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Numbers 2 · a question people ask

Where exactly did the Levites camp?

In the text

This chapter puts the Tent of Meeting and "the camp of the Levites in the middle of the camps" (2:17). The next chapter gives each Levite family a side: the Gershonites "behind the tabernacle westward" (Numbers 3:23), the Kohathites "on the south side of the tabernacle" (Numbers 3:29), and the families of Merari "on the north side of the tabernacle" (Numbers 3:35). On the east, "in front of the Tent of Meeting toward the sunrise", camp "Moses, with Aaron and his sons" (Numbers 3:38). Chapter 1 gave the reason the Levites camp around the tabernacle: "that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the children of Israel" (1:53).

The verses

““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.”
Numbers 2:17 · World English Bible
“The families of the Gershonites shall encamp behind the tabernacle westward.”
Numbers 3:23 · World English Bible
“The families of the sons of Kohath shall encamp on the south side of the tabernacle.”
Numbers 3:29 · World English Bible
“The prince of the fathers’ house of the families of Merari was Zuriel the son of Abihail. They shall encamp on the north side of the tabernacle.”
Numbers 3:35 · 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