Musar for Numbers 2:32
אֵ֛לֶּה פְּקוּדֵ֥י בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל לְבֵ֣ית אֲבֹתָ֑ם כָּל־פְּקוּדֵ֤י הַֽמַּחֲנֹת֙ לְצִבְאֹתָ֔ם שֵׁשׁ־מֵא֥וֹת אֶ֙לֶף֙ וּשְׁלֹ֣שֶׁת אֲלָפִ֔ים וַחֲמֵ֥שׁ מֵא֖וֹת וַחֲמִשִּֽׁים׃
These are they that were numbered of the children of Israel by their fathers’houses; all that were numbered of the camps according to their hosts were six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty.
Shenei Luchot HaBerit
There are numerous difficulties with this commentary. How could Moses say to G–d that he was unable to count the Jewish people, when the fact is that he did count them? Firstly, does not the Torah report that the count was 603,550 Israelites of the ages that were to be counted (Numbers 2,32)? Secondly, What did G–d mean when He told Moses that he had misunderstood the verse in Hoseah as meaning that the Jewish people were not capable of being counted? This implied that G–d did not intend them to be counted! Thirdly, The verse in Hoseah speaks about a prophecy intended for the distant future. This proves that at the present time the Jewish people were not so numerous that they could not be counted; there would come a time in the future, however, when they would be too numerous to be counted!
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