Bamidbar 25:3, 25:4 Moshe and Elazar spoke to them saying: From twenty and up [should they be counted] etc. Two p’sukim saying no more than that Moshe talked to the people about Hashem’s command that they be counted. What was the purpose of this talk, why didn’t he just count them? Had he ever announced a count before?
My suggestion is that the Jewish People had come a long way in the desert. They had matured and become the Am Hashem. As a result, Moshe changed too. At first he would not confer with them, just as a teacher of second grade does not confer with his or her charges. However towards the end of the forty years he began to include them and tell them about upcoming events, much as the teacher of an adult class communicates his plans to his pupils. (In next week’s parshah, when it came time to war, Moshe asked each shevet to produce a thousand troops. This levy too indicated that the Jews had reached a level of self governance and accountability.)
This is proper derech eretz; part of treating people as adults is to not spring surprises on them, rather give them time and prior notice that they may prepare themselves. This is the lesson to us.
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