(1) On the first day of the second month, in the second year following the exodus from the land of Egypt, יהוה spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of Meeting, saying: (2) Take a census of the whole Israelite company [of fighters] by the clans of its ancestral houses, listing the names, every male, head by head.

(2) The Israelites shall camp each man with his standard, under the banners of their ancestral house; they shall camp around the Tent of Meeting at a distance. (3) Camped on the front, or east side: the standard of the division of Judah, troop by troop. Chieftain of the Judites: Nahshon son of Amminadab.... (10) On the south: the standard of the division of Reuben, troop by troop. Chieftain of the Reubenites: Elizur son of Shedeur As they camp, so they shall march, each in position, by their standards. (18) On the west: the standard of the division of Ephraim, troop by troop. Chieftain of the Ephraimites: Elishama son of Ammihud.

(2) ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE SECOND MONTH. To tell him to arrange the standards and to instruct him how the Israelites were to journey and how they were to camp with reference to the tabernacle, for they journeyed on the twentieth day of the second month.

(11) In the second year, on the twentieth day of the second month, the cloud lifted from the Tabernacle of the Pact (12) and the Israelites set out on their journeys from the wilderness of Sinai. The cloud came to rest in the wilderness of Paran.... (14) the first standard to set out, troop by troop, was the division of Judah.... (18) The next standard to set out, troop by troop, was the division of Reuben. In command of its troop was Elizur son of Shedeur;

(1) באתת [EVERY MAN OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL SHALL ENCAMP BY HIS OWN STANDARD] WITH THE SIGNS [OF THEIR FATHERS’ HOUSES] — Each banner shall have a different sign — a piece of coloured cloth hanging on it, the colour of the one not being the same as the colour of another, but the colour of each tribe shall be like that of his stone that is fixed in the breastplate (of. Exodus 28:21), and by this means everybody will be able to recognise his banner .

Another explanation of באתת לבית אבתם is: by the signs (i.e., following the signs) which their father Jacob gave them severally when they carried him out from Egypt, as it is said, (Genesis 50:12) “And his sons did unto him exactly as he had commanded them”. For he had commanded that Judah, Issachar and Zebulun should carry him, having their position at the east side of the bier, Reuben, Simeon and Gad at the south side, etc., — as it is related in Tanchuma on this section (Midrash Tanchuma, Bamidbar 12; cf. Rashi on Genesis 50:12).

(12) Thus his sons did for him as he had instructed them. (13) His sons carried him to the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, the field near Mamre, which Abraham had bought for a burial site from Ephron the Hittite.

(1) ACCORDING TO THE ENSIGNS. There were signs upon each and every standard. The ancients said that the banner of Reuben had the form of a person on it. Their statement is based on a midrashic interpretation concerning the mandrakes found by Reuben. The ancients also tell us that there was an image of a lion on the standard of Judah, for Jacob had compared Judah to a lion. They also tell us that the banner of Ephraim had the image of an ox upon it, in keeping with the verse, His firstling bullock (Deut. 33:17). The flag of Dan had the image of an eagle. Thus the banners were similar to the cherubim which the prophet Ezekiel saw.