Commentary for II Samuel 24:9

The sum of the people's census. If there was a counting, why was a [second] counting [needed]?⁴The verse uses two different words but they both mean “counting.” He [Yoav] made two countings, one major one and one smaller one. He reasoned, "I will show him [Dovid] the smaller one and if he gets angry, I will show him the larger one." That is why the verse uses the word מִפְקָד which conveys [that something is] missing. This is how [the verse] is interpreted in the Pesikta.

Yisroel's [total] was. They became enfeebled like a woman.⁵וַתִּהִי is the feminine conjugation.

Eight hundred thousand. But in Divrei Hayomim⁶Divrei Hayomim I, 21:5. it says, "One million and one hundred thousand"? In the Aggadah of the Amoroyim⁷Pesikta Raba 11. we find, Rabbi Yehoshua, the son of Levi said The verses fill in in one place what is missing in another place; there are two tribes which were not counted⁸And they account for the difference. because this is what is written in Divrei Hayomim,⁹Ibid 21:6. "Levi and Binyomin were not counted among them because the king's command was abhorrent to Yoav." Yoav said, With these [tribes] I can escape [from my commitment] and say [as an excuse] The tribe of Levi is not counted together with the rest of the tribes but [instead] is counted from one month old and up¹⁰Bamidbar 2:15. [and as far as] Binyomin [is concerned] it is enough that [their ranks] were depleted by the incident of the concubine in the valley.¹¹The story is related in Shoftim beginning in chapter 19. In the tract about the thirty-two rules [by which the Torah is elucidated] [authored] by Rabbi Eliezer, the son of Rabbi Yosse the Galilite we learned [as follows], one verse says,¹²Divrei Hayomim I, 21:5. "The [total of] all Yisroel was one million and one hundred thousand… and Yehudah [totaled] four hundred and seventy thousand." Another verse says,¹³Our verse here. "Yisroel's [total] was eight hundred thousand… and the men of Yehudah were five hundred thousand." The difference between the two [accounts] is three hundred thousand." What happenned to them? A third verse redresses the imbalance, "The people of Yisroel by their number, of the heads of families and the officers in charge of thousands and of hundreds and their marshals serving the king in all matters pertaining to the division those entering [the service] and those leaving, for every month of the year, each division had twenty-four thousand men." This teaches us that the [missing] three hundred thousand were [already] accounted for in the royal record and did not need to be counted [again].¹⁴The amount of Yisroel soldiers numbered in Divrei Hayomim is 1,100,000. Subtracting the 800,000 Yisroel soldiers numbered in our verse, we get 300,000. How does this work?¹⁵How do we account for 300,000 using this verse that only mentions 24,000. Twenty four thousand for [each of the] twelve [months] gives us two hundred and eighty-eight thousand this leaves us with twelve thousand [still unaccounted for] these are the leaders of Yisroel¹⁶The leaders were not included in the 24,000 officers and marshals mentioned in Divrei Hayomim I, 27:1. themselves.¹⁷Our verse of 800,000 is the figure of those who needed to be counted. the verse in Divrei Hayomim I, 21:5 includes our 800,000 in addition to the 300,000 already accounted for.