A
Okay, so I'm on the first census in the wilderness. (Numbers 1) 603,550 men 20 and older from twelve tribes, and then the Levites. The smallest tribe -- Manasseh -- had a mere 32,200. (The biggest had over 50,000.) Moses didn't count the number of Levites, because they're taking care of the tabernacle, so let's say, they were only as "productive" as Manasseh, and only had 30,000. (Considering Manasseh was one of Joseph's two sons, and Levi was already an adult when Joseph was sold, I suspect more than that, but maybe that line of the family wasn't as heavy into lots of kids like everyone else was.)
The Levites' job was to manage and protect the tabernacle. When they traveled, they were in charge of carrying the whole tabernacle -- curtains, rods, heavy gold candlesticks, the arc, the heavy-duty altars, and even the heavy curtain rods and poles for easy set up and take down. And once it's set up then they either do the protecting or a lot of the manual labor for taking away unused innards, hoofs, horns, bones, etc., along with making sure the candles burn 24/7.
But the ark is 3750 square feet. (1143 meters.) I get they surround it to protect it 24/7, whether the nation is on the move or staying still. And carrying all that stuff is heavy work, but it still works out to roughly 9 men per square foot, and that's not counting the women and kids. I even get there had to be a lot of sacrificing of animals and bread. (At least the bread was fairly light.) But, not too many were called to do the actual sacrificing (Aaron and his two sons), so it's not like there was this bucket train traveling constantly to the outskirts of the humongous community. (When you start counting women and kids, it has to work out to roughly 2 million folks PLUS all those animals, so it's larger than Philly, and we don't have lots of herds roaming the city.)
So, it just feels squishy with that many families crowded around the arc, and not enough time to go to work. So, what were all the Levites doing when the nation camped at the same spot for a while? All I can picture is something like Manning the Rails.
The Levites' job was to manage and protect the tabernacle. When they traveled, they were in charge of carrying the whole tabernacle -- curtains, rods, heavy gold candlesticks, the arc, the heavy-duty altars, and even the heavy curtain rods and poles for easy set up and take down. And once it's set up then they either do the protecting or a lot of the manual labor for taking away unused innards, hoofs, horns, bones, etc., along with making sure the candles burn 24/7.
But the ark is 3750 square feet. (1143 meters.) I get they surround it to protect it 24/7, whether the nation is on the move or staying still. And carrying all that stuff is heavy work, but it still works out to roughly 9 men per square foot, and that's not counting the women and kids. I even get there had to be a lot of sacrificing of animals and bread. (At least the bread was fairly light.) But, not too many were called to do the actual sacrificing (Aaron and his two sons), so it's not like there was this bucket train traveling constantly to the outskirts of the humongous community. (When you start counting women and kids, it has to work out to roughly 2 million folks PLUS all those animals, so it's larger than Philly, and we don't have lots of herds roaming the city.)
So, it just feels squishy with that many families crowded around the arc, and not enough time to go to work. So, what were all the Levites doing when the nation camped at the same spot for a while? All I can picture is something like Manning the Rails.