And his host, and those that were numbered of them, were fifty and nine thousand and three hundred.
The count of fifty-nine thousand three hundred is the numbered strength of Reuben's camp division, given as one part of God's directions for arranging the camp in order. It belongs to His thorough organization and discipline of Israel very soon after leaving Egypt. In that organization each tribe was counted as a distinct numbered host with its own distinguishing standard, and each standard bore the sign of its father's house.
Each tribe was required to pitch by its own standard in just the position God commanded, with tents arranged in order around the tabernacle at a distance from it, and to march in order under its own standard when the ark moved. The Levites were placed in the midst with the ark and tabernacle, which a designated family was to bear, with Moses in special providence qualified to stand at the head of the armies and Moses and Aaron marching just in front and the sons of Aaron following near with trumpets, while the ark of the covenant was borne before the tribes. God signified when to pitch in a certain place and when to journey by the pillar of cloud resting directly over the tabernacle and remaining until they should move, with directions passing from God to Moses and from Moses through the trumpets in special understood sounds that directed the movements of the people, so perfect order was required and commanded in all journeying and encamping.
The arrangement gave each person an appointed task, and faithful, careful work by all was to display order and harmony. The ordered arrangement was meant to impress Israel and surrounding nations with God's majesty and holiness and government and to show what He desires His people to be, showing surrounding nations that the Lord governed Israel and that His work was not inferior to the worship of other gods. God has not changed from a God of order but is the same now as then and as particular now as then, not the author of confusion but of peace, so Christians in the present dispensation are designed to learn lessons of order and organization from the perfect organization and special order instituted for the children of Israel in the wilderness. The faithful record of Israel's travels, deliverance, organization, murmuring, rebellion, and punishment is hung up as a warning lest later believers follow their example of disobedience and fall like them.
The count of fifty-nine thousand three hundred is the numbered strength of Reuben's camp division, given as one part of God's directions for arranging the camp in order. It belongs to His thorough organization and discipline of Israel very soon after leaving Egypt. In that organization each tribe was counted as a distinct numbered host with its own distinguishing standard, and each standard bore the sign of its father's house.
Each tribe was required to pitch by its own standard in just the position God commanded, with tents arranged in order around the tabernacle at a distance from it, and to march in order under its own standard when the ark moved. The Levites were placed in the midst with the ark and tabernacle, which a designated family was to bear, with Moses in special providence qualified to stand at the head of the armies and Moses and Aaron marching just in front and the sons of Aaron following near with trumpets, while the ark of the covenant was borne before the tribes. God signified when to pitch in a certain place and when to journey by the pillar of cloud resting directly over the tabernacle and remaining until they should move, with directions passing from God to Moses and from Moses through the trumpets in special understood sounds that directed the movements of the people, so perfect order was required and commanded in all journeying and encamping.
The arrangement gave each person an appointed task, and faithful, careful work by all was to display order and harmony. The ordered arrangement was meant to impress Israel and surrounding nations with God's majesty and holiness and government and to show what He desires His people to be, showing surrounding nations that the Lord governed Israel and that His work was not inferior to the worship of other gods. God has not changed from a God of order but is the same now as then and as particular now as then, not the author of confusion but of peace, so Christians in the present dispensation are designed to learn lessons of order and organization from the perfect organization and special order instituted for the children of Israel in the wilderness. The faithful record of Israel's travels, deliverance, organization, murmuring, rebellion, and punishment is hung up as a warning lest later believers follow their example of disobedience and fall like them.