Charles Ellicott Commentary Exodus 38:26

"a beka a head, [that is], half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for every one that passed over to them that were numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty men." — Exodus 38:26 (ASV)

A bekah for every man. —The word “bekah” means simply a half, but appears to have been restricted in its use to the half-shekel. (Compare to Genesis 24:22.) The exegetical clause, “half a shekel,” is probably a later addition to the text, inserted to clarify the meaning.

For every one that went to be numbered. —It is remarkable that the principle of compulsory payment towards the fabric of the sanctuary should have received sanction at the very time when the greatest stress was placed upon the greater acceptability of voluntary offerings. (Exodus 35:5; Exodus 35:21–29.) Whatever may be thought of the expediency of levying church-rates, they are clearly defensible in principle, both from the standpoint of the Old Testament and of the New (Matthew 17:24–27).

From twenty years old and upward. —See Note on Exodus 30:14.

Six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty. —The identity of this number with that given in Numbers 1:46, as arrived at in the second year, on the first day of the second month (Numbers 1:1), is best explained by regarding both passages as referring to the same transaction.

The taking of the census occupied several months, during which the money was gradually collected, the sockets, etc., made, and the Tabernacle set up. The registration was deferred and took place on a single day, when Moses and Aaron went around the tribes, received the results from their hands, and entered them in a book.

It appears from Numbers 1:47 that the Levites were not counted in the sum total, as no atonement money was taken from them. (See Birks’ Exodus of Israel, pp. 118-120.)