Numbers 2: Arrangement of the Camp --- 2019/06/06

Rev. Heath Curtis, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Worden & Zion Lutheran Church in Carpenter, Illinois, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Numbers 2.

Numbers chapter 2 begins with two big signs that point ahead to our Lord Jesus: the tribe of Judah and the sunrise in the east. Like the Garden of Eden with its tree of life, the Tabernacle faced towards the east. As God’s people looked to the sunrise to find salvation on the shore of the Red Sea or in the Lord’s empty tomb, so the eastern bannermen led the people of Israel on to victory. Judah occupied this lead position, the tribe that would one day host King David’s throne, led by Nahshon son of Amminadab, the ancestor of Jesus the Messiah.

God arranged the twelve tribes around the Tabernacle with care, taking into account family ties as well as military strategy. It’s unclear exactly how large the military units of Israel were, but whether great or small, they needed God. If they were large, it would’ve been impossible to feed a massive coordinated force for 40 years without God providing food. If they were small, it would’ve been impossible to defeat their enemies while outpositioned and outmanned without God fighting for them. Either way, in this large movable city of our ancestors in the faith, we should see ourselves: totally dependent on God’s grace in the midst of our spiritual sojourn and warfare.