“These are those who were counted of the children of Israel by their patrilineal house; all those counted of the camps according to their hosts were six hundred and three thousand, and five hundred and fifty” (Numbers 2:32). “These are those who were counted of the children of Israel by their patrilineal house…” In ten places Israel was counted: One, upon their descent to Egypt: “With seventy people, your ancestors descended to Egypt…” (Deuteronomy 10:22).
One upon their ascent: “The children of Israel traveled from Rameses to Sukot, some six hundred thousand men on foot” (Exodus 12:37). One after the deed of the calf:24The sin of the Golden Calf. “When you take a census of the children of Israel…” (Exodus 30:12). Two in the book of Numbers; once with the banners, and once with the division of the land.
Two in the days of Saul: “He counted them in Tela’im” (I Samuel 15:4), “he counted them in Bazek” (I Samuel 11:8); when they were wealthy, with these lambs,25The word tela’im is also the Hebrew word for lambs. According to the midrash they were not counted in a place called Tela'im, rather they were counted by means of lambs. and when they were poor, with these pebbles.26That is the translation of bazek.
One in the days of David: “Yoav gave the sum of the number [mispar] of the census [mifkad] of the people [to the king]” (II Samuel 24:9). If mispar, why mifkad; if mifkad, why mispar?27Mispar and mifkad have similar meanings. Rather, he prepared two notes, a large sum and a small sum. The small one he showed to David; the large one he did not show him.28David and the people were punished for conducting the census.
Yoav though that by keeping the larger sum from David, fewer people would be harmed. That is why it wrote et mispar mifkad. One in the days of Ezra: “The entire congregation together was forty[-two] thousand [three hundred and sixty]” (Ezra 2:64). And one in the future: “The flock will pass again under the hands of one who counts” (Jeremiah 33:13).