to say (used with great latitude) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Numbers 2:1-2
Here is the general appointment given both for their orderly encampment where they rested and their orderly march when they moved. Some order, it is possible, they had observed hitherto; they came out of Egypt in rank and file (Exo 13:18), but now they were put into a better model. 1. They all dwelt in tents, and when they marched carried all their tents along with them, for they found no city to dwell in, Psa 107:4. This represents to us our state in this world. It is a movable state (we are here today and gone tomorrow); and it is a military state: is not our life a warfare? We do but pitch our tents in this world, and have in it no continuing city. Let us, therefore, while we are pitching…
And the Lord spake unto Moses, and unto Aaron,.... Very probably after the number of the children of Israel was taken, of which in the preceding chapter, and when the congregation of Israel with the tabernacle were about to set forward on their journey; and therefore directions are here given for their orderly and regular proceeding in it, in what form and manner they should both encamp and march:
saying: as follows.
John Calvin on Numbers 2:1–end
And the Lord spake unto Moses, and unto Aaron This distribution into separate bands must have served to prevent contention; for, had not God thus assigned to each their proper position, so natural is ambition to man, that they would have quarrelled for the place of honor. It would have been grievous to the family of Reuben, the first-born, to resign his dignity; and, even if they had patiently submitted to the punishment inflicted upon them, they would have been made to take the lowest place, as being condemned to ignominy. Disputes would also have arisen respecting the children of the concubines, for they would not have thought it consistent that; those who sprang from Leah and Rachel shoul…
The first reading of Numbers taught that the army of God, which had gone out from the land of Egypt and made its journey through the desert, was visited—that is, numbered—by Moses and Aaron, and, having been set apart tribe by tribe, was reckoned under a fixed number. Expounding this as it were together with the whole content of the little book, we said that a pattern was there prescribed, showing how the people of God, going out from the Egypt of this world and hastening to the land of promise—that is, either to the place of the virtues or to the glory and inheritance of the kingdom of heaven—are led forward by certain orders and degrees of merit. And through these things we showed that the magnificence of the goods to come is foreshadowed in the images of the Law. But now the beginning of this reading, which has been recited today, instructs us how the order of the camp is to be composed by those who are made over to God and do not entangle themselves in the affairs of the world. And it says: "And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: Let the children of Israel pitch their camp each man according to his own order and according to his own signs, according to the houses of their families; over against, round about the tabernacle of testimony let the children of Israel encamp." Moses says: "Let each man march in the camp according to his own order and according to his own signs and according to the houses of their families," and Paul says: "Let all things be done honorably and according to order." And does it not seem to you that there is one Spirit of God, who speaks both in Moses and in Paul? Moses commands that in the camp one march according to order; Paul enjoins that in the Church all things be done according to order. And Moses indeed, who ministered to the Law, orders that order be kept in the camp; but Paul, as a minister of the Gospel, wishes the Christian to be orderly not only in his actions but in his very dress, and therefore he says: "the women likewise in orderly dress." Hence I judge that they wish order to be kept not only in duties and dress, but they give us to understand that there is a certain order even in the soul, concerning which it may be said that each one ought to march according to his own order. And this order is indeed indicated chiefly from the fruits of works, yet nonetheless also from the magnificence of the…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Army — The Israelites marched out of Egypt in military order (Ex. 13:18, “harnessed;” marg., “five in a rank”). Each tribe formed a battalion, with its own banner and leader (Num. 2:2; 10:14). In war the…
Encamp — An encampment was the resting-place for a longer or shorter period of an army or company of travellers (Ex. 13:20; 14:19; Josh. 10:5; 11:5). The manner in which the Israelites encamped during their…
Encampment — primarily denoted the resting-place of an army or company of travellers at night, (Genesis 32:21; Exodus 16:13) and was hence applied to the army or caravan when on its march. (Genesis 32:7,8; Exodus…
Tabernacle — (1.) A house or dwelling-place (Job 5:24; 18:6, etc.). (2.) A portable shrine (comp. Acts 19:24) containing the image of Moloch (Amos 5:26; marg. and R.V., “Siccuth”). (3.) The human body (2 Cor.…
Aaron · Inspiration of — Inspiration of
Aloes · Lign-aloes — Lign-aloes
Desert, Journey Of Israel Through The · Order of encamping during — Order of encamping during
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Order of the Twelve Tribes in the Camp and on the March. - Num 2:1, Num 2:2. The twelve tribes were to encamp each one by his standard, by the signs of their fathers' houses, opposite to the tabernacle (at some distance) round about, and, according to the more precise directions given afterwards, in such order that on every side of the tabernacle three tribes were encamped side by side and united under one banner, so that the twelve tribes formed four large camps or divisions of an army. Between these camps and the court surrounding the tabernacle, the three leading mishpachoth of the Levites were to be encamped on three sides, and Moses and Aaron with the sons of Aaron (i.e., the priests) u…
Israel’s camps were to be organized by tribal groupings. This arrangement may have reflected concerns for social status, access to water, and security for the Tabernacle, which represented the Lord’s presence. The Egyptian army from approximately this same era camped in a similar defensive formation to protect the sacred objects that accompanied their field campaigns.
