אבן עזרא — והלוים יחנו סביב למשכן העדת ולא יהיה קצף על עדת בני ישראל

Q — The Torah commands the Leviim to camp around the mishkan "ולא יהיה קצף על עדת בני ישראל." But the encroaching kohen is the one who would be punished (like Uzza touching the aron); why does the pasuk speak of קצף on the entire עדה?

A — Ibn Ezra develops a sweeping principle about scriptural plurals: a plural term often refers to ONE member of the plural set, not all. Two main proof-texts: (1) "ויקבר בערי גלעד" (Shoftim 12:7) — Yiftach was obviously buried in one city, not all; (2) "עיר בן אתנות" (Zechariah 9:9) — Mashiach's donkey was one foal, but the Torah says "donkeys." Same idea applies here: "עדת בני ישראל" means "one of the עדה." Ibn Ezra extends this to seven other psukim across the Tanach: "אשר ישב בהן לוט" (one of them), "אשר יפול מהם אל תוכו" (Vayikra 11:33), "באש ישרפו אותו ואתהן" (one of the two), "ירכתי הספינה" (Yonah 1:5, one corner), "פלגי מים" (Tehillim 1:3, one stream). The plural-for-singular construction is a stable peshat device. This dissolves the troubling reading that an individual's encroachment punishes the whole nation.