Charles Ellicott Commentary Numbers 1:2

"Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, by their fathers` houses, according to the number of the names, every male, by their polls;" — Numbers 1:2 (ASV)

After their families. —The family or clan, mishpahah, included several fathers’ houses (see Kurtz’s Hist. of the Old Covenant, 2, pp. 8-10).

With the number of their names. —Better, according to the number of names. The reference is probably to the previous numbering recorded in Exodus 30:12. There is no corresponding clause in the account of the later numbering in Numbers 26:2.

By their polls —i.e., man by man. The word gulgoleth denotes a man’s head, or skull. Compare to Matthew 27:33.