Don Isaac Abravanel, also spelled Abarbanel (1437-1508) was a probing and penetrating Jewish thinker, as well as a prolific
Biblical commentator. Not surprisingly, Numbers 1 deals with, well, numbers or tallying or counting.
Abravanel also zeroes in on the counters. Who had been entrusted to take the census of the Hebrew
fighters, a head count that reached hundreds of thousands? What lie behind the counting?
“And God spoke unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of
Meeting, on the first day of the second month after they were come out
of the land of Egypt saying. Take you the sum of all the congregation of
Israel, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number
of names, every male individually.”
The Maker placed Moses and Aaron at the head of the mustering enterprise, one that sought a count of
the able-bodied men: “From twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war…you shall
number them…even you and Aaron.” The Torah enlisted tribal chiefs to assist, listing their names (and
father’s names), underpinning the key role they played.
Abravanel, furthermore, gets to the bottom of the rationales behind the troop tallying. Clues, he writes,
are found by analyzing the three identifying descriptions of the chieftains: “These were the elect of the
congregation, the princes of the tribes of their fathers. They were the heads of the thousands of Israel.”
- “The elect of the congregation” answers the question: why did God choose twelve men to stand
by Moses’ side at the time of numbering? Plainly, they had been men who took charge of all
prior important encampment activities. Certainly, counting rates as an important task. - “The princes of the tribes of their fathers” places an accent on the future, but imminent, land
division. Specifically, the Land of Israel was to be parceled out to those men who had been
redeemed from Egyptian bondage. The more populous tribe, the greater territorial size. - “They were the heads of the thousands of Israel” took into account the upcoming wars to
liberate Canaan. War drums were beating and generals needed to know how many warriors
would be taking part in the campaign to free the Holy Land.
When it comes to the job of mustering Hebrews per our chapter, Abravanel gets practical. Bible
students should not think that the gimongous undertaking occurred in a single day, with Moses and
Aaron drudgingly counting away. That would be mission impossible. Rather, “on the first day of the
second month” the Creator commanded His prophet to prepare the camp for a census. Posthaste,
Moses recruited twelve reliable and capable leaders to get the job done in a professional manner.
