The book of Numbers opens at the base of Mt. Sinai on the first day of the second month of the second year after God brought Israel out of Egypt.
The camp is a hive of activity as the long awaited day of departure soon approaches. Behind them is a year spent at Sinai, receiving the law of the Mosaic Covenant and gathering, weaving, refining, hammering and shaping the furnishings for the Tabernacle.
The 3 censuses contained in these four chapters tell us a great deal about God and the people of God at this moment in time. It tells us that God is going with the Israelites, encamped in their very midst. It tells us that the entire nation is oriented towards God, he is in the centre of the camp literally, and is also at the heart of the nation spiritually. It reveals that the nation will be required to fight along the way - they are counted and numbered as military units.
But most interesting of all, it tells us that there is a well founded dread of God that lies alongside the deep desire for his presence. There is a wide corridor around the Tabernacle and encamped in this space the most ferocious warriors in Israel, the Levites. The Levites are set-apart from regular military service, they are assigned to the task of guarding the camp from the wrath of God. That's right... they aren't guarding God from the people, but the people from God. This is an act of love and mercy on God's part. If someone were to encroach upon the holiness of God, the ensuing release of holiness would cause destruction in the camp. Almost as if the Isrealites were travelling with a nuclear reactor housed in the heart of the camp... but far more potent than any nuclear reactor.
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