ספורנו — שאו את ראש כל עדת בני ישראל / במספר שמות

Q — The mifkad in Bamidbar (1:2) is described as "במספר שמות" — names by name. The mifkad in Pinchas (26:2) omits this phrase entirely. Why the difference between these two countings?

A — For Sforno, "במספר שמות" is the chiddush — and the contrast tells us about the spiritual decline between the two counts. Naming each person individually signals elevated status: each one "נחשב בשמו המורה על צורתו האישיית" — known to Hashem as a particular soul, like Moshe in "ואדעך בשם" (Shemot 33:17). The Bamidbar count, *before* chet ha-meraglim, treated every Israelite this way; the count expected each of these specific people to enter the land alive. The Pinchas count, *after* the forty years of dying-in-the-wilderness, can no longer be a personal recognition — only ראשי המשפחות are named, and totals tallied. And the original purpose of the Bamidbar count's "איש על דגלו" structure was peaceful entry: "שיפנו האומות מפניה" — the nations were to evacuate without combat (Yeshayahu 17:9 — "כעזובת החורש... אשר עזבו מפני בני ישראל" — the Girgashi did exactly this, per Vayikra Rabbah 17:6). Chet ha-meraglim collapsed both the personal recognition and the peaceful-entry plan.