Contend with your mother; that she remove her harlotries from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts; or I will strip her naked, and make her as the day she was born; I will hedge your path with thorns, and build a wall against her, so she will not find her paths. Now I will uncover her nakedness in front of her lovers, and no one will rescue her from My hand. I will blight her vines and fig trees.
Hosea 2:1-22
bamidbar “in the wilderness” Numbers 1 –4:20
Each of the 12 tribes had a position in the camp, and when they marched, each tribe had a “degalim” - a standard: In the east were Judah – with a lion on blue, Issachar with the sun and moon on black, and Zebulun with a ship on white. In the south were Rueven with a mandrake on red Shimon with the city of Sh’chem on green, and Gad with warriors on grey. To the west, Ephraim with a bullock on black, Benjamin with a wolf on multicolors (here the four colors representing the four worlds of Kabbalah), and Mennaseh in black with a R’aim - like a unicorn. To the north were Dan with a serpent on sapphire color, Asher with olives on an ochre color, and Naftali with a hind on a violet.