Song for Today:
God Will Take Care of You
Across the Lands

God has gone up with a shout,
the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.
Sing praises to God, sing praises!
Sing praises to our King, sing praises!
For God is the King of all the earth;
sing praises with a psalm!
God reigns over the nations;
God sits on his holy throne.
The princes of the peoples gather
as the people of the God of Abraham.
For the shields of the earth belong to God;
he is highly exalted!
from Psalm 47

The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, “Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel, by clans, by fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, every male, head by head. From twenty years old and upward, all in Israel who are able to go to war
•••
So he listed them in the wilderness of Sinai…
. the tribe of Reuben were 46,500
. the tribe of Simeon were 59,300
. the tribe of Gad were 45,650
. the tribe of Judah were 74,600
. the tribe of Judah were 74,600
. the tribe of Zebulun were 57,400
. the tribe of Ephraim were 40,500
. the tribe of Manasseh were 32,200
. the tribe of Benjamin were 35,400
. the tribe of Dan were 62,700
. the tribe of Asher were 41,500
. the tribe of Naphtali were 53,400
all those listed were 603,550
•••
the Levites were not listed along with them by their ancestral tribe. For the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Only the tribe of Levi you shall not list, and you shall not take a census of them among the people of Israel. But appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the testimony, and over all its furnishings, and over all that belongs to it.
from Numbers 1

The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, “The people of Israel shall camp each by his own standard, with the banners of their fathers’ houses. They shall camp facing the tent of meeting on every side.
•••
Those to camp on the east side toward the sunrise… Judah… Issachar… Zebulun…
They shall set out first on the march.
•••
On the south side… Ruben… Simeon… Gad…
They shall set out second.
•••
Then the tent of meeting shall set out, with the camp of the Levites in the midst of the camps
•••
On the west side… Ephriam… Manassah… Benjamin…
They shall set out third on the march.
•••
On the north side… Dan… Asher… Naphtali…
They shall set out last, standard by standard.
from Numbers 2
•••