Why Jacob's Sons Bore His Bier in the Order of the Tribal Standards

[(Numbers 2:2:) "EACH BY HIS STANDARD, WITH THE SIGNS OF THEIR FATHERS' HOUSE." This is what Scripture says:] "I will fetch my knowledge from afar, and to my Maker I will ascribe righteousness" (Job 36:3). It need only have said "each by his standard, [with the signs shall the children of Israel encamp]." Why then does Scripture say "by his standard, with the signs [of their fathers' house]"? Rather, when Jacob our father departed from the world, he said to them, "When I sleep with my fathers, you shall carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place" (Genesis 47:30). He went around to all his sons and blessed them and charged them. He said to them: When you carry me, carry me with reverence and with honor, and let no other person touch my bier—not one of the Egyptians, nor one of your children, because there are among them those who married from the daughters of Canaan. And so it says, "And his sons did for him just as he had charged them" (Genesis 50:12), "[and his sons carried him to the land of Canaan]" (ibid. 50:13)—his sons and not his sons' sons. How did he charge them? He said to them: Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun shall bear my bier from the east; Reuben, Simeon, and Gad from the south; Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin from the west; Dan, Asher, and Naphtali from the north. Let Joseph not bear, for he is a king, and you must apportion honor to him. And let Levi not bear—why? Because he bears the Ark; and one who bears the Ark of the Life of the Worlds does not bear the coffin of a dead man. If you do thus and bear my bier just as I have charged you, the Holy One, blessed be He, is destined to settle you in standards upon standards. When he departed, they bore him just as he had charged them, as it is said, "And his sons did for him just as he had charged them." What is written after it? "And his sons carried him to the land of Canaan." When Israel went forth from Egypt, the Holy One, blessed be He, said: Behold, the hour has come for them to make standards upon standards, just as their father heralded to them that they were destined to make standards. Immediately the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: Make for them standards for My name. Immediately Moses began to be distressed. He said: Dissension is destined to arise among the tribes. If I say to the tribe of Judah to encamp in the east, it will say, "It is impossible for me to encamp except in the south," and likewise every single tribe in the same manner. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: [What concern is it to you?] They do not need you in this matter; of themselves they recognize their dwelling, because their father's charge is in their hands as to how to encamp by the standards. I am not introducing anything new upon them; the arrangement of their father is already in their hands. Just as they surrounded his bier, so shall they surround the Tabernacle. Whence? As it is said, "Each by his standard, with the signs [of their fathers' house]."