Text -- Numbers 10:13-36 (NET)

Judah Begins the Journey

10:13 This was the first time they set out on their journey according to the commandment of the Lord, by the authority of Moses. 10:14 The standard of the camp of the Judahites set out first according to their companies, and over his company was Nahshon son of Amminadab. 10:15 Over the company of the tribe of Issacharites was Nathanel son of Zuar, 10:16 and over the company of the tribe of the Zebulunites was Elion son of Helon. 10:17 Then the tabernacle was dismantled, and the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari set out, carrying the tabernacle.

Journey Arrangements for the Tribes

10:18 The standard of the camp of Reuben set out according to their companies; over his company was Elizur son of Shedeur. 10:19 Over the company of the tribe of the Simeonites was Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai, 10:20 and over the company of the tribe of the Gadites was Eliasaph son of Deuel. 10:21 And the Kohathites set out, carrying the articles for the sanctuary; the tabernacle was to be set up before they arrived. 10:22 And the standard of the camp of the Ephraimites set out according to their companies; over his company was Elishama son of Ammihud. 10:23 Over the company of the tribe of the Manassehites was Gamaliel son of Pedahzur, 10:24 and over the company of the tribe of Benjaminites was Abidan son of Gideoni. 10:25 The standard of the camp of the Danites set out, which was the rear guard of all the camps by their companies; over his company was Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai. 10:26 Over the company of the tribe of the Asherites was Pagiel son of Ocran, 10:27 and over the company of the tribe of the Naphtalites was Ahira son of Enan. 10:28 These were the traveling arrangements of the Israelites according to their companies when they traveled.

The Appeal to Hobab

10:29 Moses said to Hobab son of Reuel, the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are journeying to the place about which the Lord said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us and we will treat you well, for the Lord has promised good things for Israel.” 10:30 But Hobab said to him, “I will not go, but I will go instead to my own land and to my kindred.” 10:31 Moses said, “Do not leave us, because you know places for us to camp in the wilderness, and you could be our guide. 10:32 And if you come with us, it is certain that whatever good things the Lord will favor us with, we will share with you as well.” 10:33 So they traveled from the mountain of the Lord three days’ journey; and the ark of the covenant of the Lord was traveling before them during the three days’ journey, to find a resting place for them. 10:34 And the cloud of the Lord was over them by day, when they traveled from the camp. 10:35 And when the ark traveled, Moses would say, “Rise up, O Lord! May your enemies be scattered, and may those who hate you flee before you!” 10:36 And when it came to rest he would say, “Return, O Lord, to the many thousands of Israel!”

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Wesley: Num 10:21

The Gershonites, and Merarites, who therefore marched after the first camp, a good distance from, and before the Kohathites, that they might prepare the tabernacle for the reception of its utensils, which the Kohathites brought some time after them.

Wesley: Num 10:29

Called also Reuel, Exo 2:18, who seems to be the same with Jethro; it being usual in scripture for one person to have two or three names. And therefore this Hobab is not Jethro, but his son, which may seem more probable, because Jethro was old and unfit to travel, and desirous, as may well be thought, to die in his own country, whither he returned, Exo 18:27, but Hobab was young and fitter for these journeys, and therefore entreated by Moses to stay and bear them company.

Wesley: Num 10:30

So he might sincerely say, though afterward he was overcome by the persuasions of Moses.

Wesley: Num 10:31

To direct and guide us: for though the cloud determined them to a general place, yet many particulars might be unknown to Moses, wherein Hobab, having long lived in those parts, might be able to advise him, as concerning the conveniences of water for their cattle, concerning the safety or danger of the several parts, by reason of serpents or wild - beasts, or enemies, in the parts adjoining to them, that so they might guard themselves better against them. Or, this is to be understood of his directing them not so much in their way. as about great and difficult matters, wherein the counsel he had from God did not exclude the advice of men, as we see in Hobab's father Jethro, Exo 18:19-27. And it is probable, this was the wise son of a wise father.

Wesley: Num 10:33

With continued journeys; only it seems probable, that the cloud made little pauses that they might have time for sleep and necessary refreshments.

Wesley: Num 10:33

Altho' in their stations it was in the middle, yet in their marches it went before them; and the cloud was constantly over the ark whether it stood or went; therefore the ark is said to go before and direct them, not as if the ark could be seen of all the camps, which being carried only upon mens shoulders was impossible; but because the cloud, which always attended upon the ark, and did, together with the ark, constitute, in a manner, one sign of God's presence, did lead and direct them.

Wesley: Num 10:33

A metaphorical expression, for discovering to them; for the ark could not search, and God, who knew all places and things, needed not to search.

Wesley: Num 10:34

And by night too, as was expressed before. So we must learn to compare places of scripture, and to supply the defects of one out of another, as we do in all authors.

Wesley: Num 10:36

Or, give rest, that is, a safe and quiet place, free from enemies and dangers.

JFB: Num 10:29

Called also Reuel (the same as Jethro [Exo 2:18, Margin]). Hobab, the son of this Midianite chief and brother-in-law to Moses, seems to have sojourned among the Israelites during the whole period of their encampment at Sinai and now on their removal proposed returning to his own abode. Moses urged him to remain, both for his own benefit from a religious point of view, and for the useful services his nomad habits could enable him to render.

JFB: Num 10:31

The earnest importunity of Moses to secure the attendance of this man, when he enjoyed the benefit of the directing cloud, has surprised many. But it should be recollected that the guidance of the cloud, though it showed the general route to be taken through the trackless desert, would not be so special and minute as to point out the places where pasture, shade, and water were to be obtained and which were often hid in obscure spots by the shifting sands. Besides, several detachments were sent off from the main body; the services of Hobab, not as a single Arab, but as a prince of a powerful clan, would have been exceedingly useful.

JFB: Num 10:32

A strong inducement is here held out; but it seems not to have changed the young man's purpose, for he departed and settled in his own district. (See on Jdg 1:16 and 1Sa 15:6).

JFB: Num 10:33

The first day's progress being very small, about eighteen or twenty miles.

JFB: Num 10:33

It was carried in the center, and hence some eminent commentators think the passage should be rendered, "the ark went in their presence," the cloud above upon it being conspicuous in their eyes. But it is probable that the cloudy pillar, which, while stationary, rested upon the ark, preceded them in the march--as, when in motion at one time (Exo 14:19) it is expressly said to have shifted its place.

JFB: Num 10:35-36

Moses, as the organ of the people, uttered an appropriate prayer both at the commencement and the end of each journey. Thus all the journeys were sanctified by devotion; and so should our prayer be, "If thy presence go not with us, carry us not hence" [Exo 33:15].

Clarke: Num 10:14

The standard - of Judah - See this order of marching explained at large on Numbers 2 (note). The following is the order in which this vast company proceeded in their march: -

Judah Issachar Zebulun Gershonites, and Merarites carrying the tabernacle

Reuben Simeon Gad The Kohathites with the sanctuary

Ephraim Manasseh Benjami

Dan Asher Naphtali.

Clarke: Num 10:29

Moses said unto Hobab - For a circumstantial account of this person see the notes on Exo 2:15, Exo 2:16 (note), Exo 2:18 (note); Exo 3:1; Exo 4:20 (note), Exo 4:24 (note); and for the transaction recorded here, and which is probably out of its place, see Exo 18:5 (note), where the subject is discussed at large

Clarke: Num 10:29

We are journeying - God has brought us out of thraldom, and we are thus far on our way through the wilderness, travelling towards the place of rest which he has appointed us, trusting in his promise, guided by his presence, and supported by his power. Come thou with us, and we will do thee good. Those who wish to enjoy the heavenly inheritance must walk in the way towards it, and associate with the people who are going in that way. True religion is ever benevolent. They who know most of the goodness of God are the most forward to invite others to partake of that goodness. That religion which excludes all others from salvation, unless they believe a particular creed, and worship in a particular way, is not of God. Even Hobab, the Arab, according to the opinion of Moses, might receive the same blessings which God had promised to Israel, provided he accompanied them in the same way

Clarke: Num 10:29

The Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel - The name Israel is taken in a general sense to signify the followers of God, and to them all the promises in the Bible are made. God has spoken good of them, and he has spoken good to them; and not one word that he hath spoken shall fail. Reader, hast thou left thy unhallowed connections in life? Hast thou got into the camp of the Most High? Then continue to follow God with Israel, and thou shalt be incorporated in the heavenly family, and share in Israel’ s benedictions.

Clarke: Num 10:30

I will not go; but I will depart to mine own land, and to my kindred - From the strong expostulations in Num 10:31 and Num 10:32, and from Jdg 1:16; Jdg 4:11, and 1Sa 15:6, it is likely that Hobab changed his mind; or that, if he did go back to Midian, he returned again to Israel, as the above scriptures show that his posterity dwelt among the Israelites in Canaan. Reader, after having been almost persuaded to become a Christian, to take Christ, his cross, his reproach, and his crown, for thy portion, art thou again purposing to go back to thy own land, and to thy kindred? Knowest thou not that this land is the place of destruction - that the children of this world, who are not taking God for their portion, are going to perdition? Up, get thee hence, for the Lord will destroy this place by fire; and all who are not of the kindred and family of Christ shall perish at the brightness of his appearing!

Clarke: Num 10:31

Thou mayest be to us instead of eyes - But what need had they of Hobab, when they had the pillar and fire continually to point out their way? Answer: The cloud directed their general journeys, but not their particular excursions. Parties took several journeys while the grand army lay still. (See Numbers 13, 20, 31, 32, etc). They therefore needed such a person as Hobab, who was well acquainted with the desert, to direct these particular excursions; to point them out watering places, and places where they might meet with fuel, etc., etc. What man cannot, under the direction of God’ s providence, do for himself, God will do in the way of especial mercy. He could have directed them to the fountains and to the places of fuel, but Hobab can do this, therefore let Hobab be employed; and let Hobab know for his encouragement that, while he is serving others in the way of God’ s providence, he is securing his own best interests. On these grounds Hobab should be invited, and for this reason Hobab should go. Man cannot do God’ s work; and God will not do the work which he has qualified and commanded man to perform. Thus then the Lord is ever seen, even while he is helping man by man. See some valuable observations on this subject in Harmer, vol. ii., 286. Instead of, And thou mayest be to us instead of eyes, the Septuagint translate the passage thus: Και εσῃ εν ἡμιν πρεσβυτης, And thou shalt be an elder among us. But Moses probably refers to Hobab’ s accurate knowledge of the wilderness, and to the assistance he could give them as a guide.

Clarke: Num 10:33

The ark - went before them - We find from Num 10:21 that the ark was carried by the Kohathites in the center of the army; but as the army never moved till the cloud was taken up, it is said to go before them, i. e., to be the first to move, as without this motion the Israelites continued in their encampments.

Clarke: Num 10:35

Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered - If God did not arise in this way and scatter his enemies, there could be no hope that Israel could get safely through the wilderness. God must go first, if Israel would wish to follow in safety.

Clarke: Num 10:36

Return, O Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel - These were the words spoken by Moses, at the moment the divisions halted in order to pitch their tents. In reference to this subject, and the history with which it is connected, the 68th Psalm seems to have been composed, though applied by David to the bringing the ark from Kirjath-jearim to Jerusalem. See the notes on Psalm 68 (note). Many thousands, literally the ten thousand thousands. Unless the ark went with them, and the cloud of the Divine glory with it, they could have neither direction nor safety; unless the ark rested with them, and the cloud of glory with it, they could have neither rest nor comfort. How necessary are the word of God and the Spirit of God for the direction, comfort, and defense of every genuine follower of Christ! Reader, pray to God that thou mayest have both with thee through all the wilderness, through all the changes and chances of this mortal life: if thou be guided by his counsel, thou shalt be at last received into his glory.

Calvin: Num 10:14

14.In the first place went the standard of the camp The actual order of march is here described. The whole people, with the exception of the Levites, is divided into four hosts, or parts, since four of the tribes were set over the others, so as to have two under the command of each. And this was the mode of proceeding, that whenever they halted anywhere, the four standards encompassed the sanctuary and the Ark of the Covenant from the four quarters of the world; whilst on the march, the Levites carrying the tabernacle, according to the burdens respectively imposed upon them, were mixed with the several bands. The Ark, borne upon the shoulders of the Levites, preceded the whole army, in order that all might more confidently follow, God thus manifestly shewing them the way. Nahshon, of the tribe of Judah, led the first host; Elizur, of the tribe of Reuben, the second; Elishama, of the tribe of Ephraim, the third; and Ahiezer, of the tribe of Dan, the fourth. It is obvious that in the precedency given to the tribe of Judah, God in some degree afforded an anticipation of the prophecy of Jacob; for the Reubenites, being descended from the first-born, would not have willingly abandoned their position, unless that right had been transferred to the tribe of Judah by God’s decree, pronounced through the mouth of Jacob. Not that the sovereignty and royal power was actually his before the time of David, but because God would have a single spark to shine in the midst of the thick darkness, whereby He might cherish the hope of the promised salvation in every heart; and that thus the dignity of this tribe might at length more readily reduce all to obedience. Herein, however, it appeared how perverse and intractable was the spirit of that greater portion of them who strove against the divine decree in their rejection of David.

Reuben occupied the second place, as an alleviation of his disgrace. Again, by the subjection of the tribe of Manasseh to the posterity of Ephraim, in this respect, too, the prophecy of the same patriarch was fulfilled. Nor does there seem to be any other reason why the fourth standard should have been given to the tribe of Dan, except because Jacob had declared, “Dan shall judge his people.” (Gen 49:16,) by which expression his pre-eminence was denoted.

Although it may be that the four standard-bearing tribes were chosen from their strength and the numbers of their people, still, unless the children of Reuben and Manasseh had been thoroughly persuaded that their degradation was in accordance with the command of God, their jealousy would never have suffered them calmly to submit themselves to others, whose superiors they were by the ordinary rules of nature. Their self-restraint, therefore, was praiseworthy, in that voluntary subjection kept them within bounds, without the application of any power of compulsion; and at the end, Moses records that it was not once only that they thus advanced, but that they observed the same order and regulations during the whole course of their travel, and that their camp was always so arranged that no contention arose to disturb them.

Calvin: Num 10:29

29.And Moses said unto Hobab the son of Raguel Very grossly are those mistaken who have supposed Hobab ⁷ to be Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, whom we have already seen to have returned a few days after he had come to see him. Now, old age almost in a state of decrepitude would have been but little suited for, or equal to, such difficult labors. Moses was now eighty years old, and still far short of the age of his father-in-law. But all doubt is removed by the fourth chapter of Judges, where we read that the descendants of Hobab were still surviving in the land of Canaan. When, therefore, the good old man went home, he left Hobab his son — still in the vigor of life, and to whom on account of his neighborhood, the desert-country was well known — as a companion for his son-in-law, that might be useful to him in the performance of many services. Here, however, whether wearied by delay and difficulties, or offended by the malignant and perverse spirit of the people, or preferring his home and a stationary life to those protracted wanderings, he desired to follow his father. In order, however, that we might know that he had not sought his dismissal as a mere feint, (as is often the case,) ⁸ Moses expressly states that he could not immediately prevail upon him to stay by his prayers; nay, that he was not attracted by the promises whereby Moses endeavored to tempt him, until he had been perseveringly entreated. Although the expectation of the promised land is set before him, yet, since mention is only made of temporal and transient prosperity, it may thence be probably conjectured that he had not profited by his advantages as he should. He had seen and heard the tokens of God’s awful power when the Law was given; yet Moses urges him to come on by no other argument than that he would enjoy the riches of the land. Unless perhaps Moses desired to give him some taste of the graciousness and fatherly love of God as manifested in the temporal blessing, in order to lift up his mind to higher things. Still he merely refers to the promise of God, and then engages that he shall share in all their good things. Nevertheless, this alone is no trifle, that he should be attracted by no uncertain hope, but by the sure enjoyment of those good things which God, who cannot lie, had promised: for deceptive allurements often invite men to undergo labors, and to encounter perils; but Moses brings forward God, as it were, as his surety, inasmuch as tie had promised that He would give the people a fertile land, full of an abundance of all good things. At any rate, Hobab represents to us, as in a mirror, the innate disposition of the whole human race, to long for that which it apprehends by the carnal sense. It is natural to prefer our country, however barren and wretched, to other lands the most fertile and delightful: thus the Ithaca of Ulysses has passed into a proverb. ⁹ But let me now reprove another fault, viz., that, generally speaking, all set their affections on this present life: thus Hobab despises the promise of God, and holds fast to the love of his native land.

Calvin: Num 10:31

31.And he said, Leave us not, I pray thee Moses perseveres and urges what he had just said, that Hobab should be a sharer in the prosperity which God had given his people reason to expect. “To this end” (he says) “thou hast known all our stations in the desert,” which words commentators do not appear to have observed or understood; for they translate them simply, “for thou hast known,” as if Moses desired to retain Hobab to be of use to himself, whereas there is more than one causal particle here; ¹⁰ and thus it is literally, “Since, for this cause, thou hast known all our resting-places,” etc. Its meaning, then, is as follows, that Hobab was ill-advised for his own interest; for he had borne many inconveniences, for this reason, that he might at sonic time or other receive his recompense; as if it were said, Wherefore hast thou hitherto endured so many inconveniences whilst directing our course, unless that thou mightest enjoy with us the blessings of our repose? In a word, Moses signifies that the labors of Hobab would be vain and fruitless, unless he should endure them a little while longer, until, together with the children of Israel, he should enjoy the promised inheritance. What is here said, then, does not relate to the future, as if Moses had said, Be to us instead of eyes, as thou hast been heretofore; but by reminding him that the reward of his labors was at hand, he urges and encourages him to proceed.

Calvin: Num 10:33

33.And they departed from the mount of the Lord He calls Sinai “the mount of the Lord,” because in no other place had God’s glory been so conspicuously manifested. This, I admit, it had been called by anticipation (κατὰ πρόληψιν) before the promulgation of the law; but this name was imposed upon it afterwards to inspire eternal reverence for the law. By “three days’ journey,” we must understand a continuous march of three days, for they did not pitch their tents until they reached the desert of Paran, but slept in the. open air. When it is said that the ark went before them in the three days’ journey, there is no reference to its distance, as if it was sent forward three days ahead; but that it was so placed in their van that, when the cloud settled upon it, they halted as at a station prescribed to them by God. This was the searching for a resting-place of which he speaks.

Calvin: Num 10:35

35.And it came to pass, when the ark set forward Since their journey was by no means a peaceful one, but the attack of enemies was constantly to be dreaded, it was needful to beseech God that He would go forth as if prepared for battle. Thus, too, did Moses support their courage, lest any more immediate cause for terror should render them sluggish and inert. It is, then, as if he had prayed thus: O Lord, not only show us the way, but open it to us also by the power of thy hand in the destruction of the enemies. He calls them not the enemies of the people but of God, in order that the Israelites might be assured that they fought under His auspices; for thus might both a more certain victory be expected, since the righteous God, who avenges iniquity, was defending His own cause; and also, it was no slight matter of consolation and rejoicing, when the people heard, that whosoever should arise to harass them unjustly were also the enemies of God, since He will protect his people as the apple of His eye. Therefore has the Prophet borrowed this passage, in order to arm the Church with confidence, and to maintain it in cheerfulness under the violent assaults of its enemies. (Psa 68:1.) Further, the analogy and similitude between the visible sign, and the thing signified, must be observed; for Moses was not so foolish as to address the Ark in these words; he only asked God to prove effectually that the Ark was a lively image of His power and glory.

Calvin: Num 10:36

36.And when it rested, he said, Return, O Lord By thus praying he also exhorts the people to be patient, lest the weariness which arose from the delay should beget indignation. Otherwise it would have been annoying that the time of their journeying should be protracted, so that they would arrive the later at their rest. And we see, indeed, how their minds were exasperated, as if a slower progress was a kind of disappointment. In order, therefore, to correct this impatience, Moses reminds them that their halts were advantageous to them, so that God, dwelling at home like the father of a family, might manifest His care of them; for the allusion is to men who Lake advantage of a time of repose and release from other business, to occupy themselves more un-restrainedly in paying attention to their own family.

Defender: Num 10:29

Raguel is another form of the name Reuel, an alternate name for Jethro (Exo 2:18; Exo 3:1). Hobab (mentioned here only) was Moses' brother-in-law."

TSK: Num 10:13

Num 9:23

TSK: Num 10:14

Num 2:3-9, Num 26:19-27; Gen 49:8

the first place : The following is the order in which this vast company marched:

JUDAH

Issachar, Zebulun, Gershonites, and Merarites, bearing the tabernacle.

REUBEN

Simeon, Gad, Kohathites, with the sanctuary.

EPHRAIM

Manasseh, Benjamin.

DAN

Asher, Naphtali.

Among other things, it should be remarked, that, according to a well-known rule of military tactics, the advanced, and rear-guards, were stronger then the centre.

Nahshon : Num 1:7, Num 7:12

TSK: Num 10:15

Num 1:8, Num 7:18

TSK: Num 10:16

Num 1:9, Num 7:24

TSK: Num 10:17

the tabernacle : Num 1:51; Heb 9:11, Heb 12:28; 2Pe 1:14

the sons : Num 3:25, Num 3:26, Num 3:36, Num 3:37, Num 4:24-33, Num 7:6-8

TSK: Num 10:18

the camp : Num 2:10-16, Num 26:5-18

Elizur : Num 1:5, Num 7:35

TSK: Num 10:19

Simeon : Num 1:6, Num 7:36

TSK: Num 10:20

Eliasaph : Num 1:14, Num 2:14, son of Reuel, Num 7:42

TSK: Num 10:21

the Kohathites : Num 2:17, Num 3:27-32, Num 4:4-16, Num 7:9; 1Ch 15:2, 1Ch 15:12-15

the other did : that is, the Gershonites and the Merarites, Num 10:17, Num 1:51

TSK: Num 10:22

the camp : Num 2:18-24, 26:23-41; Gen 48:19; Psa 80:1, Psa 80:2

Elishama : Num 1:10, Num 7:48

TSK: Num 10:23

Gamaliel : Num 1:10, Num 7:54

TSK: Num 10:24

Abidan : Num 1:11, Num 7:60

TSK: Num 10:25

the camp : Num 2:25, Num 2:28-31, Num 26:42-51; Gen 49:16, Gen 49:17

the rereward : Deu 25:17, Deu 25:18; Jos 6:9; Isa 52:12, Isa 58:8

Ahiezer : Num 1:12, Num 7:66

TSK: Num 10:26

Pagiel : Num 1:13, Num 7:72

TSK: Num 10:27

Ahira : Num 1:15, Num 7:78

TSK: Num 10:28

Thus were : Heb. These

according : Num 10:35, Num 10:36, Num 2:34, Num 24:4, Num 24:5; Son 6:10; 1Co 14:33, 1Co 14:40; Col 2:5

TSK: Num 10:29

Exo 2:18, Reuel, Exo 3:1, Exo 18:1, Exo 18:27

the Lord : Gen 12:7, Gen 13:15, Gen 15:18; Act 7:5

come : Jdg 1:16, Jdg 4:11; 1Sa 15:6; Psa 34:8; Isa 2:3; Jer 50:5; Zec 8:21-23; Rev 22:17

for the Lord : Num 23:19; Gen 32:12; Exo 3:8, Exo 6:7, Exo 6:8; Tit 1:2; Heb 6:18

TSK: Num 10:30

Gen 12:1, Gen 31:30; Rth 1:15-17; Psa 45:10; Luk 14:26; 2Co 5:16; Heb 11:8, Heb 11:13

TSK: Num 10:31

forasmuch : As the Israelites were under the immediate direction of God himself, and were guided by the pillar of cloud and fire, it might be supposed that they had no need of Hobab. But it should be remembered, that the cloud directed only their general journeys, not their particular excursions. Parties took several journeys while the grand army lay still (Num 13:1; Num 20:1; Num 31:1; Num 32:1).

instead of eyes : Job 29:15; Psa 32:8; 1Co 12:14-21; Gal 6:2

TSK: Num 10:32

Jdg 1:16, Jdg 4:11; 1Jo 1:3

TSK: Num 10:33

the mount : Exo 3:1, Exo 19:3, Exo 24:17, Exo 24:18

the ark : Deu 9:9, Deu 31:26; Jos 4:7; Jdg 20:27; 1Sa 4:3; Jer 3:16; Heb 13:20

went before : Exo 33:14, Exo 33:15; Deu 1:33; Jos 3:2-6, Jos 3:11-17; Jer 31:8, Jer 31:9; Eze 20:6

a resting place : Psa 95:11; Isa 28:12, Isa 66:1; Jer 6:16; Mat 11:28-30; Heb 4:3-11

TSK: Num 10:34

Exo 13:21, Exo 13:22; Neh 9:12, Neh 9:19; Psa 105:39

TSK: Num 10:35

Lord : Psa 68:1, Psa 68:2, Psa 132:8; Isa 51:9

TSK: Num 10:36

O Lord : Psa 90:13-17

many thousands of Israel : Heb. ten thousand thousands, Gen 24:60; Deu 1:10

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: Num 10:13

Rather, And they journeyed (or, set forth) in the order of precedence according to (i. e. established by) the commandment of the Lord, etc., and described in Num 10:14-28.

Barnes: Num 10:14

According to their armies - Compare Num 1:3. There were three tribal hosts in each camp; and each tribe had of course its subdivisions.

Barnes: Num 10:17

A more precise determination of the method of executing the order given in Num 2:17. The appointed place of the tabernacle, in the midst of the host, was represented during the march by the ark, the holy vessels, etc. carried by the Kohathites. The actual structure of the tabernacle was borne in advance by the Gershonites and Merarites, immediately behind the camp of Judah; so as to be set up ready against the arrival of the sacred utensils borne by the Kohathites. Compare Num. 2; 4,

Barnes: Num 10:29

Hobab, the son of Raguel - Or Reuel Exo 2:18. Reuel was probably not identical with Jethro: and Hobab was the brother-in-law, not the father-in-law, of Moses; the Hebrew word translated in the King James Version "father-in-law,"signifying simply any relation by marriage (Exo 3:1 note). Hobab Jdg 1:16; Jdg 4:11 eventually accompanied the Israelites and obtained a settlement with them in the land of Canaan. Hobab and Jethro may have been brethren and sons of Reuel.

Barnes: Num 10:31

Thou mayest be to us instead of eyes - A proverbial expression still in use in the East. Hobab would indicate the spots where water, fuel, and pasture might be found, or warn them of the dangers from hurricanes, and point out localities infested by robbers.

Barnes: Num 10:33

Three days’ journey - Probably a technical expression for such a distance as could not be traversed in a single day, and therefore not without intervals of encampment and due provision: compare Gen 30:36; Exo 3:18; Exo 5:3; Exo 8:27; Exo 15:22. The technical use of the phrase "Sabbath-day’ s journey"for another average distance, Act 1:12, is similar.

The ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them - From Num 10:21; Num 2:17 it would appear that the usual place of the ark during the march was in the midst of the host. It was evidently an exceptional case when, in Jos 3:3, Jos 3:6, the ark preceded the people into the bed of the Jordan. Hence, the words "went before them"do not here imply local precedence. The phrase, or its equivalent, is used of a leader going out in command of his troops, Num 27:17; Deu 31:3; 1Sa 18:16; 2Ch 1:10; and similarly the ark may well be said to have gone at the head of the Israelites, when it was borne solemnly in the midst of them as the outward embodiment of the presence whose sovereign word was their law.

A resting place - literally, "rest."It is commonly understood of each successive encampment; or, in particular, of the first encampment. Yet the term would hardly be here employed, did it not carry with it a higher meaning, pointing to the promised rest of Canaan, for which the Israelites were now in full march, and from the speedy enjoyment of which no sentence of exclusion as yet debarred them. Compare the marginal references.

Barnes: Num 10:35-36

Each forward movement and each rest of the ark was made to bear a sacramental character. The one betokened the going forth of God against His enemies; the other, His gathering of His own people to Himself: the one was the pledge of victory, the other the earnest of repose.

Num 10:36 may be translated: "Restore"(i. e. to the land which their fathers sojourned in), "O Lord, the ten thousands of the thousands of Israel."(Compare Psa 85:4, where the verb in the Hebrew is the same.)

Poole: Num 10:21

The other i.e. the Gershonites and Merarites, as is evident both from their work and office, which was to take down and set up the tabernacle, Num 3:25,26 4:22-33 ; and from Num 10:17 , who therefore marched after the first camp, a good distance kern and before the Kohathites, that they might prepare the tabernacle for the reception of its utensils, which the Kohathites brought some time after them.

Poole: Num 10:29

Raguel called also Reuel , Exo 2:18 , who seems to be the same who is called Jethro, Exo 3:1 , it being usual in Scripture for one person to have two or three names. And therefore this Hobab is not Jethro, but his son, which may seem more probable, because Jethro was old and unfit for travel, and desirous, as may well be thought, to die in his own country, whither he returned, Exo 18:27 ; but Hobab was young and fitter for these journeys, and therefore entreated by Moses to stay and bear them company.

Moses’ s father-in-law which words are ambiguous, but seem to belong to Raguel, or Reuel, not to Hobab, though others are of another mind.

Poole: Num 10:30

So he might truly and sincerely say, though after this speech he was overcome by the entreaties and persuasions of Moses. Or he did go and settle his affairs, and afterwards return; for we find his posterity settled among the Israelites. See Jud 1:16 4:11,18 , &c.

Poole: Num 10:31

To direct and guide us; for though the cloud determined them to a general place, yet many particulars might be uncertain and unknown to Moses, wherein Hobab, having long lived in those parts, might be able to advise him, as concerning the conveniences of water for their cattle, concerning the safety or danger of the several parts by reason of serpents or wild beasts, or enemies, in the parts adjoining to them, that so they might guard themselves better against them. Or this to be understood of his directing them not so much in their way, as about great and difficult matters, wherein the counsel he had from God did not exclude the advice of men, as we see in Hobab’ s father Jethro, Ex 18 . And it is probable this was the wise son of a wise father.

Poole: Num 10:33

Three days’ journey with continued journeys, only it seems most probable that the cloud made little pauses, that they might have time for sleep and necessary refreshments, which their natures required. And thus all writers, when they relate the continued journeys of persons for many days together, are to be understood with this exception.

Before them not so much in place, say some, for so it went in the midst, or at least after the first camp, as may seem from Num 10:21 , as in office and authority, as a general who is said to go before or lead his army, though he do not go in the very first place. But others more probably think that the ark, which indeed is not mentioned Num 10:21 , albeit in their stations it was in the middle, where also the cloud was, yet in their marches it went before them, as also the cloud did, and so the cloud was constantly over the ark, whether it stood or went; and therefore the ark is said to go before and direct them, not as if the ark could be seen of all the camps, which being carried only upon men’ s shoulders was impossible, but because the cloud, which always attended upon the ark, and did together with the ark constitute in a manner one sign of God’ s presence, did lead and direct them.

To search out a resting-place where they might safely and commodiously rest. But this is a metaphorical expression for discovering to them; for otherwise the ark could not. search, and God, who knew all places and things, heeded not to search.

Poole: Num 10:34

And by night too, as was expressed before. So we must learn to compare places of Scripture, and to supply the defects of one out of another, as we do in all authors.

Poole: Num 10:36

Or, give rest , i.e. a safe and quiet place, from enemies and dangers.

Haydock: Num 10:17

It. Hence it would appear, that part of the Levites followed Juda's division, which was preceded by the priests bearing the ark, (ver. 33,) while the Caathites bore the sacred vessels after Ruben, (ver. 21,) and were followed by Ephraim and Gad. But Calmet observes, that the Levites, and the whole camp of the Lord, came in the middle of the four great divisions, immediately after Ruben, chap. ii. 9, 17. Salien thinks, that the ark and cloud led the way, and returned to the middle at the end of the journey, ver. 36. (Haydock) (Tirinus)

Haydock: Num 10:21

Sanctuary, or holy vessels. They never set them down, till they arrived at the place where the tabernacle was to be fixed. Hebrew may be, "the sons of Caath set forward, bearing the vessels of the sanctuary, (Calmet) and they ( the other Levites, ver. 17,) set up the boards and curtains of the tabernacle till they arrived;" that so both the vessels and the ark might be placed in proper order. If the ark had to return into the middle of the camp from leading the way, as Salien insinuates; while it passed between the ranks of Juda, the Levites would have time to arrange every thing. (Haydock)

Haydock: Num 10:29

Hobab; probably the brother of Sephora, and son of Raguel or Jethro, who had departed, leaving this son for a guide to Moses. Though God directed the marches of the Hebrews, he would not have them to neglect human means. ---

Kinsman. The Hebrew clothen, and Greek gambros, are not more determinate, as they signify either father, son, or brother-in-law (see Exodus ii. 18.; Calmet); or in general a relation. (St. Jerome) (Du Hamel)

Haydock: Num 10:31

Guide, being well acquainted with the country, and consequently able to point out the best places for pasturage and for water, and to inform us what sort of people we are near. Hebrew, "thou shalt serve us for eyes." Septuagint, "as a senator." The Persians had officers who had the title of eyes and ears of the king. (Brisson 1.) Some suppose that Moses stood in no need of Hobab, having lived himself in that country 40 years, with Jethro; and that he only wished to keep his kinsman with him, that he might observe the true religion. He supposed at that time that they would presently obtain possession of Chanaan. But the sins of the people caused almost all to perish in the desert. Hobab probably accepted of the proposal, as we find the Cineans, descendants of Jethro, holding a portion of the land, Judges i. 16. (Calmet) His posterity, the Rechabites, were noted for more than usual piety; and were the same with the Essenes, according to Serarius, and the first authors of a monastic life, Jeremias xxxv. (Tirinus)

Haydock: Num 10:33

Journey. During this time, we know not where they encamped. The first place that is specified is Tabera, or "the burning," (chap. xi. 3.; Calmet) which St. Jerome believes is the same place which was also called the sepulchres of concupiscence, (ver. 34,) the 13th station, (Haydock) which is described above as the desert of Pharan. (Menochius) ---

Before them. See ver. 17. (Haydock) ---

The Rabbins assert that there were two arks; one containing the writings of Moses going before, with the lawgiver, at the head of the army; and the other, carried by the Levites, in the centre. (Drusius) ---

Calmet would rather translate "went in their presence;" that is, in the midst. The kings of Persia always marched in the centre, for greater safety, and that they might communicate their orders with more expedition, as well as to keep all in order, and observe what was doing. (Xenophon.; Cyrop. iv. and viii.; Arian ii. and iii.) (Calmet) ---

But the ark of God would probably go before the people, with the cloud, which hung over it.

Haydock: Num 10:36

Host. Septuagint, "Bring, or turn back, (Haydock) O Lord, the thousands, the myriads in Israel." Some give the same sense to the Hebrew. (Calmet) ---

Prayers are composed, not only for the obtaining of good in general, but also for particular purposes. (Worthington)

Gill: Num 10:13

And they first took their journey, according to the commandment of the Lord,.... Which was virtually contained in and signified by the taking up of the cloud, see Num 9:18,

by the hand of Moses; by his means and ministry, who had informed them, that it was the will of God, that when they saw the cloud taken up to set forward in their journey, and they were obedient thereunto.

Gill: Num 10:14

In the first place went the standard of the camp of the children of Judah,.... Which tribe had the honour to go foremost and lead the van, the chief ruler, the Messiah being to come of it, as he did; who is King of Israel, and has gone forth at the head of them, fighting their battles for them:

according to their armies: having, besides the army of the tribe of Judah, the armies of the tribes of Issachar and Zebulun under his standard:

and over his host was Nahshon the son of Amminadab; he was captain general of the army of the tribe of Judah, as Nethaneel was over the host of the tribe of Issachar, Num 10:15; and Eliab over the host of the tribe of Zebulun, Num 10:16; the same commanders as were fixed at the time of settling the order of their encampment, Num 2:3.

Gill: Num 10:15

And over the host of the tribe of the children of Issachar was Nethaneel the son of Zuar. See Gill on Num 10:14.

Gill: Num 10:16

And over the host of the tribe of the children of Zebulun was Eliab the son of Helon. See Gill on Num 10:14.

Gill: Num 10:17

And the tabernacle was taken down,.... By the Levites, as Aben Ezra, and which appears to be their work, from Num 1:51; this began to be done by them as soon as the cloud was perceived to move upwards, and the camp of Judah was preparing to march; and after Aaron and his sons had taken the holy vessels out of the holy and most holy place, and had packed up and covered them as directed, Num 4:5; this was an emblem of the taking down of the Jewish church state, the abolition of the service of the sanctuary, as well as of the changeable condition of the Gospel church in the wilderness, which is not always in one and the same place, but is moved from place to place, and that by the ministers of the word, signified by the Levites, who are sent and carry the Gospel here and there:

and the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari set forward, bearing the tabernacle; the former, the hangings and vail, and the latter the boards, pillars, sockets, &c. each of them having wagons for their assistance: these followed immediately after the camp of Judah.

Gill: Num 10:18

And the standard of the camp of Reuben set forward according to their armies,.... Next proceeded the standard of Reuben, having under it the tribes of Simeon and Gad, Num 10:19; as "Reuben" signifies, "behold the son", and he had the tabernacle borne before him and the holy things behind him, which way soever this camp looked, it had in view what was a type of Christ the Son of God, the object of faith, the ark.

and over his host was Elizur the son of Shedeur; over which respective armies were the same captains as in Num 2:10;

Gill: Num 10:19

And over the host of the tribe of the children of Simeon was Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai. See Gill on Num 10:18.

Gill: Num 10:20

And over the host of the tribe of the children of Gad was Eliasaph the son of Deuel. See Gill on Num 10:18.

Gill: Num 10:21

And the Kohathites set forward,.... After the standard of the camps of Reuben, and between that and the standard of the camp of Ephraim, to, which there is an allusion in Psa 80:2,

bearing the sanctuary, or the holy things, as Jarchi; the ark, as Aben Ezra; though not that only, which indeed might be eminently called so, it standing in the most holy place, over which were the mercy seat and cherubim, the residence of the divine Majesty; but all the holy things in the holy place, the candlestick, shewbread table, and the two altars, the altar of incense in the holy place, and the altar of burnt offerings in the court these they bore on their shoulders, and had no wagons allowed for their assistance:

and the other did set up the tabernacle against they came; that is, the sons of Gershon and Merari, who went before between the standard of Judah and the standard of Reuben, carrying the heavier and more cumbersome parts of the tabernacle; which, when Judah pitched their tents, at the signal of the cloud, they immediately put together, and erected, and got it ready, by such time as the Kohathites came up to them, that so the ark and other holy things might be at once put into it, and set in their proper places.

Gill: Num 10:22

And the standard of the camp of the children of Ephraim set forward according to their armies,.... Next followed the standard of the camp of Ephraim, under which were Manasseh and Benjamin, Num 10:23,

and over his host was Elishama the son of Ammihud; over whom were the same captains, as in Num 2:18.

Gill: Num 10:23

And over the host of the tribe of the children of Manasseh was Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur. See Gill on Num 10:22.

Gill: Num 10:24

And over the host of the tribe of the children of Benjamin was Abidan the son of Gideoni. See Gill on Num 10:22.

Gill: Num 10:25

And the standard of the camp of the children of Dan set forward,.... Next after that of Ephraim, the last of all: which was the rearward of all the camps throughout their host; which brought up the rear, and was fittest for that purpose, being the most numerous, next to that of Judah, which led the van; or, the gatherer up of all the camps ⁿ, under which were collected and brought on all that belonged to the other tribes; as all under twenty years of age, which were not taken into the camps, and the women and children, and weak and sickly persons, the mixed multitude, and all stragglers: these were all under the care and charge of this camp, and under the standard of which were Asher and Naphtali, Num 10:26; over whom were the same captains as in Num 2:25.

Gill: Num 10:26

And over the host of the tribe of the children of Asher was Pagiel the son of Ocran. See Gill on Num 10:25.

Gill: Num 10:27

And over the host of the tribe of the children of Naphtali was Ahira the son of Enan. See Gill on Num 10:25.

Gill: Num 10:28

Thus were the journeyings of the children of Israel,.... Or this was the order of them, as Jarchi; in this form and manner they marched, and a most wise, beautiful, and regular order it was; first the standard of Judah, a camp consisting of 186,400 able men fit for war, then followed the Gershonites and Merarites with six wagons carrying the heavier parts of the tabernacle; next to them the standard of the camp of Reuben, having in it 151,450 warlike men; next to them were the Kohathites, bearing the holy things of the sanctuary on their shoulders, who were followed by the standard of the camp of Ephraim, which was formed of 108,100 men fit for military service; and last of all the standard of the camp of Dan, which consisted of 157,600 men, able to bear arms, and which had under their care all that were not able which belonged to the other tribes; an emblem of the church of God in its militant state, walking according to the order of the Gospel, and in all the ordinances of it, which is a lovely sight to behold, Son 6:4; thus they marched

according to their armies; ranged under their several standards:

when they set forward; in their journey through the wilderness; as now, so at all other times, this order was carefully observed by them.

Gill: Num 10:29

And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite,

Moses's father in law,.... Some think this Hobab was the same with Jethro, whose father's name was Raguel or Reuel; so Jarchi and Ben Gersom; but rather Raguel or Reuel, and Jethro, seem to be the same, and was Moses's father-in-law, and this Hobab was the son of him, and brother of Zipporah, Moses's wife; and the same relation is designed whether the word is rendered his "father-in-law" or his "wife's brother", so Aben Ezra; as it may be either; if the former, then it may be joined to Raguel, if the latter, then to Hobab: Jethro or Raguel, Moses's father-in-law, came to see him as soon as he came to Horeb, and after some short stay with him returned to Midian, and left this his son Hobab, who remained with Moses unto this time; but now, as Israel was about to remove from the wilderness of Sinai, he showed a disposition to return to his own country, when Moses addressed him in order to persuade him to continue with them:

we are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you; that is, the land of Canaan, which God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to their posterity: Moses puts himself among the children of Israel as journeying towards Canaan, with an expectation to possess it; for as yet the decree, as Jarchi observes, was not made, or made manifest, that he should not enter it; or he said this, as others think, because he would not discourage the Israelites nor Hobab, who might argue from thence, that if he, by whom God had brought Israel out of Egypt, and had done such wonders by him, should not enter into the good! and, how should they? but as yet Moses himself knew not that he should not enter into it; however, he speaks of it as a certain thing, that God had promised to give it to Israel, and it might be depended upon; and now they were just going to set forward in their journey, in order to take possession of it, he entreats that Hobab would go with them:

come thou with us, and we will do thee good; by giving him a part of the spoils of their enemies, and a settlement in the land:

for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel; and he is faithful, who has promised and will perform.

Gill: Num 10:30

And he said unto him, I will not go,.... Which was a very peremptory answer, he seemed determined, and at a point about it for the present, though it is, probable he afterwards changed his mind, like the young man in the parable, Mat 21:29,

but I will depart to mine own land, and to my kindred; which were prevailing motives with him, his native country, his relations, and father's house; to this resolution he came, both because of his substance, and because of his family, as Jarchi.

Gill: Num 10:31

And he said,.... That is, Moses, he replied to Hobab, unwilling to take him at his word and go without him:

leave us not, I pray thee; or "not now"; as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan; at this present time, under our present difficulties, while we are in the wilderness; though Jarchi says the particle נא signifies beseeching or supplication:

forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness; that this will be our case, that we shall be obliged, before we get to the promised land, to pitch our tents in the wilderness, in our passage through it; and thou knowest which are the best and most convenient places for that purpose, and therefore must entreat thee to go with us:

and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes; not to show the way, as Aben Ezra notes, or guide and direct them in the road through the wilderness; for the cloud by day and the fire by night were of that use to them, as well as when it rested, it directed them when and where to pitch their tents; rather to assist with his advice in difficult matters, when they should be in pressing circumstances: the Targum of Jonathan is,"thou hast been dear unto us, as the apple of our eyes, and therefore we cannot part with thee.''

Gill: Num 10:32

And it shall be, if thou go with us, yea, it shall be,.... This repetition is for the confirmation of it, more strongly assuring him of what follows:

that what goodness the Lord shall do unto us, the same will we do unto thee; signifying that whatsoever they enjoyed in the land of Canaan he should have his share with them: the Targum of Jonathan adds,"in the division of the land;''Jarchi says, when the land was divided, the fatness of Jericho was given to the sons of Jethro, to Jonadab, the son of Rechab, see Jdg 1:16; from whence, however, as well as from other places, Jdg 4:11; it appears that the posterity of this man had a settlement in the land of Canaan, and from his silence it may be thought that he was prevailed upon to go along with Moses; or if he departed into his own country, as he said he would, he returned again; at least some of his children did.

Gill: Num 10:33

And they departed from the mount of the Lord three days' journey,...., From Mount Sinai, so called, because the Lord descended upon it, and gave the law from it; so the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan,"from the mount on which the glory of the Lord (or of his Shechinah or divine Majesty) was revealed.''This they left, after they had been nearly twelve months about it, and travelled three days' journey from it before the cloud rested, so as to abide, otherwise is stopped no doubt to give them time to eat their food, and take sleep and rest. The Targum of Jonathan expressly says, they went thirty six miles on that day; but, according to Bunting ^o, Taberah or Kibrothhattaavah, to which the children of Israel first came, and where they abode a month, was but eight miles from Sinai; wherefore the three days' journey were not successively one after another, but the first day's journey was to Taberah, where they continued a month; the second day's journey was to Hazeroth, where they stayed seven days; and the third day's journey was to the wilderness of Paran, and there the cloud rested, Num 10:12; and there was their resting place, for there they continued long, from whence the spies were sent to the good land, and whither they returned after forty days, Num 13:1,

and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them in the three days' journey, to search out a resting place for them; the ark being carried by the Kohathites, must proceed in the middle of the camps, after the camps of Judah and Reuben, and before the camps of Ephraim and Dan, according to the order of the marches of the children of Israel, Num 10:21; wherefore Aben Ezra thinks, that this three days' journey was different from all their other journeys; and that in this the ark went before them, which in other journeys was carried in the midst of them; yet others think it may be said to go before, though in the middle; just as a general of an army may be said to go before, and lead his army, though he is not directly in the front of it; so the cloud being always over the ark, directing the march, it may be said to go before and point out a convenient place to rest in; for searching cannot be properly ascribed to the ark, nor even to the Lord himself, and can only signify pointing out or discovering a proper place to take up their abode in: this ark of the covenant, so called because the covenant or law was laid up in it, was a type of Christ the end of the law for righteousness, and who is the forerunner of his people, is gone before them to prepare a place for them; and the three days' journey may have respect to his resurrection from the dead on the third day for their justification, which is the foundation of their rest, peace, and joy.

Gill: Num 10:34

And the cloud of the Lord was upon them by day,.... Not only upon the tabernacle, and upon the ark particularly, but it spread itself in journeying over the whole body of the people, and therefore said to be a covering to them from the heat of the sun, Psa 105:39; as well as it was a guide unto them, and a token of the divine Presence with them, see Isa 4:5,

when they went out of the camp; or out of the place of their encampment, when they removed from Sinai; and appears from, hence that it was in the daytime.

Gill: Num 10:35

And it came to pass, when the ark set forward,.... Carried by the Kohathites, Num 10:21,

that Moses said; in prayer, as both the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem express it; and it was a prayer of faith, and prophetic of what would be done, and might serve greatly to encourage and animate the children of Israel in their journeys; for the following prayer was put up not only at this time, but at all times when the ark set forward; and so Ben Gersom says, it was the custom of Moses, at whatsoever time the ark was moved, to pray as follows:

rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered; the Jerusalem Targum is,"rise up now, O Word of the Lord;''and the Targum of Jonathan,"be revealed now, O Word of the Lord;''the essential Word of God, the Messiah, to whom these words may be applied; either to his incarnation and manifestation in the flesh, his end in, which was to destroy all his and his people's enemies, particularly the devil and his works, Heb 2:14; or to his resurrection from the dead, these words standing at the head of a prophecy of his ascension to heaven, which supposes his resurrection from the dead, Psa 68:1; at the death of Christ all the spiritual enemies of his people were defeated, scattered, confounded, and conquered; Satan and his principalities were spoiled, sin was made an end of, death was abolished, and the world overcome; at his resurrection the keepers of the sepulchre fled; and after his ascension wrath came upon the Jewish nation, those enemies of his, that would not have him to rule over them, and they were scattered about on the face of the whole earth, as they are to this day:

and let them that hate thee flee before thee; the same petition expressed in different words, but to the same sense; enemies, and those that hate the Lord, are the same, as their defeat, conclusion, and destruction, are signified by their flight and dispersion; and it may be observed, that those who were the enemies and haters of Israel were reckoned the enemies and haters of God himself; as the enemies of Christ's people, and those that hate them, are accounted Christ's enemies, and such that hate him. Perhaps Moses may have a special respect to the Canaanites, whose land was promised unto Israel, and they were going to dispossess them of it, in order to inherit it, and Moses might expect it would be quickly done, at the end of these three days; which brought them to the wilderness of Paran, so near the good land that they sent from thence spies into it, and in all probability they would have then entered the possession of it, had it not been for their complaints and murmurs, and the ill report brought on the good land, on which account they were stopped thirty eight years in the wilderness.

Gill: Num 10:36

And when it passed,.... The ark, and the cloud over it:

he said; Moses stood and prayed, as before, according to the above Targums, in the following manner:

return, O Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel; who were six hundred thousand footmen, besides women and children, Num 11:21; the import of this petition is, that upon the resting of the ark God would take up his abode with them, grant them his presence, and manifest his love, grace, mercy, and goodness unto them; or, as it may be rendered, that he would "return the many thousands of Israel"; that is, to the land which he had sworn to their fathers, as Ben Gersom interprets it; and who observes that the word "return" is used, because of the holy fathers who dwelt in the land of Israel; or else, as the same writer further observes, the sense of the petition is, that it might be the will of God to turn the thousands of Israel into myriads, or increase and multiply them ten times more than they were; and so the Targum of Jerusalem is,"bless the myriads, and multiply the thousands of the children of Israel.''Perhaps Moses, under a spirit of prophecy, might have a further view, even to the conversion of the Jews in the latter day, when they shall return and seek the true Messiah, and be turned to him, and when all Israel shall be saved.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Num 10:13

¹ tn Heb “mouth.”

² tn Heb “hand.”

NET Notes: Num 10:14

¹ sn The “standard” (דֶּגֶל, degel) was apparently some kind of a symbol put up on a pole to signify the tribal hosts. R. de Vaux thought it simply referred to a pole or a mast, but that would not distinguish tribes (Ancient Israel, 226-27).

NET Notes: Num 10:21

¹ tn Heb “carrying the sanctuary,” a metonymy of whole for parts, representing all the holy objects that were located in the sanctuary.

² tn The verb is the third person plural form; without an expressed subject it is treated as a passive.

³ tn Heb “against their coming.”

NET Notes: Num 10:25

¹ tn The MT uses a word that actually means “assembler,” so these three tribes made up a strong rear force recognized as the assembler of all the tribes.

NET Notes: Num 10:28

¹ tn Or “journeyings of.”

² tn The verb is the preterite with vav (ו) consecutive. But in this sentence it should be subordinated as a temporal clause to the preceding statement, even though it follows it.

NET Notes: Num 10:29

¹ sn For additional bibliography for this short section, see W. F. Albright, “Jethro, Hobab, and Reuel in Early Hebrew Tradition,” CBQ 25 (1963): 1-11; G. W. Coats, “Moses in Midian,” JBL 92 (1973): 3-10; B. Mazar, “The Sanctuary of Arad and the Family of Hobab the Kenite,” JNES 24 (1965): 297-303; and T. C. Mitchell, “The Meaning of the Noun h£tn in the Old Testament,” VT 19 (1969): 93-112.

² sn There is a problem with the identity of Hobab. The MT says that he is the son of Reuel, making him the brother-in-law of Moses. But Judg 4:11 says he is the father-in-law. In Judg 1:16; 4:11 Hobab is traced to the Kenites, but in Exod 3:1 and 18:1 Jethro (Reuel) is priest of Midian. Jethro is identified with Reuel on the basis of Exod 2:18 and 3:1, and so Hobab becomes Moses’ חֹתֵן (khoten), a relative by marriage and perhaps brother-in-law. There is not enough information to decide on the identity and relationships involved here. Some suggest that there is one person with the three names (G. B. Gray, Numbers [ICC], 93); others suggest Hobab is a family name (R. F. Johnson, IDB 2:615), and some suggest that the expression “the son of Reuel the Midianite” had dropped out of the genealogy of Judges, leading to the conflict (J. Crichton, ISBE 2:1055). If Hobab is the same as Jethro, then Exod 18:27 does not make much sense, for Jethro did go home. On this basis many conclude Hobab is a brother-in-law. This would mean that after Jethro returned home, Moses conversed with Hobab, his brother-in-law. For more discussion, see the articles and the commentaries.

³ tn The verb is the Hiphil of the root “to be good” (יָטַב, yatav); it may be translated “treat well, deal favorably, generously with.” Here it is a perfect tense with vav (ו) following the imperative, showing a sequence in the verbal ideas.

⁴ tn The Hebrew text simply has “has spoken good” for Israel.

NET Notes: Num 10:30

¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Hobab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

NET Notes: Num 10:31

¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn The form with אַל־נָא (’al-na’) is a jussive; negated it stresses a more immediate request, as if Hobab is starting to leave, or at least determined to leave.

³ tn In the Hebrew text the expression is more graphic: “you will be for us for eyes.” Hobab was familiar with the entire Sinai region, and he could certainly direct the people where they were to go. The text does not record Hobab’s response. But the fact that Kenites were in Canaan as allies of Judah (Judg 1:16) would indicate that he gave in and came with Moses. The first refusal may simply be the polite Semitic practice of declining first so that the appeal might be made more urgently.

NET Notes: Num 10:32

¹ tn Heb “and it shall be.”

NET Notes: Num 10:33

¹ tn The phrase “a journey of three days” is made up of the adverbial accusative qualified with the genitives.

NET Notes: Num 10:34

¹ tc The scribes sensed that there was a dislocation with vv. 34-36, and so they used the inverted letters nun (נ) as brackets to indicate this.

² tn The adverbial clause of time is composed of the infinitive construct with a temporal preposition and a suffixed subjective genitive.

NET Notes: Num 10:36

¹ sn These two formulaic prayers were offered by Moses at the beginning and at the end of the journeys. They prayed for the Lord to fight ahead of the nation when it was on the move, and to protect them when they camped. The theme of the first is found in Ps 68:1. The prayers reflect the true mentality of holy war, that it was the Lord who fought for Israel and defended her. The prayers have been included in the prayer book for synagogue services.

Geneva Bible: Num 10:13

And they ^{( f )} first took their journey according to the commandment of the LORD by the hand of Moses.

^{( f )} From Sinai to Paran, (Num 33:1).

Geneva Bible: Num 10:17

And the tabernacle was taken down; and the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari set forward, bearing ^{( g )} the tabernacle.

^{( g )} With all the belongings of it.

Geneva Bible: Num 10:21

And the Kohathites set forward, ^{( h )} bearing the sanctuary: and ^{( i )} [the other] did set up the tabernacle against they came.

^{( h )} Upon their shoulders.

^{( i )} The Merarites and Gershonites.

Geneva Bible: Num 10:25

And the standard of the camp of the children of Dan set forward, [which was] the ^{( k )} rereward of all the camps throughout their hosts: and over his host [was] Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai.

^{( k )} Leaving none behind, nor any of the former that fainted in the way.

Geneva Bible: Num 10:28

^{( l )} Thus [were] the journeyings of the children of Israel according to their armies, when they set forward.

^{( l )} This was the order of their host when they travelled.

Geneva Bible: Num 10:29

And Moses said unto ^{( m )} Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite, Moses' father in law, We are journeying unto the place of which the LORD said, I will give it you: come thou with us, and we will do thee good: for the LORD hath spoken good concerning Israel.

^{( m )} Some think that Reuel, Jethro, Hobab, and Keni were all one: Kimhi says that Reuel was Jethro's father: so Hobab was Moses father-in-law, see (Exo 2:18, Exo 3:1, Exo 4:18, Exo 18:1; Jdg 4:11)

Geneva Bible: Num 10:33

And they departed from the ^{( n )} mount of the LORD three days' journey: and the ark of the covenant of the LORD went before them in the three days' journey, to search out a resting place for them.

^{( n )} Mount Sinai, or Horeb.

Geneva Bible: Num 10:35

And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, ^{( o )} Rise up, LORD, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee.

^{( o )} Declare your might and power.

Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: Num 10:1-36

1 The use of the silver trumpets.

11 The Israelites remove from Sinai to Paran.

14 The order of their march.

29 Hobab is entreated by Moses not to leave them.

33 The blessing of Moses at the removing and resting of the ark.

Maclaren: Num 10:14

Moses Despondent

I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me.' Num. 10:14.

DETAIL the circumstances.

The leader speaks the truth in his despondency. He is pressed with the feeling of his incapacity for his work. We may take his words here as teaching us what men need in him who is to be their guide, and how impossible it is to find what they need in mere men.

I. What Men Need In Their Guide.

These Israelites were wandering in the wilderness; they were without natural supplies for their daily necessities; they had a long hard journey before them, an unknown road, at the terminus of which was a land where they should rest. We have precisely the same necessities as those which Moses despairingly said that they had.

Like them, we wander hungry, and need a Leader who can satisfy our desires and evermore give us bread for our souls even more than for our bodies. We need One to whom we can weep,' as the Israelites did to Moses, and not weep in vain. We need One who can do for us what Moses felt that the Israelites needed, and that he could not give them, when he almost indignantly put to God the despairing question, Can I carry them in my bosom as a nursing father beareth the sucking child?' Our weakness, our ignorance, our hearthunger, cry out for One who can bear all this people alone,' who in his single Self has resources of strength, wisdom, and sufficiency to meet not only the wants of one soul but those of the world. For He who can satisfy the poorest single soul must be able to satisfy all men.

II. The Impossibility Of Finding This In Men.

Moses' experience here is that of all leaders and great men. He is overwhelmed with the work; feels his own utter impotence; has himself to be strengthened; loathes his work; longs for release from it. See how he confesses.

His human dependence.His incapacity to do and be what is needed.His impatience with the people.His longing to be rid of it all.

That is a true picture of the experience of the best of men, a true picture of the limitations of the noblest leaders.

But it is not only the leaders who confess their inadequacy, but the followers feel it, for even the most enthusiastic of them come sooner or later to find that their Oracle had not learned all wisdom, nor was fit to be taken as sole guide, much less as sole defence or satisfaction. He who looks to find all that he needs in men must take many men to find it, and no multiplicity of men will bring him what he seeks. The Milky Way is no substitute for the sun. Our hearts cry out for One great light, for One spacious home. Endless strings of pearls do not reach the preciousness of One pearl of price.

III. The Failures Of Human Leaders Prophesy The True Leader.

Moses was prophetic of Christ by his failures as by his successes. He could not do what the people clamoured to have done, and what he in the mood of despair in which the text shows him, sadly owned that he could not. In that very confession he becomes an unconscious prophet. For that he should have so vividly set forth the qualifications of a leader of men, as defined by the people's cries, and should have so bitterly felt his incapacity to supply them, is a witness, if there is a God at all, that somewhere the needed Ideal will be realised in a Leader and Commander of the people,' God-sent and worthy of more glory than Moses.'

The best service that all human leaders, helpers or lovers, can do us, is to confess their own insufficiency, and to point us to Jesus.

All that men need is found in Him and in Him alone. All that men have failed, and must always fail, to be, He is. Those eyes are blessed that see no man any more save Jesus only.' We need One who can satisfy our desires and fill our hungry souls, and Jesus speaks a promise, confirmed by the experience of all who have tested it when He declares : He that cometh unto Me shall never hunger.' We need One who will dry our tears, and Jesus, when He says Weep not,' wipes them away and stanches their sources, giving the oil of joy for mourning.' We need One who can hold us up in our journey, and minister strength to fainting hearts and vigour to weary feet, and Jesus strengthens us with might in the inner man.' We need One who will bring us to the promised land of rest, and Jesus brings many sons to glory, and wills that they be with Him where He is.' So let us turn away from the multiplicity of human insufficiencies to Him who is our one only help and hope, because He is all-sufficient and eternal.

Maclaren: Num 10:29

Hobab

And Moses said unto Hobab… Come thou with us and we will do thee good: for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel.'--Num. 10:29.

THERE is some doubt with regard to the identity of this Hobab. Probably he was a man of about the same age as Moses, his brother-in-law, and a son of Jethro, a wily Kenite, a Bedouin Arab. Moses begs him to join himself to his motley company, and to be to him in the wilderness instead of eyes.' What did Moses want a man for, when he had the cloud? What do we want common-sense for, when we have God's Spirit? What do we want experience and counsel for, when we have divine guidance promised to us? The two things work in together. The cloud led the march, but it was very well to have a man that knew all about the oases and the wells, the situation of which was known only to the desert-born tribes, and who could teach the helpless slaves from Goshen the secrets of camp life. So Moses pressed Hobab to change his position, to break with his past, and to launch himself into an altogether new and untried sort of life.

And what does he plead with him as the reason? We will do thee good, for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel.' Probably Hobab looked rather shy at the security, for I suppose he was no worshipper of Jehovah, and he said, No; I had rather go home to my own people and my own kindred and my father's house where I fit in, and keep to my own ways, and have something a little more definite to lay hold of than your promise, or the promise of your Jehovah that lies behind it. These are not solid, and I am going back to my tribe.' But Moses pressed and he at last consented, and the following verses suggest that the arrangement was made satisfactorily, and that the journeyings began prosperously. In the Book of Judges we find traces of the presence of Hobab's descendants as incorporated among the people of Israel. One of them came to be somebody, the Jael who struck the tent-peg through the temples of the sleeping Sisera, for she is called the wife of Heber the Kenite.' Probably, then, in some sense Hobab must have become a worshipper of Jehovah, and have cast in his lot with his brother-in-law and his people. I do not set Hobab up as a shining example. We do not know much about his religion. But it seems to me that this little glimpse into a long-forgotten and unimportant life may teach us two or three things about the venture of faith, the life of faith, and the reward of faith.

I. The Venture Of Faith.

I have already said that Hobab had nothing in the world to trust to except Moses' word, and Moses' report of God's Word. We will do you good; God has said that He will do good to us, and you shall have your share in it.' It was a grave thing, and, in many circumstances, would have been a supremely foolish thing, credulous to the verge of insanity, to risk all upon the mere promise of one in Moses' position, who had so little in his own power with which to fulfil the promise; and who referred him to an unseen divinity, somewhere or other; and so drew bills upon heaven and futurity, and did not feel himself at all bound to pay them when they fell due, unless God should give him the cash to do it with. But Hobab took the plunge, he ventured all upon these two promises, Moses' word, and God's word that underlay it.

Now that is just what we have to do. For, after all talking about reasons for belief, and evidences of religion, and all the rest of it, it all comes to this at last, will you risk everything on Jesus Christ's bare word? There are plenty of reasons for doing so, but what I wish to bring out is this, that the living heart and root of true Christianity is neither more nor less than the absolute and utter reliance upon nothing else but Christ, and therefore on His word. He did not even condescend to give reasons for that reliance, for His most solemn assurance was just this,' Verily, verily, I say unto you.' That is as much as to say, If you do not see in Me, without any more argument, reason enough for believing Me, you do not see Me at all.' Christ did not argue, He asserted, and in default of all other proof, if I might venture to say so, He put His own personality into the scales and said, There, that will outweigh everything.' So no wonder that they were astonished at His doctrine, not so much at the substance of it as at the tone of it, for He taught them with authority:

But what right had He to teach them with authority? What right has He to present Himself there in front of us and proclaim, I say unto you, and there is an end of it'? The heart and essence of Christian faith is doing, in a far sublimer fashion, precisely what this wild Arab did, when he uprooted himself from the conditions in which his life had grown up, and flung himself into an unknown future, on bare trust in a bare word. Jesus Christ asks us to do the same by Him. Whether His word comes to us revealing, or commanding, or promising, it is absolute, and, for His true followers, ends all controversy, all hesitation, all reluctance. When He commands it is ours to obey and live. And when He promises it is for us to twine all the tendrils of our expectations round that faithful word, and by faith to make the anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast.' The venture of faith takes a word for the most solid thing in the universe, and the Incarnate Word of God for the basis of all our hope, the authority for all our conduct, the Master-light of all our seeing.'

II. Hobab Suggests To Us, Secondly,

The sort of life that follows the venture of faith. The hindrances to his joining Moses were plainly put by himself. He said in effect, I will not come; I will depart to mine own land and to my kindred. Why should I attach myself to a horde of strangers, and go wandering about the desert for the rest of my life, looking out for encampments for them, when I can return to where I have been all my days; and be surrounded by the familiar atmosphere of friends and relatives?' But he bethought himself that there was a nobler life to live than that, and because he was stirred by the impulse of reliance on Moses and his promise, and perhaps by some germ of reliance on Moses' God, he finally said, The die is cast. I choose my side. I will break with the past. I turn my back on kindred and home. Here I draw a broad line across the page, and begin over again in an altogether new kind of life. I identify myself with these wanderers; sharing their fortunes, hoping to share their prosperity, and taking their God for my God.' He had perhaps not been a nomad before, for there still are permanent settlements as well as nomad encampments in Arabia, as there were in those days, and he and his relatives, from the few facts that we know of them, seem to have had a fixed home, with a very narrow zone of wandering round it. So Hobab, an old man probably, if he was anything like the age of his connection by marriage, Moses, who was eighty at this time, makes up his mind to begin a new career.

Now that is what we have to do. If we have faith in Christ and His promise, we shall not say, I am going back to my kindred and to my home.' We shall be prepared to accept the conditions of a wanderer's life. We shall recognise and feel, far more than we ever have done, that we are indeed pilgrims and sojourners' here. Dear Christian friends, we have no business to call ourselves Christ's men, unless the very characteristic of our lives is that we are drawn ever forward by the prospect of future good, and unless that future is a great deal more solid and more operative upon us, and tells more on our lives, than this intrusive, solid-seeming present that thrusts itself between us and our true home. That is a sure saying. The Christian obligation to live a life of detachment, even while diligent in duty, is not to be brushed aside as pulpit rhetoric and exaggeration, but it is the plainest teaching of the New Testament. I wish it was a little more exemplified in the daily life of the people who call themselves Christians.

If I am not living for the unseen and the future, what right have I to say that I am Christ's at all? If the shadows are more than the substance to me; if this condensed vapour and fog that we call reality has not been to our apprehension thinned away into the unsubstantial mist that it is, what have the principles of Christianity done for us, and what worth is Christ's word to us? If I believe Him, the world is, I do not say, as the sentimental poet put it, but a fleeting show, for man's illusion given ; but as Paul puts it, a glass which may either reveal or obscure the realities beyond; and according as we look at, or look through, the things seen and temporal,' do we see, or miss, the things unseen and eternal.' So, then, the life of faith has for its essential characteristic, because it is a life of reliance on Christ's bare word, that future good is consciously its supreme aim. That will detach us, as it did Hobab, from home and kindred, and make us feel that we are pilgrims and sojourners.'

III. Lastly, Our Story Suggests To Us,

The rewards of faith. Come with us,' says Moses;' we are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you. Come thou with us, and we will do thee what goodness the Lord shall do unto us.' He went, and neither he nor Moses ever saw the land, or at least never set their feet on it. Moses saw it from Pisgah, but probably Hobab did not even get so much as that.

So he had all his tramping through the wilderness, and all his work, for nothing, had he? Had he not better have gone back to Midian, and made use of the present reality, than followed a will-of-the-wisp that led him into a bog, if he got none of the good that he set out expecting to get? Then, did he make a mistake? Would he have been a wiser man if he had stuck to his first refusal? Surely not. It seems to me that the very fact of this great promise being given to this old , dare I call Hobab a saint'? to this old saint, and never being fulfilled at all in this world, compels us to believe that there was some gleam of hope, and of certainty, of a future life, even in these earliest days of dim and partial revelation.

To me it is very illuminative, and very beautiful, that the dying Jacob bursts in his song into a sudden exclamation, I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord!' It is as if he had felt that all his life long he had been looking for what had never come, and that it could not be that God was going to let him go down to the grave and never grasp the good that he had been waiting for all his days. We may apply substantially the same thoughts to Hobab, and to all his like, and may turn them to our own use, and argue that the imperfections' of the consequences of our faith here on earth are themselves evidences of a future, where all that Christ has said shall be more than fulfilled, and no mail will be able to say, Thou didst send me out, deluding me with promises which have all gone to water and have failed.'

Hobab dying there in the desert had made the right choice, and if we will trust ourselves to Christ and His faithful word, and, trusting to Him, will feel that we are detached from the present and that it is but as the shadow of a cloud, whatever there may be wanting in the results of our faith here on earth, there will be nothing wanting in its results at the last. Hobab did not regret his venture, and no man ever ventures his faith on Christ and is disappointed. He that believeth shall not be confounded.'

Maclaren: Num 10:35-36

The Hallowing Of Work And Of Rest

And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise Up, Lord, and let Thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate Thee flee before Thee. 36. And when it rested, he said, Return, O Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel.'--Num. 10:35-36.

THE picture suggested by this text is a very striking and vivid one. We see the bustle of the morning's breaking up of the encampment of Israel. The pillar of cloud, which had lain diffused and motionless over the Tabernacle, gathers itself together into an upright shaft, and moves, a dark blot against the glittering blue sky, the sunshine masking its central fire, to the front of the encampment. Then the priests take up the ark, the symbol of the divine Presence, and fall into place behind the guiding pillar. Then come the stir Of the ordering of the ranks, and a moment's pause, during which the leader lifts his voice, Rise, Lord, and let Thine enemies be scattered, and let them that hate Thee flee before Thee.' Then, with braced resolve and confident hearts, the tribes set forward on the day's march.

Long after those desert days a psalmist laid hold of the old prayer and offered it, as not antiquated yet by the thousand years that had intervened. Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered,' prayed one of the later psalmists; let them that hate Him flee before Him.' We, too, in circumstances so different, may take up the immortal though ancient words, on which no dimming rust of antiquity has encrusted itself, and may, at the beginnings and the endings of all our efforts and of each of our days, and at the beginning and ending of life itself, offer this old prayer, the prayer which asked for a divine presence in the incipiency of our efforts, and the prayer which asked for a divine presence in the completion of our work and in the rest that remaineth.

I. So, Then, If We Put These Two Petitions Together,

I think we shall see in them first, a pattern of that realisation of, and aspiration after, the divine Presence, which ought to fill all our lives.

Rise, Lord, let Thine enemies be scattered.'

But was not that moving pillar the token that God had risen? And was not the psalmist who reiterated Moses' prayer asking for what had been done before he asked it? Was not the ark the symbol of the divine Presence, and was not its movement after the pillar a pledge to the whole host of Israel that the petition which they were offering, through their leader's lips, was granted ere it was offered? Yes. And yet the present God would not manifest His Presence except in response to the desire of His servants; and just because the ark was the symbol, and that moving column was the guarantee of God's being with the host as their defence, therefore there rose up with confidence this prayer,' Rise, Lord, and let Thine enemies be scattered.'

That twofold altitude, the realisation of, and therefore the aspiration after, the divine gifts, which are given before they are desired, but are not appropriated and brought into operation in our lives unless they are desired, is precisely the paradox of the Christian life. Having, we long for, and longing, we have, and because we possess God we pray, Oh I that we might possess Thee.' The more we long, the more we receive. But unless He gave Himself in anticipation of our longing, there would be neither longing nor reception. Only on condition of our desiring to have Him does He flow into our lives, victorious and strength-giving, and the more" we experience that omnipotent might and calming, guiding nearness, the more assuredly we shall long for it.

Let us then, dear brethren, blend these two things together, for indeed they are inseparable one from the other, and there can be no real experience in any depth of the one of them without the other. Blessed be God! there need be no long interval of waiting between sowing the seed of supplication and reaping the harvest of fruition. That process of growth and reaping goes on with instantaneous rapidity. Before they call I will answer,' for pillar and ark were there ere Moses opened his lips; and while they are yet speaking I will hear,' for, in response to the cry, the host moved triumphantly, guarded through the wilderness. So it may be, and ought to be, with each of us.

In like manner, coupling these two petitions together, and taking them as unitedly covering the whole field of life in their great antitheses of work and rest, effort and accomplishment, beginning and ending, morning and evening, we may say that here is an example, to be appropriated in our own lives, of that continuous longing and realisation which will encircle all life as with a golden ring, and make every part of it uniform and blessed. To begin, continue, and end with God is the secret of joyful beginning, of patient continuance, and of triumphant ending. There is no reason in heaven, though there are hosts of excuses on earth, why there should not be, in the case of each of us, an absolutely continuous and uninterrupted sense of being with God. O brethren! that is a stage of Christian experience high above the one on which most of us stand. But that is our fault, and not the necessity of our condition. Let us lay this to heart, that it is possible to have the pillar always guiding our march, and possible to have it stretching, calm and motionless, over all our hours of rest.

II. Now, If, Turning From The Lessons To Be Drawn From These Two Petitions,

Taken in conjunction, we look at them separately, we may say that we have here an example of the spirit in which we should set ourselves, day by day, and at each new epoch and beginning, be it greater or smaller, to every task.

There are truths that underlie that first prayer, Rise up, Lord, and let Thine enemies be scattered,' which are of perennial validity, and apply to us as truly as to these warriors of God in the wilderness long centuries ago. The first of them is that the divine Presence is the source of all energy, and of successful endeavour after, and accomplishment of, any duty. The second of them is that that presence is, as I have been saying, granted, in its operative power, only on condition of its being sought. And the third of them is that I have a right to identify my enemies with God's only on condition that I have made His cause mine. When Moses prayed, Let Thine enemies be scattered,' he meant by these the hostile nomad tribes that might ring Israel round, and come down like a sandstorm upon them at any moment. What right had he to suppose that the people whose lances and swords threatened the motley host that he was leading through the wilderness were God's enemies? Only this right, that his host had consented to be God's soldiers, and that they having thus made His enemies theirs, He, on His part, was sure to make their enemies His. We are often tempted to identify our foes with God's, without having taken the preliminary step of having so yielded ourselves to be His servants and instruments for carrying forward His will, as that our own wills have become a vanishing quantity, or rather have been ennobled and greatened in proportion as they have been moulded in submission to His. We must take God's cause for ours, in all the various aspects of that phrase. And that means, first of all, that we make our own perfecting into the likeness of Jesus Christ the main aim of our own lives and efforts. It means, further, the putting ourselves bravely and manfully on the side of right and truth and justice, in all their forms. Above all, it means that we give ourselves to be God's instruments in carrying on His great purposes for the salvation of the world through Jesus Christ. If we do these things, whatever obstacles may arise in our paths, we may be sure that these are God's antagonists, because they are antagonists to God's work in and by us.

Only in so far as they are such, can you pray, Let them flee before Thee!' Many of the things that we call our enemies come to us disguised, and are mistaken by our superficial sight, and we do not know that they are friends. All things work together for good to them that love God.' And, when we desire His Presence, the hindrances to doing His will, which are the only real enemies that we have to fight, will melt away before His power, as wax melteth' before the ardours of the fire; and, for the rest, the distresses, the difficulties, the sorrows, and all the other things that we so often think are our foes, we shall find out to have been our friends. Make God's cause yours, and He will make your cause His.

That applies to the great things of life, and to the little things. I begin my day's work some morning, perhaps wearied, perhaps annoyed with a multiplicity of trifles which seem too small to bring great principles to bear upon them. But do you not think there would be a strange change wrought in the petty annoyances of every day, and in the small trifles of which all our lives, of whatever texture they are, must largely be composed, if we began each day and each task with that old prayer, Rise, Lord, and let Thine enemies be scattered'? Do you not think there would come a quiet into our hearts, and a victorious peace to which we are too much strangers? If we carried the assurance that there is One that fights for us, into the trifles as well as into the sore struggles of our lives, we should have peace and victory. Most of us will not have many large occasions of trial and conflict in our career; and, if God's fighting for us is not available in regard to the small annoyances of home and daily life, I know not for what it is available. Many littles make a mickle,' and there are more deaths in skirmishes than in the field of a pitched battle. More Christian people lose their hold of God, their sense of His presence, and are beaten accordingly, by reason of the little enemies that come down on them, like a cloud of gnats in a summer evening, than are defeated by the shock of a great assault or a great temptation, which calls out their strength, and sends them to their knees to ask for help from God.

So we may learn from this prayer the spirit of expectance of victory which is not presumption, and of consecration, which alone will enable us to pass through life victorious. Be of good cheer,' said the Master, as if in answer to this prayer in its Christian form, I have overcome the world.' We turn to the helmed and sworded Figure that stands mysteriously beside us whilst we are all unaware of His coming, and the swift question that Joshua put rises to our lips, Art Thou for us or for our adversaries?' The reply comes, Nay! but as Captain of the Lord's host am I come up.' That is Christ's answer to the prayer, Rise, Lord, let Thine enemies be scattered.'

III. Lastly, We Have Here A Pattern Of The Temper For Hours Of Repose.

When the ark rested, he said, "Return, O Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel."As I said at the beginning of these remarks, the pillar of cloud seems to have taken two forms, braced together upright when it moved, diffused and stretched as a shelter and a covering over the host of Israel when it and they were at rest. In like manner, that divine Presence is Protean in its forms, and takes all shapes, according to the moment's necessities of the Christian trusting heart. When we are to brace ourselves for the march it condenses itself into an upright and moving guide. When we lay ourselves down with relaxed muscles for repose, it softly expands itself and covers our head' in the hours of rest, as in the day of battle.'

Ah! brother, we have more need of God in times of repose than in times of effort. It is harder to realise His Presence in the brief hours of relaxation than even in the many hours of strenuous toll. Every one who goes for a holiday knows that. You have only to look at the sort of amusements that most people fly to when they have not anything to do, to see that there is quite as much, if not more, peril to communion of soul with God in times when the whole nature is somewhat relaxed, and the strings are loosened, like those of a violin screwed down a turn or two of the peg, than there is in times of work.

So let us take special care of our hours of repose, and be quite sure that they are so spent as that we can ask when the day's work is done, and we have come to slippered ease, in preparation for nightly rest,' Return, O Lord, unto Thy waiting servant.' Work without God unfits for rest with Him. Rest without God unfits for work for Him.

We may take these two petitions as tests of the allowableness of any occupation, or of any relaxation. Dare I ask Him to come with me into that field of work? If I dare not, it is no place for me. Dare I ask Him to come with me into this other chamber of rest? If I dare not, I had better never cross its threshold. Take these two prayers, and where you cannot pray them, do not risk yourself.

But the highest form of the contrast between the two waits still to be realised. For life as a whole is a fight, and beyond it there is the rest that remaineth,' where there will be not merely God's return unto the thousands of Israel,' but the realisation of His fuller presence, and of deeper rest, which shall be wondrously associated with more intense work, though in that work there will be no conflict. The two petitions will flow together then, for whilst we labour we shall rest; and whilst we rest we shall labour, according to the great sayings, they rest from their labours,' and yet they rest not day nor night.'

MHCC: Num 10:11-28

After the Israelites had continued nearly a year at mount Sinai, and all was settled respecting their future worship, they began their march to Canaan. True religion begins with the knowledge of the holy law of God, and humiliation for sin, but we must go on towards perfection, in acquaintance with Christ and his gospel, and those effectual encouragements, motives, and assistances to holiness, which it proposes. They took their journey according to the commandment of the Lord, Deu 1:6-8, and as the cloud led them. Those who give themselves to the direction of God's word and Spirit, steer a steady course, even when they seem bewildered. While they are sure they cannot lose their God and Guide, they need not fear losing their way. They went out of the wilderness of Sinai, and rested in the wilderness of Paran. All our removes in this world are but from one wilderness to another. The changes we think will be for the better do not always prove so. We shall never be at rest, never at home, till we come to heaven, but all will be well there.

MHCC: Num 10:29-32

Moses invites his kindred to go to Canaan. Those that are bound for the heavenly Canaan, should ask and encourage their friends to go with them: we shall have none the less of the joys of heaven, for others coming to share with us. It is good having fellowship with those who have fellowship with God. But the things of this world, which are seen, draw strongly from the pursuit of the things of the other world, which are not seen. Moses urges that Hobab might be serviceable to them. Not to show where they must encamp, nor what way they must march, the cloud was to direct that; but to show the conveniences of the place they marched through, and encamped in. It well consists with our trust in God's providence, to use the help of our friends.

MHCC: Num 10:33-36

Their going out and coming in, gives an example to us to begin and end every day's journey and every day's work with prayer. Here is Moses's prayer when the ark set forward, " Rise up, and let thine enemies be scattered." There are those in the world who are enemies to God and haters of him; secret and open enemies; enemies to his truths, his laws, his ordinances, his people. But for the scattering and defeating of God's enemies, there needs no more than God's arising. Observe also the prayer of Moses when the ark rested, that God would cause his people to rest. The welfare and happiness of the Israel of God, consist in the continual presence of God among them. Their safety is not in their numbers, but in the favour of God, and his gracious return to them, and resting with them. Upon this account, Happy art thou, O Israel! who is like unto thee, O people! God will go before them, to find them resting-places by the way. His promise is, and their prayers are, that he will never leave them nor forsake them.

Matthew Henry: Num 10:11-28

Here is, I. A general account of the removal of the camp of Israel from mount Sinai, before which mountain it had lain now about a year, in which time and place a great deal of memorable business was done. Of this removal, it should seem, God gave them notice some time before (Deu 1:6, Deu 1:7): You have dwelt long enough in this mountain, turn you and take your journey towards the land of promise. The apostle tells us that mount Sinai genders to bondage (Gal 4:24), and signifies the law there given, which is of use indeed as a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, yet we must not rest in it, but advance towards the joys and liberties of the children of God, for our happiness is conferred not by the law, but by promise. Observe, 1. The signal given (Num 10:11): The cloud was taken up, and we may suppose it stood for some time, till they were ready to march; and a great deal of work it was to take down all those tents, and pack up all those goods that they had there; but every family being employed about its own, and all at the same time, many hands made quick work of it. 2. The march began: They took their journey according to the commandment of the Lord, and just as the cloud led them, Num 10:13. Some think that mention is thus frequently made in this and the foregoing chapter of the commandment of the Lord, guiding and governing them in all their travels, to obviate the calumny and reproach which were afterwards thrown upon Israel, that they tarried so long in the wilderness, because they had lost themselves there, and could not find the way out. No, the matter was not so; in every stage, in every step, they were under divine direction; and, if they knew not where they were, yet he that led them knew. Note, Those that have given up themselves to the direction of God's word and Spirit steer a steady course, even when they seem to be bewildered. While they are sure they cannot lose their God and guide, they need not fear losing their way. 3. The place they rested in, after three days' march: They went out of the wilderness of Sinai, and rested in the wilderness of Paran. Note, All our removals in this world are but from one wilderness to another. The changes which we think will be for the better do not always prove so; while we carry about with us, wherever we go, the common infirmities of human nature, we must expect, wherever we go, to meet with its common calamities; we shall never be at rest, never at home, till we come to heaven, and all will be well there.

II. A particular draught of the order of their march, according to the late model. 1. Judah's squadron marched first, Num 10:14-16. The leading standard, now lodged with that tribe, was an earnest of the sceptre which in David's time should be committed to it, and looked further to the captain of our salvation, of whom it was likewise foretold that unto him should the gathering of the people be. 2. Then came those two families of the Levites which were entrusted to carry the tabernacle. As soon as ever the cloud was taken up, the tabernacle was taken down, and packed up for removing, Num 10:17. And here the six wagons came laden with the more bulky part of the tabernacle. This frequent removing of the tabernacle in all their journeys signified the movableness of that ceremonial dispensation. That which was so often shifted would at length vanish away, Heb 8:13. 3. Reuben's squadron marched forward next, taking place after Judah, according to the commandment of the Lord, Num 10:18-20. 4. Then the Kohathites followed with their charge, the sacred furniture of the tabernacle, in the midst of the camp, the safest and most honourable place, Num 10:21. And they (that is, says the margin, the Gershonites and Merarites) did set up the tabernacle against they came; and perhaps it is expressed thus generally because, if there was occasion, not those Levites only, but the other Israelites that were in the first squadron, lent a hand to the tabernacle to hasten the rearing of it up, even before they set up their own tents. 5. Ephraim's squadron followed next after the ark (Num 10:22-24), to which some think the psalmist alludes when he prays (Psa 80:2), Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, the three tribes that composed this squadron, stir up thy strength (and the ark is called his strength, Psa 78:61), and come and save us. 6. Dan's squadron followed last, Num 10:25-27. It is called the rearward, or gathering host, of all the camps, because it gathered up all that were left behind; not the women and children (these we may suppose were taken care of by the heads of their families in their respective tribes), but all the unclean, the mixed multitude, and all that were weak and feeble, and cast behind in their march. Note, He that leadeth Joseph like a flock has a tender regard to the hindmost (Eze 34:16), that cannot keep pace with the rest, and of all that are given him he will lose none, Joh 17:11.

Matthew Henry: Num 10:29-36

Here is, I. An account of what passed between Moses and Hobab, now upon this advance which the camp of Israel made towards Canaan. Some think that Hobab was the same with Jethro, Moses's father-in-law, and that the story, Ex. 18, should come in here; it seems more probable that Hobab was the son of Jethro, alias Reuel, or Raguel (Exo 2:18), and that when the father, being aged, went to his own land (Exo 18:27), he left his son Hobab with Moses, as Barzillai left Chimham with David; and the same word signifies both a father-in-law and a brother-in-law. Now this Hobab staid contentedly with Israel while they encamped at mount Sinai, near his own country; but, now that they were removing, he was for going back to his own country and kindred, and his father's house. Here is, 1. The kind invitation Moses gives him to go forward with them to Canaan, Num 10:29. He tempts him with a promise that they would certainly be kind to him, and puts God's word in for security: The Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel. As if he had said, "Come, cast in thy lot among us, and thou shalt fare as we fare; and we have the promise of God that we shall fare well."Note, Those that are bound for the heavenly Canaan should invite and encourage all their friends to go along with them, for we shall have never the less of the treasures of the covenant, and the joys of heaven, for others coming in to share with us. And what argument can be more powerful with us to take God's people for our people than this, that God hath spoken good concerning them? It is good having fellowship with those that have fellowship with God (1Jo 1:3), and going with those with whom God is, Zec 8:23. 2. Hobab's inclination, and present resolution, to go back to his own country, Num 10:30. One would have thought that he who had seen so much of the special presence of God with Israel, and such surprising tokens of his favour to them, would not have needed much invitation to embark with them. But his refusal must be imputed to the affection he had for his native air and soil, which was not overpowered, as it ought to have been, by a believing regard to the promise of God and a value for covenant blessings. He was indeed a son of Abraham's loins (for the Midianites descended from Abraham by Keturah), but not an heir of Abraham's faith (Heb 11:8), else he would not have given Moses this answer. Note, The things of this world, which are seen, draw strongly from the pursuit of the things of the other world, which are not seen. The magnetic virtue of this earth prevails with most people above the attractives of heaven itself. 3. The great importunity Moses used with him to alter his resolution, Num 10:31, Num 10:32. He urges, (1.) That he might be serviceable to them: " We are to encamp in the wilderness "(a country well known to Hobab), " and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes, not to show us where we must encamp, nor what way we must march"(which the cloud was to direct), "but to show us the conveniences and inconveniences of the place we march through and encamp in, that we may make the best use we can of the conveniences, and the best fence we can against the inconveniences."Note, It will very well consist with our trust in God's providence to make use of the help of our friends in those things wherein they are capable of being serviceable to us. Even those that were led by miracle must not slight the ordinary means of direction. Some think that Moses suggests this to Hobab, not because he expected much benefit from his information, but to please him with the thought of being some way useful to so great a body, and so to draw him on with them, by inspiring him with an ambition to obtain that honour. Calvin gives quite another sense of this place, very agreeably with the original, which yet I do not find taken notice of by any since. " Leave us not, I pray thee, but come along, to share with us in the promised land, for therefore hast thou known our encampment in the wilderness, and hast been to us instead of eyes; and we cannot make thee amends for sharing with us in our hardships, and doing us so many good offices, unless thou go with us to Canaan. Surely for this reason thou didst set out with us that thou mightest go on with us."Note, Those that have begun well should use that as a reason for their persevering, because otherwise they lose the benefit and recompence of all they have done and suffered. (2.) That they would be kind to him: What goodness the Lord shall do to us, the same we will do to thee, Num 10:32. Note, [1.] We can give only what we receive. We can do no more service and kindness to our friends than God is pleased to put it into the power of our hand to do. This is all we dare promise, to do good as God shall enable us. [2.] Those that share with God's Israel in their labours and hardships shall share with them in their comforts and honours. Those that are wiling to take their lot with them in the wilderness shall have their lot with them in Canaan; if we suffer with them we shall reign with them, 2Ti 2:12; Luk 22:28, Luk 22:29.

We do not find any reply that Hobab here made to Moses, and therefore we hope that his silence gave consent, and he did not leave them, but that, when he perceived he might be useful, he preferred that before the gratifying of his own inclination; in this case he left us a good example. And we find (Jdg 1:16; 1Sa 15:6) that his family was no loser by it.

II. An account of the communion between God and Israel in this removal. They left the mount of the Lord (Num 10:33), that Mount Sinai where they had seen his glory and heard his voice, and had been taken into covenant with him (they must not expect that such appearances of God to them as they had there been blessed with should be constant); they departed from that celebrated mountain, which we never read of in scripture any more, unless with reference to these past stories; now farewell, Sinai; Zion is the mountain of which God has said. This is my rest for ever (Psa 132:14), and of which we must say so. But when they left the mount of the Lord they took with them the ark of the covenant of the Lord, by which their stated communion with God was to be kept up. For,

1. By it God did direct their paths. The ark of the covenant went before them, some think in place, at least in this removal; others think only in influence; though it was carried in the midst of the camp, yet the cloud that hovered over it directed all their motions. The ark (that is, the God of the ark) is said to search out a resting place for them; not that God's infinite wisdom and knowledge need to make searches, but every place they were directed to was as convenient for them as if the wisest man they had among them had been employed to go before them, and mark out their camp to the best advantage. thus Canaan is said to be a land which God spied out, Eze 20:6.

2. By it they did in all their ways acknowledge God, looking upon it as a token of God's presence; when that moved, or rested, they had their eye up unto God. Moses, as the mouth of the congregation, lifted up a prayer, both at the removing and at the resting of the ark; thus their going out and coming in were sanctified by prayer, and it is an example to us to begin and end every day's journey, and every day's work, with prayer.

(1.) Here is his prayer when the ark set forward: Rise up, Lord, and let thy enemies be scattered, Num 10:35. They were now in a desolate country, but they were marching towards an enemy's country, and their dependence was upon God for success and victory in their wars, as well as for direction and supply in the wilderness. David used this prayer long after (Psa 68:1), for he also fought the Lords' battles. Note, [1.] There are those in the world that are enemies to God, and haters of him: secret and open enemies; enemies to his truths, his laws, his ordinances, his people. [2.] The scattering and defeating of God's enemies is a thing to be earnestly desired, and believingly expected, by all the Lord's people. This prayer is a prophecy. Those that persist in rebellion against God are hasting towards their own ruin. [3.] For the scattering and defeating of God's enemies, there needs no more but God's arising. When God arose to judgment, the work was soon done, Psa 76:8, Psa 76:9. "Rise, Lord, as the sun riseth to scatter the shadows of the night."Christ's rising from the dead scattered his enemies, Psa 68:18.

(2.) His prayer when the ark rested, Num 10:36. [1.] That God would cause his people to rest. So some read it, " Return, O Lord, the many thousands of Israel, return them to their rest again after this fatigue."Thus it is said (Isa 63:14), The Spirit of the Lord caused him to rest. Thus he prays that God would give Israel success and victory abroad, and peace and tranquillity at home. [2.] That God himself would take up his rest among them. So we read it: Return to the thousands of Israel, the ten thousand thousand, so the word is. Note, First, The church of God is a great body; there are many thousands belonging to God's Israel. Secondly, We ought in our prayers to concern ourselves for this body. Thirdly, The welfare and happiness of the Israel of God consist in the continual presence of God among them. Their safety consists not in their numbers, though they are thousands, many thousands, but in the favour of God, and his gracious return to them and residence with them. These thousands are cyphers; he is the figure: and upon this account, Happy art thou, O Israel! who is like unto thee, O people!

Keil-Delitzsch: Num 10:13-21

In vv. 13-28 the removal of the different camps is more fully described, according to the order of march established in ch. 2, the order in which the different sections of the Levites drew out and marched being particularly described in this place alone (cf. Num 10:17 and Num 10:21 with Num 2:17). First of all (lit., " at the beginning ") the banner of Judah drew out, with Issachar and Zebulun (Num 10:14-16; cf. Num 2:3-9). The tabernacle was then taken down, and the Gershonites and Merarites broke up, carrying those portions of its which were assigned to them (Num 10:17; cf. Num 4:24., and Num 4:31.), that they might set up the dwelling at the place to be chosen for the next encampment, before the Kohathites arrived with the sacred things (Num 10:21). The banner of Reuben followed next with Simeon and Gad (Num 10:18-21; cf. Num 2:10-16), and the Kohathites joined them bearing the sacred things (Num 10:21). המּקדּשׁ (= הקּדשׁ , Num 7:9, and הקּדשׁים קדשׁ , Num 4:4) signifies the sacred things mentioned in Num 3:31. In Num 10:21 the subject is the Gershonites and Merarites, who had broken up before with the component parts of the dwelling, and set up the dwelling, עד־בּאם , against their (the Kohathites') arrival, so that they might place the holy things at once within it.

Keil-Delitzsch: Num 10:22-28

Behind the sacred things came the banners of Ephraim, with Manasseh and Benjamin (see Num 2:18-24), and Dan with Asher and Naphtali (Num 2:25-31); so that the camp of Dan was the " collector of all the camps according to their hosts, "i.e., formed that division of the army which kept the hosts together.

Keil-Delitzsch: Num 10:29-32

The conversation in which Moses persuaded Hobab the Midianite, the son of Reguel (see at Exo 2:16), and his brother-in-law, to go with the Israelites, and being well acquainted with the desert to act as their leader, preceded the departure in order of time; but it is placed between the setting out and the march itself, as being subordinate to the main events. When and why Hobab came into the camp of the Israelites-whether he came with his father Reguel (or Jethro) when Israel first arrived at Horeb, and so remained behind when Jethro left (Exo 18:27), or whether he did not come till afterwards-was left uncertain, because it was a matter of no consequence in relation to what is narrated here.

(Note: The grounds upon which Knobel affirms that the "Elohist"is not the author of the account in Num 10:29-36, and pronounces it a Jehovistic interpolation, are perfectly futile. The assertion that the Elohist had already given a full description of the departure in vv. 11-28, rests upon an oversight of the peculiarities of the Semitic historians. The expression "they set forward"in Num 10:28 is an anticipatory remark, as Knobel himself admits in other places (e.g., Gen 7:12; Gen 8:3; Exo 7:6; Exo 12:50; Exo 16:34). The other argument, that Moses' brother-in-law is not mentioned anywhere else, involves a petitio principii , and is just as powerless a proof, as such peculiarities of style as "mount of the Lord,""ark of the covenant of the Lord," היטיבto do good (Num 10:29), and others of a similar kind, of which the critics have not even attempted to prove that they are at variance with the style of the Elohist, to say nothing of their having actually done so.)

The request addressed to Hobab, that he would go with them to the place which Jehovah had promised to give them, i.e., to Canaan, was supported by the promise that he would do good to them (Hobab and his company), as Jehovah had spoken good concerning Israel, i.e., had promised it prosperity in Canaan. And when Hobab declined the request, and said that he should return into his own land, i.e., to Midian at the south-east of Sinai (see at Exo 2:15 and Exo 3:1), and to his kindred, Moses repeated the request," Leave us not, forasmuch as thou knowest our encamping in the desert, "i.e., knowest where we can pitch our tents; "therefore be to us as eyes,"i.e., be our leader and guide, - and promised at the same time to do him the good that Jehovah would do to them. Although Jehovah led the march of the Israelites in the pillar of cloud, not only giving the sign for them to break up and to encamp, but showing generally the direction they were to take; yet Hobab, who was well acquainted with the desert, would be able to render very important service to the Israelites, if he only pointed out, in those places where the sign to encamp was given by the cloud, the springs, oases, and plots of pasture which are often buried quite out of sight in the mountains and valleys that overspread the desert. What Hobab ultimately decided to do, we are not told; but "as no further refusal is mentioned, and the departure of Israel is related immediately afterwards, he probably consented"( Knobel ). This is raised to a certainty by the fact that, at the commencement of the period of the Judges, the sons of the brother-in-law of Moses went into the desert of Judah to the south of Arad along with the sons of Judah (Jdg 1:16), and therefore had entered Canaan with the Israelites, and that they were still living in that neighbourhood in the time of Saul (1Sa 15:6; 1Sa 27:10; 1Sa 30:29).

Keil-Delitzsch: Num 10:33-34

" And they (the Israelites) departed from the mount of Jehovah (Exo 3:1) three days' journey; the ark of the covenant of Jehovah going before them, to search out a resting-place for them. And the cloud of Jehovah was over them by day, when they broke up from the camp. "Jehovah still did as He had already done on the way to Sinai (Exo 13:21-22): He went before them in the pillar of cloud, according to His promise (Exo 33:13), on their journey from Sinai to Canaan; with this simple difference, however, that henceforth the cloud that embodied the presence of Jehovah was connected with the ark of the covenant, as the visible throne of His gracious presence which had been appointed by Jehovah Himself. To this end the ark of the covenant was carried separately from the rest of the sacred things, in front of the whole army; so that the cloud which went before them floated above the ark, leading the procession, and regulating its movements in the direction it took in such a manner that the permanent connection between the cloud and the sanctuary might be visibly manifested even during their march. It is true that, in the order observed in the camp and on the march, no mention is made of the ark of the covenant going in front of the whole army; but this omission is no more a proof of any discrepancy between this verse and Num 2:17, or of a difference of authorship, than the separation of the different divisions of the Levites upon the march, which is also not mentioned in Num 2:17, although the Gershonites and Merarites actually marched between the banners of Judah and Reuben, and the Kohathites with the holy things between the banners of Reuben and Ephraim (Num 10:17 and Num 10:21).

(Note: As the critics do not deny that vv. 11-28 are written by the" Elohist "notwithstanding this difference, they have no right to bring forward the account of the ark going first as a contradiction to ch. 2, and therefore a proof that Num 10:33. are not of Elohistic origin.)

The words, "the cloud was above them"(the Israelites), and so forth, can be reconciled with this supposition without any difficulty, whether we understand them as signifying that the cloud, which appeared as a guiding column floating above the ark and moved forward along with it, also extended itself along the whole procession, and spread out as a protecting shade over the whole army (as O. v. Gerlach and Baumgarten suppose), or that "above them"(upon them) is to be regarded as expressive of the fact that it accompanied them as a protection and shade. Nor is Psa 105:39, which seems, so far as the words are concerned, rather to favour the first explanation, really at variance with this view; for the Psalmist's intention is not so much to give a physical description of the phenomenon, as to describe the sheltering protection of God in poetical words as a spreading out of the cloud above the wandering people of God, in the form of a protection against both heat and rain (cf. Isa 4:5-6). Moreover, Num 10:33 and Num 10:34 have a poetical character, answering to the elevated nature of their subject, and are to be interpreted as follows according to the laws of a poetical parallelism: The one thought that the ark of the covenant, with the cloud soaring above it, led the way and sheltered those who were marching, is divided into two clauses; in Num 10:33 only the ark of the covenant is mentioned as going in front of the Israelites, and in Num 10:34 only the cloud as a shelter over them: whereas the carrying of the ark in front of the army could only accomplish the end proposed, viz., to search out a resting-place for them, by Jehovah going above them in the cloud, and showing the bearers of the ark both the way they were to take, and the place where they were to rest. The ark with the tables of the law is not called "the ark of testimony"here, according to its contents, as in Exo 25:22; Exo 26:33-34; Exo 30:6, etc., but the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, according to its design and signification for Israel, which was the only point, or at any rate the principal point, in consideration here. The resting-place which the ark of the covenant found at the end of three days, is not mentioned in Num 10:34; it was not Tabeerah, however (Num 11:3), but Kibroth-hattaavah (Num 11:34-35; cf. Num 33:16).

Keil-Delitzsch: Num 10:35-36

In Num 10:35 and Num 10:36, the words which Moses was in the habit of uttering, both when the ark removed and when it came to rest again, are given not only as a proof of the joyous confidence of Moses, but as an encouragement to the congregation to cherish the same believing confidence. When breaking up, he said, " Rise up, Jehovah! that Thine enemies may be scattered, and they that hate Thee may flee before Thy face; "and when it rested, " Return, Jehovah, to the ten thousand thousands of Israel! "Moses could speak in this way, because he knew that Jehovah and the ark of the covenant were inseparably connected, and saw in the ark of the covenant, as the throne of Jehovah, a material pledge of the gracious presence of the Almighty God. He said this, however, not merely with reference to enemies who might encounter the Israelites in the desert, but with a confident anticipation of the calling of Israel, to strive for the cause of the Lord in this hostile world, and rear His kingdom upon earth. Human power was not sufficient for this; but to accomplish this end, it was necessary that the Almighty God should go before His people, and scatter their foes. The prayer addressed to God to do this, is an expression of bold believing confidence, - a prayer sure of its answer; and to Israel it was the word with which the congregation of God was to carry on the conflict at all times against the powers and authorities of a whole hostile world. It is in this sense that in Psa 68:2, the words are held up by David before himself and his generation as a banner of victory, "to arm the Church with confidence, and fortify it against the violent attacks of its foes"( Calvin ). שׁוּבה is construed with an accusative: return to the ten thousands of the hosts of Israel, i.e., after having scattered Thine enemies, turn back again to Thy people to dwell among them. The "thousands of Israel,"as in Num 1:16.

(Note: The inverted nuns , נ, at the beginning and close of Num 10:35, Num 10:36, which are found, according to R. Menachem's de Lonzano Or Torah (f. 17), in all the Spanish and German MSS, and are sanctioned by the Masorah, are said by the Talmud ( tract de sabbatho ) to be merely signa parentheseos, quae monerent praeter historiae seriem versum 35 et 36 ad capitis finem inseri (cf. Matt. Hilleri de Arcano Kethib et Keri libri duo, pp. 158, 159). The Cabbalists, on the other hand, according to R. Menach. l. c., find an allusion in it to the Shechinah , " quae velut obversa ad tergum facie sequentes Israelitas ex impenso amore respiceret "(see the note in J. H. Michaelis' Bibl. hebr. ). In other MSS, however, which are supported by the Masora Erffurt , the inverted nun is found in the words בּנסע(Num 10:35) and כּמתאננים העם ויהי( ad innuendum ut sic retrorsum agantur omnes hostes Israeliarum; the second, ut esset symbolum perpetuum perversitatis populi, inter tot illustria signa liberationis et maximorum beneficiorum Dei acerbe quiritantium, ad declarandam ingratitudinem et contumaciam suam (cf. J. Buxtorf, Tiberias, p. 169).)

Constable: Num 1:1--10:36

A. Preparations for entering the Promised Land from the south chs. 1-10

The first 10 chapters in Numbers describe Israel's preparation for entering the land.

". . . just as the way from Goshen to Sinai was a preparation of the chosen people for their reception into the covenant with God, so the way from Sinai to Canaan was also a preparation for the possession of the promised land."⁹

"The two censuses (chs. 1-4, 26) are key to understanding the structure of the book. The first census (chs. 1-4) concerns the first generation of the Exodus community; the second census (ch. 26) focuses on the experiences of the second generation, the people for whom this book is primarily directed. The first generation of the redeemed were prepared for triumph but ended in disaster. The second generation has an opportunity for greatness--if only they will learn from the failures of their fathers and mothers the absolute necessity for robust faithfulness to the Lord despite all obstacles."¹⁰

Constable: Num 10:11-36

The journey from Sinai to Kadesh Barnea 10:11-36

The Israelites had been at Mt. Sinai for almost one year (Exod. 19:1; Num. 10:11). All that Moses recorded as occurring between Exodus 19:1 and Numbers 10:11 took place during those twelve months.

Even though this region contains several oases and some grazing land, these could not have provided for the two million or so Israelites plus their animals during their stay there.⁸² As the text of Scripture implies and sometimes states, God provided for the needs of His people from Egypt to Canaan by giving them an unbroken series of miraculous provisions.

The trip from Sinai to Kadesh on Canaan's southern border was normally a journey of only 11 days (Deut. 1:2). Verses 11 and 12 summarize the whole journey from Sinai to Kadesh that the writer described in more detail in 10:13-12:16. The wilderness of Paran (v. 12) was the area between Sinai and Kadesh.

"The Desert of Paran is a large plateau in the northeastern Sinai, south of what later would be called the Negev of Judah, and west of the Arabah. This forms the southernmost portion of the Promised Land, the presumed staging area for the assault on the land itself. The principal lines of assault on the land of Canaan are from the southwest, following the Way of the Sea from Egypt, and from the northwest, following the Way of the Sea from Phoenicia. Israel's staging for attack in the Desert of Paran was a brilliant strategy. In this way they would avoid the fortified routes to the west, presumably under the control of Egypt. This unusual line of attack from the south would stun the inhabitants of the land. They would come like a sirocco blast from the desert, and the land would be theirs, under the hand of God."⁸³

The Israelites broke camp and proceeded to march as the Lord had commanded them (vv. 13-28; cf. ch. 2). The tabernacle receives special attention in this description in keeping with its central importance in the nation.

"A major component of the covenant promise to the fathers and to Israel the nation was . . . the inheritance and occupation of a land. This land was representative of the whole earth. As man was placed in the Garden of Eden to keep and rule it, so Israel would be placed in Canaan to keep and rule it as a fiefdom from the Great King. At last, when the saving purposes of the Lord will have been accomplished, all the earth--indeed all creation--will fall under the rule of mankind, who will have dominion over all things.'"⁸⁴

Verses 29-32 record an incident that took place before the Israelites left Sinai. This section is a flash-back of secondary importance to the departure from Sinai. Moses' brother-in-law Hobab had come to live among or visit the Israelites at Sinai. He evidently agreed to Moses' suggestion that he act as a scout for the nation (cf. Judg. 1:16).

"Moses continued to urge Hobab to join Israel. In a sense this is an act of evangelism. Hobab did not come easily. But subsequent biblical texts indicate that he did come. As such, he is like Ruth who joins Naomi en route to the Land of Promise, leaving all behind, with a promise of something ahead that is of more value than anything left at home."⁸⁵

Even though God led Israel with the cloud, Hobab would have been useful since he knew the wilderness and could advise Moses concerning its terrain, oases, and other features. The name of Moses' father-in-law is Reuel here (v. 29). He was Zipporah's father (cf. Exod. 2:18).

The Israelites apparently carried the ark in front of the whole nation as they marched (v. 33). The cloud was evidently over it but not necessarily over the whole nation (v. 34). The cloud stood over the ark and led those carrying it and the nation as the Israelites moved forward.

"It [the ark] is something like a wedding ring: the visible sign of the bond between the Lord and his people."⁸⁶

Moses' prayers whenever the cloud moved (v. 35) and stopped (v. 36) give us a glimpse into his intercessory ministry for Israel. They show his prayerful concern for the people he was responsible to lead. Israel's enemies (v. 35) were those that might seek to turn them back from the Promised Land along the way as well as the Canaanites whom Israel would fight in the land.

"The theme of this passage is Israel's glorious leadership by Yahweh as the people depart from the Mountain of God for an immediate conquest of Canaan. There is no sense here of the impending doom that awaits Israel's rebellion in the wilderness."⁸⁷

Guzik: Num 10:1-36

Numbers 10 - Two Silver Trumpets, the Departure from the Sinai

A. Two silver trumpets.

1. (1-2) Two silver trumpets.

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: "Make two silver trumpets for yourself; you shall make them of hammered work; you shall use them for calling the congregation and for directing the movement of the camps."

a. Make two silver trumpets: The two silver trumpets were for use in directing the movement of the camps for marching and for battle, and also for gathering the nation together for an assembly.

b. You shall use them for calling the congregation and for directing the movement of the camps: The trumpets were essential tools for the journey to the Promised Land. Without them it would be very difficult to assemble the nation and march towards the Promised Land. Israel needed tools to come into the Promised Land.

2. (3-10) The system of blowing trumpets.

"When they blow both of them, all the congregation shall gather before you at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. But if they blow only one, then the leaders, the heads of the divisions of Israel, shall gather to you. When you sound the advance, the camps that lie on the east side shall then begin their journey. When you sound the advance the second time, then the camps that lie on the south side shall begin their journey; they shall sound the call for them to begin their journeys. And when the assembly is to be gathered together, you shall blow, but not sound the advance. The sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow the trumpets; and these shall be to you as an ordinance forever throughout your generations. When you go to war in your land against the enemy who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the LORD your God, and you will be saved from your enemies. Also in the day of your gladness, in your appointed feasts, and at the beginning of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be a memorial for you before your God: I am the LORD your God."

a. When they blow both of them, all the congregation shall gather: Distinctive sounds were made to indicate gathering for assembly, marching, or warfare. God also promised to hear the trumpet of Israel in warfare, and to act on behalf of the nation.

i. "If we follow Jewish tradition, long blasts were used to assemble the people to Moses, to the tent of meeting and for worship. Short staccato blasts were used in battle and to order the camps to move off." (Wenham)

b. Also in the day of your gladness: Trumpets were also to be sounded in the day of your gladness; they were a way of celebrating God's people coming together and the presence of the LORD with them.

i. God will use the sound of a trumpet to gather His people for the ultimate assembling together - the rapture of the church, to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18).

B. Departure for the Promised Land.

1. (11-13) The march on Canaan begins.

Now it came to pass on the twentieth day of the second month, in the second year, that the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle of the Testimony. And the children of Israel set out from the Wilderness of Sinai on their journeys; then the cloud settled down in the Wilderness of Paran. So they started out for the first time according to the command of the LORD by the hand of Moses.

a. And the children of Israel set out from the Wilderness of Sinai on their journeys: As the cloud began to move, one might imagine the huge sense of excitement that flowed through the people - now they were on their way to the Promised Land! Previously, their journey had been from Egypt and slavery; now it was to Canaan and liberty.

b. So they started out for the first time according to the command of the LORD by the hand of Moses: This was the first time Israel marched as an organized, prepared nation. They were not the same group that escaped Egypt as a mob.

i. They had been fully prepared to walk as Promised Land people and it was all focused towards this exact point: bringing them into the Promised Land:

· They were ordered and organized

· They were cleansed and purified

· They were set apart and blessed

· They were taught how to give and how to function as priests

· They were made to remember judgment spared and deliverance brought

· They were given God's presence as a guide and the tools needed to lead the people

ii. One would be tempted to think that after such extensive preparation - a virtual transformation from slave people to Promised Land people - the actual entering into the Promised Land would be easy. This was not the case. The preparation was exactly that - preparation. Ahead of them are the greatest challenges, challenges that can only be met by faith. A soldier might think boot camp finishes something - but it doesn't. It only prepares for a greater challenge: The actual battle itself.

2. (14-28) Description of the order of march.

The standard of the camp of the children of Judah set out first according to their armies; over their army was Nahshon the son of Amminadab. Over the army of the tribe of the children of Issachar was Nethanel the son of Zuar. And over the army of the tribe of the children of Zebulun was Eliab the son of Helon. Then the tabernacle was taken down; and the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari set out, carrying the tabernacle. And the standard of the camp of Reuben set out according to their armies; over their army was Elizur the son of Shedeur. Over the army of the tribe of the children of Simeon was Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai. And over the army of the tribe of the children of Gad was Eliasaph the son of Deuel. Then the Kohathites set out, carrying the holy things. (The tabernacle would be prepared for their arrival.) And the standard of the camp of the children of Ephraim set out according to their armies; over their army was Elishama the son of Ammihud. Over the army of the tribe of the children of Manasseh was Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur. And over the army of the tribe of the children of Benjamin was Abidan the son of Gideoni. Then the standard of the camp of the children of Dan (the rear guard of all the camps) set out according to their armies; over their army was Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai. Over the army of the tribe of the children of Asher was Pagiel the son of Ocran. And over the army of the tribe of the children of Naphtali was Ahira the son of Enan. Thus was the order of march of the children of Israel, according to their armies, when they began their journey.

a. The standard of the camp of the children of Judah set out first: They actually marched in the order God had commanded earlier in the book. This means that they took God's word seriously, and followed it exactly - just as Promised Land people should.

b. When they began their journey: This was only the beginning. It would have been easy to see all they went through to get to Sinai, and the preparations as the end, but they were only the beginning.

3. (29-32) Moses appeals to his brother in law to stay with Israel.

Now Moses said to Hobab the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses' father-in-law, "We are setting out for the place of which the LORD said, 'I will give it to you.' Come with us, and we will treat you well; for the LORD has promised good things to Israel." And he said to him, "I will not go, but I will depart to my own land and to my relatives." So Moses said, "Please do not leave, inasmuch as you know how we are to camp in the wilderness, and you can be our eyes. And it shall be, if you go with us; indeed it shall be; that whatever good the LORD will do to us, the same we will do to you."

a. Come with us, and we will treat you well: Moses was a wise enough leader to know his limitations, and to know that he needed help. Instead of just saying, "well, God got us this far and He'll see us through without Reuel" he knew God's help often comes through men like Reuel.

i. Though Israel was guided by God, there was still help needed by man - men like Reuel. God plans it this way, often arranging it so His help comes to us partially through people He has ordained to help us.

b. Please do not leave: Since he knew God could use Reuel in a significant way, Moses was willing to appeal to him - and not take an initial "no" as an answer.

4. (33-36) Rise up, O LORD!

So they departed from the mountain of the LORD on a journey of three days; and the ark of the covenant of the LORD went before them for the three days' journey, to search out a resting place for them. And the cloud of the LORD was above them by day when they went out from the camp. So it was, whenever the ark set out, that Moses said: "Rise up, O LORD! Let Your enemies be scattered, And let those who hate You flee before You." And when it rested, he said: "Return, O LORD, To the many thousands of Israel."

a. And the cloud of the LORD was above them by day when they went out from the camp: As they begin the journey to the Promised Land, they were guided by God's presence - and not by themselves. They followed the cloud no matter where God led them. If they were to camp in a rough place, they did it. If they were told to go on from a comfortable place, they did it. They allowed themselves to be guided by God, not by their own desire for comfort and ease.

b. Rise up, O LORD! Let Your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate You flee before You! This was the prayer of Moses when the presence of God led them on.

i. The idea was simple: "God, go before us and take care of our enemies. It's too dangerous ahead unless You do so!" What a fitting prayer for every believer to pray! God has things before us, places to lead us - shouldn't we pray this same prayer?

ii. Isn't this a fitting prayer also by which to remember the glory and strength of our resurrected Lord? When Jesus rose up, were not all His enemies scattered? Who dared oppose Him? Is not all our victory found in His risen glory?

c. Return, O LORD, to the many thousands of Israel: This was the prayer of Moses when God's presence stopped, and indicated a place to camp. Moses then prayed, "Here we camp, LORD. Stay with us."

i. God sometimes tells us to move on, sometimes tells us to "camp out" - either is fine when we are guided by His presence.

ii. "Will you and I go home and pray this prayer by ourselves, fervently laying hold upon the horns of God's altar? I charge you, my brethren in Christ, do not neglect this private duty. Go, each of you, to your chambers; shut to your doors; cry to him who hears in secret, and let this be the burden of your cry - 'Rise up, Lord; and let thine enemies be scattered.'" (Spurgeon)

© 2004 David Guzik - No distribution beyond personal use without permission

Commentary -- Other

Critics Ask: Num 10:31

NUMBERS 10:31 —If God lead Israel by a cloud then why was Hobab needed as a guide?

PROBLEM: Exodus 13:21-22 affirms that God supernaturally lead Israel through the wilderness by a cloud that was illuminated by night. However, Moses asked his father-in-law, Hobab, to come with them “inasmuch as you know how we are to camp in the wilderness, and you can be our eyes” ( Num. 10:31 ). But why did they need a human guide when they had divine guidance?

SOLUTION: In response, several things should be observed. One is that Moses saw no contradiction between these and even mentions both the usefulness of Hobab ( Num. 10:31 ) and the leadership of the pillar of cloud ( Num. 10:34 ) only three verses later! Furthermore, there is an important difference between the general route to take (and how long to stay) provided by the cloud and specific arrangements for the camp supplied by human wisdom. An experienced person in the way of this wilderness could be invaluable for finding the most advantageous places for pasture, shelter, and other needed supplies. The critic shows a lack of understanding of the principle that God does not do for us what we can do for ourselves.   

Critics Ask: Num 10:33

NUMBERS 10:33 —Was the Ark placed in the middle of the camp or in front of it?

PROBLEM: In this text, we read that “the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them.” Yet, earlier the tabernacle (with its ark) are said to be “in the middle of the camps” ( Num. 2:17 ).

SOLUTION: Some scholars claim there were two arks, one made by Moses which was carried in front of the camp and which the Philistines later captured. The other was made by Bezaleel, containing the tables of the law, which stayed in the middle of the camp.

Other scholars believe that the ark was generally in the middle of the camp but that on certain occasions, as the three day journey ( Num. 10:33 ), it was taken out in front of the camp.

Still others believe that the phrase “went before them” ( Num. 10:33 ) does not imply locality but leadership. Just as a general “went before” his army (that is, led them) and yet was surrounded by troops protecting them, even so the ark lead Israel, even though it was in the middle of them.

Finally, it is possible that the ark was only in the middle of the people while they were camped ( Num. 2 ). But that as they broke camp, the ark then went out before them to lead them to their next destination. Any one of these suggestions would resolve the difficulty.   

Introduction / Outline

JFB: Numbers (Book Introduction)

NUMBERS. This book is so called because it contains an account of the enumeration and arrangement of the Israelites. The early part of it, from the first through the tenth chapters, appears to be a supplement to Leviticus, being occupied with relating the appointment of the Levites to the sacred offices. The journal of the march through the wilderness is then given as far as Num 21:20; after which the early incidents of the invasion are narrated. One direct quotation only from this book (Num 16:5) is made in the New Testament (2Ti 2:19); but indirect references to it by the later sacred writers are very numerous.

JFB: Numbers (Outline)

• MOSES NUMBERING THE MEN OF WAR. (Num. 1:1-54)
• THE ORDER OF THE TRIBES IN THEIR TENTS. (Num. 2:1-34)
• THE LEVITES' SERVICE. (Num. 3:1-51)
• OF THE LEVITES' SERVICE. (Num. 4:1-49)
• THE UNCLEAN TO BE REMOVED OUT OF THE CAMP. (Num 5:1-4)
• RESTITUTION ENJOINED. (Num 5:5-10)
• THE TRIAL OF JEALOUSY. (Num. 5:11-31)
• THE LAW OF THE NAZARITE IN HIS SEPARATION. (Num. 6:1-22)
• THE FORM OF BLESSING THE PEOPLE. (Num 6:23-27)
• THE PRINCES' OFFERINGS. (Num. 7:1-89)
• HOW THE LAMPS ARE TO BE LIGHTED. (Num 8:1-4)
• THE CONSECRATION OF THE LEVITES. (Num. 8:5-22)
• THE PASSOVER ENJOINED. (Num 9:1-5)
• A SECOND PASSOVER ALLOWED. (Num 9:6-14)
• A CLOUD GUIDES THE ISRAELITES. (Num 9:15-23)
• THE USE OF THE SILVER TRUMPETS. (Num. 10:1-36)
• MANNA LOATHED. (Num. 11:1-35)
• MIRIAM'S AND AARON'S SEDITION. (Num 12:1-9)
• MIRIAM'S LEPROSY. (Num 12:10-16)
• THE NAMES OF THE MEN WHO WERE SENT TO SEARCH THE LAND. (Num. 13:1-33)
• THE PEOPLE MURMUR AT THE SPIES' REPORT. (Num. 14:1-45)
• THE LAW OF SUNDRY OFFERINGS. (Num. 15:1-41)
• THE REBELLION OF KORAH. (Num. 16:1-30)
• AARON'S ROD FLOURISHES. (Num 17:1-13)
• THE CHARGE OF THE PRIESTS AND LEVITES. (Num 18:1-7)
• THE PRIESTS' PORTION. (Num 18:8-20)
• THE LEVITES' PORTION. (Num 18:21-32)
• THE WATER OF SEPARATION. (Num. 19:1-22)
• THE DEATH OF MIRIAM. (Num. 20:1-29)
• ISRAEL ATTACKED BY THE CANAANITES. (Num. 21:1-35)
• BALAK'S FIRST MESSAGE FOR BALAAM REFUSED. (Num. 22:1-20)
• THE JOURNEY. (Num. 22:21-41)
• BALAK'S SACRIFICES. (Num. 23:1-30)
• BALAAM FORETELLS ISRAEL'S HAPPINESS. (Num. 24:1-25)
• THE ISRAELITES' WHOREDOM AND IDOLATRY WITH MOAB. (Num. 25:1-18)
• ISRAEL NUMBERED. (Num. 26:1-51)
• THE DAUGHTERS OF ZELOPHEHAD ASK FOR AN INHERITANCE. (Num 27:1-11)
• MOSES BEING TOLD OF HIS APPROACHING DEATH, ASKS FOR A SUCCESSOR. (Num 27:12-17)
• JOSHUA APPOINTED TO SUCCEED HIM. (Num 27:18-23)
• OFFERINGS TO BE OBSERVED. (Num. 28:1-31)
• THE OFFERING AT THE FEAST OF TRUMPETS. (Num. 29:1-40)
• VOWS ARE NOT TO BE BROKEN. (Num. 30:1-16)
• THE MIDIANITES SPOILED AND BALAAM SLAIN. (Num. 31:1-54)
• THE REUBENITES AND GADITES ASK FOR AN INHERITANCE. (Num. 32:1-42)
• TWO AND FORTY JOURNEYS OF THE ISRAELITES--FROM EGYPT TO SINAI. (Num 33:1-15)
• THE BORDERS OF THE LAND OF CANAAN. (Num. 34:1-29)
• EIGHT AND FORTY CITIES GIVEN TO THE LEVITES. (Num 35:1-5)
• CITIES OF REFUGE. (Num 35:6-8)
• THE BLOOD AVENGER. (Num. 35:9-34)
• THE INCONVENIENCE OF THE INHERITANCE. (Num 36:1-13)

TSK: Numbers (Book Introduction)

The book of Numbers is a book containing a series of the most astonishing providences and events. Every where and in every circumstance God appears; and yet there is no circumstance or occasion which does not justify those signal displays of his grace and mercy; and in every relation we perceive the consistency of the divine intentions, and the propriety of those laws which he established.

TSK: Numbers 10 (Chapter Introduction)

Overview

Num 10:1, The use of the silver trumpets; Num 10:11, The Israelites remove from Sinai to Paran; Num 10:14, The order of their march; Num 10:29, Hobab is entreated by Moses not to leave them; Num 10:33, The blessing of Moses at the removing and resting of the ark.

Poole: Numbers (Book Introduction)

FOURTH BOOK OF MOSES, CALLED NUMBERS

THE ARGUMENT

This Book giveth us a history of almost forty years travel of the children of Israel through the wilderness, where we have an account of their journeys, and what happened to them therein, with their government, and how they were managed thereby; called Numbers by reason of the several numberings of the people, as at the offerings of the princes, and at their several journeys, &c. But especially two: one, Chapter 1, out of which the priests and Levites were excepted, but numbered by themselves, viz. in the second year after they were come out of Egypt, in the first month whereof the passover was instituted; with the order about the tabernacle, both of the Levites and people, and their several marches, encampings, and manner of pitching their tents, the priests’ maintenance and establishment, by the miraculous budding of Aaron’ s rod, with the several impediments in their marches, both among themselves by several murmurings, seditions, and conspiracies; and from their enemies, viz. the Edomites, Canaanites, over whom having obtained a victory, and afterwards murmuring, they were stung with fiery serpents, and cured by the brazen one; Amorites, whose kings, Sihon and Og, they overcame and slew; and Moabites, where by the allurements of Balaam, who was hired by Balak to curse Israel, they joined themselves to Baal-peor , and are plagued for it; that openly opposed them. The other chief numbering is in Chapter 26, where they are found almost as many as at the first, though among them were none of the first numbering, (according to what God had threatened, Chapter 14,) save Moses, Joshua, and Caleb, by reason of their desire to return back into Egypt upon the discouraging report often of those twelve that Moses sent to spy out the land; whereupon they were forced to wander above thirty-eight years in the wilderness; where he gave them several laws, civil, ecclesiastical, and military; as also particular directions about women’ s inheriting, occasioned by the case of Zelophehad’ s daughters, and concerning vows; and then brings them back to the borders of Canaan, where, after divers victories obtained against their enemies, they were directed how the land of Canaan was to be divided among the tribes, and what portion the Levites were to have among them, together with six cities of refuge set apart for the manslayer. At length Aaron being dead, and Eleazar placed in his stead, and Moses also having received the sentence of death, doth, by God’ s appointment, deliver up the people unto the charge and conduct of Joshua.

Poole: Numbers 10 (Chapter Introduction)

CHAPTER 10

Two trumpets of silver commanded to be made; with a direction to what end, when, how, by whom, and with what success they should be used, Num 10:1-10 . The Israelites remove to Paran: the order in which they go, Num 10:11-28 . Moses endeavours to get Hobab his father-in-law along with him, Num 10:29-32 . Moses’ s prayer and blessing when the ark was removed and set down again, Num 10:33-36 .

MHCC: Numbers (Book Introduction)

This book is called NUMBERS from the several numberings of the people contained in it. It extends from the giving of the law at Sinai, till their arrival in the plains of Jordan. An account is given of their murmuring and unbelief, for which they were sentenced to wander in the wilderness nearly forty years; also some laws, both, moral and ceremonial. Their trials greatly tended to distinguish the wicked and hypocrites from the faithful and true servants of God, who served him with a pure heart.

MHCC: Numbers 10 (Chapter Introduction)

(Num 10:1-10) The silver trumpets.

(v. 11-28) The Israelites remove from Sinai to Paran.

(Num 10:29-32) Hobab entreated by Moses to continue.

(Num 10:33-36) The blessing pronounced by Moses.

Matthew Henry: Numbers (Book Introduction)

An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The Fourth Book of Moses, Called Numbers

The titles of the five books of Moses, which we use in our Bibles, are all borrowed from the Greek translation of the Seventy, the most ancient version of the Old Testament that we know of. But the title of this book only we turn into English; in all the rest we retain the Greek word itself, for which difference I know no reason but that the Latin translators have generally done the same. Otherwise this book might as well have been called Arithmoi , the Greek title, as the first Genesis, and the second Exodus; or these might as well have been translated, and called, the first the Generation, or Original, the second the Out-let, or Escape, as this Numbers. - This book was thus entitled because of the numbers of the children of Israel, so often mentioned in this book, and so well worthy to give a title to it, because it was the remarkable accomplishment of God's promise to Abraham that his seed should be as the stars of heaven for multitude. It also relates to two numberings of them, one at mount Sinai (ch. 1), the other in the plains of Moab, thirty-nine years after (ch. 26). And not three men the same in the last account that were in the first. The book is almost equally divided between histories and laws, intermixed.

We have here, I. The histories of the numbering and marshalling of the tribes (ch. 1-4), the dedication of the altar and Levites (ch. 7, 8), their march (ch. 9, 10), their murmuring and unbelief, for which they were sentenced to wander forty years in the wilderness (ch. 11-14), the rebellion of Korah (ch. 16, Num 17:1-13), the history of the last year of the forty (ch. 20-26), the conquest of Midian, and the settlement of the two tribes (ch. 31, 32), with an account of their journeys (ch. 33), II. Divers laws about the Nazarites, etc. (ch. 5, 6); and again about the priests' charge, etc. (ch. 18, 19), feasts (ch. 28, 29), and vows (ch. 30), and relating to their settlement in Canaan (ch. 27, 34, 35, Num 36:1-13). An abstract of much of this book we have in a few words in Psa 95:10, Forty years long was I grieved with this generation; and an application of it to ourselves in Heb 4:1, Let us fear lest we seem to come short. Many considerable nations there were now in being, that dwelt in cities and fortified towns, of which no notice is taken, no account kept, by the sacred history: but very exact records are kept of the affairs of a handful of people, that dwelt in tents, and wandered strangely in a wilderness, because they were the children of the covenant. For the Lord's portion is his people, Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.

Matthew Henry: Numbers 10 (Chapter Introduction)

In this chapter we have, I. Orders given about the making and using of silver trumpets, which seems to have been the last of all the commandments God gave upon mount Sinai, and one of the least, yet not without its significancy (Num 10:1-10). II. The history of the removal of Israel's camp from mount Sinai, and their orderly march into the wilderness of Paran (v. 11-28). III. Moses's treaty with Hobab, his brother-in-law (Num 10:29-32). IV. Moses's prayer at the removing and resting of the ark (Num 10:33, etc.).

Constable: Numbers (Book Introduction)

Introduction

Title

The title the Jews used in their Hebrew Old Testament for this book comes from the fifth word in the book in the Hebrew text, bemidbar: "in the wilderness." This is, of course, appropriate since the Israelites spent most of the time covered in the narrative of Numbers wandering in the wilderness.

The English title "Numbers" is a translation of the Greek title Arithmoi. The Septuagint translators chose this title because of the two censuses of the Israelites that Moses recorded at the beginning (chs. 1-4) and toward the end (ch. 26) of the book. These numberings of the people took place at the beginning and end of the wilderness wanderings and frame the contents of Numbers.

Date and Writer

Moses wrote Numbers (cf. Num. 1:1; 33:2; Matt. 8:4; 19:7; Luke 24:44; John 1:45; et al.). He evidently did so late in his life on the plains of Moab.¹ Moses evidently died close to 1406 B.C. since the Exodus happened about 1446 B.C., and the Israelites were in the wilderness for 40 years.

Scope and purpose

When the book opens the Israelites were in the second month of the second year after they departed from Egypt (1:1). In chapters 7-10 we read things that happened in the nation before that. These things happened when Moses finishing setting up the tabernacle, which occurred on the first day of the first month of the second year (7:1; cf. Exod. 40:17). When Numbers closes the Israelites were in the tenth month of the fortieth year (cf. Deut. 1:3). Thus the time Numbers covers is about 39 years.

Geographically the Israelites travelled from Mt. Sinai to the plains of Moab, which lay to the east of Jericho and the Jordan River. However their journey was not at all direct. They proceeded from Sinai to Kadesh Barnea on Canaan's southern border but failed to go into the Promised Land from there because of unbelief. Their failure to trust God and obey Him resulted in a period of 38 years of wandering in the wilderness. God finally brought them back to Kadesh and led them from there to the plains of Moab that lay on Canaan's eastern border.

Even though the wilderness wanderings consumed the majority of the years Numbers records, Moses passed over the events of this period of Israel's history fairly quickly. God's emphasis in this book is on His preparation of the Israelites to enter the land from Kadesh (chs. 1-14), and their preparation to enter from the plains of Moab (chs. 20-36). This indicates that the purpose of the book was primarily to show how God dealt with the Israelites as they anticipated entrance into the Promised Land. It was not to record all the events, or even most events, that took place in Israel's history. This selection of content to teach spiritual lessons is in harmony with the other books of the Pentateuch. Their concern too was more theological than historical.

"The material in Numbers cannot be understood apart from what precedes it in Exodus and Leviticus. The middle books of the Pentateuch hang closely together, with Genesis forming a prologue, and Deuteronomy the epilogue to the collection."²

The content stresses events leading to the destruction of the older generation of Israelites in the wilderness and the preparation of the new generation for entrance into the land. The census at the beginning of the book (chs. 1-4) and the one at the end (ch. 26) provide, ". . . the overarching literary and theological structure of the book of Numbers."³

"We may also venture the purpose of the book in this manner: To compel obedience to Yahweh by members of the new community by reminding them of the wrath of God on their parents because of their breach of covenant; to encourage them to trust in the ongoing promises of their Lord as they follow him into their heritage in Canaan; and to provoke them to worship of God and to the enjoyment of their salvation."⁴

"The Book of Numbers seems to be an instruction manual to post-Sinai Israel. The manual' deals with three areas: (a) how the nation was to order itself in its journeyings, (b) how the priests and Levites were to function in the condition of mobility which lay ahead, and (c) how they were to prepare themselves for the conquest of Canaan and their settled lives there. The narrative sections, of which there are many, demonstrate the successes and failures of the Lord's people as they conformed and did not conform to the requirements in the legislative, cultic, and prescriptive parts of the book."⁵

Theme

I believe the theme of the book is obedience. However others have suggested different though related themes.

"The theme of the Book of Numbers is worship."⁶

"The major theological theme of Numbers is reciprocal in nature: God has brought a people to Himself by covenant grace, but He expects of them a wholehearted devotion. Having accepted the terms of the Sinai Covenant, Israel had placed herself under obligation to obey them, a process that was to begin at once and not in some distant place and time (Exod. 19:8; 24:3)."⁷

Message⁸

To formulate a statement that summarizes the teaching of this book it will be helpful to identify some of the major revelations in Numbers. These constitute the unique values of the book.

The first major value of Numbers is that it reveals the graciousness of God to an extent not previously revealed. We see God's graciousness in His dealings with Israel throughout this book.

In the first section of Numbers (chs. 1-10) God's provision for His people stands out. We see this in the order and purity God specified for the maintenance of the Israelite camp. We see it in the worship God provided for in the camp. We also see it in the movement God prescribed for the camp. God faithfully provided for the needs of His people in these many ways as they prepared to enter the Promised Land.

In the second section of the book (chs. 11-21) God's patience with His people stands out. When the Israelites failed to obey God He did not desert them, but He disciplined them in love. God's patience in dealing with the Israelites did not result from God's weakness, but it was an evidence of His strength. God did not manifest carelessness toward the Israelites by making them wander in the wilderness for 38 years. He manifested carefulness as He used those 38 years to prepare the next generation to obey Him. God disciplined the people for their disobedience, but He always directed them toward the realization of His purpose for them as He disciplined them. The years of wilderness wandering were years of education rather than abandonment. He had similarly prepared Moses for 40 years in the wilderness before the Exodus.

In the third section (chs. 22-36) God's persistence in bringing Israel to the threshold of the land is prominent. God protected Israel from her enemies and provided for her needs. Even though Israel had been unfaithful God persisted in demonstrating faithfulness to the nation He had chosen to bless.

A second major value of this book is the revelation it contains of the gravity of unbelief. This is a revelation of man whereas the first was a revelation of God. Numbers reveals the seriousness of the sin of unbelief that manifests itself in disobedience. The Israelites struggled with unbelief throughout the book, but the most serious instance of it took place at Kadesh Barnea (chs. 13-14).

Numbers reveals the roots of unbelief. These were two causes: a mixed multitude and mixed motives.

The congregation consisted of a combination of believing Israelites and others who had for various reasons joined themselves to the people of God, a mixed multitude. These foreigners joined Israel first at the Exodus (Exod. 12:38), but we find them mixed in with the Israelites throughout Israel's subsequent history (cf. Lev. 24:10-23). This "rabble" was first to complain against God, and their murmuring spread through the camp like a plague periodically (cf. 11:4).

The second cause of unbelief was the mixed motives of the Israelites. They wanted to enjoy God's blessings and obeyed Him to a degree to obtain these. However, they also wanted things that God in His love for them did not want them to have (cf. Gen. 3). The Israelites did not fully commit themselves to God (cf. Rom. 12:1-2). They did not fully allow God to shape them into a nation to fulfill His purpose for them in the world. This too resulted in murmuring. They longed for what they had experienced in Egypt and preferred a comfortable life to the adventurous life to which God had called them. Murmuring is the telltale evidence of selfishness. It arises from a lack of singleminded dedication to God.

The message of Numbers is that everything depends on our attitude toward God. Our attitude toward our opportunities and our circumstances reveals our attitude toward God. If we are not content with what God has brought into our lives, it indicates we may want something different for ourselves than what God wants for us.

When we face a challenge to our faith we must see the difficulty overshadowed by God's presence, power, and promises.

The alternative is to allow the difficulty to block our view of God. The influences of unbelievers and our own doublemindedness will seek to make us behave as the Israelites did. At these times of testing Israel's experiences in Numbers should help us understand what is going on and trust God and obey Him more consistently.

The message of Numbers is a message of comfort on the one hand.

Numbers teaches that the failures of God's people cannot frustrate His plans. In Exodus we saw that the opposition of God's enemies cannot defeat Him. In Numbers we see that the failure of His instruments cannot defeat Him either. God's chosen instruments can postpone God's purposes, but they cannot preclude them.

In Numbers we also see that God always deals with His chosen instruments righteously. He will bless the minority who are faithful to Him even though they live among a majority who are under His discipline for being unfaithful. We see this in God's dealings with Caleb and Joshua. God honors the faithful. He will also faithfully work with those He is disciplining because of unfaithfulness. He will encourage them to experience the greatest blessing they can within the sphere of their discipline. We see this in His dealings with the rebellious generation. Furthermore God will not overlook those who have disobeyed Him because they have established a record of past obedience. He will discipline them too. We see this in God's dealings with Moses. Whereas God honors the faithful He also disciplines the unfaithful.

Numbers further teaches us that God's provisions are always adequate for His people's needs (cf. 2 Cor. 12:9). He sustained the Israelites in the wilderness. Their failures were not a result of God's inadequate provision but their own dissatisfaction with His provision. God Himself is an adequate resource for His people as we go through life (cf. Exod. 14-17).

On the other hand Numbers is also a message of warning. Every believer and every group of believers (e.g., a local church) from time to time face the same challenge to faith that the Israelites faced in the wilderness and at Kadesh. The crisis comes when faith encounters obstacles that only God's supernatural power can overcome. The believer should then proceed against these obstacles in simple confidence in God. Our response will depend on whether we are willing to act on our belief that God's presence, power, and promises can overcome them.

We can fail to realize all that God wants for us if we fail to trust Him.

By way of review Genesis expounds faith. Exodus reveals that faith manifests itself in worship and obedience. Leviticus explains worship more fully. Numbers stresses the importance of obedience.

Numbers shows the importance of obedience by revealing the roots, process, and fruits of disobedience.

Constable: Numbers (Outline)

Outline

I. Experiences of the older generation in the wilderness chs. 1-25

A. Preparations for entering the Promised Land from the south chs. 1-10

1. The first census and the organization of the people chs. 1-4

2. Commands and rituals to observe in preparation for entering the land chs. 5-9

3. The departure from Sinai ch. 10

B. The rebellion and judgment of the unbelieving generation chs. 11-25

1. The cycle of rebellion, atonement, and death chs. 11-20

2. The climax of rebellion, hope, and the end of dying chs. 21-25

II. Prospects of the younger generation in the land chs. 26-36

A. Preparations for entering the Promised Land from the east chs. 26-32

1. The second census ch. 26

2. Provisions and commands to observe in preparation for entering the land chs. 27-30

3. Reprisal against Midian and the settlement of the Transjordanian tribes chs. 31-32

B. Warning and encouragement of the younger generation chs. 33-36

1. Review of the journey from Egypt 33:1-49

2. Anticipation of the Promised Land 33:50-36:13

Constable: Numbers

Numbers

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Copyright 2003 by Thomas L. Constable

Haydock: Numbers (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION.

This fourth Book of Moses is called Numbers , because it begins with the numbering of the people. The Hebrews, from its first words, call it Vaydedabber . It contains the transactions of the Israelites, from the second month of the second year after their going out of Egypt, until the beginning of the eleventh month of the 40th year; that is, a history almost of thirty-nine years. (Challoner) --- In the nine first chapters various orders of people are described, and several laws are given or repeated. From the 10th to the 33d, the marches and history of God's people are related; (Haydock) from the 20th of the second month, in the second year after their departure out of Egypt, till the eleventh month of the 40th year, and the last of Moses: so that this Book contains the transactions of almost thirty-nine years; (Tirinus) whereas, the Book of Leviticus specified only some of the laws and occurrences of one month. Here we behold what opposition Moses experienced from Aaron and his sister, from Core, and from all the people; and yet God protected him, in the midst of all dangers, and confounded, not only their attempts, but those also of Balaam, and of all his external foes. (Haydock) --- Moses conquers the Madianites, and divides the conquered country between the tribes of Ruben, Gad, and half of the tribe of Manasses. In the three last chapters, he describes the land of Chanaan, orders all the inhabitants to be exterminated, assigns cities for the Levites, and for refuge; and forbids such marriages, as might cause any confusion in the distribution of the lands belonging to each tribe. Moses composed this part of the Pentateuch, as well as that of Deuteronomy, a little while before his death, out of the memoirs which he had carefully preserved. (Calmet) --- According to Usher, the people were numbered this second time, in the year of the world 2514, chap. i.; after which they leave the desert of Sinai, (chap. x. 11.) go to Cades-barne, and return thither again 2552. Soon after this, Mary and Aaron die; Moses lifts up the brazen serpent; and the Hebrews take possession of part of the promised land (2553) on the eastern banks of the Jordan. That on the western side, flowing with milk and honey, was conquered by Josue in the following years. (Haydock)

Gill: Numbers (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS

This book has its name from the account it gives of the "numbers" of the children of Israel, twice taken particularly; which name it has with this Greeks and Latins, and so with the Syriac and Arabic versions; but with the Jews it is called sometimes "Vajedabber", from the first word of it, "and the Lord spake"; and sometimes "Bemidbar", from the fifth word of the first verse, "in the wilderness", and sometimes "Sepher Pikkudim"; or, as with Origen ^a, "Ammesph‚kodim", the book of musters or surveys. That it was written by Moses is not to be doubted; and is indeed suggested by our Lord himself, Joh 5:46 compared with Num 3:14, and the references to it, in the New Testament, fully ascertain to us Christians the authenticity of it, as that of our Lord hinted at, and those of the apostle in 1Co 10:4. It contains an history of the affairs of the Israelites, and of their travel in the wilderness for the space of thirty eight years; though the principal facts it relates were done in the second year of their coming out of Egypt, and in the last of their being in the wilderness; and it is not merely historical, but gives a particular account of several laws, ceremonial and judicial, to be observed by the people of Israel, as well as has many things in it very instructive, both of a moral and evangelical nature.

Gill: Numbers 10 (Chapter Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 10

This chapter gives an account of the directions given for making two silver trumpets, and of the use of them, the ends and purposes for which they were to be made, Num 10:1; and of the time of taking up of the cloud from the tabernacle, and of the removal of the camp of Israel from the wilderness of Sinai, and of the order of their march, Num 10:11; when Moses most earnestly passed Hobab, his brother in law, to continue with him, Num 10:29; and the chapter is closed with the prayer of Moses at the setting forward of the ark, and the resting of it, Num 10:33.