certainly conclude that if the camp had gates, the Israelites had also sentinels to guard them. If this be true, we may also believe that they were surrounded with entrenchments, or that at least their gates were defended by some fortifications. Sagittarius (de Jan. Vet., c. 18. § 10) pretends that the tabernacle was not only guarded by the Levites, but that there were likewise sentinels at the gates, and at the entrance of the Israelitish camps. See the note on Exod. xxxii. 27. If we examine and compare the camp of Israel with that of our most numerous armies, which in these days are composed of 100,000 or of 150,000 men, we cannot but consider it of vast extent. The Jews say it was twelve miles in circumference; this is not at all improbable, and consequently the front of each wing must be three miles in extent. But taking in the tents, the soldiers and their numerous families, the beasts of burden, the cattle, and the goods, it certainly must have formed a very considerable inclosure, much more than twelve miles. See the notes on Exod. xii. 37, and xiii. 18. Reyher (Math. Mos., p. 568) assigns to the Tribe of JUDAH: A space of Which makes 2983 cubits in breadth 250 in length 74,600 square cubits. "We must observe that we are here merely speaking of the ground which the soldiers of this tribe occupied whilst remaining close to each other in their ranks, and that in this computation there is but one cubit square allowed for each man; wherefore, if we take in the arrangement of the soldiers, the tents, the necessary spaces, the families, the beasts of burden, and the moveables, a much larger extent of ground is requisite. All those circumstances do not come into Reyher's calculation. He continues thus: castrametation of the Israelites. For the tribe of BENJAMIN: "On the east we must place tents for Moses, Aaron, and his sons, chap. iii. 38. "At the place where the camp of the Levites ends, a space must be left of 2,000 square cubits, after which we must take the dimensions of the camp of the twelve tribes. "This plan is in the main well imagined, but it does not afford an ichnography of sufficient extent. To come more accurately to a proper understanding of this subject, I shall examine the rules that are now in use for encampments, and compare them afterwards with what is laid down in the Holy Scriptures, in order that we may hereby form to ourselves an idea of the camp of God, the grandeur and perfection of which surpassed every thing of the kind ever seen. I shall now mention what I am about to propose as the foundation upon which I shall proceed. "In Exod. xviii. 21, Deut. i. 15, we find the advice given by Jethro to Moses respecting political government and military discipline: Thou shalt provide out of all the people asie men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.' [See the note on Exod. xviii. 21.] We may very well compare these tribunes, or rather these chiliarchs, to our colonels, the centurions or hecatontarchs to commanders or captains, the quinquagenaries or pentecontarchs to lieutenants, and the decurions or decarchs to our serjeants. These chiefs, whether they were named magistrates or officers, were each drawn fro Remarks on the CHAP. II. his own particular tribe, so that it was not permitted to place over one tribe an officer taken from another. Whatever matter the decarchs could not decide upon or terminate, went to the pentecontarchs, and from thence by degrees to the hecatontarchs, to the chiliarchs, to Moses, and at length to God himself, the sovereign Head of the army. If we divide the whole army (such as it was at its departure from Egypt) by the numbers already laid down, we shall find 600 chiliarchs, 6,000 hecatontarchs, 12,000 pentecontarchs, 60,000 decarchs, which in all make 78,600 officers. Josephus regulates the number of them still more exactly, by saying that there were chiefs set over 10,000, 1,000, 500, 50, 30, 20, and 10. We find this regulation in Ant. Jud., b. iii., c. 4: "Take a review of the army, and appoint chosen rulers over tens of thousands, and then over thousands, then divide them into five hundreds, and again into hundreds, and into fifties, and set rulers over each of them who may distinguish them into thirties, and keep them in order; and at last number them by twenties and by tens, and let there be one commander over each number, to be denominated from the number of those over whom they are rulers.' castrametation of the Israelites. of 10,000 still larger. Every officer, from the lowest "It was possible in one moment to know the numher of those who were either wanting or were out of their ranks, and to avoid this disorder in future by obliging each man to attend to his duty and keep in his rank. If by chance it happened that any one man wished to desert or had escaped, it was easy to notice him and inflict on him the punishment he merited. The ensigns being distinguished by their marks, and the company being known, it was easy to find any soldier whatever. "We ought not to pass over in silence this division by tens, for twice 10 makes 20, three times 10, 30, five times 10, 50, ten times 10, 100, ten times 50, 500, ten times 1,000, 10,000. It was in this manner, as is pretended, that Cangu, the first of the great Khams (as he is called), and after him Tamerlane, drew out an army, i. e., by 10, 100, 1,000, 10,000, "The armies themselves might have certain marks mentioned in Alhazen, c. v. Probably these Tartars to distinguish them, and by that means they might borrowed from the very Hebrews themselves this at once ascertain the person in question; for example: manner of laying out a camp. At all events it is 8. 2. 7. 3. might signify the eighth soldier or father of certain that nothing more ancient of the kind can be a family, of the second rank, of the seventh company, found than that mentioned in the books of Moses. in the third chiliad; 7. 3. 5. the halberdier of the To distinguish it from that of the Greeks and Romans decurion or serjeant of the seventh line, in the third we may with justice call it the Hebrew castrametation, company, of the fifth chiliad or thousand; 5. 8. the or, if we judge it more proper, the Divine castrame-hecatontarchs or captains of the fifth company, in the tation, and consequently the most perfect of all. For eighth chiliad; 7. the chiliarchs or colonels of the although Moses places the pentecontarchs in the seventh rank; 0. finally, the general of the whole middle, between the hecatontarchs and the decarchs, army. Further, by the same means the loss or misi. e., 50 between 100 and 10; and although Josephus placing of their arms might be prevented. Again, afterwards places 1,000 between 500 and 10,000, and the soldiers might in a very short time be instructed 30 and 20 between 10 and 50, this does not at all and formed to the exercise of arms, each decad having derange the progression by tens, which is the founda- its serjeant for its master; and the chariots or other tion of arithmetic. These subaltern officers were carriages might easily be divided amongst several, 10 equally useful and necessary, as we now see that under the decurion, 100 under the hecatontarch; and, their number, far from creating confusion, helps to by thus following the above method, every thing maintain order, and that the more there are of them might be kept in good order. the better is order preserved. According to the modern method of carrying on war, the next in rank to the generals of the army (who have the supreme command) are field marshals and brigadiers, who command 5,000 men. There are then between the chiliarchs or colonels and the hecatontarchs or captains, lieutenant-colonels; and between the hecatontarchs and the decarchs, lieutenant-captains; and these have under them lieutenants and ensigns. "It is certain that this method of distributing an army by tens, and of encamping, which is very concise, has far greater advantages even with respect to expense than the very best plans of the Greeks, Romans, or any other ancient nation. On this subject we have the testimony of Simon Steven, Castrametat. c. 1. art. 1, and c. 4, art. 3, Oper. Math., p. 574 and 596, &c. According to this arrangement each soldier, or if more proper, each father of a family, being thus placed by ten and ten in a straight line one after the other, might very easily name themselves first, second, &c. Each troop in like manner might be distinguished by its ensigns, that of 100 might have them small, that of 1,000 larger, and that A PLAN OF THE WHOLE ISRAELITISH CAMP. "We shall finally, in one plate, represent the whole camp of the Israelites, in that order which appears the most proper. For this purpose we must extract the square roots of the preceding spaces, in order that we may be able to assign to each tribe square areas, or rectangular parallelograms. I therefore find for 3049 square cubits. Zebulun Reuben 3443 3388 3019 Gad Remarks on the NUMBERS. "The tabernacle, which was 100 cubits long and 50 3. broad, I place in the centre of the camp, at the distance of 840 feet from the camp of the Levites, which is placed exactly in the same manner as described in the sacred writings. I find therefore that the whole space of the camp is 259,600,000 feet. Now, accord-4. ing to the manner we have just divided the camp for cach tribe, the sum total being 125,210,000, it follows that the space between the tents contained 134,390,000. If, with Eisenschmid, we estimate the Roman mile at 766 French fathoms and two feet (consequently 21,141,604 square feet to a Roman square mile), the Israelitish camp will contain a little more than 12 such square miles." It is 6. 7. castrametation of the Israelites. Major-generals, who command brigades (these brigades consist of from 2 to 3,000 men [2,500 is perhaps the average] according to the strength of the respective regiments of which the brigade is composed). Colonels in the army, or lieutenant-colonels, who command single regiments; they are assisted in the command of these regiments by the majors of the regiments. [I mention the major, that there may be no break in the descending scale of gradation of ranks, as in the event of the absence of the above two officers, he is the next in command.] Captains who command companies; these companies (on the war establishment) consist of 100 men each, and there are 10 companies in every regiment, consequently a colonel, or lieutenantcolonel, commands 1,000 men. Lieutenants, of which there) Subaltern officers, havare 2 to every company. Sing no command, but Ensign; 1 to each company. assisting the captain. 1. Commander in chief. The reader will have the goodness to observe that 5. the preceding observations, as well as the following plate or diagram, which was made by Scheuchzer on the exactest proportions, could not be accurately copied here without an engraved plate; and after all, the common reader could have profited no more by the plate than he can by the diagram. not even hoped that disquisitions of this kind can give any thing more than a general idea how the thing probably was; for to pretend to minute exactness, in such cases, would be absurd. The sacred text informs us that such and such tribes occupied the east, such the west, &c., &c.; but how they were arranged individually we cannot pretend absolutely to say. Scheuchzer's plan is such as we may suppose judgment and skill would lay down; but still it is very probable that the plan of the Israelites' castrametation was more perfect than any thing we can well imagine; for as it was the plan which probably God himself laid down, it must be in every respect what it ought to be, for the comfort and safety of this numerous multitude. As there are some differences between the mode of distributing the command of a large army among the British, and that used on the Continent, which is followed by Scheuchzer, I shall lay down the descending scale of British commanders, which some may think applies better to the preceding arrangement of the Israelitish army than the other. The command of a large army in the British service is thus divided: 1. The commander in chief. | 3. 4. These are called general officers. 2. Lieutenant-generals command- 5. 1 Captain Ascending scale of ranks which every officer must pass through. Ensign, Lieutenant-colonel, Colonel, to every regiment. Major-general, brigade-commander. Camp of the Israelites NUMBERS. in the wilderness. Though I particularly refer the Reader to the PROBABLE, not as absolutely certain; as comprising a diagram of the Israelitish camp on the preceding general view of what may be supposed probable, page, taken from Scheuchzer's plate, which I have likely, and practicable. thought necessary to be subjoined to his description, yet I think it also proper to introduce the following, as it gives a general and tolerably correct idea of this immense camp, in the description of which, the inspired writer has been so very particular; but still I must say these things are to be considered as The whole may be said to consist of three camps, viz., 1. The camp of the Lord; 2. The camp of the Levites; and 3. The camp of the People. These, in the grand camp in the wilderness, corresponded with the holy of holies, the holy place, and the outward court of the Temple at Jerusalem. See Ainsworth. |