And his host, and those that were numbered thereof, were fifty and seven thousand and four hundred.
Numbers 2:8 belongs to God's directions and account for arranging Israel's camp in ordered tribal divisions around the tabernacle. Its interest is in the order the verse illustrates, not in an explanation of its figure. Each tribe camped and marched under its own standard in its appointed place, moving in appointed order when the ark moved, as an organized people under God's direction with each person given an appointed task to do faithfully in perfect order.
The number given is 57,400 men in the host of Issachar. Those who held otherwise recorded the same 57,400 as counted in the army of Simeon. The verse has also been given as counting 57,400 men in the camp of Ephraim. It has likewise been recorded that Zebulun's numbered host totaled 57,400.
The ordered arrangement was meant to impress Israel and surrounding nations with God's majesty and holiness and the purity He requires of those who serve Him, displaying Israel's harmony and the exalted character of its work and showing that the Lord was their Governor. That perfect organization and special order instituted in Moses's day for Israel's benefit still teaches order and organization today, because God has not changed from a God of order but is the same and as particular now as then. His work should therefore be characterized by such order rather than confusion, and the orderly layout of the tents provides a model for planning campgrounds. The faithful record of Israel's travels, deliverance, organization, murmurings against Moses and God, transgressions, rebellions, punishments, and carcasses strewn in the wilderness for unwillingness to submit to God's wise arrangements stands as a warning not to follow their example of disobedience and fall as they did.
Numbers 2:8 belongs to God's directions and account for arranging Israel's camp in ordered tribal divisions around the tabernacle. Its interest is in the order the verse illustrates, not in an explanation of its figure. Each tribe camped and marched under its own standard in its appointed place, moving in appointed order when the ark moved, as an organized people under God's direction with each person given an appointed task to do faithfully in perfect order.
The number given is 57,400 men in the host of Issachar. Those who held otherwise recorded the same 57,400 as counted in the army of Simeon. The verse has also been given as counting 57,400 men in the camp of Ephraim. It has likewise been recorded that Zebulun's numbered host totaled 57,400.
The ordered arrangement was meant to impress Israel and surrounding nations with God's majesty and holiness and the purity He requires of those who serve Him, displaying Israel's harmony and the exalted character of its work and showing that the Lord was their Governor. That perfect organization and special order instituted in Moses's day for Israel's benefit still teaches order and organization today, because God has not changed from a God of order but is the same and as particular now as then. His work should therefore be characterized by such order rather than confusion, and the orderly layout of the tents provides a model for planning campgrounds. The faithful record of Israel's travels, deliverance, organization, murmurings against Moses and God, transgressions, rebellions, punishments, and carcasses strewn in the wilderness for unwillingness to submit to God's wise arrangements stands as a warning not to follow their example of disobedience and fall as they did.