And his host, and those that were numbered of them, were thirty and five thousand and four hundred.
The verse gives the number of Manasseh's host as thirty-five thousand and four hundred men, one counted host within God's directions for arranging Israel's camp in perfect order by tribe and standard, each tribe given its appointed place and responsibility for camping and marching. That arrangement was instituted in the days of Moses very soon after leaving Egypt for Israel's benefit, and it governed all the journeyings and encampments of Israel.
Every tribe bore a standard with the sign of its father's house or tribe and was required to pitch by and under its own standard, and to march in order under its own standard when the ark moved. When Israel rested the tabernacle was erected and then the tribes pitched their tents in order around it at a distance from it in just the positions commanded, and when Israel traveled the tribes marched in order with the ark of the covenant borne before them. The time to pitch and to journey was shown by the pillar of cloud resting directly over the tabernacle or moving on, with Moses and Aaron marching just in front of the ark and the sons of Aaron following near them bearing trumpets to receive directions from Moses and signify them to the people by certain sounds, which head officers then made definite so that none who gave attention were left ignorant of what to do.
Only the appointed Levites were to bear the ark and the tabernacle and its furniture and to set it up and take it down, and anyone who got out of place or came near or touched the sanctuary from curiosity or lack of order was punished with death, with no excuse of ignorance because all had the same opportunity to know. The order and harmony of the camp, together with the arrangements around the tabernacle, were meant to impress Israel and the surrounding nations with God's majesty and holiness and the purity He requires of those who serve Him, and to show the surrounding nations that the Lord governed Israel.
That organization, together with Israel's deliverance, murmuring, rebellion, transgressions, punishments, and carcasses strewn in the wilderness for unwillingness to submit to God's wise arrangements, is faithfully recorded as a warning lest those who follow fall in the same way through disobedience and lust after evil things. God has not changed from a God of order but is as particular now as then, not the author of confusion but of peace, and He designs that order, discipline, and organization be learned from what was instituted under Moses. So His work today is to be carried out in order without confusion and faithfully represent Him, with the orderly layout even guiding the practical planning of camps.
The verse gives the number of Manasseh's host as thirty-five thousand and four hundred men, one counted host within God's directions for arranging Israel's camp in perfect order by tribe and standard, each tribe given its appointed place and responsibility for camping and marching. That arrangement was instituted in the days of Moses very soon after leaving Egypt for Israel's benefit, and it governed all the journeyings and encampments of Israel.
Every tribe bore a standard with the sign of its father's house or tribe and was required to pitch by and under its own standard, and to march in order under its own standard when the ark moved. When Israel rested the tabernacle was erected and then the tribes pitched their tents in order around it at a distance from it in just the positions commanded, and when Israel traveled the tribes marched in order with the ark of the covenant borne before them. The time to pitch and to journey was shown by the pillar of cloud resting directly over the tabernacle or moving on, with Moses and Aaron marching just in front of the ark and the sons of Aaron following near them bearing trumpets to receive directions from Moses and signify them to the people by certain sounds, which head officers then made definite so that none who gave attention were left ignorant of what to do.
Only the appointed Levites were to bear the ark and the tabernacle and its furniture and to set it up and take it down, and anyone who got out of place or came near or touched the sanctuary from curiosity or lack of order was punished with death, with no excuse of ignorance because all had the same opportunity to know. The order and harmony of the camp, together with the arrangements around the tabernacle, were meant to impress Israel and the surrounding nations with God's majesty and holiness and the purity He requires of those who serve Him, and to show the surrounding nations that the Lord governed Israel.
That organization, together with Israel's deliverance, murmuring, rebellion, transgressions, punishments, and carcasses strewn in the wilderness for unwillingness to submit to God's wise arrangements, is faithfully recorded as a warning lest those who follow fall in the same way through disobedience and lust after evil things. God has not changed from a God of order but is as particular now as then, not the author of confusion but of peace, and He designs that order, discipline, and organization be learned from what was instituted under Moses. So His work today is to be carried out in order without confusion and faithfully represent Him, with the orderly layout even guiding the practical planning of camps.