How can there be twelve tribes encamped if Levi is left out?
The twelve tribes encamped around the tabernacle are counted by replacing Levi with Joseph’s two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. Levi is omitted from the tribal encampment arrangement, but Ephraim and Manasseh each become a tribe, keeping the total at twelve. Thus the twelve tribes remain in ordered encampment around the perimeter.
Les explains that the twelve tribes were all encamped in their order around the tabernacle. The tribe of Levi is left out of that arrangement, but Joseph’s two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, make up the twelve, even though Levi is omitted. He notes the camp was intensely organized, not a slap hazard deal. When the cloud lifted and moved, the tribes moved in order, always toward the east, and Judah, encamped in front of the main gate, was first to go because Christ came from Judah, not Reuben the eldest.