Why God Counts Israel Like Wheat and the Sanhedrin's Watch

Another interpretation of "And the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai [etc.: 'Take a census of the whole congregation of the children of Israel']." This is what Scripture says: "Your navel is a round goblet that never lacks blended wine; your belly is a heap of wheat hedged about with lilies" (Song of Songs 7:3). It speaks of the Sanhedrin of Israel, which was set in the Chamber of Hewn Stone, and it is likened to a navel. And why was it likened to a navel? Only that just as the navel is set in the middle of the body, so was the Sanhedrin of Israel set in the middle of the Temple. "That never lacks blended wine" — what is the meaning of "that never lacks blended wine"? That not one of the three parts of them was ever lacking. "That never lacks blended wine" — one who blends properly blends a third of the cup with wine and two parts with water; so the Sanhedrin would sit from the daily morning offering until the daily offering of the late afternoon, and not one of them would turn aside for his need. And what would they do when one of them sought to go out? He would count: if there were twenty-three present there, he would go out; and if not, he would not go out — because it is written, "that never lacks blended wine," that they were never lacking from the three parts of them. Therefore it is written, "that never lacks blended wine." "Your belly is a heap of wheat" — Israel has been likened to a heap of wheat. Just as this wheat enters the storehouse by number and goes out by number, so the Holy One, blessed be He, said that Israel should be counted at every hour. Therefore it is said, "Your belly is a heap of wheat." But the straw and the stubble are not counted, only measured. So too the nations of the world have been likened to straw and stubble, as it is said, "Let them be as chaff before the wind, with the angel of the Lord driving them on" (Psalms 35:5), and likewise it says, "And the house of Esau shall be for stubble" (Obadiah 1:18). And why? Because there is no benefit from them, as it is said, "All the nations are as nothing before Him; they are accounted by Him as less than nothing and emptiness" (Isaiah 40:17). But as for Israel, the Holy One, blessed be He, has benefit from them: they recite the Shema, and pray, and bless the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, every day. Therefore they are counted at every hour; therefore they were likened to wheat, as it is said, "Your belly is a heap of wheat." Therefore: "And the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai... Take a census of the whole congregation of the children of Israel."