Numbers 10 explained: Leaving Sinai in Marching Order

Two silver trumpets (vv. 1-10)

In a camp too big for any voice to reach, trumpets gave orders: both blown together called everyone, one called only the clan leaders, and a different kind of blast meant break camp. Only priests blew them, and in battle or at festivals the sound also worked as a kind of prayer, asking God to remember his people.

The cloud lifts (vv. 11-13)

Nearly a year after arriving at Sinai, the cloud over the sacred tent rose, which was the sign to move. The people traveled in stages to the Desert of Paran, a wide, dry plateau stretching toward the southern edge of Canaan.

Order of the march (vv. 14-28)

Each group of three tribes moved under its own banner and leader, in the arrangement laid out earlier in the book, with Judah in front and Dan guarding the rear. The tent's frame went ahead so it could be set up before the most holy objects arrived, carried by hand in the middle of the column.

Moses asks Hobab to stay (vv. 29-32)

Moses urges his Midianite in-law to come along, offering him a share in the good things God has promised and saying Hobab knows where they should camp and can be their eyes. The chapter does not explain why Moses wanted a guide when the cloud was leading them, and it does not record Hobab's final answer, though the book of Judges later mentions descendants of Moses' in-law living among Israel.

The ark goes ahead (vv. 33-36)

The ark, the sacred chest holding the covenant tablets, led the way for three days to find a resting place. Moses' short prayers at each start and stop treated every move as God marching out ahead of them and then settling back among them.

Key verse: Numbers 10:35

Something to think about

When you head into something unfamiliar, how do you weigh a sense of being guided against the practical advice of people who know the ground?