John Gill Commentary Numbers 2

And the Lord spoke unto Moses, and unto Aaron Very probably after the number of the children of Israel was taken, of which in the preceding chapter, and when the congregation of Israel with the tabernacle were about to set forward on their journey; and therefore directions are here given for their orderly and regular proceeding in it, in what form and manner they should both encamp and march; saying : as follows.

Every man of the children of Israel shall pitch by his own
standard
Or banner, of which there were four, as appears from the following account, under each of which were placed three tribes; and so every man of each tribe was to pitch his tent in the tribe he belonged to, and by the standard under which his tribe was marshalled, and in the rank that he was placed:

with the ensigns of their father's house ;
which were either lesser standards or banners, somewhat different from the great standard or banner, which belonged to the camp consisting of three tribes, and which were peculiar to their several families and houses, and distinguished one from another, like flags in different regiments; or these were signs^F6, as the word may be rendered, or marks in the standards or banners, which distinguished one from another; so the Targum of Jonathan, the signs which were marked in their standards: but what they were is not easy to say; Aben Ezra observes, and Abendana from him, that their ancients were used to say, that there was in the standard of Reuben the form of a man, on account of the mandrakes, (Genesis 30:14) ; and in the standard of Judah the form of a lion, because Jacob compared him to one, (Genesis 49:9) ; and in the standard of Ephraim the form of an ox, from the sense of those words, the firstling of his bullock, (Deuteronomy 33:17) ; and in the standard of Dan the form of an eagle, so that they might be like the cherubim the prophet Ezekiel saw, (Ezekiel 1:10) , which is not very likely, such images and representations not being very agreeable, yea, even detestable to the people of the Jews in later times, and can hardly be thought to be in use with their early ancestors:

others, as Jarchi, fancy that those standards were distinguished by their colours, as our flags or ensigns are; which, if they stopped here, would not be much amiss, but they go on and say, that each was according to the colour of his stone fixed in the breastplate, so that there were three colours in every flag or standard; thus, for instance, in the standard of Judah, which is the first, were the colours of the three precious stones, on which were the names of Judah, Issachar, and Reuben, namely, the emerald, sapphire, and diamond; and so in the rest of the standards; but others say, the letters of the names of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, differently disposed of, were on those standards; but rather, one would think, the names of the three tribes under every standard were embroidered on them, which would sufficiently distinguish one from another, and direct where tribe was to pitch; but of those things there is no certainty:

far off about the tabernacle of the congregation shall they pitch :
a mile from it, according to Jarchi, or two thousand cubits, which is supposed to be a sabbath day's journey, (Acts 1:12) ; and this distance is gathered from (Joshua 3:4) , and is not improbable.

FOOTNOTES:

• F6:
  F6 (ttab) "in signis", Pagninus, Montanus; "sub signis", Tigurine version; "cum signis", Junius & Tremellius, Drusius; "apud signa", Piscator.

And on the east side, towards the rising of the sun
Which rises in the east; or of all; for, as Jarchi observes, that which is "before" is called "Kedem", the east, as the west is called "behind":

shall they of the standard of the camp of Judah pitch, throughout
their armies ;
the tribes of Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun, formed one camp, which had its name from the principal tribe Judah; and this was divided into various regiments and companies, called armies, who severally pitched under one and the same standard. It is said ^F7 Judah's stone was the "nophech" (which we render an emerald), and his flag was coloured in the likeness of the colour of the heavens, and there was formed upon it a lion. Issachar's was the sapphire, and his flag was coloured black, like to black lead, and there were framed upon it the sun and moon, on account of what is said, (1 Chronicles 12:32) . Zebulun's was a diamond, and his flag was coloured white, and there was formed upon it a ship, because of what is said, (Genesis 49:13) ;

and Nahshon, the son of Amminadab, [shall be] captain of the children
of Judah ;
who had been assisting in numbering the people, and who afterwards offered to the dedication of the altar, (Numbers 1:2) (7:2) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F7: Bemidbar Rabba, sect. 2. fol. 178. 2.

And his host, and those that were numbered of them
As they had been before; and, supposing these words to be the words of God, there is no necessity of rendering them in the future, as some have observed; though they seem rather to be the words of Moses, who under every tribe repeats the number, which is exactly the same as when taken; and though it was not till twenty days after that they set forward according to their order of encampment, not one of them died, which Aben Ezra observes as a very wonderful thing;

[were] sixty and fourteen thousand and six hundred ;
the number of the tribe of Judah were 74,600; see (Numbers 1:27) .

And those that do pitch next unto him [shall be] the tribe of
Issachar
Who with Zebulun, after mentioned, as placed with him under the same standard, were the brethren of Judah, by the same mother Leah, and so fitly put together, as most likely to continue in harmony and love; and being the youngest sons of Leah, and brethren of Judah, would, without any reluctance or murmuring, pitch under their elder brother's standard:

and Nethaneel, the son of Zuar, [shall be] captain of the children of
Issachar ;
see (Numbers 1:8) (7:18) .