Numbers 10 – Study
For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.
Passage: Numbers 10:1-10
1 The Lord said to Moses: 2 ‘Make two trumpets of hammered silver, and use them for calling the community together and for the camps to set out. 3 When both are sounded, the whole community is to assemble before you at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 4 If only one is sounded, the leaders – the heads of the clans of Israel – are to assemble before you. 5 When a trumpet blast is sounded, the tribes camping on the east are to set out. 6 At the sounding of a second blast, the camps on the south are to set out. The blast will be the signal for setting out. 7 To gather the assembly, blow the trumpets, but not with the signal for setting out.
8 ‘The sons of Aaron, the priests, are to blow the trumpets. This is to be a lasting ordinance for you and the generations to come. 9 When you go into battle in your own land against an enemy who is oppressing you, sound a blast on the trumpets. Then you will be remembered by the Lord your God and rescued from your enemies. 10 Also at your times of rejoicing – your appointed festivals and New Moon feasts – you are to sound the trumpets over your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, and they will be a memorial for you before your God. I am the Lord your God.’
A. Find Out:
- What did God tell Moses to do? v.1,2
- What was the difference between one or two being blown? v.3,4
- What further uses of the trumpet blasts were made? v.5,6
- Who were to be the trumpet blowers? v.8
- When also should the trumpet be blown and why? v.9
- What further time was the trumpet to be blown and why? v.10
B. Think:
- How was the trumpet call used within the camp?
- How was it used to break camp?
- How was it to be used in the future?
C. Comment:
We have just seen the general way that Israel were guided throughout their time in the wilderness, by the glory of God moving them on. But now we have additional guidance from God on how they were to operate. Two trumpets were to be made, presumably with different notes to distinguish them. If there needed to be a ‘camp meeting’ with God, whereby all the tribes should attend, then both trumpets would be blown together, presumably continuously until the tribes started gathering. If only one was blown, it was a sign that Moses was calling only the leaders. Spread over a very large area, the call could thus be heard easily as the sound carried.
To ensure order of movement, presumably following the start of the move of the glory over the tabernacle, the indication for the first side of the camp to get under way was a trumpet blast. When the time came for the other half of the camp to follow, the trumpet blew again. Again a clear indication across a large area. Throughout their time in the wilderness the trumpet call would be associated with the move of the Lord, and so in future years the trumpet sounded, before going into battle or before the start of a celebration, would remind the people of the Lord and would bring focus to what they were doing. Thus the Lord gave them yet another reminder of His presence with them.
D. Application:
- The Lord showed Israel how to move together. We need to learn this.
- I am a part of the body of Christ and need to harmonize with others.
Passage: Numbers 10:11-36
11 On the twentieth day of the second month of the second year, the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle of the covenant law. 12 Then the Israelites set out from the Desert of Sinai and travelled from place to place until the cloud came to rest in the Desert of Paran. 13 They set out, this first time, at the Lord’s command through Moses.
14 The divisions of the camp of Judah went first, under their standard. Nahshon son of Amminadab was in command. 15 Nethanel son of Zuar was over the division of the tribe of Issachar, 16 and Eliab son of Helon was over the division of the tribe of Zebulun. 17 Then the tabernacle was taken down, and the Gershonites and Merarites, who carried it, set out.
18 The divisions of the camp of Reuben went next, under their standard. Elizur son of Shedeur was in command. 19 Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai was over the division of the tribe of Simeon, 20 and Eliasaph son of Deuel was over the division of the tribe of Gad. 21 Then the Kohathites set out, carrying the holy things. The tabernacle was to be set up before they arrived.
22 The divisions of the camp of Ephraim went next, under their standard. Elishama son of Ammihud was in command. 23 Gamaliel son of Pedahzur was over the division of the tribe of Manasseh, 24 and Abidan son of Gideoni was over the division of the tribe of Benjamin.
25 Finally, as the rear guard for all the units, the divisions of the camp of Dan set out under their standard. Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai was in command. 26 Pagiel son of Okran was over the division of the tribe of Asher, 27 and Ahira son of Enan was over the division of the tribe of Naphtali. 28 This was the order of march for the Israelite divisions as they set out.
29 Now Moses said to Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, ‘We are setting out for 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 to Israel.’
30 He answered, ‘No, I will not go; I am going back to my own land and my own people.’
31 But Moses said, ‘Please do not leave us. You know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you can be our eyes. 32 If you come with us, we will share with you whatever good things the Lord gives us.’
33 So they set out from the mountain of the Lord and travelled for three days. The ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them during those three days to find them a place to rest. 34 The cloud of the Lord was over them by day when they set out from the camp.
35 Whenever the ark set out, Moses said,
‘Rise up, Lord!
May your enemies be scattered;
may your foes flee before you.’
36 Whenever it came to rest, he said,
‘Return, Lord,
to the countless thousands of Israel.’
A. Find Out:
- What happened on what date? v.11
- How long did they travel and arrived where? v.12
- Yet why did they travel? v.13
- To whom did Moses say what? v.29
- Why did Moses exhort him to come with them? v.30-32
- How long did they travel on this first leg of the journey? v.33
- How did they travel? v.33b-36
B. Think:
- What was the sign of the divine Presence guiding them?
- What human guidance was involved?
- How do you think the two worked together?
C. Comment:
These verses reveal to us a combination of divine and human guidance. In terms of when to set out and where to go, it was the Lord’s glory that guided them, as we saw previously, and that is reiterated in this passage (v.34). Yet they also have with them Moses’ brother-in-law (Reuel is another name for Jethro – Ex 3:1). Judges 1:16 seems to indicate that the family of Moses’ father-in-law had gone with them into the land and now is the time when Moses asked his brother-in-law to stay.
Jethro had come to them (Ex 18) prior to Sinai and presumably when he returned home his son had stayed with his brother-in-law. Because he is a tribesman (a Midianite) he knows the desert area well. Moses asks him to stay with them once they start moving to become their eyes who can tell them all about the land that the Lord is leading them through. The Lord leads and Hobab explains the land they are passing through, thus adding a measure of security to their travels.
It is a nice picture of the divine-human guidance equation. Thus today we, as Christians, have the Lord’s word (the Scriptures) and also the Holy Spirit with us to teach us and apply it to our present circumstances. He knows the way, He knows the detail and He conveys understanding to us as we go along the way.
D. Application:
- Hobab needed encouraging to stay. The Holy Spirit likes being asked.
- Hobab brought understanding. The Holy Spirit brings understanding.