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Numbers 2: What the Passage Says

65 claims across 34 verses, in the order the chapter makes them.

Not a sermon outline. What Numbers 2 says, and what its hard words meant. The reading of it is yours.

The Chapter in a Sentence

The LORD tells Moses and Aaron how Israel is to camp and how it is to move: three tribes on each side of the Tent of Meeting, at a distance from it, each group under its own flag, with a named leader and a counted number of men. The camp of Judah sets out first, then the camp of Reuben, then the Tent of Meeting with the Levites in the middle of the camps, then Ephraim, and Dan last. The chapter gives the full total counted, 603,550, states that the Levites were not counted among the rest of the Israelites, and ends by saying the Israelites did all that the LORD commanded Moses.

Claim by Claim

  1. 2:1
    • The LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron.
    • The LORD told them to say what follows.
  2. 2:2
    • The Israelites are to camp each man by his own standard.
    • They are to camp with the ensigns belonging to their fathers' houses.
    • They are to camp at a distance, facing the tent of meeting.
    • They are to camp around the tent of meeting on all sides.
  3. 2:3
    • On the east side, toward the sunrise, the standard of the camp of Judah is to be pitched.
    • Judah's camp is arranged by its divisions.
    • Nahshon son of Amminadab is the leader of the children of Judah.
  4. 2:4
    • The division of Judah, those numbered of them, was 74,600.
  5. 2:5
    • The tribe of Issachar is to camp next to Judah.
    • Nethanel son of Zuar is the leader of the children of Issachar.
  6. 2:6
    • The division of Issachar, those numbered of it, was 54,400.
  7. 2:7
    • The tribe of Zebulun is next.
    • Eliab son of Helon is the leader of the children of Zebulun.
  8. 2:8
    • The division of Zebulun, those numbered of it, was 57,400.
  9. 2:9
    • All those numbered for the camp of Judah were 186,400, by their divisions.
    • The camp of Judah is to set out first.
  10. 2:10
    • The standard of the camp of Reuben is to be on the south side.
    • Reuben's camp is arranged by its divisions.
    • Elizur son of Shedeur is the leader of the children of Reuben.
  11. 2:11
    • The division of Reuben, those numbered of it, was 46,500.
  12. 2:12
    • The tribe of Simeon is to camp next to Reuben.
    • Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai is the leader of the children of Simeon.
  13. 2:13
    • The division of Simeon, those numbered of them, was 59,300.
  14. 2:14
    • The tribe of Gad is next.
    • Eliasaph son of Reuel is the leader of the children of Gad.
  15. 2:15
    • The division of Gad, those numbered of them, was 45,650.
  16. 2:16
    • All those numbered for the camp of Reuben were 151,450, by their divisions.
    • The camp of Reuben is to set out second.
  17. 2:17
    • The tent of meeting is to set out with the camp of the Levites in the middle of the camps.
    • They are to set out in the same arrangement in which they camp.
    • Each man is to be in his own place, by their standards.
  18. 2:18
    • The standard of the camp of Ephraim is to be on the west side.
    • Ephraim's camp is arranged by its divisions.
    • Elishama son of Ammihud is the leader of the children of Ephraim.
  19. 2:19
    • The division of Ephraim, those numbered of them, was 40,500.
  20. 2:20
    • The tribe of Manasseh is to be next to Ephraim.
    • Gamaliel son of Pedahzur is the leader of the children of Manasseh.
  21. 2:21
    • The division of Manasseh, those numbered of them, was 32,200.
  22. 2:22
    • The tribe of Benjamin is next.
    • Abidan son of Gideoni is the leader of the children of Benjamin.
  23. 2:23
    • The division of Benjamin, those numbered of them, was 35,400.
  24. 2:24
    • All those numbered for the camp of Ephraim were 108,100, by their divisions.
    • The camp of Ephraim is to set out third.
  25. 2:25
    • The standard of the camp of Dan is to be on the north side.
    • Dan's camp is arranged by its divisions.
    • Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai is the leader of the children of Dan.
  26. 2:26
    • The division of Dan, those numbered of them, was 62,700.
  27. 2:27
    • The tribe of Asher is to camp next to Dan.
    • Pagiel son of Ocran is the leader of the children of Asher.
  28. 2:28
    • The division of Asher, those numbered of them, was 41,500.
  29. 2:29
    • The tribe of Naphtali is next.
    • Ahira son of Enan is the leader of the children of Naphtali.
  30. 2:30
    • The division of Naphtali, those numbered of them, was 53,400.
  31. 2:31
    • All those numbered for the camp of Dan were 157,600.
    • The camp of Dan is to set out last, by their standards.
  32. 2:32
    • These are those numbered of the children of Israel by their fathers' houses.
    • All those numbered of the camps, by their divisions, were 603,550.
  33. 2:33
    • The Levites were not numbered among the children of Israel.
    • This was as the LORD commanded Moses.
  34. 2:34
    • The children of Israel did according to all that the LORD commanded Moses.
    • They camped by their standards accordingly.
    • They set out accordingly.
    • Each man was with his families, according to his fathers' house.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

2:1
In the King James Version, "LORD" printed in capitals stands wherever the Hebrew has the personal name of Israel's God (the four letters usually written YHWH), which Jewish tradition avoids pronouncing aloud. "Lord" in ordinary type renders a different, ordinary word meaning master.
2:2
"Standard" and "banners" (KJV "standard" and "ensign") are the emblems or poles each group camped and marched under, like military colors; the text never says what they looked like. A "father's house" is an extended family tracing itself to a common ancestor, the unit into which a tribe was divided. The "tabernacle of the congregation" (Tent of Meeting) is the portable tent-sanctuary described in Exodus, taken down, carried, and pitched again at the center of the camp wherever the people stopped.
2:3
The camp is laid out by compass directions around the tent, and east, the side the tent's entrance faced, is listed first. "Division" (KJV "armies" and "host") translates a Hebrew word for an army or fighting company: these are military groupings as well as family ones. The "captain" or leader is the recognized chief of a tribe, the man who spoke and acted for it.
2:4
The figures given throughout this chapter count only men aged twenty and over who were fit to serve in war, as set out in chapter 1. Women, children, and men too old for service are not included, so the actual size of each camp was far larger.
2:9
The order of setting out is a marching order. Judah's group of three tribes went ahead, the others followed in the sequence given, and the whole people moved as one organized column rather than a crowd.
2:14
The King James text calls Gad's leader "Eliasaph the son of Reuel"; elsewhere (Numbers 1:14; 7:42; 10:20) the same man's father is called Deuel. In Hebrew handwriting the letters d and r are nearly identical, so one spelling is a copyist's slip, which one is original is not settled.
2:16
"Rank" here means place in line. Reuben's camp marched second, right behind Judah's.
2:17
The Levites were the tribe assigned to the tent itself. They camped in an inner ring immediately around it, inside the square formed by the four larger camps, and on the march they traveled in the middle of the column, carrying the tent and its fittings.
2:18
Ephraim and Manasseh were the two sons of Joseph (Genesis 48). Joseph is not listed as a tribe in his own right; his two sons each count as one instead. That is why the list still reaches twelve marching tribes even though Levi has been set aside for work at the tent.
2:31
"Hindmost" means last in line. Dan's division formed the rear guard, the group that brought up the back of the column and protected it from behind.
2:32
603,550 is the total of men eligible for war only; a population including women, children, and the elderly would run well over two million, a very large number for a group moving through desert country. The Hebrew word translated "thousand" ('elef) can also mean a clan or a military contingent, and readers have long differed over whether these figures are plain numbers, tallies of units, or something else. The text presents them simply as counts.
2:33
The Levites were left out of this military census because they were not liable for war service: they were assigned to guard, dismantle, carry, and set up the tent-sanctuary (Numbers 1:47-53). They were counted separately, and by a different rule, in chapter 3.
2:34
"The house of their fathers" means a person's larger family group, all the relatives who traced back to the same ancestor.

Read Numbers 2