Chapter 10:
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Leviticus Deuteronomy
Numbers 10
The
silver trumpets
Chapter 10 speaks of the
silver trumpets which served for calling the assembly of
the people, and for the journeying of the camps, but
which serve also for other purposes. It was the testimony
of God, rendered publicly, with two chief ends in view;
to gather the people, and to make them journey. It is so
indeed, practically; the testimony of God gathers His
people around Him, and makes them go forward. The
testimony of God was the sign of His intervention,
whilst, at the same time, its result was to produce it.
The priests who, in communion with their head, were to be
in the intimacy of the thoughts of God, sounded the
trumpets when needed.
All was thus done
according to communion with God in His sanctuary. After
the people were brought into the land, if war arose, they
sounded an alarm: they proclaimed the testimony of God,
without being afraid, and God remembered His people and
interfered. So with us, we need never fear the attack of
the enemy; instead of being frightened, let us give a
faithful testimony, in answer to which God has pledged
Himself to come in in power. Let us not fear: in nothing
terrified by our adversaries.
The trumpets were also
used in the solemn feasts; for the testimony and the
memorial of God constitute the joy of His gathered
people. Thus the whole people in national unity and
order, were assembled as the camp where God was, and were
to march in like order. All was complete for the order of
the people, and the service of Jehovah.
The order of the
march: precedence of the ark
At length the people are
called to take the first stage of their journey. The
order followed in the march differs from that which had
been prescribed, in this, that the tabernacle, with its
curtains, went after the first three tribes, that it
might be set up to receive the ark, which followed the
second division. Still this was merely a detail in the
arrangements, to have all ready when the ark arrived. But
God appears in a remarkable manner in grace, outside the
whole order He had prescribed; for it is the ark itself
which precedes the whole camp. Moses had asked a child of
the wilderness to be to them instead of eyes; but what
man does not care to do, God takes upon Himself. He comes
out of the place which He had taken in the midst of the
tribes, to be taken care of, so to speak, and honoured
there, and makes Himself, in some sort, their servant,
seeking a place where they might rest in the trackless
desert.
A place of rest in
the wilderness
It was not in Canaan, but
a place in the wilderness, where the Lord went a three
days' journey to seek a rest for them. A beautiful
picture of the tender and precious grace of Him who, if
He makes us pass through the wilderness for our good,
does not fail to be there with us, and who takes care, in
putting out His sheep, to go before them, and to solace
them with His love. Mighty leader of His people by the
way, He is their joy and their glory when He comes to
rest in their midst!
This closes the divinely
instituted order of the camp and the grace that led them
through the wilderness. Compare Psalm 132: 8, where God
at the close of Israel's history (anticipating David)
arises into His rest. Psalm 68 is God's intervention to
establish the rest.
Chapter 10:
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Leviticus Deuteronomy
This version of Darby's Synopsis of the Old Testament is a derivative of an electronic version, Copyright 1995 by L. Hodgett. Used by permission. The files of the Synopsis found on this site may not be reproduced without permission from L. J. L. Hodgett, Stem Publishing. A special thanks to L. J. L. Hodgett and Stem Publishing for permission to create and post this version of Darby's Synopsis of the Old Testament.
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