Numbers 2--Arrangement of the Camp

Numbers 2
English Standard Version

Arrangement of the Camp
2 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 2 “The people of Israel shall camp each by his own standard, with the banners of their fathers' houses. They shall camp facing the tent of meeting on every side. 3 Those to camp on the east side toward the sunrise shall be of the standard of the camp of Judah by their companies, the chief of the people of Judah being Nahshon the son of Amminadab, 4 his company as listed being 74,600. 5 Those to camp next to him shall be the tribe of Issachar, the chief of the people of Issachar being Nethanel the son of Zuar, 6 his company as listed being 54,400. 7 Then the tribe of Zebulun, the chief of the people of Zebulun being Eliab the son of Helon, 8 his company as listed being 57,400. 9 All those listed of the camp of Judah, by their companies, were 186,400. They shall set out first on the march.

10 “On the south side shall be the standard of the camp of Reuben by their companies, the chief of the people of Reuben being Elizur the son of Shedeur, 11 his company as listed being 46,500. 12 And those to camp next to him shall be the tribe of Simeon, the chief of the people of Simeon being Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai, 13 his company as listed being 59,300. 14 Then the tribe of Gad, the chief of the people of Gad being Eliasaph the son of Reuel, 15 his company as listed being 45,650. 16 All those listed of the camp of Reuben, by their companies, were 151,450. They shall set out second.

17 “Then the tent of meeting shall set out, with the camp of the Levites in the midst of the camps; as they camp, so shall they set out, each in position, standard by standard.

18 “On the west side shall be the standard of the camp of Ephraim by their companies, the chief of the people of Ephraim being Elishama the son of Ammihud, 19 his company as listed being 40,500. 20 And next to him shall be the tribe of Manasseh, the chief of the people of Manasseh being Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur, 21 his company as listed being 32,200. 22 Then the tribe of Benjamin, the chief of the people of Benjamin being Abidan the son of Gideoni, 23 his company as listed being 35,400. 24 All those listed of the camp of Ephraim, by their companies, were 108,100. They shall set out third on the march.

25 “On the north side shall be the standard of the camp of Dan by their companies, the chief of the people of Dan being Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai, 26 his company as listed being 62,700. 27 And those to camp next to him shall be the tribe of Asher, the chief of the people of Asher being Pagiel the son of Ochran, 28 his company as listed being 41,500. 29 Then the tribe of Naphtali, the chief of the people of Naphtali being Ahira the son of Enan, 30 his company as listed being 53,400. 31 All those listed of the camp of Dan were 157,600. They shall set out last, standard by standard.”

32 These are the people of Israel as listed by their fathers' houses. All those listed in the camps by their companies were 603,550. 33 But the Levites were not listed among the people of Israel, as the Lord commanded Moses.

​34 Thus did the people of Israel. According to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so they camped by their standards, and so they set out, each one in his clan, according to his fathers' house.

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There's a couple of different ways to visualize this passage, though one of the more popular theories today is that the camp was laid out in way that formed a cross (see the image above which has the camp laid out this way and also gives a close approximation of the color of the stones in the high priest's breastplate that represented each tribe), long before the people would even know what a cross was or that it would be the sign of salvation to both the Jews and the Gentiles.  Your visualization of the passage mostly has to do if you visualize "next to him"--are they branching out in arms of a cross (like the image above) or are they forming sides of quadrilateral (like the image below)?   I'm not going to be dogmatic about either layout being the "correct" visualization of what's going on, but I'll tell you that I actually lean more toward the first option because I can see God laying them out in such a way where people would imagine Him looking down from heaven and seeing the cross of Christ when He saw His people.  It would also be a testimony for years to come of it always being about the gospel and about the cross with the worship of God and His holy presence at the very center of everything.  While my mind prefers the visualization in the top image, I would not contend or debate with those that visualize it as the bottom image.

Things that are important to say here though.  There is order.  Everything and everyone and everyone has a place.  The camp is always set up the same way every time, and the Tabernacle was always set up with its entrance facing the East, so that the light of the dawn would shine its beautiful reddish beams into the Tabernacle, with Moses, Aaron, and the Aaronites that served as priests and as High Priest living closest to the entrance of the Tabernacle--and the last defenders of the Tabernacle should someone try to come in and do it harm.

The numbers here correspond to the census that was just taken in chapter 1.  God also assigned leadership roles to the tribes of Judah, Reuben, Ephraim and Dan.  We'll see later in the Old Testament that there were good leaders and bad leaders among these tribes, but that these tribes listed here definitely seemed to be the leaders of the people for both good and evil, and God knew this already.  Each tribe had their own "standard" or "banner" or "flag" which was led their tribe into battle and showed them where to camp.  In this way it was clear to the other nations that these were Twelve tribes that were united together to be one people, with no "standard," "banner" or "flag" for the Levites as they were not to go into battle and they were to set up camp around the Tabernacle--it was to be their marker for where they were always supposed to be whether they were working or sleeping.  They were always to be near to the presence of God.

Part of me, when I read this passage, looks forward to seeing the layout of the New Jerusalem.  How will it look when all of God's people serve as priests before Him?  What will it look like when no one has to be assigned to guard duty because there is no more threat of attack and the gates of the city are always open?  There will be no more Tabernacle then, but it will be the Son of God Himself who will be at the center of that city (or eternal "encampment," and there will be no more rising or setting of the Sun as the glory of the Son of God will illuminate the city and drive out all darkness.  What will be the same and what will be different?  We'll know when we get there, but I know that both here in the beginning and then at the end that the people of God are to live in such a way that puts God at the center of everything they are and everything that they do--even the layout of this camp says that to the Israelites and everyone else who saw them encamped in the desert of Sinai.