Counting Israel by the Initials of the Tribes

"For their numberings" (Exodus 30:12). Rabbi Yehoshua bar Rabbi Nehemiah said: The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses, "Go, count Israel." Moses said before the Holy One, blessed be He, "Master of all the worlds, it is written, 'And your seed shall be as the dust of the earth' (Genesis 28:14), and 'I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens' (Genesis 26:4), and 'And the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea' (Hosea 2:1) — and You say to me, Go, count Israel?" He said to him: Moses, it is not as you suppose. Rather, if you wish to ascertain the number of Israel, take the first letters of the tribes and you will arrive at their number. The resh of Reuben is two hundred thousand; the shin of Simeon is three hundred thousand; the nun of Naphtali is fifty thousand; Judah, Joseph, and Issachar thirty thousand each; the zayin of Zebulun is seven thousand; the dalet of Dan is four thousand; the gimel of Gad is three thousand; the bet of Benjamin is two thousand; the aleph of Asher is one thousand. Behold, that is five hundred ninety-seven thousand. And where are the other three thousand? They are those who fell in the days of the calf, as it is said, "And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses, and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men" (Exodus 32:28). Rabbi Menahema said in the name of Rabbi Bibi: This is like a king who had a flock, and wolves entered among them and broke into it. The king said to the shepherd, "Count my flock, to know how many are missing." So too the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses, "Count Israel, to know how many are missing." In ten places Israel were counted. One, at their descent into Egypt: "With seventy souls your fathers went down" (Deuteronomy 10:22). And one at their going up: "And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot" (Exodus 12:37). And two in the Book of Numbers — one for the standards, and one for the dividing of the land. And two in the days of Saul: "And he counted them in Telaim" (1 Samuel 15:4) and "And he counted them in Bezek" (1 Samuel 11:8) — when they were prosperous, by these lambs, and when they were poor, by these pebbles. And one in the days of David, as it is said, "And Joab gave the sum of the mustering of the people" (2 Samuel 24:9). If "sum," why "mustering," and if "mustering," why "sum"? Rather, he made two tallies, a large one and a small one; the small one he showed to David, but the large one he did not show him, as it is said, "And Joab gave the sum of the mustering of the people." And one in the days of Ezra: "The whole assembly together was forty thousand" (Ezra 2:64). And one in the time to come: "The flocks shall yet pass under the hands of one who counts them" (Jeremiah 33:13). And this is "When you take the sum of the children of Israel" (Exodus 30:12).