Numbers 1:44

1:44 These were the men whom Moses and Aaron numbered ¹  along with the twelve leaders of Israel, each of whom ²  was from his own family.

Numbers 2:2

2:2 “Every one ³  of the Israelites must camp ⁴  under his standard with the emblems of his family; ⁵  they must camp at some distance ⁶  around the tent of meeting. ⁷ 

Numbers 26:42

Dan

26:42 These are the Danites by their families: from Shuham, the family of the Shuhamites. These were the families of Dan, according to their families.

Numbers 27:4

27:4 Why should the name of our father be lost from among his family because he had no son? Give us a possession ⁸  among the relatives ⁹  of our father.”

Numbers 31:26

31:26 “You and Eleazar the priest, and all the family leaders of the community, take the sum ¹⁰  of the plunder that was captured, both people and animals.

Numbers 36:12

36:12 They were married into the families of the Manassehites, the descendants of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of their father’s family.

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¹ tn The construction uses both the passive participle הַפְּקֻדִים (happÿqudim) and the verb פָּקַד (paqad), giving a literal translation of “these were the numbered ones, whom Moses and Aaron numbered.”

² tn Heb “they were one man for the house of his fathers.”

³ tn Heb “a man by his own standard.”

⁴ tn The imperfect tense is to be taken in the nuance of instruction.

⁵ tn Heb “of/for the house of their fathers.”

⁶ tn The Hebrew expression מִנֶּגֶד (minneged) means “from before” or “opposite; facing” and “at some distance” or “away from the front of” (see BDB 617 s.v. נֶגֶד 2.c.a; DCH 5:603-4 s.v. 3.b).

⁷ sn The Israelites were camping as a military camp, each tribe with the standards and emblems of the family. The standard was the symbol fastened to the end of a pole and carried to battle. It served to rally the tribe to the battle. The Bible nowhere describes these, although the serpent emblem of Numbers 21:8-9 may give a clue. But they probably did not have shapes of animals in view of the prohibition in the Decalogue. The standards may have been smaller for the families than the ones for the tribes. See further K. A. Kitchen, “Some Egyptian Background to the Old Testament,” TynBul 5 (1960): 11; and T. W. Mann, Divine Presence and Guidance in Israelite Tradition, 169-73.

⁸ tn That is, the possession of land, or property, among the other families of their tribe.

⁹ tn The word is “brothers,” but this can be interpreted more loosely to relatives. So also in v. 7.

¹⁰ tn The idiom here is “take up the head,” meaning take a census, or count the totals.