Chasidut על אסתר 2:3

Another approach to the verse: ‎כי תשא את ראש בני ישראל ‏לפקודיהם ונתנו איש כופר נפשו וגו'‏‎, we have a rule that we ‎learned from the Zohar on Exodus 19,3 ‎ומשה עלה אל האלוקים ‏ויקרא אליו ה' מן ההר‎, “and Moses had ascended towards G’d, and ‎‎Hashem called out to him from the Mountain, etc,” that ”all ‎spiritual ascents of man must be oriented toward his declaring ‎the Creator as his King.” This idea has also been alluded to in our ‎verse when the Torah speaks about elevating the Children of ‎Israel, i.e.‎כי תשא את בני ישראל‎. The root ‎פקד‎ occurs already in ‎Esther 2,3 where we are told that the king appointed officials by ‎writing: ‎ויפקד המלך פקידים‎, “the king appointed officials etc.” The ‎half shekel that the Israelites were to pay as ransom for their ‎souls, were intended to insure that they would progress towards ‎their task of appointing G’d as their King. This is the reason why ‎the Torah added the word ‎לה'‏‎, i.e. “for Hashem.” after the ‎word ‎נפשו‎.‎