Bibelkommentare

INTRODUCTION TO Numbers 10

This chapter gives an account of the directions given for making two silver trumpets, and of the use of them, the ends and purposes for which they were to be made, Numbers 10:1; and of the time of taking up of the cloud from the tabernacle, and of the removal of the camp of Israel from the wilderness of Sinai, and of the order of their march, Numbers 10:11; when Moses most earnestly passed Hobab, his brother in law, to continue with him, Numbers 10:29; and the chapter is closed with the prayer of Moses at the setting forward of the ark, and the resting of it, Numbers 10:33.

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, Numbers 10:2,

saying; as follows.

Make thee two trumpets of silver,.... A metal very valuable and precious, durable, and fit for sound; only two are ordered, Aaron having but two sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, who were to blow with them, Numbers 10:8; for though Moses's order is, "make thee", or for thee, yet not for his own use, but for the priests to use when he should order them: the Targum of Jonathan adds, of what is thine own, as if they were to be made at his own expense; but others say, and which is more probable, that they were to be made at the public expense: Josephus (i) gives a description of them, and says, that they were little less than a cubit long, the pipe of them narrow, but broader about the mouth to receive the breath, and ended like a bell; they seem to be much of the shape of our trumpets: these trumpets were an emblem of the ministry of the Gospel, called the great trumpet, and in the ministration of which, the preachers of it are to lift up their voice like a trumpet, to show men their perishing condition through sin, and to encourage them, as such who are ready to perish, to come to Christ for salvation, Isaiah 27:13; the Gospel is comparable to silver, being fetched out of the mines of the sacred Scriptures, pure and free from the dross of errors and human inventions, will bear to be tried by the standard of the word, and is lasting and durable, yea, the everlasting Gospel; as well as valuable and precious, containing the unsearchable riches of Christ, &c. treasures of divine truths, comparable to gold, silver, and precious stones; yea, it is more valuable and precious than silver, not to be obtained by that, more profitable and useful, more satisfying and lasting: the number two may be applicable to the two dispensations, under which the Gospel has been ministered, directing to the same Saviour, and to the same way of salvation, by his grace, his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice; and to the two Testaments, which agree in the same truths respecting his person, offices, obedience, sufferings, and death; and to the prophets and apostles of both dispensations and testaments, who have united in laying Christ as the foundation; and also to the two witnesses that are still to prophecy in sackcloth, that is, preach the Gospel and blow the trumpet of it: Revelation 11:3.

of an whole piece shall thou make them; of one solid mass of silver, beaten with an hammer, as Jarchi, such a piece as the candlestick was made of in Exodus 25:31, where the same word is used as here, and rendered "beaten work": this may denote the pure and unmixed Gospel of Christ, having no dross, nor bad nor base metal of human corruptions in it; no jar, discord, or contradiction in it, but all in perfect harmony and agreement; and the whole of it, no part of it dropped or concealed; and the ministry of it, laboured by those employed in it, who study to show themselves workmen that need not be ashamed:

that thou mayest use them for the calling the assembly; the body of the people of Israel, either on civil or sacred accounts, see Joel 1:15; the ministry of the Gospel is for the calling and gathering of souls to Christ, and to his churches; even the remnant of Israel, all that are given to Christ and redeemed by his blood, whether Jews or Gentiles; these are gathered out of the world, which is an act of distinguishing grace; it is by means of the Gospel trumpet that they are awakened, and quickened, and directed to Christ:

and for the journeying of the camps: both of the four camps of the Israelites, and the camp of the Levites, to direct them when they should set forward on a journey: and of like use is the ministry of the Gospel; saints are pilgrims and travellers here; they are passing through a wilderness, their way is attended with many difficulties; Canaan is the place they are travelling to, and the Gospel is of singular use to them by the way, both to refresh them with its joyful sound, and to direct them in the path in which they should go.

(i) Antiqu. l. 3. c. 12. sect. 6.

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, Exodus 29:42.

And if they blow but with one trumpet,.... With only one of them, or but once, with one sounding, and that an even one as before:

then the princes, which are the heads of the thousands of Israel,

shall gather themselves unto thee: and they only or alone, as Aben Ezra: by this token, or by this difference of blowing both trumpets, or only one, it was, easily known when the whole congregation or when the princes only were to meet Moses at the same place, the door of the tabernacle of the congregation; and all are to attend divine service, and the ministry of the word, even the whole church of God, and all the members of it, high and low, rich and poor, princes and people.

When ye blow an alarm,.... Making a broken, uneven, and quavering sound, which is called a "tara-tan-tara":

then the camps that lie on the east parts shall go forward; the camps of Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun, which lay to the east of the tabernacle, at the front of it; see Numbers 1:3; this was to be the token for their march, which was first of all; Numbers 10:14.

When ye blow an alarm the second time,.... Another "tara-tan-tara":

then the camps that lie on the south side shall take their journey; the camps of Reuben, Simeon, and Gad, which were encamped on the south side of the tabernacle, Numbers 2:10; and, as Josephus (k) says, at the third sounding of the alarm, that part of the camp which lay to the west moved, which were the camps of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin, Numbers 2:18; and at the fourth sounding, as he says, those which were at the north, the camps of Dan, Asher, and Naphtali, Numbers 2:25; which, though not expressed in the Hebrew text, are added in the Septuagint version, as they are to be understood:

they shall blow an alarm for their journeys; for the journeys of the said camps, as a signal or token when they should begin to march.

(k) Ut supra. (Antiq. l. 3. c. 12. sect. 6.)

But when the congregation is to be gathered together,.... At the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and not to move in separate camps or bodies one after another:

you shall blow, but you shall not sound an alarm; blow with an even and uninterrupted sound, and not with a broken and quavering one; by which the congregation and camps were distinguished from one another, the same certain sound being given to each constantly, whereby they knew which were called to motion: see 1 Corinthians 14:8; according to Ben Gersom blowing was a voice drawn out, and joined or continued; an alarm, a voice not joined, but broken.