Numbers 1:16

16 These were the noblest princes of the multitude, by their lineages, and kindreds, and the heads of the host(s) of Israel, (These were the noblest leaders of the multitude, by their tribes, and kindreds, and the heads of the armies of Israel,)

Numbers 1:16 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 1:16

These [were] the renowned of the congregation
The most famous and eminent among the people, for their birth and pedigree, or for their excellent qualities of wisdom, courage, and the like; or "the called of the congregation" ^F4, whom God had called by name and selected from the rest of the congregation to the above service, whereby great honour was done them: Aben Ezra says, the sense is, that the congregation did nothing until they had called them; with which agrees the note of Jarchi,

``who were called to every business of importance in the congregation:''

princes of the tribes of their fathers;
as Elizur was prince of the children of Reuben, ( Numbers 7:30 ) ; the same is there said of the rest in their respective tribes:

heads of thousands in Israel;
the congregation of Israel being divided into thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, by the advice of Jethro, ( Exodus 18:21 ) ; each of these divisions had a ruler over them, and thousands being the highest number, these princes were chiliarchs, rulers or heads of thousands.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F4 (hdeh yayrq) "convocati coetus", Montanus, Drusius; "convocati e coetu", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Numbers 1:16 In-Context

14 of Gad, Eliasaph, the son of Deuel;

15 of Naphtali, Ahira, the son of Enan.

16 These were the noblest princes of the multitude, by their lineages, and kindreds, and the heads of the host(s) of Israel, (These were the noblest leaders of the multitude, by their tribes, and kindreds, and the heads of the armies of Israel,)

17 the which princes Moses and Aaron took, with all the multitude of the common people. (which leaders Moses and Aaron took, along with all the multitude of the common people.)

18 And they gathered (them together) in the first day of the second month, and they told them, (or they totalled them,) by kindreds, and houses, and families, and heads, and names of each by themselves, from the twentieth year and above, (And they gathered them together on the first day of the second month, and they listed, or they registered, them by their kindreds, and houses, and families, and heads, and their names, from twenty years of age and older,)