Q&A: At Mincha We’ll Begin the Book of Numbers
At Mincha We’ll Begin the Book of Numbers
Question
At Mincha, with God's help, we’ll begin the Book of Numbers,
and there we’ll count the tribes.
They’re all rounded to the hundreds, but Reuben and Gad are in tens.
Why?
Also, I understand that researchers don’t accept numbers like these for the people—not even 10% of that (as if somehow, somewhere, at some point, someone added a zero…). It sounds completely absurd to them, and they also have some evidence, such as: “for you are the fewest of all the peoples,” and there simply were no nations that large then.
And likewise, “lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field multiply against you” implies that the inhabitants of the land at that time were numerous enough to keep it from becoming desolate, and they were probably far fewer than the stated number of about 600,000.
If so, why not dispossess them all in one blow and have it written that they settled in their place and the land would not become desolate?
The concern that the land would indeed become desolate, and therefore they would dispossess them little by little, apparently means there were far fewer than 600,000.
And there are also various calculations and archaeological arguments.
What do we do with these questions?
Answer
These numbers have been dealt with in several places, some of which were also mentioned here in the past. I don’t work in Bible studies, so this isn’t really my area.
Discussion on Answer
Many years ago, and alas for what’s gone,
I studied in Jerusalem, and there is a large old Jerusalem community there which, relative to the broader Jewish world, is considered conservative and closed,
but relative to the zealot communities it is a symbol of modernity, heresy, and corruption.
Makes sense.
Their rabbi then, Rabbi Leibel Mintzberg, was a great scholar and serious expert, a magnificent leader. There were many rumors going around in the street in his name about why he was a complete heretic.
Among other things, it was said in his name that he did not believe there were 600,000 Jews at the giving of the Torah—not even 600,000 cats.
I didn’t understand where he got that from.
Maybe 49 gets rounded down,
51 gets rounded up,
but with exactly 50 they didn’t know which way to round, so they said “and fifty.”
That’s simply how it is—fact.
I heard in the name of Rabbi Samet that everything was rounded up or down because numbers like 38 or 62 and so on are not aesthetic.
Except when it came out exactly round in tens—they left it that way.
So once for Gad and once for Reuben you get 50 and 30.
Statistically, that really does make sense.
It occurred to me:
A commander sends ordinary soldiers to conquer:
about 100 for that hill,
the next unit about 100 to flank from the valley,
the additional unit again about 100 as reserve on the left, etc. etc.
That’s what preparation for war looks like, at least thousands of years ago—they didn’t really count every single one, and it also wasn’t really important to count every single one.
What mattered was how many military units there were, what missions to assign them, and what region they would conquer/protect.
That’s how the counting here in Numbers works.
They count those going out to the army.
Preparations for the dangerous battle of conquering and inheriting the land, so the counts are in hundreds—
meaning in numbers of military units that are approximately 100 soldiers each.
That is generally true of the army of Israel, and there everyone is counted by roughly hundreds.
But it is less exact regarding “you shall cross over as shock troops,”
the commandos, the spearhead units.
There they count by tens.
Each group of about 10 is a unit with a bold and dangerous mission.
They are the elite commando unit.
Those are reckoned by units of tens and not by units of hundreds, because they really are the spearhead.
And those are exactly the tribes of Reuben and Gad.
And everything falls neatly into place.
May God bless His people with peace.
See here remarks by Maor Ovadia, who has dealt with this quite a bit: https://mikyab.net/%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%AA/%D7%9E%D7%A1%D7%A4%D7%A8-%D7%94%D7%90%D7%A0%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%91%D7%99%D7%A6%D7%99%D7%90%D7%AA-%D7%9E%D7%A6%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%9D