In the last few months, we’ve taken a look at a few examples of how God beautifully “conceals a matter” (Proverbs 25:2) in the Old Testament books of the Bible.
To recap, we’ve looked at:
One of my favorites is found in the book of Numbers.
The Cross and the Camp
Numbers might very well be one of those books that people gloss over because of all the names, generations and, well, numbers listed in various forms. One thing to always keep in mind while reading the Bible is that no detail is unimportant. Every name, every place, and yes, even every number serves God’s purposes.
Now the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, “The sons of Israel shall camp, each by his own standard, with the banners of their fathers’ households; they shall camp around the tent of meeting at a distance.” –Numbers 2:1-2.
Beginning at verse 3 and ending in verse 34, God gives Moses and Aaron specific instructions on how the people were to be encamped around the Tabernacle. A basic rendering of this passage would look something like the image below.
What this ends up being is that the three tribes at the top of this picture are at the North (Asher, Dan and Naphtali) and the tribes at the bottom (Gad, Reuben and Simeon) are at the South. The tribes on the left (Benjamin, Ephraim and Manasseh) are on the west side and the last grouping on the right (Issachar, Judah and Zebulun) are on the east. The Levities are part of the tabernacle.
But these groups are numbered in this chapter by taking a census. The populations of these tribes are:
- Benjamin 35,400
- Manasseh 32,200
- Ephraim 40,500
- Naphtali 53,400
- Asher 41,500
- Dan 62,700
- Judah 74,600
- Issachar 54,400
- Zebulun 57,400
- Gad 45,650
- Simeon 59,300
- Reuben 46,500.
The Levities were not numbered. Outside of them, the total population was 603,550.
What’s the point? Well, using the image above, if we plot this out each “leg” of the camp will extend out from the Tabernacle according to the populations of each group of three tribes, yes?
What would this look like from 30,000 feet? See below.
The boxes represent more-or-less proportions against each population. What does the image appear to be?
A cross!
And this is from the Torah, one of the five books of Moses! This is centuries before crucifixion was even invented! Read Numbers 2 for yourself and just draw out a picture of what the camp would look like. Try it for yourself.
There is no way you can convince me that the Bible is anything but God-breathed. There is no way that Jewish rabbis would have tried to conceal this into the text. There is no way!
I close this post with the same point I made in my last post: if the Bible is authenticated over-and-over again by way of prophecy, thereby clearly making it a message outside of our domain of time and space, what is the implication?
You need to answer the question for yourself. You entire eternity depends upon the answer!
May He Increase!
