Comentários de Citação sobre Números 1:5

בעבר הירדן, the term here refers to the Israelites on the east bank of the Jordan, on the plains of Moav as mentioned in verse 5, not to the area settled by the tribes of Reuven and Gad, previously owned by the Emorites.

ודתן ואבירם AND DATHAN AND ABIRAM — Because the tribe of Reuben had their place, when they encamped, in the South, thus being neighbours of Kohath and his sons, who, too, encamped in the South (cf. Numbers 3:29), they (the Reubenites) joined Korah in his quarrel. “Woe to the wicked, woe to his neighbour!” — And what induced Korah to quarrel with Moses? He was envious of the princely dignity held by Elzaphan the son of Uziel (Midrash Tanchuma, Korach 1) whom Moses had appointed prince over the sons of Kohath although this was by the express command of God (Numbers 3:30). Korah argued thus: “My father and his brothers were four in number — as it is said, (Exodus 6:18) “and the sons of Kohath were [Amram and Izhar and Hebron and Uziel]”. — “As to Amram, the eldest, his two sons have themselves assumed high dignity, one as king and the other as High Priest; who is entitled to receive the second (the rank next to it)? Is it not “I” who am the son of Izhar, who was the second to Amram amongst the brothers? And yet he has appointed as prince the son of his (Amram’s) brother who was the youngest of all of them! I hereby protest against him and will undo his decision”. — What did he do? He arose and assembled 250 men, fitted to be heads of the Sanhedrin, most of them of the tribe of Reuben who were his neighbours, viz., Elizur the son of Shedeur, (the prince of the tribe of Reuben; cf. Numbers 1:5), and his colleagues, and others of a similar standing, — for here it states (v. 2) that they were “princes of the congregation, those who were called to the assembly (קראי מועד)”, and there (in another passage) it states, (Numbers 1:16) “these were they who were called to the congregation (קרואי העדה)” (amongst whom was also Elizur the son of Shedeur; cf. Numbers 1:5 and Rashi on Numbers 1:16), — and he attired them in robes of pure purple wool. They then came and stood before Moses and said to him, “Is a garment that is entirely of purple subject to the law of Zizith or is it exempt”? He replied to them: “It is subject to that law”. Whereupon they began to jeer at him: “Is this possible? A robe of any different coloured material, one thread of purple attached to it exempts it, and this that is entirely of purple should it not exempt itself (i.e. ipso facto be exempt) from the law of “Zizith”? (Midrash Tanchuma, Korach 2).

And the Levites were counted from one month old because that tribe was accustomed to being counted from the womb, as it is said about Jeremiah the priest Before you came out of the womb I sanctified you (Jeremiah 1:5). Therefore, it is necessary that in all the countings, the Israelites were never fewer than 600,000, excluding the Levites. Even though in the first counting they were 600,000 including the Levites, and there weren’t 28 camps in the lower realms corresponding to the seven clouds, nevertheless, the Holy One, blessed be He, had not yet come to rest His Divine Presence in the lower realms to make for Himself a permanent dwelling below. And now, on the first of Iyar, when 30 days create a legal presumption [chazakah] that His dwelling would be permanent, God came with all His holy ones to establish a dwelling in the lower realms as the beauty of a person to dwell in a house (Isaiah 44:13). From then on, He needed to count them to make known that they needed to be of this number in order to fill the 28 camps of 22,000 at that time when God established His permanent Divine Presence in the Tent of Meeting; therefore it says here in the Tent of Meeting. This is a precious interpretation that fits perfectly regarding the number of 600,000, about which most commentators have gone out to gather a sufficient explanation but have not found one.