## Tur HaArokh, Numbers

###### Tur HaArokh, Numbers 2:1:1
[Tur HaArokh, Numbers 2:1:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Tur%20HaArokh/s/Numbers/r/2:1:1)

**וידבר י"י אל משה ואל אהרן.**כתב ר' אברהם וטעם אל אהרן כי אהרן ובניו ישימו משא הכהנים בכתף:

**Sefaria Community Translation:**
וידבר ה' אל משה ואל אהרן, “*Hashem* spoke to Moses and Aaron. Ibn Ezra explains that the reason why Aaron was addressed also was that his sons had to place the various furnishings of the Tabernacle on the shoulders of the priests.


###### Tur HaArokh, Numbers 2:2:1
[Tur HaArokh, Numbers 2:2:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Tur%20HaArokh/s/Numbers/r/2:2:1)

**איש על דגלו באותות.**פירש"י כל דגל היה לו מפה צבועה בגוון אבנו הקבועה לו בחשן. ור' אברהם כתב סימנין היו בכל דגל. וקדמונינו אמרו שהיה בדגל ראובן צורת אדם מדרש דודאים ובדגל יהודה אריה כי בו המשילו יעקב ובדגל אפרים שור מטעם בכור שור הדר לו ובדגל דן צורת נשר עד שידמו לכרובים שראה יחזקאל. והיה אהל מועד באמצע ומחנות הלוים סביביו בתוך המחנות כענין שהזכיר בספר יצירה והיכל קדוש מכוון באמצע. והנה הפיאות תחלתן מן המזרח כמהלך השמש ואחריו הדרום ואחריו המערב ואחריו הצפון. ושמו דגל יהודה במזרח כי הוא נוסע בראשון כמו שצוה הכתוב יהודה יעלה בתחלה וראובן בדרום לכבוד הבכורה והנה שני הדגלים הסמוכים היו ללאה עם בכור שפחתה הנולד על ברכיה ודגל אחד לבני רחל במערב ודגל בני השפחות בצפון אחרונים. ועוד ראיתי במדרש כשם שברא הקב"ה ד' רוחות העולם כך סבב לכסאו ד' רוחות ולמעלה מכולם כסא הכבוד וכנגדן סדר למטה למשה אמר הקב"ה למשה מזרח שממנו אור יוצא לעולם יהיה כנגדו יהודה שהוא בעל מלוכה ועליו שבט יששכר שהוא בעל תורה ועליו מטה זבולן שהוא בעל עשירות כד"א לחוף ימים ישכון וכתיב שפע ימים ינקו ראשונה יסעו כדכתיב ויעבור מלכם לפניהם. דרום טללי ברכה וגשמי ברכה יוצאין ממנו לעולם יהיה כנגדו שבט ראובן שהוא בעל תשובה ותשובה מדה טובה ורחמיו של הקב"ה באים בשביל תשובה ועליו גד שהוא בעל גדוד ראובן בתשובה וגד בגבורה ושמעון באמצע לכפר עליו ושנים יסעו שהתשובה שניה לתורה. מערב אוצרות שלג וברד וקור וחום וכנגדן אפרים ובנימין ומנשה ושכינה תמיד בגבול בנימין שנאמר לבנימין אמר וגו' ושלישים יסעו נאה לתורה גבורה שיתגבר אדם בתורה ויתגבר על יצרו. צפון משם החשך יוצא לעולם כנגדו שבט דן שהוא החשיך העולם בע"ז שעשה ירבעם ועליו שבט אשר מאיר על החשך שנ' וטובל בשמן רגלו ועליו שבט נפתלי שהוא מלא ברכה לאחרונה יסעו שכל העובד ע"ז הולך לאחור ולא לפנים:

**Sefaria Community Translation:**
איש על דגלו באותות, “each man by his flag, according to its insignia.” *Rashi* explains that each flag had coloured insignia woven or embroidered on it reflecting the appearance of the respective gemstone of the tribe on the breastplate of the High Priest. Ibn Ezra writes that each flag had a pattern that easily identified the tribe it belonged to; (possibly reflecting the definitions used by Yaakov when he had blessed his sons before his death.) They could also have reflected the images seen by the prophet Ezekiel in his famous vision of the *merkavah.*
 Ancient sources have recorded that the Tabernacle was located in the center of the four army groups. In the space between the Tabernacle and the army groups (presumably in peace time accompanied by the various families of the soldiers), the Levites arranged their huts around the Tabernacle. The details have been described in the ספר יצירה. The respective sides of the camp which was square in shape, began with the east side, the army group headed by the tribe of Yehudah, as per G’d’s command in response to the question who should lead the army. [Compare *Bamidbar Rabbah 2,10* on Judges 1,1-2 Ed.]
 The army group headed by the tribe of Reuven was situated on the south side in order to accord some honour to the biologically oldest son of Yaakov. The third army group under one flag comprised the tribes of Rachel’s descendants who were situated in the west, with the group comprised of sons of Zilpah and Bilhah in the north. 
 I have seen further in the *Midrash* that just as *Hashem* created 4 directions on earth, (north, south, west and east) so He surrounded His throne in the heavens with four such directions, the throne of His glory being the loftiest of them all. When telling Moses how to arrange the army groups around the Tabernacle, He told him that what He was directing Moses to do corresponded to the pattern in which the hierarchies in the heavenly regions were arranged. East, the source of the original light, would be represented on earth by Yehudah, who represented the concept of Royalty. He would be flanked by Issachar, who represented the concept of Torah Issachar would be flanked on his other side by Zevulun, who represented the concept of wealth. This concept had been envisioned by Yaakov, who in his blessing of Zevulun (Genesis 49,13) had said זבולון על חוף ימים ישכון, that “Zevulun would make his residence on the shores of the sea.” It has also been said of him (and of Issachar) (Deuteronomy 33,19) כי שפע ימים יינקו, that “they will be nourished by the riches of the sea.” [An allusion to Zevulun sharing his wealth with Issachar, enabling the latter to devote himself exclusively to the study of the Torah. Ed.] This group would be the first one to march ahead of the rest of the camp, as we know from ויעבור מלכם לפניהם, “their king would always march ahead of them” (Michah 2,13).
 The direction south is representative of the beneficial dews and the rains that dispense G’d’s blessings on earth. This direction would be represented first and foremost by Reuven, who had distinguished himself as a penitent, and thus had revealed himself as possessing a virtue which is very dear to *Hashem*, a virtue which evokes G’d’s mercy for His creatures. He was flanked by Gad, possessed of the virtue of גבורה, strength and endurance in the face of overwhelming odds. They had the camp of Shimon between them, to help him atone for the sin at Shittim that had decimated that tribe whose members had permitted themselves to be seduced by the Moabites and Midianites. (Numbers 25) They marched in second position, seeing that the virtue of repentance is second only to Torah itself. Seeing that Reuven had excelled in repentance and this is an important virtue, one which brings to the fore G’d’s virtue of רחמים whenever G’d encounters penitent sinners, it was appropriate for the tribe of Reuven to be positioned in second place.
 West is the direction in which G’d’s storage chamber of snow, hail, and frost as well as heat is stored; the tribes of Ephrayim, Binyamin and Menashe were placed there, seeing that Binyamin’s territory would house the Temple, it was appropriate that he would be positioned in the direction where the *Shechinah* is presumed to be. North is the direction from which darkness (of the spiritual kind) is presumed to emerge when it does. It was appropriate that the tribe of Dan would be positioned there, as it was this tribe who played a leading role in the re-introduction of idolatry in Israel, King Yerobam later on being the exponent par excellence of this. [Judges 18 describes that the tribe of Dan hired themselves a phony priest and instituted idolatry in their newly conquered territory, formerly known as Layish. These offshoots from the tribe of Dan, who called their new city “Dan,” continued in their idolatrous ways until the first Temple was destroyed. The tribe of Asher was especially blessed, as was the tribe of Naftali, also part of that army group, something that offset the spiritually negative vibes associated with the Danites.


###### Tur HaArokh, Numbers 2:4:1
[Tur HaArokh, Numbers 2:4:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Tur%20HaArokh/s/Numbers/r/2:4:1)

**וצבאו ופקודיהם.**וכן כל הפקודים למחנה יהודה וכן בכלם הכל דברי השם אל משה ונמשך למעלה על וידבר י"י אל משה ואל אהרן כי לא מנאם משה עתה פעם אחרת. וכן אלה פקודי בני ישראל גם כן דברי השם והזכיר כל זה להודיע שמימי המנין ועד שנתקנו המחנות וחנו לדגליהם ונסעו שהיה כ' ימים לא נפקד מהם איש וזה היה מעשה נס שלא מת אחד מכל העם הגדול ההוא תוך כ' יום:

**Sefaria Community Translation:**
וצבאו ופקודיהם, “its army and their count, etc.” Whatever is written in this verse and the verses following up until the end of the chapter, is all part of what G’d told Moses and Aaron in verse one of our chapter. In other words, Moses did not count the Israelites for a second time at this stage. Similarly, the paragraph (verse 32-34) also does not contain new information gathered at that time, but these are G’d’s words, not made public by *Hashem* until now, in order to reveal that since the original count 20 days before the people moved away from Mount Sinai, not a single Israelite had either died by natural causes or become unfit to be part of that army for some other reason. Clearly, this was worth reporting as in view of the enormous number of people involved this was a miracle of no small dimensions.


###### Tur HaArokh, Numbers 2:14:1
[Tur HaArokh, Numbers 2:14:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Tur%20HaArokh/s/Numbers/r/2:14:1)

**אליסף בן רעואל.**כתב הרמב"ן כן המנהג בלשון הקודש לשנות השמות בטעם שוה כמו זרח וצוחר מלשון כצמר צחר. ונקרא דעואל שידע האל ורעואל ששם רעיון לבו באל כמו ולי מה יקרו רעיך והיו קוראים אותו בשני שמות ולכך הזכירה תורה שניהם:

**Sefaria Community Translation:**
אליסף בן רעואל. Nachmanides writes that it is an accepted practice in the Holy Tongue to sometimes change the name of the father of the person concerning whom the Torah reveals some important fact. [In Numbers 1,14, 2, 7,47, 10,20 the father of this tribal leader Elyassaph is referred to as דעואל, Ed.] He was known by both names, each complimentary in its way. Hence the Torah mentioned both names. The former name reflects דעואל,s intellectual attachment to *Hashem,* the latter his emotional attachment to *Hashem,* Whom he viewed as his shepherd.