” This total is smaller than the total reported at the previous census by eighteen hundred and twenty. If this total had been greater than the previous total they would have said that they were now numerically strong enough to take on the Canaanites militarily. G-d wanted to demonstrate to the people under the command of Joshua that though there were slightly fewer Israelite soldiers than forty years earlier when the spies had considered themselves too weak to conquer the Canaanites, they still would manage to do so, not because of their numbers but because of G-d’s assistance. When one enjoys His assistance numbers become irrelevant. (This point was made even more pronouncedly during the days of Gideon in Judges 7,7.)
Rabbeinu Bahya
שש מאות אלף ואלף שבע מאות ושלושים, “six hundred and one thousand seven hundred and thirty.” Remember that both this number and the number 603,550 given in Numbers 1,47 is not the total number of Israelites; their total number was beyond the ability of the enumerators to determine. On both occasions of the census only men over the age of twenty who were potentially soldiers in the army were counted. No doubt the total number of Israelites comprised many sick people, many who were physically weak and not fit to serve in the army, and many old people all of whom were not included in the count given by the Torah. As a result of all this the total number of the Jewish people was never revealed in Scripture. Ever since the family of Yaakov descended to Egypt they became the recipients of the Divine blessing which resulted in over 600,000 males leaving Egypt, not counting the children. The number reported in Exodus 12,37 remained the same throughout the revelation at Mount Sinai when a renewed blessing was bestowed on the people as per Numbers 1,1. From all the above we learn that when the Torah was given at Mount Sinai the people already knew the precise number of males over 20. During the short ten months until the count in the desert of Sinai their number climbed to one that was beyond counting. The truth is that the number of Jews is beyond determination by means of a census. There has never been a time in Jewish history when the total number of Jews was known. G’d had already foretold Avraham that the number of his descendants would exceed the ability of people to count them (Genesis 15,5). Moses too said to the people shortly before his death (Deut. 1,10) “and here, as of this day, you are as numerous as the stars in heaven,” i.e. beyond counting. Even Bileam, our perennial opponent and sworn enemy, testified that ”the dust of Yaakov has defied the ability to be counted, neither have even a quarter of the Jewish nation been counted” (Numbers 23,10). We find that when David gave instructions (which were only partially carried out) to take a census of Israel’s fighting men that the number Yoav reported as having been counted was 1,3 million people (Samuel II 24,9). If this was the number of active, arms-bearing male Israelites at that time, the total number of Jews must have been several times that number. The verses in Scripture are even more convincing than extrapolations arrived at by our intelligence. Concerning the future, the prophet Isaiah states clearly that at that time the Jewish people will be more numerous than any (or all) the nations of the earth (as per Isaiah 54,1): “for the children of the forlorn wife shall outnumber those of the espoused, says the Lord.” Once the great ingathering of the Jews in exile will be in progress the number of Jews will be seen to be even far greater still. This is the meaning of Isaiah 49,12: “Look these are coming from afar, these from the north and the west and these from the land of Sinnim.” The prophet continues in verse 21 of that chapter: “and you will say to yourself, ‘who bore these for me when I was bereaved and barren, exiled and disdained; by whom then were these raised? I was left all alone and where have these been?’” You will note that the prophet mentioned the word “these”, אלה, three times in each of these verses! This is an allusion to the fact that the Shechinah will return with the exiles at the time of the redemption. This Shechinah which consists of the six extremities of the globe is alluded to by David who used the word שמר, “to guard, to protect” six times in connection with the G’d of Israel protecting His people (Psalm 121).
Verse structure: 4 words, 18 letters. Notable word values: "Hashem" (יְהֹוָ֖ה) = 26, the value of the divine name Hashem. The shortest word is "Hashem" (יְהֹוָ֖ה, 4 letters) and the longest is "and·he·spoke" (וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר, 5 letters). 4 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "Hashem" (root יהוה, 389x in Numbers); "saying" (root אמר, 246x in Numbers); "to·Moses" (root משה, 217x in Numbers). Full calculation: וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר [and·he·spoke] (222) + יְהֹוָ֖ה [Hashem] (26) + אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה [to·Moses] (376) + לֵּאמֹֽר [saying] (271) = 895.
Onkelos
And Hashem spoke with Moses, saying:
Or HaChaim
וידבר ה׳ אל משה לאמור. G'd spoke to Moses to say. Moses was to tell Joshua and the elders that Joshua would lead them into the land to take possession of it. The word לאמור in this instance does not refer to the people at large. If this were not so, the word לאלה in the next verse would not make sense.
"To these the land shall be divided for an inheritance according to the number of names.
verse value 2123
Insights
Verse structure: 6 words, 26 letters. The shortest word is "among·these" (לָאֵ֗לֶּה, 4 letters) and the longest is "as·shares" (בְּנַחֲלָ֖ה, 5 letters). 6 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "the·land" (root ארץ, 119x in Numbers); "among·these" (root אלה, 76x in Numbers); "names" (root שם, 75x in Numbers). Full calculation: לָאֵ֗לֶּה [among·these] (66) + תֵּחָלֵ֥ק [shall·be·apportioned] (538) + הָאָ֛רֶץ [the·land] (296) + בְּנַחֲלָ֖ה [as·shares] (95) + בְּמִסְפַּ֥ר [by·number] (382) + שֵׁמֽוֹת [names] (746) = 2123.
Onkelos
"To these shall the land be divided as an inheritance, according to the number of names.
Rashi
לאלה תחלק הארץ TO THESE THE LAND SHALL BE DIVIDED, and not to any who are now less than twenty years old; even though they become included among those who are twenty before the division of the land, — for they were seven years in conquering it and seven years did they take in dividing it — for no one received a portion in the land except these 601,000 and if one of these had six sons, they received only their father’s portion (cf. Bava Batra 117a).
Or HaChaim
לאלה תחלק הארץ בנחלה, "To these the land will be shared out as an inheritance, etc." On the word לאלה our sages in Baba Batra 117 comment as follows: Rabbi Yoshiah holds that the subject of the word are the people who participated in the Exodus. He bases himself on the additional data in verse 55 לשמות מטות אבותם ינחלו, 'they shall inherit according to the names of the tribes of their fathers.' How do I then fulfil the instruction of the Torah which wrote לאלה, i.e. 'to these' i.e. to people present now at this time? The word is meant to exclude people who were not yet 20 years of age at the time they left Egypt." Rabbi Yonathan holds that the land was distributed only to the people who actually set foot in the land, i.e. the men under the leadership of Joshua. He bases himself on the word לאלה. As to the meaning of the words לשמות מטות אבותם ינחלו, Rabbi Yonathan feels that in this instance the Torah applied yardsticks other than the normal ones to the laws of inheritance. Usually the living inherit the dead; in this instance the dead inherited the living. Thus far the statements of these two scholars. I have seen a Baraitha in the Sifri which offers a third approach to our verse. The word לאלה is understood to exclude the unworthy members of the Jewish people, the wicked. As proof they cite the sons of the spies and the people who had complained against Moses and G'd on various occasions. In order to bring the approach of the Baraitha into accord with that of Rabbi Yoshiah who holds that the land was distributed to the people who participated in the Exodus, we have to translate the word לאלה as כאלה, i.e. "to people such as these righteous ones who make up the nation as of this day." Just as only the righteous ones who left Egypt share in the inheritance, seeing they and their children died already, so also at this time only Israelites who were righteous would receive their share of the land. It would appear that this exegesis which denies the wicked their share in the Holy Land is not at odds with our own approach (that of Rabbi Yoshiah) that the word was intended to exclude the people who were below the age of 20 at the time of the Exodus. The word לאלה simply excludes anyone who does not meet the standards, be it because he was too young or because he was too wicked. I have noted that Rashi explains the word לאלה as reflecting the approach of Rabbi Yonathan i.e. not to those who are below 20 even though they had reached that age before the actual distribution took place. This seems hard to understand. After all, Rabbi Yonathan already exploited the exegetical value of the word ואלה to inform us that the land was distributed according to the present number of Israelites as distinct from the number of Israelites (of comparable age) who participated in the Exodus. By referring to the line לשמות מטות אבותם ינחלו, Rabbi Yonathan had already proved that the number of people present now were not the only criterion in determining who was to get h...
Chizkuni
לאלה, “to these,” i.e. to the heads of these fifty seven families enumerated in this chapter the land will be divided up as ancestral inheritance. Each would receive a share corresponding to the number of family heads that had been numbered.
To the more you shall give the more inheritance, and to the fewer you shall give the less inheritance; to each one according to those that were numbered of it shall its inheritance be given.
verse value 4096
Insights
Verse structure: 11 words, 46 letters. Verse gematria: 4096 = 64². The shortest word is "to·the·many" (לָרַ֗ב, 3 letters) and the longest is "its·share" (נַחֲלָת֔וֹ, 5 letters). Words sharing gematria 494: its·share, its·share, its·share. 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "you·shall·increase" (תַּרְבֶּה֙). The root נחלה appears 3 times in this verse. 8 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "each" (root איש, 130x in Numbers); "shall·be·assigned" (root נתן, 119x in Numbers); "its·enrollment" (root פקד, 103x in Numbers). First appearance of the root רבה ("you·shall·increase") in Numbers. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'its·share', dividing the verse into phrases of 6 and 5 words. Full calculation: לָרַ֗ב [to·the·many] (232) + תַּרְבֶּה֙ [you·shall·increase] (607) + נַחֲלָת֔וֹ [its·share] (494) + וְלַמְעַ֕ט [and·to·the·few] (155) + תַּמְעִ֖יט [you·shall·reduce] (529) + נַחֲלָת֑וֹ [its·share] (494) + אִ֚ישׁ [each] (311) + לְפִ֣י [according·to] (120) + פְקֻדָ֔יו [its·enrollment] (200) + יֻתַּ֖ן [shall·be·assigned] (460) + נַחֲלָתֽוֹ [its·share] (494) = 4096.
Onkelos
To the many you shall increase their inheritance, and to the few you shall diminish their inheritance; each one according to his number shall his inheritance be given.
Rashi
לרב תרבה נחלתו TO THE NUMEROUS THOU SHALT GIVE MORE INHERITANCE — To the tribe that had a numerous population they gave a large portion of land. Although the portions were not of equal area because, as we have now said, in all cases they assigned the portions according to the size of the tribe, yet they did so only by aid of the lot, but the lot fell by the utterance of the Holy Spirit, as is explained in Baba Batra 122a: Eleazar the Priest was clothed with the Urim and Thummim, and spake by the Holy Spirit, “If such-and-such a tribe comes up, such-and-such a territory shall come up with him”. The names of the tribes were written on twelve tablets, and those of twelve districts on twelve tablets. They mixed them in an urn, and the prince of a tribe inserted his hand in it and took out two tablets. There came up in his hand the tablet bearing the name of his tribe and the tablet relating to the district that had been declared by the Urim and Tummim to be intended for it. The lot, itself cried out, saying, “I, the lot, have come up for such-and-such a district for such-and-such a tribe”, as it is said, (v. 56) על פי הגורל by the mouth (utterance) of the lot [shall the possession thereof be divided]” (Midrash Tanchuma, Pinchas 6). The land was not divided by measurement alone because one district is superior to another but it was divided by estimating its fertility: a bad piece of land sufficient to sow a Kor was regarded as the equivalent of a good piece of land sufficient to sow a Seah (the thirtieth part of a Kor) — all depended upon the value of the soil.
Ramban
TO THE MORE THOU SHALT GIVE THE MORE INHERITANCE. “To a tribe which was larger in population they gave a larger portion [of the Land than that given to the smaller tribes]. And although the portions were [thus] not equal, since they divided [the Land] according to the size of the tribe, they did so only by means of the lot [as commanded in Verse 55], and the lot [assigned the portions] by means of Ruach Hakodesh. ” This is Rashi’s language. But the interpretation of our Rabbis about this verse is not so. Instead, they said in the Sifre: “To the more thou shalt give the more inheritance. Supposing somebody came out of Egypt with ten sons, and when they entered the Land they were [only] five etc. [we apply to this case the verse, To the more thou shalt give the more inheritance; if on the other hand he had five sons when he came out of Egypt, and when they entered the Land they were ten, we apply to them the verse, and to the fewer thou shalt give the less inheritance]. ” And likewise it is explicitly stated in the Gemara that the meaning of [this section] according to the Sages was not to distinguish in any way between [the portion given to] each particular tribe [since they each received an equal portion], just as they have said: “It is well-understood according to the Sage who says [that the Land was divided] according to [the numbers of] those who came out of Egypt, why Scripture states, To the more thou shalt give the more inheritance etc.” Furthermore, I have already written in Seder Vayechi Yaakov that in the Gemara of the Chapter Yesh Nochalin the Rabbis expressly came to the conclusion that the Land was not divided according to the heads of men, [i.e., according to the overall population], but it was divided among [all] the tribes [equally]. Thus they divided it into twelve equal parts, and each tribe took that part which was assigned to it by the lot. It was for this [reason] that the sons of Joseph complained about it, saying [to Joshua], ‘Why hast thou given me but one lot and one part for an inheritance, seeing I am a great people?’ However, Joshua did not give them any additional [land] at all [since each tribe received an equal share], but he told them, ‘[If thou be a great people], get thee up to the forest, and cut down for thyself there in the land of the Perizzites and of the Rephaim; since the hill-country of Ephraim is too narrow for thee, ’ meaning to say that they should conquer for themselves that land [which had been assigned to them and] which they had not yet taken, and thereby they should extend their border. This is [also the meaning of] that which Scripture says, according to the names of the tribes of their fathers they shall inherit. [According to the lot shall their inheritance be divided] between the more and the fewer. [That is to say], each of the tribes should take equally, whether it has a large population or a small one. And then the meaning of [the verse which says], To the more thou shalt give the more in...
Sforno
לרב תרבה נחלתו, a reference to the amount of land, for although the land was being divided 12 tribes in shares of equal value in terms of money, the size of the allocations varied according to the quality of the soil each tribe received. A tribe who numbered many souls received a quantitatively larger piece of real estate as is spelled out here by the words לרב תרבו נחלתו, “you shall give a larger inheritance to the numerically superior tribe.”This is the reason why Menashe and Ephrayim received 2 separate territories seeing that their father Joseph had been a firstborn and treated as such in Yaakov’s final blessing, they were entitled to two such shares. (Genesis 48,22) This is also the way we must understand Chronicles I 5,1 ובחללו יצועי אביו ניתנה בכורתו ליוסף בן ישראל, “and when he defiled the bed of his father his birthright was given to Joseph, son of Yisrael.” Shimon, who numbered fewer people than any other tribe at this count, received a relatively small parcel of land, which itself was an enclave within the territory allocated to the tribe of Yehudah. (compare Joshua 19,9 on this subject) This also was the fulfillment of Yaakov’s wish in Genesis 49,7 “I will divide both Levi and Shimon among the tribes of Israel.”
Or HaChaim
לרב תרבה נחלתו, "to the more numerous you will give a larger share in his inheritance, etc." Baba Batra 117 has Rav Pappa ask Abbaye: "according to the theory of Rabbi Yoshiah that the land was distributed to the people who partook in the Exodus, this verse makes sense; however, how does one explain these instructions according to the view of Rabbi Yonathan who holds that only the generation who was counted in the wilderness would share in the distribution of the land? What purpose was there for the Torah to distinguish between the numerous ones and the less numerous ones?" Whereas Abbaye is not reported as having furnished Rav Pappa with an answer, this question is not so serious that no answer could have been found in the very text itself. Moreover, these words (Rabbi Yonathan's) were not the ones of an Amora (teacher of the Talmud) but of a Tanna, a teacher of the Mishnah. As an Amora, Rav Pappa was not allowed to challenge the words of a Tanna, hence it was not urgent to answer a question which would not result in changes of the halachah even if it went unanswered. We have a principle that whenever the Talmud concludes a question with the word קשיא (as in this instance), there is an answer but it did not suit the editors to provide it at this point. According to my commentary that the words במספר שמות mean that the land should be distributed amongst the 57 families enumerated in the count here in our Parshah, the words לרב תרבה mean that they were not to make 57 equal shares according to the number of the families, but that they were to consider also the size of the respective families before distributing land to each family. A family comprising 20,000 souls was to receive a share twice as large as a family comprising only 10,000 souls. Furthermore, if we adopt Rashi's approach that Rabbi Yonathan included only people who were counted -meaning they had reached the age of twenty- at the time of the present census, the following situation could arise. Suppose a father had ten sons each above the age of 20 at this time, and another father had 8 sons, 4 of whom were above the age of twenty the other 4 being younger. By the time they all entered the Holy land the first father had lost 4 of his sons because they had died, whereas the other father's sons by then had all reached the age of 20, the last mentioned family would have received a larger share than the family which had ten eligible sons at this time. To prevent such a mistake from being made the Torah wrote לרב תרבה, i.e. that the determining criterion was the respective number of eligible sons a family comprised at the time the commandment was given, i.e. at the time of this census. Any change in the status of the family between now and the actual time of distribution was to be disregarded. Perhaps Rashi's commentary was designed to answer this question before it was even articulated. איש לפי פקודיו, each one according to those that were numbered of it, etc. Sifri on this verse comments...
Chizkuni
לרב תרבה וגו, to the numerically more numerous, etc.” they did not all receive equally sized plots of land, but the number of males in each family determined the number of plots each would receive. This is why the Torah referred to “its numbered.” The word איש was added to exclude the number of women in each family as being irrelevant in this instance. It also excluded people of indeterminate sex. (Sifri)
Rabbeinu Bahya
לרב תרבה נחלתו, “to the numerous you will increase his (share of the) inheritance.” A tribe which was more populous (than average) was given a larger piece of land (Rashi).
Tur HaArokh
לרב תרבו נחלתו, “For the numerous you shall increase his inheritance;” According to Rashi this means that the tribe whose population is numerous will be allocated a larger slice of the land than the tribe whose population is fewer in numbers. In other words, different tribes received territorially different amounts of land. Nachmanides writes that the opinion of the sages in the Talmud, after a debate on the subject, was that division of the land was not related to the headcount of the various tribes, but that each tribe received the same amount of land. Each tribe took the portion that he drew when the lots were drawn. This explains the complaint of the members of the tribe of Joseph that in spite of their having a numerically strong population, the amount of land per square cubit available for each member was considerably less than that available for a member of a less populous tribe. (Compare Joshua 17,14) This is also the meaning of:
Notwithstanding the land shall be divided by lot; according to the names of the tribes of their fathers they shall inherit.
verse value 2885
Insights
Verse structure: 6 words, 35 letters. The shortest word is "shall·be·apportioned" (יֵחָלֵ֖ק, 4 letters) and the longest is "tribes·of·their·ancestors" (מַטּוֹת־אֲבֹתָ֖ם, 8 letters). 4 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "but·by·lot" (אַךְ־בְּגוֹרָ֕ל), "shall·be·apportioned" (יֵחָלֵ֖ק), "according·to·names" (לִשְׁמ֥וֹת). 6 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "the·land" (root ארץ, 119x in Numbers); "tribes·of·their·ancestors" (root מטה, 111x in Numbers); "according·to·names" (root שם, 75x in Numbers). First appearance of the root גורל ("but·by·lot") in Numbers. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·land', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 3 words. Full calculation: אַךְ־בְּגוֹרָ֕ל [but·by·lot] (262) + יֵחָלֵ֖ק [shall·be·apportioned] (148) + אֶת־הָאָ֑רֶץ [the·land] (697) + לִשְׁמ֥וֹת [according·to·names] (776) + מַטּוֹת־אֲבֹתָ֖ם [tribes·of·their·ancestors] (898) + יִנְחָֽלוּ [they·shall·inherit] (104) = 2885.
Onkelos
However, by lot shall the land be divided; according to the names of the tribes of their fathers shall they inherit.
Rashi
לשמות מטה אבתם ACCORDING TO THE NAMES OF THE TRIBES OF THEIR FATHERS [THEY SHALL INHERIT] — These (the fathers referred to) were they who came out of Egypt. — Scripture treated this inheritance differently to all other inheritances mentioned in the Torah, for in the case of all other inheritances the living become heirs to the dead, whilst here the dead become heirs to the living. How is this so? Two brothers who were of those who came out of Egypt who had sons at least twenty years old amongst those who came into the Land, one son to this and three to that, the one son took one portion, and the three took three portions, for it is said, (v. 53) “To these (enumerated in the census taken immediately before they entered Palestine) shall the land be divided”. Their inheritance (that of these four) returns to (is regarded as having belonged to) their fathers’ father, and they (the two brothers who have four sons between them), divide equally. This is what is stated, “according to the names of the tribes of their fathers they shall inherit” — that after the sons have received they divide it according to the fathers who came out of Egypt. If, however, they had straightway divided it according to the number of those who came out of Egypt these four would have taken only two portions, whilst now they take four portions (Bava Batra 117a; Sifrei Bamidbar 132:1). אך בגורל — Joshua and Caleb are excepted from this method of division (since אך is a limiting term) and so indeed it states, (Judges 1:20) “And they gave Hebron to Caleb as Moses had said” (cf. Rashi on Numbers XlV. 24), and it further states, (Joshua 19:50) “According to the command of the Lord they gave him (Joshua) the city which he had asked” (Sifrei Bamidbar 132:3). מטות אבתם THE TRIBES OF THEIR FATHERS — Consequently proselytes and slaves were excepted (Sifrei Bamidbar 132:4).
Ramban
HOWEVER, THE LAND SHALL BE DIVIDED BY LOT amongst the tribes of Israel, and ACCORDING TO THE NAMES OF THE TRIBES OF THEIR FATHERS who constituted twelve tribes THEY SHALL INHERIT them [i.e., the twelve equal portions of the Land]. And then He repeated: 56. ACCORDING TO THE LOT SHALL THE INHERITANCE of the tribe BE DIVIDED BETWEEN THE MORE AND THE FEWER, meaning that they should also cast lots amongst the [individual] families, so that [for instance] the portion of the Hanochites should be in the direction and place which the lot chooses for him, and the portion of the Palluites should be in the place which the lot chooses for him, but we are to allot more [of the land] to the larger [families], and give less to the smaller families. This is the meaning of that which it says in the section of Eileh Mas’ei: And ye shall inherit the land by lot according to your families — to the more ye shall give the more inheritance, and to the fewer thou shalt give the less inheritance; wheresoever the lot falleth to any man, that shall be his; according to the tribes of your fathers shall ye inherit. Thus He explained that the inheritance should be allotted to families by the lot, and in whichever direction the lot chooses for him [any individual family], there we shall give a larger [portion] to the larger of the families and a smaller [portion] to the smaller [families]. He [furthermore] said that it [the division of the Land] should be according to the tribes of your fathers, meaning to say twelve tribes. Now that which Rashi said — “According to the names of ‘matoth’ of their fathers, this means those who came out of Egypt” — is not correct, for the term matoth always means “the tribes” of Israel, just as it is written, So shall no inheritance remove ‘mimateh’ (from one tribe) ‘l’mateih acheir’ (to another tribe); for ‘matoth’ (the tribes of) the children of Israel shall cleave each one to its own inheritance. Similarly [it is written], a thousand ‘l’mateh’ (of every tribe) throughout all ‘matoth’ (tribes of) Israel, and so also in the case of the spies, and likewise in all other places — for the terms sheivet and mateh are identical. And when the Rabbis said in the Gemara: “Rabbi Yashiyah says: The Land was divided amongst those that came out of Egypt, for it is said, according to the names of ‘matoth’ of their fathers they shall inherit” — this interpretation [is not based, as Rashi understood, on the meaning of the word matoth itself, but] is deduced because of the [seeming] redundancy of the verse, for it would have been enough for Scripture to say: However, the Land shall be divided by lot according to the names of the tribes [and to omit the concluding phrase … of their fathers they shall inherit]. But since He did mention … of their fathers they shall inherit, the Rabbis interpreted that it is ‘the fathers’ — namely those who are mentioned [as having left] Egypt, [as it says]: These are the heads of their fathers’ houses. It is they who are to inh...
Ibn Ezra
"He shall divide the land" — the meaning is that the land shall be divided among the tribes by lot.
Or HaChaim
לשמות מטות אבותם, according to the names of the tribes of their respective fathers, etc. According to the view of Rabbi Yoshiah this verse merely demolishes the apparent meaning of the word לאלה. It tells us that the word לאלה was not meant to apply to the people counted in the wilderness of Moav but rather meant כאלה, that the people to be given land were to be כאלה like the ones who were counted at the Exodus, i.e. the ones who were twenty and over. Rabbi Yonathan, however, holds that although in the first instance the people who had been counted now were to inherit the land, they in turn would confer rights of inheritance on the people who had participated in the Exodus as has been explained in the Baraitha in the Sifri. The exact wording there is as follows: Assuming one (family) would inherit 1 acre and another (family) of the same בית אב, branch of this tribe, 3 acres by applying the yardstick of the number of 20 year olds in the families at present, then the combined amount would be inherited by the previous generation (the dead) of this family. This inheritance in turn would now be allocated on an equal basis to the younger generation so that both families of the younger generation would receive 2 acres although one family was more numerous than the other at this time. [Our example assumes that there had been only two sons of the family which participated in the Exodus. Ed.] By following this approach the word ינחלו "they will inherit" at the end of verse 35 becomes very relevant as it refers to the people who had now been counted not inheriting now, but only via their fathers. This also explains why the Torah wrote תחלק הארץ, "the land will be divided," instead of writing "they will divide the land." The same consideration also prompted the Torah to write the words תרבה נחלתו in the future tense. Also the expression יותן נחלתו "his inheritance will be given," instead of יקח נחלתו "he will take his inheritance" points to the explanation of Rabbi Yonathan that the generation of the people who left Egypt were the key to the distribution of the land is correct. Our verse teaches then that up until this point the Torah speaks about what Joshua is to do at the time he will make the Israelites inherit the land. From this point on, however, the people who do the inheriting have to consider their share in terms of לשמות מטות אבותם, according to the names of the members of the family groups who had left Egypt.
Chizkuni
אך, nonetheless the aforesaid, Joshua and Calev, did not receive the share of the land according to the criteria mentioned, i.e. through lots, but by a direct command from G-d. אך בגורל יחלק את הארץ, “but the land is to be divided up by the use of lots (lottery)” But before the land would be divided up into 57 parcels by lot naming each tribe’s family heads, it would be divided into 12 sections, one for each tribe excluding the tribe of Levi. These twelve sections would each be given the name of one of the tribes and be tossed into a container with the names of the twelve tribes separately, and the respective parcels of land separately. The person monitoring the lottery would pull out of one section of the container the name of a tribe and out of the other section of that container a slip of parchment with the boundaries of the section allocated to the tribe so named. It would be found miraculously that tribes with larger populations had drawn larger sections of the land to be settled on. He would show both these pieces of parchment to all those assembled, so that it would be clear that no favoritism had occurred. If the land had been divided initially into 57 parcels according to the names of the heads of these 57 families, and only subsequently into 12 sections, different families would find that they were to be located on land belonging to the portion of a different tribe. When Bileam, with his mind’s eye viewed the Jewish people on their land, he described them as וירא את ישראל שוכן לשבטיו, “he envisioned Israel as dwelling in an orderly fashion according to its respective tribes, (Numbers 24,2) something which resulted in his being overcome by holy spirit. We also have a verse in Numbers 36,7 according to which when a female inherited some land before the original division she could not marry out of her tribe so that her husband could not through inheriting her share of the land diminish that tribe’s ancestral part of the land of Israel. לשמות מטות אביתם, “according to the names of the tribes of their fathers.” This appendix is meant to exclude converts and freed slaves from participating in that lottery.
Rabbeinu Bahya
אך בגורל יחלק את הארץ, “however, only by the lot shall the land be (divided) distributed.” The reason the lot had to determine who received what was that the land was not uniformly good. He who drew a lot allocating to him good quality land did not enjoy a financial advantage as he whose lot allocated to him a less fertile piece of land was compensated financially. The distribution of the land proceeded according to the following method. Eleazar (High Priest) wore his priestly garments including the breast plate containing the urim vetumim, and the whole people of Israel stood around him (Baba Batra 122). The pieces of wood inscribed with the names of the various tribes as well as the pieces of wood inscribed with the different sections of the land would be placed in front of Eleazar. He would be inspired with Holy Spirit and announce (example): “the tribe of Zevulun has been assigned section such and such including the town of Acco.” When later on, he would withdraw one piece of wood from the box containing the names of the sections of land and one piece of wood containing the names of the tribes, it would be found that what he withdrew matched what he had previously announced. He would repeat the same procedure with all the other tribes except the tribe of Levi for whom no pieces of wood had been prepared. The elders of the tribe would then proceed to divide up their parcel of the land between the heads of the major families of that tribe, the ראשי בית אב. Any tribe who comprised a large number of such families at the time of the Exodus would receive numerous parcels, whereas the tribe which at that time comprised only a small number of families would receive a relatively larger parcel of land. The distribution would be based on the size and number of the families of males of military age at the time of the Exodus seeing that the Torah writes: לשמות מטות אבותם ינחלו, that they “will inherit according to the names of their fathers’ tribes they shall inherit.” This includes the adults who left Egypt and excludes proselytes.
Tur HaArokh
לשמות מטות אבותם ינחלו, “according to the names of their fathers’ tribes shall they inherit.”
According to the lot shall their inheritance be divided between the more and the fewer."
verse value 1879
Insights
Verse structure: 7 words, 27 letters. The shortest word is "larger" (רַ֖ב, 2 letters) and the longest is "the·lot" (הַגּוֹרָ֔ל, 5 letters). 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "or·smaller" (לִמְעָֽט). 7 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "by" (root פה, 49x in Numbers); "his·portion" (root נחלה, 39x in Numbers); "between" (root בין, 22x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'his·portion', dividing the verse into phrases of 4 and 3 words. Full calculation: עַל־פִּי֙ [by] (190) + הַגּוֹרָ֔ל [the·lot] (244) + תֵּחָלֵ֖ק [shall·be·assigned] (538) + נַחֲלָת֑וֹ [his·portion] (494) + בֵּ֥ין [between] (62) + רַ֖ב [larger] (202) + לִמְעָֽט [or·smaller] (149) = 1879.
Onkelos
According to the lot shall their inheritance be divided between the many and the few."
Rashi
על פי הגורל ACCORDING TO (more lit., by the mouth of) THE LOT [SHALL THE POSSESSION BE DIVIDED] — The lot itself spoke as I have already explained; this tells us that the division took place by the Holy Spirit (Midrash Tanchuma, Pinchas 6).
Ibn Ezra
"According to the lot shall its inheritance be divided between the larger and the smaller" — [that is,] among those counted.
Sforno
על פי הגורל תחלק נחלתו, when it came to the actual distribution of the land, the result of the lottery confirmed what Joshua had announced as the fair share for each tribe. It was found that the tribes who numbered more people did indeed receive parcels that were larger than those who numbered fewer people.
Or HaChaim
בין רב למעט, be they numerous or few. We have already referred to the discussion in Baba Batra 122 about how the division was to proceed, if according to the number of individuals or according to the number of tribes, and we have mentioned that in the future the land would be divided between 13 tribes. In addition to that the Talmud stated that the key to the division was the monetary value of a piece of land, not just its size. Rabbi Yehudah adds that the amount of land needed to grow a bushel of wheat in the tribal area of Yehudah was one fifth of the amount of land needed to produce the same amount of wheat in the Galil. Rashbam comments on the words בין רב למעט that every tribe had to accept the piece of land allocated in the general הגרלה, lottery, regardless of whether they thought they ought to have received a larger share due to the number of men over 20 in that tribe, as all the tribes received equal shares. The difficulty with this approach is that there is no need to accept such a simplistic view based on the text seeing we have a Baraitha according to which the words בין רב למעט are understood to refer to the relative distance from Jerusalem of the various parcels of land allocated to the tribes, i.e. that land close to Jerusalem was considered worth more than land which was a long way from Jerusalem. According to the Baraitha the word רב would refer to land close to Jerusalem being worth more. In addition, an examination of the text by the Talmud leads us to conclude that the Talmud is self-contradictory. At the outset the Talmud understands the words to mean that the lottery had to be accepted and there was no compensation for the apparent injustice if a tribe with a large population had drawn a smaller parcel of land in the lottery. The parcels of land were equal in size. In the course of the Talmud's discussion, when it emerges that the words בין רב למעט refer to the distance of the land from Jerusalem, it is clear that the principle of each tribe inheriting equally was not accepted, and would be rectified in the distribution of the land in the future when 12 equal shares would go to the 12 tribes and the ruler would receive the thirteenth share. How could the same words in our verse be used to support both theories? Furthermore, once we accept the principle that the land was divided into 12 equal shares to the 12 tribes, the argument between Rabbi Yoshiah and Rabbi Yonathan would apply to each tribe as the numbers varied between the first count and the census in our portion. If all this were correct, why does the Talmud in Baba Batra 118 raise the problem of the complaints of the tribe of Joseph in Joshua 17,14? If the land had been divided according to the present number of men over 20 why would the tribe of Joseph complain? They received an allocation in accordance with their number. Their complaint would only make sense if their allocation was based on the number of men they had at the time of the Exodus; if the land was di...
Chizkuni
על פי הגורל, “according to the lot, etc.” i.e. after the 12 boundaries of the tribal territories had become known. תחלק נחלתו, “shall each family’ share of inherited land be determined in accordance with the number of families in each tribe, i.e. four for the tribe of Reuven, and five for the tribe of Shimon, etc.” בין רב למעט, “between the more numerous ones and the less numerous ones.” How did this work out in practice? Four sections of land were accorded to the four families of Reuven, two of whom were large families and two of whom were relatively small families. The large family had to divide up their parcel into three shares according to the parchments used in the lottery two shares of ancestral land went to the two larger families, the third section being redivided and distributed to the two families who had fewer members. A pattern of distribution using the lottery was used throughout. All the families of the 12 tribes received their shares through having participated in a lottery. בין רב למעט, the letter ל in the word למעט has a dot under it, making the vowel chirik.
Rabbeinu Bahya
על פי הגורל תחלק נחלתו , “each portion shall be assigned by lot.” Our verse expresses what is stated in Proverbs 18,18: “the lot puts an end to strife, it separates between the mighty.” Solomon comes out in favor of determining distribution of properties, etc., with multiple claimants by lottery as it prevents strife and bad feeling. it is a cause for preventing coveting something belonging to others. If we assume that the other person has gained his property through the casting of lots no one can begrudge it claiming unfairness by human authority. Solomon illustrates this further in Proverbs 16,33: “a lot is cast into the lap, but one’s judgment depends on G’d.”
Tur HaArokh
בין רב למעט, “between the numerous and the few.” All tribes received equal amounts of land regardless of how numerous they were. If so, what was the meaning of the words לרב תרבה נחלתו וגו', “to the numerous you shall increase his inheritance?” (Verse 54) We must understand this as the internal division of the land within each tribal territory. Families that had many children received larger plots than families who had only few children. Alternately, the internal division was not based on the numbers in each family at this time, but on the numbers in each family at the time of the Exodus. In other words; if a family consisted of a father and ten sons at the time of the Exodus, but that family had by now shrunk to half its original size, the family was still allocated the amount of land based on the family’s original size. This was how the words לרב תרבו נחלתו were applied. On the other hand, if a family at the time of the Exodus had only five sons, and in the interval there were 10 sons, all of them had to share an inheritance based on five sons. This is the meaning of למעט תמעיט נחלתו. The approach to the whole paragraph then would be that the land would be distributed based on families mentioned in the Torah by name. This is why the Torah wrote במספר שמות, “according to the number of names.” In other words, the distribution was based on a head count, but not on a head count of the number of souls, but on a headcount based on people whom the Torah singled out by name. The lot mentioned was used only to determine which named tribe would receive which named share of land, the shares being equal in size, though, of course not equal in value. The reason why the matter of the גורל is repeated once more in verse 56 is to tell us that even within the tribe the plots of land were distributed by lottery, so as to minimize friction and jealousy.
And these are they that were numbered of the Levites after their families: of Gershon, the family of the Gershonites; of Kohath, the family of the Kohathites; of Merari, the family of the Merarites.
verse value 6822
Insights
Verse structure: 13 words, 66 letters. Verse gematria: 6822 is divisible by 18, the value of chai ('life'). The shortest word is "and·these" (וְאֵ֨לֶּה, 4 letters) and the longest is "by·their·clans" (לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם֒, 7 letters). Words sharing gematria 828: clan, clan, clan. 2 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "of·Kohath" (לִקְהָ֕ת), "the·Merarites" (הַמְּרָרִֽי). The root משפחת appears 3 times in this verse. 10 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "enrollment·of" (root פקד, 103x in Numbers); "by·their·clans" (root משפחה, 81x in Numbers); "clan" (root משפחת, 77x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·Kohathites', dividing the verse into phrases of 10 and 3 words. Full calculation: וְאֵ֨לֶּה [and·these] (42) + פְקוּדֵ֣י [enrollment·of] (200) + הַלֵּוִי֮ [the·Levite] (51) + לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם֒ [by·their·clans] (898) + לְגֵרְשׁ֗וֹן [of·Gershon] (589) + מִשְׁפַּ֙חַת֙ [clan] (828) + הַגֵּ֣רְשֻׁנִּ֔י [the·Gershonites] (568) + לִקְהָ֕ת [of·Kohath] (535) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan] (828) + הַקְּהָתִ֑י [the·Kohathites] (520) + לִמְרָרִ֕י [of·Merari] (480) + מִשְׁפַּ֖חַת [clan] (828) + הַמְּרָרִֽי [the·Merarites] (455) = 6822.
Onkelos
And these are the counted numbers of the Levites according to their clans: of Gershon — the clan of Gershon; of Kohath — the clan of Kohath; of Merari — the clan of Merari.
Ramban
AND THESE ARE THEY THAT WERE NUMBERED OF THE LEVITES. I do not know why He [commanded] that the Levites should be counted [here], and what purpose [is served] now by counting them [since they did not receive any portion in the Land]. Perhaps [they were counted because] it was only to these [Levites] that they gave the [forty-eight] cities to dwell in and their open land for their cattle, and not to those who were born afterwards. Or [it may be that this census] was done as an expression of honor for them before G-d, so that “the legion of the King” should not be treated as less important [than the other people], by not bothering to count them like the rest of the people. Scripture mentions Amram and his wife [Jochebed, with the children she bore — Aaron, Moses and Miriam their sister, although it does not do so in connection with any other Levite families], because the sons of [that] Levite [Amram] were counted as two [groups], as priests and as Levites, and it was fitting that Aaron and his sons [who were originally Levites but later on became priests] should be counted separately [therefore Scripture mentions especially the names of the parents and of their children].
Ibn Ezra
"To Gershon" — [Scripture] begins with the firstborn and mentions his son, who is Libni, but does not mention Shimei — possibly because he had no sons, or he had sons but they died without sons. After that it mentions the Hebronite, who is a son of Kohath, but does not mention Uzziel. Then it mentions the sons of Merari, then returns to mention the sons of Izhar, and after them the sons of Amram — these are mentioned last because [Scripture] will explain what befell the sons of Amram's sons.
Chizkuni
ואלה פקודי הלוי, “and these were they that were numbered among the Levites;” the purpose of that count was to apportion the 48 towns in which the Levites were to make their homes, fairly. This is spelled out in greater detail in the portion of Massey
Rabbeinu Bahya
ואלה פקודי הלוי למשפחותם לגרשון, “and these are the enrollments of the Levites according to their clans. Of Gershon, etc.” The Torah first mentions the oldest of Levi’s sons followed by Livni, Levis’s grandson but omitting Shimi (Exodus 6,17) as he had no sons, or they died during his life time leaving no male offspring (Ibn Ezra).
Tur HaArokh
ואלה פקודי הלוי, “And these are the numbered ones of the tribe of Levi.” Nachmanides writes that he does not know why the census of the Levites is introduced at this juncture. He suggests that perhaps it is because the ones numbered now are the ones to whom each of the tribes had to cede some portion of their land in order to have the 48 cities populated by the Levites who had no land holdings other than the strip of greenbelt surrounding their respective towns. The size of those towns would be based on Levites already alive at this time, those born later would not be able to establish additional such towns or to increase the size allotted to the town in which their parents lived. It is also possible that the Torah inserted this paragraph at this time in honour of these Levites, as otherwise it would appear to the reader that the Kings’ (G’d’s) legion, i.e. the Levites, were treated less respectfully than the commoners. Amram and his wife Yocheved were mentioned by name separately, as the tribe of Levi was basically divided into the plain Levites and the descendants of Aaron who were priests. Nachmanides writes further that he is wondering why the Torah first enumerates the families of Levi by counting three separate family heads of the Levites, i.e. Gershon, Kehat and Merari, and then proceeds to also enumerate the next generation when repeating details of their offspring describing them as משפחות, families, [with their appropriate heads, Ed.] although in the case of Merari there were only two sons, Machli and Mushi, how could the Torah speak of משפחת המררי? (Compare Numbers 3,20) The reason the Torah does not speak of Amram’s family, i.e. משפחת העמרמי, is because this family would be subdivided into Aaron the head of the priests, and the ordinary Levites, be they descended from Gershon, Merari, or Kehat, excluding Aaron son of Amram. The Torah at this juncture does not mention that Aaron was the priest, out of respect for Moses The same holds true for the report of the genealogy of the tribe of Levi in Numbers 3,17, where Aaron’s office as High Priest is not mentioned. [Seeing that Aaron as the priest is listed there in verse 32, this editor does not see the comparison as valid. Ed.] The reason why the family of Yitzhar is described under the heading of Korach, (verse 58) is that originally at the time of the first census Yitzhor had other sons alive, i.e. Zichri and Nefog, and both of these sons had their own sons by now. By the time of the present census the only surviving sons of Yitzhor were the sons of Korach, concerning whom the Torah had testified that they did not die in the uprising. (26,11) As a result, the family of Yitzhar henceforth was known as the descendants of Korach. I do not believe (Nachmanides writing) there was a valid reason why Yitzhar’s name should be expunged among his descendants; however they did this after the revolt of Korach in honour of Korach’s sons who had had the courage to defy their father and to remain loyal to both G’d and Moses, an example for future generations, as testified by the Torah itself. In the Midrash of Rabbi Moshe Hadarshon on the meaning of the words כי אתם המעט, in Deut 7,7 where the letter ה at the beginning of the word "המעט" is understood as a hint at the five of the 70 families that founded the Jewish people and with whom Yaakov descended to Egypt as having died out, this is not correct. He claims that whereas Levi had originally 8 sons, (families) here only five are mentioned. Three of those so-called original eight were only belonging to a different generation, Gershon, Kehat, and Merari. I also do not follow why in lieu of Yitzhar, all his descendants should not describe themselves as descended from Korach. On the contrary, we have a principle that the names of wicked people should rot, and Korach most certainly was such a wicked person. Why should his name be commemorated for all time? (The last paragraph is not part of Nachmanides’ commentary on this verse.)
These are the families of Levi: the family of the Libnites, the family of the Hebronites, the family of the Mahlites, the family of the Mushites, the family of the Korahites. And Kohath fathered Amram.
verse value 7506 — אֵ֣לֶּה = 36 (double-Chai)
Insights
Verse structure: 16 words, 76 letters. Notable word values: "these" (אֵ֣לֶּה) = 36, double chai. Verse gematria: 7506 is divisible by 18, the value of chai ('life'). The shortest word is "these" (אֵ֣לֶּה, 3 letters) and the longest is "the·Hebronites" (הַֽחֶבְרֹנִי֙, 6 letters). Words sharing gematria 828: clans·of, clan, clan, clan, clan, clan. 3 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "the·Korahites" (הַקׇּרְחִ֑י), "begot" (הוֹלִ֥ד), "Amram" (אֶת־עַמְרָֽם). The root משפחת appears 5 times in this verse. 12 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "clans·of" (root משפחה, 81x in Numbers); "clan" (root משפחת, 77x in Numbers); "these" (root אלה, 76x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·Korahites', dividing the verse into phrases of 13 and 3 words.
Onkelos
These are the clans of Levi: the clan of Libni, the clan of Hebron, the clan of Mahli, the clan of Mushi, the clan of Korah; and Kohath begot Amram.
Rashi
אלה משפחת לוי THESE ARE THE FAMILIES OF LEVI — there are missing here the families of Shimei and Uzziel and part of that of Jizhar (cf. Exodus 6:16 ff. and Rashi on v. 13).
Ramban
Now Rashi commented: “And these are they that were numbered of the Levites. The families of the Shimeites and the Uzzielites and part of the Itzharites, namely Nepheg and Zichri, are missing here.” And I [further] wonder! Why did Scripture count here in [Verse 57, speaking of] the Levites, the families of the three ancestors [Gershon, Kohath, and Merari — the three sons of the Levites mentioned above, 3:17], and then again count [in Verse 58] the families of their sons [mentioning amongst them: the family of the Machlites, the family of the Mushites, who were both sons of Merari], since Merari had no other children except Machli and Mushi, and for what then is the family of the Merarites [mentioned here in Verse 57, seeing that both his children, Machli and Mushi, are counted in Verse 58 as separate families], and there were no other [children of Merari] apart from them! But [we must say that Scripture mentioned each of the three families of the three sons of Levi here in Verse 57] as [a sign of] honor, since all three sons of Levi were great men in Israel, and their memories were a blessing. Therefore all the descendants of Gershon [the first son of Levi] were called the family of the Gershonites in his honor, and similarly all the children of Merari [his third son] were called the family of the Merarites in his honor [as mentioned here in Verse 57]. And afterwards they appointed for themselves paternal families, and became divided up into [smaller] families as did the other tribes, and were called by particular names, [such as] the family of the Machlites and the family of the Mushites [in Verse 58]. Similarly in the case of Kohath [the second son of Levi] all his children were included in [the term] the family of the Kohathites [in Verse 57], and continued to divide themselves up further into [smaller] families of [his] children — the family of the Hebronites, and the family of the Korachites [in Verse 58]. And Scripture did not mention here [in Verse 58] “the family of the Amramites,” because it was divided up into priests and Levites, and it mentioned their [individual] names [Aaron and Moses — in Verse 59] in [their] honor. However, it did not mention [in that verse Aaron’s] priesthood, because of the honor of Moses [i.e., since Moses was not the High Priest, but remained a Levite, Scripture in his honor did not want here to emphasize that Aaron was “the priest”]. Similarly you will see in the first census [taken in the second year after the exodus] when counting [the Levites], that Scripture states, And these were the sons of Levi, by their names: Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari, [stating all their names] because of their individual distinction, for in [the case of] the other tribes it does not mention them in this way [i.e., it does not mention any individual names].And the reason [why Scripture mentions in Verse 58] the family of the Korachites [and does not mention ‘the family of the Itzharites,’ which would have included the other t...
Ibn Ezra
"The Korahite" — these are the sons of Korah. [Scripture] mentions the name of Jochebed on account of the honor of her children, yet does not mention the name of her mother, following the way of brevity — and similarly [the mother of] Asriel whom she bore [is not mentioned].
And the name of Amram's wife was Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt; and she bore to Amram Aaron and Moses, and Miriam their sister.
verse value 6676
Insights
Verse structure: 16 words, 72 letters. The shortest word is "and·the·name" (וְשֵׁ֣ם, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·Miriam" (וְאֵ֖ת מִרְיָ֥ם, 7 letters). 9 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "wife·of" (אֵ֣שֶׁת), "Jochebed" (יוֹכֶ֙בֶד֙), "daughter·of·Levi" (בַּת־לֵוִ֔י). The root עמרם appears 2 times in this verse. 14 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "who" (root אשר, 223x in Numbers); "and·Moses" (root משה, 217x in Numbers); "Aaron" (root אהרן, 83x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'in·Egypt', dividing the verse into phrases of 10 and 6 words.
Onkelos
And the name of Amram's wife was Jochebed, daughter of Levi, whom she bore to Levi in Egypt; and she bore to Amram: Aaron, and Moses, and Miriam their sister.
Rashi
אשר ילדה אתה ללוי במצרים WHOM HER MOTHER BORE TO LEVI IN EGYPT — she was born in Egypt but was not conceived in Egypt; when they came “between the walls” (within the confines of Egypt), she gave birth to her, and she (Jochebed) made up the number of seventy; because in the enumeration of them (Genesis 46:8—27) you will find only sixty-nine (Numbers Rabbah 13:20; cf. Rashi Genesis 46:15).
Ramban
[JOCHEBED, THE DAUGHTER OF LEVI], WHO WAS BORN TO LEVI IN EGYPT. The meaning of this according to the simple sense of Scripture is [to point out] that because all the [other] sons of Jacob went down to Egypt with their sons and daughters, and none of them bore children there afterwards, except for Levi who begot this joyful mother of children; for G-d delayed her birth [since He wanted to redeem Israel through her children], and the time of the redemption had not yet come, as I have already explained.
Tur HaArokh
אשר ילדה אותה ללוי במצרים, “whom she bore (Levi’s wife) Levi in Egypt.” Nachmanides writes that according to the plain meaning that all of Yaakov’s children with all their respective children arrived with him in Egypt, so that after that no more children were born to Levi after Yocheved, we must assume that Yocheved was deliberately born at such a late date. [Nachmanides already explained that Moses had to be born late in terms of the date G’d had set for the redemption, as if he had been born earlier G’d’s timetable for the Exodus would have been upset. Compare Nachmanides on Genesis Ed.]
Daat Zkenim
אשר ילדה אותה ללוי, “which she had born for Levi.” For this was the name of Levi’s wife.
And to Aaron were born Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.
verse value 2998
Insights
Verse structure: 6 words, 39 letters. The shortest word is "and·there·was·born" (וַיִּוָּלֵ֣ד, 5 letters) and the longest is "and·Abihu" (וְאֶת־אֲבִיה֑וּא, 9 letters). 4 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "and·there·was·born" (וַיִּוָּלֵ֣ד), "Nadab" (אֶת־נָדָ֖ב), "and·Abihu" (וְאֶת־אֲבִיה֑וּא). 6 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "to·Aaron" (root אהרן, 83x in Numbers); "Eleazar" (root אלעזר, 28x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'and·Abihu', dividing the verse into phrases of 4 and 2 words. Full calculation: וַיִּוָּלֵ֣ד [and·there·was·born] (56) + לְאַהֲרֹ֔ן [to·Aaron] (286) + אֶת־נָדָ֖ב [Nadab] (457) + וְאֶת־אֲבִיה֑וּא [and·Abihu] (432) + אֶת־אֶלְעָזָ֖ר [Eleazar] (709) + וְאֶת־אִיתָמָֽר [and·Ithamar] (1058) = 2998.
Onkelos
And there were born to Aaron: Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
And Nadab and Abihu died, when they brought near strange fire before Hashem.
verse value 1611 — יְהֹוָֽה = 26 (Hashem)
Insights
Verse structure: 7 words, 34 letters. Notable word values: "Hashem" (יְהֹוָֽה) = 26, the value of the divine name Hashem. The shortest word is "Nadab" (נָדָ֖ב, 3 letters) and the longest is "and·Abihu" (וַאֲבִיה֑וּא, 7 letters). 2 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "when·they·offered" (בְּהַקְרִיבָ֥ם), "alien·fire" (אֵשׁ־זָרָ֖ה). 7 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "Hashem" (root יהוה, 389x in Numbers); "before" (root פנים, 119x in Numbers); "and·he·died" (root מות, 87x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'and·Abihu', dividing the verse into phrases of 3 and 4 words. Full calculation: וַיָּ֥מׇת [and·he·died] (456) + נָדָ֖ב [Nadab] (56) + וַאֲבִיה֑וּא [and·Abihu] (31) + בְּהַקְרִיבָ֥ם [when·they·offered] (359) + אֵשׁ־זָרָ֖ה [alien·fire] (513) + לִפְנֵ֥י [before] (170) + יְהֹוָֽה [Hashem] (26) = 1611.
Onkelos
And Nadab and Abihu died when they brought near strange fire before Hashem.
And they that were numbered of them were twenty and three thousand, every male from a month old and upward; for they were not numbered among the children of Israel, because there was no inheritance given them among the children of Israel.
verse value 5927
Insights
Verse structure: 21 words, 88 letters. The shortest word is "since" (כִּ֣י, 2 letters) and the longest is "their·enrollment" (פְקֻדֵיהֶ֗ם, 6 letters). Words sharing gematria 541: Israel, Israel. 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "not·was·assigned" (לֹא־נִתַּ֤ן). The root פקד appears 2 times in this verse. 16 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "sons·of" (root בן, 499x in Numbers); "Israel" (root ישראל, 183x in Numbers); "and·they·were" (root היה, 180x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'and·up', dividing the verse into phrases of 8 and 13 words.
Onkelos
And their counted number was twenty-three thousand, every male from one month of age and upward; for they were not counted among the children of Israel, because no inheritance was given to them among the children of Israel.
Rashi
כי לא התפקדו בתוך בני ישראל FOR THEY WERE NOT NUMBERED AMONGST THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, that they should also be numbered from twenty years old and upwards. What was the reason that they were not numbered from twenty years old? כי לא נתן להם נחלה BECAUSE NO INHERITANCE WAS TO BE GIVEN THEM, while those who were counted from twenty years old were persons who were recipients of an inheritance, as it is said, (v. 54) “to everyone shall his inheritance be given according to those that were numbered of them”, (consequently the Levites had to form a different group for the census).
Ibn Ezra
"And their count was" — the count of the Levites in this census increased by seven hundred. This is remarkable, for only seven hundred were added to them; yet for Israel, those who died were only those twenty years and older, and their total in the second census was close to that of the first. For the Levites were not included with the count of Israel — the proof being Elazar the priest.
Chizkuni
שלשה ועשרים אלף, “twenty three thousand.” According to Bamidbar Rabbah 5,1 the Levites who carried the Holy Ark suffered losses in their numbers due to flashes of lightning emanating from that Ark from time to time.[This editor presumes that what is implied it is that not all the Levites all the time when engaged in that task had their minds on their holy task as they should have had. Or, seeing that the Levites had been counted not from the age of 20, but from the age of only one month, a number might have succumbed to sickness before they were strong enough. The number of adult Israelites involved in the census had hardly changed.
Rabbeinu Bahya
ויהיו פקודיהם שלשה ועשרים אלף כל זכר מבן חדש ומעלה, “and the number of enrolled ones comprising all those from one month and up was 23,000.” I have explained on Numbers 4,49 why the Levites were counted from one month and up.
These are they that were numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who numbered the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.
verse value 3981 — אֵ֚לֶּה = 36 (double-Chai)
Insights
Verse structure: 14 words, 57 letters. Notable word values: "these" (אֵ֚לֶּה) = 36, double chai. The shortest word is "at" (עַ֖ל, 2 letters) and the longest is "and·Eleazar" (וְאֶלְעָזָ֖ר, 6 letters). The root פקד appears 2 times in this verse. 13 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "the·sons·of" (root בן, 499x in Numbers); "who" (root אשר, 223x in Numbers); "Moses" (root משה, 217x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·priest', dividing the verse into phrases of 5 and 9 words. Full calculation: אֵ֚לֶּה [these] (36) + פְּקוּדֵ֣י [the·ones·enrolled·by] (200) + מֹשֶׁ֔ה [Moses] (345) + וְאֶלְעָזָ֖ר [and·Eleazar] (314) + הַכֹּהֵ֑ן [the·priest] (80) + אֲשֶׁ֨ר [who] (501) + פָּֽקְד֜וּ [registered] (190) + אֶת־בְּנֵ֤י [the·sons·of] (463) + יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ [Israel] (541) + בְּעַֽרְבֹ֣ת [on·the·steppes·of] (674) + מוֹאָ֔ב [Moab] (49) + עַ֖ל [at] (100) + יַרְדֵּ֥ן [the·Jordan] (264) + יְרֵחֽוֹ [Jericho] (224) = 3981.
Onkelos
These are the ones counted by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who counted the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan of Jericho.
Ramban
THESE ARE THEY THAT WERE NUMBERED BY MOSES AND ELEAZAR. [This phrase refers] to they that were numbered of the children of Israel [mentioned further on in this verse], but does not refer to they that were numbered of the Levites [Verse 57], because of them it could not be said [as is said in the following verse]: But among them there was not a man [of them that were numbered by Moses and Aaron the priest in the wilderness of Sinai], since that decree [that they must perish in the wilderness] did not apply to the tribe of Levi, as our Rabbis have said. And a proof [of this is] Eleazar, and also Phinehas [who were born in Egypt and yet are both mentioned here, and came into the Land].
Tur HaArokh
אלה פקודי משה ואלעזר, “These are the ones counted by Moses and Eleazar.” The Torah now reverted to the Israelites that had been counted, not the Levites, for among the former the wording of “none of the ones counted here were included in the men counted by Moses and Aaron.” The reason is that the decree that the males over 20 that had been counted in the desert of Sinai had to die in the desert had not applied to the Levites. The Torah had stated that of the earlier generation only Calev and Joshua had been exempt. If the Levites had been included in the decree, how come that Pinchas and Eleazar had survived?
But among these there was not a man of them that were numbered by Moses and Aaron the priest, who numbered the children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai.
verse value 3406
Insights
Verse structure: 13 words, 57 letters. Verse gematria: 3406 is divisible by 26, the value of the divine name Hashem. The shortest word is "one" (אִ֔ישׁ, 3 letters) and the longest is "of·those·enrolled·by" (מִפְּקוּדֵ֣י, 6 letters). 2 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "and·among·these" (וּבְאֵ֙לֶּה֙), "of·those·enrolled·by" (מִפְּקוּדֵ֣י). The root פקד appears 2 times in this verse. 12 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "the·sons·of" (root בן, 499x in Numbers); "when" (root אשר, 223x in Numbers); "Moses" (root משה, 217x in Numbers). The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'the·priest', dividing the verse into phrases of 7 and 6 words. Full calculation: וּבְאֵ֙לֶּה֙ [and·among·these] (44) + לֹא־הָ֣יָה [there·was·not] (51) + אִ֔ישׁ [one] (311) + מִפְּקוּדֵ֣י [of·those·enrolled·by] (240) + מֹשֶׁ֔ה [Moses] (345) + וְאַהֲרֹ֖ן [and·Aaron] (262) + הַכֹּהֵ֑ן [the·priest] (80) + אֲשֶׁ֥ר [when] (501) + פָּקְד֛וּ [recorded] (190) + אֶת־בְּנֵ֥י [the·sons·of] (463) + יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל [Israel] (541) + בְּמִדְבַּ֥ר [in·the·wilderness·of] (248) + סִינָֽי [Sinai] (130) = 3406.
Onkelos
And among these there was not a single man from those counted by Moses and Aaron the priest, who had counted the children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai.
Rashi
ובאלה לא היה איש וגו׳ BUT AMONG THESE THERE WAS NO MAN [OF THEM WHOM MOSES AND AARON NUMBERED] — no man; but the decree consequent upon the incident of the spies had not been enacted upon the women, because they held the Promised Land dear. The men had said, (Numbers 14:4) “Let us appoint a chief and return to Egypt”, while the women said, (Numbers 27:4) “Give us a possession in the Land”. On this account, too, the chapter regarding the daughters of Zelophehad follows immediately here (Sifrei Bamidbar 133:1).
Ramban
BUT AMONG THESE THERE WAS NOT A MAN OF THEM THAT WERE NUMBERED BY MOSES AND AARON THE PRIEST. For Joshua and Caleb [who were amongst those who were numbered at the first census] were not [included] now in this census, because they were over sixty years old, and the census was only of [people] aged between twenty and sixty, which [years] are the principal ones of a man’s life, similar to that which is stated in [the law of] Valuations, and it is then [in those years] that he goes forth to war in Israel, and not after the age of sixty, as our Rabbis have said. But when Scripture says [in the following verse], And there was not left a man ‘of them,’ save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun [the words “of them” do not refer to those who were numbered now in the wilderness of Sinai, but to] them that were numbered at the first [census] and did not die [in the wilderness, since Caleb and Joshua, being over sixty years old, were not numbered now in this second census].
Ibn Ezra
"And among these there was not a man" — this verse reverts to the census of Israel [the non-Levite tribes].
Kli Yakar
And among these there was not a man [counted by Moses and Aaron the priest when they recorded the Israelites in the wilderness of Sinai]. But women were present because the decree of the spies was only on the men, since the men hated the land and were saying Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt (Numbers 14:4). But the women cherished the land, as the daughters of Zelophehad said, Give us a possession. I will provide two reasons for this matter: There are lands that produce modest people, and there are lands that produce adulterers. And our Sages said that Shittim was a place that produced adulterers, and therefore they engaged in harlotry in Shittim because living in that place caused them to commit harlotry. And the Land of Israel is uniquely suited in this way, as the land does not tolerate immorality, as it is written in the section on forbidden relationships: For all these abominations were done by the men of the land… and the land vomited out its inhabitants (Leviticus 18:25-27). We have already written above that the men were promiscuous in sexual matters, and therefore they hated the land. But the women were virtuous and modest, and Shelomit the daughter of Dibri proves this, as the Scripture publicized her [as the only one who was immoral]. Therefore, they cherished the land that produces modest people. And know that this is so, for even Shittim, which produces adulterers, will receive healing from the Holy Land, as it is said: And a spring shall come forth from the house of the Lord and shall water the valley of Shittim (Joel 4:18). And for this reason, And among these there was not a man is written specifically near the census, to tell you that women were present, because in this count the modesty of women is hinted at more than in men, since the letter hei precedes the letter yud as explained above. The second reason is, because it is known that there is a difference between the Land of Israel and other lands, as in the Land of Israel rain is more abundant than in the land of Egypt or other lands. Now in the land of Egypt, since rain is not common there, the farmers need to water the grain fields with their feet, just as they water vegetable gardens. And since they have such great toil in the fields, the Torah exempted them from terumot and ma’asrot [tithes], because justice does not dictate that one should give a portion to someone who did not labor for it. But in the Land of Israel, where rain falls in its season and the field owner does not have such great toil in watering the fields, even though he has the labor of sowing and plowing and other field work, nevertheless, the Holy One, Blessed be He, also has a share in the field because He gives rain in its season. Therefore, it is just that they should give from the Most High’s portion to the priests and Levites, the servants of our God, for they are acquiring [it] from the table of the Most High. And this matter is explained very well, in Parashat Ekev (11:10–12) where it says: For the land which you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, where you would sow your seed and water it by foot like a vegetable garden. Rather, the land which you are entering to possess drinks water from the rain of the heavens. It is a land which the Lord your God seeks out, etc. And the Yalkut in Parashat Ekev (860) concludes that specifically this land [Israel] is given for “seeking” — to separate from it challah, terumah, and tithes, but not other lands. Anyone with eyes to see and a heart to understand would be astonished at this sight — what do challah and terumah have to do with this context? And what suggests that the word it [referring to the Land of Israel] comes to exclude other lands from terumah and tithes? And why is this exclusion written here? Rather, certainly the intent was to give a reason why the Land of Israel is obligated in challah, terumah, and tithes more than other lands. The explanation is that in other lands, all the toil is yours — even a field of grain you must water by foot like a vegetable garden; therefore, the Torah exempts you from terumah and tithes. But the land which you are entering to possess drinks water from the rain of the heavens, and thus half the labor is yours and half is from Above. Therefore, it is just that you should give a portion to the Above through those who minister to our God. And for this reason the men hated the Land, because they were hardened of heart, far from righteousness, and had no desire or will to go from a place of exemption to a place of obligation. They openly said, We remember the fish that we ate in Egypt for free (Numbers 11:5), and the Sifrei interprets free as “free from commandments.” The explanation is that they were eating without [separating] tithes and offerings, and for this reason they mentioned the cucumbers and the melons, etc. because all these are exempt from tithing outside the Land [of Israel] even rabbinically, while in the Land of Israel they are obligated rabbinically. This is because all these are garden vegetables that require watering by foot even in the Land of Israel, as they need abundant water. The language of the verse proves this, as it states, and watered it with your foot, like a vegetable garden (Deuteronomy 11:10). This teaches that a vegetable garden plainly requires watering everywhere, therefore even in the Land of Israel they are exempt from tithing by Torah law, but the Rabbis obligated them since abundant water is available there, but not outside the Land where abundant water is not available. And from the fact that they said “free from commandments,” we learn that they were stingy toward the priests of God, and therefore they hated the Land, the place of obligation. But the women of that generation were righteous and loved charity, both the mitzvah of challah which is specifically for women and depends on the land, and other terumot and ma’asrot. Therefore, they loved the land and desired to go to the place of obligation. Since typically a woman does not have authority over her husband’s possessions, they desired to go to a place where their husbands would be obligated to give. This is what our Sages meant when they said (Sotah 11b): “In the merit of the righteous women of that generation, our forefathers were redeemed from Egypt.” This means that in their merit, the people left a place of exemption for a place of obligation, which their souls desired and longed for. Similarly, our Sages said (Bava Batra 119b) about the daughters of Zelophehad that they were righteous, meaning they loved charity, and therefore they said, “Give us a possession.” A strong and good proof for our words is Rashi’s explanation of “to the families of Manasseh son of Joseph” — why is Joseph mentioned? Because he cherished the land, etc., and so did his daughters. You already know that Joseph possessed these two good traits: first, that he was guarded against sexual immorality, his bow remained taut (Genesis 49:24) with Potiphar’s wife; second, that he loved the land because of the charity [obligations], and Joseph loved charity, as he sustained and provided for his father’s entire household. His daughters inherited these two traits, and because of them, they said, Give us a possession. This is what is meant by saying they were righteous — that they married only those who were suitable for them, as the Gemara concludes. The explanation is that they married specifically into the tribe of Joseph, as they also followed their ancestors’ ways in loving charity. They were wise because they were guarded against sexual immorality, the opposite of what is written (Numbers 5:12), If a man’s wife goes astray [tisteh], which is an expression of foolishness [shtut]. And this is a precious reason.
Tur HaArokh
ובאלה לא היה איש מפקודי משה ואהרן, “and among those counted now there had not been a single one who had been counted by Moses and Aaron.” Even though Joshua and Calev were still survivors of the original census, they were not included in the present census as only men between the ages of 20 and 60 were counted, and both Calev and Joshua were far older by then. However, when the Torah states that no man except Joshua and Calev had survived from the original census they had been mentioned because they had been included in the original census.
For Hashem had said of them: "They shall surely die in the wilderness." And there was not left a man of them, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
verse value 3486 — יְהֹוָה֙ = 26 (Hashem)
Insights
Verse structure: 14 words, 61 letters. Notable word values: "Hashem" (יְהֹוָה֙) = 26, the value of the divine name Hashem. The shortest word is "except" (כִּ֚י, 2 letters) and the longest is "and·not·survived" (וְלֹא־נוֹתַ֤ר, 7 letters). 2 words in this verse appear nowhere else in Numbers. Unique to this verse in Numbers (hapax): "for·had·said" (כִּֽי־אָמַ֤ר), "and·not·survived" (וְלֹא־נוֹתַ֤ר). The root מות appears 2 times in this verse. 13 unique roots are used. Frequent roots: "son·of·Nun" (root בן, 499x in Numbers); "Hashem" (root יהוה, 389x in Numbers); "for·had·said" (root אמר, 246x in Numbers). First appearance of the root יתר ("and·not·survived") in Numbers. The etnachta (major mid-verse pause) falls on 'in·the·wilderness', dividing the verse into phrases of 6 and 8 words. Full calculation: כִּֽי־אָמַ֤ר [for·had·said] (271) + יְהֹוָה֙ [Hashem] (26) + לָהֶ֔ם [of·them] (75) + מ֥וֹת [die] (446) + יָמֻ֖תוּ [they·shall·die] (456) + בַּמִּדְבָּ֑ר [in·the·wilderness] (248) + וְלֹא־נוֹתַ֤ר [and·not·survived] (693) + מֵהֶם֙ [of·them] (85) + אִ֔ישׁ [one] (311) + כִּ֚י [except] (30) + אִם־כָּלֵ֣ב [Caleb] (93) + בֶּן־יְפֻנֶּ֔ה [son·of·Jephunneh] (197) + וִיהוֹשֻׁ֖עַ [and·Joshua] (397) + בִּן־נֽוּן [son·of·Nun] (158) = 3486.
Onkelos
For Hashem said to them that they would surely die in the wilderness; and not one of them remained, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.
Ibn Ezra
"Except Caleb son of Jephunneh" — [Caleb is mentioned] before Joshua, as Hashem had declared.
Rabbeinu Bahya
כי אם כלב בן יפונה, “except for Calev son of Yefuneh.” The reason the Torah (Hashem) mentioned Calev’s name first is that G’d Himself always mentions his name before that of Joshua (Numbers 13,30) seeing the Torah had reported Calev as being the first one to speak up against the other spies and had displayed more jealousy on behalf of the Lord than had his companion Joshua. Furthermore, G’d had described Calev as עבדי, “My servant,” the highest type of compliment accorded to mortals. Moses, on the other hand, always mentioned Joshua first to indicate that Joshua possessed more wisdom (Ibn Ezra). The words: “for not a one had remained except for Calev and Joshua,” which are almost impossible to understand, have been interpreted by our sages in Tanchuma Pinchas 7 as stressing the word איש; of the men of military age none survived; many women did survive. The verse teaches that the decree that the generation of the Exodus had to die in the desert applied only to men, not to women. Our sages in the above-mentioned Tanchuma state that “the men hated the land of Israel, not the women.” It was the men who had demanded to appoint a leader to take the people back to Egypt (Numbers 14,4). The women, by contrast, (the daughters of Tzelofchod) demanded to be given a share in the Holy Land. [We have pointed out already in Genesis 46,7 that there is a clear inference that Yaakov’s womenfolk did not move to Egypt of their own free volition. The women had always displayed greater fondness of the land of Israel. Ed.]. Seeing the Jewish women were fond of the land of Israel, the Torah wrote the chapter about the claim of the daughters of Tzelofchod at this juncture.
Onkelos
Rashi
Ibn Ezra
Or HaChaim
Chizkuni
Daat Zkenim