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Numbers 10:17

in Numbers 10

Then the tabernacle was taken down, and the Gershonites and the Merarites set out, transporting it.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And the tabernacle was taken down; and the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari, who bare the tabernacle, set forward.

KJV

And the tabernacle was taken down; and the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari set forward, bearing the tabernacle.

This verse in Numbers 10

Commentary

6 notes on this verse
A more precise determination of the method of executing the order given in Num 2:17. The appointed place of the tabernacle, in the midst of the host, was represented during the march by the ark, the holy vessels, etc. carried by the Kohathites. The actual structure of the tabernacle was borne in advance by the Gershonites and Merarites, immediately behind the camp of Judah; so as to be set up ready against the arrival of the sacred utensils borne by the Kohathites. Compare Num. 2; 4,

This site's exposition

Nethanel son of Zuar

on Numbers 10:15-17

Issachar and Zebulun complete the east standard, and then the tent itself comes down. Gershon and Merari carry the structure behind Judah on the six wagons of Numbers 7:7-8. That puts the frame of the tabernacle six tribes ahead of the holy things it houses.

This site's exposition

Then the tabernacle was taken down

Matthew Henry says the tent came down as soon as the cloud lifted, and the six carts of Numbers 7 carried its bulkier parts. He reads the frequent moving of the tabernacle as a sign that the ceremonial order would pass, as Hebrews 8:13 says of the first covenant.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

And the tabernacle was taken down,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

And here the six wagons came laden with the more bulky part of the tabernacle. This frequent removing of the tabernacle in all their journeys signified the movableness of that ceremonial dispensation. That which was so often shifted would at length vanish away, Heb. viii.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

The marching order is described (Nu 2:1-34); but, as the vast horde is represented here in actual migration, let us notice the extraordinary care that was taken for ensuring the safe conveyance of the holy things.

The words behind it

9 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וְהוּרַ֖דand it was taken down

    vehuradH3381 →381 times

  • הַמִּשְׁכָּ֑ןthe tabernacle

    hamishkanH4908 →139 times

  • וְנָסְע֤וּand they set out

    venaseuH5265 →146 times

  • בְנֵֽי־[the] descendants of

    venei-H1121 →4930 times

  • גֵרְשׁוֹן֙Gershon

    gereshonH1648 →18 times

  • וּבְנֵ֣יand [the] descendants of

    uveneiH1121 →4930 times

  • מְרָרִ֔יMerari

    merariH4847 →36 times

  • נֹשְׂאֵ֖י[the] bearers of

    noseeiH5375 →656 times

  • הַמִּשְׁכָּֽן׃ סthe tabernacle

    hamishkanH4908 →139 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    2 Peter 1:14

    because I know that this tent will soon be laid aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.

    it leads to

    • 2 Timothy 4:6

      For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.

    • John 21:18–19

      Truly, truly, I tell you, when you were young, you dressed yourself and walked where you wanted; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you…

  • Through

    Hebrews 9:11

    But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that have come, He went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made by hands and is not a part…

    it leads to

    • Hebrews 9:23–24

      So it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

    • Acts 17:24–25

      The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made by human hands.

    • 2 Corinthians 5:1

      Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is dismantled, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.

    • Hebrews 8:1–2

      The point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,

    • Hebrews 10:1

      For the law is only a shadow of the good things to come, not the realities themselves. It can never, by the same sacrifices offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near…

  • Through

    Numbers 1:51

    Whenever the tabernacle is to move, the Levites are to take it down, and whenever it is to be pitched, the Levites are to set it up. Any outsider who goes near it must…

    it leads to

    • Numbers 3:38

      Moses, Aaron, and Aaron’s sons were to camp to the east of the tabernacle, toward the sunrise, before the Tent of Meeting. They were to perform the duties of the sanctuary as a service…

Where this verse is studied

About Numbers

The Brazen Serpent, Anthony van Dyck, 1618 to 1620. Public domain.
The Brazen Serpent, Anthony van Dyck, 1618 to 1620. Public domain.

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); 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 (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.