When the tribe’s population numbers are recorded, all but two of them are multiples of 100 (in the previous count all but one, I think). Is there a reason, a meaning or an interpretation for this particular fact?I have struggled with this question for years.
There is only one tribe that had a count that was not an even multiple of 100, just as there was only one (a different one) in Parshas Bamidbar. This, of course, makes it even more unlikely that it could happen by chance, even if the numbers were all rounded to even multiples of ten.
You may want to first look at this article where Prof. Merzbach describes some attempts to answer the question, and suggests an answer of his own (but one which I cannot accept – I just don’t really understand why it would be that way).
I think an important starting point for this discussion is that the Torah would not be interested in listing off some numbers that happened by chance. Nor would we care much about studying them. But the Torah promises that if Israel keeps the Torah, they will be great in number. The numbers of the different tribes are an outpouring of blessing given by G-d. Israel as a whole deserved a certain level of that blessing – that was their total number. Each tribe deserved a certain share of the blessing – its numbers.
Why were the numbers in even hundreds? I don’t think it means that there was some kind of weird (and pointless) miracle to make them come out that way. Nor do I really know if they were exact. What it does say to me is that there is a unit of the outpouring of blessing called a “hundred”. (See Parshas Yisro, where G-d sets up groupings within Israel for the purposes of judging, with princes of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens.) Here I am going well beyond my range: I have no idea what any of these units mean exactly, just that I think one can see that that’s what the Torah is describing here. The tribe of Reuven deserved so and so many of the hundreds, the tribe of Shimon so and so many, etc.
Warning: I’m about to suggest a wild idea (of which I happen to be very fond). You’ll have to use your own judgment! Did you ever make cupcakes? You fill each cupcake holder with batter. Continue till almost all the batter is gone. The last little bit of batter partially fills one of the holders. So you end up a certain number of full-sized cupcakes, and one partial one.
Similarly, if Israel as a whole deserved a total number of so-and-so many tens, and these are to be apportioned to different tribes according to their respective merits, perhaps G-d would give them out in even hundreds to the extent possible. Then the remaining tens would be given to one tribe. That way, every count would end up with (at most) one tribe that wasn’t an even hundred.
Anyhow, let me know if you have more thoughts on the matter. I try to recognize my limitations, and this is really out of my range, as I said, but I’m still very interested.
Best wishes,
Michoel Reach