Bamidbar 1:1

1 And Hashem spoke unto Moshe in the midbar of Sinai, in the Ohel Mo’ed, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they were come out of Eretz Mitzrayim, saying,

Bamidbar 1:1 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 1:1

And the Lord spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai
Which is different from the wilderness of Sin, ( Exodus 16:1 ) ; and had its name from the mountain so called, on which God gave the law of the decalogue, and where the Israelites had been encamped eleven months, ( Exodus 19:1 Exodus 19:2 ) ;

in the tabernacle of the congregation;
which had now been set up a whole month, and out of which the Lord had delivered to Moses the several laws recorded in the preceding book in that space of time, ( Exodus 40:17 ) ( Leviticus 1:1 ) ;

on the first [day] of the second month;
the month Ijar, as the Targum of Jonathan, which answers to part of our April, and part of May, and was the second month of the ecclesiastical year, which began with Abib or Nisan:

in the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt;
that is, the children of Israel, who had now been a year and half a month out of it:

saying,
as follows.

Bamidbar 1:1 In-Context

1 And Hashem spoke unto Moshe in the midbar of Sinai, in the Ohel Mo’ed, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they were come out of Eretz Mitzrayim, saying,

2 Take ye the rosh (top amount, census) of kol Adat Bnei Yisroel after their mishpekhot, by the bais of their avot, with the number of their shmot, every zachar by their head count;

3 From twenty years old and upward, all that are ablebodied to serve in tzava b’Yisroel (army in Yisroel); thou and Aharon shall number them by their tzva’ot (legions).

4 And with you there shall be a man of every tribe; every one Rosh of the bais of his Avot.

5 And these are the shemot haanashim that shall stand with you: of the tribe of Reuven, Elitzur ben Shedeur;