Around the Tent of Meeting

Numbers 2 turns the census into a camp plan. God told Moses and Aaron that each man shall encamp by his own standard, with the banners of their fathers' houses, at a distance surrounding the Tent of Meeting. The tabernacle stood in the middle; the Levites formed an inner ring; and the twelve tribes formed the outer square in four groups of three.

The east, the side of the tabernacle's entrance, belonged to Judah with Issachar and Zebulun, numbering 186,400. They set out first on the march. Reuben, Simeon, and Gad camped on the south; Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin on the west; and Dan, Asher, and Naphtali on the north, setting out last. The Tent of Meeting moved in the middle of the camps, so God's presence was always central, whether resting or traveling.

The chapter ends with a familiar refrain: Thus the children of Israel did. According to all that Yahweh commanded Moses, so they encamped by their standards, and so they set out. The arrangement taught that God was not on the edge of Israel's life but at its heart. The prophets later picture God dwelling in the midst of His people (Zechariah 2:10), and John 1:14 says the Word became flesh and dwelt, literally tabernacled, among us.