Midras Bilangan 2:19: Midrash Tanchuma Buber

(Exod. 30:12): WHEN YOU TAKE A CENSUS <…, EACH SHALL GIVE A RANSOM FOR HIS LIFE…,> SO THAT NO PLAGUE COME UPON THEM. When Moses heard this, he was afraid, and said (as Job. 2:4): SKIN FOR SKIN! ALL THAT ONE HAS HE WILL GIVE FOR HIS LIFE.¹⁸Tanh., Exod. 9:11; cf. below, Numb. 2:19. R. Judah b. R. Il'ay said: Moses said: We have already found that a ransom for a person's life is a talent of silver. It is so stated (in I Kings 20:39): IT WILL BE YOUR LIFE FOR HIS LIFE OR YOU WILL PAY A TALENT [OF SILVER]. R. Johanan said: From whom did he learn <about the ransom >? From the one who commits libel. Thus it is stated (concerning the man who commits libel against his virgin bride in Deut. 22:19): AND THEY SHALL FINE HIM A HUNDRED <SHEKELS OF> SILVER. Now we have committed libel against the Holy One¹⁹PR 10:12. and said (of the golden calf in Exod. 32:4): THIS IS YOUR GOD, O ISRAEL. <Therefore,> each and every one of us must give a hundred <shekels> of silver. Resh Laqish said: Moses learned <about the ransom> from <the law concerning > the rapist. It is written (concerning the rapist in Deut. 22:29): THE MAN WHO LAY WITH HER SHALL GIVE [TO THE YOUNG WOMAN'S FATHER FIFTY <SHEKELS OF> SILVER]. Now we have raped the <divine> word. Thus it is written (in Exod. 20:3): YOU SHALL HAVE NO [OTHER GODS] <BESIDES ME>; and we have committed idolatry. <Therefore,> each and every one of us must give fifty < shekels of> silver. R. Judah bar Simon said: Moses learned from <the law concerning> a goring bull, since it is stated (in Exod. 21:32): IF A BULL GORES A MALE [OR FEMALE] SLAVE, [HE SHALL GIVE THIRTY SHEKELS OF SILVER TO THE MASTER]. Now we have exchanged his glory for a bull. It is so stated (in Ps. 106:20): THUS THEY EXCHANGED THEIR GLORY FOR THE IMAGE OF A BULL. Does every one of us have to give thirty shekels? The Holy One knew what was in Moses' heart. He said to him: By your life, <the ransom will be> not a talent of silver, not a hundred < shekels of> silver, not fifty shekels of silver, and not thirty shekels, but (as in Exod. 30:13): <EVERYONE WHO IS ENTERED IN THE RECORDS > SHALL GIVE THIS: <A HALF SHEKEL >.