The camp was in the form of a square, twelve thousand cubits on each
side, and in the middle was the space, four thousand cubits in size,
for the sanctuary, and the dwelling place of priests and Levites. In
the East of the sanctuary lived Moses, Aaron, and Aaron's sons; the
Levites of the family of Kohath lived in the South, the sons of Gershon
in the West, and the sons of Merari in the North. Each of theses
divisions had for its dwelling place a space of a hundred cubits, while
each group of three tribes that joined under one standard had a space
of four thousand cubits. This was only for the dwelling place of the
people, the cattle were outside the encampment, and the cloud of glory
separated the dwelling places of the human beings from those of the
animals. Rivers surrounded the camp from without, and so also were the
different groups separated one from the other by rivers. But in order
that on the Sabbath, when riding was prohibited, intercourse among the
different parts of the camp might not be rendered impossible, there
were bridges of boards over the rivers. The purple color of the cloud
of glory was reflected in the waters of the rivers, so that it spread
afar a radiance like that of the sun and the stars. The heathens,
whenever they beheld these wondrous radiant waters, were frightened and
feared Israel, but at the same time praised God for the miracles He
wrought for Israel. [445]
These were miracles that were visible to the outer world as well, but
there were others that were known to Israel alone. During their forty
years' march they had no need of change of raiment. The robe of purple
which the angels clothed each one among them at their exodus from Egypt
remained ever new; and as a snail's shell grows with it, so did their
garments grow with them. Fire could not injure these garments, and
though they wore the same things throughout forty years, still they
were not annoyed by vermin, yes, even the corpses of this generation
were spared by worms. [446]
During their marches, as well as in their stay at a certain place, they
had not only the four standards that divided them into four groups of
three tribes each, each individual tribe had furthermore its own
special spot and its special ensign. Reuben's flag was red, and on it
were pictured mandrakes. Simeon's flag was green, with a picture of the
city of Shechem upon it, for the forefather of the tribe had conquered
this city. Judah's flag was azure, and bore the form of a lion.
Issachar's flag was black, and had two figures, the sun and the moon,
for from this tribe sprung the learned men who busied themselves with
astronomy and the science of the calendar. Zebulun's flag was white,
with the form of a ship, for this tribe devoted to navigation. Dan's
flag had a color like a sapphire, with the figure of a serpent.
Naphtali's flag was a dull red, the color of wine, and on it was the
figure of a hind, in memory of its forefather, who was like "a hind let
loose." Ashere's flag was red like fire, and had the token of an olive
tree, because this tribe had much olive oil of excellent quality. The
two tribes descended from Joseph, - Ephraim, and Manasseh - both flags
of the same deep black color with a representation of Egypt, but they
had other forms besides. Ephraim's had the picture of a bull, to
symbolize Joshua, sprung of this tribe, whose glory was like "the
firstling of his bullock, that pusheth the people together to the ends
of the earth;" whereas Manasseh's was that of a unicorn, symbolizing
the judge Gideon that sprang from this tribe, "who with his horns of
unicorns pushed the people." Benjamin's flag had a color composed of
all the other eleven colors, and a wolf for his token, Jacob having
described this tribe a "a wolf that ravineth." The different colors of
the flags corresponded to the colors of the stones set in the
breastplate of the high priest, on which were engraved the names of the
twelve tribes. Reuben's stone had a red color like his flag, Simeon's
flag was green like the color of his stone, and in this way with all
the tribes the color of stones and of flags harmonized. [447]