Bearing in mind that Yisrael asked for the formation of camps, and that the nations of the world were even jealous of the fact that their request was granted, why does the Torah need to tell us that they did what Hashem commanded them?
Ibn Ezra: The Torah is referring, not just to this one instance, but to the forty years that they sojurned in the desert.
Oznayim la'Torah: The Torah means that they followed Hashem's instructions to the letter, without arguing over who should go in front, who at the back, who on the east and who on the west, who on the north and who on the south, 1
Why does the Torah write"Al Beis Avosav" and not 'le'Beis Avosav' as it usually does.
Oznayim la'Torah: Because, following Moshe's fears that the people would quarrel over the details of the camp-placings, 1 the Torah hints that they did not materialise due to the tradition that they had from Ya'akov, who set the precedent of how they would encamp by the way his sons would carry his bier. 2
