Nadene Goldfoot
Moses was the adopted Prince of Egypt and learned more in royal classes than reading and writing. He must have learned how to move armies of Egypt from one site to another. He used these skills on moving the Israelites. The Exodus may have happened in 1446 BCE to about 1476 BCE. Another reference said it happened 480 years before the 1st Temple of Solomon was built.
Moses discovered that he was of the tribe of Levi through Levi's son, Kohath, and that Kohath's son was Amram who was the father of Moses. He found this out through Aaron, his older brother that he met in Goshen. By the way, Aaron died at the age of 123. On the other hand, another reference said: Joshua lived between 40 and 52 years in Canaan after the Exodus, as he was about 58–70 years old when they entered the land and died at the age of 110. The Bible (Torah) states Joshua died at age 110, but doesn't give his exact age upon entering Canaan. He was old enough to have fought battles against the Amalekites shortly after leaving Egypt, and the 40 years in the wilderness before entering Canaan can be used to estimate his age at entry.
The Book of Joshua states that after a long life of leadership, he died at this age and was buried in his inheritance at Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim. Biblical citation: Joshua 24:29 states, "After all this, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of GOD, died. He was 110 years old".Burial site: He was buried in Timnath-serah.
We know that king Saul lived or reigned from 1030 to 1010 BCE. Another reference said that the Exodus started in 1311 and went on to 1271 BCE. Moses was 80 years old when he left his home, and died at 120 years, just outside of Canaan somewhere. He didn't want it known where he was buried. His time on the Exodus lasted 40 years until Joshua took over. Moses had found out he was of the tribe of Levi, and Joshua was of the tribe of Ephraim.
The Israelites had been living in Goshen, Egypt. The question remains how they created neighborhoods among their own tribe or not, or did they just live here and there. It may have been more normal for them to live close to their own tribes if given a choice. That and taking a spouse must have decided where they lived, just as long as they kept working all the time without any breaks.
Their job was to build storage cities. Then they had the jobs involving the care of their own people.
How the Israelites were to travel while on the Exodus and camp at night
Numbers 2 consists entirely of God giving commandments as to how the Israelite camp should be arranged when on the Exodus.
Each person and child were counted. Each tribe had its own uniqueness to contribute to the national well- being and each individual was precious in his own right.
G-d commanded Moses and Aaron to take a tribe-by tribe census of all males above the age of 20. If a Jew with father from the tribe of Judah and a mother from Asher, he belonged to the tribe of Judah (Rashi). Moses and Aaron would count each tribe with the participation of its own leader (Rashi) who would be knowledgeable concerning the lineage of his tribe's members (Sforno)
On the east, toward the sunrise, the divisions of the camp of Judah are to encamp under their standard. […]
The tribe of Issachar will camp next to them. […]
The tribe of Zebulun will be next. […]
All the men assigned to the camp of Judah, according to their divisions, number 186,400. They will set out first. […]
[The rest of the tribes are described]
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.
According to the Book of Exodus, the Israelites left Egypt in an orderly, military-style formation, marshaled for battle. God organized the massive population into structured divisions, with each tribe marching under its own banner.
The camping in the WildernessReuben had 46,500; Simeon had 59,300; Judah had 74,600; Issachar had 54,400; Zebulun had 57,400; Dan had 62,700; Naphtali had 53,400; Gad had 45,650; Asher had 41,500; Ephraim had 40,500; Manasseh had 32,200-sons of Joseph; Benjamin had 35,400. Total was 603,550 to move in over a 40 year period. The Levites are not listed according to their fathers' tribe or counted among them. Hashem spoke to Moses saying, "But you shall not count the tribe of Levi, and you shall not take a census of them among the Children of Israel. Now you, appoint the Levites over the Tabernacle of the Testimony, over all of its utensils and over everything that belongs to it. They shall carry the Tabernacle and all its utensils and they shall minister to it: and they shall encamp around the Tabernacle. They shall take it down and erect it.
The children of Israel shall camp, each man by his banner according to the insignias of their fathers' household, at a distance surrounding The Tent of Meeting. etc.
Exploring the Israelite encampment around the Tabernacle, we delve into the divine instructions that ordered the tribes during their wilderness journey. This arrangement, described in the book of Numbers, is not merely a historical account but also a profound symbol of order, unity, and centrality of worship
Moses and Aaron took the census to make sure how many started on such a venture.
We are left not knowing how many Levites there were at the time of the 1st or last census., but we know that 40 some years later, the 2nd and last census upon reaching their destination showed a loss of 1,820 members. The tribe, Simeon, with the smallest population, had only 22,200.
Resource:
Bible: Torah with Tanakh, the Stone Edition
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