Observation: As the census of the tribes continues, Levi is counted for their temple service. They are organized by clans. While their work and living arrangement will be organized based on the three sons of Levi, the clans themselves - which become named people-groups - are defined and named for Levi's grandsons. Descendents in those clans are now 'ites' so to speak ... Libnite clan, Shimeite clan, etc.
By organizing the clans this way - at the level of the great-grandsons of Jacob - the common ancestry of individuals across clans is now so far removed that we don't even know the modern term for it today ... third cousins? And even some of those would be 'half' related due to the multiple wives of Jacob. In modern times, such relationships often aren't traced or barely understood. Third cousins likely have never even heard of each other, let alone met.
Application: It is wonderous to consider how great Israel had grown as a people-group at the time the Lord redeemed them from Egypt. We are in the midst of counting them here. In total, there are 627,550 men ages 20-60 ... assume an equal number of women, plus those older and younger, and we're easily talking about 1.5 to 2 million people. The organization of the clans is another model demonstrating this large and complex structure of people, that they can be designated by ancestry not at their central source - Jacob/Israel - but at the level of his great grandsons.
I have relatives in Holland who are this far removed from myself ... our grandparents were brother and sister, and thus our 'common' ancestor is a great-grandparent. I know of one of them only through the internet, by name only. I would know we have common ancestry, but wouldn't even consider us really related. We have never met, never spoken, and live on almost opposite sides of the planet. That is just the one I know about. And our children have never even heard of each other. This is the first level of abstraction between the clans, who are of course actually another 3-4 generations removed from even this level at the time of leaving Egypt.
The scope of the Israelites and thus the "nation of priests" that the Lord redeemed is ... staggering in size and breadth. Due to the limits of human understanding, we see images of scenes like the exodus, the parting of the Red Sea, the encampment around the tabernacle, and we can only conceive it at a scale of several thousand. But this is a group of people with a population the number of modern-day Manhattan!! Their camp would be at least that size, which is so large that walking around it would take two days. Based on statistical models, in ~1,300 BC it is probably 2% of the entire world's population.
This isn't a camp, this is probably the single largest city on Earth, with a population exceeding most major cities even today. While still a camp in a desert, they have governance, physical living structure, social constructs, and economic models. THIS is what the Lord delivered, set into motion, organized, and demonstrated great and wonders signs to over and over again.
Prayer: Lord, even when we declare how great and amazing and wonderous you are, we still rarely "get" it. I am limited in my understanding, and cannot even fathom the size and complexity of what I just described, but with you both delivered and then organized using nothing but a shepherd talking to you face to face inside a nice tent. I can't even imagine it. So I say again today, you are amazing, wonderous, and almighty, though I know that even in my greatest thoughts about those grand statements, you are so very much more than that. Amen.
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