The Wilderness · c. 1445 BC
Chapter 3
Setting Out
When the ark went forward, Moses said, “Rise up, Yahweh, and let your enemies be scattered! Let those who hate you flee before you!”When it rested, he said, “Return, Yahweh, to the ten thousands of the thousands of Israel.”
It was the first month of the second year after the came out of the land of . In the wilderness of , the spoke to . “Let the Israelites keep the at its set time,” he said. “On the fourteenth day of this month, at evening, you are to keep it at its set time. Keep all its rules and all its laws.”
Moses told the Israelites to keep the Passover. They kept it in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at evening, in the wilderness of Sinai. The Israelites did everything the Lord had commanded Moses.
Some men were because of a man’s dead body, and they couldn’t keep the Passover on that day. That same day they came to Moses and , and the men said to Moses, “We are unclean because of a man’s dead body. Why are we being kept from bringing the Lord’s offering at its set time along with the other Israelites?”
Moses answered them, “Wait here, and I’ll find out what the Lord commands about you.”
The Lord spoke to Moses. “Tell the Israelites this,” he said. “If any one of you, now or in the generations to come, is unclean because of a dead body, or is far away on a journey, he must still keep the Passover for the Lord.
“In the second month, on the fourteenth day at evening, they are to keep it. They are to eat it with and bitter herbs. None of it may be left until morning, and none of its bones may be broken. They are to follow all the rules of the Passover.
“But if a man is clean and isn’t on a journey, and doesn’t keep the Passover, that person must be from his people. Because he didn’t bring the Lord’s offering at its set time, that man will have to carry the guilt of his sin.
“If a foreigner is living among you and wants to keep the Passover for the Lord, he must follow the rules of the Passover and do it the way it is supposed to be done. You are to have the same rule for the foreigner and for the one born in the land.”
The cloud covered the , that is, the Tent of the , on the day it was set up. From evening until morning, the cloud was over the tabernacle, looking like fire. It was like that all the time. The cloud covered it, and at night there was what looked like fire.
Whenever the cloud was lifted from over the Tent, the Israelites set out. Wherever the cloud stayed, the Israelites made camp there. At the Lord’s command the Israelites traveled, and at the Lord’s command they made camp. As long as the cloud stayed on the tabernacle, they stayed in camp.
When the cloud stayed on the tabernacle for many days, the Israelites kept the Lord’s command and didn’t set out. Sometimes the cloud was on the tabernacle for a few days. Then at the Lord’s command they stayed in camp, and at the Lord’s command they set out. Sometimes the cloud stayed from evening until morning, and when the cloud was lifted in the morning, they set out. Or, by day and by night, when the cloud was lifted, they set out.
Sometimes the cloud rested on the tabernacle for two days, sometimes for a month, sometimes for a year. However long it stayed, the Israelites stayed in camp and didn’t set out. But when it was lifted, they set out. At the Lord’s command they made camp, and at the Lord’s command they set out. They kept the Lord’s command, as the Lord gave it through Moses.
The Lord spoke to Moses. “Make two silver trumpets,” he said. “Hammer them into shape. Use them to call all the people together and to start the camps on their journeys.
“When both are blown, the whole community is to come to you at the door of the . If just one is blown, the leaders, the heads of the thousands of Israel, are to come to you.
“When you sound an alarm, a special loud trumpet call, the camps on the east side are to set out. When you sound an alarm a second time, the camps on the south side are to set out. An alarm is to be sounded for them to set out on their journeys. But when the community is to be gathered, blow the trumpets without sounding an alarm.
“Aaron’s sons, the , are to blow the trumpets. This is a rule for you forever, for all your generations to come.
“When you go to war in your land against an enemy who is pressing you hard, sound an alarm on the trumpets, and the Lord your God will remember you. You will be saved from your enemies.
“Also, on your days of celebration, at your set feasts and at the start of each month, blow the trumpets over your and over the sacrifices of your . The trumpets will be a reminder for you in the presence of your God. I am the Lord your God.”
In the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month, the cloud rose from over the tabernacle of the . The Israelites set out on their journeys from the wilderness of Sinai, and in the wilderness of the cloud stopped and stayed. This was the first time they set out, at the Lord’s command through Moses.
First the camp of set out under its banner, army by army. the son of was over Judah’s army, and the armies of the tribes of and went with it, each with its own leader. Then the tabernacle was taken down, and the sons of and the sons of set out, carrying it.
Next the camp of set out under its banner, army by army: the armies of Reuben, and , each with its own leader. After that the set out. They carried the holy things. By the time they arrived, the others had set up the tabernacle.
Then the camp of set out under its banner, army by army, with the armies of Ephraim, and . Last came the camp of under its banner, army by army, with the armies of Dan, and . Dan’s camp guarded the back of all the camps. Each of these tribes, too, had its own leader over its army.
That was how the Israelites traveled, army by army, when they set out.
Moses spoke to , the son of the , Moses’ father-in-law. “We are traveling to the place the Lord said he would give us,” he said. “Come along with us, and we will treat you well, because the Lord has said he will do good things for Israel.”
“I won’t go,” he answered. “I’ll go home to my own land and my own relatives.”
Moses said, “Please don’t leave us. You know how we should camp in the wilderness. You can be our eyes. And if you go with us—yes, if you do—whatever good the Lord does for us, we’ll do the same for you.”
They traveled for three days from the mountain of the Lord. All that time the of the Lord’s covenant went ahead of them, to look for a resting place for them. The cloud of the Lord was over them during the day as they moved on from the camp.
When the ark went forward, Moses said,
“Rise up, Lord, and let your enemies be scattered!Let those who hate you flee from you!”
When it came to rest, he said,
“Return, Lord, to Israel’s thousands upon thousands.”