Reference: Encampment
Fausets
Below is represented the Israelite order of march and encampment (Numbers 2). This would be varied according to local requirements; but the ideal was reproduced in the square court with which the temple was surrounded, and in the heavenly city of Eze 48:20; Re 21:16; 20:9. The earthly camp exhibited the perfect symmetry of the church; the tabernacle in the middle denoted the dependence of all on Jehovah and the access of all to Him. The area of the camp was about three square miles. Living in families they did not occupy so much room as the same number of soldiers would occupy. The "standard" (degel, a glittering emblem on a pole) marked the division or camp, the "ensign" ('ot) the family.
Thus there were four standards, one for each "camp" of three tribes: according to tradition the four cherubic forms, the lion (Judah, Ge 49:9; Re 5:5), the ox (Ephraim, De 33:17), the man, and the eagle (Eze 1:26; 10:1; Re 4:4, etc.). Judah had the post of honor in front of the curtain of the tabernacle, along with Issachar and Zebulun, all three Leah's children, and led the van on march. Reuben, Leah's oldest son, with Simeon, Leah's second, and Gad, oldest of Leah's handmaid Zilpah's sous, formed the second camp. Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin, Rachel's descendants, formed the third camp. Dan, oldest of the handmaids' children, with Asher and Naphtali, handmaids' children, formed the fourth camp.
In coincidence with this arrangement, Nu 10:14, etc., represents Judah taking the lead in the march out of the wilderness of Sinai, Reuben was next, Ephraim was next, and Dan was rearward. The signal for march was given by a blast of two silver trumpets. The sanctity of the camp was maintained even in time of war. Among other nations ordinary rules of morality and propriety were then relaxed, as Lucan x. 407, observes: "no faith or regard for religion exists among men in camp" (nulla fides pietasque viris qui castra sequuntur). But in war especially Israel was to "keep from every wicked thing," and even from any breach of decorum or cleanliness, "for the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp to deliver thee and to give up thine enemies before thee, therefore shall thy camp be holy, that He see no unclean thing in thee and turn away from thee" (De 23:9-14).
All refuse was to be carried outside the camp. There the dead were to be buried (Le 10:4; 6:11). Contact with the dead, until purification, and leprosy excluded from it (Nu 5:2; 31:19). Ashes from the sacrifices were poured out in an appointed place outside the camp, where the entrails, skin, and horns, and all that was not offered in sacrifice, were burnt (Le 4:11-12; 6:11; 8:17; 24:14). There criminals were executed, and the sin offering bullock was burnt.
(compare as to the antitype Joh 19:17,20; Heb 13:12). So late as Hezekiah the temple was called "the tents of Jehovah" (2Ch 31:2; Ps 78:28; compare "a great host like the host of God" applied to David's adherents, 1Ch 12:22). The military camp was generally fixed on a hill and near water (1Sa 13:2-3,16,23; 17:3; 28:4; 29:1). The baggage wagons or else an earthwork formed a barrier round the camp. The machineh were movable camps as distinguished from the matsab, or netsib, standing camps (2Ch 17:2).
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A lion's whelp is Judah, For prey, my son, thou hast gone up; He hath bent, he hath crouched as a lion, And as a lioness; who causeth him to arise?
And the skin of the bullock, and all its flesh, besides its head, and besides its legs, and its inwards, and its dung -- he hath even brought out the whole bullock unto the outside of the camp, unto a clean place, unto the place of the pouring out of the ashes, and he hath burnt it on the wood with fire; beside the place of the pouring out of the ashes it is burnt.
and he hath stripped off his garments, and hath put on other garments, and hath brought out the ashes unto the outside of the camp, unto a clean place.
and he hath stripped off his garments, and hath put on other garments, and hath brought out the ashes unto the outside of the camp, unto a clean place.
and the bullock, and its skin, and its flesh, and its dung, he hath burnt with fire, at the outside of the camp, as Jehovah hath commanded Moses.
And Moses calleth unto Mishael and unto Elzaphan, sons of Uzziel, uncle of Aaron, and saith unto them, 'Come near, bear your brethren from the front of the sanctuary unto the outside of the camp;'
'Bring out the reviler unto the outside of the camp; and all those hearing have laid their hands on his head, and all the company have stoned him.
'Command the sons of Israel, and they send out of the camp every leper, and every one with an issue, and every one defiled by a body;
And the standard of the camp of the sons of Judah journeyeth in the first place, by their hosts, and over its host is Nahshon son of Amminadab.
And ye, encamp ye at the outside of the camp seven days -- any who hath slain a person, and any who hath come against a pierced one, ye cleanse yourselves on the third day, and on the seventh day -- ye and your captives;
'When a camp goeth out against thine enemies, then thou hast kept from every evil thing. When there is in thee a man who is not clean, from an accident at night -- then he hath gone out unto the outside of the camp -- he doth not come in unto the midst of the camp -- read more. and it hath been, at the turning of the evening, he doth bathe with water, and at the going in of the sun he doth come in unto the midst of the camp. 'And a station thou hast at the outside of the camp, and thou hast gone out thither without, and a nail thou hast on thy staff, and it hath been, in thy sitting without, that thou hast digged with it, and turned back, and covered thy filth; for Jehovah thy God is walking up and down in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give thine enemies before thee, and thy camp hath been holy, and He doth not see in thee the nakedness of anything, and hath turned back from after thee.
His honour is a firstling of his ox, And his horns are horns of a reem; By them peoples he doth push together To the ends of earth; And they are the myriads of Ephraim, And they are the thousands of Manasseh.
and Saul chooseth for himself three thousand men out of Israel; and two thousand are with Saul in Michmash, and in the hill-country of Beth-El; and a thousand have been with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin; and the remnant of the people he hath sent each to his tents. And Jonathan smiteth the garrison of the Philistines which is in Geba, and the Philistines hear, and Saul hath blown with a trumpet through all the land, saying, 'Let the Hebrews hear.'
and Saul, and Jonathan his son, and the people who are found with them, are abiding in Gibeah of Benjamin, and the Philistines have encamped in Michmash.
And the Philistines are standing on the mountain on this side, and the Israelites are standing on the mountain on that side, and the valley is between them.
And the Philistines are gathered, and come in, and encamp in Shunem, and Saul gathereth all Israel, and they encamp in Gilboa,
And the Philistines gather all their camps to Aphek, and the Israelites are encamping at a fountain which is in Jezreel,
for at that time, day by day, they come in unto David to help him, till it is a great camp, like a camp of God.
and putteth a force in all the fenced cities of Judah, and putteth garrisons in the land of Judah, and in the cities of Ephraim that Asa his father had captured.
And Hezekiah appointeth the courses of the priests, and of the Levites, by their courses, each according to his service, of the priests and of the Levites, for burnt-offering, and for peace-offerings, to minister, and to give thanks, and to give praise in the gates of the camps of Jehovah.
And causeth it to fall in the midst of His camp, Round about His tabernacles.
And above the expanse that is over their head, as an appearance of a sapphire stone, is the likeness of a throne, and on the likeness of the throne a likeness, as the appearance of man upon it from above.
And I look, and lo, on the expanse that is above the head of the cherubs, as a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne, He hath been seen over them.
All the heave-offering is five and twenty thousand by five and twenty thousand, square do ye lift up the heave-offering of the holy portion with the possession of the city.
and bearing his cross, he went forth to the place called Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha;
this title, therefore, read many of the Jews, because the place was nigh to the city where Jesus was crucified, and it was having been written in Hebrew, in Greek, in Roman.
Wherefore, also Jesus -- that he might sanctify through his own blood the people -- without the gate did suffer;
And around the throne are thrones twenty and four, and upon the thrones I saw the twenty and four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and they had upon their heads crowns of gold;
and one of the elders saith to me, 'Weep not; lo, overcome did the Lion, who is of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, to open the scroll, and to loose the seven seals of it;
and they did go up over the breadth of the land, and did surround the camp of the saints, and the beloved city, and there came down fire from God out of the heaven, and devoured them;
and the city lieth square, and the length of it is as great as the breadth; and he did measure the city with the reed -- furlongs twelve thousand; the length, and the breadth, and the height, of it are equal;
Smith
primarily denoted the resting-place of an army or company of travellers at night,
and was hence applied to the army or caravan when on its march.
Ge 32:7-8; Ex 14:19; Jos 10:5; 11:4
The description of the camp of the Israelites, on their march from Egypt, Numb 2,3, supplies the greatest amount of information on the subject. The tabernacle, corresponding to the chieftains tent of an ordinary encampment, was placed in the centre, and around and facing it,
arranged in four grand divisions, corresponding to the four points of the compass, lay the host of Israel, according to their standards.
In the centre, round the tabernacle, and with no standard but the cloudy or fiery pillar which rested over it, were the tents of the priests and Levites. The former, with Moses and Aaron at their head, were encamped on the eastern side. The order of encampment was preserved on the march.
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and Jacob feareth exceedingly, and is distressed, and he divideth the people who are with him, and the flock, and the herd, and the camels, into two camps, and saith, 'If Esau come in unto the one camp, and have smitten it -- then the camp which is left hath been for an escape.'
and the present passeth over before his face, and he hath lodged during that night in the camp.
And the messenger of God, who is going before the camp of Israel, journeyeth and goeth at their rear; and the pillar of the cloud journeyeth from their front, and standeth at their rear,
And it cometh to pass in the evening, that the quail cometh up, and covereth the camp, and in the morning there hath been the lying of dew round about the camp,
And the sons of Israel have encamped, each by his camp, and each by his standard, by their hosts;
And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, and unto Aaron, saying, 'Each by his standard, with ensigns of the house of their fathers, do the sons of Israel encamp; over-against round about the tent of meeting they encamp.'
And the tent of meeting -- the camp of the Levites -- hath journeyed in the midst of the camps; as they encamp so they journey, each at his station by their standards.
And five kings of the Amorite (the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon) are gathered together, and go up, they and all their camps, and encamp against Gibeon, and fight against it.
and they go out, they and all their camps with them, a people numerous, as the sand which is on the sea-shore for multitude, and horse and charioteer very many;