NOTES for Num 2:1-34
Why such a precise order in the arrangement of the Israelites by camps? Is this not a military garrison? That is precisely the point: the camp of the Israelites is organized according to an order that is either military or priestly. The Apostle Paul uses the same word employed here by the Greek translators of the Pentateuch, tagma or taxis, to describe order in the Church: “All things should be done decently and in order” (1 Cor. 14:40). This “orderliness” certainly does not mean that military discipline should prevail in the Church, but harmony and organization are by no means superfluous qualities and, when properly understood and applied, never hinder the manifestation of the Spirit of freedom.