Numbers 26

Numbers 26

These chapters are always hard to read. The Bible jots everything down for a reason. I find it interesting the formation Israel took when they traveled. Now some people have criticized this as a stretch of Biblical interpretation, however, I think it is cool.

Israel traveled with the tabernacle right in the middle. The tabernacle had it’s entrance placed on the east end of the tabernacle. Therefore we imagine it looking like the picture to the left:




First we star with the East. In the first census there were 186,000. This is by the most.

The South and North were relatively similar in the first census at 157,600 and 151,450.

The West side was the smallest at 108,100.

Now try to imagine, calculating the numbers, the shape Israel would take when they traveled. Maybe you could draw it out for yourself. Or even maybe, you can look at the handy illustration provided above. Just click on it!!!!

Unfortunately, it came out microscopic, but the new Numbers (Hey that’s the name of the book) are there. If you want a blown up size I can print some out on Sunday…just ask. Anyways, as you can see, Israel would walk in the shape of a cross. The illustration holds truer to the original census in chapter 2. I simply found this interesting and fun to observe that God, in His divine power, even had a plan in the way they moved.