Numbers 2:1 - Meaning and Application

This is the general order given for their camp and for their march. They may have followed some order before, since they left Egypt in ranks (Exodus 13:18), but now they were given a better pattern. God was teaching them to live and move as an organized people under his rule.

All the people lived in tents, and when they traveled, they carried those tents with them, since they had no city to call home (Psalm 107:4). That reminds us of our life in this world. It is a short and changing life, and it is also a life of warfare. We only pitch our tents here for a time, so while we are here, we should keep moving toward our true home.

Those who belonged to the same tribe were to camp together, each man under his own banner. God wants family ties to be kept strong. People related by blood should know one another, spend time together, and use those natural bonds to strengthen Christian fellowship too.

Each person had to know his place and stay in it. They were not free to camp wherever they wanted or to move whenever they wished. God assigned their places, and they had to remain where he put them. He sets the limits of our dwelling place, and we should accept his choice. He chooses our inheritance for us (Psalm 47:4), and we should be content with it, not restless and always wandering.

Each tribe had its own banner, flag, or sign, and it seems each family may have had a smaller mark from its father’s house. These signs helped people tell the tribes apart and keep them gathered together. In that way, they point ahead to the gospel, which is spoken of as lifting up a banner for the nations to seek and follow (Isaiah 11:10, Isaiah 11:12). God is a God of order, not confusion. These banners made the army look more beautiful to friends and more threatening to enemies. The church of Christ is also described as “terrible as an army with banners” (Song of Solomon 6:10).

We do not know exactly how the banners were marked. Some think each tribe’s banner had the same color as the precious stone in the high priest’s ephod that bore that tribe’s name. Others among the Jews think each banner had a coat of arms that matched Jacob’s blessing of that tribe. So Judah had a lion, Dan a serpent, Naphtali a deer, Benjamin a wolf, and others in similar ways. Some say the four main banners were Judah with a lion, Reuben with a man, Joseph with an ox, and Dan with an eagle, which they connect to Ezekiel’s vision. Others say each tribe’s name was written on its banner. Whatever the exact form, it clearly gave direction.

They were to camp around the tabernacle, which stood in the middle of them, like the general’s tent at the center of an army. They were to encamp around it so that it would be a comfort and joy to all of them, as a sign of God’s presence among them. “God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved” (Psalm 46:5). Their camp had strong reason to be cheerful when God was in its center. Bread from heaven every day and fire from heaven, along with other signs of God’s favor, were enough to answer the question, “Is the Lord among us or not?” Their tents likely faced the tabernacle from every side, so that each Israelite would keep his eyes toward the Lord. The tabernacle was also in the middle so that it would be near them, since it is a great blessing to have God’s holy worship close at hand. The kingdom of God is among you.

They were also to camp around the tabernacle so they could guard it and protect the Levites on every side. No enemy could reach God’s tabernacle without first breaking through their ranks. If God takes charge of protecting our comfort, then we should take our place and protect what belongs to him. We should stand up for his honor, his work, and his ministers.

Even so, they were to keep some distance from the sanctuary, out of respect. It was not to seem crowded by the common business of the camp, and they were to be taught reverence, so that too much closeness would not breed contempt. From Joshua 3:4, it is thought that the nearest distance between the camp and the tabernacle, or perhaps between the camp and the Levites who stayed near it, was 2,000 cubits, about 1,000 yards, a little more than half a mile. The outer edges of the camp would have been much farther away. Some estimate that the whole camp may have covered twelve miles square. It was like a moving city, with streets and lanes, and perhaps the manna fell there in the same way it fell at the edges, so everyone had it near their tents.

In the Christian church, we read of a throne, like the mercy seat in the tabernacle, called “a glorious high throne from the beginning” (Jeremiah 17:12). Around that throne are spiritual Israelites, the twenty-four elders, which is twice the number of the tribes, clothed in white robes (Revelation 4:4). Their banner is love. Yet we are not told to keep our distance as they were. We are invited to draw near and come boldly. The saints of the Most High are said to be all around him (Psalm 76:11). May God, by his grace, keep us close to him.