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Numbers 2 · a question people ask

What shape was the camp?

In the text

The chapter doesn't give one. It gives four sides, east, south, west and north (2:3, 2:10, 2:18, 2:25), three tribes on each, the Tent of Meeting and the Levites in the middle (2:17), and who camps "next to" whom (2:5, 2:20). It says the tribes camp "around the Tent of Meeting at a distance from it" (2:2), but not how far. It gives the number of men in each camp (2:9, 2:16, 2:24, 2:31), but not how much ground each covered or how long each side was. So any drawing of the camp, as a square, a cross or anything else, goes further than the text. The "space between you and it of about two thousand cubits" in Joshua 3:4 is for following the ark across the Jordan, not for this camp.

The verses

““The children of Israel shall encamp every man by his own standard, with the banners of their fathers’ houses. They shall encamp around the Tent of Meeting at a distance from it. “Those who encamp on the east side toward the sunrise shall be of the standard of the camp of Judah, according to their divisions. The prince of the children of Judah shall be Nahshon the son of Amminadab.”
Numbers 2:2-3 · World English Bible
““Those who encamp next to him shall be the tribe of Issachar. The prince of the children of Issachar shall be Nethanel the son of Zuar.”
Numbers 2:5 · World English Bible
““All who were counted of the camp of Judah were one hundred eighty-six thousand four hundred, according to their divisions. They shall set out first. “On the south side shall be the standard of the camp of Reuben according to their divisions. The prince of the children of Reuben shall be Elizur the son of Shedeur.”
Numbers 2:9-10 · World English Bible
““All who were counted of the camp of Reuben were one hundred fifty-one thousand four hundred fifty, according to their armies. They shall set out second. “Then the Tent of Meeting shall set out, with the camp of the Levites in the middle of the camps. As they encamp, so shall they set out, every man in his place, by their standards. “On the west side shall be the standard of the camp of Ephraim according to their divisions. The prince of the children of Ephraim shall be Elishama the son of Ammihud.”
Numbers 2:16-18 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Numbers 2

Numbers 2: Around the tent

Judah, not Reuben the firstborn, camps toward the sunrise and sets out first (2:3, 2:9). The Tent of Meeting travels in the middle of the camps (2:17), in the camp where the LORD says "I dwell" (Numbers 5:3). And the text gives four sides and an order, not a shape.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions