Commentary for Numbers 26:1

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).

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.

This is compared to a shepherd … Another interpretation: When they left. Rashi is answering the question: How was the count related to the plague? [He answers] by bringing the parable. However, there is a difficulty according to the other interpretation that Rashi brings: How does this answer Rashi’s question? The answer is that previously it is written “Antagonize the Midianites and kill them…” while in Parshas Matos (31:2) it is written “Take revenge for Bnei Yisroel against the Midianites, afterward, you shall be gathered to your people [i.e. die].” From there one sees that the death of Moshe was related to the war with Midian [which was itself related to the plague], and this was why the count of Yisroel was juxtaposed to the war with Midian. The other interpretation is necessary because according to the first reason there is the difficulty that he should have merely counted those who died in the plague, and then he would have automatically known how many were left. Therefore Rashi brings the second interpretation. However, according to this second interpretation there is the difficulty that in the end, the time for Moshe’s death had not yet come, therefore he also brings the first reason.