<b>When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel according to their number (Exod. 30:12).</b><sup class="footnote-marker">14</sup><i class="footnote">Pesikta de Rav Kahana, Shekalim, p. 156.</i><b></b> The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: <i>Take the sum of the children of Israel</i>. He replied: My master, it is written: <i>And Thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth</i> (Gen. 28:14), and it is written elsewhere: <i>And make Thy seed as the sand of the sea</i> (ibid. 32:13), yet you tell me now to do this. He answered: If you want to know their number, you need only add together the first letter of the names of each of the tribes and this will give you their number. The resh in the word Reuben stands for two hundred thousand; the <i>shin</i> in Simeon stands for three hundred thousand, the <i>yods</i> in the names Judah, Issachar, and Joseph total thirty thousand, the <i>nun</i> in Naphtali accounts for fifty thousand, the <i>zayin</i> in Zebulun’s name is seven thousand, the <i>daled</i> in Dan is four thousand, the <i>gimmel</i> in Gad is three thousand, the <i>bet</i> in Benjamin is two thousand, and the <i>alef</i> in Asher is one thousand—totaling five hundred and ninety-seven thousand in all. The three thousand not accounted for were slain at the time of the episode of the golden calf, as it is said: <i>And the sons of Levi did according to the words of Moses; and there fell of the people on that day about three thousand men</i> (Exod. 32:28). Hence the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: You are taking the count to learn how many are missing. R. Menahem said in the name of R. Bebai: This may be compared to a king who had many sheep. When wolves attacked and destroyed some of them, the king told his shepherd: “Count the sheep and find out how many are missing.” Likewise, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: Go, count the Israelites, and find out how many are missing.
A census of Israel was taken on ten different occasions. The first occurred when they descended to Egypt, as is said: <i>Thy fathers went down into Egypt with three score and ten persons</i> (Deut. 10:29). Again, when they came out of Egypt, as it is said: <i>And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men</i> (Exod. 12:37). Once in the Book of Numbers (it was taken) with reference to the standards (Num. 2:21); once with regard to the spies (Num. 13);<sup class="footnote-marker">15</sup><i class="footnote">There is no biblical evidence that a census was taken at the time of the spies..</i> in the days of Joshua when the land was divided (Josh. 18:10); twice in the time of Saul, as is said: <i>And he numbered them with lambs in Telaim</i> (I Sam. 14:4) and <i>He numbered them with pebbles in Bezek</i> (ibid. 11:8). What is indicated by the word <i>Telaim</i>? When they were prosperous, he counted them by means of their lambs (<i>telayim</i>), but when they were poor in deeds, he counted them with stones. What is <i>bezek</i>? It is a stone. He took a stone for each one of them and then totaled the stones. A census was taken in the days of David, as is said: <i>Joab gave up the sum, the number of the people to the king</i> (II Sam. 24:9); and again at the time of Ezra: <i>The whole congregation together was forty and two thousand, three hundred and three score</i> (Ezra. 2:14). In the time-to-come (a census will be taken), as is said: <i>The flock shall again pass into the hands of Him that counteth them</i> (Jer. 33:13), and in this instance: <i>When thou takest the sum</i>.
R. Menahem said in the name of R. Bebai, in the name of R. Hiyya the son of Abba in the name of R. Eliezer the son of Johanan: It is stated: <i>And the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea</i> (Hos. 2:1). Why were the children of Israel compared to the sand of the sea? To inform us that just as a hole dug in the sand of the sea at evening time fills up again by morning, so the thousands lacking at the time of David would be replaced by the time of his son Solomon, as it is said: <i>Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude</i> (I Kings 4:20).
R. Eliezer said in the name of R. Yosé the son of Zimra: Whenever the Israelites were counted because it was essential to do so, none were lacking, but whenever they were counted when there was no need (to do so), some were missing. When were they counted to meet a need? When Moses took the census. When were they counted unnecessarily? At the time of David. <i>Then they shall give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord</i> (Exod. 30:12). This occurred at the time of Moses: <i>That there be no plague among them</i> (ibid.), but there was no plague at the time of David.
<i>This they shall give</i>. R. Meir said: The Holy One, blessed be He, removed from beneath His throne of glory a coin of fire (the size of a half-shekel coin) and showed it to Moses. Then He said to him: <i>This they shall give</i>. That is to say, everyone who passes by as the census is taken shall give something similar to them.