Еврейская мысль к Шмуэль Б 24:4

Questions regarding the "half shekel" legislation. 1) We are warned that if counted physically, i.e. by means of a headcount, instead of by means of the coin, there would be a plague. Why should Israel have been subject to such a plague? Why should the numbering of the Israelites be dangerous for us when it does not seem to be a source of danger to any of the other nations? On the contrary, since the counting would be the fulfilment of a mitzvah, that very fact should act as protection! Even the count of the nation at the request of David, (Samuel II 24,4) did not produce a plague, since David had been offered three choices of punishment. That particular situation may have represented the three things a king is warned not to indulge in. They are (a) not to marry too many wives, (b) not to acquire too many horses; (c) not to accumulate too much money. All three prohibitions represent the temptation of self aggrandisement, i.e. "see how much I have!" The choice of punishment offered David would therefore be in line with these three prohibitions (let the punishment fit the crime) (a) hunger, famine. This means there is not enough money to buy food. (b) war; this entails a reduction in the number of horses one owns, in the size of one's army. (c) pestilence; this means that the wives would lose their raison d'etre if the children they bear in pain, will die as a result of the pestilence. 2) Even granted that the evil eye exercises some control over numbers, and that therefore the commandment not to count heads is a protective measure for Israel, why was not everyone ordered to contribute a whole item instead of a half shekel? Why the repeated emphasis on the nature of the shekel being merely a "half?" The Midrash suggests that the sin of the golden calf took place at midday, the day's halfway mark, and that therefore atonement should correspond to that fact, and that this is symbolised by the half coin. If this is so, why does the whole story precede the report of the golden calf? 3) What was the sin which needed to be atoned for, if the purpose was merely to protect against the consequences of a headcount? 4) Granted the efficay of this method in warding off the evil eye, why did this procedure have to take place annually, even when there was no apparent reason for counting the people in preparation for war or any other purpose? 5) Why the enumeration of the spices and oil for anointing also in "half" measures? 6) Why were Betzalel and Oholiav appointed by name? 7) Why is the portion of Sabbath observance adjacent to the portion dealing with the construction of the tabernacle?