SCHEUCHZER'S DESCRIPTION AND PLAN OF THE ENCAMPMENTS OF THE ISRAELITES IN THE WILDERNESS "If we form a proper idea of God, of his essence and his attributes, we shall easily perceive that this infinite and supreme Being wills and executes what his Divine wisdom appoints; in a word, we shall see that he is the God of order. This order displays itself in the perfection, arrangement, and assemblage of all created beings; in the construction of the earth which we inhabit, where every thing is formed in order, number, weight, and measure; and in all bodies, great and small. It is certain that Noah's ark is a perfect model of naval architecture. The temple of Solomon, and that of Ezekiel were likewise masterpieces in their kind. But at present we are to consider the Divine arrangement of the Israelitish camp, and the manner in which it was formed. "The Israelitish army was divided Into three principal divisions. The first, which was the least in extent, but the strongest and the most powerful, occupied the center of the army: this was the throne of God, i. e., the TABERNACLE. The second, which was composed of the priests and Levites, surrounded the first. The third, and the farthest from the center, took in all the other tribes of Israel, who were at least about a mile from the tabernacle. For it appears from Josephus, iii.

4, that the nearest approach they dared make to the ark, except during the time of worship, was a distance of 2, 000 cubits. The reverence due to the Divine Majesty, the numerous army of the Israelites, composed of 600, 000 soldiers, with their families, which made about 3, 000, 000 souls, naturally demanded a considerable extent of ground. We are not to imagine that all these families pitched their tents pellmell, without order, like beasts, or as the troops of Tartary, and the eastern armies; on the contrary, their camp was divided according to the most exact rules. And we cannot even doubt that their camp was laid out, and the place of every division and tribe exactly assigned by some engineers, or geometricians, before the army stopped to encamp, in order that every person might at once find his own quarter, and the road he ought to take to reach the other tents. "Four divisions, which faced the four quarters of the heavens, each with his own ensign, formed the center of the army. JUDAH was placed on the east, and under him he had Issachar and Zebulun; on the south was REUBEN, and under him Simeon and Gad: on the west was Ephraim, and under him Manasseh and Benjamin; finally, DAN was on the north, and he had under him Asher and Naphtali. It has been pretended by some that these four principal divisions were not alone distinguished by their ensigns, but that each particular tribe had likewise its standard or ensign. On this subject we might refer to the Talmudists, who have gone so far as to define the colours, and the figures or arms, of the very ensigns. They pretend that on that of JUDAH a lion was painted, with this inscription: 'Rise, Lord, let thine enemies be dispersed, and let those that hate thee flee before thee;' and they found this description of Judah's ensign in Gen. xlix. 9. They give to ISSACHAR an ass, Gen. xlix. 14; to ZEBULUN a ship, Gen. xlix. 13; to REUBEN a river, Genesis xlix. 4, (others give REUBEN the figure of a man;) to SIMEON a sword, Gen. xlix. 5; to GAD a lion, Deut. xxxiii. 20; to EPHRAIM a unicorn, Deut. xxxiii. 17; an ox to MANASSEH, Deut. xxxiii. 17; a wolf to BENJAMIN, Gen. xlix. 27; and a serpent to DAN, Gen. xlix. 17, though others give him an eagle. In short, they pretend that the ensign of ASHER was a handful of corn, Gen. xlix. 20, and that of NAPHTALI a stag, Gen. xlix. 21. "To prove that the sums here are correctly added, we have but to join together the detached numbers, and see if they agree with the total. The text will furnish us with an example of this: there was in the quarter of:- Judah 186, 400 ver. 9 Reuben 151, 450 ver. 16 Ephraim 108, 100 ver. 24 Dan 157, 600 ver. 31 "Among other things we must remark that rule of military tactics which requires that the advanced and rear guards should be stronger than the center. "In a well-regulated camp, cleanliness is considered indispensably necessary; this is particularly remarkable in the Israelitish army, where the most exact order was maintained. Hence every person who had any kind of disease, and those who were reputed unclean, were forbidden to enter it; chap. v. 2, 3; Deut. xxiii. 10. "Those who have the health of men, and of a whole army confided to them, are not ignorant that diseases may be easily produced by putrid exhalations from excrementitious matter; and that such matter will produce in camps pestilential fevers and dysenteries.

For this reason, care should be always taken that offices, at a distance from the camp, be provided for the soldiers, and also that those who are sick should be separated from the others, and sent to hospitals to be properly treated. "In military tactics we find two distinct wings spoken of; the right and the left. The Israelitish army not only had them on one side, as is customary, but on all their four sides. On the eastern side, the tribe of Issachar formed the right, that of Zebulun the left, and that of Judah the center. On the south, Simeon formed the right wing, Gad the left, and Reuben the center. Towards the west, Manasseh composed the right, Benjamin the left, and Ephraim the center. And on the north, Asher was on the right wing, Naphtali on the left wing, and Dan in the center.

Notwithstanding this, however, the army was not in danger of being easily broken; for every tribe being numerous, they were supported by several ranks, in such a manner that the first being broken, the second was capable of making resistance; and if the second gave way, or shared the same fate as the first, it found itself supported by the third, and so on with the rest.

The square form in which the Jewish army was ordinarily placed, was the very best for security and defense. The use and importance of the hollow square in military tactics is well known. "For so large a multitude of people, and for so numerous an army, it was needful that all the necessary articles of life should be prepared beforehand, or be found ready to purchase. In these respects nothing was wanting to the Israelites. Their bread came down to them from heaven, and they had besides an abundance of every thing that could contribute to magnificence. If we may credit Josephus, they had amongst them public markets, and a variety of shops.Ant., i. iii. c. 12, sec. 5. The tabernacle being erected, it was placed in the midst of the camp, each of the three tribes stretching themselves on the wings, and leaving between them a sufficient space to pass. "It was, says Josephus, like a well appointed market where every thing was ready for sale in due order, and all sorts of artificers kept their shops; so that this camp might be considered a movable city. "In Exod. xxxii. 27 we likewise find that mention is made of the gates of the camp: 'Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp.' From whence we may certainly conclude that if the camp had gates, the Israelites had also sentinels to guard them. If this be true, we may also believe that they were surrounded with entrenchments, or that at least their gates were defended by some fortifications. Sagittarius (de Jan.Vet., c. 18. 10) pretends that the tabernacle was not only guarded by the Levites, but that there were likewise sentinels at the gates, and at the entrance of the Israelitish camps. See the note on "Exod. xxxii. 27". "If we examine and compare the camp of Israel with that of our most numerous armies, which in these days are composed of 100, 000 or of 150, 000 men, we cannot but consider it of vast extent. The Jews say it was twelve miles in circumference; this is not at all improbable, and consequently the front of each wing must be three miles in extent. But taking in the tents, the soldiers and their numerous families, the beasts of burden, the cattle, and the goods, it certainly must have formed a very considerable inclosure, much more than twelve miles. See the notes on "Exod. xii. 37", and See "Exod. xiii. 18". Reyher (Math. Mos., p. 568) assigns to the Tribe of JUDAH, A space of 298 2/5 cubits in breadth and 250 in length - Which makes 74, 600 square cubits. "We must observe that we are here merely speaking of the ground which the soldiers of this tribe occupied whilst remaining close to each other in their ranks, and that in this computation there is but one cubit square allowed for each man; wherefore, if we take in the arrangement of the soldiers, the tents, the necessary spaces, the families, the beasts of burden, and the movables, a much larger extent of ground is requisite. All those circumstances do not come into Reyher's calculation. He continues thus:- For the tribe of ISSACHAR, 217 3/5 cubits in breadth 250 in length - Total 54, 400 square cubits.

For the tribe of GAD, 140 5/11 cubits in breadth 325 in length - Total 45, 650 square cubits.

For the tribe of ZEBULUN, 229 3/4 cubits in breadth 250 in length - Total 57, 400 square cubits.

For the tribe of EPHRAIM, 202 1/2 cubits in breadth 200 in length - Total 40, 500 square cubits.

For the tribe of REUBEN, 143 1/5 cubits in breadth 325 in length- Total 46, 500 square cubits.

For the tribe of MANASSEH, 161 cubits in breadth 200 in length- Total 32, 200 square cubits.

For the tribe of SIMEON, 182 6/13 cubits in breadth 325 in length- Total 59, 300 square cubits.

For the tribe of BENJAMIN, 177 cubits in breadth 200 in length - Total 35, 400 square cubits.

For the tribe of DAN, 156 3/4 cubits in breadth 400 in length - Total 62, 700 square cubits.

For the tribe of ASHER, 103 3/4 cubits in breadth 400 in length - Total 41, 500 square cubits.

For the tribe of NAPHTALI, 133 1/2 cubits in breadth 400 in length - Total 53, 400 square cubits.

"If we make the ichnography, or even the scenography, of the camp on this plan, in following it we must first, in the center, form a parallelogram of 100 cubits long and 50 broad for the court of the tabernacle with an empty space all round of 50 cubits broad. We must then place the camp of the Levites in the following order:- To the west, the Gershonites, chap. iii. 22, 23. Breadth 30 cubits Length 250 cubits - Total 7, 500 To the south, the Kohathites, chap. iii. 28, 29. Breadth 86 cubits Length 100 cubits -Total 8, 600 To the north, the Merarites, chap. iii. 34, 35. Breadth 62 cubits Length 100 cubits - Total 6, 200 "On the east we must place tents for Moses, Aaron, and his sons, chap. iii. 38.

"At the place where the camp of the Levites ends, a space must be left of 2, 000 square cubits, after which we must take the dimensions of the camp of the twelve tribes.

"This plan is in the main well imagined, but it does not afford an ichnography of sufficient extent. To come more accurately to a proper understanding of this subject, I shall examine the rules that are now in use for encampments, and compare them afterward with what is laid down in the Holy Scriptures, in order that we may hereby form to ourselves an idea of the camp of God, the grandeur and perfection of which surpassed every thing of the kind ever seen. I shall now mention what I am about to propose as the foundation upon which I shall proceed.

"In Exod. xviii. 21, Deut. i. 15, we find the advice given by Jethro to Moses respecting political government and military discipline: 'Thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.' [See the note on "Exod. xviii. 21".] We may very well compare these tribunes, or rather these chiliarchs, to our colonels, the centurions or hecatontarchs to commanders or captains, the quinquagenaries or pentecontarchs to lieutenants, and the decurions or decarchs to our sergeants. These chiefs, whether they were named magistrates or officers, were each drawn from his own particular tribe, so that it was not permitted to place over one tribe an officer taken from another. Whatever matter the decarchs could not decide upon or terminate, went to the pentecontarchs, and from thence by degrees to the hecatontarchs, to the chiliarchs, to Moses, and at length to GOD himself, the sovereign head of the army. If we divide the whole army (such as it was at its departure from Egypt) by the numbers already laid down, we shall find 600 chiliarchs, 6, 000 hecatontarchs, 12, 000 pentecontarchs, 60, 000 decarchs, which in all make 78, 600 officers.

Josephus regulates the number of them still more exactly by saying that there were chiefs set over 10, 000, 1, 000, 500, 50, 30, 20, and 10. We find this regulation in Ant. Jud., b. iii., c. i5: 'Take a review of the army, and appoint chosen rulers over tens of thousands, and then over thousands, then divide them into five hundreds, and again into hundreds, and into fifties, and set rulers over each of them who may distinguish them into thirties, and keep them in order; and at last number them by twenties and by tens, and let there be one commander over each number, to be denominated from the number of those over whom they are rulers.' "We ought not to pass over in silence this division by tens, for twice 10 make 20, three times 10, 30, five times 10, 50, ten times 10, 100, ten times 50, 500, ten times 1, 000, 10, 000. It was in this manner, as is pretended, that Cangu, the first of the great Khams, (as he is called,) and after him Tamerlane, drew out an army, i.e., by 10, 100, 1, 000, 10, 000, mentioned in Alhazen, c. v. Probably these Tartars borrowed from the very Hebrews themselves this manner of laying out a camp. At all events it is certain that nothing more ancient of the kind can be found than that mentioned in the books of Moses. To distinguish it from that of the Greeks and Romans we may with justice call it the Hebrew castrametation, or, if we judge it more proper, the Divine castrametation, and consequently the most perfect of all. For although Moses places the pentecontarchs in the middle, between the hecatontarchs and the decarchs, i.e., 50 between 100 and 10; and although Josephus afterward places 1, 000 between 500 and 10, 000, and 30 and 20 between 10 and 50, this does not at all derange the progression by tens, which Is the foundation of arithmetic. These subaltern officers were equally useful and necessary, as we now see that their number, far from creating confusion, helps maintain order, and that the more there are of them the better is order preserved. According to the modern method of carrying on war, the next in rank to the generals of the army (who have the supreme command) are field marshals and brigadiers, who command 5, 000 men.

There are then between the chiliarchs or colonels and the hecatontarchs or captains, lieutenant-colonels; and between the hecatontarchs and the decarchs, lieutenant-captains; and these have under them lieutenants and ensigns. "It is certain that this method of distributing an army by tens, and of encamping, which is very concise, has far greater advantages even with respect to expense than the very best plans of the Greeks, Romans, or any other ancient nation. On this subject we have the testimony of Simon Steven, Castrametat. c. 1, art. 1, and c. 4. art. 3, Oper. Math., p. 574 and 596, &c. According to this arrangement each soldier, or if more proper, each father of a family, being thus placed by ten and ten in a straight line one after the other, might very easily name themselves first, second, &c.

Each troop in like manner might be distinguished by its ensigns, that of 100 might have them small, that of 1, 000 larger, and that of 10, 000 still larger.

John Gill's Bible Commentary

--The tribes were to encamp about the tabernacle, which was to be in the midst of them. It was a token of God's gracious presence. Yet the were to pitch their tents afar off, in reverence to the sanctuary. The children of Israel put themselves in their posts, without murmuring of disputing; and as it was their safety, so it was their beauty. It is our duty and interest to be contented with the place allotted to us and to endeavour to occupy it in a proper manner, without envying of murmuring; without ambition or covetousness. Thus the gospel churc ought to be compact, according to the Scripture model, every on knowing and keeping his place; and then all that wish well to the church rejoice, beholding their order, Col 2:5 __________________________________________________________________

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