Cp date, Exo 19:1. After year at Sinai, historical narrative
continues.
Num 10:29
REUEL: "Raah-El" = friend or companion (shepherd) of
El.
Num 10:31
"There is really nothing incongruous in Moses' request, for
dependence on God for divine guidance and even for supernatural intervention
does not obviate the use of human knowledge when it is available. Hobab [and the
Kenites] knew the wilderness well and could help make both the journeying and
the camping easier by pointing out the secrets of the desert" (WyC). We can look
to our own experience in the everyday decisions of life, and find a similar
paradox. We may pray for, and even 'see', the presence of the Elohim in our
lives, but we may not always be sure of the best way to go. Nonetheless, Yahweh
expects us to make informed, considered, and prayerful decisions along the
way.
Num 10:33
Jesus, the true "ark", made his journey through death (three
days ahead of the camp of Israel).
THREE DAYS: Traveling for 3 days: Gen 22:4; Num 10:33;
Jos 1:11; Luk 2:46; Mat 12:40; Joh 2:1; Luk 13:22. Joh 2:19: "Take down this
sanctuary, and in 3 days I will raise it again!"
Num 10:35
WHENEVER THE ARK SET OUT, MOSES SAID, "RISE UP, O LORD! MAY
YOUR ENEMIES BE SCATTERED; MAY YOUR FOES FLEE BEFORE YOU": The words to be
used when the tabernacle moved are found elsewhere: (1) Psa 7:6 speaks of
Absalom's uprising (against the Lord's anointed). Psa 68:1 speaks of deliverance
from His enemies on a number of occasions. So this little language is not simply
a little incantation to be said each time the tabernacle was moved -- it was a
battle cry! The wilderness journey was a battle -- against sin. In making the
cry the nation were showing that God was involved in the battle, scattering the
enemy. Do we believe that God is working in our lives now, or do we think that
sort of thing stopped at the end of the NT?
Num 10:36
COUNTLESS THOUSANDS OF ISRAEL: The chariots/cherubim of
Psa 68:17,18. A great multitude: Rev 7:5; 14:1; 21:3.