Numbers 2:29-34

29 Then the tribe of Naphtali, with Ahira, the son of Enan, as their chief.

30 The number of his army was fifty-three thousand, four hundred.

31 The number of all the armies in the tents of Dan was a hundred and fifty-seven thousand, six hundred. They will go forward last, by their flags.

32 These are all who were numbered of the children of Israel, in the order of their fathers' families: all the armies in their tents together came to six hundred and three thousand, five hundred and fifty.

33 But the Levites were not numbered among the children of Israel, as the Lord said to Moses.

34 So the children of Israel did as the Lord said to Moses, so they put up their tents by their flags, and they went forward in the same order, by their families, and by their fathers' houses.

Numbers 2:29-34 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 2

This chapter contains the order of the encampment and march of the tribes of Israel in their proper places about the tabernacle; the general direction for the same is in Nu 1:1,2; the particulars follow; on the cast of the tabernacle the camp of Judah was to pitch, and under his standard the tribes of Issachar and Zebulun, Nu 1:3-9; on the south side of it the camp of Reuben, and under his standard the tribes of Simeon and Gad, Nu 1:10-16; then the tabernacle, with the camp of the Levites round it, were next, to stand or set forward, Nu 1:17; and on the west side the camp of Ephraim, and under his standard the tribes of Manasseh and Benjamin, Nu 1:18-24; and on the north side the camp of Dan, and under his standard the tribes of Asher and Naphtali, Nu 1:25-31; the sum total of the numbers of which camps are given, exclusive of the camp of Levi, Nu 1:32,33; and the chapter is concluded with observing, that all was done according to the commandment of God, Nu 1:34.