פרשת במדבר תש"י - מפקד ישראל

Here is the first book of the Torah of G-d and it is Breisheit, which explicates the family line of the Children of Israel and their families, from the beginning of Creation until the Egyptian Exile. The second book explicates their exile and physical redemption from Egyptian slavery and spiritual redemption from

’Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, by their fathers’houses, according to the number of names, every male, by their polls;

... Record (tifkedu) them: The matter of recording, remembering and guarding something - like the words (Genesis 21:1), "And the Lord remembered Sarah" - is the understanding of [pakad] in every place. Even [with a] pikadon (deposit) - it is [called that] because its guarding and supervision is upon [the holder]. And when [God] commanded to count the people of Israel, He said, "tifkod them," in order to hint not to [actually] count them, but rather that they should give a ransom for their lives, a half shekel - and through them, He would oversee and remember the multitude of the people. And it states with David (II Samuel 24:9), "the number of the record of the people," as he knew their number by recording the ransom (the coins). For it appears distant to me that David would not be careful about what Scripture stated (Exodus 30:12), "so there shall not be a plague in recording them." And [even] if David may have erred, why would Joav not make [the count according to] shekels? And since the matter was disgusting to Joav - as he said to him (I Chronicles 21:3), "my lord king, are they not all subjects of my lord; why should my lord require this; why should it be a cause of guilt for Israel” - why did Joab not count them with shekels, so that he not sin? But in my opinion, the [divine] anger against [David] was because he counted them unnecessarily. For he was not going to war and he was not doing anything with them at that time. Rather his whole intention was to gladden his heart, [to ascertain] that he ruled over many people. And that is [the meaning] of Joab's statement (II Samuel 24:3), "May the Lord your God increase the number of the people a hundredfold, while your own eyes see it; but why should my lord king want this?"...

... Record (tifkedu) them: The matter of recording, remembering and guarding something - like the words (Genesis 21:1), "And the Lord remembered Sarah" - is the understanding of [pakad] in every place. Even [with a] pikadon (deposit) - it is [called that] because its guarding and supervision is upon [the holder]. And when [God] commanded to count the people of Israel, He said, "tifkod them," in order to hint not to [actually] count them, but rather that they should give a ransom for their lives, a half shekel - and through them, He would oversee and remember the multitude of the people. And it states with David (II Samuel 24:9), "the number of the record of the people," as he knew their number by recording the ransom (the coins). For it appears distant to me that David would not be careful about what Scripture stated (Exodus 30:12), "so there shall not be a plague in recording them." And [even] if David may have erred, why would Joav not make [the count according to] shekels? And since the matter was disgusting to Joav - as he said to him (I Chronicles 21:3), "my lord king, are they not all subjects of my lord; why should my lord require this; why should it be a cause of guilt for Israel” - why did Joab not count them with shekels, so that he not sin? But in my opinion, the [divine] anger against [David] was because he counted them unnecessarily. For he was not going to war and he was not doing anything with them at that time. Rather his whole intention was to gladden his heart, [to ascertain] that he ruled over many people. And that is [the meaning] of Joab's statement (II Samuel 24:3), "May the Lord your God increase the number of the people a hundredfold, while your own eyes see it; but why should my lord king want this?"...