ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף שמואל ב 21:2

VA’YITHYALDU’ (AND THEY DECLARED THEIR PEDIGREES) AFTER THEIR FAMILIES. “They brought the documents of their genealogy and witnesses confirming the birth of each of them, so as to prove their descent from their [respective] tribes.” This is Rashi’s language. But it does not appear [correct to say] that they should have to bring genealogical documents and witnesses with regard to belonging to a [particular] tribe. Rather, va’yithyaldu means that they were counted by their generations, by their families, by their fathers’ houses,⁵⁸Verses 20, 22, etc. the sense thereof being to state that the whole congregation assembled, as Moses had commanded them by the order of the Holy One, blessed be He, at the door of the Tent of Meeting, except for the mixed multitude⁵⁹Exodus 12:38. who were not of the children of Israel,⁶⁰II Samuel 21:2. for they were recognizable amongst them from the day that they had gone out of Egypt. Thus each man in the congregation brought his [half-] shekel and said to Moses and the princes: “I so-and-so was born to such-and-such a person of such-and-such a family, which is of the tribe of Reuben,” or some other tribe, and Moses put the shekels of each particular tribe in a special place [to be counted later], so that he would know the sum of [each] individual [tribe] and of all the tribes together. And the proof for this⁶¹I.e., a proof that they did not have to bring their genealogical documents, as Rashi explained, but that va’yithyaldu means merely that they declared to which family and tribe they belonged, is that etc. is that at the second census [taken when they were about to enter the Land of Israel] where the families [of each tribe] are mentioned,⁶²I.e., mentioned by name, in contrast to this census [taken at the arrangement of the people into four main groups headed by the four standards] where the names of the families of each tribe are not listed. it does not say va’yithyaldu, nor does it mention according to the number of names, by their polls, [as it says here in Verse 19]. This is because ever since the tribes had pitched by their standards, they were separated from each other and it was clearly known to which tribe each family belonged; thus they only had to know how many families there were in each tribe, and each family counted its men by their polls, but not according to the number of names.⁶³But if va’yithyaldu means, as Rashi explained that they were to produce their genealogical documents, the question arises why was that not required at the second census? According to Ramban, however, who explains that va’yithyaldu means that they each declared to which family and which tribe they belonged, we can understand why va’yithyaldu is not mentioned at the second census. For once they pitched by their standards, each person’s place would indicate to which tribe he belonged, and the families themselves counted their own numbers, whilst Moses counted the numbers of all the families. Hence it was no longer necessary to declare to which family and which tribe one belonged. Therefore the princes of the tribes did not have to be present [with Moses] at that [second] census [as was stipulated at the first census — in Verse 4 — since the princes of the tribes were only needed in order to identify which families belonged to which tribe, and this was already known at the time of the second census]. And Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra explains that va’yithyaldu means that they were asked when they were born, in order to ascertain whether they were [over] twenty years of age.

MAY IT BE YOUR WILL ETC. Rav: that is, just as you have graced us with this trait—for one of the characteristics of the seed of Abraham is that they are bashful, etc. As Rashi writes in his commentary on 2 Samuel 21:2 on the story with the Gibeonites.

for You will teach them the good way as You did when there was a famine in David’s time for three years (II Sam. 21:1), and You taught them and said to them, “(It is) for Saul and (also) for his bloody house.” Likewise, so shall You teach them which sin causes them [their distress], for what reason the heaven was shut up.