or ENCAMPMENT, of the Israelites. The whole body of the people,
consisting of six hundred thousand fighting men, beside women and
children, was disposed under four battalions, so placed as to enclose
the tabernacle, in the form of a square, and each under one general
standard. (See _Armies_.) There were forty-one encampments, from their
first in the month of March, at Rameses, in the land of Goshen, in
Egypt, and in the wilderness, until they reached the land of Canaan.
They are thus enumerated in Numbers xxxiii:--
1. Rameses
2. Succoth
3. Etham, on the edge of the wilderness
4. Pihahiroth
5. Marah
6. Elim
7. By the Red Sea
8. Wilderness of Sin
9. Dophkah
10. Alush
11. Rephidim
12. Wilderness of Sinai
13. Kibroth-hattaavah
14. Hazeroth
15. Rithmah
16. Rimmon-parez
17. Libnah
18. Rissah
19. Kehelatha
20. Shapher
21. Haradah
22. Makheloth
23. Tahath
24. Tarah
25. Mithcah
26. Hashmonah
27. Moseroth
28. Bene-jaakan
29. Hor-hagidgad
30. Jotbathah
31. Ebronah
32. Ebion-gaber
33. Kadesh
34. Mount Hor
35. Zalmonah
36. Punon
37. Oboth
38. Ije-abarim
39. Dibon-gad
40. Almon-diblathaim
41. Mountains of Abarim
In the second year after their exodus from Egypt they were numbered; and
upon an exact poll, the number of their males amounted to six hundred
and three thousand, five hundred and fifty, from twenty years old and
upward, Num. i, ii. This vast mass of people, encamped in beautiful
order, must have presented a most impressive spectacle. That it failed
not to produce effect upon the richly endowed and poetic mind of Balaam,
appears from Num. xxiv, 2; “And Balaam lifted up his eyes and he saw
Israel abiding in his tents according to their tribes; and the Spirit of
God came upon him, and he took up his parable and said, How goodly are
thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel! As the valleys are
they spread forth, as gardens by the river side, as the trees of lign
aloes which the Lord hath planted, and as cedar trees beside waters.”
Grandeur, order, beauty, and freshness, were the ideas at once suggested
to the mind of this unfaithful prophet, and called forth his unwilling
admiration. Perhaps we may consider this spectacle as a type of the
order, beauty, and glory of the true “church in the wilderness,” in
those happy days when God “shall not behold iniquity in Jacob, nor
perverseness in Israel;” when it shall be said, “The Lord his God is
with him, and the shout of a king is among them.”
consisting of six hundred thousand fighting men, beside women and
children, was disposed under four battalions, so placed as to enclose
the tabernacle, in the form of a square, and each under one general
standard. (See _Armies_.) There were forty-one encampments, from their
first in the month of March, at Rameses, in the land of Goshen, in
Egypt, and in the wilderness, until they reached the land of Canaan.
They are thus enumerated in Numbers xxxiii:--
1. Rameses
2. Succoth
3. Etham, on the edge of the wilderness
4. Pihahiroth
5. Marah
6. Elim
7. By the Red Sea
8. Wilderness of Sin
9. Dophkah
10. Alush
11. Rephidim
12. Wilderness of Sinai
13. Kibroth-hattaavah
14. Hazeroth
15. Rithmah
16. Rimmon-parez
17. Libnah
18. Rissah
19. Kehelatha
20. Shapher
21. Haradah
22. Makheloth
23. Tahath
24. Tarah
25. Mithcah
26. Hashmonah
27. Moseroth
28. Bene-jaakan
29. Hor-hagidgad
30. Jotbathah
31. Ebronah
32. Ebion-gaber
33. Kadesh
34. Mount Hor
35. Zalmonah
36. Punon
37. Oboth
38. Ije-abarim
39. Dibon-gad
40. Almon-diblathaim
41. Mountains of Abarim
In the second year after their exodus from Egypt they were numbered; and
upon an exact poll, the number of their males amounted to six hundred
and three thousand, five hundred and fifty, from twenty years old and
upward, Num. i, ii. This vast mass of people, encamped in beautiful
order, must have presented a most impressive spectacle. That it failed
not to produce effect upon the richly endowed and poetic mind of Balaam,
appears from Num. xxiv, 2; “And Balaam lifted up his eyes and he saw
Israel abiding in his tents according to their tribes; and the Spirit of
God came upon him, and he took up his parable and said, How goodly are
thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel! As the valleys are
they spread forth, as gardens by the river side, as the trees of lign
aloes which the Lord hath planted, and as cedar trees beside waters.”
Grandeur, order, beauty, and freshness, were the ideas at once suggested
to the mind of this unfaithful prophet, and called forth his unwilling
admiration. Perhaps we may consider this spectacle as a type of the
order, beauty, and glory of the true “church in the wilderness,” in
those happy days when God “shall not behold iniquity in Jacob, nor
perverseness in Israel;” when it shall be said, “The Lord his God is
with him, and the shout of a king is among them.”