על דגלו באותות, “every man with his own standard according to the insignias of his father’s house;” the flags had the names of the (fore)father’s houses inscribed upon them. How did this work? On the flag of Reuven there was an inscription אי׳י, the respective first letters of the names of the patriarchs אברהם, יצחק, יעקב. On the second flag (there were four flags, one for each army group of three tribes.) there were inscribed the letters בצ׳ע, the second letter in the names of each of the three patriarchs. The third flag would have the letters רח׳ק representing the third letter in the respective names of Avraham, Yitzchok and Yaakov, and the fourth flag the letters מק׳ב, representing the last letters each in their names. The letter ה which had been added to Avraham’s name, would be represented by the protective cloud that rested above the Israelites and protected them against nosy intruders during all the years they were in the desert. An alternate interpretation of the line: באותות לבית אבותם. The flag of the camp of Reuven had the outline of a human being in red colour, matching the colour of his stone on Aaron’s breastplate. It represented the mandrakes Reuven had found in the field and brought to his mother Leah, which the latter had traded for an extra night with her husband. (Genesis chapter 30) These mandrakes were shaped like a human being. The outline of a lion was drawn or stitched on the flag of Yehudah, who was called: “lion” in the Torah by his father (Genesis 49,9) The colour of that outline was turquoise as was the colour of his gem on Aaron’s breastplate. The flag of Ephrayim showed the outline of an ox, whom his father Joseph had reputedly called שור, ox, (Deuteronomy 33,17) The colour of that outline was onyx, as was the colour of his gemstone on the breastplate of Aaron. On the flag of Dan there was the outline of an eagle, coloured in a variety of colours, iridescent, as the gemstone that represented the tribe of Dan on Aaron’s breastplate. (Ibn Ezra) The Tabernacle located in the centre, was flanked by all these camps, and was a symbol of the holy angels called chayot, which surround the throne of G-d forming a square. The various nations learned from the Israelites to make tablecloths and the like in a variety of colours. (Bamidbar Rabbah 2,6)

והחונים קדמה מזרחה, “the ones who were encamped on the east side facing the sun;” they were facing the entrance of the Tabernacle as described at the end of Parshat T’rumah. (Exodus 27,13)

דגל מחנה יהודה, “the flag of the camp of Yehudah;” he is mentioned first as he was the most honoured by all the other tribes for his leadership qualities. He was therefore accorded to honour of encamping near the gate of “The King.” We find something similar concerning Moses and Aaron in 3,38.

והחונים עליו, “and those encamped next to him” (Yehudah). Five of Leah’s sons were among the twelve tribes that were each distinguished by flags. Two of Leah’s flags tribes shared the camp of Gad, who himself was the firstborn of Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid who cooperated closely with the camp of Reuven who was the firstborn of all the tribes. One flag was for Yehudah and the two tribes that were from the sons of the handmaids. Two of the handmaids’ sons who were not firstborns, camped alongside him.

אליסף בן רעואל, “Elyasaf son of R’uel. Everywhere else this name appears it was spelled with the letter ד instead of with the letter ר.

ונסע אהל מועד, ”and it will travel;” when the Torah also writes that the ark containing the covenant of the Lord was travelling ahead of the people, (Numbers 10,33), this referred to the ark constructed by Moses in which the broken sections of the first Tablets were kept. It would be taken with them when they went out to war.

דגל מחנה אפרים, “the flag of the camp of Ephrayim;” Rachel was represented by a separate camp, i.e. Ephrayim, Menashe, and Binyamin.

דגל מחנה דן, “the flag of the camp of Dan; the fourth camp comprised the maidservants of Rachel, Dan having been the firstborn of those. He was the leading tribe of that flag (camp). Asher was rewarded with an extra distinction, seeing that he was a son of Leah’s handmaid, he was mentioned before Naftaly, although the latter was older than he.

לאחרונה יסעו, “they would always travel at the rear.” The letter ל has a dot above over the vowel patach. In our versions of the Chumash, the letter ר has a dot, and the letterל has the vowel kametz. Ed.

ויעשו בני ישראל ככל וגו, “and the Children of Israel did in accordance with all, etc.,” this statement was to cover the entire period that the Israelites were wandering in the desert. (Bamidbar Rabbah 2,22)

כן חנו, “so they encamped;” before each departure G-d arranged for them the flags and the order of their journeys. They were given instructions how to manage their breaking camp and their subsequent new encampments, based on the blowing of the trumpets.