Numbers 9:15-21

The Leading of the Lord

9:15 ¹ On ²  the day that the tabernacle was set up, ³  the cloud ⁴  covered the tabernacle – the tent of the testimony ⁵  – and from evening until morning there was ⁶  a fiery appearance ⁷  over the tabernacle. 9:16 This is the way it used to be continually: The cloud would cover it by day, ⁸  and there was a fiery appearance by night. 9:17 Whenever the cloud was taken up ⁹  from the tabernacle, then after that the Israelites would begin their journey; and in whatever place ¹⁰  the cloud settled, there the Israelites would make camp. 9:18 At the commandment ¹¹  of the Lord the Israelites would begin their journey, and at the commandment of the Lord they would make camp; as long as ¹²  the cloud remained settled over the tabernacle they would camp. 9:19 When the cloud remained over the tabernacle many days, then the Israelites obeyed the instructions ¹³  of the Lord and did not journey.

9:20 When ¹⁴  the cloud remained over the tabernacle a number of days, ¹⁵  they remained camped according to the Lord’s commandment, ¹⁶  and according to the Lord’s commandment they would journey. 9:21 And when ¹⁷  the cloud remained only ¹⁸  from evening until morning, when the cloud was taken up ¹⁹  the following morning, then they traveled on. Whether by day or by night, when the cloud was taken up they traveled.

Numbers 10:34

10:34 ²⁰  And the cloud of the Lord was over them by day, when they traveled ²¹  from the camp.

Exodus 13:21-22

13:21 Now the Lord was going before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them in the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, ²²  so that they could ²³  travel day or night. ²⁴  13:22 He did not remove the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night from before the people. ²⁵ 

Exodus 40:38

40:38 For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, but fire would be ²⁶  on it at night, in plain view ²⁷  of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.

Nehemiah 9:12

9:12 You guided them with a pillar of cloud by day and with a pillar of fire by night to illumine for them the path they were to travel.

Nehemiah 9:19

9:19 “Due to your great compassion you did not abandon them in the desert. The pillar of cloud did not stop guiding them in the path by day, ²⁸  nor did the pillar of fire stop illuminating for them by night the path on which they should travel.

Psalms 78:14

78:14 He led them with a cloud by day,

and with the light of a fire all night long.

Psalms 105:39

105:39 He spread out a cloud for a cover, ²⁹ 

and provided a fire to light up the night.

[9:15]  ¹ sn This section (Num 9:15-23) recapitulates the account in Exod 40:34 but also contains some additional detail about the cloud that signaled Israel’s journeys. Here again material from the book of Exodus is used to explain more of the laws for the camp in motion.

[9:15]  ² tn Heb “and/now on the day.”

[9:15]  ³ tn The construction uses the temporal expression with the Hiphil infinitive construct followed by the object, the tabernacle. “On the day of the setting up of the tabernacle” leaves the subject unstated, and so the entire clause may be expressed in the passive voice.

[9:15]  ⁴ sn The explanation and identification of this cloud has been a subject of much debate. Some commentators have concluded that it was identical with the cloud that led the Israelites away from Egypt and through the sea, but others have made a more compelling case that this is a different phenomenon (see ZPEB 4:796). A number of modern scholars see the description as a retrojection from later, perhaps Solomonic times (see G. H. Davies, IDB 3:817). Others have tried to connect it with Ugaritic terminology, but unconvincingly (see T. W. Mann, “The Pillar of Cloud in the Reed Sea Narrative,” JBL 90 [1971]: 15-30; G. E. Mendenhall, The Tenth Generation, 32-66, 209-13; and R. Good, “Cloud Messengers?” UF 10 [1978]: 436-37).

[9:15]  ⁵ sn The cloud apparently was centered over the tent, over the spot of the ark of the covenant in the most holy place. It thereafter spread over the whole tabernacle.

[9:15]  ⁶ tn The imperfect tense in this and the next line should be classified as a customary imperfect, stressing incomplete action but in the past time – something that used to happen, or would happen.

[9:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “like the appearance of fire.”

[9:16]  ⁸ tc The MT lacks the words “by day,” but a number of ancient versions have this reading (e.g., Greek, Syriac, Tg. Ps.-J., Latin Vulgate).

[9:17]  ⁹ tn The verb in this initial temporal clause is the Niphal infinitive construct.

[9:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “in the place where it settled there”; the relative clause modifies the noun “place,” and the resumptive adverb completes the related idea – “which it settled there” means “where it settled.”

[9:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “at the mouth of” (so also in vv. 20, 23).

[9:18]  ¹² tn Heb “all the days of – that the cloud settled over the tabernacle.” “All” is the adverbial accusative of time telling how long they camped in one spot – all. The word is then qualified by the genitive of the thing measured – “all of the days” – and this in turn is qualified by a noun clause functioning as a genitive after “days of.”

[9:19]  ¹³ tn This is the same Hebrew expression that was used earlier for the Levites “keeping their charge” or more clearly, “fulfilling their obligations” to take care of the needs of the people and the sanctuary. It is a general expression using שָׁמַר (shamar) followed by its cognate noun מִשְׁמֶרֶת (mishmeret).

[9:20]  ¹⁴ tn The sentence uses וְיֵשׁ (vÿyesh) followed by a noun clause introduced with אֲשֶׁר (’asher) to express an existing situation; it is best translated as an adverbial clause of time: “and it was when the cloud was….”

[9:20]  ¹⁵ tn The word “number” is in apposition to the word “days” to indicate that their stay was prolonged for quite a few days.

[9:20]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “mouth of the Lord.”

[9:21]  ¹⁷ tn The construction is the same in the preceding verse.

[9:21]  ¹⁸ tn “Only” is supplied to reflect the contrast between the two verses.

[9:21]  ¹⁹ tn The construction in this half of the verse uses two vav (ו) consecutive clauses. The first is subordinated to the second as a temporal clause: “when…then….”

[10:34]  ²⁰ 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.

[10:34]  ²¹ tn The adverbial clause of time is composed of the infinitive construct with a temporal preposition and a suffixed subjective genitive.

[13:21]  ²² sn God chose to guide the people with a pillar of cloud in the day and one of fire at night, or, as a pillar of cloud and fire, since they represented his presence. God had already appeared to Moses in the fire of the bush, and so here again is revelation with fire. Whatever the exact nature of these things, they formed direct, visible revelations from God, who was guiding the people in a clear and unambiguous way. Both clouds and fire would again and again represent the presence of God in his power and majesty, guiding and protecting his people, by judging their enemies.

[13:21]  ²³ tn The infinitive construct here indicates the result of these manifestations – “so that they went” or “could go.”

[13:21]  ²⁴ tn These are adverbial accusatives of time.

[13:22]  ²⁵ sn See T. W. Mann, “The Pillar of Cloud in the Reed Sea Narrative,” JBL 90 (1971): 15-30.

[40:38]  ²⁶ tn Here is another imperfect tense of the customary nuance.

[40:38]  ²⁷ tn Heb “to the eyes of all”; KJV, ASV, NASB “in the sight of all”; NRSV “before the eyes of all.”

[9:19]  ²⁸ tn Heb “did not turn from them by day to guide them in the path.”

[105:39]  ²⁹ tn Or “curtain.”