So the Israelites did everything the LORD commanded Moses; that is the way they encamped under their standards, and that is the way they set out, each of them with their clan and family. – Numbers 2:34

Today's Scripture Reading (January 12, 2025): Numbers 2

Everything progresses in a specific direction; from my experience, that direction is from order to disorder. It happens all the time. Just before Christmas, I found a bunch of pictures in my home office. I picked up the pictures and realized that the pictures were of the family of a friend. The pictures were in a reasonably large envelope, so I added a book I knew belonged to my friend and placed his name on the front of the envelope. Then I had the envelope ready for the next time I would see him.

When I gave the envelope to him, his first question was, "Where did you find these?" I smiled and told him I had been cleaning my office and stumbled on them; I had no idea why I Had them. My friend's next question was a little surprising. "Why were you cleaning your office?" I don't remember what I said to him, and I am not sure what reason he was imagining, but the reason I was cleaning my office was reasonably straightforward: my office had made the journey from order to disorder. I'm not sure what your living space looks like, but sometimes, you must take time to restore the intended order. At least, that is true for me, because my office doesn't become ordered all by itself. Someone had to do it, and then the journey from order to disorder would begin once again. 

Israel had existed in a state of disorder. It wasn't all that long ago, maybe a year or a little more, that they were enslaved in Egypt. Since their escape, Israel seems to have existed more as a mob than anything else in the months since. There didn't seem to be any order as they made their way through the Red Sea. And as they gathered at the base of Mount Sinai, no discernable order could be seen in the nation. Even when building the Tabernacle, there were just a bunch of people. This problem was that this disorder made it hard for the Tribal leaders to lead their tribes. Something had to change before the nation could move forward.

God gave Moses the diagram of how the nation should be arranged. It involved how the tribes should camp around the Tabernacle and how the people should move when it was time to leave the base of God's mountain. It was a distinct change to how Israel had been organized, or more accurately, disorganized. However, someone had to give the instructions and get the people set out in a way that made sense and would allow the nation to make the most of their situation. 

Israel did as God had commanded. They organized as God had told them to. They would have to be reminded from time to time because the natural direction is from order to disorder, but, for now, order had been intentionally created out of disorder. 

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Numbers 3