The Book of Numbers conducts a census to determine how many people there are. The assumption (and most common translation) is that this is done to count the military might of the people. Here is that common translation:
You and Aaron shall record them by their groups, from the age of twenty years up, all those in Israel who are able to bear arms. (Num. 1:3)
But the Torah does not say this! This is because the key word that is understood to mean “army,” or “bear arms” tzavah, almost never means that in the text!
Here are some examples:
It is the same Aaron and Moses to whom G-d said, “Bring forth the Israelites from the land of Egypt, tzavah by tzavah. (Ex. 6:26)
When Pharaoh does not heed you, I will lay My hand upon Egypt and deliver My tzavah, My people the Israelites, from the land of Egypt with extraordinary chastisements. (Ex. 7:4)
You shall observe the [Feast of] Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your tzavahs out of the land of Egypt; you shall observe this day throughout the ages as an institution for all time. (Ex. 12:17)
At the end of the four hundred and thirtieth year, to the very day, all the tzavah of G-d departed from the land of Egypt. (ex. 12:41)
None of these are military in context. At most, they refer to the mass of the people. So if the commandment in Numbers is not really a military census, why do it? What does tzavah imply?
Let’s look at the first time tzavah is used in the Torah:
The heaven and the earth were finished, and all their tzavah. (Gen. 2:1)
The tzavah are thus definable as all the appurtenances of the Heaven and Earth, everything that makes them more than just simple objects – plants and animals and people.
Which is odd. Since after all, the Jewish people are described using this word! And more than this! We are described in Exodus as being “the tzavah of G-d.”
Perhaps the word does indeed imply some kind of power. But that power need not be physical! If the heaven and earth have their physical tzavah, perhaps the Jewish people represent G-d’s spiritual tzavah? Are we not supposed to be G-d’s representatives to the rest of the world?
This might also explain why the tribe of Levi are not included in the tzavah. The people all face outward as G-d’s army, but Leviim, by their very identity as internal facilitators and “in-house” servants to G-d, face inward.
The tzavah of G-d, the Jewish people, are thus meant to be a parallel to the tzavah of heaven and earth!