Camping in the Wilderness: Discovering God's Divine Design in the Camping Arrangement

By David A Hall

The second chapter of the book of Numbers appears to do little more than list the tribes of Israel, identify the arrangement of the wilderness camp, recap the number of fighting men, and identify the leaders of each tribe.

Come on a fascinating journey through this passage seeking answers to questions such as why was this information included in the Bible, is there more significance to this data, and several similar questions which reveal the numerous treasures of God’s divine design hidden in these verses. The motivating questions for this journey are why and what.

Join the author as he uses these and other questions to explore such topics as which tribes camped together, why the wilderness camping and marching order, and several others subjects were so significant God felt it necessary to include them in Scripture.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Sep 29, 2023
• ISBN: 9798385002306

David A Hall

David A Hall, a retired Certified Public Accountant and Certified Fraud Examiner, earned a Master’s in Religious Education from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has taught Sunday School, seminars and Bible studies for over sixty years.

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Copyright © 2023 David A Hall.

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Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard

Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman

Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

ISBN: 979-8-3850-0228-3 (sc)

ISBN: 979-8-3850-0229-0 (hc)

ISBN: 979-8-3850-0230-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023912941

WestBow Press rev. date: 09/28/2023

Contents

Acknowledgment

Preface

Introduction

Overview

Chapter 1   Camping Arrangement

Chapter 2   Meaning of Names

Chapter 3   Scripture Numerics Applied to the Wilderness Encampment

Chapter 4   Standards of the Tribes

Chapter 5   Gemstones on the Breastplate of the High Priest

Chapter 6   Analysis of the Census

Chapter 7   Levites’ Encampment

Chapter 8   Marching Order

Summary

Bibliography

Acknowledgment

To my buddy, without whose brainstorming, encouragement, and

motivation this book would have never seen the book shelf; and

To my wife, whose support, understanding, and patience

has made the writing of this book possible.

Though the term seems inadequate,

until a wordsmith creates a better one,

thank you will have to suffice.

Preface

Yearly, many people make a New Year’s resolution to read through the Bible. They start off well with all good intentions, and for the first few weeks, things go well as they move through the stories in the books of Genesis and Exodus. Their resolution usually gets them through the book of Leviticus with all the intricacies of the Levitical laws. But next come the books of Numbers and Deuteronomy. Here they become bogged down in the details surrounding the construction and erection of the tabernacle, building the furniture, and preparing the vestments for the high priest and those serving in the tabernacle. This is followed by the elaboration and explanation of the Levitical laws. The book of Numbers begins with Moses receiving instructions from God. In the first chapter, the instructions relate to the census of the Israelites, the manner in which it was to be taken, who in each tribe was to be charged with conducting the census, and the results of that census. In the second chapter, he receives the camping arrangement. In the third chapter, the details of the Levites, their census, and camping arrangement are given. Upon hitting this wall, one of several things tends to happen. Either their commitment to the project fails, the reading goes the way of other resolutions and they quit reading all together, or they skip to the Book of Joshua, where the stories pick up again. Occasionally, their resolution holds out and they plod through these two books, basically just reading the words to say they did. Admittedly, when the book of Numbers starts off with the census process, resulting figures, and the camping arrangement, it is about as exciting as a bowl of oatmeal.

Take the second chapter of the book of Numbers, for example. On the surface, it appears to be little more than a listing of the tribes of Israel with the number of their fighting men, the leaders of each tribe, and the order in which they were to camp in the wilderness. Not very exciting. Though interesting, did it really contribute anything to the overall story of God and His dealing with the children of Israel?

When I first read these verses in preparation for an exam while in seminary, I wondered about the inclusion of this passage in the Bible. I remember thinking that there must be more to this passage than meets the eye. At the time, I was preoccupied with other studies and unable to devote the time to determine what significance these verses held. So, I put it on a to-do in the future list. Many years later, while mentally reviewing my to-do in the future list, I recalled the passage in Numbers. I decided I had the time to revisit this passage and to see if it indeed held more than was obvious on a surface reading. I committed to do some deeper study to see what I might be able to discover or what God might reveal. It quickly became evident this passage contained much more than a brief study or surface examination alone could uncover. Therefore, it was apparent this passage needed to be mined. Mining Scripture is the concept of digging deeper into a passage to uncover the various levels of hidden treasures contained therein. For me, the pickax for mining was the question Why? But as any miner will readily tell you, other essential tools for mining are a good hammer and chisel. In this study, these were the questions: What? and What else?

Some of the motivating questions were these. Why was this passage included in the Scripture? Why was the order in which they camped, which tribes camped together, and the order in which they marched through the wilderness so significant God felt its inclusion in Scripture was necessary? What is the importance of this information? Why do we need to know it? What else can this passage teach us? Are there deeper meanings hidden in this passage?

This study arose out of my investigation of these verses. I sought to answer these numerous questions and search for significant meanings located below the surface. Going back to the Scripture mining analogy, think of this chapter as similar to a cave opening in the side of a mountain, holding little more than a passing curiosity for the average reader. However, by stopping, entering the cave, and beginning to look around and dig a little, God will reveal a number of treasures.

I am thankful God led James to tell us, But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him (James 1:5). I cannot count the number of times during this process I claimed this promise. Each time, He was faithful to lead me to the answers and explanations being sought. Invariably, when I found an answer, it generated two or three new questions to which I would seek answers, and the process repeated itself. Just as digging in a mine and finding one treasure encourages one to keep digging, each discovered nugget of information or spiritual insight motivated me to continue my search and dig deeper. I am certain that, even with everything discovered, there is even more that can be unearthed or that was missed.

My hope is that the application of the various study methods and forms of analyses demonstrated here will encourage you when you encounter passages that obviously have deeper meanings to invest the time necessary to search out those hidden or buried truths.

I invite you to step into the cave entrance now and join me as we look at the treasures which have been found. May we recognize what they say about the amazing depth of the divine design of God as He reveals Himself through an otherwise unexciting passage.

Introduction

When reading the Bible, there are verses needing no explanation to be fully understood, while others require more in-depth study. Take, for example, John 3:16: For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. It requires very little, if any, study to comprehend the meaning of the verse. It is easy to see that God loved mankind enough to send His son to die for us so we could have eternal life with Him. No in-depth study is required to grasp this truth. Many sermons have been preached to help people understand the significance of this truth, but the fact is easily understood.

However, this is not the case with the second chapter of the Book of Numbers. These verses present the organization of the tribes as they camped in the wilderness, identify the leaders of the tribes, enumerate the soldiers in each of the tribal groupings, and spell out where each tribal unit camped in relation to the tabernacle. While these facts may be interesting, the deeper meanings and significance of this data is not apparent with a simple reading. An in-depth Bible study is required to uncover the underlying meanings. In fact, these verses require, what is known as scripture mining. This is the process of analyzing verses progressively deeper and deeper to discover truths hidden in each subsequent level. It is called mining because one keeps digging deeper and deeper to extract truths