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Numbers 2

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1 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,

2 The children of Israel are to put up their tents in the order of their families, by the flags of their fathers' houses, facing the Tent of meeting on every side.

3 Those whose tents are on the east side, looking to the dawn, will be round the flag of the children of Judah, with Nahshon, the son of Amminadab, as their chief.

4 The number of his army was seventy-four thousand, six hundred.

5 And nearest to him will be the tribe of Issachar, with Nethanel, the son of Zuar, as their chief.

6 The number of his army was fifty-four thousand, four hundred.

7 After him, the tribe of Zebulun, with Eliab, the son of Helon, as their chief.

8 The number of his army was fifty-seven thousand, four hundred.

9 The number of all the armies of Judah was a hundred and eighty-six thousand, four hundred. They go forward first.

10 On the south side is the flag of the children of Reuben, in the order of their armies, with Elizur, the son of Shedeur, as their chief.

11 The number of his army was forty-six thousand, five hundred.

12 And nearest to him, the tribe of Simeon, with Shelumiel, the son of Zurishaddai, as their chief.

13 The number of his army was fifty-nine thousand, three hundred.

14 Then the tribe of Gad, with Eliasaph, son of Reuel, as their chief.

15 The number of his army was forty-five thousand, six hundred and fifty.

16 The number of all the armies of Reuben together came to a hundred and fifty-one thousand, four hundred and fifty. They go forward second.

17 Then the Tent of meeting is to go forward, with the tents of the Levites, in the middle of the armies; in the same order as their tents are placed, they are to go forward, every man under his flag.

18 On the west side will be the flag of the children of Ephraim, with Elishama, the son of Ammihud, as their chief.

19 The number of his army was forty thousand, five hundred.

20 And by him the tribe of Manasseh with Gamaliel, the son of Pedahzur, as their chief.

21 The number of his army was thirty-two thousand, two hundred.

22 Then the tribe of Benjamin, with Abidan, the son of Gideoni, as their chief.

23 The number of his army was thirty-five thousand, four hundred.

24 The number of all the armies of Ephraim was a hundred and eight thousand, one hundred. They go forward third.

25 On the north side will be the flag of the children of Dan, with Ahiezer, the son of Ammishaddai, as their chief.

26 The number of his army was sixty-two thousand, seven hundred.

27 Nearest to him will be the tribe of Asher, with Pagiel, the son of Ochran, as their chief.

28 The number of his army was forty-one thousand, five hundred;

29 Then the tribe of Naphtali, with Ahira, the son of Enan, as their chief.

30 The number of his army was fifty-three thousand, four hundred.

31 The number of all the armies in the tents of Dan was a hundred and fifty-seven thousand, six hundred. They will go forward last, by their flags.

32 These are all who were numbered of the children of Israel, in the order of their fathers' families: all the armies in their tents together came to six hundred and three thousand, five hundred and fifty.

33 But the Levites were not numbered among the children of Israel, as the Lord said to Moses.

34 So the children of Israel did as the Lord said to Moses, so they put up their tents by their flags, and they went forward in the same order, by their families, and by their fathers' houses.

   

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Two

  

The number "two" has two different meanings in the Bible. In most cases "two" indicates a joining together or unification. This is easy to see if we consider the conflicts we tend to have between our "hearts" and our "heads" -- between what we want and what we know. Our "hearts" tell us that we want pie with ice cream for dinner; our "heads" tell us we should have grilled chicken and salad. If we can bring those two together and actually want what's good for us, we'll be pretty happy. We're built that way -- with our emotions balanced against our intellect -- because the Lord is built that way. His essence is love itself, or Divine Love, the source of all caring, emotion and energy. It is expressed as Divine Wisdom, which gives form to that love and puts it to work, and is the source of all knowledge and reasoning. In His case the two aspects are always in conjunction, always in harmony. It's easy also to see how that duality is reflected throughout creation: plants and animals, food and drink, silver and gold. Most importantly, it's reflected in the two genders, with women representing love and men representing wisdom. That's the underlying reason why conjunction in marriage is such a holy thing. So when "two" is used in the Bible to indicate some sort of pairing or unity, it means a joining together. In rare cases, however, "two" is used more purely as a number. In these cases it stands for a profane or unholy state that comes before a holy one. This is because "three" represents a state of holiness and completion (Jesus, for instance, rose from the tomb on the third day), and "two" represents the state just before it.