The Leviim…were not counted among them. Hashem spoke to Moshe, saying, “You shall not count the shevet of Levi…among the Bnei Yisrael.”[2]
This is confusing, to say the least. Why, in fact, weren’t the Leviim counted in the census? If there was some good reason for it, why did Hashem have to follow up on their non-counting with a specific instruction not to count them. They had already been excluded from the count! If the reason for not including them was this Divine instruction, why does the Torah have to mention – before even stating that instruction – that they were not counted? From the instruction alone we would know that shevet Levi had been skipped over.
I heard an ingenious suggestion in the name of R. Shaul, the av beis din of Amsterdam. In listing the census figures for each of the shevatim, the Torah introduces each with “for the bnei Menasheh,” “for the bnei Binyamin,” “for the bnei Dan,” etc. Only with reference to Naftali is the preposition “for” omitted: “the bnei Naftali.”
Now, the census described here in Bamidbar was not the first that was taken. More than a half a year earlier, the bnei Yisrael were counted, and their population duly recorded[3] as 603,550 – which is the same as the bottom line figure here in Bamidbar. Rashi and Ramban[4] dispute the nature of the two countings, and the perplexing fact that the population figures coincided over such a long period, without any births or deaths.
But this we know. There was a general census right before the work of constructing the mishkan began. People were all counted together, without separating the figures according to shevet. It follows, argues R. Shaul of Amsterdam, that there was no need to count the last shevet – shevet Naftali. The grand total was already known from the first census. By subtracting the numbers for each of the other individual shevatim as they are counted here in Bamidbar, you arrive at the population of the last shevet, even without counting it. The Torah expresses this by simply stating, “The bnei Naftali.” This is how many they were, even without having to be counted!
As inviting as this sounds, it only works if the Leviim were not included in the first census. Ramban, however, maintains that the Leviim were part of the original count! Without their number being known, bnei Naftali’s number could not be ascertained just by subtracting the numbers of the other shevatim. The argument completely collapses. We will need to find a different way of explaining why the word “for” is omitted for Naftali.
We could preserve a part of the argument, though, and use it to answer our original question. The thing is, that if the Leviim were counted in the first, general census, they would have been treated like everyone else. Only males over twenty would have been counted. There was no reason to think differently. When they now conducted shevet by shevet counting in the second month of the second year, they reasoned that they only needed to do this for eleven shevatim. The twelfth would be known by subtraction. They decided to leave out the Leviim.
Hashem therefore follows up on their decision. “Indeed, don’t count them among the other shevatim. You are correct. Their number is already known – if all you are interested in is the population over twenty. By shevet Levi is different from the others. They are the “King’s troops.” They serve in the mishkan, and their identity and life style revolves around it. They need to be counted from a very early age. So do count them – but do so for all Leviim older than one month.”
- Adapted from Divrei Shaul by Rav Yosef Shaul Nathanson, the Shoel U-Meshiv ↑
- Bamidbar 1:48-49 ↑
- Shemos 38:25 ↑
- Shemos 30:12 ↑