ISRAEL PREPARES for war: This week, we study the arrangement of the tribes around the tabernacle and their order as they organize for the march to Canaan.
We discuss traditions regarding the banners under which the tribes marched and compare that to the prophecies of Jacob over his sons in Genesis 49.
NOTE: The dates of our next tour of Israel has been changed from March 25–April 3, 2025 to the fall of 2025. Firm dates will be announced shortly.
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From the Teachings of Chuck Missler:
While the numbers of each tribe may not seem to be very revealing, the totals for each of the four camps are.
Cardinal Compass Points
Each of the camps, of three tribes each, were to encamp on one of the cardinal compass directions (N, S, E, or W) with respect to the camp of the Levites enclosing the tabernacle.
We can only guess at how much space was required by the Levites, whether it was 100 ft. on a side, 100 yards, or whatever. But whatever it was, we’ll view that length as a basic unit.
To fully appreciate all of the implications, you must try to think like a rabbi: you need to maintain an extremely high respect for the precise details of the instructions.
The tribes of Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun–collectively called the Camp of Judah–had to encamp east of the Levites. This poses a technical problem. Notice that if the breadth of their camp was larger than that of the Levites, the excess would be southeast or northeast, not east. Therefore, their camp could only be as wide as the Levites, and they then had to extend eastward to obtain whatever space they required.
The camps of Reuben, Ephraim, and Dan had the same constraint on the south, west, and north, respectively. The length of each leg would be proportional to the total in each camp.
Aerial View
If we assemble what we can infer from the Torah account, we can imagine what the camp of Israel looked like from above: the tabernacle and the Levites in the center, surrounded by the four faces of the tribal standards, and each of the four camps of Judah, Ephraim, Reuben, and Dan, stretching out in the four cardinal directions.
We can also tally the size of each tribe to total the relative length of each camp as they stretched out in each of the four directions. The plan view, on a relative scale, is shown below
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It would appear to us that it is a cross! Isn’t that remarkable? And this is from the Torah, not the New Testament!
The New Testament is in the Old Testament concealed;
The Old Testament is in the New Testament revealed.
Isn’t the Word of God fabulous?
http://www.ldolphin.org/camp.html
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