The Silver Trumpets, and the Setting Out
1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Make two trumpets of silver. You shall make them of beaten work. You shall use them for the calling of the congregation and for the journeying of the camps. 3 When they blow them, all the congregation shall gather themselves to you at the door of the Tent of Meeting. 4 If they blow just one, then the princes, the heads of the thousands of Israel, shall gather themselves to you. 5 When you blow an alarm, the camps that lie on the east side shall go forward. 6 When you blow an alarm the second time, the camps that lie on the south side shall go forward. They shall blow an alarm for their journeys. 7 But when the assembly is to be gathered together, you shall blow, but you shall not sound an alarm. 8 “The sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow the trumpets. This shall be to you for a statute forever throughout your generations. 9 When you go to war in your land against the adversary who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets. Then you will be remembered before Yahweh your God, and you will be saved from your enemies. 10 “Also in the day of your gladness, and in your set feasts, and in the beginnings of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be to you for a memorial before your God. I am Yahweh your God.” 11 In the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month, the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle of the covenant. 12 The children of Israel went forward on their journeys out of the wilderness of Sinai; and the cloud stayed in the wilderness of Paran. 13 They first went forward according to the commandment of Yahweh by Moses. 14 First, the standard of the camp of the children of Judah went forward according to their armies. Nahshon the son of Amminadab was over his army. 15 Nethanel the son of Zuar was over the army of the tribe of the children of Issachar. 16 Eliab the son of Helon was over the army of the tribe of the children of Zebulun. 17 The tabernacle was taken down; and the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari, who bore the tabernacle, went forward. 18 The standard of the camp of Reuben went forward according to their armies. Elizur the son of Shedeur was over his army. 19 Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai was over the army of the tribe of the children of Simeon. 20 Eliasaph the son of Deuel was over the army of the tribe of the children of Gad. 21 The Kohathites set forward, bearing the sanctuary. The others set up the tabernacle before they arrived. 22 The standard of the camp of the children of Ephraim set forward according to their armies. Elishama the son of Ammihud was over his army. 23 Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur was over the army of the tribe of the children of Manasseh. 24 Abidan the son of Gideoni was over the army of the tribe of the children of Benjamin. 25 The standard of the camp of the children of Dan, which was the rear guard of all the camps, set forward according to their armies. Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai was over his army. 26 Pagiel the son of Ochran was over the army of the tribe of the children of Asher. 27 Ahira the son of Enan was over the army of the tribe of the children of Naphtali. 28 Thus were the travels of the children of Israel according to their armies; and they went forward. 29 Moses said to Hobab, the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are journeying to the place of which Yahweh said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will treat you well; for Yahweh has spoken good concerning Israel.” 30 He said to him, “I will not go; but I will depart to my own land, and to my relatives.” 31 Moses said, “Don’t leave us, please; because you know how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and you can be our eyes. 32 It shall be, if you go with us—yes, it shall be—that whatever good Yahweh does to us, we will do the same to you.” 33 They set forward from the Mount of Yahweh three days’ journey. The ark of Yahweh’s covenant went before them three days’ journey, to seek out a resting place for them. 34 The cloud of Yahweh was over them by day, when they set forward from the camp. 35 When the ark went forward, Moses said, “Rise up, Yahweh, and let your enemies be scattered! Let those who hate you flee before you!” 36 When it rested, he said, “Return, Yahweh, to the ten thousands of the thousands of Israel.”
Two trumpets summon and dismiss a nation, and the journey begins with Moses asking a Midianite to come and be their eyes.
Two silver trumpets run the camp. One blast summons the leaders, two summon the assembly, and a different signal — an alarm — starts the march Numbers 10:3–6.
The same instrument does two other things. In war, you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets. Then you will be remembered before Yahweh your God Numbers 10:9. And in the day of your gladness, and in your set feasts, they are blown over the offerings Numbers 10:10.
The sound that calls a nation to move, the sound it makes when it is frightened, and the sound it makes when it is glad are all made on the same two horns. And in each case the stated effect is that God remembers.
Then the camp leaves Sinai Numbers 10:11, after eleven months in one place, and the order of march is exactly the order of the camp.
What happens next is a small scene that is easy to pass and is one of the most human in the book.
Moses asks his Midianite relative to come along: come with us, and we will treat you well Numbers 10:29. The man declines — I will not go; but I will depart to my own land Numbers 10:30.
And Moses asks again, and the reason he gives is startling. Don't leave us, please; because you know how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and you can be our eyes Numbers 10:31.
They have a pillar of cloud. They have just been told, at length, that it decides when they move and where they stop Numbers 9:17–23. And Moses wants a desert guide, because a man who knows the country is useful and the cloud does not make him unnecessary.
Nothing in the text treats that as a failure of faith. The offer is repeated with a promise attached — whatever good Yahweh does to us, we will do the same to you Numbers 10:32 — and the book does not record whether he came.
The chapter ends with the two sentences Moses said whenever the ark moved and stopped. Rise up, Yahweh, and let your enemies be scattered! And: return, Yahweh, to the ten thousands of the thousands of Israel Numbers 10:35–36.
A departure prayer and an arrival prayer, said over a box, every time a nation of that size picked up and put down.
settled What this mark means