Today, I am reading and commenting on Numbers 1-2.

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I find it difficult to find meaning in this passage.  That is, I struggle to understand why I should read it.  Why is it here?  What is God’s purpose for this passage?  One thing we learn from this passage is how Moses structured the people of Israel to go to war.  The way Moses set up the camp by creating four three tribe units suggests that they probably went into battle with each of the three tribes in a unit supporting each other.  Another thing I see in this passage is that scholars are likely to be able to use the names of the listed leaders to make connections supporting the factual aspects of the Exodus (or not, as the case may be).  I think I remember hearing a scholar say that the names listed here bear a closer resemblance to Egyptian names than to Canaanite names for the time period.  As I look for some “message” in this passage, I noticed that the tribes of Reuben and Gad were part of the same three tribe unit.  Reuben and Gad were the two tribes which chose to settle east of the Jordan River when the Israelites entered the Promised Land.  If their being in the same tribal unit explains why they chose to settle together east of the Jordan, it leaves one wondering why the tribe of Simeon did not join them instead of half of the tribe of Manasseh.  The final thing I see here is the way it counted Manasseh and Ephraim as part of the twelve tribes while separating the tribe of Levi out.  God clearly raised up Ephraim and Manasseh as “full” tribes in order to make the count twelve when Levi is counted separately, but I do not truly understand why.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.