NUMBERS 2:1-31

 

                            Encamped (2009 collage)

Immediately following a census of all the Israelites in the second year after their escape from Egypt, God gives orders to Moses as to how the people are to pitch their tents in the wilderness. This is followed with additional detailed instructions concerning the order in which all the tribes are to march.

One must admit that even the most ardent student of the Bible is likely to have trouble getting excited about these minute instructions. But below are some overall points that may be of interest to you.

“The twelve tribes are divided into four divisions, each with three tribes. A combination of genealogical and geographical principles influences their positions around the wilderness sanctuary.” (D.P Wright)

These divisions are as follows:

    1. The three tribes descending from Rachel who also settled later in the central area of Israel are placed to the west of the tabernacle.

    2. The three tribes descending from maidservants of Rachel and Leah are on the north. These tribes settled in the northern part of Israel.

    3. The two tribes coming from Leah are joined by Zilpah's descendants in camping to the south of the sanctuary. And appropriately these tribes would make their home in the southernmost area of Israel.

    4. The remaining tribes of Judah, Issachar and Zebulum who all descended from Leah are located to the east of the sanctuary. This is appropriate since it places the favored tribe of Judah facing the entrance to the sanctuary.

The Levites form an exception to this general order in that they were not to inherit any land. However, they got the signal honor of guarding and caring for the tabernacle at the exact center of the camp. And they were to camp directly around it (Numbers 1:48-53).

“R.K. Harrison has noted that the arrangement of the tribes in ch. 2 was long regarded by liberal critics as indicating the late date of the priestly material in the Pentateuch, but it is now known that Rameses II, the contemporary of Moses, used the same arrangement in his Syrian campaign.” (Carson)

Another criticism of the historical accuracy of this passage is mentioned by Thompson: “Some commentators have regarded this chapter as an idealization of what Israel actually did in the wilderness and have proposed that the chapter was influenced by Ezk. 48.” But that view assumes that Numbers was written after Ezekiel's prophecies, a fact that many would question.

The most prominent feature of this camp arrangement is the centrality of the sanctuary, the tent of meeting. “The tent of meeting stood as the central feature of the whole encampment or on the march and symbolized the divine presence in Israel's midst at all times. It was no longer outside the camp (cf. Ex. 33:7f) but in the very center.” (Thompson)

But that central position gave rise to one problem, as described by Schnittjer: “Numbers 5:1-2 enumerates many of the situations which cause ritual impairment: skin conditions, those with discharges, and contact with corpses. The reason for temporarily expelling them from the camp relates directly to the new arrangement of the tribes around the tabernacle. Now that the tabernacle has been moved into the encampment, its holiness became vulnerable to ritual pollution (5:3; 19:13; cf. 12:15).”

The next most prominent feature concerns the position of the tribe of Judah, as Schnittjer also points out: “The tribe of Judah camps in first position on the east of the tabernacle (Num 2:3), worships first (Num 7:12-17), marches first (Num 10:14), and receives the first allotment in the land proper after crossing the Jordan (Josh 14-15).”

This premier position of Judah carries on into the NT in the naming of tribes in the book of Revelation. Beale and McDonough say, “The fact that Judah is listed first in the register of tribes in 7:5-8 is striking, since out of the many Old Testament lists of the twelve tribes it is rarely cited first...The priority of Judah here emphasized the precedence of the messianic king who was to come from the tribe of Judah (cf. Gen 49:10; I Chron. 5:1-2).”

This positioning of the twelve tribes sends out echoes throughout the Bible, as shown below:

Numbers 2:1-9: camping order with the tribes centered around the tabernacle, representing God's presence

North – Dan, Asher, Naphtali

East – Judah, Issachar, Zebulun

South – Reuben, Simeon, Gad

West – Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin

Ezekiel 48:30-34: blueprint for the ideal restored temple with twelve exit gates

North – Reuben, Judah, Levi

East – Joseph, Benjamin, Dan

South – Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun

West – Gad, Asher, Naphtali

The Temple Scroll of Qumran: description for the temple that Solomon should have built

North – Dan, Naphtali, Asher

East – Simeon, Levi, Judah

South – Reuben, Joseph, Benjamin

West – Issachar, Zebulun, Gad

Revelation 21:12-13: the twelve gates to the New Jerusalem which has God and Christ at its center Three gates on each of the four sides, with each gate containing the name of a different tribe

Ford feels that “The emphasis on the maternal origin [of the tribes] is consonant with the symbolism of the woman in Revelation...The tribes in 21:9-14 are intimately associated with the figure of the bride...The new city (in distinction from the temple) which Ezekiel sees has the same symmetrical design, for it is a square (48:15ff.) and has twelve gates, three on each side.”

And Mounce says, “In Ezekiel 48:30-34 the twelve gates of the New Jerusalem are named after the twelve tribes of Israel...In John's vision the gates which bear the names of the twelve tribes are entrances for all the peoples of the earth whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life (Rev 21:24-27)...Reference to twelve tribes emphasizes the continuity of the New Testament church with God's people of Old Testament times.”

One commentator even feels that the scene of the Last Supper with Christ surrounded by his twelve Apostles fits into the above pattern.