"Take a census of the Gershonites also, by their ancestral house and by their clans." This can be interpreted in keeping with what our Sages, of blessed memory, said: Flattering the wicked can be a good deed, for it makes them repent; otherwise they add crime to their sinning. Do as Hillel did, "Love people and bring them close to Torah". This is what is meant by "take a census of the Gershonites". They, who are wicked and excluded themselves from the Torah and its commandments, must be counted, for in this way they may return to their ancestral roots, and comport themselves as Jews and with fear of God, as did their fathers of origin, Abraham Isaac and Jacob.