כָּֽל־הַפְּקֻדִ֞ים לְמַחֲנֵ֣ה רְאוּבֵ֗ן מְאַ֨ת אֶ֜לֶף וְאֶחָ֨ד וַחֲמִשִּׁ֥ים אֶ֛לֶף וְאַרְבַּע־מֵא֥וֹת וַחֲמִשִּׁ֖ים לְצִבְאֹתָ֑ם וּשְׁנִיִּ֖ם יִסָּֽעוּ׃ (ס)
Total des recensés formant le camp de Ruben: cent cinquante et un mille quatre cent cinquante, répartis selon leurs légions. Ils marcheront en seconde ligne.
Rabbeinu Bahya
A Midrashic approach, found in Devarim Rabbah (Lieberman edition 16 only) the words “and you are as the stars in heaven” are a reference to the encampment of the Jewish people, and are similar to when G’d showed Avraham that all the zodiac signs in heaven surrounded the Shechinah. Similarly, the flag of the Jewish people, three tribes and their flag in each direction is perceived with the Shechinah in the centre of the camp (the Tabernacle). G’d had told Moses: “just as the zodiac signs surround Me and I am in the centre, so your children will multiply and encamp according to their respective flags while My Presence will dwell in their midst. In other words: “your encampment as of this day (on earth) is similar to My camp in heaven.”
Rabbeinu Bahya
A Midrashic approach by our sages in Shabbat 115 concentrates on the inverted letters נ in order to demonstrate that this paragraph is not in its proper place. Rabbi said that these inverted letters did not really belong here but that they signal that what is within them is really a whole Book by itself. Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel does not agree with Rabbi seeing that he is on record as saying that in the future the Torah will be revised and these verses will be removed from here and be written at an appropriate place. The reason that they have been inserted here in the meanwhile is to provide a break between one disaster and the next. The first disaster was the fact that the physical departure from Mount Sinai coincided with a spiritual departure from what Mount Sinai stood for, something which occurred on the first day of the journey. The second disaster is the one commencing with verse 1 in chapter 11, that the people were looking for something to complain about. Thus far the Midrash.
There are three opinions concerning this subject among our sages (according to Rashi on that folio). The first opinion holds that the appropriate place for these two verses would have been where the flags are described, adjoining Numbers 2,17. This is where the journeys are described for the first time. There the Torah mentions the Tent of Meeting, and the Ark about which these verses speak, was in the tent of Meeting. If the Torah inserted the inverted letter נ it was to alert us that these verses really belonged elsewhere. If you will count the number of paragraphs between where these two verses should have appeared and where they did appear you will find that there are fifty paragraphs between them. This is alluded to by the Torah employing the letter נ whose numerical value is 50 as the dividing symbol.
There are three opinions concerning this subject among our sages (according to Rashi on that folio). The first opinion holds that the appropriate place for these two verses would have been where the flags are described, adjoining Numbers 2,17. This is where the journeys are described for the first time. There the Torah mentions the Tent of Meeting, and the Ark about which these verses speak, was in the tent of Meeting. If the Torah inserted the inverted letter נ it was to alert us that these verses really belonged elsewhere. If you will count the number of paragraphs between where these two verses should have appeared and where they did appear you will find that there are fifty paragraphs between them. This is alluded to by the Torah employing the letter נ whose numerical value is 50 as the dividing symbol.