Numbers 10
25 Sep 2026 - Theology
Leaving Sinai
Numbers 10:1-5 - “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Make thee two trumpets of silver; of a whole piece shalt thou make them: that thou mayest use them for the calling of the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps. And when they shall blow with them, all the assembly shall assemble themselves to thee at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And if they blow but with one trumpet, then the princes, which are heads of the thousands of Israel, shall gather themselves unto thee. When ye blow an alarm, then the camps that lie on the east parts shall go forward.”
The modern Bible commentator W. Gunther Plaut says that the trumpets added sound to the vision of the cloud. We can’t always trust what we see - even the signs that Moses performed in Exodus could be performed by the other magicians (to an extent). We can both see and hear from God, which enables us to trust and respond to Him more.
So the Lord called for the priests to sound the trumpet (or shofar) when it was time for the people to assemble, when it was time for them to move, in times of war (9), on joyous occasions, and on the days of the new moon (10). The trumpets are meant to be unto the people as “a memorial [reminder] before your God: I am the Lord your God” (10).
Leaving Sinai
Numbers 10:11-12 - “And it came to pass on the twentieth day of the second month, in the second year, that the cloud was taken up from off the tabernacle of the testimony. And the children of Israel took their journeys out of the wilderness of Sinai; and the cloud rested in the wilderness of Paran.”
So the tribes traveled in the order and with the roles set out for them set out in Numbers 2 and Numbers 4. We can see from verse 11 (“the twentieth day of the second month, in the second year”), that the people left Sinai twenty days after the events of Numbers 1, which occured on the “first day of the second month, in the second year” (Numbers 1:1).
Numbers 10:33-36 (NASB) - “So they moved on from the mountain of the Lord three days’ journey, with the ark of the covenant of the Lord going on in front of them for the three days, to seek out a resting place for them. And the cloud of the Lord was over them by day when they set out from the camp. Then it came about when the ark set out that Moses said, ‘Rise up, Lord! And may Your enemies be scattered, And those who hate You flee from Your presence.’ And when it came to rest, he said, ‘Return, Lord, To the myriad thousands of Israel.’”
Before leaving Sinai, Moses asked his Midianite father-in-law to join the Israelites, saying: “Come with us and we will do you good, for the Lord has promised good concerning Israel” (29). But his father-in-law refused, saying: “I will not come, but rather will go to my own land and relatives” (30).
In Exodus, Moses’ father in law was named Jethro (see, for example, Exodus 18), but here he is called Hobab. Why is his name changed? The Midrash says that Jethro actually had seven names! Modern scholars think that there were probably many stories about the Midianites and the Israelites, with the name of Moses’ father-in-law changing from story to story.
References
- The Hebrew - Greek Key Study Bible (KJV Version)
- Rabbi Seymour Rossel, The Torah Portion-by-Portion (2007)