Numbers 2

Chapter 2. The AdvanceHitherto we have seen the camp at rest, but now preparations are made for their great march. They were not to dwell forever under the shadows of Sinai or in the howling wilderness. It was but 11 days’ journey from Mt. Sinai to the borders of the promised land, and within a very little while they might have been in the inheritance of their fathers. Everything was now ready; an army of 600,000 men, organized and thoroughly disciplined, had grown out of the rabble that escaped from Egypt, and the majestic presence of God was ready to lead them into glorious victory and complete possession of their national heritage. And so the signals for their advance began. The Passover (Numbers 9:1-14)

1. The first of these preparations was the observance of the Passover. This was observed at the usual time, on the 14th day of the first month, just one year after their departure from Egypt. Thus they began their advance into their final inheritance, at the same place and in the same spirit, as they had their escape from the bondage of Egypt. So we must begin every new departure of our Christian life at the cross of Jesus, whether it be, as this movement typified, our entering into the fullness of Jesus or our consecration to any special service for the Lord. We shall never get away from the necessity of that precious blood, which grows more dear to the Christian heart the more we learn of the fullness of its power, not only to pardon, but also to cleanse, to consecrate and to overcome. There was, however, a special provision connected with this Passover, which was singular and exceptional. Certain persons came to Moses and explained that they had not been able to keep it, on account of defilements at the time through the touch of the dead. God, therefore, provided that they might keep the Passover for themselves, at a special time, on the 14th day of the second month, and it would be accepted out of season on account of special circumstances of the case. How beautifully we are thus instructed that while we are not to dispense needlessly with God’s ordinary stated ordinances of blessing, yet His grace overruns all conventional boundaries and meets us under the most unusual circumstances and unseasonable times and places, when it is really necessary that He should depart from His normal methods of working. This significant Passover was provided for members of the congregation who had become defiled, and were not prepared to participate at the usual season. So the cross of Christ meets the weakest and the most unworthy of God’s children and gives them with infinite tenderness and patience, time and opportunity to recover from their failures, to be cleansed from their defilements and ultimately to take their place abreast of their brethren in full acceptance and equal blessing in the common advance. The Pillar of Cloud and Fire (Numbers 9:15-23)
2. The pillar of cloud and fire next appears as the visible guide of the march which was about to begin; and with great beauty and spiritual significance its appearance and manifestation, both in movement and repose, are described in the closing verses of the ninth chapter of Numbers. This glorious manifestation of the divine presence finds its spiritual fulfillment in our lives in the guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is important for us to learn not only to follow the Spirit when He leads us forward, but also to wait when He holds us in silence. “At the Lord’s command the Israelites set out, and at his command they encamped. As long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they remained in camp. When the cloud remained over the tabernacle a long time, the Israelites obeyed the Lord’s order and did not set out” (Numbers 9:18-19). True obedience requires the spirit of great quietness, self-restraint and the suppression of all the impulsive, passionate, eager voices of the fleshly mind, as well as the prompt and courageous energy which is ready to go forward at His immediate call. Those who have best learned to wait will be most ready to run when truly called, and those who are most hasty will usually be most timorous in real danger. So we find that Joshua and Caleb, the two brave men who were not afraid to enter the land in the face of all the formidable adversaries, were also the two that could wait 40 years for their inheritance; while on the other hand the people who were afraid to go forward at God’s call and occupy their promised inheritance, the very next day were rash enough to rush forward without God’s command and perished miserably at Hormah (chapter 14). Moses himself had been deeply taught this lesson of waiting by his own early experience. At 40 years of age, he, too, was ready to rush forward at his own impulse. But God sent him into Midian for another 40 years, and when he came forth he had learned to be still and let God lead (Isaiah 30:15; Acts 16:6-7). Thus we see the great apostle of the Gentiles in the commencement of his missionary work, held again and again by the Spirit from fields that he would have entered, and finally, as he tarried and obeyed, better openings for his work in other fields presented themselves, and he found the first places, at a later period, prepared for him with a fullness of blessing which would not have come if he had hastily entered them. So, on the other hand, a little later, we find him as persistently following the Spirit as he had obediently waited upon Him before. Even when the disciples around him implored him to desist from his journey to Jerusalem, he could only repel their tender pleadings and follow on after the pillar of cloud and fire which was leading his own faith forward to bonds and afflictions. Led of the Spirit This blessed presence is the privilege of every consecrated believer. “Because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (Romans 8:14). This is the only light that can lead us into the fullness of Christ, which was the special lesson of the march of Israel. He who would know the fullness of the land of promise must follow the pillar guide. It is the Spirit who “will take from what is [Christ’s] and make it known to you” (John 16:15). It is the Spirit who makes us know the things which are freely given us of God, “‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him’— but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 2:9-11). The Silver Trumpets (Numbers 10:1-10)
3. The two silver trumpets are next described. These were both made of the same material and were precisely alike. They were used to summon the people to the great assemblies, public feasts, religious services, the commencement of journeys or the alarm of war. They were also used to herald the dawn of the Year of Jubilee. God’s Word and Spirit These two silver trumpets are beautiful types of the voice of God speaking to His people through the Word and the Holy Spirit. Both made of the same material, they denote that the mind of the Spirit is always in harmony with the teaching of the Word, and that these twin voices never contradict each other. The uses of the trumpets sweetly express the precious value and the various messages of God’s Word and Spirit. They are ever leading our steps in the pilgrimage of life: warning us of danger and of enemies; calling us to work and summoning us to the battles of the Lord; wooing us to His sanctuary and speaking to us there His divine messages; bringing to us the joy and gladness of His gracious words; bringing to us the blessedness of the people that know the joyful sound and walk in the light of His countenance; and finally proclaiming to us the words of hope and promise that foretell the glad coming of our Lord, and the jubilee of millennial ages. The Ark (Numbers 10:15-36)
4. Finally, we have the ark of God represented as also leading the hosts of Israel in their first advance through the wilderness. A Gentle Reproof Just prior to the account of this, however, we have an interesting account of the beginning of that march, and the request of Moses to Hobab, his brother-in-law, to become their guide through the desert. It is not stated whether this was authorized by the Lord, but it seems to have been an impulse of Moses’ natural reason. Knowing as he did from years of experience the dangers of the wilderness and the tried experience of Hobab, it was natural that he should desire his presence and direction and think it necessary that they should have all the wisdom that could be legitimately commanded. God does not directly reprove this act of human dependence, but significantly changes the position of the ark from the center of the camp to the front, and we read that The ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them during those three days to find them a place to rest. The cloud of the Lord was over them by day when they set out from the camp. Whenever the ark set out, Moses said, “Rise up, O Lord! May your enemies be scattered; may your foes flee before you.” Whenever it came to rest, he said, “Return, O Lord, to the countless thousands of Israel.” (Numbers 10:33-36) This second act must have made it plain to Moses, that God Himself was to be their personal Guide, and that even the wisdom of Hobab was not needed in their supernatural journey. Christ’s Presence The ark was the special type of the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, and His direct guidance is one of the privileges of His disciples, and one of His sweetest personal promises. He is the loving Shepherd, who, “When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice” (John 10:4-5). Ordinarily the ark was in the center of the camp, as Jesus Christ is central in the hearts of His people, but in this instance it moved in front, out of its usual place; and so there are times in the Christian’s experience, when the way is dark and uncertain, that our blessed Master becomes strangely manifest as the Guide of our perplexing pathway, the Leader of our timid steps, and the Captain of salvation for His struggling hosts. Sometimes He is riding before us on the white horse of victory, while His enemies flee before Him as smoke is driven, and then again resting in our midst in all the tenderness of His gracious presence. The special form of invocation which was used when the ark set forth has become crystallized in the exquisite poetry of the 68th Psalm, which is also one of the Messianic prophecies, and finds its highest fulfillment in the triumph and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. It opens with the same words of Moses: “May God arise, may his enemies be scattered; may his foes flee before him” (Psalms 68:1). And then it moves on in stately procession, like the camp of Israel in the wilderness. When you went out before your people, O God, when you marched through the wasteland, Selah, the earth shook, the heavens poured down rain, before God, the One of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel. You gave abundant showers, O God; you refreshed your weary inheritance. Your people settled in it, and from your bounty, O God, you provided for the poor. The Lord announced the word, and great was the company of those who proclaimed it: “Kings and armies flee in haste; in the camps men divide the plunder. Even while you sleep among the campfires, the wings of my dove are sheathed with silver, its feathers with shining gold.” (7-13) And then it rises to the grandeur of His ascension and His presence with His people in the grace and glory of the gospel. When you ascended on high, you led captives in your train; you received gifts from men, even from the rebellious— that you, O Lord God, might dwell there. Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. Selah (18-19) Later HistoryThe subsequent history of the ark of the covenant throws a beautiful light on the personal guidance of the Lord Jesus with respect to His people. It does not always seem to have gone visibly before the people but ordinarily to have been carried in the center of the camp. But in times of special perplexity and crisis, it always went immediately before. So again, when they came to the waters of the Jordan, it was the ark which first touched the angry billows and before whose presence they melted away and left the pathway clear for the following hosts; even as our blessed Savior leads for us the way through the floods of death and opens the pathway of safety, victory and glory (Joshua 3:13-17). Thus prepared and preceded, the camp of Israel begins its forward march.