Numbers 2:18

18 On the west side will be the flag of the children of Ephraim, with Elishama, the son of Ammihud, as their chief.

Numbers 2:18 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 2:18

On the west side [shall be] the standard of the camp of
Ephraim, according to their armies
It was in the rear or behind, consisting of his tribe, and of the tribes of Manasseh and Benjamin, divided into several companies, and extended four miles, as the above Targum. The Jewish writers say F12, that Joseph's stone is the onyx or sardonyx, and his flag was coloured very black, and on it were figured for the two princes, Ephraim and Manasseh, Egypt, because they were born in Egypt; and upon the flag of Ephraim was figured an ox, because of what is said in ( Deuteronomy 33:17 ) ; and on the flag of the tribe of Manasseh was figured an unicorn, because of what is said in the same place. Benjamin's stone was the jasper, and his flag was coloured like to twelve colours, and on it was figured a wolf, because of what is said ( Genesis 49:27 ) ;

and the captain of the sons of Ephraim [shall be] Elishama the son of
Ammihud;
of whom see ( Numbers 1:10 ) ( 7:48 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F12 Bemidbar Rabba, ut supra. (sect. 2. fol. 178. 2.)

Numbers 2:18 In-Context

16 The number of all the armies of Reuben together came to a hundred and fifty-one thousand, four hundred and fifty. They go forward second.
17 Then the Tent of meeting is to go forward, with the tents of the Levites, in the middle of the armies; in the same order as their tents are placed, they are to go forward, every man under his flag.
18 On the west side will be the flag of the children of Ephraim, with Elishama, the son of Ammihud, as their chief.
19 The number of his army was forty thousand, five hundred.
20 And by him the tribe of Manasseh with Gamaliel, the son of Pedahzur, as their chief.
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