Números 2

Números 2

Meyer - Our Daily Homily - Numbers 2:2–34 The Children of Israel shall pitch every man by his own standard. (R.V.) Our God is a God of order; and it was needful for the order of the camp, whether at rest or on the march, that each man should know his place, and keep to it. But though there were different standards and positions, there was one center, the ark, and one host of redeemed men. Each believer has an appointed place in the great army of God. It is indicated by the voice of God, and by the circumstances of our life; and it should be jealously retained. Repeatedly the Apostle bade his converts abide in the calling wherein they were called. Yours may be towards the bleak north of difficulty, or the warm south of privilege — in the home, the country parish, or the difficult foreign post. But, on the whole, you should stay where you are; unless the Captain of our salvation moves you by some unmistakable indication of his will. The apostle Paul ever lived in such dependence on the Holy Spirit for guidance, and for the unfolding of the Divine purpose, that from some apparently trivial circumstance he would “gather” the movements of the pillar of cloud by day, and of fire by night. And interval there was none between his apprehension of the Divine purpose and his endeavor to strike his tent and follow wherever it might lead (Acts 16:6–7). The main point with us all is to face the ark, to which the doors of all the tents looked, so that we may ever catch the first symptom of the movement of the cloud. On the whole, we do best to pitch and fight under our own standards. There is a closer bond of brotherhood possible between those who think alike. But whilst we are positive in what we affirm for ourselves, let us not deny that other standards represent necessary aspects of the common faith. Question: What was the tent of meeting? Answer: The phrase tent of meeting is used in the Old Testament, specifically in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, as the name of a place where God would meet with His people, Israel. Usually, the “tent of meeting” was used as another name for the Tabernacle of Moses. However, before the tabernacle was constructed, God met with Moses in a temporary tent of meeting: “Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the ‘tent of meeting.’ Anyone inquiring of the Lord would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp. . . . As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the Lord spoke with Moses” (Exodus 33:7, 9). The fact that Moses set up the tent of meeting outside of the camp underscored that the people had broken fellowship with God at Sinai when they had made the golden calf (see Exodus 33:3). After the tabernacle was built, Moses no longer needed his temporary tent, and the term tent of meeting began to be applied to the tabernacle. In the Law that God gave Moses, God provided specific instructions to build a place of worship (Exodus 25—27). This “tent of meeting” or tabernacle could be taken up and moved each time they changed locations while wandering in the wilderness. The word tabernacle is an English rendition of the Hebrew word miskan, or “dwelling place.” The tabernacle was a temporary dwelling place for the Ark of the Covenant and the other holy items that the Israelites were instructed to use in the worship of and sacrifice to Yahweh. Interestingly, the word tent or tabernacle is also used in the New Testament to draw profound spiritual conclusions about salvation. Both Paul and the writer of Hebrews make a distinction between a heavenly tent and an earthly tent, between what was “built by human hands” and what is “not part of this creation” (2 Corinthians 5:1; Hebrews 9:11). Hebrews 9:1–10 describes the earthly tabernacle, or “tent of meeting,” as a place into which the priests would go to offer sacrifices for the sins of the people. Then, in verse 11, Christ is shown to be a better “high priest” who entered once through the “greater and more perfect tent,” referring to His body, to offer a sacrifice that would satisfy the wrath of God completely, for all time. This refers to His blood shed on the cross. The point of the passage is to show how, if the blood of animals could temporarily cleanse worshipers of the guilt of sin, the perfect blood of Christ, the Lamb of God, would cleanse His followers perfectly—that is, eternally—of their sins. In Hebrews 10:14+, the writer says that Jesus has “perfected forever those who are being (ED: present tense in divine passive = continually being = A PROCESS) sanctified.” This verse expresses a spiritual paradox. By entering the “tent of meeting,” which was His own body, and offering up His own blood, Christ “perfected forever” those who have faith in Him. And the result of belief in Christ is sanctification, a continual upward spiral of holiness and closeness to God, as the Holy Spirit performs His work within Christ’s followers. In this way, we are eternally “perfect” because of the preciousness of Christ’s blood applied to our lives (ED: OUR ETERNAL POSITION IN CHRIST = "POSITIONAL SANCTIFICATION" - DESCRIBED IN Hebrews 10:12+ WHERE SANCTIFIED IS perfect tense = PAST COMPLETED ACTION, ONGOING EFFECT), yet at the same time we are “being sanctified” (divine passive) by the Holy Spirit Who indwells us and changes us into the image of Christ (Ephesians 2:8–9+; Romans 8:29+; ED: cf 2 Cor 3:18+). Paul also mentions the “tent of meeting” or the tabernacle, comparing it to the earthly human body: “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee” (2 Corinthians 5:1–5+). When Paul says, “The tent that is our earthly home,” he is referring to our earthly body, our temporary dwelling place. Just as the Israelites moved the tent of meeting from place to place waiting for entrance to the Promised Land, believers in Christ are wanderers on the earth—people who are not “at home” in the world and who “seek a city that is to come” (Hebrews 13:14). Paul says that those who belong to God will be “further clothed” with immortality upon their deaths and that their earthly tent (their body) will be replaced with a “heavenly dwelling.” God does the work of preparing us for that day of glorification by the process of sanctification by the Spirit, and that work happening within us is a “guarantee” that our inheritance and our heavenly dwelling are real. “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:13–15+).(Source: Gotquestions.org) Numbers 2:3 "Now those who camp on the east side toward the sunrise shall be of the standard of the camp of Judah, by their armies, and the leader of the sons of Judah: Nahshon the son of Amminadab, the standard: Ge 49:8-10 Jdg 1:1,2 1Ch 5:2 Nahshon: Nu 1:7 7:12,17 10:14-16 26:19-22 Ru 4:20 1Ch 2:10 Mt 1:4 Lu 3:32-33 ("son of Nahshon, the son of Amminadab") Numbers 2 Resources - Multiples Sermons and Commentaries God in the Center - Tribes Arranged Around Jehovah THE PRESTIGIOUS POSITION: JUDAH TOWARD THE SUNRISE Now those who camp on the east side toward the sunrise shall be of the standard of the camp of Judah, by their armies, and the leader of the sons of Judah: Nahshon the son of Amminadab - (See depiction above) In Ex 26:18-37 we see that the tent of meeting was set up facing east, toward the sunrise (could this be a spiritual pun?), toward the camp of Judah from which one day would come the lion of the tribe of Judah, Yeshua the Anointed One (mashiach/masiyah) (Rev 5:5+). Note that beginning with Judah the description goes clockwise with the Tabernacle in the center. Nahshon appears in later genealogies in the messianic line in Ruth 4:20+ and then in Matt. 1:4+. HCSB Study Bible - Just as wonder and beauty are reflected in the order of creation in Genesis 1, so the unity and symmetry of the sacred assembly of Israel evoke splendor and awe. We Judah's ascendance to the chief of the 12 tribes (even though it was not the first born - Reuben was firstborn). Genesis 49:8-12 “Judah, your brothers shall praise you; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father’s sons shall bow down to you. 9“Judah is a lion’s whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches, he lies down as a lion, And as a lion, who dares rouse him up? 10“The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. 11“He ties his foal to the vine, And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine; He washes his garments in wine, And his robes in the blood of grapes. 12“His eyes are dull from wine, And his teeth white from milk. Guzik on the leader Nahshon - God recognized a specifically called leader for the tribe of Judah (and for the other tribes following). The order and organization God called Israel to required leadership, with leaders both recognized by God and respected by the people. NET Note - The sentence begins with a vav (ו) on a word that is not a finite verb, indicating a new section begins here. The verbal form is a participle with the article used substantivally, with the meaning “and/now those camping.” Many English versions employ a finite verb; cf. KJV “on the east side … shall they of the standard of the camp of Judah pitch.” Gilbrant - The Tabernacle was set up facing east, according to the directions given in Exo. 26:18-37. In the camp, Judah was leader of the three tribes on the east and thus had the place of prominence. The Hebrews, and the Semites in general, considered east as their prime direction. For us, north is the prime direction because the compass points that way. But the most obvious datum point for ancient times was the rising sun. The Hebrew word for east is qedem, which can mean “in front.” South was yamin, “right hand.” The southernmost nation of the Arabian Peninsula today is called Yemen, the Arabic cognate of yamin. North was called “left,” and west was sometimes called “back” or “seaward.” On the other hand, the Egyptians based their directions facing the source of the Nile, and west was “the right.” Standard (01714) see degel "The origin of the Heb. term is not very obvious, though the Arab, has dagal (3x-Ps 20:5, Song 6:4, 10), to veil, to cover. The Greek renders it by tagma (only NT use - 1 Cor 15:23 = "But each in his own order [tagma]: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming." HALLELUJAH!), an orderly band, a cohort." (Bush) We find the related Hebrew word (dagal) in Ps 20:5 We will sing for joy over your victory, And in the name of our God we will set up our banners. May the LORD fulfill all your petitions.