Bamidbar | Making Sense of the Census

 

     The Book of Numbers begins in an atypical fashion for a book of the Torah. It does not recount episodes of religious development in the nation of Israel, nor does it discuss ritual or social legislation. Instead, this fourth book starts with a rather mundane matter: a national census. 

"On the first day of the second month, in the second year following the exodus from the land of Egypt, the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of Meeting, saying: Take a census of the whole Israelite community by the clans of its ancestral houses, listing the names of every male, head by head. You and Aaron shall record them by their groups, from the age of twenty years up, all those in Israel who are able to bear arms." (1:1-3) 

     The point of such an exercise is obvious enough - in order to manage the nation effectively, the government needs to know precisely how many people are under its care. The instruction to count only males of a certain age points to another reason for the census - Israel was heading towards war and proper planning required an accurate assessment of Hebrew forces. Remember that at the beginning of Numbers, the Israelites had not yet been condemned to 40 years of desert wandering. Having received the Torah at Sinai and built the Tabernacle, the Jews are ready to complete their transformation into a nation by conquering and settling the Land of Canaan. And so in preparation for the march to the Holy Land, each tribe provides a tally, the numbers being recorded in Numbers chapter one. The total is given in verse 46: "All the Israelites, aged twenty years and over, enrolled by ancestral houses, all those in Israel who were able to bear arms - all who were enrolled came to 603,550." 

     This is not the Torah's first description of census taking in Israel. At the beginning of Parashat Ki Tisa (Exodus chapter 30), God presents Moses with a very specific procedure for counting Jews.

"The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 'When you take a census of the Israelite people according to their enrollment, each shall pay the Lord a ransom for himself on being enrolled, that no plague may come upon them through their being enrolled. This is what everyone who is entered in the records shall pay: a half-shekel by the sanctuary weight - twenty gerahs to the shekel - a half-shekel as an offering to the Lord. Everyone who is entered in the records, from the age of twenty years up, shall give the Lord's offering: the rich shall not pay more and the poor shall not pay less than half a shekel when giving the Lord's offering as expiation for your persons. You shall take the expiation money from the Israelites and assign it to the service of the Tent of the Meeting; it shall serve the Israelites as a reminder before the Lord, as expiation for your persons." (verses 11-16) 

     This passage seems to be less about counting the Jews than collecting money. Indeed this paragraph appears in the midst of the Tabernacle construction and the half-shekels (a coin also called a beka) donated by the people were needed to pay for the elaborate structure and its utensils - or more specifically, for the sockets contained in the Tabernacle walls. Exodus 38 lists the types and amounts of materials acquired for the project. For example, "And the silver of those of the community who were recorded came to 100 talents and 1,775 shekels by the sanctuary weight: a half-shekel a head, half a shekel by the sanctuary weight, for each one who was entered in the records, from the age of twenty years up, 603,550 men" (verses 25-26). 

     Only the silver coins which were donated were used in counting the nation. The amount of silver came to 301,775, a sum arrived at by considering 3000 shekels per talent. 301,775 shekels equals 603,550 half-shekels representing the number of fighting-age males, exactly the amount given in Numbers chapter 1.

     Besides the amazing coincidence of identical numbers (which we will return to below) there are two questions which arise in comparing the two census accounts: Why does the Torah, in Exodus 30, insist on implementing this odd system of counting the Israelites, warning that a plague will result if the method is not followed? Why can't the Jews be numbered directly with a pencil and clipboard? Secondly, why is the ban on counting not mentioned in the second census in our parasha? Is the fear of punishment no longer applicable? 

     Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzchak 11th century) attends to our first question in his commentary to Exodus 30:12 explaining that

"For over a number the evil eye had power, and plague comes upon [the people], as we found in the days of David."

Rashi here refers to a story at the end of II Samuel in which King David undertakes a census of his subjects, finding that his soldiers numbered 800,000. As punishment for this apparent crime, the land is visited by three days of plague. (See II Samuel chapter 24). 

     Rabbeinu Bachyeh ben Asher of the 14th century expands Rashi's idea of counting directly:

"The point of this procedure is to teach that hidden miracles accompany a person every day. This is why the rabbis teach us that a person entering his granary may pray to God to bless his crops and increase his yield; but a prayer which follows the counting of the grains is said in futility since a blessing cannot affect something that is measured, counted or weighed, only something that is hidden and unknown. The meaning of this is that once something has been counted it is impossible [for God] to grant a miraculous increase since that would of course be noticed. This is why the evil eye holds sway over something that is counted and explains why the Jews were commanded to number themselves using coins."

One could argue of course that even an indirect method eventually leads to a known sum, but perhaps these commentators are more concerned with the lesson of how hidden miracles work. 

     Umberto Cassuto (20th century) in his commentary to Exodus points out the repeated references to atonement associated with counting the people. Exodus 30:16 states:

"You shall take the expiation money from the Israelites and assign it to the service of the Tent of the Meeting; it shall serve the Israelites as a reminder before the Lord, as expiation for your persons."

Checking to see how populous the nation of Israel has become, Cassuto argues, reflects a lack of faith in God. Perhaps the problem is that the nation should believe that God will win their holy wars for them regardless of their fighting abilities or numbers. To atone for this uncertainty, the Jews must donate funds to the national coffers. Still, putting aside the unique Egyptian experience, the Bible rarely suggests that any war or national endeavor will be effected entirely by God without simultaneous human participation. This might explain why the Torah does not completely forbid counting the Jews, for it recognizes the need Israel has for battle arrangements. Indirect counting reminds the people that the sum of their numbers has religious overtones, an idea reinforced by the link to the Tabernacle construction. 

     This theory might explain King David's sin. In response to his liege's command to survey the nation, his army commander, Yoav replies "May the Lord increase the number of the people a hundredfold, while your own eyes see it! But why should my lord king want this?" (24:3) Was David anxious about how many soldiers he had in his reserves, or how many citizens he could tax? There is no mention in the tale of any indirect counting which might suggest that the king was suffering a lack of faith in God to support him and his state. This is what incurs the wrath of the Lord. The reason for the indirect counting remains somewhat mysterious. Nevertheless, why is the second census undertaken without any fear of a plague? It is possible that the exercise in Numbers 1 was also performed by a collection of coins, a detail the Torah didn't feel necessary to repeat since the instructions were already given in Exodus 30. On the other hand, the episode in Exodus had the secondary function of gathering funds for construction of the Tabernacle. Since the Mishkan was assembled a month before the second census in Numbers 1, what need was there to ask the people for an additional 301,775 shekels? 

     Rabbi Yitzchak Abarnbanel (15th century) explains the difference between the two censuses as follows. The primary objective of the first census was to collect funds - there was no commandment to count the people of Israel. Because there was no mitzva to count the people, they had to be wary lest the tallying lead to a plague. In the beginning of Numbers, God commands Moses to tally up the people (seemingly in preparation for the march to the Holy Land). Since the people were following a direct command from God they could rest assured that no harm would befall them, because "he who performs a mitzva is protected from any harm." The evil eye could not threaten this direct count. 

     I believe that the reason the half-shekel system is omitted in Numbers relates to the puzzle of the identical figures. You will recall that although the two censuses were undertaken seven months apart the number of men ages 20 to 60 remained exactly 603,550. Here is Rashi's explanation of  the problem. 

"Is it possible that in both of them [the censuses] the Israelites were equal in number, 603,550... were not the countings held within two years, and isn't it impossible that there were not at the time of the first counting males nineteen-years-old who were not numbered, and who, during the second counting became twenty-years-old? The answer to the problem is: in reference to counting of the years of the men, during one year they were counted, but as regards the counting of the exodus from Egypt there were two years, because regarding the exodus from Egypt they count the year from the month of Nissan, as we learned in the treatise Rosh Hashana. The tabernacle was built in the first year and set up in the second year, for there was a new year on the first day of Nissan; but the years of the men were counted according to the number of the years of the world that begin from the month of Tishrei. Thus the two countings took place during one year, the first counting was in Tishrei after the Day of Atonement, when the Ominpresent was reconciled with Israel to forgive them [following the sin of the Calf] and they were commanded regarding the Tabernacle; and the second counting took place on the first day of Iyyar." 

     Rashi here recognizes two New Years: one in Nissan and one in Tishrei. Schematically, his understanding of the events looks like this: 

Year One: 

     Nissan - Exodus from Egypt 

     Sivan - Revelation at Sinai 

     Tishrei - Rosh HaShana, everybody ages one year; 1st census 

Year Two: 

     Nissan - Tabernacle is completed; first anniversary of the exodus 

     Iyyar - 2nd census 

     According to Rashi, because in Torah times everybody celebrated his birthday at the start of Tishrei, and no month of Tishrei fell in between the two censuses, nobody new joined the ranks of 20-to 60-year-old men. 

     Ramban (Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman 13th century) lodges two criticisms against this theory. Firstly, Ramban is an advocate of individual birthdates and argues that the nation did not age all at once. Secondly, Ramban wonders whether it was possible, even according to Rashi's interpretation that nobody had aged, for none of the men counted in the first census to have died between Tishrei and Iyyar. Why, the Torah itself reports an encounter between Moshe and some Israelites who resent being left out of the Passover celebrations that second year due to their being "unclean by reason of a corpse" (Numbers 9:6). Their complaint to Moshe proves that people had in fact died between the first and second Passovers. 

     Ramban himself provides two solutions to the riddle. It is possible, says he, that although people did die between the two censuses, the number of men who came of age and filled the ranks precisely matched the number of dead (or, I might add - the number of dead plus the number of men turning 61 -ed.). Ramban reminds us of another detail regarding the second census. When the nation is tallied in preparation for the upcoming battles, the tribe of Levi is not included - their service in the Tabernacle exempted them from military duty. The twenty thousand odd Levites who were counted in the first census were now replaced by newly turned 20-year-olds. 

     The simplest and most beautiful explanation to the question appears in Cassuto's commentary to Exodus. Cassuto describes the way that tallies were taken in the ancient world. It was neither a simple undertaking nor a quick one. Census takers would record lists on clay which were then handed over to assessors who would examine the lists and count up the names and figures. It was a long and arduous process. In the first year (Tishrei of year one - when Exodus 30 reports the first census) the task of counting the people began. Long lines of Israelites were formed - one by one, individuals stepped up to a clerk, and upon donating a half-shekel had their names recorded. Once all the shekels were collected work on the sockets for the Tabernacle began. 

     It took six months to build the Tabernacle, a job completed at the start of the second Nissan when the Tabernacle was dedicated with great fanfare. Meanwhile, all the preliminary work had been done for tallying up the people. Once Nissan was over, the ceremonies completed and the second Passover passed, attention could be turned to the stacks of tablets with the Israelites' statistics chiseled (or pressed) into them. This is what the Torah means by commanding a census be taken in Numbers chapter one - not that a new count be undertaken, but that the information compiled seven months ago be examined, interpreted and processed. What indeed would be the point of a second census so soon after the first - even had the numbers changed by several thousand in the interim due to new 20-year-olds or retired or dead seniors? The number reached in Numbers is identical to that in Exodus because there was only one census taken. 

     The Torah discusses the census twice, from different perspectives precisely because it had two functions. Exodus is concerned with how much money was needed to build the Tabernacle so we are told about the half-shekel donations and the final total amassed at the end of the collection. We are not told how much money was given by the individual tribes because it's irrelevant - one Tabernacle served as the religious center for the entire nation. But while the money was taken in, information was also gathered which would be put to use seven months later when battle plans were being drawn up and strategies were being devised to divide up the Land of Israel. This is why Numbers 1 gives us a tribe by tribe accounting of Israel's strengths - the officials have had time to tabulate the numbers that are now important to the nation's development. Lastly, this reading of the two episodes explains why there is no fear of plague in the second census. There was no indirect counting because there was no counting at all. What we have encountered is a prime example of one event appearing in two accounts to teach two different ideas.