זוהר שמות — דף רכו ע”א

Israel below does not stand in the counting directly but through a substitute, and the redemption is what holds the account. When David counted Israel, seventy thousand died. Silver comes from judgment, and the secret of letters unfolds from the secret of water becoming a sea. From there the structure rises upward and everything unfolds in the secret of the letters. The entire accounting of the Tabernacle was bound to the secret of the letters, for all is included in one secret.