Sunday Sermonette: Zzzzzzzzz

It is not at all apparent why the compilers of the Torah thought the arrangement of the tribes in the desert encampment was of interest to posterity. The information in Numbers 2 seems essentially pointless. It has no theological significance and it wouldn't even have any particular historical significance even if it were true. It's also completely ridiculous. Remember that the reported census consists only of military age men. We are talking here about a metropolis of more than 2 million people, plus their livestock. That is 3 1/2 times the present day population of Boston. If the people were donating the required sacrifices, the priests would be sacrificing tens of thousands of animals every day. The altar would be sitting in the middle of a lake of blood, and several industrial crematoria would be required to burn the fat and offal.

The Christian fundamentalist movement, that claims that every word in the Bible is literally true and is the inerrant word of God, is largely a fairly recent phenomenon arising in the late 19th Century. It was a reaction to modern scientific discoveries including the theory of evolution, but as the Encyclopedia Britannica also notes:

A more direct challenge to traditional Christianity came from scholars who adopted a critical and historical approach to studying and interpreting the Bible. This perspective, known as modernism, treated the books of the Bible—especially the first five (the Pentateuch)—not as simple documents written by a single author but as complex texts constructed by multiple authors from several older sources. Although modernism offered a solution to many problems posed by seemingly contradictory biblical passages, it also raised severe doubts about the historical accuracy of the biblical text, leading scholars to revise the traditional history of the biblical era and to reconsider the nature of biblical authority.

Although Martin Luther and other protestant reformers had insisted on the authority of scripture, they did not necessarily claim that every word was true. That is impossible to maintain if one actually reads the text. Even the Haredi, the most Orthodox branch of Judaism that maintains strict adherence to tradition, does not as far as I can tell view the Bible as literally historically true in every respect. That is not how scripture is generally understood in Judaism. Rather it is a record of folklore mingled with history, with much symbolic and metaphoric significance which is vigorously debated. (To clarify, the Torah consists largely of folklore and myth, mixed with priestly prescriptions of ritual practice and secular law. The Nevi'im, the prophets, consists of more contemporaneous material and probably reflects actual history, though not entirely accurate. The Ketuvim, "writings," are more overtly philosophical tracts, or creatively written parables with a distinct ethical or theological purpose.) Anyway for what it's worth here's Numbers 2, without further comment.

2 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: ² “The Israelites are to camp around the tent of meeting some distance from it, each of them under their standard and holding the banners of their family.”

³ On the east, toward the sunrise, the divisions of the camp of Judah are to encamp under their standard. The leader of the people of Judah is Nahshon son of Amminadab. ⁴ His division numbers 74,600.
⁵ The tribe of Issachar will camp next to them. The leader of the people of Issachar is Nethanel son of Zuar. ⁶ His division numbers 54,400.
⁷ The tribe of Zebulun will be next. The leader of the people of Zebulun is Eliab son of Helon. ⁸ His division numbers 57,400.
⁹ All the men assigned to the camp of Judah, according to their divisions, number 186,400. They will set out first.

¹⁰ On the south will be the divisions of the camp of Reuben under their standard. The leader of the people of Reuben is Elizur son of Shedeur. ¹¹ His division numbers 46,500.

¹² The tribe of Simeon will camp next to them. The leader of the people of Simeon is Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai. ¹³ His division numbers 59,300.
¹⁴ The tribe of Gad will be next. The leader of the people of Gad is Eliasaph son of Deuel.^{[a] 15} His division numbers 45,650.
¹⁶ All the men assigned to the camp of Reuben, according to their divisions, number 151,450. They will set out second.

¹⁷ Then the tent of meeting and the camp of the Levites will set out in the middle of the camps. They will set out in the same order as they encamp, each in their own place under their standard.

¹⁸ On the west will be the divisions of the camp of Ephraim under their standard. The leader of the people of Ephraim is Elishama son of Ammihud. ¹⁹ His division numbers 40,500.

²⁰ The tribe of Manasseh will be next to them. The leader of the people of Manasseh is Gamaliel son of Pedahzur. ²¹ His division numbers 32,200.
²² The tribe of Benjamin will be next. The leader of the people of Benjamin is Abidan son of Gideoni. ²³ His division numbers 35,400.
²⁴ All the men assigned to the camp of Ephraim, according to their divisions, number 108,100. They will set out third.

²⁵ On the north will be the divisions of the camp of Dan under their standard. The leader of the people of Dan is Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai. ²⁶ His division numbers 62,700.

²⁷ The tribe of Asher will camp next to them. The leader of the people of Asher is Pagiel son of Okran. ²⁸ His division numbers 41,500.
²⁹ The tribe of Naphtali will be next. The leader of the people of Naphtali is Ahira son of Enan. ³⁰ His division numbers 53,400.
³¹ All the men assigned to the camp of Dan number 157,600. They will set out last, under their standards.

³² These are the Israelites, counted according to their families. All the men in the camps, by their divisions, number 603,550. ³³ The Levites, however, were not counted along with the other Israelites, as the Lord commanded Moses.

³⁴ So the Israelites did everything the Lord commanded Moses; that is the way they encamped under their standards, and that is the way they set out, each of them with their clan and family.

Footnotes

1. Numbers 2:14 Many manuscripts of the Masoretic Text, Samaritan Pentateuch and Vulgate (see also 1:14); most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text Reuel