לֹ֤א יִֽיגְעוּ֙ לָרִ֔יק וְלֹ֥א יֵלְד֖וּ לַבֶּהָלָ֑ה כִּ֣י זֶ֜רַע בְּרוּכֵ֤י יְהוָה֙ הֵ֔מָּה וְצֶאֱצָאֵיהֶ֖ם אִתָּֽם׃
Ils ne se fatigueront plus en vain, et ils n’enfanteront plus pour la ruine: ce sera la race des bénis de l’Éternel, et leurs rejetons demeureront avec eux.
Malbim
Accordingly, he cries out bitterly (Genesis 27:34) that since he is compelled to act as he does, he receives no reward for his righteousness; that he has been handed over to the occurrences and evils which the signs of his horoscope have prescribed for him; that God should desist and allow him freedom over his acts so that he might receive his reward, like an employee who does his work faithfully, and not labor in vain...and in terror (Isaiah 65:23). (Ch.14:5)
Furthermore, since a human being's days are few and evil (Genesis 47:9) and by the nature of his birth he is prone to uncleanliness and corruption, and must battle with his instincts, he should at least be free to act as he chooses until, like a hired laborer, he completes his day (Job 14:6). (Ch.14:1-5)
Furthermore, since a human being's days are few and evil (Genesis 47:9) and by the nature of his birth he is prone to uncleanliness and corruption, and must battle with his instincts, he should at least be free to act as he chooses until, like a hired laborer, he completes his day (Job 14:6). (Ch.14:1-5)
Ramban
AND THE ETERNAL SPOKE UNTO MOSES IN THE WILDERNESS OF SINAI. The reason for this statement is that since Scripture said above in the day that the Eternal spoke with Moses in Mount Sinai,154Above, Verse 1. it refers back and says [here] that the command for counting the Levites was not given in Mount Sinai; for only the choosing of the [four] children of Aaron [as priests] took place in Mount Sinai on the day that He commanded Moses about the making of the Tabernacle, but he was not given the command about the choosing of [all] the Levites [as ministers to the priests] at Mount Sinai, but in the wilderness of Sinai in the Tent of Meeting, just like the commandment mentioned [above] concerning [the counting of] the children of Israel [about which it is clearly stated that it was in the wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of Meeting].135Above, 1:1.
Now the tribe of Levi was not like all the other tribes, for [even though they were counted] from a month old and upward155Verse 15 here. [unlike the other tribes who were counted only from the age of twenty years and over], they were still only twenty and two thousand,156Further. Verse 39. and from thirty years old and over they were all together [only] eight thousand [and five hundred and fourscore].157Ibid., 4:48. Thus, their number from twenty years old and over does not reach even a half of the [number of the] smallest of [the other] tribes of Israel!158The smallest tribe was that of Menasheh, which numbered — from the age of twenty and over — 32,200 (above, 1:35). Thus the Levites, who numbered 8000 men above the age of thirty, certainly do not reach half of the numbers of Menasheh, even after taking into consideration a few more thousand between the ages of twenty and thirty. And they did not as yet carry the ark, [that we should say] that its holiness took a toll of them!159According to tradition, the carrying of the ark involved great risk. Any of the Kohathites who was unworthy of carrying it immediately suffered a punishment; so also anyone who attended to it with an unwilling heart (Bamidbar Rabbah 5:1). But, as Ramban points out, when this census of the Levites was taken, they were not yet carrying the ark, since they only journeyed from Mount Sinai on the twentieth of Iyar. So the question reappears, why were their numbers so few? This is indeed astonishing, that His servants and His pious ones should not be blessed of the Eternal160Isaiah 65:23. as were the rest of the people!
Therefore I am of the opinion that this is a confirmation of what our Rabbis have said,161Tanchuma Va’eira 6. See also Ramban on Exodus 5:4. that the tribe of Levi was not [subject to] the enslavement of Egyptian bondage and the rigorous work [that was imposed on the rest of the tribes]. Now since the children of Israel’s lives were made bitter by the Egyptians with hard work162Exodus 1:14. in order to diminish them, the Holy One, blessed be He, increased them [miraculously] to overcome the decree of the Egyptians, just as He said, And as they afflicted them, so they multiplied and so they grew,163Ibid., Verse 12. and just as it is said also with reference to the decree that if it be a son, then ye shall kill him164Ibid., Verse 16. — and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty165Ibid., Verse 20. — since the Holy One, blessed be He, said: “We shall see whose words shall stand, Mine or theirs. ”166Jeremiah 44:28. See Vol. I, p. 457. But the tribe of Levi [which was not subject to bondage] reproduced and increased in a normal way, and therefore they did not become as numerous as the other tribes. Perhaps also [their small numbers were] on account of the anger of the patriarch [Jacob] towards them,167Genesis 34:25-30, and 49:5-7. for the tribe of Shimon which now had a large population168See above, 1:23, where the verse numbers them at fifty-nine thousand and three hundred. decreased, so that at the time of their entry into the Land [they numbered only] twenty-two thousand [and two hundred169Further, 26:14. — whereas most of the other tribes increased in the same period, or decreased relatively slightly]; similarly, Levi, the tribe of His pious ones,170See Deuteronomy 33:8. was not decreased in the plague [caused because of Peor,171Further, 25:9. and yet at the time of entry into the Land they numbered only one thousand more172Ibid., 26:62. than their present twenty-two thousand! Thus we see that it was the anger of the patriarch which affected the numbers of both Shimon and Levi.]
Now the tribe of Levi was not like all the other tribes, for [even though they were counted] from a month old and upward155Verse 15 here. [unlike the other tribes who were counted only from the age of twenty years and over], they were still only twenty and two thousand,156Further. Verse 39. and from thirty years old and over they were all together [only] eight thousand [and five hundred and fourscore].157Ibid., 4:48. Thus, their number from twenty years old and over does not reach even a half of the [number of the] smallest of [the other] tribes of Israel!158The smallest tribe was that of Menasheh, which numbered — from the age of twenty and over — 32,200 (above, 1:35). Thus the Levites, who numbered 8000 men above the age of thirty, certainly do not reach half of the numbers of Menasheh, even after taking into consideration a few more thousand between the ages of twenty and thirty. And they did not as yet carry the ark, [that we should say] that its holiness took a toll of them!159According to tradition, the carrying of the ark involved great risk. Any of the Kohathites who was unworthy of carrying it immediately suffered a punishment; so also anyone who attended to it with an unwilling heart (Bamidbar Rabbah 5:1). But, as Ramban points out, when this census of the Levites was taken, they were not yet carrying the ark, since they only journeyed from Mount Sinai on the twentieth of Iyar. So the question reappears, why were their numbers so few? This is indeed astonishing, that His servants and His pious ones should not be blessed of the Eternal160Isaiah 65:23. as were the rest of the people!
Therefore I am of the opinion that this is a confirmation of what our Rabbis have said,161Tanchuma Va’eira 6. See also Ramban on Exodus 5:4. that the tribe of Levi was not [subject to] the enslavement of Egyptian bondage and the rigorous work [that was imposed on the rest of the tribes]. Now since the children of Israel’s lives were made bitter by the Egyptians with hard work162Exodus 1:14. in order to diminish them, the Holy One, blessed be He, increased them [miraculously] to overcome the decree of the Egyptians, just as He said, And as they afflicted them, so they multiplied and so they grew,163Ibid., Verse 12. and just as it is said also with reference to the decree that if it be a son, then ye shall kill him164Ibid., Verse 16. — and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty165Ibid., Verse 20. — since the Holy One, blessed be He, said: “We shall see whose words shall stand, Mine or theirs. ”166Jeremiah 44:28. See Vol. I, p. 457. But the tribe of Levi [which was not subject to bondage] reproduced and increased in a normal way, and therefore they did not become as numerous as the other tribes. Perhaps also [their small numbers were] on account of the anger of the patriarch [Jacob] towards them,167Genesis 34:25-30, and 49:5-7. for the tribe of Shimon which now had a large population168See above, 1:23, where the verse numbers them at fifty-nine thousand and three hundred. decreased, so that at the time of their entry into the Land [they numbered only] twenty-two thousand [and two hundred169Further, 26:14. — whereas most of the other tribes increased in the same period, or decreased relatively slightly]; similarly, Levi, the tribe of His pious ones,170See Deuteronomy 33:8. was not decreased in the plague [caused because of Peor,171Further, 25:9. and yet at the time of entry into the Land they numbered only one thousand more172Ibid., 26:62. than their present twenty-two thousand! Thus we see that it was the anger of the patriarch which affected the numbers of both Shimon and Levi.]
Shadal
"In the firmament of the heavens:" In the firmament that is called the heavens, [meaning in the firmament which is [our] heavens. And this is one use of the relational form (smikhut), as in the 'River of Euphrates' (Parat), [which means] the river that is called Euphrates; [and] (Jeremiah 14:17) "the virgin of the daughter of my people," [ which means] the virgin which is the daughter of my people; [and] (Isaiah 37:22) "the virgin of the daughter of Zion," [which means that she] is the daughter of Zion. [And so too are understood the next few verses:] (I Kings 10:15), "the people of trade;" (Judges 19:22) "the people of the sons of lawlessness;" and so [too] (Isaiah 1:4) "the seed of evildoers;" (Isaiah 65:23) "the seed of those blessed by God." And so [too], 'God of Hosts,' [which means] God who is the Hosts. (And so too Rabbi Avraham Ibn Ezra wrote below [verse 31], "'the day of the sixth (yom hashishi)' - the day that is the sixth." Here too, the firmament of the heavens [means] the firmament that is the heavens.)