Numbers 1:18

18 And they assembled all the congregation on the first day of the month in the second year; and they registered them after their lineage, after their families, after the number of their names, from twenty years old and upwards, every male according to their number:

Numbers 1:18 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 1:18

And they assembled all the congregation together on the first
[day] of the second month
The month Ijar, as the Targum of Jonathan, answering to part of April and May: this was done on the selfsame day the Lord spake unto Moses about this affair, ( Numbers 1:1 ) ; so expeditious were he and Aaron in doing the will of God:

and they declared their pedigrees;
either Moses and Aaron, according to Aben Ezra, who inquired when they were born, because of the computation of twenty years; and then their birth was wrote down, as he says; or rather the people declared their pedigrees, of what tribe, family, and house they were, who their parents, when born, and so, of course, how old they were; Jarchi interprets it, they brought the books of their genealogies, and witnesses to confirm the birth of everyone of them, to show their genealogy according to their tribe; nor is it at all unlikely that every family and house, or master thereof, kept a register of those born to him in it, whereby their age could be ascertained as well as pedigree:

after their famines, by the house of their fathers, according to the
number of their names, from twenty years old and upwards, by their
poll:
that is, every tribe gave an account of the families in it, every family what houses were in it, and every house what number of males were in it, and of what age; and such were numbered who were twenty years old and upward.

Numbers 1:18 In-Context

16 These were famous men of the congregation, heads of the tribes according to their families: these are heads of thousands in Israel.
17 And Moses and Aaron took these men who were called by name.
18 And they assembled all the congregation on the first day of the month in the second year; and they registered them after their lineage, after their families, after the number of their names, from twenty years old and upwards, every male according to their number:
19 as the Lord commanded Moses, so they were numbered in the wilderness of Sina.
20 And the sons of Ruben the first-born of Israel according to their kindreds, according to their divisions, according to the houses of their families, according to the number of their names, according to their heads, were—all males from twenty years old and upward, every one that went out with the host—

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. ????e? dicebantur olim tabulae publicae; atque inde ?pa????, quod videtur esse,
  • [b]. head or poll.

The Brenton translation of the Septuagint is in the public domain.