Numbers 9:19

_AND WHEN THE CLOUD TARRIED LONG UPON THE TABERNACLE MANY DAYS, THEN THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL KEPT THE CHARGE OF THE LORD, AND JOURNEYED NOT._ Israel kept the charge of the Lord. A desert life has its attractions, and constant movements create a passionate love of change. Many incidents show that the Israelites strongly imbibed this nomad habit, and were desirous of hastening to Canaan. But still the phases of the cloud indicated a command of God; and whatsoever irksomeness they might have felt in remaining long stationary in camp, "when the cloud tarried upon the tabernacle many days, they kept the charge of the Lord, and journeyed not." Happy for them if they had always exhibited this spirit of obedience! And happy for all if, through the wilderness of this world, we implicitly follow the leadings of God's providence and the directions of God's Word!...

19._Then the children kept the charge of the Lord. _Some, (4) in my opinion, extend this too far, thinking that when the cloud tarried, the children of Israel, being as it were at leisure, employed themselves in the worship of God; but I restrict it rather to that heedfulness which is then praised at some length. To keep the charge _(custodiam,) _then, is equivalent to regarding the will of God with the greatest earnestness and care. For, when the cloud had begun to rest in any place, the people knew that they were to remain there; but if on the next day they were not attentive, the cloud might vanish, and thus their neglect and carelessness might deprive them of this incomparable advantage. To this end it is said immediately afterwards that, If for one day, or more, or even for a month, or a year, the cloud stood still, the people was, as it were, tied to the spot. The old interpreter...

15-23 This cloud was appointed to be the visible sign and symbol of God's presence with Israel. Thus we are taught to see God always near us, both night and day. As long as the cloud rested on the tabernacle, so long they continued in the same place. There is no time lost, while we are waiting God's time. When the cloud was taken up, they removed, however comfortably they were encamped. We are kept at uncertainty concerning the time of our putting off the earthly house of this tabernacle, that we may be always ready to remove at the command of the Lord. It is very safe and pleasant going when we see God before us, and resting where he appoints us to rest. The leading of this cloud is spoken of as signifying the guidance of the blessed Spirit. We are not now to expect such tokens of the Divine presence and guidance; but the promise is sure to all God's spiritual Israel, that he will guid...

EXPOSITION THE SIGNALS OF GOD (Numbers 9:15-4). NUMBERS 9:15 ON THE DAY THAT THE TABERNACLE WAS REARED UP. Here we are sent back again to _the _great day of Israel's sojourn at Sinai, when God took visible possession of his dwelling in the midst of them (Exodus 40:34). Everything after that was but preparatory to the approaching departure, and therefore is narrated not in any order of time, but either as it referred back to the first day of the first month, or forward to the twentieth day of the second month. The cloud covered the tabernacle, namely, the tent of the testimony....

AND WHEN THE CLOUD TARRIED LONG UPON THE TABERNACLE MANY DAYS,.... Or years, for days are sometimes put for years, and in some places the cloud tarried several years; or however, if it stayed but a month or a year in any place, as in Numbers 9:22; THEN THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL KEPT THE CHARGE OF THE LORD, AND JOURNEYED NOT; they not only kept watching when it would move, or set sentinels for that purpose to observe it, but they kept the charge, order, or commandment, which the tarrying of the cloud was a token of, and did not attempt to proceed in their journey until they had an intimation so to do by its motion; and all this while, likewise, the tabernacle being up, they observed all the precepts and ordinances of the Lord in the service of it....

Numbers 9:1. _And the LORD spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying, Let the children of Israel also keep the passover at his appointed season._ I should almost fear that they had omitted the keeping of the passover for a year. There was a first celebration of it when they came out of Egypt; but then it was not so much a type as a matter of fact; it was the thing itself, not the remembrance of the coming out of Egypt, but the actual coming out, the exodus. One would gather from this command of the Lord that, on the first anniversary of that memorable season, the children of Israel had omitted its observance, and hence Jehovah said to Moses, «Let the children of Israel also keep the passover at his appointed season.» If this conjecture is correct, it is very significant that a rite which be

7. PASSOVER AND JEHOVAH WITH HIS PEOPLE CHAPTER 9 _ 1. The command to keep the Passover (Numbers 9:1)_ 2. The Passover kept (Numbers 9:4) 3. Provision in case of defilement (Numbers 9:6) 4. Jehovah with His people (Numbers 9:15) Jehovah next commands His people to keep the feast of redemption, Passover. And they obeyed at once. The first Passover was held in Egypt, the second in the wilderness at Sinai, with their faces turned towards the land of promise, and it was next celebrated in the land of Canaan. This shows how essential the blood is for everything. The blood delivers out of Egypt, it keeps in

THE MOVEMENT OF THE CAMP DETERMINED BY THE FIERY CLOUD. Since according to P the Tabernacle was in the centre of the camp when it was stationary, and in the midst of the column when it was on the march (Numbers 2:17; Numbers 10:21), the setting or rising of the cloud above it only gave the signal for encamping or for breaking up the camp: the direction of the march was conveyed from Yahweh through Moses (Numbers 10:13). The view of the writer of Numbers 10:33 * is quite different. The conception of the cloud as fiery (Numbers 9:15) maintains the idea o

E. THE CLOUD OVER THE TABERNACLE VV. 15-23 TEXT Chapter Numbers 9:15. And on the day that the tabernacle was reared up the cloud covered the tabernacle, namely, the tent of the testimony; and at even there was upon the tabernacle as it were the appearance of fire, until the morning. 16. So it was alway: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night. 17. And when the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then after that the children of Israel journeyed: and in the place where the cloud abode, there the children of Israel pitched their tents. 18. At the commandment of the Lord the children of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of the Lord they pitched: as long as the cloud abode upon the tabernacle they rested in their tents. 19. And when the cloud tarried long upon the tabernacle many days, then the children of Israel kept the charge of the Lord, and journeyed n

RULES ABOUT THE PASSOVER. THE CLOUD AS GUIDE 1-5. The Passover of the second year. This Passover took place before the events narrated in Numbers 1 : cp. Numbers 9:1 with Numbers 1:1. The repetition of the injunction to keep the Passover was necessary, because the law in Exodus did not contemplate the possibility of a Passover in the wilderness: see Exodus 12:25. 6-14. The Supplementary Passover. Certain persons who were unable to celebrate the Passover at the proper time, because of a ceremonial defilement (Numbers 9:6), are enjoined to observe a supplementary Passover on the fourteenth day of the second month ...