Numbers 2:18

18 The station of the camp of Ephraim westward with their forces, and the head of the children of Ephraim Elisama the son of Emiud.

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 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

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

Numbers 2:18 In-Context

16 All who were numbered of the camp of Ruben, were a hundred and fifty-one thousand and four hundred and fifty: they with their forces shall proceed in the second place.

17 And the tabernacle of witness shall be set forward, and the camp of the Levites between the camps; as they shall encamp, so also shall they commence their march, each one next in order to his fellow according to their companies.

18 The station of the camp of Ephraim westward with their forces, and the head of the children of Ephraim Elisama the son of Emiud.

19 His forces that were numbered, are forty thousand and five hundred.

20 And they that encamp next of the tribe of Manasse, and the prince of the sons of Manasse, Gamaliel the son of Phadassur.

Footnotes

• [a]. by the sea.