Number crunching – B’midbar

The census of the Israelites, by Henri Félix Philippoteaux
Australians know what it means to take part in a national census. They feel on familiar territory in the early part of this sidra with its careful tabulation of the numbers of the tribes of Israel.

But surely all we need to know is the bottom line – the sum total of the Israelite population without all the detailed statistics.

One reason for all the small print is that a nation which might confront an enemy has to have exact information as to the numbers of people available for military service in each sector of the population.

Ramban (Nachmanides) adds a remarkable comment. The Torah promised Israel in last week’s sidra – that if they obeyed the word of God, “you shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword; five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand…” (Lev. 26:7-8).

But this is no guarantee that there would always be miracles, that help would always come from heaven, and that Israel could leave it all to God.

Nachmanides obviously recognises the possibility of miracles. But he warns that miracles are not supernatural events that drop from above: “The Torah orders matters to be conducted in the normal human fashion… it is not the Divine desire to change the nature of the world”.

How then do military miracles occur?

Through human beings acting with miraculous courage and faith.

In 1948 David Ben Gurion asked Chief Rabbi Herzog why God did not send a miracle to save Israel from the enemy. The rabbi replied, “Prime Minister, I regard you as one of God’s miracles!”

This entry is filed under B'midbar, Parashah Insights.

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