Numbers 1-2

~ Patricia

This is a quick easy read.  If you do the audio, it is only 10 mins.  This is the one time I am going to say the blog is worth reading though.  So cool!

My hope is that when you read these chapters they actually make some sense.  We know these are Jacob’s sons.  He has 12 sons.  Jacob’s name is changed to Israel: so we now know where the phrase “the 12 tribes of Israel” comes from.

  • from Reuben
  • from Simeon
  • from Judah
  •  from Issachar
  • from Zebulun
  •  from the sons of Joseph:
      • from Ephraim
      • from Manasseh
  •  from Benjamin
  •  from Dan
  •  from Asher
  • from Gad
  •  from Naphtali

Joseph is split Ephraim and Manasseh to replace the tribe of Levi that will not be in the fighting census.  (Which is their loss if you remember how ruthless the Levites were in the past). Trivia:  What 2 events am I referring to?

The Levites (the Priesthood) however have a special role.

47 The ancestral tribe of the Levites, however, was not counted along with the others. 48 The Lord had said to Moses: 49 “You must not count the tribe of Levi or include them in the census of the other Israelites. 50 Instead, appoint the Levites to be in charge of the tabernacle of the covenant law—over all its furnishings and everything belonging to it. 

Chapter 2- Tribal arrangement.  Ready for this!!!!

If you took a piece of paper and drew the ark in the middle (God).  Of course, you need a compass rose for direction in the corner of your drawing.  Now write the tribes and the numbers as dictated.

The ENTRANCE of the Tabernacle is EAST.  The ONLY way to enter God’s presence is through Jesus.  Jesus is born from the Tribe of Judah.  So which tribe will be arranged in the East?  JUDAH.

The Camp of Israel

WAIT FOR IT!!!!  🤯 2 MIllion People are on the move.  They need to stay organized.  The largest tribe on each side would hold up a flag (like at kids camp). The largest tribes on each side are (and their Flag logo:

  • Judah-Lion
  • Rueben-Man
  • Ephraim-Ox
  • Dan-Eagle

The CROSS in the Wilderness

The Tabernacle is a picture of God’s Throne.  When we get to Ezekiel we get a glimpse of God’s actual throne.  There were 4 creatures surrounding God:

Ezekiel 1:10 Their faces looked like this: Each of the four had the face of a human being, and on the right side each had the face of a lion, and on the left the face of an ox; each also had the face of an eagle. 11 Such were their faces

.Ezekiel 1-A Strange God - Starr Presbyterian Church

Click here if you want to read the whole chapter

THEN The Throne of Judgement is shown to John in Revelation 4:

In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle.

I Was Watching the Living Creatures” — Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY

Click here if you want to read the whole chapter

If you are confused let me know.  That’s a lot.  If you are not confused, and your head did not just explode, then I don’t know if we can be friends. 😂

OK, if that did not move you, let’s try one more.  There are 4 Gospels.  Each one illustrated Jesus as a different characteristic:

  • Matthew-as King-Lion
  • Mark- as Servant-Ox
  • Luke-his humanity-Man
  • John-his divinity-Eagle

OK, I am done trying to explode your head.  This whole revelation is new to me today and I am on fire from it.  I never knew!  I was always in awe of just the view from God’s perspective looking down on Earth and seeing a Cross…but…this is a whole new concept for me.🤓

(I will pop these pictures into the Printables section up top in case you want them) Click here if you want to print now.

34 So the Israelites did everything the Lord commanded Moses; that is the way they encamped under their standards, and that is the way they set out, each of them with their clan and family.

And you thought a census would be boring!

15 thoughts on “Numbers 1-2”

  2. That’s awesome!!!! I’m sorry if I’m missing it but where is the ox, eagle, and man coming from? I see the other little animals in Gen 49 representing the tribes. I might have missed in the Bible the refs to the flags.

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  3. This is a lot! I’m afraid I have missed something and my questions will reflect that, but I need to know so I’m going to ask anyway!
    1. I still don’t understand why Joseph isn’t a tribe, why it’s split with his sons?
    2. Have we read where these symbols were assigned to the tribes?
    My head has officially exploded so hopefully we are friends!

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    1. Your questions are mine as well!! I woke in the middle of the night, and I had to go research to be reminded about Joseph. On Jacob’s death bed when he was giving the blessings and divisions of land – he decided to “add in” and bless Ephraim and Manasseh (Joseph’s sons) with land – so Jospeh’s portion was split and no “tribe of Joseph” is present. With the Levites not gaining specific land coordinates— we still end up with 12 tribes. I TOTALLY missed this from our prior reading. 😬 I wonder if I can go back to sleep now….lol

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      1. I am so sorry you couldn’t sleep but I LOVE that you researched it. I am sorry for my delayed response. The past 24 hours have been a nightmare with my 3 kiddos. (Car was broken into, speeding ticket, 2 can’t stop throwing up…and I have the worst sinus headache. But at least now when you look at Patriarch genealogies it will make sense. Cool stuff.

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        1. Oh goodness — you’ve had quite a long day/evening. Rest up and know we will be eagerly awaiting the goodness of health restored! Such good questions and comments on these texts! Gets me fired up!

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  5. Interesting — in reading Chronological just for what it is, I don’t think we’ve seen the symbols and references for ox, man, lion, eagle — have we?

    I read very “show me what I am seeing” for details and found it interesting Judah’s tribe was larger in the census. They’re East, and largest so far. That’s all I got from it at this early point. 😇

    I know I recognize the Eagle, man, lion, ox from Revelation but I didn’t recall it for this particular passage. I’ve got a lot left to learn! And I started to draw out the diagram so I’m thankful you included it!!! I am still a bit confused on it all.

    Trivia = Levites killed 3000 at Mt Sinai because of golden calf worship. 🗡 And I think they also killed people because of their sister Dinah. But it’s late and I could be mistaken.

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    1. WOW on the Trivia….that was a hard one!
      Judah-did you put together that the tribe of Judah (Jesus) is at the East Gate which is the entrance to God. The ONLY way to enter is through this Narrow Gate. 🙂

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      1. I was thinking it…as a child always told to “keep an eye watch to the East”, trumpets and the likes. Judah – banner hung in my home church, now I know why it had a lion on it 😜

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  6. Good morning. So sorry for the delay! Been a Hot Mess in the Szymanski house. My headache is so bad I am typing with one eye closed from the glare. Many of you have questions about the emblems. I pulled it from a Rosebook picture (love Rosebook), several podcasts such as Skip Heitzig Calvary (strongly recommend), and trying to find images of the Cross in the wilderness it came up like 20 times. Example:https://www.bible-history.com/tabernacle/tab4the_encampment.htm

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