Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah

Ibn Ezra on Numbers 1:2/אבן עזרא על במדבר א׳:ב׳

אשאו את ראש. כמו כי תשא ושם מפורש:

1TAKE YE THE SUM. Se’u et rosh bene yisra’el (take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel) is similar to ki tissa et rosh bene yisra’el (when thou takest the sum of the children of Israel) (Ex. 30:12). I have explained its meaning there.⁹ literally means: when you lift up the head. One who takes a census writes the particulars after the sum, which he writes at the top of the page. Thus when Scripture speaks of raising up the head, it means take up the sum.

בלבית אבותם. כי משפחת האם אינה קרואה משפחה:

2BY THEIR FAMILIES BY THEIR FATHER’S HOUSES. For pedigree is not determined by the mother.¹⁰ with by their fathers’ houses.

גלגלגלותם. פירשתיו:

3BY THEIR POLLS. I have already explained the meaning of gulgelotam (their polls).¹¹ (their polls) literally means their skulls. In his short commentary (S.C.) on Exodus, I.E. explains that the word gulgolet means a head. The head is so called because it is round. Compare, galgal (wheel, i.e., a round object). See I.E. on Ex. 16:16 (S.C.).