The fifth list of tribal leaders differs from the other four lists since it only has ten tribes, as opposed to twelve in the other lists, because the tribal leaders of Reuven and Gad are not mentioned in the fifth list because those tribes were receiving land outside of the land of Israel.
Another difference is that within the ten tribes, the order of the tribal leaders does not follow the usual pattern in the other four lists of tribal leaders, as all the other lists are based on the birth order of the progenitors of the tribes and/ or the place in the camp of the tribes. For example, in the fifth list, the leader of the tribe of Binyamin is mentioned before the tribal leaders of Menashe and Efrayim, 34:21-23. Also, in the fifth list, the tribal leaders of the tribes of Zevulun and Yissachar are not mentioned in conjunction with the tribe of Yehuda, who camped together, and Zevulun is mentioned before Yissachar, his older brother (also in Devarim 33:18, maybe for the same reason), 34:25,26. Also, in the fifth list of tribal leaders, Dan is listed separate from the other tribes who descended from Bilha and Zilpa, 34:22.
Instead, as noted by many (see Milgrom, 1990, p. 288) the order of the fifth list of tribal leaders follows the geographical distribution of the tribes in the land of Israel starting from the south and moving northwards. The list does not follow the exact pattern, but if one views each pair of tribes as a group, then the pairs move up in five “levels” in the land of Israel. Note, within each pair, the tribe with the larger population as recorded in Bemidbar 26 is mentioned first. Also, the listing of the tribe of Dan is based on where they were supposed to get land, what roughly today is called Gush Dan, the center of Israel by the coast.
We see from the order of the fifth list of tribal leaders in the book of Bemidbar that before the Jewish people entered the land of Israel, it was known the general area where the tribes would be in the land. This would seem to be obvious since people would need to know where to go when they reached the land and there would not be fights with each person grabbing some particular land. Furthermore, it could be that as part of the investiture of Yehoshua, 27:18-23, the general division of the land was determined with the urim.
Instead, as noted by many (see Milgrom, 1990, p. 288) the order of the fifth list of tribal leaders follows the geographical distribution of the tribes in the land of Israel starting from the south and moving northwards. The list does not follow the exact pattern, but if one views each pair of tribes as a group, then the pairs move up in five “levels” in the land of Israel. Note, within each pair, the tribe with the larger population as recorded in Bemidbar 26 is mentioned first. Also, the listing of the tribe of Dan is based on where they were supposed to get land, what roughly today is called Gush Dan, the center of Israel by the coast.
We see from the order of the fifth list of tribal leaders in the book of Bemidbar that before the Jewish people entered the land of Israel, it was known the general area where the tribes would be in the land. This would seem to be obvious since people would need to know where to go when they reached the land and there would not be fights with each person grabbing some particular land. Furthermore, it could be that as part of the investiture of Yehoshua, 27:18-23, the general division of the land was determined with the urim.
This change in the order of the tribes by the fifth list of tribal leaders signals the change in the people that had transpired from the beginning of the book of Bemidbar to the end of the book of Bemidbar. The first four lists of tribal leaders in the beginning of the book of Bemidbar revolved around the camp of the people in the desert/ wilderness, but the fifth list of tribal leaders, based on where the people were going to live in the land of Israel, shows that at the end of the forty years of the people's stay in the desert/ wilderness, the people were primed and ready to take possession of the land of Israel. Note, also the surrounding text of 33:50-36:13 record laws and narrative which indicate that the settlement of the land was imminent.
Bibliography:
Milgrom, Jacob, 1990, The JPS Torah Commentary: Numbers, Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society.
Olson, Dennis, 1996, Numbers: Interpretation- A Bible Commentary for teaching and preaching, Louisville: John Knox Press.