(1) When the plague was over, GOD said to Moses and to Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, (2) “Take a census of the whole Israelite community from the age of twenty years up, by their ancestral houses, all Israelites able to bear arms.” (3) So Moses and Eleazar the priest, on the steppes of Moab, at the Jordan near Jericho, gave instructions about them, namely, (4) those from twenty years up, as GOD had commanded Moses.
The descendants of the Israelites who came out of the land of Egypt were: (5) Reuben, Israel’s first-born. Descendants of Reuben: [Of] Enoch, the clan of the Enochites; of Pallu, the clan of the Palluites; (6) of Hezron, the clan of the Hezronites; of Carmi, the clan of the Carmites. (7) Those are the clans of the Reubenites. The men enrolled came to 43,730. (8) Born to Pallu: Eliab. (9) The sons of Eliab were Nemuel, and Dathan and Abiram. These are the same Dathan and Abiram, chosen in the assembly, who agitated against Moses and Aaron as part of Korah’s band when they agitated against GOD. (10) Whereupon the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with Korah—when that band died, when the fire consumed the two hundred and fifty men—and they became an example. (11) The sons of Korah, however, did not die.

And it came to pass after the plague.

The principal purpose of this census was to prepare for the apportionment of the Land, as will be explained later. Therefore the Torah first notes that it took place after the plague, because those who remained alive were precisely those who would stand to inherit the Land. This is also the view of Ibn Ezra.

(30) These were the descendants of Gilead: [Of] Iezer, the clan of the Iezerites; of Helek, the clan of the Helekites; (31) [of] Asriel, the clan of the Asrielites; [of] Shechem, the clan of the Shechemites; (32) [of] Shemida, the clan of the Shemidaites; [of] Hepher, the clan of the Hepherites.— (33)Now Zelophehad son of Hepher had no sons, only daughters. The names of Zelophehad’s daughters were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.—

(52) GOD spoke to Moses, saying, (53) “Among these shall the land be apportioned as shares, according to the listed names: (54)with larger groups increase the share, with smaller groups reduce the share. Each is to be assigned its share according to its enrollment.(55)The land, moreover, is to be apportioned by lot; and the allotment shall be made according to the listings of their ancestral tribes. (56) Each portion shall be assigned by lot, whether for larger or smaller groups.”

לרב תרבה נחלתו TO THE NUMEROUS THOU SHALT GIVE MORE INHERITANCE — ...The names of the tribes were written on twelve tablets, and those of twelve districts on twelve tablets. They mixed them in an urn, and the prince of a tribe inserted his hand in it and took out two tablets. There came up in his hand the tablet bearing the name of his tribe and the tablet relating to the district that had been declared by the Urim and Tummim to be intended for it. The lot, itself cried out, saying, “I, the lot, have come up for such-and-such a district for such-and-such a tribe”, as it is said, (v. 56) על פי הגורל by the mouth (utterance) of the lot [shall the possession thereof be divided]” (Midrash Tanchuma, Pinchas 6). The land was not divided by measurement alone because one district is superior to another but it was divided by estimating its fertility: a bad piece of land sufficient to sow a Kor was regarded as the equivalent of a good piece of land sufficient to sow a Seah (the thirtieth part of a Kor) — all depended upon the value of the soil.

(58) These are the clans of Levi: The clan of the Libnites, the clan of the Hebronites, the clan of the Mahlites, the clan of the Mushites, the clan of the Korahites.—Kohath begot Amram.

(62) Their enrollment of 23,000 comprised all males from a month up. They were not part of the regular enrollment of the Israelites, since no share was assigned to them among the Israelites.

AND THESE ARE THEY THAT WERE NUMBERED OF THE LEVITES. I do not know why He [commanded] that the Levites should be counted [here], and what purpose [is served] now by counting them [since they did not receive any portion in the Land]. Perhaps [they were counted because] it was only to these [Levites] that they gave the [forty-eight] cities to dwell in and their open land for their cattle, and not to those who were born afterwards. Or [it may be that this census] was done as an expression of honor for them before G-d, so that “the legion of the King” should not be treated as less important [than the other people], by not bothering to count them like the rest of the people. Scripture mentions Amram and his wife [Jochebed, with the children she bore — Aaron, Moses and Miriam their sister, although it does not do so in connection with any other Levite families], because the sons of [that] Levite [Amram] were counted as two [groups], as priests and as Levites, and it was fitting that Aaron and his sons [who were originally Levites but later on became priests] should be counted separately [therefore Scripture mentions especially the names of the parents and of their children].

(1) The daughters of Zelophehad, of Manassite family—son of Hepher son of Gilead son of Machir son of Manasseh son of Joseph—came forward. The names of the daughters were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. (2) They stood before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the chieftains, and the whole assembly, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and they said, (3) “Our father died in the wilderness. He was not one of the faction, Korah’s faction, that banded together against GOD, but died for his own sin; and he has left no sons. (4) Let not our father’s name be lost to his clan just because he had no son! Give us a holding among our father’s kinsmen!” (5) Moses brought their case before GOD. (6) And GOD said to Moses, (7) “The plea of Zelophehad’s daughters is just: you should give them a hereditary holding among their father’s kinsmen; transfer their father’s share to them. (8) “Further, speak to the Israelite people as follows: ‘If a man dies without leaving a son, you shall transfer his property to his daughter. (9) If he has no daughter, you shall assign his property to his brothers. (10) If he has no brothers, you shall assign his property to his father’s brothers. (11) If his father had no brothers, you shall assign his property to his nearest relative in his own clan, who shall inherit it.’ This shall be the law of procedure for the Israelites, in accordance with GOD’s command to Moses.”

(6) This is what GOD has commanded concerning the daughters of Zelophehad: They may become the wives of anyone they wish, provided they marry into a clan of their father’s tribe. (7)No inheritance of the Israelites may pass over from one tribe to another, but the Israelite [heirs]—each of them—must remain bound to the ancestral portion of their tribe. (8) Every daughter among the Israelite tribes who inherits a share must become the wife of someone from a clan of her father’s tribe, in order that every Israelite [heir] may keep an ancestral share. (9) Thus no inheritance shall pass over from one tribe to another, but the Israelite tribes shall remain bound each to its portion.” (10) The daughters of Zelophehad did as GOD had commanded Moses: (11)Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, Zelophehad’s daughters, became the wives of their uncles’ sons,

והוא לא היה וגו׳ AND HE WAS NOT [… IN THE CONGREGATION OF KORAH] — ... As regards what this sin was, R. Akiba said that he was the man who gathered sticks on the Sabbath day (Numbers 15:32); R. Simeon said that he was one of those who presumed to disobey God’s command (Numbers 14:44) (Shabbat 96b).

However, what is the special joy of the fifteenth of Av? Rav Yehuda said that Shmuel said: This was the day on which the members of different tribes were permitted to enter one another’s tribe, by intermarriage. It was initially prohibited to intermarry between tribes, so as to keep each plot of land within the portion of the tribe that originally inherited it. This halakha was instituted by the Torah in the wake of a complaint by the relatives of the daughters of Zelophehad, who were worried that if these women married men from other tribes, the inheritance of Zelophehad would be lost from his tribe (see Numbers 36:1–12).

(9) You stand this day, all of you, before the ETERNAL your God: your tribal heads, your elders, and your officials—the entire body of Israel— (10) your children, your wives, even the stranger within your camp, from woodchopper to waterdrawer, (11) to enter into the covenant of the ETERNAL your God, which the ETERNAL your God is concluding with you this day, with its sanctions; (12) in order to establish you this day as God’s people and in order to be your God, as promised you and as sworn to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (13) I make this covenant, with its sanctions, not with you alone,