Numbers 10:14–25

Everything, we notice, was regulated; and the order was God's order. Judah led the first three tribes. After them came the bearers of the tabernacle. After the second group of three tribes came the bearers of the sanctuary — the ark and other holy vessels. So in the new spot the tabernacle was set up before the ark arrived. Ephraim led the remaining six tribes. These arrangements held good for all the journeys of the children of Israel, according to verse 28.

The order followed in the march differs from the order God had prescribed. The tabernacle, with its curtains, went after the first three tribes, so that they could set it up to receive the ark, which followed the second division. Still, this was only a detail in the arrangements, so that everything would be ready when the ark arrived. But God appears in a remarkable way in grace, outside the whole order He had prescribed; for it is the ark itself which goes before the whole camp.

Judah means praise. It was the leading tribe of Israel. It took the front place in the march through the wilderness (Num. 10:14), and it led the fighting in Canaan (Judges 1:1-2). The kingship belonged to this tribe — in the family of David — and Jerusalem, the city of the great King, stood on its border. But the meaning of the name suggests what we have been seeing already. "Judah is My lawgiver." Praise, flowing from a satisfied heart, occupied with the glories of God — this is His sceptre!

But why is Judah foremost, the leader of all Israel in this way? His name and what we have seen of his history account for this... We have read his motto too in the words of Jacob: "The spirit of praise is the spirit of power." Judah is foremost here for the same reason that Jehoshaphat, in a later day, put his singers and trumpeters at the front of the battle against the enemy. When they began to sing and praise, the Lord went out against the foe and struck them down. (2 Chron. 20.) So it is here.

For the spirit of praise is also the spirit of obedience, and so Judah is qualified to be the lawgiver (Ps. 60:7). Wherever the heart is filled with God, His throne will be in the heart. And what an irresistible power there is in this spirit of obedience to the all-wise "Captain of salvation"! Who or what can defeat the King's army, so long as it obeys orders?

Here then we have a hint of the power that is to meet the opposition in the world and lead God's people on in victory to the coming day. The spirit of praise must come first... From Judah, too, has come the One who is our Lord Jesus, the leader of our praises, the captain of the Lord's host.

What a magnificent spectacle it must have been when the camp of Israel moved for the first time in its divinely arranged order! The cloud moved and advanced towards the wilderness of Paran. Judah with his flowing standard, led by Nahshon, comes first.

The full heart flows out toward people in service, as it flows out toward God in praise. The spirit of praise is what banishes legalism and makes the life a true offering to God. Then, indeed, Issachar may follow, and the farmer who labours share in the fruit. Zebulun speaks of that open, recognised bond between God and us, which is the seal on true labour.

In each camp the younger tribe followed the elder, with one exception: Manasseh. No one could justly complain of that, for Jacob had settled Ephraim's place ahead of Manasseh when he blessed them. Judah led the way; not Reuben the firstborn, though the latter tribe was chief of the second camp. Reuben had lost his place as the eldest before Jacob died... No tribe, then, could complain of its place in the order of march. No jealousy over it could have grown in anyone's heart. Jacob's dying words and dying act settled questions which might otherwise have arisen.

Judah means "praise."... Issachar means "hire," and his prince Nethaneel, "the gift of God," whose father is "little." Zebulon means "dwelling," and his prince Eliab, "God is a Father."

Issachar's prince is Nathaniel, the "gift of God" — a name exactly suited to the man whose own name speaks of hire, and whose tendency is to bend his shoulder to foreign yokes and to pay his tribute out of love of ease. The spirit of legalism takes up such strange service readily, because what it really serves is self, and a bribe will turn it from its true Master. This Nathaniel is a true overcomer. He has learned that no one can buy the "gift of God." Here too the family line shows very simply how grace is received: he is the son of Zuar, that is, "Little." A man who thinks of wages is bound to rate himself too highly. A man who counts himself truly "little" is ready to value the gift of God.

Yet there is a right thought of recompense — a reward, of "mercy" (2 Tim. 1:18) which love will not be denied in giving — which is really just the gift of God. For the soul, this can never become a wage, the motive for service. The reason is that it is the reward of true devotedness alone, not of self-seeking. To work for the reward is to lose it. Issachar's captain must in this way also be Nathaniel.

The standard of Judah included two other tribes, Issachar and Zebulon, one camped on each side of Judah. All of this pictures how God keeps spiritual order in the church. It is not a precise physical order. It is an order that glorifies His name through the submissive obedience of His people, united and devoted to His name.

The order followed in the march differs from what had been prescribed. The tabernacle, with its curtains, went after the first three tribes, so that it could be set up to receive the ark, which followed the second division. Still, this was merely a detail in the arrangements, to have everything ready when the ark arrived.

Kohath had the honour of carrying the holy vessels, which speak of the personal, moral and official glories of our Lord Jesus Christ. Gershon's task was to carry the curtains, the tabernacle, and the tent. These made up the house where those vessels stood in their places before God. Merari's task was to carry the boards of the tabernacle and the pillars of the court, which held up the curtains of the tabernacle and the hangings of the court. This speaks of what is practical.

Here was Gershon's work: to carry the tabernacle and its coverings through the waste and howling wilderness. This was true Levite service, but it was most blessed service. What matches it in the Church now is something we should seek after. It alone puts the Christian into his right place in the world — the place of a stranger. There was little that looked attractive in the rams' skins and the badgers' skins. But little as there was, it was the high privilege of the Gershonite to take them all up and carry them cheerfully on his shoulders across the trackless sands.

Gershon means exile, a stranger. The fine linen is a picture of righteousness. The coverings and hangings divided off and separated the different parts of the tabernacle, so they must carry the meaning of separation. His service points us to this: we are separated ones and strangers in the world. Practical righteousness must bear witness to this separation.

His name — Merari, "bitterness" — speaks of the painful character of such service. Self-love breaks down at this work, or runs off into some odd path that is less of a burden to flesh and blood. In our day the family of Merari has shrunk to a very small number, and they have done their work very badly. Who cares about these boards and bars, and pillars and pins and cords? Who thinks about God's plan and pattern, and all the fine details of His appointment? The pattern is old, and will not adapt itself to the fashion of changed times. It leaves no room for human invention to show itself off. It needs only steady accuracy and diligent obedience.

There was no need of a Merarite in Canaan, nor of a Gershonite either; for the Merarite was happy there, and the Gershonite was at home. But the world is not the Levite's home. So if anyone will carry the curtains, he must be a stranger. If anyone will carry the sockets and boards, he must be a man of sorrow. For when He who was a true Gershonite and a true Merarite came into the world, He was truly the Man of sorrows. He had nowhere to lay His head.

It must have been a beautiful sight to watch God's workers in the wilderness. Each one was at his post, and each moved in the sphere God had appointed him. So the moment the cloud lifted and the order came to strike camp, every man knew what he had to do. He gave himself to that and to nothing else. No man had any right to think for himself; the Lord thought for all. Seen in this light, it made no difference at all whether a man carried a pin, a curtain, or a golden lampstand. The great question for each and for all was simply, "Is this my work? Is this what the Lord has given me to do?"

The tribes set out on the journey in the order God had prescribed, Judah first. When these had moved, the tabernacle was taken down, and the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari set out, carrying it. The tribe of Reuben was next, with Elizur son of Shedeur leading. Then came Simeon and its leader, Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai. Then Gad, with Eliasaph the son of Deuel leading. Following Gad were the Kohathites, carrying the furniture of the tabernacle, so that when they arrived the tabernacle would already be set up for them. So the Kohathites were in the middle of the procession, with the holy things in a central place.

Behind them would be seen the standard of the camp of Reuben, setting forward according to their hosts. Joined with Reuben were the host of the tribe of Simeon and the host of the tribe of Gad. Together they numbered 151,450 men who could go to war.

And now we have Gad, whose prince is Eliasaph — "God has added"; he is the son of Deuel — "known of God." How good a thing it is to be known of God! This does not mean, of course, merely the knowledge God has of everything. It means the knowledge we have of someone we are close to, and it implies approval. And this is truly the secret of spiritual increase such as Eliasaph speaks of. Do we need to be told that we should expect increase in a child of God? And when it is missing, what a sad proof that closeness with God is lacking!

Father of Eliasaph, "prince" of Gad. In Numbers 2:14 he is called Reuel. This is plainly an instance where the letter ד (D) has been mistaken for the letter ר (R).

Gad lies next to Reuben: Gad, the type of spiritual increase, and of a militant condition too. Spiritual increase can hardly happen without conflict in a world like this. In David's time the men of Gad stood out as warriors.

Each had to know his post and keep it — to know his standard and stay by it. So they moved on together; so progress was made, work done and warfare carried on. Each had his family line, and each had his post. Neither was according to their own thoughts; all was of God. He gave the family line, and He assigned the standard. There was no need to compare one with another, and no ground for jealousy. Each had his place to fill and his work to do. There was work enough and room enough for all. There was the greatest possible variety, and yet the most perfect unity.

The tabernacle, taken down and carried by Gershon and Merari, two of the Levite families, goes between Judah and Reuben. The sanctuary, carried by Kohath, the third Levite family, goes between Reuben and Ephraim.

If a man did not know his family line, he could not recognise his standard. Everything would then have collapsed into hopeless confusion. Instead of keeping rank and making steady progress, they would have been in each other's way, treading on one another. Each had to know his post and keep it — to know his standard and stay by it. So they moved on together, made progress, did the work, and carried on the warfare. The Benjaminite had his post, and the Ephraimite had his, and neither was to interfere with the other or cross his path... Each had his family line, and each had his post. Neither of these came from their own ideas — all was of God.

We notice that God commanded the order in which the tribes were to march when they set out on their journeys. He commanded the order of their tents in the same way when they rested. The arrangements were not left to their discretion or their wishes. Had they disobeyed, under the mistaken idea that they knew of a better order, they would simply have produced disorder.

Ephraim next began their journey ... then Manasseh ... then Benjamin with its leader Abidan the son of Gideoni. ... All of this shows that God is a God of order. In the Church of God there is no physical order like this at all. Yet God's instructions in Scripture are plain enough — for instance in 1 Corinthians. We have no excuse if we do not do all things decently and in order (1 Cor. 14:40). No man is in charge to control the saints; the Lord is in authority. Each individual has the Spirit of God, and by His influence all may be subject to the Lord, so keeping godly order in spiritual unity.

The smallest details in the word deserve to be noticed. The position of the tribes opens up the whole of Psalm 80. In the last days of Israel's desolation the psalmist asks God to lead them. He asks God to show His power as He did when He led them through the wilderness. He asks for the power of His presence on the ark of testimony, as God showed it at the moment Israel set forward and it was said, "Arise, O LORD, and let your enemies be scattered." Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh were the three tribes nearest the ark in the camp of Israel. That is why verse 2 of the psalm says, "Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh."

Benjamin, "the son of my right hand," speaks of the dignity of our position. That position is to be marked by the prince Abidan, "my father is judge," the son of Gideoni, "the one who cuts down." Here we have the sense of adoption together with that godly fear which removes pride from us.

The youngest son of Jacob by his beloved wife Rachel. She died at his birth and named him BEN-ONI, meaning "son of my sorrow," but his father named him BENJAMIN, "son of the right hand" (Gen. 35:18, 24). He is a picture of Christ in both names. Benjamin pictures Him exalted at God's right hand. Ben-oni pictures Him rejected, and so the occasion of Israel's tribulation in the last days, with Rachel picturing Israel.

Each had to know his post and keep it — to know his standard and stay by it. That is how they moved on together. That is how they made progress, did the work and carried on the fight. The Benjaminite had his post, and the Ephraimite had his, and neither was to interfere with the other or cross his path. Each had his pedigree, and each had his post; and neither the one nor the other was according to their own thoughts. All was of God. He gave the pedigree, and He assigned the standard. There was no need of comparing one with another, and no ground of jealousy one of another. Each had his place to fill and his work to do, and there was work enough and room enough for all.

Dan, the chief of the last camp, had Asher and Naphtali attached to his standard . All three were children of servant women. But Dan was the eldest son of the three, so it was fitting that he had the leading place among them. No tribe, then, could complain of its position in the order of march. Nothing in it could stir up jealousy in anyone. Jacob's dying words and dying act settled questions which might otherwise have arisen.

Behind them, forming the rear guard, flew the standard of the camp of the children of Dan. With it went the host of Asher and that of Naphtali, and Naphtali closed the long procession. The rear guard amounted to 157,600 fighting men. So of the two largest hosts, one led the way and the other brought up the rear.

Last, on the north, forming the rear guard on the march, we have the camp of Dan. With him are the tribes of Asher and Naphtali. There is a military ring about some of these names, suited to the place they occupy. Those who bring up the rear must guard against stragglers, and against sudden attacks like that of Amalek, who caused loss to those at the back of the children of Israel.

There were some who lagged behind; they were the stragglers, the camp followers. Amalek fell upon the rear. Such attacks are always upon the rear. The attack drew all the children of Israel into a conflict that would have been unnecessary if everyone had been pressing forward diligently.

The prince of Dan was Ahiezer, meaning "brother of help." This is a sharp contrast to the character of Dan described in Genesis 49:17: "Dan shall be a serpent in the way." Instead of giving brotherly help, he would give satanic harm. Again, God makes a wonderful change by His pure grace, so that Dan would be a help in conflict.

Dan, "judgment," the spirit of rule, which, as Dan's origin points out, is really service. Yet how readily it is turned from this in man's hand! ... But God has a remedy for this, as for everything else. Dan is here in his place with his captain Ahiezer — "brother of help," the son of Ammishaddai — "the people of the Almighty." Let that relationship become real, and the ruler becomes what God designed: the "helping brother" of the people he is set over.