Numbers 2
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CHAPTER 2
The Arrangement of the Tribal Camps (2:1–34)
1–2 The Lord, through Moses and Aaron, instructed the Israelites to camp around the Tent of Meeting (tabernacle). When the Israelites left Egypt they had been a disorganized mob. Now as they were getting ready to march, they needed to be organized; each man (verse 2) was to know his place in the larger community. The tribes were identified by their banners.
The tabernacle was thus surrounded by the camps of the twelve tribes. When the Israelites first came to Mount Sinai, God appeared to them from the mountaintop (Exodus 12:16–18). Later when the tabernacle was completed, He appeared within the tabernacle (Exodus 40:34–35); but the tabernacle was still outside the main camp of the Israelites. Now, according to God’s instructions, the Israelite camps were to be relocated so that the tabernacle would be in their midst. God had symbolically moved from the mountaintop into the midst of His people; He was preparing His people to live in His presence. Fourteen centuries later, He would come in a new and very personal way to make His dwelling (tabernacle) among His people (John 1:14). He would come in the person of His Son Jesus, who would not only live among His people but also die for them—and for the world.
3–34 In these verses the names of the tribes, the numbers of men, and the leaders of each tribe (Numbers 1:5–15) are repeated. But the order is different. In the census, the tribe of Reuben was listed first (Numbers 1:20), because he was the eldest of the twelve sons of Jacob. But in the arrangement of the tribal camps, the tribe of Judah is listed first. This is significant, because when Jacob gave his blessing to his twelve sons he singled out two of them: Joseph, who was to receive a double blessing; and Judah, who was to bear the scepter of royalty (Genesis 49:10). And indeed Jacob’s blessings were fulfilled: Joseph (through his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh) received a double allotment of land in Canaan; and Judah, through his son Perez, became the ancestor of DAVID, Israel’s greatest king (Ruth 4:18–22). And David became the ancestor of Jesus Christ, the King of kings (Matthew 1:6–16), whose kingdom will never end.