Numbers 26:3

3 Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke to the people on the plains of Moab near the Jordan River, across from Jericho. They said,

Numbers 26:3 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 26:3

And Moses and Eleazar the priest spake with them
With the children of Israel, with the heads of them, their chief and principal, to assist in taking the number of the people; as when they were numbered thirty years ago, when a prince out of each tribe was taken to be with Aaron and Moses in doing that business; but those princes were now all dead, and another race succeeded, who were now employed in this service; so the Targum of Jonathan says, they spoke with the rulers, and ordered them to number them:

in the plains of Moab, by Jordan, [near] Jericho:
or of Jericho, as the same Targum, on the other side of Jordan to that on which Jericho stood; for as yet the children of Israel had not passed that river, nor entered into the land of Canaan, in which Jericho was, but they were now opposite it; (See Gill on Numbers 22:1):

saying;
as follows.

Numbers 26:3 In-Context

1 After the great sickness, the Lord said to Moses and Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest,

2 "Count all the people of Israel by families. Count all the men who are twenty years old or older who will serve in the army of Israel."

3 Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke to the people on the plains of Moab near the Jordan River, across from Jericho. They said,

4 "Count the men twenty years old or older, as the Lord commanded Moses."

5 The tribe of Reuben, the first son born to Israel, was counted. From Hanoch came the Hanochite family group; from Pallu came the Palluite family group;