Numbers 10:11 - Meaning and Application

Here is a general account of Israel leaving Mount Sinai, where they had stayed for about a year. A great deal of important things had happened there. God seems to have told them ahead of time that it was time to move on (Deuteronomy 1:6-7): they had stayed long enough at that mountain and were to travel toward the promised land. The apostle says that Mount Sinai points to slavery (Galatians 4:24), meaning the law given there. The law is useful as a teacher to lead us to Christ, but we must not stop there. We must go on toward the joy and freedom of God's children, because our salvation comes by promise, not by law.

Notice the signal for the move. The cloud was lifted up from the tabernacle (the sacred tent where God met with his people), and it likely stayed there until they were ready to march. Taking down and packing the camp must have been a huge job. Yet each family took care of its own tents and goods at the same time, so many hands finished the work quickly. Then the march began. They traveled as the Lord commanded and followed the cloud (Numbers 10:13). Some think this repeated mention of the Lord's command was meant to answer later criticism that Israel had wandered in the wilderness because they were lost and could not find the way out. That was not the case. At every stage and every step, they were under God's direction. Even if they did not know where they were going, the one leading them did. Those who give themselves to God's Word and Spirit move in a steady course, even when they feel confused. If they are sure they cannot lose their God and guide, they need not fear losing their way.

After three days of travel, they rested in the wilderness of Paran. All our moves in this world are really just moves from one wilderness to another. The changes we hope will improve things do not always do so. As long as we carry human weakness with us wherever we go, we must expect human troubles too. We will never be fully at rest, and never truly at home, until we reach heaven, where all will be well.

Here is the order in which they marched, according to the plan God had given them. Judah's division marched first (Numbers 10:14-16). The leading standard was with that tribe, and this was a sign of the royal rule that would later be given to Judah in David's time. It also pointed forward to the captain of our salvation, Jesus Christ, of whom it was said that the gathering of the people would be to him.

Then the two Levite families charged with carrying the tabernacle followed. As soon as the cloud was lifted, the tabernacle was taken down and packed up for moving (Numbers 10:17). The six wagons carried the larger and heavier parts of it. This repeated moving of the tabernacle showed that the ceremonial law, the system of worship centered on outward rites, was temporary. What was so often moved would one day pass away (Hebrews 8:13). After that, Reuben's division followed Judah, just as the Lord commanded (Numbers 10:18-20).

Then the Kohathites, one of the Levite clans, came behind with the holy furnishings of the tabernacle, moving in the middle of the camp, which was both the safest and most honorable place (Numbers 10:21). The note in the margin seems to mean that the Gershonites and Merarites set up the tabernacle before the Kohathites arrived. The wording may also suggest that, if needed, other Israelites from the first division helped with the tabernacle so it could be raised quickly, even before they set up their own tents.

After them came Ephraim's division, following after the ark of the covenant, the chest that marked God's presence (Numbers 10:22-24). Some think the psalmist refers to this when he prays, "Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, stir up your power and come save us" (Psalm 80:2). The ark is also called God's strength (Psalm 78:61). Last of all came Dan's division (Numbers 10:25-27). It is called the rear guard of all the camps because it gathered up those left behind, not the women and children, who would have been cared for by their families, but the unclean, the mixed crowd, and all who were weak and fell behind in the march. He who leads Joseph like a flock has a tender care for those who lag behind (Ezekiel 34:16), and of all those given to him, he will lose none (John 17:11).