Week 6 Numbers
In chapter one the Hebrew tribes are still camped by Sinai. Been there since Exodus nineteen.
Their current project is to enumerate tribes and they do that in chapter one, counting up men of military age.
The chapter starts with a list of tribal families: Reuben Simeon Judah Issachar Zebulun Ephraim Manasseh Benjamin Dan Asher Gad Naphtali (Levi isn’t counted, and Ephraim & Manasseh are stand-ins for Joseph).
Then in the second half of chapter one the list is repeated along with the census numbers (the one difference is that Gad comes second instead of eleventh).
I looked back at Genesis twenty-nine to see the birth-order of the twelve brothers: Reuben Simeon Levi Judah Dan Naphtali Gad Asher Issachar Zebulun Joseph Benjamin. I wondered why Numbers didn’t follow that order.
I flipped over to Genesis forty-nine to see the order of Jacob blessing his sons: Reuben Simeon Levi Judah Zebulun Issachar Dan Gad Asher Naphtali Joseph Benjamin. That’s different too.
Back to Numbers – in chapter two there’s a second name list. Same names. Slightly different order but repeating the same census numbers. And chapter two also lumps the twelve into four groups of three:
Judah-Issachar-Zebulun
Reuben-Simeon-Gad
Ephraim-Manasseh-Benjamin
Dan-Asher-Naphtali.
There’s a Leah connection in group two; Rachel in group three. Hmmm.
Starting Numbers I’d hoped that figuring out the name order might help out a bit.
Turns out it didn’t. But it did help focus my thinking.