Musar for Numbers 1:1

במדבר סיני . This book is called חומש הפקודים, the book of those who have been numbered, because of the census the people of Israel underwent. This count will never become irrelevant (else we would not read about it annually, after over three thousand years). Our sages say that the purpose of the census was to ensure that the שכינה, Divine Presence, would take up permanent residence amongst the Jewish people. I believe that this Parshah and all its details refers to the מחנה כהונה. The מחנה שכינה on earth is, of course, "opposite" of the מחנה שכינה in the Celestial Region (Bamidbar Rabbah 4,13).

Bamidbar Rabbah 1,9, on Numbers 1,1, שאו את ראש, says that G–d said to Israel: "I have not liked any other creature more than you, that is why I have 'raised' your head high." I have made you similar to Me. Just as My "head" is high, as stated in Chronicles I 29,11: והמתנשא לכל ראש, "so your head is high," as stated in Psalms 148,14: "He has exalted the horn of His people."