Every man of the children of Israel shall pitch by his own standard, with the ensign of their father's house: far off about the tabernacle of the congregation shall they pitch.
Every man ... shall pitch by his own standard. Standards were visible signs of a certain recognized form for directing the movements of large bodies of people. Since the Israelites were commanded to encamp each "by his own standard, with the ensign of their father's house, the direction has been considered as implying that they possessed three varieties:
(1) The great tribal standards, which served as rallying points for the twelve large clans of the people;
(2) The standards of the subdivided portions; and,
(3) Those of families or houses.
The latter must have been absolutely necessary, as one ensign only for a tribe would not have been visible at the extremities of so large a body. We possess no authentic information as to their form, material, colours, and devices. But it is probable that they might bear some resemblance to those of Egypt, only stripped of any idolatrous symbols. These were of an umbrella or a fan-like form, made of ostrich feathers, shawls, etc., lifted on the points of long poles, which were borne, either like the sacred central one, on a car, or on men's shoulders, while others might be like the beacon lights which are set on poles by Eastern pilgrims at night.
Jewish writers say that the standards of the Hebrew tribes were symbols borrowed from the prophetic blessing of Jacob-Judah's being a lion, Benjamin's a wolf, etc.; and that the ensigns or banners were distinguished by their colours-the colours of each tribe being the same as that of the precious stone representing that tribe in the breastplate of the high priest.
Far off about the tabernacle ..., х mineged (H5048)] - over against at a reverential distance [Septuagint, enantioi]. A large space of unoccupied ground was to be left between the tabernacle and the encampments of the various tribes (see the note at Leviticus 9:24). The place of every tribe is successively and specifically described, because each had a certain part assigned both in the order of march and the disposition of the encampment.