Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Numbers 1:49/אבן עזרא על במדבר א׳:מ״ט
אאך את מטה לוי. פירוש לא התפקדו כי השם צוה כן:
1HOWBEIT THE TRIBE OF LEVI THOU SHALT NOT NUMBER. This explains were not numbered (v. 47),72 that the Levites were not numbered because this is what God commanded.
בואת ראשם לא תשא. כללם כאשר פירשתי:
2NEITHER SHALT THOU TAKE THE SUM OF THEM. Their total number, as I have explained.73 (neither shalt thou take the sum of them). This literally means neither shalt thou lift up their heads. I.E. earlier noted that to lift up the head means to write the total sum at the top of a page. See I.E.’s comment on verse 2.