The Ohr Hachaim quotes the Ramban that asks how it is possible that the Leviim, Hashem’s holy tribe, would have such a low number of people. They were closer to Hashem than all other tribes, and they did not sin when the rest of Klal Yisroel did and were not struck by the plague that struck the rest of the nation for their terrible action. They were not forced to drink from the ground-up calf, and they were not killed by their brothers. How did they become the smaller tribe? Their numbers were not even as much as half of the smallest of the other tribes. Moreover, they were counted from the age of one month and up, whereas the others were counted from the age of twenty years. If we were to limit their count to those who were twenty years old and above, they would not even reach a third of the smallest tribe. How can this be so?
The Ohr Hachaim quotes two answers that he saw, and rejects both of them. The possuk says וְכַאֲשֶׁר יְעַנוּ אֹתוֹ כֵּן יִרְ בֶׁה וְכֵּן יִפְרֹץ – and as they caused them pain, so did they increase and so did they spread out. When the Egyptians made Klal Yisroel suffer, they caused Hashem to increase Klal Yisroel’s numbers and make them stronger and more resilient. Levi did not suffer under the Egyptians; they were free of the slavery that subjugated their brothers. They did not receive that special blessing that their brethren received.
Another reason they were less than others is Yaakov Avinu's anger. Yaakov cursed the anger of the two brothers, Shimon and Levi, which is why their numbers were less than the others.
The Ohr Hachaim rejects this second answer. We don’t find this idea anywhere in the possuk. In Divrei Hayamim (I 23:3) we find a possuk םָרָפְסִמ יִהְיַו הָלְעָמָו הָנָש םיִשלְֹש ןֶׁבִמ ם יִוְלַה וּרְפָס יַו לְגֻלְגְלֹתָם לִגְבָרִ ים שְלֹשִים וּשְמוֹנָה אָלֶׁף - And the Leviim were counted from thirty years old and upward; and their number by their polls, man by man, was thirty-eight thousand. This was in the times of Dovid Hamelech. Whereas in Parshas Naso, we find that there were 8580 people in these ages. They had multiplied by thirty in those years, yet the numbers of Klal Yisroel did not multiply by anything close to that. If we remove those from the ages of twenty to thirty from this number, we will have the tribe of Levi at the same number as the other tribes, or even as great as the largest of the other tribes. We see that the anger of Yaakov Avinu had no effect on them in the long term.
The Ohr Hachaim accepts that the first reason of the Rishonim was possible. It could be that Klal Yisroel increased supernaturally because of their suffering, and Levi did not suffer. But the Medrash does tell us that Yaakov Avinu did not pass away until Klal Yisroel reached 600,000. Obviously, when the Torah says that they increased even as they were made to suffer, it just means to tell us that they replaced those that were killed through the suffering, and the overall numbers did not lessen due to the Egyptian subjugation. It does not mean that they increased any more.
When the Torah (Shemos 1:7) says that Klal Yisroel were fruitful and swarmed, and multiplied, and grew very, very mighty; the land was filled with them, it does not mean they increased in numbers after Yaakov’s passing. When Yaakov passed away, they were still very young and not noticeable in the city. Only when they grew older were they noticeable, and the Egyptians grew fed up with them.
The suffering began after Yaakov and his sons had passed away already, and the numbers were already divided in this manner, with Levi having the lowest numbers of all. Why is this so? Why did Levi not increase, during Yaakov’s lifetime, just like everybody else?
Another possibility was that they did increase like everyone, and their proportions at the time of Yaakov’s passing was equal to others. However, they decreased afterwards for some reason, and they never increased because they did not have the blessing that the other tribes had. This, too, is untenable. Why would it be like this? What did Levi do to be denied a blessing? What did Levi do to be punished with their citizenry decimated like this?
Another explanation offered by our Rabbis is that the tribe of Levi were the ones to carry the holy Aron. The slightest defect in one of them would cause a strict punishment, and many were killed due to the lack of honor, however slight, to Hashem’s Aron. However, this, too, does not answer the question. The tribe of Levi was only chosen to carry the Aron after this week’s Parsha, when they had been counted and found lacking already. They were not yet ready to be punished for this aveira, why were their numbers so low?
The Ohr Hachaim writes his own answer. The tribe of Levi was a close-knit tribe, and they followed their leader. The Gemara (Sotah 12a) writes that Amram divorced his wife because of Par’oh’s decree of throwing the male children into the river. All of the tribe of Levi then followed suit. They could not stand to see their children thrown into the Nile as though they were common garbage. Chazal tell us that the other mothers of Klal Yisroel would give birth in the fields, where their children would burrow into the earth and later emerged as fully grown people. This was only possible with the rest of Klal Yisroel, who had suffered so much under the Egyptians that they had lost their sensitivity. They were not as pained to see their children in the river or growing up like field-mice. However, the tribe of Levi had stayed as they were in Cana’an, and they were too soft to see their children in the river or the fields. That is why only this tribe divorced their wives and did not have as many children.
When Amram returned his wife, it does not follow that the rest of the tribe followed suit. Chazal tell us that he was told to do so via prophecy, and Miriam was the one who foresaw this. That is why she stood from afar to see what would happen to her brother. She wished to see how her prophecy would play out. The rest of Levi were not gifted with this prophecy, and they had no reason to return to their wives.
The Ohr Hachaim asks, why was the superior tribe, the ones who learned Torah constantly, lacking in the mitzvah of having children? Why did they not perform this mitzvah with greater alacrity, as expected from scholars? The answer is, they learned the Halacha (Ta’anis 11b) that a person may not produce children at a time of famine. Even though they would have less children, those children would not survive anyway, and producing children that have little chance of survival is an exercise in futility.
Indeed, when Levi returned to their wives after leaving Egypt, they more than made up for their previous lack, with Hashem’s blessing following them throughout the years until they increased thirty-fold, far more than the other tribes.
