SEV Biblia, Chapter 1:2
Tomad la lista de toda la congregación de los hijos de Israel por sus familias, por las casas de sus padres, con la cuenta de los nombres, todos los varones por sus cabezas.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Numbers 1:2
Verse 2. Take ye the sum, &c.] God, having established the commonwealth of Israel by just and equitable laws, ordained every thing relative to the due performance of his own worship, erected his tabernacle, which was his throne, and the place of his residence among the people, and consecrated his priests who were to minister before him; he now orders his subjects to be mustered, 1. That they might see he had not forgotten his promise to Abraham, but was multiplying his posterity. 2. That they might observe due order in their march toward the promised land. 3. That the tribes and families might be properly distinguished; that all litigations concerning property, inheritance, &c., might, in all future times, be prevented. 4. That the promise concerning the Messiah might be known to have its due accomplishment, when in the fullness of time God should send him from the seed of Abraham through the house of David. And, 5. That they might know their strength for war; for although they should ever consider God as their protector and defense, yet it was necessary that they should be assured of their own fitness, naturally speaking, to cope with any ordinary enemy, or to surmount any common difficulties.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 2. Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel , etc.] Excepting the Levites; nor were any account taken of the mixed multitude that came out of Egypt with the children of Israel, only of them; and this account was taken, partly to observe the fulfilment of the divine promise to Abraham concerning the multiplication of his seed, and partly that it might be observed, that at the end of thirty eight years from hence, when they were numbered again, there were but three left of this large number, their carcasses falling in the wilderness because of their sins; and chiefly, as Aben Ezra observes, this sum was now taken to fix their standards, and for their better and more orderly journeying and encampment; for on the twentieth of this month they set forward on their journey from hence, ( Numbers 10:11,12); the word for the order is in the plural number, take ye, being given both to Moses and Aaron, who were to take the number, and did, ( Numbers 1:3); after their families ; into which their tribes were divided: by the house of their fathers ; for if the mother was of one tribe, and the father of another, the family was according to the tribe of the father, as Jarchi notes, a mother’s family being never called a family, as Aben Ezra observes: with the number of [their] names ; of every particular person, whose name was inserted in a list or register: every male by their poll ; or head f2 ; for none but males were numbered: the Lord’s spiritual Israel are a numbered people, written in the book of life, placed into the hand of Christ, and exactly known by him, even by name; yea, all that belong to him are numbered, and the very airs of their heads, Ver. 3 . From twenty years old and upwards , etc.] All that had entered into their twentieth year, or, as it should rather seem, who were full twenty years of age, and all that were above it without any limitation; though some limit it to fifty, and others to sixty years, when men may be reasonably excused going to war; for to know who were fit for it seems to be a principal design of this order, as follows: all that are able to go forth to war in Israel ; who being about to journey, might expect to meet with enemies, with whom they would be obliged to engage in battle; and therefore it was proper to know their strength, and whom to call out upon occasion: Aben Ezra observes, that the phrase “in Israel” excepts the mixed multitude; those were not of Israel, and so not numbered, and perhaps not to be trusted or depended upon in war; nor were they mustered and marshalled by the standards of the several tribes; in a mystical sense, those numbered may signify the valiant of Israel, the same as the young men in ( 1 John 2:14); (see Song of Solomon 3:7,8); thou and Aaron shall number them by their armies ; each tribe making a considerable army, (see Gill on “ Exodus 7:4”); these people were now typical of the church of God in its militant state in the wilderness, for which they are provided, and prepared, and accoutred.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-43 - The people were numbered to show God's faithfulness in thus increasin the seed of Jacob, that they might be the better trained for the war and conquest of Canaan, and to ascertain their families in order to the division of the land. It is said of each tribe, that those wer numbered who were able to go forth to war; they had wars before them though now they met with no opposition. Let the believer be prepared to withstand the enemies of his soul, though all may appear to be peace.
Original Hebrew
שׂאו 5375 את 853 ראשׁ 7218 כל 3605 עדת 5712 בני 1121 ישׂראל 3478 למשׁפחתם 4940 לבית 1004 אבתם 1 במספר 4557 שׁמות 8034 כל 3605 זכר 2145 לגלגלתם׃ 1538
