Numberschapter 10
36 verses · Moses, by tradition · 15th to 13th century BC · The Law
Key verse
“Make two trumpets of hammered silver to be used for calling the congregation and for having the camps set out.
It stands in Two trumpets of beaten silver, verses 1 to 10.
The chapter
Chapter summary
Silver trumpets and departure from Sinai. Two trumpets of beaten silver. One blast, the princes assemble; both, the whole congregation; long blast, alarm for battle. The trumpets in war shall remember Israel before the LORD. On the twentieth day of the second month of the second year, the cloud lifts from the tabernacle of the testimony; Judah leads; the tribes move in order. Moses invites Hobab (his brother-in-law) to go with them: ‘we will do thee good’. The ark goes before: ‘rise up, LORD, and let thine enemies be scattered’; when it rested, ‘return, O LORD, unto the many thousands of Israel’. The march into the wilderness begins.
Context
Law · Moses · Numbers overview
The world behind this chapter
Numbers 10The history
The chapter is Moses' own, given to the man the LORD spoke with at the mountain, who ordered the trumpets made and led the column out.
Numbers 10:11 puts the lifting of the cloud on the twentieth day of the second month of the second year after the exodus. Exodus 19:1 had brought Israel to the mountain in the third month of the first year, so the stay there ran close to eleven months. On the dating this book uses, with the exodus at about 1446 BC, the departure falls in about 1445 BC.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
The place is the Wilderness of Sinai, and the column moves north until the cloud settles in the Wilderness of Paran.
A pair of silver and bronze trumpets was found in the tomb of Tutankhamun, short straight instruments with a flared bell that carry a few piercing notes a long way. In a camp of that size a runner with a message was useless and a horn was everything, so the signals were a code rather than a noise. The same instruments were sounded in war, so that God would remember His people, and over the sacrifices at the feasts and the new moons.
One more thing a first hearer knew is how people crossed that country. A man who had lived in it knew where the water and the pasture lay, which is what Moses asks of his Midianite relative Hobab.
What it meant to them
After nearly a year in one place, Israel moved, and it moved in order, at a signal, and behind the ark. The escape from Egypt had become a nation on the march. The rule about sounding the trumpets in battle told them what their weapon was, since the horn was a cry to God to remember them rather than a rallying cry to the troops.
Sources cited
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
- K. A. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament
- The chapter's published exposition notes on Numbers 10:11-12 and on Numbers 10:31-32, written from Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch , Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, *Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible*, Albert Barnes, *Notes on the Old Testament*, and Matthew Henry, *Commentary on the Whole Bible*
- src/components/book/dossier-content/numbers.ts
Where the chapter sits
Numbers 10 falls in First census and camp order (chapters 1–10). Twelve tribes numbered; the camp arranged around the tabernacle; the order of march; the cloud lifts.
After it: From Sinai to Kadesh, chapters 11–14.
The whole shape of Numbers→The structure of this chapter
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. Two trumpets of beaten silver
1. (vv. 1-2)
Numbers 10:1
“And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... When the following directions concerning the trumpets were given is not certain; it may he at the time when the order of the camps of Israel was fixed, and is here recorded before the journeying of them, which was one use they were to be put unto, Num 10:2, saying; as follows.”
Numbers 10:2
“Make thee two trumpets of silver - The necessity of such instruments will at once appear, when the amazing extent of this numerous army is considered; and how even the sound of two trumpets could reach them all is difficult to conceive; but we may suppose that, when they were sounded, the motion of those that were within reach of that sound taught the others in succession what they should do.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 10:2
“And although the camp comprehended 2,500,000 of people, two trumpets would be quite sufficient, for sound is conveyed easily through the pure atmosphere and reverberated strongly among the valleys of the Sinaitic hills.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
The instrument commanded here is the silver trumpet, and it is a different thing from the ram's horn that sounded at Sinai in Exodus 19:16. Of a whole piece renders the word used of the candlestick at Exodus 25:31, beaten out of one mass rather than assembled from parts. The verse names two uses in one breath, calling the assembly and moving the camps, so worship and marching orders come from the same pair of instruments.
2. (vv. 3-4)
Numbers 10:3
“And when they shall blow with them,.... With both the trumpets, in an even and continued sound, that is, the sons of Aaron: all the assembly shall assemble themselves to thee at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation; to hear what was to be said unto them: blowing both the trumpets together was a token that the whole congregation was called to meet together at the tabernacle, the door of which was the usual place of assembling, especially on religious counts, for there also the Lord met them, Exo 29:42.”
Numbers 10:4
“And if they blow but with one trumpet,....”
Both trumpets blown together bring the whole nation to the door of the tent, and one trumpet brings the princes only. The signal carries its own address, so a man knows from the sound whether he is the one being called. The gathering place is the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, which Exodus 29:42 had already named as the place where God meets them.
3. (vv. 5-7)
Numbers 10:5
“Blow an alarm - i. e. along continuous peal. Compare Num 10:7, ye shall blow, but not sound an alarm: i. e. blow in short, sharp notes, not in a continuous peal. A third and a fourth alarm were probably blown as signals.”
Numbers 10:6
“One alarm was the recognized signal for the eastern division of the camp (the tribes of Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun) to march; two alarms gave the signal for the southern to move; and, though it is not in our present Hebrew text, the Septuagint has, that on three alarms being sounded, those on the west; while on four blasts, those on the north decamped.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Numbers 10:7
“But when the congregation is to be gathered together,....”
The alarm is a broken quavering blast and the ordinary call is a long even note, and verse 7 states the difference outright, ye shall blow, but ye shall not sound an alarm. One alarm moves the east standard and a second alarm moves the south. The Hebrew text stops at two, while the Septuagint carries signals for the west and the north as well, which is why Barnes and Clarke reckon a third and a fourth alarm were blown.
4. (vv. 8-10)
Numbers 10:8
“The sons of Aaron - As the trumpets were emblematic of the voice of God, the priests only were to use them. At this time there were only two “sons of Aaron;” but in later times, when the number of priests was greater, more trumpets were used; we read of seven in the times of Joshua and David (see the marginal references.); and of a hundred and twenty in that of Solomon 2Ch 5:12.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 10:8
“In order to attract greater attention and more faithful observance, it was reserved to the priests alone, as the Lord's ministers; and as anciently in Persia and other Eastern countries the alarm trumpets were sounded from the tent of the sovereign, so were they blown from the tabernacle, the visible residence of Israel's King.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Numbers 10:9
“If ye go to war--In the land of Canaan, either when attacked by foreign invaders or when they went to take possession according to the divine promise, "ye [that is, the priests] shall blow an alarm." This advice was accordingly acted upon (Nu 31:6; 2Ch 13:12); and in the circumstances it was an act of devout confidence in God.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Numbers 10:10
“The apostle tells us that mount Sinai genders to bondage ( Gal. iv. 24 ), and signifies the law there given, which is of use indeed as a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, yet we must not rest in it, but advance towards the joys and liberties of the children of God, for our happiness is conferred not by the law, but by promise.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
3 more voices on this verse
Numbers 10:10
“In the day of your gladness - On every festival the people shall be collected by the same means.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Numbers 10:10
“In the day of your gladness - Compare Num 29:1; Lev 23:24; 2Ch 29:27; Ezr 3:10; Neh 12:35, Neh 12:41; Psa 81:3.”
Numbers 10:10
“Also in the day of your gladness,....”
The trumpets belong to the priests and to nobody else, and the ordinance runs through the generations, so 2 Chronicles 5:12 has a hundred and twenty priests sounding them at the temple. Verse 9 gives the trumpets to war and verse 10 gives them to gladness, new moons and sacrifices, and both uses are called a memorial before God. Numbers 31:6 sends Phinehas to battle with the trumpets in his hand, and at 2 Chronicles 13:12 Abijah points to the priests with the sounding trumpets as the reason Judah cannot be fought.
B. The cloud lifts and Israel marches
1. (vv. 11-12)
Numbers 10:11
“At this point commences the second great division of the book, extending to the close of Num. 14. The remaining verses of the present chapter narrate the actual break up of the camp at Sinai and the order of the march.”
Numbers 10:12
“The cloud rested in the wilderness of Paran - This was three days’ journey from the wilderness of Sinai, (see Num 10:33), and the people had three stations; the first at Kibroth-hattaavah, the second at Hazeroth, Num 11:35, and the third in the wilderness of Paran, see Num 12:16. But it is extremely difficult to determine these journeyings with any degree of exactness; and we are often at a loss to know whether the place in question was in a direct or retrograde position from the place previously mentioned.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
On the twentieth day of the second month: Exodus 19:1 brought Israel to Sinai in the third month of the first year, and this verse dates the departure to the twentieth day of the second month of the second year, so the camp at the mountain stood close to eleven months. Everything from Exodus 19 through Numbers 10:10 happens in that one place. The cloud is taken up and the nation moves, which is the rule laid down at Numbers 9:17-23, and no man gives the order.
2. (vv. 13-14)
Numbers 10:13
“Rather, And they journeyed (or, set forth) in the order of precedence according to (i. e. established by) the commandment of the Lord, etc., and described in Num 10:14-28.”
Numbers 10:14
“The standard - of Judah - See this order of marching explained at large on Numbers 2 (note). The following is the order in which this vast company proceeded in their march: - Judah Issachar Zebulun Gershonites, and Merarites carrying the tabernacle. Reuben Simeon Gad The Kohathites with the sanctuary. Ephraim Manasseh Benjamin Dan Asher Naphtali.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 10:14
“The leading standard, now lodged with that tribe, was an earnest of the sceptre which in David's time should be committed to it, and looked further to the captain of our salvation, of whom it was likewise foretold that unto him should the gathering of the people be.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Judah leads, as Numbers 2:3 had set it, pitched on the east toward the rising of the sun, and that precedence runs back to Genesis 49:10. The captain named is Nahshon the son of Amminadab, whose sister Elisheba married Aaron at Exodus 6:23 and whose name stands in the line of David at Ruth 4:20 and in the line of Christ at Matthew 1:4. Matthew Henry reads the leading standard as an early pledge of the sceptre afterward committed to David.
3. (vv. 15-17)
Numbers 10:15
“And over the host of the tribe of the children of Issachar was Nethaneel the son of Zuar. See Gill on Num 10:14.”
Numbers 10:16
“And over the host of the tribe of the children of Zebulun was Eliab the son of Helon. See Gill on Num 10:14.”
Issachar and Zebulun complete the east standard, and then the tent itself comes down. Gershon and Merari carry the structure directly behind Judah on the six wagons given them at Numbers 7:7-8, which puts the frame of the tabernacle six tribes ahead of the holy things it houses. Verse 21 gives the reason for that spacing.
4. (vv. 18-20)
Numbers 10:19
“And over the host of the tribe of the children of Simeon was Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai. See Gill on Num 10:18.”
Numbers 10:20
“And over the host of the tribe of the children of Gad was Eliasaph the son of Deuel. See Gill on Num 10:18.”
Reuben, Simeon and Gad move next, the south standard of Numbers 2:10-16. Reuben was the firstborn and walks fourth in the column, which Genesis 49:3-4 had explained and Numbers 2 had already fixed. The order of the march is the order of the camp down to the last name, so the arrangement holds when the nation is in motion.
5. (v. 21)
Numbers 10:21
“And the Kohathites set forward,....”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 10:21
“And they (that is, says the margin, the Gershonites and Merarites) did set up the tabernacle against they came; and perhaps it is expressed thus generally because, if there was occasion, not those Levites only, but the other Israelites that were in the first squadron, lent a hand to the tabernacle to hasten the rearing of it up, even before they set up their own tents.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The Kohathites carry the ark and the holy furniture on their shoulders, a rule made at Numbers 7:9 by giving them no wagons at all, and 2 Samuel 6:3-7 is where the rule is set aside and a man dies for it. They walk six tribes behind the frame of the tent, and the last clause of the verse explains the gap, the other did set up the tabernacle against they came. The house stands ready before its furniture arrives.
6. (vv. 22-24)
Numbers 10:22
“And the standard of the camp of the children of Ephraim set forward according to their armies,.... Next followed the standard of the camp of Ephraim, under which were Manasseh and Benjamin, Num 10:23, and over his host was Elishama the son of Ammihud; over whom were the same captains, as in Num 2:18.”
Numbers 10:23
“And over the host of the tribe of the children of Manasseh was Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur. See Gill on Num 10:22.”
Numbers 10:24
“And over the host of the tribe of the children of Benjamin was Abidan the son of Gideoni. See Gill on Num 10:22.”
Ephraim, Manasseh and Benjamin make the west standard of Numbers 2:18-24, and all three descend from Rachel. Ephraim goes before Manasseh here, the order Jacob set with crossed hands at Genesis 48:14-20 over Joseph's objection. The three captains are the same men who brought the offerings on days seven, eight and nine in Numbers 7.
7. (vv. 25-28)
Numbers 10:25
“And the standard of the camp of the children of Dan set forward,....”
Numbers 10:26
“And over the host of the tribe of the children of Asher was Pagiel the son of Ocran. See Gill on Num 10:25.”
Numbers 10:27
“And over the host of the tribe of the children of Naphtali was Ahira the son of Enan. See Gill on Num 10:25.”
Numbers 10:28
“Thus were the journeyings of the children of Israel,....”
Dan, Asher and Naphtali close the column as the north standard of Numbers 2:25-31. Rereward is the rear guard, and the older commentators note that the Hebrew behind it carries the sense of a gathering party, the men who took up what the camps ahead had left. Verse 28 closes the roll with a summary, and the whole list from verse 14 repeats Numbers 2 without altering a name or a position.
C. Come with us, and we will do you good
1. (vv. 29-30)
Numbers 10:29
“Hobab, the son of Raguel - Or Reuel Exo 2:18. Reuel was probably not identical with Jethro: and Hobab was the brother-in-law, not the father-in-law, of Moses; the Hebrew word translated in the King James Version “father-in-law,” signifying simply any relation by marriage (Exo 3:1 note). Hobab Jdg 1:16; Jdg 4:11 eventually accompanied the Israelites and obtained a settlement with them in the land of Canaan. Hobab and Jethro may have been brethren and sons of Reuel.”
2 more voices on this verse
Numbers 10:29
“And therefore this Hobab is not Jethro, but his son, which may seem more probable, because Jethro was old and unfit to travel, and desirous, as may well be thought, to die in his own country, whither he returned, Exod. xviii, 27, but Hobab was young and fitter for these journeys, and therefore entreated by Moses to stay and bear them company.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Numbers 10:29
“Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite--called also Reuel (the same as Jethro [Ex 2:18, Margin]). Hobab, the son of this Midianite chief and brother-in-law to Moses, seems to have sojourned among the Israelites during the whole period of their encampment at Sinai and now on their removal proposed returning to his own abode.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Numbers 10:30
“I will not go; but I will depart to mine own land, and to my kindred - From the strong expostulations in Num 10:31 and Num 10:32, and from Jdg 1:16; Jdg 4:11, and 1Sa 15:6, it is likely that Hobab changed his mind; or that, if he did go back to Midian, he returned again to Israel, as the above scriptures show that his posterity dwelt among the Israelites in Canaan.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 10:30
“And he said unto him, I will not go,.... Which was a very peremptory answer, he seemed determined, and at a point about it for the present, though it is, probable he afterwards changed his mind, like the young man in the parable, Mat 21:29, but I will depart to mine own land, and to my kindred; which were prevailing motives with him, his native country, his relations, and father's house; to this resolution he came, both because of his substance, and because of his family, as Jarchi.”
Who Hobab is has been argued for centuries, since the Hebrew word rendered father in law covers a range of relations by marriage. Barnes and Wesley read Hobab as the son of Reuel and the brother in law of Moses, while Jamieson, Fausset and Brown identify Reuel with Jethro and take Hobab for his son. What Moses offers him is a share in a promise rather than wages, come thou with us, and we will do thee good, and Hobab answers with a refusal and the pull of his own land and kindred.
2. (vv. 31-32)
Numbers 10:31
“Thou mayest be to us instead of eyes - A proverbial expression still in use in the East. Hobab would indicate the spots where water, fuel, and pasture might be found, or warn them of the dangers from hurricanes, and point out localities infested by robbers.”
Numbers 10:32
“Note, [1.] We can give only what we receive. We can do no more service and kindness to our friends than God is pleased to put it into the power of our hand to do. This is all we dare promise, to do good as God shall enable us. [2.] Those that share with God's Israel in their labours and hardships shall share with them in their comforts and honours.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 10:32
“And it shall be, if thou go with us, yea, it shall be,....”
Moses asks a Midianite to be to them instead of eyes one chapter after the cloud was given as their guide at Numbers 9:17-23, and the text sets the two beside each other and explains nothing. Barnes calls instead of eyes a desert proverb for the man who knows where water, fuel and pasture lie, while Henry suggests Moses spoke to give Hobab a use among them. The offer at verse 32 is measured out, what goodness the Lord shall do unto us, the same will we do unto thee, so Moses promises exactly what he expects to receive. Numbers never records whether Hobab went, though Judges 1:16 and 4:11 have his descendants settled in the land.
D. Rise up, O LORD, and scatter thine enemies
1. (vv. 33-34)
Numbers 10:33
“Three days’ journey - Probably a technical expression for such a distance as could not be traversed in a single day, and therefore not without intervals of encampment and due provision: compare Gen 30:36; Exo 3:18; Exo 5:3; Exo 8:27; Exo 15:22. The technical use of the phrase “Sabbath-day’s journey” for another average distance, Act 1:12, is similar. The ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them - From Num 10:21; Num 2:17 it would appear that the usual place of the ark during the march was in the midst of the host.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 10:33
“And they departed from the mount of the Lord three days' journey,...., From Mount Sinai, so called, because the Lord descended upon it, and gave the law from it; so the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan,"from the mount on which the glory of the Lord (or of his Shechinah or divine Majesty) was revealed.''This they left, after they had been nearly twelve months about it, and travelled three days' journey from it before the cloud rested, so as to abide, otherwise is stopped no doubt to give them time to eat their food, and take sleep and rest.”
Numbers 10:34
“And the cloud of the Lord was upon them by day,....”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 10:34
“By day - And by night too, as was expressed before. So we must learn to compare places of scripture, and to supply the defects of one out of another, as we do in all authors.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Three days out from the mountain the ark goes ahead of the column to search out a resting place, while Numbers 2:17 and verse 21 of this chapter put the ark in the middle of the host. Barnes marks the difference and both statements stand in the same chapter. The cloud is over them by day, which began at Exodus 13:21 and which Numbers 9 made the rule governing every move.
2. (v. 35)
Numbers 10:35
“Each forward movement and each rest of the ark was made to bear a sacramental character. The one betokened the going forth of God against His enemies; the other, His gathering of His own people to Himself: the one was the pledge of victory, the other the earnest of repose. Num 10:36 may be translated: “Restore” (i. e. to the land which their fathers sojourned in), “O Lord, the ten thousands of the thousands of Israel.” (Compare Psa 85:4, where the verb in the Hebrew is the same.)”
Two sentences from Moses frame every move of the ark, and this is the first of them. Psalm 68:1 opens with the same words, Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered, so the sentence outlives the wilderness and is sung over the ark in David's day. The Hebrew scribes set an inverted letter before verse 35 and after verse 36, and the reason for the mark is disputed. Ancient Jewish teachers treated the two verses as a small book of their own, which would make seven books in the Torah rather than five.
3. (v. 36)
Numbers 10:36
“Return, O Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel - These were the words spoken by Moses, at the moment the divisions halted in order to pitch their tents. In reference to this subject, and the history with which it is connected, the 68th Psalm seems to have been composed, though applied by David to the bringing the ark from Kirjath-jearim to Jerusalem. See the notes on Psalm 68 (note). Many thousands, literally the ten thousand thousands.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The resting sentence asks God to come back to the people rather than asking the people to settle. Many thousands is literally ten thousand thousands, and Barnes reads the line as a plea that the Lord restore the ten thousands of the thousands of Israel, taking the verb in the sense it carries at Psalm 85:4. Solomon prays the resting half of this pair at the dedication of the temple in 2 Chronicles 6:41, and Psalm 132:8 keeps it in nearly the same words, Arise, O Lord, into thy rest, thou, and the ark of thy strength.
This page carries no textual note on Numbers 10. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
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Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.