The princes of Israel. These arc the same men, and are called by the same titles, as those Divinely nominated in Numbers 1:4, sq. No doubt they were the heads of the nations according to some established rules of precedence before the exodus.
And were over them that were numbered. Hebrew, "stood over." The most natural reference is to the fact of their presiding over the census, and so the Septuagint, οὗτοι οἱ παρεστηκότες ἐπὶ τῆς ἐπισκοπῆς.
But it may mean simply that they were the leaders of the numbered hosts, and offered as their natural representatives.