The Army And The Divine Presence

In our parsha, before Hashem rests the Divine Presence amongst Israel, He commands Moses in Bamidbar (1:2) to count “every male according to their head count; (1:3) from twenty years of age and up – everyone who goes out to the army in Israel – you shall count them according to their armies, you and Aaron.”

The commentaries ask what everyone who goes out to the army has to do with resting the Divine Presence amongst Israel?

The Kli Yakar gives two answers to this question:

1. In this verse, Hashem commands us to only count soldiers who are at least 20 years old even though there may be younger soldiers as well. Why does the verse distinguish between younger and older soldiers?

At 13 years old, a boy becomes bar mitzvah and technically becomes a man. Legally, this means that he’s entered the realm of responsibility and can be held liable for his actions by a Jewish court and punished.

Jewish tradition adds, however, that even though he is liable by our worldly courts, he’s still not yet liable by the Heavenly Court. The age whereby he becomes liable by the Heavenly court is 20 years old. Therefore, when a person turns 20 years old, he’s more thoughtful, more aware of what he does, and more likely to supervise his actions than someone not yet 20.

The verse’s distinction between younger and older soldiers teaches us that Hashem isn’t interested in strength and physical power but in merits and righteousness. It’s because of these merits and righteousness that the Divine Presence rests amongst Israel.

2. The Medrash Tanchuma says that when Hashem revealed Himself at Mount Sinai, 22,000 chariots of administering angels accompanied Him. This number 22,000 is important because we learn in Bamidbar (10:36) that the Divine Presence doesn’t rest amongst Israel unless there is a camp of at least 22,000 Jews.

In total, the Sefer HaPardes says, there are 22,000 administering angels in each of the 28 camps of the Divine Presence.

In our verse, Hashem commands Moses to count everyone who goes out to the army because He wants to see if there are enough soldiers amongst the Jewish people to correspond to His army of administering angels in the upper world.

In this second understanding, everyone who goes out to the army doesn’t represent actual soldiers… rather it represents those Jewish men that are fitting to correspond to Hashem’s administering angels.