Num 1-2

Numbers

1.2  I am thinking about why Moses needed to know how many people there were and why the process of counting them was important.

1.20 by their genealogies by their families, by their father's house, according to the number of names, every mail individually from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war...  Seems that the bottom line was the potential army.  It is also interesting that this verse is repeated twelve times which would seem to indicate that it might be important.

1.20-33

Reuben     46.0k

Simeon     59.3k

Gad            45.6k

Judah       74.6k

Issachar   54.4k

Zebulun    57.4k

Ephraim   40.5k

Manasseh 32.2k

Benjamin  45.4k

Dan              62.7k

Asher         41.5k

Naphtali    53.4k

2.3  east side: Judah, Isschar, Zebulun

2.9  first to break camp...

2.10  south side:Ruben, Simeon, Gad

2.16  second to break camp...

2.18 west side: Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin

2.24 third to break camp...

2.25 north side: Dan, Asher, Naphtali

2.31  break camp last...

It is interesting to note that the leaders and census numbers were mentioned again in this organizational listing.  I wonder how they determined the lead tribe for each section.