The sons of Joseph according to their clans: Manasseh and Ephraim.
28. The sons of Joseph after their families. The comparison of the two tribes, which sprang from the same head, is worthy of notice. By the fact that Manasseh was the father of only one son, There appears to be an oversight here: see Joshua 17. the prophecy of Jacob, when he declared that the first-born should be inferior to his younger brother Ephraim, began already to receive its accomplishment.
This is the register of the tribes as they were now enrolled, in the same order that they were numbered in ch. 1. Observe, I. The account that is here kept of the families of each tribe, which must not be understood of such as we call families, those that live in a house together, but such as were the descendants of the several sons...
Commenting on Numbers 26:5-51
And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... After the sum of the people of Israel had been taken: saying; as follows.