After completing the census (Bamidbar 1:44-46) and delineating the role of the Levi’im (1:48-53), the arrangement of the “D’galim,” the four sets of three tribes and how they camped, is described (2:1-31). A straightforward reading of the text indicates that this was where the D’galim were set up–after the census, which took place in the second month of the second year after the nation left Egypt (1:1). And this is precisely how most understand the sequence of events (see Ibn Ezra on Sh’mos 29:42 and Ramban on Vayikra 7:38; see also M’chilta, Yisro, end of “Vayishma Yisro,” Bamidbar Rabbah 2:3, and Tanchuma, Bamidbar 14). However, in “B’tzaysi MiMitzrayim” (Appendix 86), several Midrashim (e.g. Tanchuma, Bamidbar 12, Sh’mos Rabbah 20:5, Midrash Rabbah on Shir HaShirim 4:12, and Midrash Lekach Tov on Sh’mos 12:51) are quoted that seem to say that the D’galim were arranged right after we left Egypt, not over a year later. Since the arrangement was already well-known from Yaakov’s instructions for carrying his casket from Egypt to Canaan (see Rashi on Bamidbar 2:2), once the nation started their own journey from Egypt to Canaan, they moved into this previously-known formation.
[It should be noted that these Midrashim can be (and are) explained in ways that allow the point of the Midrashim to be made even if the D’galim weren’t set up until the second year. Nevertheless, a simple reading of at least some of them has the D’galim in operation right after the exodus, and there are commentators (e.g. Panim Yafos on Sh’mos 14:22; see also Chizkuni on Vayikra 24:10) who understand them this way.]
If the D’galim were set up right away, there are several things that need to be explained (such as using twelve separate paths through the split sea–one for each tribe–if the nation was traveling in one unit). I would like to focus on only one issue, though; if the D’galim weren’t first instituted after the census described at the beginning of our parasha, why are they described now, within the context of what happened in the second year? Along the way, we may encounter other issues raised by having earlier D’galim, but will only include them insofar as it helps us understand the timing/placement of the commandment to set them up.
Previously (http://tinyurl.com/bscn6sj, pg. 3), I have discussed how the Nesi’im, the Tribal Chiefs, could be described as having first been appointed for the census (1:4-5), if the census began in the second month of the second year (1:1) and the Nesi’im had already been considered Tribal Chiefs at the Mishkan’s dedication a month earlier (see Sh’mos 40:17 and Rashi on Bamidbar 7:12). Netziv explains that they had been appointed as leaders by their respective Tribes earlier, but G-d verified/gave His official approval to the people’s choices when He told Moshe to have them help with the census. It could be suggested that something similar occurred with the D’galim; the nation, on their own, moved into the formation they knew about from Yaakov, with G-d making it the official, mandated formation in the second month of the second year. [Even though the wording of some of the Midrashim quoted to show that the D’galim were set up right away (e.g. Tanchuma, Bamidbar 12) say explicitly that they were G-d’s instructions, the expression “when they came out of Egypt” only has to refer to the actual exodus when said before they reached the Promised Land. Once they are already there, the entire process of getting from Egypt to the Land of Israel can be referred as “when they came out of Egypt,” even if it happened well after the actual exodus.]
One of the details of the census is that every individual was counted by name and lineage (see Rashi on Bamidbar 1:18), not just by counting half-shekalim. If the D’galim were already in operation, wasn’t everyone’s lineage already verified? It would seem that before this census was taken, being associated with a particular Tribe did not require any fact-checking. There would normally be little incentive to live with the wrong Tribe, and even if someone, for whatever reason, did, it wasn’t considered an issue worth pursuing. Now, however, when everything was being finalized for the trip to the Promised Land, which included inheriting the land by Tribe, it became necessary to verify that everyone really belonged; “and the Children of Israel shall camp, each person with his [appropriate] camp and each person with his [appropriate] degel” (1:52). It is therefore possible that the “innovation” here wasn’t the formation itself, but that everyone in the formation had to be exactly where he belonged. [This would explain why it was at this point that the “blasphemer” had to leave the area of the Tribe of Dan (see Rashi on Vayikra 24:10).]
Besides making the formations “official” and verifying that everyone was where they belonged, another aspect that seems to have been added with the instructions here was the “osos,” the signs, the flags each Degel flew (see Rashi on Bamidbar 2:2). However, while these three features, along with the fact that the previously-used formation hadn‘t been described yet, may justify telling us about the D’galim here, I think there may be a more fundamental reason why the D’galim weren’t mentioned until now.
The focal point of the D’galim was the Mishkan, which was surrounded on all four sides by the orderly encampments of the Children of Israel. But if there were D’galim before there was a Mishkan, what had been in the center? The Talmud (Soteh 13a) says that throughout the journey in the desert, there were two “boxes” that traveled side by side, Yosef’s casket and the holy Ark, as “this one (Yosef) fulfilled what is written in that one (i.e. the Torah).” It would certainly be tempting to suggest that before there was a Mishkan, and therefore before there was a second “box,” the one “box” they did have, Yosef’s coffin, was in the center of the D’galim. However, Maharsha says that Yosef’s coffin was in the center because Moshe was taking care of it, and he (along with the rest of the Tribe of Levi) was in the center. Granted, Maharsha is discussing the situation after the Mishkan was built (when there were two “boxes”), but if the other Tribes were in their respective places in the formation from the get-go, it makes sense for the Levi’im to have been in theirs as well.
In Egypt, the Levi’im had not been subject to the servitude that the rest of the nation was (see Rashi on Sh’mos 5:4), with the assumption being that they continued studying and teaching Torah in the Yeshiva that Yehudah had established before Yaakov and his family moved there (see Rashi on B’reishis 46:28). The Mishkan was referred to as “Mishkan Ha’Eidus” (Sh’mos 38:21, see also Bamidbar 17:22), its focal point was the “Aron Ha’Eidus” (Sh’mos 26:33, see Rashi on Bamidbar 9:15), within which was the “Eidus,” referring to the Torah (see Rashi on Sh’mos 25:16). In other words the focal point of the Mishkan was the Torah (see http://tinyurl.com/d97jjm6). Since the Levi’im were the nation’s Torah teachers (see D’varim 33:10), it follows that they would have been the center of the D’galim before there was a Mishkan.
Even though the Levi’im were in the center of the D’galim from the time they were set up, after the Mishkan was built they took on an additional role (Bamidbar 1:50-53 and 2:7-8), taking care of the Mishkan and protecting it from intruders (those unauthorized to perform the service and those who were ritually impure). Whereas until then they were the center of the formation, they now became a newly-created layer between the center of the formation (the Mishkan) and the other Tribes. This is a major change, as instead of every Tribe having direct access to the focal point of the D’galim, they would now have to go through the Mishkan’s security personnel (the Levi’im) to get to the focal point. The location of each Tribe (and group of Tribes) in relation to the center of the formation (east, west, north or south) may have been the same, but it could not be considered the same situation as it had been; there was now an additional barrier between the outer layer of the formation and its inner core.
Once the Levi’im were given this new role and mention was made of the D’galim (1:53), it became necessary to teach us what those “D’galim” were. Even if there were D’galim that had been in operation for over a year, since several aspects had changed, including a major change in the relationship between each Degel and the formations focal point, the most appropriate place for the Torah to describe what the D’galim were was after the census was taken and the new role of the Levi’im defined.
