Commentary for Numbers 26:2

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).

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)

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.

Their relationship follows the paternal tribe, rather than the maternal. Regarding families [if both parents were from the same tribe] there is no difference between following the father or following the mother, since they were all from the same tribe, even if there were many families in [that] one tribe. However, concerning the tribes there is a difference if the mother was from another tribe [and here he wanted to determine the number of each tribe].

Count the whole community. This count was needed now to inform that although 24,000 had fallen, nevertheless, 600,000 remained, and thus their entry into Eretz Yisroel would be with a complete population.

שאו את ראש כל עדת בני ישראל, “take the sum of allthe 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)

לבית אבותם, “according to their ancestral houses.” Tribal membership was based on the father and not on the mother (Rashi).

Hashem signed His Name י-ה on the names of the tribes specifically at the time of this count because up to now they were never suspected of licentiousness. However, after they sinned with harlotry in Shittim, there was now a place to say that their end demonstrated about their beginnings, and also the Egyptians had control over their wives. Therefore, Scripture states החנוכי, “the Chanochite,” הפלואי, “the Paluite,” in which we see that Hashem signed His Name י-ה on the tribes. This is because the Name י-ה mediates between the words איש (man) and אשה (woman) [י was given to man and ה to woman]. This teaches that all Bnei Yisroel were born from a man and woman who had the Name of Hashem between them. The ה precedes the י [in the names of the tribes] to inform about the righteousness of the women, for the word אשה contains the ה. In truth, the women were more careful about forbidden relations than were the men. The proof is that the Torah publicizes Shlomis bas Divri, which informs that only she was licentious and all the others were modest.