The Cross in the Camp of Israel

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Numbers 2:17 “Then the tabernacle of the congregation shall set forward with the camp of the Levites in the midst of the camp: as they encamp, so shall they set forward, every man in his place by their standards.”

In the Book of Numbers chapter 2, the Lord God gives specific instructions on how the twelve tribes of Israel should camp around the Tabernacle in the wilderness:

East: Judah, Issachar, Zebulun (Total: 186,400 men)

South: Reuben, Simeon, Gad (Total: 151,450 men)

West: Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin (Total: 108,100 men)

North: Dan, Asher, Naphtali (Total: 157,600 men)

If you were to view this encampment from above (a “God’s eye view”), with the Tabernacle in the center, the distinct sizes of the camps form a specific shape. The Eastern camp was significantly larger (longer) than the others, and the Northern and Southern camps were roughly equal.

It has a shape of a perfect Cross. The Israelites were traveling through the desert in the formation of a cross, with the presence of God (the Tabernacle) at the center.