“32 These are the Israelites registered by their ancestral houses. The total number in the camps by their military divisions is 603,550. 33 But the Levites were not registered among the Israelites, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
34 The Israelites did everything the Lord commanded Moses; they camped by their banners in this way and moved out the same way, each man by his clan and by his ancestral house.”
Numbers 2:32-34
—
God was very intentional in how He set up the camp of Israel. Purposefully placing tribes together, placed around the tent of meeting with the Lord at the center of the whole affair, God set the community up in a way that taught interdependence and that retained a focus on Him. The tribe of Levi, living at the center of the camp, also showed the people that the work of God was central to all aspects of life, but also different from the other things they might undertake.

Also, in organizing the people by clans, God built up a sense of ownership, a place to belong for every single Israelite. Not only were they the people of God, but they were given a distinction within that to identify with, something to claim for themselves. They could say proudly that they were a Danite or a Rubenite, and that was one more component that gave them an identity, focused on God, that held them together as a nation under God’s authority.

Remember, before hand, as slaves in Egypt, they had no national identity, and they had no individual claims. They had been dehumanized by the cruelty of the Egyptians, their position as slaves had removed their identity as a people, they were simply the ones oppressed and the ones devalued. But now, God, in His infinite love and mercy, had given them an identity, a flag to rally under and a part in something bigger. They belonged, they had a place and a role to fulfill. Their lives were being instilled with purpose and meaning, no longer slaves, nameless and faceless, they had been counted, valued and given meaning as a community, a lesson that would take a long time to truly learn.

When we come to Christ, having had the burden of our slavery to sin removed, God still does the same with us. He gives us a community to get involved with, His Church, He gives us something to build our lives around, the worship and service for Him that we do daily. He gives us an identity, no longer slaves but heirs to His promise. He brings the light of purpose into a life that was once scattered and chaotic. As we GoLove others in His Name, that is part of the joy that we carry with us. No one stands alone. No one lives without a place and purpose. No one has to carry the burdens and difficulties of life on their own shoulders. God is at the center of it all, guidding, moving and caring for each and every one of us. We all matter to Him, we are all His children, His bondservants. He loves, cares and provides for us as we live and learn under His mighty, protective wing. Where we once were not a people, now we are a people. Where once we had no real, deep purpose, now we have an abiding purpose for every moment of every day. Life is rich with Him.

When the Israelites were freed from Egypt, they could have well scattered to the four winds and been lost to history, but in God they found the centrality that their hearts needed. They were wounded, damaged, beat down, scared and scarred. But God is faithful to His promises, and He didn’t just free them, He restored them, built them up and established them, in Himself, as a people of promise, blessed to be a blessing. He is still doing the same with us even today in Christ.