And the Lord spake unto Moses— Had spoken. The numbering of the children of Israel, mentioned in the first chapter of this book, was made on the first day of the second month in the second year; so that what is related here happened before that event: "Not that Moses," observes Houbigant, "neglected the order of time; but because those things which were first written in the separate tables of his commentaries, were afterwards digested in the present order. This is no reason why any thing of the present order should be changed: it is sufficient for us to know, that the books of Moses contain the genuine acts of his time, and not a regular and continued history."
Related Commentaries of Numbers 9:1
Numbers 9:1
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying,