Introduction (in my Devotional Bible) and Numbers 1-2
According to the introduction, this chapter is about the Israelites wandering in the desert. What I had forgotten was that if the Israelites had walked straight to the Promised Land from Egypt, it would have taken only 11 days. Instead, problems arose. Mistakes were made. Ears did not listen. And for 38 years, the Israelites wandered. Aimlessly.
Chapter 1-
No sacrificed animals mentioned. Lots of numbers though. The family of each tribe of Israel was recorded. Males, ages 20 and above (wonder why ours is 18?) were recorded for military purposes.
I won't repeat all of the numbers since you can easily look them up yourself (if there is even anyone out there?). I did note that the tribe of Judah had the most listed at 76,500 while the tribe of Manasseh totaled only 32, 200 men. (I am a bit curious if they round up/down to the nearest fifty.) The total number of men for all of the tribes together? 603,550. That doesn't even include the women and children. No wonder they needed so many rules. That could easily be mass chaos with that many people!
I also learned that the tribe of Levi was not included in this count because their jobs involved the setting up, transport, and taking down of the Holy Tent.
Chapter 2-
This was basically the "map" of how the tribes would be situated in the camp, as well as the order they would head out when it was time to move on. Again, I won't reiterate all of the information. I did notice there were five "divisions" with the tribe of Levi (the priests) in the middle of the pack.
Oh, and the families had their own flags, so the people had to stay with their group.
I would love to spend one day to see what life was like for them. Did the families intermingle at all? What did the kids do all day? How about the women? The men?
Inquiring minds want to know...
Tomorrow's reading: Number 3-5
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