Numbers 2:25, commentary and pictures

The camp of Dan was assigned to the north side under its own distinguishing standard, with Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai as its captain. This was one division of a thorough arrangement given soon after leaving Egypt, in which every tribe was given its appointed place to pitch and to march around the tabernacle. Each tribe pitched under its own standard and marched in its appointed place, with Dan's standard on the north side as part of that order for the camp and its journeys. God himself fixed the order of camping and journeying, with the sacred ark borne in the midst by a designated family of the Levites and with all movements directed in harmony under Moses through the trumpets. Israel's movement was not left to individual choice or confusion but followed definite directions, requiring perfect order, subjection, and united action rather than each tribe or man choosing his own independent course.

The order of the camp, together with the arrangements around the tabernacle, was meant to impress the people with God's majesty and holiness and the purity He requires of those who serve Him. It was also meant to show surrounding nations something of God's character and what He desires His people to be. The ordered arrangement assigned each person a particular duty, so that the harmony of the camp and the dignity of its work would show surrounding nations that the Lord governed Israel. The camp was thus laid out in an orderly way under God's directions for arranging Israel's encampment and tents.

That perfect organization and special order was given for the benefit of Israel and for the glory of God. Its faithful record — including their deliverance, their murmuring against Moses and against God, their transgressions, rebellions, and punishments, and their carcasses strewn in the wilderness because of unwillingness to submit to God's wise arrangements — stands as a warning lest those upon whom the ends of the world are come follow their example of disobedience and fall like them. God has not changed from a God of order but is the same in the present dispensation as in the former, as particular now as then, and He designs that lessons of order and organization be learned from the perfect order instituted in the days of Moses. Those directions for arranging the tents are worth studying when arranging tents, because God's work should be orderly and free from confusion.