The document discusses the command given by God to Moses regarding the observance of the Passover in the wilderness of Sinai, one year after the Israelites' exodus from Egypt. It emphasizes the importance of maintaining the Passover ritual and provides rules for participation, particularly for those who were ceremonially unclean at the time. The text also reflects on the historical context of the ordinance and the necessity of diligent observance to prevent forgetfulness among the Israelites.

1. NUMBERS 9 COMMENTARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
The Passover
1The Lord spoke to Moses in the Desert of Sinai
in the first month of the second year after they
came out of Egypt. He said,
BARNES, "Passover at Sinai. This, as being kept in the first month, was
prior in time to the numbering of Num_1:1 ff, and to the other events
narrated in this book. It is, however, recorded here as introductory to the
ordinance of Num_9:6-14 in this chapter respecting the supplementary
Passover; the observance of which was one of the last occurrences during
the halt at Sinai.
CLARKE, "The Lord spake unto Moses - The fourteen first verses of this
chapter certainly refer to transactions that took place at the time of those
mentioned in the commencement of this book, before the numbering of the
people, and several learned men are of opinion that these fourteen verses
should be referred back to that place. We have already met with instances
where transpositions have very probably taken place, and it is not difficult
to account for them. As in very early times writing was generally on leaves
of the Egyptian flag papyrus, or on thin laminae of different substances,
facts and transactions thus entered were very liable to be deranged; so that
when afterwards a series was made up into a book, many transactions might
be inserted in wrong places, and thus the exact chronology of the facts be
greatly disturbed. MSS. written on leaves of trees, having a hole in each,
through which a cord is passed to keep them all in their places, are
frequently to be met with in the cabinets of the curious, and many such are
now before me, especially in Singalese, Pali, and Burman. Should the cord
break, or be accidentally unloosed, it would be exceedingly difficult to string
them all in their proper places; accidents of this kind I have often met with
to my very great perplexity, and in some cases found it almost impossible to
restore each individual leaf to its own place; for it should be observed that
these separate pieces of oriental writing are not always paged like the leaves
of our printed books; nor are there frequently any catch-words or
signatures at the bottom to connect the series. This one consideration will
account for several transpositions, especially in the Pentateuch, where they
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2. occur more frequently than in any other part of the sacred writings.
Houbigant, who grants the existence of such transpositions, thinks that this
is no sufficient reason why the present order of narration should be
changed: “It is enough,” says he, non ignorare libros eos Mosis esse acta
rerum suo tempore gestarum, non historiam filo perpetuo elaboratam,”
“to know that these books contain an account of things transacted in the
days of Moses, though not in their regular or chronological order.’
GILL, "And the Lord spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai,.... While
the people of Israel were encamped there, before they took their journey
from thence:
in the first month of the second year, after they were come out of the land of
Egypt: the following order was given some time in the first month of the
second year of Israel's departure out of Egypt; the precise day is not
mentioned, it must be in the beginning of the month before the fourteenth
day of it, in which the passover is ordered to be kept, according to the first
institution of it; very probably immediately after the setting up of the
tabernacle, and the consecration of Aaron and his sons; and it must be
before the numbering of the people the fixing of their standards, the
appointment of the Levites, and the dedication of them; since the order for
the numbering of the people was on the first day of the second month,
Num_1:1, but the account of them was postponed to this time, in order to
give a relation of an affair which was not finished until the second month,
and therefore the whole is laid together here:
HENRY 1-5, Here we have,
I. An order given for the solemnization of the passover, the day
twelvemonth after they came out of Egypt, on the fourteenth day of the first
month of the second year, some days before they were numbered, for that
was done in the beginning of the second month. Observe, 1. God gave
particular orders for the keeping of this passover, otherwise (it should
seem) they would not have kept it, for, in the first institution of this
ordinance, it was appointed to be kept when they should come into the land
of promise, Exo_12:25. And, no passover till they came to Canaan, Jos_5:10.
This was an early indication of the abolishing of the ceremonial institutions
at last, that, so soon after they were first appointed, some of them were
suffered to lie asleep for so many years. The ordinance of the Lord's supper
(which came in the room of the passover) was not thus intermitted or set
aside in the first days of the Christian church, though those were days of
greater difficulty and distress than Israel knew in the wilderness; nay, in
the times of persecution, the Lord's supper was celebrated more frequently
than afterwards. The Israelites in the wilderness could not forget their
deliverance out of Egypt, their present state was a constant memorandum of
it to them. All the danger was when they came to Canaan; there therefore
they had need to be reminded of the rock out of which they were hewn.
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3. However, because the first passover was celebrated in a hurry, and was
rather the substance itself than the sign, it was the will of God that at the
return of the year, when they were more composed, and better acquainted
with the divine law, they should observe it again, that their children might
more distinctly understand the solemnity and the better remember it
hereafter. Calvin supposes that they were obliged to keep it now, and notes
it as an instance of their carelessness that they had need to be reminded of
an institution which they so lately received. 2. Moses faithfully transmitted
to the people the orders given him, Num_9:4. Thus Paul delivered to the
churches what he received of the Lord concerning the gospel passover, 1Co_
11:23. Note, Magistrates must be monitors, and ministers must stir up men's
minds by way of remembrance to that which is good. 3. The people
observed the orders given them, Num_9:5. Though they had lately kept the
feast of dedication (ch. 7), yet they did not desire to excuse themselves with
that from keeping this feast. Note, Extraordinary performances must not
supersede or jostle out or stated services. They kept the passover even in the
wilderness: though our condition be solitary and unsettled, yet we must
keep up our attendance on God by holy ordinances as we have opportunity,
for in them we may find the best conversation and the best repose. Thus is
God' Israel provided for in a desert.
II. Instructions given concerning those that were ceremonially unclean
when they were to eat the passover. The law of the passover required every
Israelite to eat of it. Some subsequent laws had forbidden those that had
contracted any ceremonial pollution to eat of the holy things; those whose
minds and consciences are defiled by sin are utterly unfit for communion
with God, and cannot partake, with any true comfort, of the gospel
passover, till they are cleansed by true repentance and faith: and a sad
dilemma they are in; if they come not to holy ordinances, they are guilty of a
contempt of them; if they do come in their pollution, they are guilty of a
profanation of them. They must therefore wash, and then compass God's
altar. Now,
JAMISON, "Num_9:1-5. The Passover enjoined.
K&D 1-5, "The Passover at Sinai, and Instructions for a Supplementary
Passover. - Num_9:1-5. On the first institution of the Passover, before the
exodus from Egypt, God had appointed the observance of this feast as an
everlasting statute for all future generations (Exo_12:13, Exo_12:24-25). In
the first month of the second year after the exodus, that is to say,
immediately after the erection of the tabernacle (Exo_40:2, Exo_40:17),
this command was renewed, and the people were commanded “to keep the
Passover in its appointed season, according to all its statutes and rights;”
not to postpone it, that is, according to an interpretation that might possibly
have been put upon Exo_12:24-25, until they came to Canaan, but to keep it
there at Sinai. And Israel kept it in the wilderness of Sinai, in exact
accordance with the commands which God had given before (Ex 12). There
is no express command, it is true, that the blood of the paschal lambs,
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4. instead of being smeared upon the lintel and posts of the house-doors (or
the entrances to the tents), was to be sprinkled upon the altar of burnt-
offering; nor is it recorded that this was actually done; but it followed of
itself from the altered circumstances, inasmuch as there was not destroying
angel to pass through the camp at Sinai and smite the enemies of Israel,
whilst there was an altar in existence now upon which all the sacrificial
blood was to be poured out, and therefore the blood of the paschal sacrifice
also.
(Note: If we take into consideration still further, the fact that the law
had already been issued that the blood of all the animals slain for food,
whether inside or outside the camp, was to be sprinkled upon the altar
(Lev_17:3-6), there can be no doubt that the blood of the paschal lambs
would also have to be sprinkled upon the altar, notwithstanding the
difficulties referred to by Kurtz, arising from the small number of
priests to perform the task, viz., Aaron, Eleazar, and Ithamar, as Nadab
and Abihu were now dead. But (1) Kurtz estimates the number of paschal
lambs much too high, viz., at 100,000 to 140,000; for when he reckons
the whole number of the people at about two millions, and gives one
lamb upon an average to every fifteen or twenty persons, he includes
infants and sucklings among those who partook of the Passover. But as
there were only 603,550 males of twenty years old and upwards in the
twelve tribes, we cannot reckon more than about 700,000 males as
participants in the paschal meal, since the children under ten or twelve
years of age would not come into the calculation, even if those who were
between eight and twelve partook of the meal, since there would be many
adults who could not eat the Passover, because they were unclean. Now
if, as Josephus affirms (de bell. jud. vi. 9, 3), there were never less than
ten, and often as many as twenty, who joined together in the time of
Christ (οὐκ ἔλασσον ἀνδρῶν δέκα...πολλοί δέ καὶ σὺν εἴκοσιν ἀθροίζονται), we
need not assume that there were more than 50,000 lambs required for the feast of
Passover at Sinai; because even if all the women who were clean took part in the
feast, they would confine themselves as much as possible to the quantity actually
needed, and one whole sheep of a year old would furnish flesh enough for one
supper for fifteen males and fifteen females. (2) The slaughtering of all these
lambs need not have taken place in the narrow space afforded by the court, even
if it was afterwards performed in the more roomy courts of the later temple, as
has been inferred from 2Ch_30:16 and 2Ch_35:11. Lastly, the sprinkling of the
blood was no doubt the business of the priests. But the Levites assisted them, so
that they sprinkled the blood upon the altar “out of the hand of the Levites” (2Ch_
30:16). Moreover, we are by no means in a condition to pronounce positively
whether three priests were sufficient or not at Sinai, because we have no precise
information respecting the course pursued. The altar, no doubt, would appear too
small for the performance of the whole within the short time of hardly three hours
(from the ninth hour of the day to the eleventh). But if it was possible, in the time
of the Emperor Nero, to sprinkle the blood of 256,500 paschal lambs (for that
number was actually counted under Cestius; see Josephus, l. c.) upon the altar of
the temple of that time, which was six, or eight, or even ten times larger, it must
have been also possible, in Moses' time, for the blood of 50,000 lambs to be
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5. sprinkled upon the altar of the tabernacle, which was five cubits in length, and the
same in breadth.)
CALVIN, "1.And the Lord spake unto Moses. We may infer how great was the
carelessness, nay, even the ingratitude of the people, from the fact that God recalls
to their recollection the celebration of the passover, before a year had elapsed. For
what would they do fifty years hence, if there was any danger of their falling into
forgetfulness of it in so short a time? If they had been voluntarily assiduous in their
duty, it would have been unnecessary to repeat what had been so severely enjoined
even with threats. But now God, as the year came to a close, reminds them that the
day approaches on which He had fixed the passover to be held; that the Israelites
might more surely learn that this solemn sacrifice is of yearly recurrence, and thus
that it was sinful to omit it. He then commands that all the ceremonies should be
diligently observed, and that they should not corrupt the pure institution with any
strange leaven. Finally, their obedience is praised, because they had neither added
anything to, nor diminished anything from, God’s command.
BENSON, "Numbers 9:1. The Lord spake — Or had spoken; for he now relates
what happened before the numbering of the people, the consecration of the Levites,
and other matters recorded in the former chapters. In the first month — This
proves that it was before the numbering of the people, which was not till the second
month, Numbers 1:1-2.
COFFMAN, "This chapter deals with the Second Passover celebrated by Israel, and
with the problem concerning those unqualified through uncleanness to partake of it
(Numbers 9:1-8). It outlines the rules for an exceptional Passover for those not able
to partake at the regular time (Numbers 9:9-14), and describes the function of the
"cloud by day, and the fiery pillar by night" which symbolized the presence of God
and His guidance of Israel during their journeys (Numbers 9:15-23).
"And Jehovah 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, Moreover let the
children of Israel keep the Passover in its appointed season. In the fourteenth day of
this month, at even, ye shall keep it in its appointed season: according to all the
statutes of it, and according to all the ordinances thereof, shall ye keep it."
"In the first month of the second year ... in the fourteenth day of this month ..."
(Numbers 9:1,3). In this passage, we are exposed to the usual "fembu" from the
liberal scholars that this place is, "Secondary ... and certainly comes from the post-
exilic period."[1] This passage, however, cannot be identified in any manner with
the post-exilic period, because any writer in that period would have used the month
Nisan as the time of the Passover. The words "in its appointed season" refer back to
Exodus 12 and the designation of Abib as the month in which Passover was kept.
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6. Furthermore, there was not nor could there even be supposed any motivation
whatever in the post-exilic period that could have been served by such an insertion
as this into the sacred record. It was not the post-exilic period that needed these
instructions, but the generation of Israel at Sinai. There is also the fact that, "In
early Hebrew history, the Jews referred (as in this passage) to their months by
number instead of naming them; there is also an absence from this passage of any
cultic terminology (as in post-exilic times)."[2] "There is no before or after in the
Torah; the book has to be seen as a whole; sequence or placement cannot be judged
by ordinary measure; it is Divine."[3]
"The date given here is before the census, and before all the other events mentioned
thus far in Numbers";[4] and, again we have evidence that indicates Numbers is
somewhat of a Mosaic diary in which no exact chronological sequence is observed.
The reason why this passage occurs just here is not certain, nor is the question of
any great importance.
The reason that it was necessary to repeat the commandment to observe the
Passover in the wilderness came out of the fact that the first institution of that
ordinance did not contemplate Israel's long sojourn in the wilderness, a thing that
developed later, due to the sin of Israel. "It was necessary because the law in Exodus
(Exodus 12:25) did not contemplate the possibility of a Passover in the
wilderness."[5]
"In the first month ..." (Numbers 9:1) Some versions and translations render this,
"at the first new moon," but as Gray noted, "It is illegitimate to interpret `in the
first month,' as meaning, `at the first new moon'."[6]
Because of the rebellion of Israel and their frequent disobedience, it does not appear
likely that they observed the Passover any more at all during the wilderness period.
Unger notes that, "The next recorded celebration of the Passover took place in
Canaan" (Joshua 5:10-11)."[7]
"According to all the statutes ... and all the ordinances ..." (Numbers 9:3). It is clear
that, due to changed conditions, it would be impossible to do some of the things
commanded in the first
Passover, for example, to sprinkle the blood on the posts of the doors of their houses.
"The regulations of Exodus 12:7 could not have been carried out by people dwelling
in tents."[8] Nevertheless, all of the principal regulations were required to be
observed. (See under Numbers 9:11.)
COKE, "Numbers 9:1. And the Lord spake unto Moses— Had spoken. The
numbering of the children of Israel, mentioned in the first chapter of this book, was
made on the first day of the second month in the second year; so that what is related
here happened before that event: "Not that Moses," observes Houbigant, "neglected
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7. the order of time; but because those things which were first written in the separate
tables of his commentaries, were afterwards digested in the present order. This is no
reason why any thing of the present order should be changed: it is sufficient for us
to know, that the books of Moses contain the genuine acts of his time, and not a
regular and continued history."
ELLICOTT, "(1) In the first month of the second year.—The celebration of the
Passover, as recorded in this chapter, preceded in order of time the numbering of
the people recorded in Numbers 1, and the other events which were connected with
it. No provision had hitherto been made for the celebration of the Passover in the
wilderness. A special injunction was, therefore, required for this purpose. Had it not
been for the rebellion of the people, the next Passover after the original Egyptian
Passover would have been celebrated in the land of Canaan, and it was for that one
only that provision had been made (Exodus 12:25).
PETT, "Chapter 9 The Second Passover.
Last in our series of responses by the Sanctuary to the dedication of the people
comes the feast of the Passover. This was a response in which all the people who
were ‘clean’ could take part. It follows happily on the reference to the Passover in
Numbers 8:17 and parallels in the whole schemat of these chapters (see introduction
before Numbers 5:1 above) the making clean of the camp. For only those who were
clean could take part in the Passover. To enjoy Yahweh’s best requires full
cleanness of life.
Yahweh had responded to the people’s dedication by His Voice coming to Moses
through which His people would receive His word (Numbers 7:89). He had
responded in response to the blessing of the priest by calling on Aaron to light the
lamps so that in symbolism they represented God illuminating the people of Israel
(Numbers 8:1-4), a symbolism which contributed to the reality. He had responded in
appointing the Levites for the good of His people Israel and the maintenance of His
Dwellingplace (Numbers 8:5-26). Now His approach was to the people themselves
through the Feast of the Passover. The importance of this event is stressed by it
being dated. That it must be kept by all, even if delayed, is then also stressed.
The first five verses are not to be seen as simply an introduction. They solemnly go
through the call to keep the Passover, then move on to the message passed on by
Moses, and finally to the full response of the people in keeping the Passover. By this
they would again partake afresh in Yahweh’s deliverance. One purpose of what
follows is precisely to bring out what a wonderful thing those people who did not
keep the Passover had been missing out on. Clearly He saw partaking in this feast as
an essential part of the bond between Himself and His people and sought to make it
open as widely as possible within the covenant (compare Exodus 12:43-49). It was
the fourth aspect of His response to His people.
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8. Another purpose for Numbers 9:6-14 is in bringing out how important Yahweh saw
it to be. It was important that none should miss the Passover. It was so important
that it was the only feast for which a second opportunity was given, and to miss it
deliberately would therefore result in being cut off from the covenant.
The passage follows the usual chiastic pattern.
a The Passover must be kept at its appointed time (Numbers 9:1-2).
b The Passover is to be kept according to all the statutes and ordinance (Numbers
9:3).
c The Passover was kept in the wilderness as commanded (Numbers 9:4-5).
d Those who were unclean for the dead and could not eat the Passover (Numbers
9:6-7).
e Moses asks them to wait while he discovers Yahweh’s will (Numbers 9:8).
e Yahweh speaks to Moses His will (Numbers 9:9).
d Yahweh speaks concerning those who were unclean and could not eat the Passover
(Numbers 9:10 a).
c They shall keep the Passover of Yahweh (Numbers 9:10 b).
b The Passover was to be kept as laid down (Numbers 9:11-12).
a The Passover must be kept at its appointed time (Numbers 9:13-14).
Verses 1-5
The Keeping of the Second Passover (Numbers 9:1-5).
Numbers 9:1
‘And Yahweh spoke to 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,’
This also took place prior to the numbering of Israel. The Passover was to be
observed on 14th-15th of Abib (Nisan) which was the first month of the year at this
time. Thus in that first month, one year after leaving Egypt, Yahweh called on Israel
to ensure that they properly kept the Passover.
The Passover Must be Kept at its Appointed Time (Numbers 9:1-2)
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9. PULPIT, "In the first month of the second year. Before the census, and all the other
events recorded in this hook, except in part the offerings of the princes (see
Numbers 7:1). There was, however, an obvious reason for mentioning together the
two passovers, the second of which immediately preceded the departure from Sinai.
BI 1-5, "Keep the Passover.
Ordinance of the Passover
The design of God in instituting this remarkable ordinance, the Passover,
was to explain to us, as well as to prefigure to the Jews, the method of
salvation through the blood of Christ. He is the one great Sacrifice for sin;
and here the application to Him in His mediatorial work is most
comprehensive. Behold the analogy. It holds—
I. With regard to the victim which was chosen. Was it a lamb? Christ is often
so called on account of His innocence, meekness, and resignation (Isa_53:7;
Joh_1:29; 1Pe_1:19; Rev_5:6). Was it chosen from the flock? Christ was
taken from among His brethren (Act_3:22). Was it a male of the first year?
Christ suffered in the prime of His days. Was it without blemish? Christ was
altogether perfect (Heb_7:26; 1Pe_1:19).
II. With regard to the oblation which was made. As the lamb was slain, so
was Jesus (Rev_5:9). As the lamb was slain before the whole assembly
(Exo_12:6), so Jesus was publicly put to death. As the lamb was slain
between the two evenings, so Jesus was offered between three o’clock and
six (Mat_27:45). As the lamb was set apart four days before it was slain
(Exo_12:3; Exo_12:6), so Christ entered the city four days before His
crucifixion (Mat_21:1, &c.).
III. With regard to the blood which was sprinkled. The blood was sprinkled
with a bunch of hyssop (Exo_12:22), dipped into the bason; so the blood of
Christ is the blood of the everlasting covenant, the deposit of privileges,
which all become ours by the exercise of faith. The blood was sprinkled
upon the door-posts of their dwellings. So the blood of Christ is to be
applied to the hearts and consciences of believers (Heb_9:13-14; Heb_
10:22). The blood was sprinkled upon the lintel and the side-posts; but not
behind nor below the door. So the blood of Christ is not to be trodden under
foot (Heb_10:29). The blood secured every family where it was sprinkled, it
being within the limits of the Divine protection, so that the destroying angel
was forbidden to hurt them. So the blood of Jesus is the only refuge for the
guilty.
IV. With regard to the flesh which was eaten. The flesh of the lamb was
eaten roasted with fire, strikingly exhibiting the severity of our Saviour’s
sufferings (Isa_50:6; Isa_52:14-15; Psa_22:14-15). It was eaten whole, and
not a bone broken, which was amazing]y fulfilled in reference to Christ
(Joh_19:31-36). It was eaten in haste, with the staff in their hands, to
intimate that Christ is to be received immediately without delay. It was
eaten with bitter herbs, importing our looking to Christ with sorrow of
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10. heart, in remembrance of sin, as expressed in Zec_12:10. It was eaten with
the loins girded, implying that we must be prepared for His coming (Eph_
6:14). It was eaten with the feet shod, to remind us of the freedom and
happiness which Christ imparts to the believing Israelites (compare Isa_
20:2-4 with Rom_5:11). It was eaten with unleavened bread, because we are
to receive and profess Christ with unfeigned sincerity (1Co_5:7-8; Joh_
1:47). Upon the whole, we learn from the subject the happy state of
believers, who, though once afar off, are now made nigh by the blood of
Christ; and likewise the unhappy state of unbelievers, who, rejecting the
atonement, must inevitably perish. (William Sleigh.)
The Passover and the Lord’s Supper
There is this connection between the passover and the Lord’s Supper, that
the former was the type, the latter the memorial, of the death of Christ.
Thus we read in 1Co_5:1-13., “Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.” This
sentence establishes the connection. The passover was the memorial of
Israel’s redemption from the bondage of Egypt; and the Lord’s Supper is the
memorial of the Church’s redemption from the heavier bondage of sin and
Satan. Hence, as every faithful Israelite would surely be found keeping the
passover, in the appointed season, according to all the rites and ceremonies
thereof, so will every true and faithful Christian be found celebrating the
Lord’s Supper in its appointed season, and according to all the principles
laid down in the New Testament respecting it. If an Israelite had neglected
the passover, even on one single occasion, he would have been cut off from
the congregation. And may we not ask in the face of this solemn fact, Is it a
matter of no moment for Christians to neglect, from week to week, and
month to month, the supper of their Lord? Are we to suppose that the One
who, in Num_9:1-23., declared that the neglecter of the passover should be
cut off, takes no account of the neglecter of the Lord’s table? We cannot
believe it for a moment. To a pious Israelite there was nothing like the
passover, because it was the memorial of his redemption. And to a pious
Christian there is nothing like the Lord’s Supper, because it is the memorial
of his redemption and of the death of his Lord. How is it, then, that any of
God’s people should be found neglecting the Lord’s table? If the Lord Christ
instituted the supper; if God the Holy Ghost led the early Church to
celebrate it, and if He has also expounded it unto us, who are we that we
should set up our ideas in opposition to God? No doubt, the Lord’s Supper
should be an inward spiritual mystery to all who partake of it; but it is also
an outward, literal, tangible thing. There is literal bread, and literal wine—
literal eating, and literal drinking. If any deny this, they may, with equal
force, deny that there are literal people gathered together. We have no right
to explain away scripture after such a fashion. Nor is it merely a question of
subjection to the authority of scripture. There is such a thing as the
response of love in the heart of the Christian, answering to the love of the
heart of Christ. If our blessed and adorable Lord has in very deed appointed
the bread and the wine in the supper as memorials of His broken body and
shed blood; if He has ordained that we should eat of that bread and drink of
that cup in remembrance of Him, ought we not, in the power of responsive
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11. affection, to meet the desire of His loving heart? (C. H. Mackintosh.)
2 “Have the Israelites celebrate the Passover at
the appointed time.
GILL, "Let the children of Israel also keep the passover,.... Though this
ordinance was enjoined the people of Israel, and observed by them at the
time of their coming out of Egypt, and had been since repeated, Lev_23:5;
yet without a fresh precept, or an explanation of the former, they seemed
not to be obliged, or might not be sensible that they were obliged to keep it,
until they came into the land of Canaan, Exo_12:25; and therefore a new
order is given them to observe it:
at his appointed season; and what that season is is next declared.
JAMISON, "Let the children of Israel also keep the passover at his
appointed season, etc. — The date of this command to keep the passover in
the wilderness was given shortly after the erection and consecration of the
tabernacle and preceded the numbering of the people by a month.
(Compare Num_9:1 with Num_1:1, Num_1:2). But it is narrated after that
transaction in order to introduce the notice of a particular case, for which a
law was provided to meet the occasion. This was the first observance of the
passover since the exodus; and without a positive injunction, the Israelites
were under no obligation to keep it till their settlement in the land of
Canaan (Exo_12:25). The anniversary was kept on the exact day of the year
on which they, twelve months before, had departed from Egypt; and it was
marked by all the peculiar rites - the he lamb and the unleavened bread. The
materials would be easily procured - the lambs from their numerous flocks
and the meal for the unleavened bread, by the aid of Jethro, from the land
of Midian, which was adjoining their camp (Exo_3:1). But their girded loins,
their sandaled feet, and their staff in their hand, being mere circumstances
attending a hurried departure and not essential to the rite, were not
repeated. It is supposed to have been the only observance of the feast during
their forty years’ wandering; and Jewish writers say that, as none could eat
the passover except they were circumcised (Exo_12:43, Exo_12:44, Exo_
12:48), and circumcision was not practised in the wilderness [Jos_5:4-7],
11

12. there could be no renewal of the paschal solemnity.
BENSON, "Numbers 9:2. Let the children of Israel keep the passover — The first
order for the observation of it being, that they should keep this service when they
came to the promised land, (Exodus 12:25,) they might have concluded there was no
obligation upon them to keep it in the wilderness, had it not been for this special
precept.
PETT, "Numbers 9:2
“Moreover let the children of Israel keep the passover in its appointed season. In the
fourteenth day of this month, between the evenings, you shall keep it in its
appointed season.”
Yahweh commanded that the children of Israel keep the Passover in the appointed
season. That meant that on 10th day of Abib each family group was to set aside a
lamb of the first year in readiness for the Passover. On the 14th day it was to be
slaughtered as a sacrifice towards evening and eaten that night on what would in
Israelite timing be 15th Abib (around March/April), for the Israelite’s day began in
the evening. Note the assumption that the statutes with regard to it were known.
“Between the evenings.” Thus between the time when it began to grow dark and
twilight. Later Jewish tradition would argue for between noon and darkness and
therefore sacrificed the Passover around 15:00 hours, but it was probably intended
to be later than that. Compare Deuteronomy 16:6. The original idea would probably
be when the keepers of the cattle and sheep returned from their final feeding and
milking.
The Passover Was to be Kept According to All the Statutes and Ordinance
(Numbers 9:3).
PULPIT, "Numbers 9:2
Let the children of Israel also keep the passover at his appointed season. Septuagint,
ποιείτωσαν τὸ πάσχα. Cf. Matthew 26:18, ποιῶ τὸ πάσχα, and Luke 22:19, τοῦτο
ποιεῖτε εἰς τὴν ἐμὴν ἀνάμνησιν. They may have been in doubt as to whether they
were to keep it in the wilderness, and indeed they do not seem to have attempted to
keep it again until they reached the promised land (see on Joshua 5:5, Joshua 5:6).
The passover had indeed been made an "ordinance for ever," but only when they
were come to the land which the Lord should give them (Exodus 12:24, Exodus
12:25; Exodus 13:5). Apart, therefore, from express command, it would have been
doubtful whether the feast should not at least he postponed. Inasmuch, however, as
they had been detained at Sinai by Divine direction (albeit partly in consequence of
12

13. their own idolatry, but for which they might already have been "at home"), it
pleased God that they should not lack the blessing and support of the passover at its
proper season.
TRAPP, "Verse 2
Numbers 9:2 Let the children of Israel also keep the passover at his appointed
season.
Ver. 2. Keep the passover.] This passover; for they kept no more but this, till they
came into the land of Canaan, [Joshua 5:10 Exodus 12:25] because of their often
and uncertain removes. The feast of tabernacles likewise was for many ages omitted;
or at least not in due manner observed, as by dwelling in booths, reading the book of
the law, &c., [Nehemiah 8:16-18] which a man would wonder at. But Vexatio dat
intellectum: those Jews were newly returned from captivity.
3 Celebrate it at the appointed time, at twilight on
the fourteenth day of this month, in accordance
with all its rules and regulations.”
CLARKE, "According to all the rites of it - See all those rites and ceremonies
largely explained in the notes on Exodus 12 (note).
GILL, "In the fourteenth day of this month,.... The first month, the month
Nisan or Abib, answering to part of our March:
at even ye shall keep it, in his appointed season: between the two evenings,
Exo_12:6; and even if it fall on the sabbath day, as Jarchi; and this was a
sabbath day, according to the Jewish writers (y):
according to all the rites of it, and according to all the ceremonies thereof
shall ye keep it; the former of these, according to Jarchi, respects the lamb,
and the requisites of it, that it should be without blemish, a male, and of the
13

14. first year; and the latter, according to him and others, the removal of the
leaven, and the seven days of unleavened bread, and the eating of the lamb
with bitter herbs: they take in no doubt all that were prescribed by the
original law, except the sprinkling of the blood on the doorposts, and also
eating the passover in haste, with their loins girt, and shoes on their feet,
and staves in their hands; though some think these latter might be observed
at this time, when they were unsettled.
ELLICOTT, " (3) At even.—Hebrew, between the two evenings. (See Note on
Exodus 12:6.)
According to all the rites of it, and according to all the ceremonies thereof.—Better,
according to all the statutes and ordinances thereof. It is obvious that some of the
directions concerning the Egyptian Passover could not be observed in the
wilderness. The reference must, therefore, be to those statutes and ordinances
respecting the Passover which were of permanent obligation. (Comp. Numbers 9:12,
where the ordinance respecting the time of observance is necessarily excluded.)
Some of these are found in Exodus 12, whilst others of a later date are recorded in
Leviticus 17 and Deuteronomy 16. It has been objected that three priests (for Nadab
and Abihu were dead) could not sprinkle the blood of the large number of lambs
which must have been slain. It must be remembered, however, (1) that there is no
express injunction respecting the sprinkling of the blood on this occasion; and (2)
that the priests were probably assisted at this time in the performance of some of
their duties—as we are expressly informed that they were at the Passovers
celebrated by Hezekiah and by Josiah (2 Chronicles 30:16; 2 Chronicles 35:11)—by
the Levites.
PETT, "Numbers 9:3
“According to all the statutes of it, and according to all the ordinances of it, you
shall keep it.”
Note the stress on following the laid down procedures. The existence of those
statutes and ordinances is assumed. So important was it that we can assume that
they were written down. For details consult Exodus 12:1 to Exodus 13:16.
In Accordance with Yahweh’s Instruction The Passover Was Kept in the
Wilderness as Commanded (Numbers 9:4-5)
PULPIT, "Numbers 9:3
At even. See on Exodus 12:6. According to all the rites of it, and according to all the
ceremonies thereof. This must be understood only of the essential rites and
14

15. ceremonies of the passover, as mentioned below (Exodus 12:11, Exodus 12:12). It is
singular that no mention is made of the considerable departure which circumstances
necessitated from the original institution. It was not possible, e.g; to strike the blood
of the lamb upon the lintel and the side-posts of the doors, because in the wilderness
they had no doors. In after ages this rite (which was of the essence of the institution)
was represented by the sprinkling of the blood of the lambs on the altar (2
Chronicles 30:16), but no command is on record which expressly authorized the
change. In Le Exodus 17:3-6 there is indeed a general direction, applying
apparently to all domestic animals slain for food, that they be brought to the
tabernacle to be slain, and that the priest sprinkle the blood upon the altar; and in
Deuteronomy 16:5-7 there is an order that in future times the passover was only to
he slain at the place which the Lord should choose. The actual practice in later ages
seems to have been founded partly upon the command in Deuteronomy, which
restricted the killing of the passover to Jerusalem (not, however, to the temple), and
partly on the command in Leviticus, which really applied (at any rate in the letter)
to the time of wandering only. As the celebration of the paschal feast had apparently
been neglected from the time of Joshua until that of the later kings (Joshua 5:10; 2
Kings 23:22), they were no doubt guided in the observance of it by the analogy of
other sacrifices in the absence of express commands. It would, however, be an
obvious source of error to assume that the practice of the age of Josiah or Hezekiah
was the practice of the earliest passovers; so far as these necessarily differed from
the original institution, it is absolutely uncertain how the difficulty was solved.
Nothing perhaps better illustrates the mingled rigidity and elasticity of the Divine
ordinances than the observance of the passover, in which so much of changed detail
was united with so real and so unvarying a uniformity.
TRAPP, "Numbers 9:3 In the fourteenth day of this month, at even, ye shall keep it
in his appointed season: according to all the rites of it, and according to all the
ceremonies thereof, shall ye keep it.
Ver. 3. According to all the rites.] It was a true saying of Socrates in Xenophon,
Deum eo cultus genere coli velle, quem ipse instituerit that God must be worshipped
in his own way only. Whereunto agreeth that of Cicero, Deum non superstitione coli
velle, sed pietate.
WHEDON, " 3. At even — Hebrews, between the two evenings. The first evening
began when the sun crossed the meridian, and the second at sunset. See Exodus
12:6, note.
According to all the rites — R.V., “statutes.” The changed circumstances must have
rendered some slight variations necessary. There is no express command, it is true,
that the blood, instead of being smeared upon the lintel and posts of the doors or
entrances to the tents, should be sprinkled upon the altar of burnt offering, but it is
quite probable that this change was made, since there was no destroying angel about
15

16. to pass through the camp, while there was a newly-consecrated altar upon which the
blood of all animals slain for food, as well as in sacrifice, was to be poured out. See
Leviticus 17:1-6, notes. The objection raised by Kurtz, that the priests, Aaron,
Eleazar, and Ithamar, would be unable to perform this service, is relieved by the
suggestion that they were assisted by the Levites in every thing but the act of
sprinkling. See chap. Numbers 8:19, note. Assuming that one sheep a year old would
furnish a supper for fifteen males and fifteen females, 80,000 lambs would be
required. If it was possible in the time of the Emperor Nero to sprinkle upon the
altar of the temple the blood of 256,500 paschal lambs in one afternoon by actual
count, according to Josephus, it must have been possible in Moses’s time to sprinkle
the blood of less than one third of that number upon an altar five cubits square. But
this difficulty disappears if we suppose that the law of the passover takes the
precedence of subsequent laws for the treatment of the blood. In this case each
slayer of a lamb disposes of the blood at his own tent. A pastoral nation could easily
furnish one sheep for every thirty of its population.
4 So Moses told the Israelites to celebrate the
Passover,
GILL, "And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, that they should keep
the passover. The time now drawing nigh for the observation of it, it being
now almost a year since their coming out of Egypt.
COFFMAN, ""And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, that they should keep
the Passover. And they kept the Passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of
the month, at even, in the wilderness of Sinai: according to all that Jehovah
commanded Moses, so did the children of Israel. And there were certain men, who
were unclean by reason of the dead body of a man, so that they could not keep the
Passover on that day: and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day:
and those men said unto him, We are unclean by reason of the dead body of a man:
wherefore are we kept back, that we may not offer the oblation of Jehovah in its
appointed season among the children of Israel? And Moses said unto them, Stay ye,
that I may hear what Jehovah will command concerning you."
"At even ..." (Numbers 9:5). "This is literally `between the two evenings',"[9] and
16

17. was understood differently in different ages. About the first century A.D., it meant,
"the time between three and five o'clock in the evening."[10] Since our Lord died at
3:00 p.m., this fact regarding the True Lamb makes it likely that this was the
intended hour from the first.
As frequently observed in Numbers, additional instruction regarding some previous
regulation resulted from some emergency need for further clarification; and, in
these verses, a similar instance arose. Certain men came to Moses and presented the
problem caused by their uncleanness from touching a dead body, with a result that
they were ceremonially forbidden to take the Passover at the proper time. Moses did
not presume to answer this "from his experience," or from his own conclusions. He
promptly commanded the men to wait until GOD would speak concerning their
problem. "These men were probably Mishael and Elizaphan, who buried their
cousins, Nadab and Abihu, within a week of when this Passover was held (Leviticus
10:4,5)."[11]
PETT, "Numbers 9:4
‘And Moses spoke to the children of Israel, that they should keep the passover.’
So Moses gave the command to the children of Israel that they should keep the
Passover, as Yahweh had laid down from the beginning (Exodus 12:14; Exodus
12:43-49; Exodus 13:5; Exodus 13:8-10). The princes would no doubt be called
together and instructions clearly given.
5 and they did so in the Desert of Sinai at twilight
on the fourteenth day of the first month. The
Israelites did everything just as the Lord
commanded Moses.
BARNES, "Num_9:5
In some details, the present Passover differed both from that kept at the
Exodus itself and from all subsequent Passovers. For example, the direction
of Exo_12:22 could not be carried out in the letter while the people were
17

18. dwelling in tents; and may be regarded as superseded by Lev_17:3-6
(compare Deu_16:5 ff).
In other points, such as how many lambs would be wanted, how the blood
of the Paschal victims could be sprinkled upon the altar in the time
specified, etc., the administrators of the Law of Moses would here, as
elsewhere, have, from the nature of the case, power to order what might be
requisite to carry the law into effect.
GILL, "And they kept the passover on the fourteenth, day of the first month
at even in the wilderness of Sinai,.... No mention is made of keeping the
feast of unleavened bread seven days, only of the passover, which indeed
was only enjoined at this time, though the feast of unleavened bread used to
follow it, and did in later times; but perhaps it would not have been an easy
matter to have got the flour to make it of, sufficient for so large a body of
people, for seven days together in the wilderness; though they might be able
to furnish themselves with what was enough for one meal from the
neighbouring countries, and especially from Midian, where Jethro, Moses's
father, lived, and which was not very far from Sinai, where the Israelites
now were:
according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so did the children of
Israel; which is observed to their honour; though Jarchi gives this as a
reason why this book does not begin with this account, as the order of things
seems to require, because it was to the reproach of the Israelites, that all the
forty years they were in the wilderness they kept but this passover only; the
reason of which was, because of the omission of circumcision during that
time, through the inconveniences of travelling, and the danger of
circumcision in it, without which their children could not eat of the
passover, Exo_12:48.
BENSON, "Numbers 9:5. They kept the passover — in the wilderness — Where
they rested almost a whole year; but after they removed from thence, they were in so
unsettled a condition that they did not even circumcise their children, (Joshua 5:5,)
who consequently could not eat the passover, Exodus 12:48.
COKE, "Numbers 9:5. And they kept the passover— It was the more necessary to
repeat the injunction for the observation of the passover, Numbers 9:2 as they might
have concluded, from Exodus 12:25 that they were under no obligation to keep it in
the wilderness; but, being now in a quiet state, and having rested for almost a whole
year, they had that leisure for the observance of it, which, in their future unsettled
condition, we do not find they had afterwards; not even circumcising their children,
Joshua 5:5 who, consequently, could not eat of the passover. Exodus 12:48.
PETT, "Numbers 9:5
18

19. ‘And they kept the passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month,
at even, in the wilderness of Sinai. According to all that Yahweh commanded Moses,
so did the children of Israel.’
The result was that they kept the Passover on the 14th day of the first month of the
second year at evening, in the wilderness of Sinai. And they kept it in accordance
with all that Yahweh had commanded Moses (see Exodus 12:1 to Exodus 13:16;
Leviticus 23:5-6).
On the 1st day of the month the Dwellingplace had been erected (Exodus 40:2), and
then in the next twelve days the altar had been dedicated by each of the tribes
through their princes (Numbers 7:1-88). Thus almost as soon as that was over the
Passover would begin. It would then be followed for seven days by the Feast of
Unleavened Bread.
There must have been a huge feeling of exultation among those who kept this first
Passover after leaving Egypt. It could hardly fail to bring home vividly to all the
people a reminder of the wonder of their deliverance. At this time there must have
been full confidence for the future as they remembered how Yahweh had so
amazingly acted for them and had delivered them, both on that night and in
subsequent events. They would really feel at that moment that they were truly the
people of God. And they would emerge from it even more determined to serve
Yahweh fully.
PULPIT, "Numbers 9:5
And they kept the passover. It is a question which inevitably arises here, how they
obtained a sufficient number of lambs for the requirement of so many people, and
how they were slain sacrificially within the appointed time. The first difficulty does
not seem serious when we consider,
(a) the numbers of the people are greatly exaggerated, or
(b) the ritual of after days was not observed on this occasion.
As to (a), see what is said on the whole question of numbers in the Introduction. As
to (b), it must be borne in mind that no direction whatever had been given, as far as
we know, either that the lambs must be slain by the priests only, or that their blood
must be poured upon the altar. If the Jews were left to follow the original institution
as nearly as possible, they would have killed the lambs themselves, and sprinkled the
blood around the doors of their tents. It is true that according to the Levitical ritual,
now recently put into use, all other animals slain in sacrifice (or indeed for food)
must be slain at the tabernacle by the priest, and the blood sprinkled on the altar;
and it is true that this general rule was afterwards held especially binding in the
19

20. case of the passover. But there is nothing to show that it was held binding then: the
passover had been ordained before the establishment of the Levitical priesthood and
law of sacrifice; and it might very well have been considered that it retained its
primal character unaffected by subsequent legislation, and that the priesthood of
the people (in other rites transferred to Aaron and his sons) was recalled and
revived in the case of this special rite. If this was the case both at this passover and
at that under Joshua, it is easy enough to understand why the later practice was so
entirely different; the neglect or disuse of centuries obliterated the tradition of the
passover, and when it was revived by the later kings, they naturally followed the
analogy of all other sacrifices, and the apparently express command of Le Joshua
17:3-6. They could not indeed obey this command in their daily life, but they could
and did obey it in the striking and typical case of the paschal feast.
6 But some of them could not celebrate the
Passover on that day because they were
ceremonially unclean on account of a dead body.
So they came to Moses and Aaron that same day
BARNES, "Certain men - Probably Mishael and Elizaphan, who buried
their cousins, Nadab and Abihu, within a week of this Passover Lev_10:4-5.
GILL, "And there were certain men who were defiled by the dead body of a
man,.... The Targum of Jonathan adds,"who died by them
suddenly,''whereby pollution was contracted, see Num_6:9; though perhaps
this was a whole house or family, one of which was dead, and so all were
defiled, being in the place where the dead body was, or had touched it, or
been concerned however in the burying of it, and on account of which were
unclean seven days, and so might not eat of any holy things, as the passover;
and though at the first institution there was no such law, yet since that time
there was, which obliged them, see Lev_7:20; and it is said (z), that the
section concerning the red heifer, and so of defilement by a dead body, was
delivered on the day the tabernacle was erected, even on the first day of the
first month; and though recorded in Num_19:1; yet was given out before
this; and indeed otherwise it is not easy to conceive how these men should
know that the dead body of a man was defiling:
20

21. that they could not keep the passover on that day; as others did, the
fourteenth of Nisan, it being, according to the Targum of Jonathan, the
seventh day of their defilement:
and they came before Moses, and before Aaron, on that day; on the selfsame
day the passover was kept, and they were sensible of their pollution, which
disqualified for it; and therefore it should rather seem to be the first day of
their pollution than their last; since otherwise they would doubtless have
inquired about this matter before the passover came; unless the time of
their pollution was so near out, that they thought they might eat it safely, on
which they desired advice.
HENRY, " Here is the case that happened in Israel when this passover was
to be kept: Certain men were defiled by the dead body of a man (Num_9:6),
and they lay under that defilement seven days (Num_19:11), and in that time
might not eat of the holy things, Lev_7:20. This was not their iniquity, but
their infelicity: some persons must touch dead bodies, to bury them out of
sight, and therefore they could, with the better grace, bring their complaint
to Moses.
JAMISON 6-7, "Num_9:6-14. A second Passover allowed.
there were certain men, who were defiled by the dead body of a man — To
discharge the last offices to the remains of deceased relatives was
imperative; and yet attendance on a funeral entailed ceremonial defilement,
which led to exclusion from all society and from the camp for seven days.
Some persons who were in this situation at the arrival of the first paschal
anniversary, being painfully perplexed about the course of duty because
they were temporarily disqualified at the proper season, and having no
opportunity of supplying their want were liable to a total privation of all
their privileges, laid their case before Moses. Jewish writers assert that
these men were the persons who had carried out the dead bodies of Nadab
and Abihu [Lev_10:4, Lev_10:5].
K&D 6-7, "There were certain men who were defiled by human corpses
(see Lev_19:28), and could not eat the Passover on the day appointed. These
men came to Moses, and asked, “Why are we diminished (prevented) from
offering the sacrificial gift of Jehovah at its season in the midst of the
children of Israel (i.e., in common with the rest of the Israelites)?” The
exclusion of persons defiled from offering the Passover followed from the
law, that only clean persons were to participate in a sacrificial meal (Lev_
7:21), and that no one could offer any sacrifice in an unclean state.
CALVIN, "6.And there were certain men. A question is here introduced
incidentally, viz., what must be done, if any sudden defilement should prevent any
21

22. persons from celebrating the passover with the rest; since God would expunge from
amongst His people whosoever should not observe this memorial of their
redemption? Although the history is here touched upon, yet because the doctrine as
to the just and pure observance of the passover is its main subject, nay, because this
passage is a kind of supplement to the general command, I have thought it proper to
connect them here. Moses says that certain men were found defiled over the soul of
a man, (324) viz., either because they had touched a dead body, or had gone into a
house of mourning, or had been present at the funeral of a dead man; for the Law
accounted such to be polluted, as will be seen elsewhere. Hence arose a kind of
discrepancy; because, whilst the unclean were not permitted to approach the sacred
feast, it was sinful to neglect this exercise of religion. Even Moses confessed that he
was perplexed as to this matter, since he sought for time to inquire of God. The
extraordinary modesty of the Prophet here displays itself, in not daring to
pronounce on a doubtful matter, although he was their lawgiver. But he thus more
clearly shewed that he by no means gave the Law out of his own head, since he did
not dare even to interpret it, except after receiving a new command. God, therefore,
by laying down a special exception, takes away the contradiction ( ἀντινομίαν). For
to those, whom just necessity excused, He assigns the second month, that they too
might be partakers of the passover, though they might not change the day at their
own option. By this privilege He not only relieves the unclean, but also those who
might be at a distance (325) from the society of their fellows, concerning whom the
same question might be raised. For it was not suitable that any one should eat the
passover by himself; and even if a family were too small, the neighbors were called
in, that the number might be sufficient to eat the whole lamb; and therefore, the
traveler abroad, or even at home, if he was far from his friends, had need of some
remedy to preserve him from punishment. Moreover, we must remember that this
was not a concession to despisers, nor was profane carelessness encouraged by this
indulgence; but it was only a provision for the necessity of those who had
inadvertently contracted defilement, or who could not escape it, or who were
unexpectedly delayed on their journey. For they are said to have complained of their
own accord to Moses that, on account of their uncleanness, they were prevented
from eating the paschal lamb; and hence we infer their pious solicitude. For such,
then, another passover is permitted; that, in the second month, they might recover
what they had lost without their fault. Meanwhile it is strictly enjoined on them that
they should change nothing in the whole ceremony; and on this account, what we
have already seen is again repeated, viz., that they should eat it with bitter herbs,
that they should not break a bone of it, and the like. But, that the permission might
not be extended too far, the penalty is again denounced, if any, except for these two
causes, should have neglected to celebrate the passover. For we know how men,
unless they are restrained, permit themselves too great license in searching out
excuses. It is more clearly expressed here than before, that the paschal lamb was a
victim; (326) for it is said in Numbers 9:7, “wherefore are we kept back, that we
may not offer an offering?” and in Numbers 9:13, “because he brought not the
offering of the Lord.” I call attention to this, because there are some who think that
the paschal lamb was so slain as not to be the offering of a sacrifice; whereas Paul
distinctly teaches that a victim was offered in it, and then the feast annexed to it; for
22

23. such is the meaning of his words, “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us; therefore
let us keep the feast,” etc ( 1 Corinthians 5:7.) Whenever the word “soul” (327) is
used for a dead body, I take it to be a tolerably common metaphor of the Hebrew
language.
COKE, "Numbers 9:6. There were certain men, who were defiled by the dead body,
&c.— The reader should remember, that the case here mentioned, happened before
the law was delivered, that is mentioned chap. Numbers 5:2.
REFLECTIONS.—We have here, 1. The second passover observed after their
deliverance from Egypt; and it should seem, they celebrated it no more till they
came to Canaan, because of their omission of circumcision, which in their removes
might be dangerous. Moses, at God's command, enjoins it, and the people obey him.
If they with delight could thus run to celebrate the memorial of their deliverance;
with what constancy and gladness should we approach the table of our Lord, to
remember his greater deliverance of us from worse than Egyptian bondage, even
from the chains of sin, and from the powers of death and hell.
2. A case brought before Moses, Numbers 9:6. Some persons were defiled by a dead
body, and therefore could not keep the passover; yet, grieved to be excluded where
themselves were without blame, they consult Moses, and Moses carries the matter
before the Lord. Hence learn, (1.) If ceremonial defilement at that time debarred
from the most sacred ordinance, how much more should moral impurity in our day
debar men from the table of the Lord! (2.) Even unforeseen and unavoidable
impediments, which detain us from waiting upon God in his ordinances, will be a
grief, or at least a trial, to us. (3.) In cases of conscience ministers should be
consulted about the path of duty. (4.) Ministers must wait much upon God in prayer
and in his word, that they may be directed into all truth themselves, and enabled to
direct others also.
3. God resolves the question, and makes an order for future generations. Whoever
are unclean, or on a journey afar off, have a month more allowed them, when they
may with the same ceremonies keep the feast, and it would be alike accepted: but if
it was deferred through neglect or contempt, the sinner must be cut off, either by
excommunication from the visible church, or by God's hand in secret judgment.
Note; (1.) They who are disappointed unavoidably from attending upon God in his
ordinances, will be happy to seize the returning opportunity of approaching his
house and table. (2.) Providential hindrances from the means of grace will not, if our
hearts be right, deprive us of the grace of the means; God will amply supply our
wants some other way. (3.) They who reject God's ordinances, will be rejected by
him. Habitual wilful absence from the Lord's table is a strong sign of a lost soul.
4. The circumcised stranger had the same right as the home-born Israelite. In Christ
Jesus there is no difference between barbarian, Scythian, bond, or free: whosoever
calleth on the name of the Lord, shall be saved.
23

24. ELLICOTT, "(6) And there were certain men . . . —It has been supposed that the
reference is to Mishael and Elzaphan, who appear to have buried their cousins,
Nadab and Abihu, about this time (Blunt’s “Script. Coincidences,” pp. 66, 67,1850).
If the consecration of Aaron and his sons began on the first day of the first month
(Exodus 40:2; Exodus 40:12), and the death of Nadab and Abihu could not have
taken place until the eighth day (Leviticus 9:1; Leviticus 9:12; Leviticus 10:19),
inasmuch as the defilement caused by contact with the dead lasted for seven days
(Numbers 19:11), it will follow, if this law was already in force, that those who
buried Nadab and Abihu must have been unclean on the fourteenth day of the first
month. Independently, then, of the doubtful inference which Professor Blunt draws
from the identity of the numbers of the other tribes at the two numberings taken,
the one before and the other after this time, from which he concludes that the deaths
must have occurred amongst those who belonged to the tribe of Levi, which was not
included in the census, this circumstance may fairly be adduced as one of the
numerous undesigned coincidences with which Holy Scripture abounds. It may be
observed further that, whilst reference would naturally be made to Moses on all
doubtful occasions, none would be so likely to have recourse to him with the inquiry
contained in Numbers 9:7 as those who had been employed by his direction
(Leviticus 10:4) in the burial of Nadab and Abihu. The law contained in Leviticus
7:21 appears to have been understood to refer to all sacrificial meals. The legal
uncleanness which disqualified the Israelites for participation in the Passover may
be regarded as typical of the moral and spiritual disqualifications which render men
unfit for participation in the Lord’s Supper.
PETT, "Verses 6-14
The Dismay Of Those Who Through No Fault of Their Own Had Missed Out
(Numbers 9:6-14).
There were those who were unable to take part in the Passover because they were
unclean with an uncleanness that lasted seven days. In this case it was because they
had had contact with the dead. They were clearly very upset that they had missed
out on it and sought a remedy.
The Approach of Those Who Were Unclean for the Dead and Could Not Eat the
Passover (Numbers 9:6-7)
Numbers 9:6-7
‘And there were certain men, who were unclean by reason of the dead body of a
man, so that they could not keep the passover on that day, and they came before
Moses and before Aaron on that day, and those men said to him, “We are unclean
by reason of the dead body of a man. What is the reason why we are kept back, that
24

25. we may not offer the oblation of Yahweh in its appointed season among the children
of Israel?” ’
In this particular case there were men who were at the time ‘unclean’ because they
had come in contact with a dead body and were therefore unclean for seven days.
Thus they had been unable to take part in the observing of the Passover. This upset
them greatly and they approached Moses and Aaron about it on that very day of the
offering of the Passover lambs. They wanted to know why they should be restricted
so that they could not take part in the observance of the Passover over what to them
did not seem a very serious matter. Why was it that something which was not their
fault should prevent them partaking in the Passover?
Their attitude and their urgency emphasises the blessing that the people who were
able to keep the Passover enjoyed.
Moses Asks Them to Wait While He Discovers Yahweh’s Will (Numbers 9:8)
PULPIT, "Numbers 9:6
There were certain men. It has been supposed by many that these men must have
been Mishael and Elizaphan, who had recently (cf. Exodus 40:17; Le Exodus 9:1;
Exodus 10:4) been defiled by burying their cousins Nadab and Abihu. This,
however, is based upon the assumption that the totals given in Exodus 38:26 and in
Numbers 1:46 are really independent, and that therefore no one belonging to any
other tribe than that of Levi had died in the interval. As that assumption is
untenable (see above on Numbers 1:46), so this "coincidence" falls to the ground.
We know indeed that Mishael and Elizaphan were defiled at this time, and we do
not know that any one else was; but, on the other hand, the words "the dead body of
a man" seem to point to a single corpse only. Dead body. Hebrew, nephesh, as in
Numbers 5:2; Numbers 6:11, and other places. It is inexplicable how this word,
which properly means "soul," should have come to be used of a corpse; perhaps it is
an additional testimony to the complete absence from Jewish teaching of any
doctrine of an immortal spirit. The Septuagint uses ψύχη here.
TRAPP, "Numbers 9:6 And there were certain men, who were defiled by the dead
body of a man, that they could not keep the passover on that day: and they came
before Moses and before Aaron on that day:
Ver. 6. They could not keep the passover.] Because they were to be unclean seven
days. [Numbers 19:11] Now, among the very heathen, the sacrificers were to purify
themselves some days before; they had their caena pura the night before, &c., (a)
and having expiated the company, they cried, τις τηδε; who is here? to which they
made reply, πολλοι κα γαθοι γε παρεισιν, Many and good are here. (b)
25

26. WHEDON, "Verses 6-14
THE SUPPLEMENTAL PASSOVER, Numbers 9:6-14.
Only ceremonially clean persons could share in this sacrificial meal. Since there
were many sources of defilement during seven days, and some during longer terms,
it follows that there would naturally be a large number of persons at any given time
disqualified. Out of so large a population some would naturally be absent at the
regular passover. For these two classes an extra passover one month later is now
authorized by Jehovah. But, as a safeguard against the perversion of this permission
into an excuse for postponing it unnecessarily and merely from indifference, on the
ground that he could make it up afterward, the threat of excision is held up to deter
from any such abuse of this supplementary passover. The requirement that all
Israel should partake of this sacrifice — especially this provision for its repetition —
indicates that it is of vital importance to each, and symbolizes some act
indispensable to his salvation. Christ is our passover. 1 Corinthians 5:7. No one can
be saved who wilfully neglects to appropriate the known Lamb of God which taketh
away the sin of the world. Hebrews 2:3.
7 and said to Moses, “We have become unclean
because of a dead body, but why should we be
kept from presenting the Lord’s offering with the
other Israelites at the appointed time?”
CLARKE, "We are defiled by the dead body of a man - It is probable that
the defilement mentioned here was occasioned by assisting at the burial of
some person - a work both of necessity and mercy. This circumstance
however gave rise to the ordinance delivered in Num_9:10-14, so that on
particular occasions the passover might be twice celebrated:
1. At its regular time, the 14th of the first month;
2. An extra time, the 14th of the second month.
But the man who had no legal hinderance, and did not celebrate it on one
26

27. or other of these times, was to be cut off from the people of God; and the
reason given for this cutting off is, that he brought not the offering of God in
his appointed season - therefore that man shall bear his sin, Num_9:13.
We have already seen, from the authority of St. Paul, that Christ, our
Passover, is sacrificed for us; and that it was his sacrifice that was pointed
out by the paschal lamb: on this, therefore, we may observe, that those who
do not sooner or later eat the true Passover, and get the salvation procured
by the sprinkling of his blood, shall be cut off from among those that shall
enter into the rest prepared for the people of God; and for the same reason
too; they bring not the offering of God in its appointed season, and
therefore they shall bear their sin.
GILL, "And those men said unto him,.... To Moses, who was the chief
magistrate, though Aaron was the high priest. Jarchi says, they were both
sitting together when the men came, and put the question to them, but it
was not proper to speak to one after another; for if Moses knew not, how
should Aaron know? says he; the more difficult matters were brought to
Moses, and he gave answers to them:
we are defiled by the dead body of a man; they had touched it, or had been
where it was, or at the funeral of it, and so were defiled: this they knew was
their case by a law before mentioned, and which they speak of, not as a sin
purposely committed by them, but as what had unhappily befallen them,
and they could not avoid; and express their concern, that upon this account
they should be deprived of the ordinance of the passover and as this
confession shows an ingenuous disposition, so what follows, a pious,
religious, and devotional frame of mind:
wherefore are we kept back, that we may not offer an offering of the Lord in
his appointed season among the children of Israel? they speak very
honourably of the ordinance of the passover, they call it "an offering of the
Lord", the passover lamb being a slain sacrifice; and this offered to the
Lord, by way of thanksgiving, for, and in commemoration of, their
wonderful deliverance out of Egypt, and done in faith of Christ the passover,
to be sacrificed for them; and it gave them much uneasiness that they were
debarred by this occasional and unavoidable uncleanness, that was upon
them, from keeping it; and what added to it was, that they could not observe
it on the day which the Lord had appointed, and when the whole body of the
children of Israel were employed in it; for it is no small pleasure to a good
man to observe every ordinance of God in the manner and at the time he
directs to, and his people in general are attending to the same; and the
rather they were urgent in their expostulations, because it is said (a), this
was the seventh and last day of their pollution, when they should be clean at
evening, and the passover was not to be eaten until the evening, and
therefore so earnestly expostulate why they should be kept back from it.
27

28. HENRY, "The application made to Moses by the person concerned, Num_
9:7. Note, It is people's wisdom, in difficult cases concerning sin and duty, to
consult with their ministers whom God has set over them, and to ask the
law at their mouth, Mal_2:7. These means we must use in pursuance of our
prayers to God to lead us in a plain path. Observe with what trouble and
concern these men complained that they were kept back from offering to
the Lord. They did not complain of the law as unjust, but lamented their
unhappiness that they fell under the restraint of it at this time, and desired
some expedient might be found out for their relief. Note, It is a blessed thing
to see people hungering and thirsting after God's ordinances, and to hear
them complaining of that which prevents their enjoyment of them. It should
be a trouble to us when by any occasion we are kept back from bringing our
offering in the solemnities of a sabbath or a sacrament, as it was to David
when he was banished from the altar, Psa_42:1, Psa_42:2.
BENSON, "Numbers 9:7. Wherefore are we kept back — They thus confidently
expostulate with Moses, because in the first institution of the passover no mention is
made of excluding such unclean persons from that ordinance. And although it might
possibly have been inferred from the law recorded Leviticus 7:20, that persons in
their condition were not to partake of that sacrifice; yet, considering that all the
Israelites were expressly commanded to celebrate the passover, (Exodus 12:47,) they
might well entertain doubts respecting their duty in this matter, and therefore have
recourse to Moses for decision. That we may not offer an offering — Which if we
neglect we must be cut off, and if we keep it in these circumstances, we must also be
cut off. What shall we do?
PULPIT, "Numbers 9:7
Wherefore are we kept back. The direction to remove from the camp all that were
defiled by the dead (Numbers 5:2) had not apparently been given at this time, nor
was there any express command that such should not partake of the passover, for
Le Numbers 7:20 may probably refer only to such uncleannesses as are mentioned
in Le Numbers 15:3; but that men were in fact considered as defiled by contact with
the dead is clear from Le Numbers 21:1. The men, therefore, had reason for asking
why they were excommunicated, and Moses for referring the matter to the Divine
decision.
TRAPP, "Numbers 9:7 And those men said unto him, We [are] defiled by the dead
body of a man: wherefore are we kept back, that we may not offer an offering of the
LORD in his appointed season among the children of Israel?
Ver. 7. And those men said unto him.] Moses they knew was a meet man to resolve
this case of conscience. He was a messenger, an interpreter, "one among a thousand,
to show unto man his uprightness," [Job 33:23] a merchant to sell oil and balm from
28

29. Gilead, to cure consciences. [Matthew 25:9] Others may write cases, that is, covers
of conscience; but resolve none. Conscience is a diamond, and will be wrought on by
nothing but dust of diamond, such as contrition hath ground it to.
8 Moses answered them, “Wait until I find out
what the Lord commands concerning you.”
GILL, "And Moses said unto them, stand still,.... Where they were; Aben
Ezra says, at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation:
and I will hear what the Lord will command concerning you; as it was a
singular case, of which there had been no instance before, Moses would not
determine anything about it himself, but would inquire of the Lord his mind
and will concerning it; and for that purpose, very probably, went into the
most holy place, where the Lord had promised to meet him and commune
with him, from off the mercy seat, about any matter of difficulty he should
inquire about, Exo_25:22.
HENRY, "The deliberation of Moses in resolving this case. Here seemed to
be law against law; and, though it is a rule that the latter law must explain
the former, yet he pitied these Israelites that were thus deprived of the
privilege of the passover, and therefore took time to consult the oracles, and
to know what was the mind of God in this case: I will hear what the Lord
will command concerning you, Num_9:8. Ministers must take example
hence in resolving cases of conscience. (1.) They must not determine rashly,
but take time to consider, that every circumstance may be duly weighted,
the case viewed in a true light, and spiritual things compared with spiritual.
(2.) They must ask counsel at God's mouth, and not determine according to
the bias of their own fancy or affection, but impartially, according to the
mind of God, to the best of their knowledge. We have no such oracle to
consult as Moses had, but we must have recourse to the law and the
testimony, and speak according to that rule; and if, in difficult cases, we
take time to spread the matter in particular before God by humble believing
prayer, we have reason to hope that the Spirit who is promised to lead us
into all truth will enable us to direct others in the good and right way.
JAMISON 8-14, "Moses said unto them, Stand still, and I will hear what the
Lord will command concerning you — A solution of the difficulty was soon
29

30. obtained, it being enacted, by divine authority, that to those who might be
disqualified by the occurrence of a death in their family circle or unable by
distance to keep the passover on the anniversary day, a special license was
granted of observing it by themselves on the same day and hour of the
following month, under a due attendance to all the solemn formalities. (See
on 2Ch_30:2). But the observance was imperative on all who did not labor
under these impediments.
K&D, "Moses told them to wait (stand), and he would hear what the Lord,
of whom he would inquire, would command.
BENSON, "Numbers 9:8. Moses said, I will hear what the Lord will command — It
appears from hence that Moses went into the sanctuary to consult the oracle of God
whenever he had occasion, and was answered by an audible voice from the mercy-
seat, Numbers 7:8-9.
PETT, "Numbers 9:8
‘And Moses said to them, “Wait, that I may hear what Yahweh will command
concerning you.” ’
Moses was sympathetic to their request and asked them to wait while he consulted
Yahweh through the Voice that spoke from the mercy seat.
TRAPP, "Numbers 9:8 And Moses said unto them, Stand still, and I will hear what
the LORD will command concerning you.
Ver. 8. Stand still and I will hear.] Moses was but the echo of God’s voice; John
Baptist, "the voice of one crying in the wilderness": St Paul "received of the Lord"
what he delivered to the Church, [1 Corinthians 11:23] and took care that the faith
of his hearers "might not be in the wisdom of man, but in the power of God." [1
Corinthians 2:4-5] Unwarranted doctrines come not cum gratia et privilegio.
WHEDON, " 8. Stand still — R.V., “Stay ye that I may hear,” etc. Human reason is
not a sufficient guide in religious questions. Moses evinces a strong faith in the
accessibility of Jehovah, and a profound deference to his will. The judges of the
Sanhedrin should not be ashamed to ask concerning the judgment which is too hard
for them; for Moses, who was the master of Israel, had need to say, “I have not
heard.” — Targum.
30

31. 9 Then the Lord said to Moses,
GILL, "And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... From between the cherubim,
after he had laid the case before him, and he gave him an answer:
K&D 9-14, "Jehovah gave these general instructions: “Every one who is
defiled by a corpse or upon a distant
(Note: The ֹ‫ה‬ ָ‫ק‬ֹ‫ח‬ ְ‫ר‬ is marked as suspicious by puncta extraordinaria,
probably first of all simply on the ground that the more exact definition is not
found in Num_9:13. The Rabbins suppose the marks to indicate that rechokah is
not to be taken here in its literal sense, but denotes merely distance from
Jerusalem, or from the threshold of the outer court of the temple. See Mishnah
Pesach ix. 2, with the commentaries of Bartenora and Maimonides, and the
conjectures of the Pesikta on the ten passages in the Pentateuch with punctis
extraordinariis, in Drusii notae uberiores ad h. v.)
journey, of you and your future families, shall keep the Passover in the
second month on the fourteenth, between the two evenings,” and that in all
respects according to the statute of this feast, the three leading points of
which - viz., eating the lamb with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, leaving
nothing till the next day, and not breaking a bone (Exo_12:8, Exo_12:10,
Exo_12:46), - are repeated here. But lest any one should pervert this
permission, to celebrate the Passover a month later in case of insuperable
difficulties, which had only been given for the purpose of enforcing the
obligation to keep the covenant meal upon every member of the nation, into
an excuse for postponing it without any necessity and merely from
indifference, on the ground that he could make it up afterwards, the threat
is held out in Num_9:13, that whoever should omit to keep the feast at the
legal time, if he was neither unclean nor upon a journey, should be cut off;
and in Num_9:14 the command is repeated with reference to foreigners,
that they were also to keep the law and ordinance with the greatest
minuteness when they observed the Passover: cf. Exo_12:48-49, according
to which the stranger was required first of all to let himself be circumcised.
In Num_9:14, ‫ֶה‬‫י‬ ְ‫ה‬ִ‫י‬ stands for ‫ֶה‬‫י‬ ְ‫ה‬ ִ‫,תּ‬ as in Exo_12:49; cf. Ewald, §295, d. ְ‫ו...ו‬
et...et, both...and.
COFFMAN, ""And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of
31

32. Israel, saying, If a man of you or of your generation shall be unclean by reason of a
dead body, or be on a journey afar off, yet he shall keep the Passover unto Jehovah.
In the second month on the fourteenth day at even shall they keep it; they shall eat it
with unleavened bread and bitter herbs: they shall leave none of it unto the
morning, nor break a bone thereof: according to all the statute of the Passover they
shall keep it. But the man that is clean, and is not on a journey, and forbeareth to
keep the Passover, that soul shall be cut off from his people; because he offered not
the oblation of Jehovah in its appointed season, that man shall bear his sin. And if a
stranger shall sojourn among you, and will keep the Passover unto Jehovah;
according to the statute of the Passover, and according to the ordinance thereof, so
shall he do: ye shall have one statute, both for the sojourner, and for him that is
born in the land."
The instructions God gave covered more than the case that occasioned them,
including also the case of strangers who wished to participate, and the instance of a
traveler on a long journey. The word strangers, as used here, does not refer to
itinerant strangers, but to a sojourner who was already a member of the
community. The very term "stranger" in time came to mean "proselyte," reflecting
the invariable condition of circumcision from which no participant in the Passover
could be exempted.
Although, as we have seen, there may have been some of the original conditions that
Israel observed in the first Passover that did not apply in subsequent observances of
it, it is of significance that here a number of the prime requirements are enumerated
again. "Four of the chief regulations governing the ordinance are here specified as
governing also this supplementary Passover:
(1) observe it on the fourteenth day of the month (Numbers 9:11)
(2) eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs (Numbers 9:12)
(3) leave none of it until morning (Numbers 9:12) and
(4) nor break a bone thereof."[12]
Added to this was the requirement that "all of the statute and all of the ordinance of
the Passover" were to be observed. (For the magnificent symbolism of all of this, see
a full discussion of it in Exodus 12 in this series.)
This mention of an Israelite on a far journey affords another incidental proof that
the "times of the exile" had no connection with the writing of this passage. "Note
that it is assumed that the absentee would return, so that the exile is not in
view."[13]
"Nor break a bone thereof ..." (Numbers 9:12). The Jews no doubt considered this a
very minor part of the regulations, for it is mentioned nowhere else in the O.T.
32

33. (except in Exodus 12:46). "The very insignificance of this rule gives force to its
fulfillment as an evidence that Christ was truly the Passover Lamb of God."[14]
PETT, "Yahweh Expresses His Will to Moses (Numbers 9:9)
Numbers 9:9
‘And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,’
Yahweh’s reply came in the usual way, through His word to Moses.
He Speaks Concerning Those Who Had Been Unclean and Could Not Therefore Eat
the Passover (Numbers 9:10 a).
10 “Tell the Israelites: ‘When any of you or your
descendants are unclean because of a dead body
or are away on a journey, they are still to
celebrate the Lord’s Passover,
GILL, "Speak unto the children of Israel, saying,.... Not to the men only that
came to Moses for advice, but to the body of the people; for the answer of
the Lord concerned them all, and carried in it a rule to be observed in the
like case, and others mentioned, in all succeeding ages, as long as the
passover was an ordinance of God:
if any man of you; or "a man, a man", or any private man; for, according to
the Jewish writers, this law only respects private persons, as those were
who were the occasion of its being made:
or of your posterity; or "in your generations" (b), or "ages"; which shows
that this law respected future times, and not the present case only:
shall be unclean by reason of a dead body; see Num_9:6; Maimonides (c)
says, this only respects uncleanness by a dead body, and not uncleanness by
any creeping thing; for such as were unclean by them might sacrifice,
33

34. though a private person, and eat the passover at evening with purity, when
he had been cleansed: yet he says elsewhere (d), that such that had issues,
and menstruous women, and those that lay with them, and women in
childbed, were unclean, and were put off to the second passover; and so the
Targum of Jonathan here adds,"or that has an issue, or a leprous person:"
or be in a journey afar off; which, according to Ben Gersom, was fifteen
miles; so in the Misnah (e), and the commentators on it:
yet he shall keep the passover of the Lord; not the first, but second,
according to the directions given in Num_9:11.
HENRY 10-14, " The directions which God gave in this case, and in other
similar cases, explanatory of the law of the passover. The disagreeable
accident produced good laws. (1.) Those that happened to be ceremonially
unclean at the time when the passover should be eaten were allowed to eat
it that day month, when they were clean; so were those that happened to be
in a journey afar off, Num_9:10, Num_9:11. See here, [1.] That when we are
to attend upon God in solemn ordinances it is very necessary both that we
be clean and that we be composed. [2.] That that may excuse the deferring
of a duty for a time which yet will not justify us in the total neglect and
omission of it. He that is at variance with his brother may leave his gift
before the altar, while he goes to be reconciled to his brother; but when he
has done his part towards it, whether it be effected or no, he must come
again and offer his gift, Mat_5:23, Mat_5:24. This secondary passover was
to be kept on the same day of the month with the first, because the
ordinance was a memorial of their deliverance on that day of the month.
Once we find the whole congregation keeping the passover on this
fourteenth day of the second month, in Hezekiah's time (2Ch_30:15), which
perhaps may help to account for the admission of some that were not clean
to the eating of it. Had the general passover been kept in the first month, the
unclean might have been put off till the second; but, that being kept in the
second month, they had no warrant to eat it in the third month, and
therefore, rather than not eat of it at all, they were admitted, though not
cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary, Num_9:19, Num_
9:20. (2.) Whenever the passover was kept in the second month, all the rites
and ceremonies of it must be strictly observed, Num_9:12. They must not
think that, because the time was dispensed with, any part of the solemnity
of it might be abated; when we cannot do as we would we must do the
utmost we can in the service of God. (3.) This allowance in a case of
necessity would be no means countenance or indulge any in their neglect to
keep the passover at the time appointed, when they were not under the
necessity, Num_9:13. When a person is under no incapacity to eat the
passover in the appointed time, if he neglects it then, upon the presumption
of the liberty granted by this law, he puts an affront upon God, impiously
abuses his kindness, and he shall certainly bear his sin, and be cut off from
his people. Note, As those who against their minds are forced to absent
themselves from God's ordinances may comfortably expect the favours of
God's grace under their affliction, so those who of choice absent themselves
34

35. may justly expect the tokens of God's wrath for their sin. Be not deceived,
God is not mocked. (4.) Here is a clause added in favour of strangers, Num_
9:14. Though it was requisite that the stranger who would join with them in
eating the passover should be circumcised as a proselyte to their religion
(Exo_12:48, Exo_12:49), yet this kind admission of those that were not
native Israelites to eat the passover was an intimation of the favour
designed for the poor Gentiles by Christ. As then there was one law, so in
the days of the Messiah there should be one gospel, for the stranger and for
him that was born in the land; for in every nation he that fears God and
works righteousness is accepted of him, and this was a truth before Peter
perceived it, Act_10:34, Act_10:35.
BENSON, "Numbers 9:10. Unclean — or on a journey — Under these two
circumstances the Hebrews think that other hinderances of like nature are
comprehended; as if one be hindered by a disease, or by any other such kind of
uncleanness; which may seem probable both from the nature of the thing, and the
reason of the law, which is the same in other cases.
ELLICOTT, "(10) In a journey afar off.—Or, on a distant journey. This is one of
the ten passages in the Pentateuch in which one or more words are marked with
certain dots, known as puncta extraordinaria. In this case these dots stand over the
word rehokah, distant. The Rabbinical explanation is that the word is either
spurious, as not being found in Numbers 9:13, or is not to be interpreted in its literal
signification, but in a qualified sense.
PETT, "Numbers 9:10 a
‘Speak to the children of Israel, saying,’
Yahweh had a reply for these concerned men which He commands Moses to give
them.
And The Reply Was That They Would Be Enabled To Keep the Passover of
Yahweh (Numbers 9:10 b).
Numbers 9:10 b
“If any man of you or of your generations shall be unclean by reason of a dead
body, or be on a journey afar off, yet he shall keep the passover to Yahweh.” ’
He first expanded on the problem. In future men may be unclean through contact
with the dead or may be on a distant journey, and thus be unable to observe the
Passover. Well, they were not to be too concerned. They would certainly be
35

36. privileged to still keep the Passover.
PULPIT, "Numbers 9:10
If any man of you or of your posterity. The particular case of these men is made the
occasion for a general provision for all succeeding times. Shall be unclean by reason
of a dead body, or be in a journey. It is somewhat strange that these two cases only
were provided for: a man otherwise unclean (as, e.g; in the case described Le
Numbers 15:13), even if actually recovered, was unable to take advantage of the
little passover. Probably the real reason of it is to be found in this, that both the far
journey and' the burial of the dead would presumably be works of charity. Afar off.
This word, hsilgnE:egaugnaL ‫ה‬ָ‫ק‬ֹ‫ח‬ ְ‫ר‬ }, is one of ten in the Pentateuch distinguished in
the Hebrew Bibles with puncta extraordinaria, for some unknown and probably
trifling reasons. The Rabbins ruled that it meant a distance of fifteen miles or more
from the temple at sunrise of the fourteenth of Abib.
TRAPP, "Numbers 9:10 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If any man of you
or of your posterity shall be unclean by reason of a dead body, or [be] in a journey
afar off, yet he shall keep the passover unto the LORD.
Ver. 10. Or be in a journey afar off.] This rendered a man unfit to partake; because
either his head would be so taken up about his business then, or his mind so set
upon home, that he would have little leisure or liberty to prepare for the passover.
11 but they are to do it on the fourteenth day of
the second month at twilight. They are to eat the
lamb, together with unleavened bread and bitter
herbs.
GILL, "The later Jews speak of this as the “little Passover.” Coming, as it
did, a month after the proper Passover, it afforded ample time for a man to
purify himself from legal defilement, as also to return from any but a very
distant journey. Compare Hezekiah’s act 2Ch_30:1-3.
PETT, "A Second Passover Was To Be Kept In The Second Month And Was
36

37. To Be Kept As Laid Down (Numbers 9:11-12).
Numbers 9:11-12
“In the second month on the fourteenth day at even they shall keep it; they
shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, they shall leave none of
it until the morning, nor break a bone of it. According to all the statute of
the passover they shall keep it.”
The way in which this would be achieved was by having a special Passover
on the 14th day of the second month for all those who had missed the one on
the 14th day of the first month through no fault of their own. They would
observe it in the same way as the authentic Passover, with unleavened bread
and bitter herbs (Exodus 12:8), and of course with the Passover lamb. And
in accordance with the regulations they were to leave none until the
morning and were to ensure that they broke none of its bones (Exodus
12:10; Exodus 12:46). The first was necessary because the Passover food was
especially holy. It was like a peace offering offered solely in thanksgiving
(Leviticus 7:15). The second because to break the bones would render the
lamb blemished and therefore imperfect. Even in death it must be kept
perfect and whole, because it was holy. It was Yahweh’s. And it was their
great privilege that they could partake of it because they were His redeemed
people.
PULPIT, "Numbers 9:11
The fourteenth day of the second month. The interval gave ample time to
return from any ordinary journey, or to be purified from pollution of death.
It was in the spirit of this command, though not in the letter of it, that
Hezekiah acted (2 Chronicles 30:2). And possibly it was in the spirit of this
command that our Lord acted when he ate the passover by anticipation with
his disciples twenty-four hours before the proper time—at which time he
was himself to be the Lamb slain. With unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
These and the following directions are expressly added for fear lest any
should think that the little passover might be celebrated with less solemnity
and with less carefulness than the great passover.
TRAPP, "Numbers 9:11 The fourteenth day of the second month at even they
shall keep it, [and] eat it with unleavened bread and bitter [herbs].
Ver. 11. With unleavened bread.] Teaching them to "purge out the old
leaven," that fusty, swelling, souring, spreading, corruption of nature and
practice.
37

38. And bitter herbs.] Directing them to true humiliation and bitterness for sin;
without which there can be no sweetness in the blood of Christ.
WHEDON, "11. The fourteenth day of the second month — Thus a
fundamental law is supplemented, and a standing ordinance is permanently
established, in answer to prayer, first to Moses and then to the Lord. See
chap. xxxvi for another instance. Bitter herbs of five kinds are eaten by the
Jews as a salad with the paschal lamb; namely, lettuce, endive, chicory, and
two others, the Hebrew names of which have not been identified with
known plants. A very large number of bitter plants are eaten as salads in
Syria, even the hearts of all the larger wild thistles. Says Tristram: “The
leaves of the elecampane were gathered for salad by the Jehalin Arabs who
accompanied us, as well as many cresses which grew in the southern desert,
or at the south of the Dead Sea.”
12 They must not leave any of it till morning or
break any of its bones. When they celebrate the
Passover, they must follow all the regulations.
BARNES, "According to all the ordinances - i. e. those relating to the
Passover lamb, not those concerning the feast, for the Little Passover lasted,
according to the Jews, only one day; nor was it held to be needful that at it
leaven should be put away out of the houses.
GILL, "They shall leave none of it unto the morning,.... None of the flesh of
the passover lamb, what was left was to be burnt with fire, Exo_12:10,
nor break any bone of it; the same was enjoined; see Gill on Exo_12:46,
according to all the ordinances of the passover they shall keep it: as when
observed in its time, excepting the feast of unleavened bread, which
followed the first passover, and those rites which were peculiar to the
passover, as kept at their first coming out of Egypt; as the sprinkling the
blood of the lamb on the doorposts, eating it in haste, &c.
38

39. ELLICOTT, "(12) According to all the ordinances.—The word rendered ordinances
is in the singular number: according to all the ordinance (or statute). The primary
reference is probably to the law respecting the Paschal Lamb. According to Jewish
tradition the feast was only observed for one day instead of seven, and it was not
necessary to put away leaven.
PULPIT, "Numbers 9:12
According to all the ordinances of the passover. The later Jews held that this
passover need only be kept for one day, and that leaven need not be put away from
the house. But this was a clear departure from the original rule, for it was evidently
intended that it should be in all respects a true passover, and in this case six clear
days were allowed for the keeping of it (see on Numbers 10:11).
TRAPP, "Numbers 9:12 They shall leave none of it unto the morning, nor break any
bone of it: according to all the ordinances of the passover they shall keep it.
Ver. 12. They shall leave none.] The Lord in his infinite wisdom would hereby
prevent all occasions of idolatry, which is easily admitted in the reservations of holy
things, as in Popery at this day.
13 But if anyone who is ceremonially clean and
not on a journey fails to celebrate the Passover,
they must be cut off from their people for not
presenting the Lord’s offering at the appointed
time. They will bear the consequences of their sin.
GILL, "But the man that is clean,.... Free from any pollution by a dead body,
or the like:
and is not in a journey; in a distant country; for if he was on a journey in his
own nation, he ought to return and attend the passover, which all the males
from the several parts of the land were obliged unto; wherefore the Vulgate
39

40. Latin version of Num_9:10; is a wrong one; "or in a way afar off in your
nation"; for at whatsoever distance they were in their own nation, they were
bound to appear:
and forbeareth to keep the passover; the first passover in the first month,
the month Nisan, wilfully, through negligence, or not caring to be at the
expense and trouble of it, or on any pretence whatsoever: Ben Gersom
interprets it of one that will not keep neither the first nor the second
passover:
even the same soul shall be cut off from his people; either be
excommunicated from them, or cut off by death by the immediate hand of
God:
because he brought not the offering of the Lord in his appointed season: this
is the ground and reason of the resentment; it was a breach of the divine
command, which required this offering; ingratitude to God, being a thank
offering for a singular deliverance; and this aggravated by its not being
brought at the appointed time, which was the fit ti me for it:
that man shall bear his sin; be chargeable with the guilt of it, and bear the
punishment of it; he on himself, as Aben Ezra notes, he, and he only; not his
wife and family, for he being the head and master of the family, it lay upon
him to provide the passover lamb for himself and his house.
PETT, "The Passover Must In General Be Kept At Its Appointed Time
(Numbers 9:13-14)
Numbers 9:13
“But the man who is clean, and is not on a journey, and forbears to keep the
passover, that soul shall be cut off from his people. Because he offered not
the oblation of Yahweh in its appointed season, that man shall bear his sin.”
However that was not to be made an excuse for someone who was clean not
to keep the original Passover. Anyone eligible who did not keep the original
Passover would be cut off from among the people. Yahweh would know and
would see to it. And the reason for this would be that he had not offered a
gift that he was obliged by Yahweh to make at the appointed time. He would
have deliberately rebelled highhandedly against Yahweh.
PULPIT, "Numbers 9:13
But the man that is clean, and is not in a journey. This threat was added no
doubt in order to prevent men from taking advantage of the permission to
keep a supplemental passover in order to suit their own convenience or
interest. Only two reasons could absolve a man from the absolute necessity
40

41. of keeping the passover at the due season, and these reasons must be bona
fide, and not pretended. Because he brought not the offering of the Lord. In
the original institution the paschal lamb did not appear distinctly in the
character of an offering made to God, although undoubtedly it was such. It
was rather the eating of the lamb that was insisted upon, as placing the
partaker in communion with the God and Church of Israel, and so in a state
of salvation. But after the law of sacrifices had been elaborated, then the
paschal lamb, though prior to them all, naturally took its place amongst
them as the greatest of them all, and as uniting in itself the special beauties
of all.
WHEDON, " 13. Forbeareth to keep the passover — For sins of omission
resulting from obstinate unbelief the wicked will be sentenced to everlasting
punishment. See Matthew 25:45-46; John 3:18; John 16:9.
Shall be cut off — It is not easy to determine the precise meaning of these
words. The original terms are too strong for the idea of excommunication,
and they legitimately imply capital punishment. This was done by the
sentence of the judge when the crime is known, otherwise it is implied, say
the Jewish writers, that he should fall by the hand of Jehovah cutting him
off prematurely. See Leviticus 17:10, note. But several of the rabbinical
writers, as Maimonides, interpret these words as signifying not only
temporal but eternal death. The threatening is a severe one, and is designed
to inspire the deepest reverence for the divine ordinances.
Shall bear his sin — The punishment of sin. Leviticus 10:17; Leviticus 22:9,
notes. Dr. Hodge asserts that “when ‫,נשׂא‬ nasah, is construed with sin, it plainly
means, ‘to bear sin’ in the sense of being personally responsible for it.” According to this,
Jesus Christ was punished for our sins, a statement which we cannot receive. We prefer a
broader signification of the phrase. (1.) One bears his own sin by suffering its punishment.
(2.) He may bear another’s sin by suffering in consequence of it. (3.) He may bear another’s
sin aimed against himself by withholding his displeasure and treating the offender
graciously. See Leviticus 10:17, note. (4.) Or he may endure sufferings which are not penal,
but a conditional substitute for the penal sufferings of guilty persons. Such were the
sufferings of Christ in taking away the sin of the world. For an exhaustive discussion see
Bibliotheca Sacra, 18:284, 30:422; 32:475; and Dr. Miley’s Atonement in Christ.
14 “‘A foreigner residing among you is also to
celebrate the Lord’s Passover in accordance with
its rules and regulations. You must have the same
regulations for both the foreigner and the native-
41

42. born.’”
GILL, "And if a stranger shall sojourn among you, and will keep the
passover unto the Lord,.... Then he must become a proselyte of
righteousness, and be circumcised, or otherwise be might not eat of the
passover, Exo_12:48; Ben Gersom interprets this of the second passover,
and of a proselyte that was not obliged to the first, he not being then a
proselyte, but became one between the first and the second; and so Aben
Ezra understands it of a second passover, though he observes, that some say
the first is meant:
according to the ordinance of the passover, and according to the manner
thereof, so shall he do; according to the several rites and ceremonies,
whether of the first or second passover, that an Israelite was obliged to
observe, the same a proselyte was to observe, and what they were has been
already taken notice of:
ye shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger and for him that was born
in the land: for a proselyte, and a native of Israel; see Exo_12:49.
BENSON, "Numbers 9:14-15. A stranger — Who is a proselyte. Namely, the tent of
the testimony — Or, the tabernacle above the tent of the testimony; that is, that part
of the tabernacle in which was the testimony, or the ark of the testimony; for there
the cloudy pillar stood. This was an evident token of God’s special presence with,
and providence over them. And this cloud was easily distinguished from other
clouds, both by its peculiar figure, and by its constant residence in that place.
Fire — That they might better discern it, and direct themselves and their journeys
or stations by it. Had it been a cloud only, it had scarce been visible by night: and
had it been a fire only, it would have scarce been discernible by day. But God was
pleased to give them sensible demonstrations that he kept them night and day.
PETT, "Numbers 9:14
“And if a resident alien shall sojourn among you, and will keep the passover to
Yahweh, according to the statute of the passover, and according to its ordinance, so
shall he do. You shall have one statute, both for the resident alien, and for him who
is born in the land.”
All this was being said in preparation for that great future when they would be in
the land. Then if a resident alien lived among them he also could keep the Passover
in accordance with Passover requirements, one of which was that he enter the
covenant and be circumcised as a ‘true’ Israelite (Exodus 12:48-49). As stated in
42

43. Exodus the same principles would apply to all, whether born in the land or resident
alien seeking Yahweh.
This emphasis on ‘the land’ was all part of the preparation for their moving off on
what at that time Moses thought would be a short journey to the land. The
expectancy was that they would soon be living there, and these references were
intended to bolster that expectancy. There was no thought of the delay that would
occur through their unbelief. As far as Moses was concerned it was just round the
corner.
For us the significance of the Passover is tied up with Jesus Christ. He is our
Passover Who was sacrificed for us (1 Corinthians 5:7 compare John 19:36). He is
the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). We are therefore
to rid ourselves of the leaven of wickedness and malice. And we must ensure that we
partake of Him as the unblemished offering fully and truly, for to fail to do so will
mean that we too will be ‘cut off’ (1 Corinthians 11:27; 1 Corinthians 11:30).
PULPIT, "Ye shall have one ordinance. This is repeated from Exodus 12:49 as a
further warning not to tamper more than absolute necessity required with the unity,
either in time or in circumstance, of the great national rite.
WHEDON, "14. If a stranger shall sojourn — “If one shall dwell among you who
has been converted unto me.” — Syriac. “If a proselyte come unto you in your
land.” — Septuagint. Naturalized and circumcised aliens who have been
incorporated into Israel as “proselytes of righteousness” were to partake of the
paschal lamb as the native Hebrew. Thus was prefigured the determination of God,
“That the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of
his promise in Christ by the Gospel.” Ephesians 3:6.
The Cloud Above the Tabernacle
15 On the day the tabernacle, the tent of the
covenant law, was set up, the cloud covered it.
From evening till morning the cloud above the
tabernacle looked like fire.
43

44. BARNES, "The cloud ... - The phenomenon first appeared at the Exodus
itself, Exo_13:21-22. The cloud did not cover the whole structure, but the
“tent of the testimony,” i. e. the enclosure which contained the “ark of the
testimony” Exo_25:16, Exo_25:22, and the holy place. The phenomenon is
now again described in connection with the journeyings which are to be
narrated in the sequel of the book.
CLARKE, "The cloud covered the tabernacle - See the whole account of
this supernatural cloud largely explained, Exo_23:21; and Exo_40:34-38.
Calmet observes that the 15th verse, beginning a new subject, should begin a
new chapter, as it has no connection with what goes before; and he thinks
this chapter, begun with the 15th verse, should end with the 28th verse of
the following. (Exo_10:28)
GILL, "And on the day that the tabernacle was reared up,.... Which was the
first day of the first month in the second year of the people of Israel's
coming out of Egypt, Exo_40:1,
the cloud covered the tabernacle, namely, the tent of the testimony; that
part of the tabernacle in which the testimony was, that is, where the ark
was, in which the law was put, called the testimony; and this was the most
holy place; and over the tent or covering of that was this cloud, which
settled upon it, as Ben Gersom thinks, after the seven days of the
consecration of Aaron and his sons; on the eighth day, when it was said unto
the people of Israel, "today will the Lord appear unto you", Lev_9:1; "and
the glory of the Lord shall appear unto you", Lev_9:6; and here the Targum
of Jonathan calls this cloud the cloud of glory, because of the glory of God in
it; of which see Exo_40:34,
and at even there was upon the tabernacle, as it were, the appearance of fire
until the morning; the same phenomenon, which looked like a cloud in the
daytime, appeared like fire in the same place in the nighttime, throughout
the whole of it until morning light, when it was seen as a cloud again: this
was a token of the presence of God with the people of Israel, of his
protection of them, and being a guide unto them by night and day, while in
the wilderness; and was a figure of his being the same to his church and
people, in the present state of things; see Isa_4:5.
HENRY 15-23, "We have here the history of the cloud; not a natural
history: who knows the balancings of the clouds? but a divine history of a
cloud that was appointed to be the visible sign and symbol of God's presence
44

45. with Israel.
I. When the tabernacle was finished this cloud, which before had hung on
high over their camp, settled upon the tabernacle, and covered it, to show
that God manifests his presence with his people in and by his ordinances;
there he makes himself known, and to them we must look if we would see
the beauty of the Lord, Psa_27:4; Eze_37:26, Eze_37:27. Thus God glorified
his own appointments, and signified his acceptance of his people's love and
obedience.
II. That which appeared as a cloud by day appeared as a fire all night. Had
it been a cloud only, it would not have been visible by night; and, had it been
a fire only, it would have been scarcely discernible by day; but God would
give them sensible demonstrations of the constancy of his presence with
them, and his care of them, and that he kept them night and day, Isa_27:3;
Psa_121:6. And thus we are taught to set God always before us, and to see
him near us both night and day. Something of the nature of that divine
revelation which the Old Testament church was governed by might also be
signified by these visible signs of God's presence, the cloud denoting the
darkness and the fire the terror of that dispensation, in comparison with
the more clear and comfortable discoveries God has made of his glory in the
face of Jesus Christ.
III. This pillar of cloud and fire directed and determined all the motions,
marches, and encampments, of Israel in the wilderness. 1. As long as the
cloud rested upon the tabernacle, so long they continued in the same place,
and never stirred; though no doubt they were very desirous to be pressing
forward in their journey towards Canaan, where they longed to be and
hoped to be quickly, yet as long as the cloud rested, if it was a month or a
year, so long they rested, Num_9:22. Note, He that believeth doth not make
haste. There is no time lost while we are waiting God's time. It is as
acceptable a piece of submission to the will of God to sit still contentedly
when our lot requires it as to work for him when we are called to it. 2. When
the cloud was taken up, they removed, how comfortably soever they were
encamped, Num_9:17. Whether it moved by day or night, they delayed not
to attend its motions (Num_9:21), and probably there were some appointed
to stand sentinel day and night within sight of it, to give timely notice to the
camp of its beginning to stir, and this called keeping the charge of the Lord.
The people, being thus kept at a constant uncertainty, and having no time
fixed for stopping or removing, were obliged to hold themselves in constant
readiness to march upon very short warning. And for the same reason 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
commandment of the Lord. 3. As long and as far as the cloud moved, so long
and so far they marched, and just where it abode they pitched their tents
about it, and God's tent under it, Num_9:17. Note, It is uncomfortable
staying when God has departed, but very safe and pleasant going when we
see God go before us and resting where he appoints us to rest. This is
repeated again and again in these verses, because it was a constant miracle,
and often repeated, and what never failed in all their travels, and because it
is a matter which we should take particular notice of as very significant and
instructive. It is mentioned long after by David (Psa_105:39), and by the
45

46. people of God after their captivity, Neh_9:19. And the guidance of this cloud
is spoken of as signifying the guidance of the blessed Spirit. Isa_63:14, The
Spirit of the Lord caused him to rest, and so didst thou lead thy people.
This teaches us, (1.) The particular care God takes of his people. Nothing
could be more expressive and significant of God's tenderness of Israel than
the guidance of this cloud was; it led them by the right way (Psa_107:7),
went on their pace: God did by it, as it were, cover them with his feathers.
We are not now to expect such sensible tokens of the divine presence and
guidance as this was, but the promise is sure to all God's spiritual Israel that
he will guide them by his counsel (Psa_73:24), even unto death (Psa_
48:14), that all the children of God shall be led by the Spirit of God (Rom_
8:14), that he will direct the paths of those who in all their ways
acknowledge him, Pro_3:6. There is a particular providence conversant
about all their affairs, to direct and overrule them for the best. The steps of
a good man are ordered by the Lord, Psa_37:23. (2.) The particular regard
we ought to have to God in all our ways. In our affections and actions we
must follow the direction of his word and Spirit; all the motions of our souls
must be guided by the divine will; at the commandment of the Lord our
hearts should always move and rest; in all our affairs we must follow
Providence, reconciling ourselves to all its disposals, and bringing our mind
to our condition, whatever it is. The people of Israel, having the cloud for
their guide, were eased of the trouble of holding councils of war, to consider
when and whither they should march, which might have occasioned strifes
and debates among them: nor needed they to send spies before to inform
them of the posture of the country, or pioneers to clear the way, or officers
to mark out their camp; the pillar of cloud did all this for them: and those
that by faith commit their works to the Lord, though they are bound to the
prudent use of means, yet may in like manner be easy in the expectation of
the event. “Father, thy will be done; dispose of me and mine as thou
pleasest; here I am, desirous to be found waiting on my God continually, to
journey and rest at the commandment of the Lord. What thou wilt, and
where thou wilt, only let me be thine, and always in the way of my duty.”
JAMISON, "Num_9:15-23. A cloud guides the Israelites.
the cloud covered the tabernacle — The inspired historian here enters on
an entirely new subject, which might properly have formed a separate
chapter, beginning at this verse and ending at Num_10:29 [Calmet]. The
cloud was a visible token of God’s special presence and guardian care of the
Israelites (Exo_14:20; Psa_105:39). It was easily distinguishable from all
other clouds by its peculiar form and its fixed position; for from the day of
the completion of the tabernacle it rested by day as a dark, by night as a
fiery, column on that part of the sanctuary which contained the ark of the
testimony (Lev_16:2).
K&D, "Num_9:15
46

47. Signs for Removing and Encamping. - On their way through the desert
from the border of Egypt to Sinai, Jehovah Himself had undertaken to guide
His people by a cloud, as the visible sign and vehicle of His gracious
presence (Exo_13:21-22). This cloud had come down upon the dwelling
when the tabernacle was erected, whilst the glory of the Lord filled the holy
of holies (Exo_40:34-38). In Num_9:15 the historian refers to this fact, and
then describes more fully what had been already briefly alluded to in Exo_
40:36-37, namely, that when the cloud rose up from the dwelling of the
tabernacle it was a sign for removing, and when it came down upon the
dwelling, a sign for encamping. In Num_9:15, “on the day of the setting up
of the dwelling,” Exo_40:34-35, is resumed; and in Num_9:15 the
appearance of the cloud during the night, from evening till morning, is
described in accordance with Exo_40:38. (On the fact itself, see the
exposition of Exo_13:21-22). ‫ת‬ ֻ‫ד‬ֵ‫ע‬ ָ‫ה‬ ‫ל‬ ֶ‫ה‬ֹ‫א‬ ְ‫ל‬ ‫ן‬ ָ‫כּ‬ ְ‫שׁ‬ ִ‫,מ‬ “the dwelling of the tent of
witness” (‫ל‬ used for the genitive to avoid a double construct state: Ewald, §
292, a). In the place of ohel moëd, “tent of the meeting of Jehovah with His
people,” we have here “tent of witness” (or “testimony”), i.e., of the tables
with the decalogue which were laid up in the ark of the covenant (Exo_
25:16), because the decalogue formed the basis of the covenant of Jehovah
with Israel, and the pledge of the gracious presence of the Lord in the
tabernacle. In the place of “dwellings of the tent of witness,” we have
“dwelling of witness” (testimony) in Num_10:11, and “tent of witness” in
Num_18:2; Num_17:8, to denote the whole dwelling, as divided into the
holy place and the holy of holies, and not the holy of holies alone. This is
unmistakeably evident from a comparison of the verse before us with Exo_
40:34, according to which the cloud covered not merely one portion of the
tabernacle, but the whole of the tent of meeting (ohel moëd). The rendering,
“the cloud covered the dwelling at the tent of witness,” i.e., at that part of it
in which the witness (or “testimony”) was kept, viz., the holy of holies,
which Rosenmüller and Knobel adopt, cannot be sustained, inasmuch as ְ‫ל‬
has no such meaning, but simply conveys the idea of motion and passage
into a place or condition (cf. Ewald, §217, d); and the dwelling or tabernacle
was not first made into the tent of witness through the cloud which covered
it.
COFFMAN, ""And on the day that the tabernacle was reared up the cloud covered
the tabernacle, even the tent of the testimony: and at even it was upon the
tabernacle as it were the appearance of fire, until morning. So it was alway: the
cloud covered it, and the appearance of fire by night. And whenever the cloud was
taken up from over the Tent, then after that the children of Israel journeyed: and in
the place where the cloud abode, there the children of Israel encamped."
Plaut stated that, "The reason for this detailed passage containing previously stated
information is not clear."[15] To us it seems quite logical that at this very moment
when Israel was to depart from Sinai on an extended series of journeys that would
cover a period of almost forty years and involve no less than forty-two stations for
their encampment, it was appropriate indeed that there should have been just such
47

48. a recapitulation as we find here.
The use of both expressions, "the Tent," and "the tabernacle" here indicates that
they were used interchangeably forbidding the notion that the cloud covered only
the "Holy of Holies." Gray noted that, "The cloud is spoken of indifferently as
resting or being either on the tent, or on the tabernacle."[16] This whole passage is
parallel to Exodus 40:34-38. "This manifestation in the cloud of God's presence and
guidance of Israel was miraculous, as is his leading us by the Holy Spirit through his
word."[17] Orlinsky rendered the phrase, "and the appearance of fire," thus: "The
cloud rested in the likeness of fire."[18]
COKE, "Numbers 9:15. And on the day that the tabernacle was reared up— Being
now come to the decampment of the Israelites from mount Sinai, it was natural for
Moses to mention by what direction these decampments were made; and we find it
repeated no less than three times in the compass of these few verses, that it was at
the commandment of the Lord, signified by the cloud of glory, that they moved or
rested. Maimonides says, that the reason for Moses being so particular in repeating
so often this circumstance of their marching and resting at the command of God,
was to confute the opinion of the Arabians and others, who imagined that the reason
of the Israelites staying so long in the wilderness was because they had lost their
way: which, he observes, was a very idle conceit; since the way from mount Horeb
to Kadesh Barnea, on the borders of Canaan, was a known, beaten road, and not
above eleven days journey; so that it was hardly possible for them to miss it, far less
to wander in a bewildered condition for forty years. Le Clerc, however, assigns, for
the repetition, only the simplicity of the ancient manner of writing. By the hand of
Moses, Numbers 9:23 signifies, by the ministry of Moses, their lawgiver and director
under God; who, at every march and encampment, accompanied the divine signal
with a solemn prayer; saying, when the ark set forward, Rise up, Lord! let thine
enemies be scattered, &c. when it rested, Return, O Lord! unto the many thousands
of Israel; see ch. Numbers 10:35-36. They marched sometimes by night, which is the
chief time for travelling through these desarts, on account of the heat; see
Observations, p. 223. Thus, how tedious and irksome soever their particular travels
or stations might be, and however impatiently desirous they were of arriving at the
promised land; yet they resigned themselves to the constant direction of this
heavenly guide; and never dared to stir, but by the special appointment of God,
under the ministry of his servant Moses. It was a glorious advantage to the Jews to
be led by the cloud in the wilderness, which was to them a constant symbol of the
Divine Presence; but let Christians remember, that in Jesus Christ they have a much
more expressive pledge of God's presence and favour; and are much more happy in
being guided by the light of the Gospel; which shews them the way wherein they are
to walk during their stay in this world, in order to their arrival at the joys of heaven.
ELLICOTT, " (15) The cloud covered the tabernacle, namely, the tent of the
testimony.—Better, the tabernacle of (or, belonging to) the tent of the testimony. It
is stated in Exodus 40:34, after the account of the erection of the Tabernacle, that
48

49. the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and that the glory of the Lord filled the
Tabernacle. There is, therefore, no sufficient ground for the supposition that the
cloud rested on that part of the Tabernacle exclusively in which the two tables of the
testimony were kept, i.e., the Holy or Holies. On the contrary, it is stated in Exodus
40:35 that Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting, because the cloud abode upon
it, where there is no reference to any particular part of the erection. It is true,
however, that it was from above the mercy-seat that the presence of Jehovah was
specially manifested, and that it was in the most holy place, in which the ark of the
testimony was kept, that He met with Moses and communed with him (Exodus
25:21-23). The account of the cloud covering the Tabernacle is repeated in this
place, inasmuch as the history which follows relates the removal of the Tabernacle
under the guidance of the same cloud which covered it at its erection.
And at even.—The dark side of the cloud afforded a grateful shade by day, and the
bright side of the cloud served to supply light by night. Comp. Psalms 78:14 : “In
the day-time also He led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire;”
and Nehemiah 9:12 : “Thou leddest them in the day by a cloudy pillar, and in the
night by a pillar of fire, to give them light in the way wherein they should go;” also
Isaiah 4:5 : “And the Lord will create upon every dwelling-place of Mount Zion,
and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming
fire by night.”
PETT, "Verses 15-23
SECTION 3 GUIDANCE IN RESPECT OF GOING FORWARD (Numbers 9:15 to
Numbers 10:10).
The command being made to go forward it is now made clear how they will be
guided.
Guidance In Respect of Going Forward (Numbers 9:15 to Numbers 10:10).
Godward Side.
a The cloud and fire rest on the tabernacle (Numbers 9:15-16).
b Movement forward regulated by the cloud (Numbers 9:17-23).
Manward Side.
b Responses to be determined by the blowing of the silver trumpets (Numbers
10:1-8).
a The blowing of the silver trumpets as a memorial before Yahweh once they have
rest in the land (Numbers 10:9-10)
49

50. The cloud and the fire had been with them from before the crossing of the Reed Sea.
In Exodus 13:22 we are told that ‘Yahweh went before them by day in a pillar of
cloud, to lead them the way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light that
they might go by day and by night. The pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire
by night, departed not from before the people.’ At that stage they were fleeing and
did not stop to pitch camp. When the Egyptian forces came up the cloud went
behind them to hinder the Egyptian advance (Exodus 14:20), while the fire still
illuminated Israel at night.
Once, however, they were encamped for a period of time at Mount Sinai in Horeb
and the Dwellingplace had been erected, ‘the cloud covered the Tent of meeting and
the glory of Yahweh covered the Dwellingplace’ (Exodus 40:34), so much so that for
a time Moses was unable to enter it. As Moses was usually able to enter it, and was
able to do so in Numbers 7:89, it is clear that the glory was different from the fire.
Thus the glory was temporary at the initiation of the Dwellingplace.
When the cloud was taken up from over the Dwellingplace the children of Israel
went onwards throughout all their journeys. If the cloud was not taken up, then
they did not journey until the day that it was taken up (Exodus 30 35-37). ‘And the
cloud of Yahweh was on the Dwellingplace by day, and there was fire in it by night,
in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys’ (Exodus 40:38).
The Cloud and Fire Rest on the Dwellingplace (Numbers 9:15-16).
The principles would now be laid down by which the march forward was to be
regulated. Firstly would be the divine signals through the cloud and the fire. Then
would come the human signals through the silver trumpets.
This section can be seen as completing the previous section, or as introducing the
section which is to follow. It fits in neatly between the two sections, the cloud being
their reward for their obedience to His previous instruction, the trumpets the
manward means by which their responses would be controlled as they journeyed.
The account is again composed chiastically.
a Introductory explanation (Numbers 9:15-16).
b When the cloud was taken up they journeyed, when the cloud abode they
encamped (Numbers 9:17).
c At the commandment of Yahweh they journeyed, at the commandment of Yahweh
they encamped (Numbers 9:18).
d When the cloud tarried they encamped and journeyed not (Numbers 9:19).
50

51. d The cloud was sometimes a few days on the Dwellingplace (Numbers 9:20 a).
c According to the commandment of Yahweh they encamped and according to His
commandment they journeyed - note the reverse order (Numbers 9:20-21).
b When the cloud abode on the Dwellingplace they encamped, when it was taken up
they journeyed - again the reverse order (Numbers 9:22).
a Final conclusion (Numbers 9:23).
Numbers 9:15
‘And on the day that the tabernacle was reared up the cloud covered the tabernacle,
even the tent of the testimony, and at even it was on the tabernacle as it were the
appearance of fire, until morning.’
From the very day that the Dwellingplace was set up the cloud covered it by day,
demonstrating the earthly presence of Yahweh among His people. And when night
came there appeared on it the appearance of fire. They were a continual reminder of
Sinai.
“Even the tent of the testimony.” A reminder that within the Dwellingplace lay the
tablets which contained the sacred covenant with Yahweh, of which the Tent was a
constant reminder.
PULPIT, "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. The testimony was the decalogue written on the
two tables of stone, and enshrined within the ark, the moral law which lay at the
heart of Judaism. The tent of the testimony was the holy of holies in which the ark
dwelt (see on Numbers 10:11; Numbers 18:2). The exact meaning of the words ‫ז‬ָ‫כּ‬ ְ‫שׁ‬ ִ‫מ‬
‫ֻח‬‫ד‬ֵ‫ﬠ‬ָ‫ה‬ ‫ל‬ֶ‫ה‬ֹ‫א‬ְ‫ל‬ is disputed, or the rather significance of the ְ‫ל‬ with which the phrase "tent
of the testimony" is appended to the word "tabernacle" (dwelling). Some take it as
equivalent in construction to the genitive, "the dwelling of the tent of the
testimony;" in which case it would simply mean that the cloud covered the whole
tabernacle, the mishcan which enveloped and enclosed the ohel, which again
enshrined the ark and the testimony. Others take ְ‫ל‬ here in the sense of "at" or
"towards," and read, "covered the dwelling, towards the tent of the testimony," i.e;
over that part of it in which the testimony was kept. Apart from the strict
51

52. grammatical question, the comparison of other passages cited (especially Exodus
40:34) seems in favour of the first interpretation, and so apparently the Septuagint
and the Targums.
WHEDON, "Verse 15
15. Cloud covered… tabernacle — For a striking note on the cloud see Exodus
13:21. As soon as the tabernacle was dedicated the CLOUD came down upon it and
the glory filled it, so that Moses was not able to enter in. Exodus 40:35. From this
time onward, till the entrance into Canaan, the cloud which had guided them to
Sinai never removed from the tabernacle except to indicate the direction in which
the host was to advance. The tent of the testimony, or holy of holies, is signalized by
the cloud because it contained the ark of the covenant, the tables of the decalogue,
the basis of the covenant of Jehovah. Rosenmuller and Knobel say, that “the cloud
covered the dwelling at the tent of witness,” that is, stood over the most holy place.
Keil objects to this, inasmuch as ‫,ל‬ to, is a preposition of motion and not of rest.
Moreover, in Exodus 35-40:34 , the whole tabernacle of the congregation was
covered by the cloud, and not merely one portion. These passages may be
harmonized by the supposition that the cloud which at first filled the whole
tabernacle, and covered its whole extent, afterward gathered itself into a well
defined pillar which stood over the holy of holies.
Verses 23-15
THE CLOUD AND THE TABERNACLE, Numbers 23-9:15 .
Jehovah might have directed the movements of the tabernacle and the location of
the camp by speaking to Moses. But he chose to make his will in this respect known
to all the people by visible tokens. Perhaps in the retrograde movements of the
tabernacle it would have been too great a strain of Israel’s faith to have obeyed the
command of Moses without the emphasis of supernatural signs. Even with these
they often rebelled against his word. Numbers 20:24.
BI 15-23, "The Cloud.
The history of the cloud
We have here the history of the cloud. Not a natural history—“who knows
the balancings of the clouds?” but a Divine history, of a cloud that was
appointed to be the visible symbol of God’s presence with Israel.
I. When the tabernacle was finished this cloud, which before had hung on
high over their camp, settled upon the tabernacle and covered it; to show
that god manifests his presence with his people in and by his ordinances.
II. That which appeared as a cloud by day appeared as a fire all night; to
teach Israel the constancy of his presence with them and care of them (Isa_
52

53. 27:5; Psa_121:6).
III. This pillar of cloud and fire directed and determined all the motions,
marches, and encampments of Israel in the wilderness.
1. As long as the cloud rested upon the tabernacle, so long they continued
in the same place and never stirred. Though no doubt they were very
desirous to be pressing forward in their journey towards Canaan, where
they hoped to be quickly, yet as long as the cloud rested, if it were a
month or a year, so long they rested (Num_9:22). Note, he that believeth
doth not make haste. There is no time lost whilst we are waiting God’s
time. It is as acceptable a piece of submission to the will of God to sit still
contentedly when our lot requires it, as to work for Him when we are
called to it.
2. When the cloud was taken up they removed, how comfortably soever
they were encamped (Num_9:17). Whether it moved by day or night they
delayed not to attend its motions (Num_9:21). And probably there were
some appointed to stand sentinel day and night within ken of it, to give
timely notice to the camp of its beginning to stir; and this is called
keeping the charge of the Lord. The people being thus kept at a constant
uncertainty, and having no time fixed for their stays and removes, were
obliged to hold themselves in a constant readiness to march upon very
short warning. And for the same reason 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 commandment
of the Lord.
3. As long and as far as the cloud moved, so long and so far they
marched; and just there where it abode they pitched their tents about it,
and God’s tent under it (Num_9:17). Note, it is uncomfortable staying
when God is departed, but very safe and pleasant going when we see God
go before us, and resting where He appoints us to rest.
Lessons:
1. The particular care God takes of His people. Nothing could be more
significant of God’s tenderness of Israel than the conduct of this cloud
was. It led them by the right way (Psa_107:7); went on their pace; God
did by it, as it were, cover them with His feathers. We are not now to
expect such sensible tokens of the Divine presence and guidance as this
was. But the promise is sure to all God’s spiritual Israel, that He will
guide them by His counsel (Psa_73:24) even unto death (Psa_48:14);
that all the children of God shall be led by the Spirit of God (Rom_8:14);
that He will direct their paths who in all their ways acknowledge Him
(Pro_3:6). There is a particular providence conversant about all their
affairs to direct and overrule them for the best. The steps of a good man
are ordered by the Lord (Psa_37:22).
2. The particular regard we ought to have to God in all our ways. In our
affections and actions we must follow the direction of His Word and
Spirit; all the motions of our soul must be guided by the Divine will; at
the commandment of the Lord our heart should always move and rest. In
53

54. all our affairs we must follow providence, reconciling ourselves to all its
disposals, and bringing our mind to our condition, whatever it is.
(Matthew Henry, D. D.)
The pillar of cloud and fire
I. As an emblem of divine truth.
1. Supernatural as to origin.
2. Stable: only a cloud, yet not dispersed.
3. Adapted to both night and day.
4. Reliable.
5. Intolerant: “This is the way,” and no other.
II. As a symbol of divine providence.
1. Different appearance to different characters.
2. Presented alternations of aspect to the same people.
3. Mysterious in its movements.
4. Aims at the good of all who follow its guidance.
III. As a type of the divine saviour.
1. Mysterious nature.
2. Challenges attention.
3. His purpose beneficent.
4. The source of great comfort.
5. Constant in His attachment.
Lessons:
1. Seek to be on the right side of the cloud.
2. Seek it in the right place—over the tabernacle.
3. Follow its guidance. (J. C. Gray.)
The pillar of cloud and of fire
I. The pillar of cloud and of fire is a perpetual fact in the life of God’s people.
1. We see the pillar in God’s Word. The Bible has not a precept for every
emergency which can arise in daily life, so that at such a point you can
see a guide-board, like the signs pointing to the old cities of refuge; but it
is full of general principles which, if obeyed, will direct without mistake
to the promised land.
2. We see the pillar in God’s providences. Sometimes it appears in
54

55. prosperity, beckoning us onward; sometimes in adversity, turning us
back.
3. We see the pillar in God’s special revelations. They come, perhaps, at
the threshold of some great undertaking. Shall we move out from Egypt
toward the Red Sea? And there, if we are watching, will be the sign in the
sky I When Pastor Harms, in Germany, was deliberating whether,
without one dollar in his possession, he should build a ship to carry
missionaries to Africa, he says, describing his conflict: “I prayed
fervently to the Lord, laid the matter in His hands, and as I rose up at
midnight from my knees I said, with a voice that almost startled me in
my quiet room, ‘Forward now, in God’s name.’ From that moment there
never came a thought of doubt into my mind.” Such an experience must,
indeed, be interpreted with great care, there is so much danger of
delusion. Yet it is true that with a prayerful mind, with diligent study of
the Word, especially with the intuitions of a filial spirit, such revelations
may be as distinct as any that ever came to Moses.
II. The pillar is a blessing only to those who trust and follow it. On some
sides the Israelites are a poor example for us, but we may learn something
from them in this particular: that they followed the pillar.
1. They followed it promptly. Whenever and wherever it moved, then and
thither they moved without delay. If it aroused them from their sleep
they obeyed with alacrity. It is when the cloud speaks to us “suddenly,”
unexpectedly, that our obedience is most severely tested. But that is our
standard; a mind to run in the way of God’s commandments.
2. They followed the pillar constantly (Num_9:21-22).
3. They followed the pillar by faith. They obeyed even when they could
not understand. If troubles were only explained they would be so much
easier to bear. But the best faith endures without understanding. A
generation ago some of us used to hear of an afflicted woman in
Connecticut named Chloe Lankton, who, many will be surprised to know,
is living still. For fifty-five years she has lain upon her bed and suffered,
but without losing her Christian faith. Acknowledging, not long ago, a
remittance sent for her support, she wrote: “Jesus only knows how much
I endure. He knows it all and supports me I have a strong arm to lean
upon and will trust Him to the end Oh, how thankful I feel . . . for the
many comforts and blessings God gives me!” Poor soul! How long, for
her, the cloud has tarried! And she is only one of the great “shut-in-
society” who have learned to trust and follow “two days or a month or a
year,” or a lifetime, if God wills, It would be a mistake, however, to think
of this truth as applying only to the darker side of human experience. It
is great joy in the brightest prosperity to see the pillar; and no one has so
good a right to live in the sunshine as a Christian. Friendship is joy,
home is joy, music is joy, learning is joy. The world is full of such
pleasures. But does it not intensify these to realise that they are all signs
of the Father’s love? Is not the water at Elim more sweet if, as we quench
our thirst, we can look up and see the pillar? Then, too, is there not
comfort in knowing that if farther on we have cause to apprehend
55

56. another experience of thirst and suffering, we shall be under the same
heavenly presence and can hear the voice out of the cloud? So for all, in
every condition and need, the pillar has heavenly blessing. Still we must
remember the blessing is only for those who trust and follow. (T. J.
Holmes.)
The guiding pillar:
I. The double form of the guiding pillar. The fire was the centre, the cloud
was wrapped around it. The former was the symbol, making visible to a
generation who had to be taught through their senses the inaccessible
holiness and flashing brightness and purity of the Divine nature; the latter
tempered and veiled the too great brightness for feeble eyes. The same
double element is found in all God’s manifestations of Himself to men. In
every form of revelation are present both the core of light, that no eye can
look upon, and the merciful veil which, because it veils, unveils; because it
hides, reveals; makes visible because it conceals; and shows God because it
is the hiding of His power. So, through all the history of His dealings with
men, there has ever been what is called in Scripture language the “face,” or
the “name of God”; the aspect of the Divine nature on which eye can look;
and manifested through it there has always been the depth and inaccessible
abyss of that infinite Being. We have to be thankful that in the cloud is the
fire, and that round the fire is the cloud. God hides to make better known
the glories of His character. So a light, set in some fair alabaster vase,
shines through its translucent walls, bringing out every delicate tint and
meandering vein of color, while itself diffused and softened by the
enwrapping medium which it beautifies by passing through its pure walls.
Both are made visible and attractive to dull eyes by the conjunction. He that
hath seen Christ hath seen the Father, and he that hath seen the Father in
Christ hath seen the man Christ as none see Him who are blind to the
incarnate Deity which illuminates the manhood in which it dwells. But we
have to note also the varying appearance of the pillar according to need.
There was a double change in the pillar according to the hour, and
according as the congregation was on the march or encamped. Both these
changes of aspect symbolise for us the reality of the Protean capacity of
change according to our ever-varying needs, which for our blessing we may
find in that ever-changing, unchanging Divine presence which will be our
companion if we will. When the deceitful brightness of earth glistens and
dazzles around me, my vision of Him may be “a cloudy screen to temper the
deceitful ray”; and when “ there stoops on our path in storm and shade the
frequent night,” as earth grows darker, and life becomes grayer and more
sombre, and verges to its even, the pillar blazes brighter before the weeping
eye, and draws near to the lonely heart. We have a God that manifests
Himself in the pillar of cloud by day and in the flaming fire by night.
II. The guidance of the pillar. When it lifts the camp marches; when it glides
down and lies motionless the march is stopped and the tents are pitched.
The main thing which is dwelt upon in this description of the God-guided
pilgrimage of the wandering people is the absolute uncertainty in which
56

57. they were kept as to the duration of their encampment, and as to the time
and circumstances of their march. Is not that all true about us P We have no
guiding cloud like this. So much the better. Have we not a more real guide
than that? God guides us by circumstances, God guides us by His Word, God
guides us by His Spirit, speaking through our common sense and in our
understandings, and, most of all, God guides us by that dear Son of His, in
whom is the fire and round whom is the cloud. The pillar that we follow,
which will glow with the ruddy flame of love in the darkest hours of life, will
glide in front of us through the valley of the shadow of death, brightest then
when the murky midnight is blackest, nor will that pillar which guides us
cease to blaze as did the guide of the desert march when Jordan has been
crossed, but it will still move before us on paths of continuous and ever
increasing approach to infinite perfection. They who follow Christ afar off
and with faltering steps here, shall there “follow the Lamb whithersoever
He goeth.” In like manner, the same absolute uncertainty which kept on was
intended to keep the Israelites (though it failed often) in the attitude of
constant dependence, is the condition in which we all have to live, though
we mask it from ourselves. That we do not know what lies before us is a
commonplace. The same long tracts of monotonous continuance in the
same place, and doing the same duties, befall us that befell these men. Years
pass, and the pillar spreads itself out, a defence above the unmoving
sanctuary. And then, all of a flash, when we are least thinking of change, it
gathers itself together, is a pillar again, shoots upwards and moves
forwards; and it is for us to go after it. And so our lives are shuttlecocked
between uniform sameness, which may become mechanical monotony, and
agitation by change which may make us lose our hold of fixed principles and
calm faith, unless we recognise that the continuance and the change are
alike the will of the guiding God whose will is signified by the stationary or
moving pillar.
III. The docile following of the guide. That is what we have to set before us
as the type of our lives—that we should be as ready for every indication of
God’s will as they were. The peace and blessedness of our lives largely
depend on our being eager to obey, and therefore quick to perceive the
slightest sign of motion in the resting or of rest in the moving pillar which
regulates our march and our encamping. What do we want in order to
cultivate and keep such a disposition? We need perpetual watchfulness lest
the pillar should lift unnoticed. When Nelson was second in command at
Copenhagen, the admiral in command of the fleet hoisted the signal for
recall, and Nelson put his telescope to his blind eye and said, “I do not see
it.” That is very like what we are tempted to do; the signal for unpleasant
duties that we want to get out of is hoisted, we are very apt to put the
telescope to the blind eye, and pretend to ourselves that we do not see the
fluttering flags. We need still more to keep our wills in absolute suspense if
His will has not declared itself. Do not let us be in a hurry to run before God.
We need to hold the present with a slack hand, so as to be ready to fold our
tents and take to the road if God will. We must not reckon on continuance,
nor strike our roots so deep that it needs a hurricane to remove us. To those
who set their gaze on Christ no present from which He wishes them to
remove can be so good for them as the new conditions into which He would
57

58. have them pass. We need, too, to cultivate the habit of prompt obedience. “I
made haste and delayed not to keep Thy commandments” is the only safe
motto. It is reluctance which usually puts the drag on, and slow obedience is
often the germ of incipient disobedience. In matters of prudence and of
intellect second thoughts are better than first, and third thoughts, which
often come back to first ones, better than second; but, in matters of duty,
first thoughts are generally best. They are the instinctive response of
conscience to the voice of God, while second thoughts are too often the
objections of disinclination or sloth or cowardice. It is easiest to do our duty
when we are first sure of it. It then comes with an impelling power which
carries us over obstacles on the crest of a wave, while hesitation and delay
leave us stranded in shoal water. If we would follow the pillar we must
follow it at once. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The pillar of cloud and fire
I. The advantages of its possession.
1. The distinction it maintains. Only Israel so privileged. Christians, you
are a peculiar people, your origin is peculiar, your character is peculiar,
your spirit, your desires and affections, the objects of your pursuit. You
have peculiar privileges and honours conferred on you. There must be a
marked difference between you and the world.
2. The guidance it ensures. Jesus is now the guide of His people. He leads
in the way of truth and wisdom. How?
(1) By His example. He has gone before us in the path of duty,
temptation, and sorrow. By His Word. This is our rule.
(2) By His ordinances. He sends His ministers as your guides.
(3) By His Spirit effectually.
(4) By the leadings of His providence.
3. The protection it affords. God is the Christian’s hiding-place.
4. The joy it inspires. God is the source of happiness, the fountain of life.
5. The glory it confers. The presence of God is our highest, best, only real
glory. This is the glory of our nation—this is the glory of our churches—
this is the glory of our religious assemblies—this is the glory of our
families—and this is our individual glory. But what is all that God confers
here to what is in reserve? Everything shall be glorious there.
II. The perpetuity of its enjoyment.
1. Its necessity. We always need the Divine presence. We are dependent
on Him for everything. We need His providential presence and agency to
continue us in being and supply our numerous wants; and we require
His gracious presence for the maintenance of spiritual life and for the
reception of spiritual blessings.
2. The manner in which it is ensured. This may be seen three ways. From
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59. what He has done, is doing, and has promised to do. (E. Temple.)
Dependence on Divine guidance
A more lovely picture Of absolute dependence upon, and subjection to,
Divine guidance it were impossible to conceive than that presented here.
There was not a footprint or a landmark throughout the “great and terrible
wilderness.” It was therefore useless to look for any guidance from those
who had gone before. They were wholly cast upon God for every step of the
way. They were in a position of constant waiting upon Him. This to an
unsubdued mind, an unbroken will, would be intolerable; but to a soul
knowing, loving, confiding, and delighting in God, nothing could be more
deeply blessed. Here lies the real gist of the whole matter. Is God known,
loved, and trusted? If He be, the heart will delight in the most absolute
dependence upon Him. If not, such dependence would be perfectly
insufferable. The unrenewed man loves to think himself independent, loves
to fancy himself free, loves to believe that he may do what he likes, go where
he likes, say what he likes. Alas; it is the merest delusion. Man is not free.
Satan holds the natural man—the unconverted, unrepentant man in terrible
bondage. Satan rules man by means of his lusts, his passions, and his
pleasures. There is no freedom save that with which Christ makes His
people free. He it is who says, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free.” And again, “If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free
indeed.” Here is true liberty. It is the liberty which the new nature finds in
walking in the Spirit and doing those things that are pleasing in the sight of
God. (C. H. Mackintosh.)
The day and the night journey
We must look to have our portion of the cloud so long as we remain below
the skies. It will be the lot of the believer, in the somewhat analogous image
of St. Paul, to “see through a glass darkly” so long as he remains in this
tabernacle. Possibly a clearer light to our imperfect organs of spiritual
vision would only tend to dazzle and obscure. Enough for us to know there is
light enough, and that what there is is light from Heaven that cannot lead
astray. In following the cloud Israel followed God. In our obedience to the
will of God, as expressed in His providence or revealed in His Word, we
obey Him too; and the true believer’s attachment to and connection with
God, is like that which is expressed in the touching and holy plighted troth
of marriage—“for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health.”
I. If the cloud be taken up by day—that is, if God blesses a man with
prosperity—it is, in the first place, to make him an eleemosynary ordinance,
or means of usefulness to others. It is entrusting him with the “five talents,”
as compared with the two or the one talent.
II. We have to learn, in the second place, that difficulty is no ground for
dispensing with duty: “whether it was by day or by night the cloud was taken
up, they journeyed.” To obey under embarrassment is the more
59

60. characteristic obedience of a Christian. There are many forms of the night-
journey of the pilgrim of Christ. We have considered the day-journey under
the illustration of wealth and easy circumstances, or in any other shape of
general prosperity; let us meditate upon the night-journey in the shape of
poverty, sickness, bereavement, or domestic opposition to the Christian life.
(J. B. Owen, M. A.)
The journey of life
There is no strain upon the imagination in thinking of life as a journey. That
is one of the simplest and most beautiful figures by which the action of life
can be represented. We are travellers; we are here but for a little time; on
our feet are sandals and in our hands are staves; here We have no
continuing city, and we are called upon to testify to the age that we seek a
country out of sight. So, then, we are familiar with the figure; it commends
itself to us, as life enlarges, as quite expressive of the reality of the case—
every day a milestone, every year so much nearer the end. Regarding life,
then, as a journey, according to the pattern of this text, is there not a
mysterious presence or influence in life which really affects our action? In
the text that influence is spoken of as a cloud by day and a fire by night—two
striking natural images. Our controversy is not about the image or the
metaphor; behind it is there not this ever-abiding solemnity, that in life
there is a mysterious action—a ministry we cannot comprehend, an
influence we cannot overrule? We speak of “impression.” When we think of
changing our position in life, we say we have an impression. What is an
impression? Who created it? Who determined its meaning? How do you
account for the impression? Upon what is the impression made?—upon the
mind, upon something subtler than itself, upon the consciousness, the soul,
the spirit—the innermost man. That is a mystery! Or we speak of
“circumstances.” We say that circumstances seem to point in this direction
or that. What are circumstances? Where do they begin? How do they sum
themselves up into influence or into definiteness? Having spoken about
“impression” and “circumstances,” we speak about another mysterious
thing which has come to be known by the name of “tendency.” We say the
tendency of things is—; or the tendency of life seems to indicate—. We have
created a species of rhythm, or harmonic movement, falling into which we
say, This is the sweep of tendency, and to resist tendency is impossible. How
anxious we are to get rid of religious names! Men who will speak of
impression, circumstances, and tendency, will hesitate before saying
Providence, God, Father in heaven. Let the Church beware how it gives up
the grand old names—God, Providence, heavenly direction, spiritual
influence! Why shrink from the definite religious testimony of the
eighteenth verse, “At the commandment of the Lord,” &c. When a man rises
in the morning in God’s strength, lies down at night in God’s blessing, walks
all day in God’s energy, he lives and moves and has his being in God; God is
in his inmost thought, and every word upon his tongue is an implied or
actual confession of childlike trust in God. We need not be ashamed of this
definite testimony. It exalts human life. What is the meaning of it? Evidently
that our life is recognised by God, our movements are of some consequence
60

61. to Him; He knows our downsitting and our uprising, our going out and our
coming in; and there is not a word upon our tongue, there is not a thought
in our heart, but lo, it is known wholly in heaven. This consciousness of
Divine guidance in life, Divine care of life, Divine redemption of life,
necessitates prayer. The man who seizes this view of things must pray. This
religious view of life brings the spirit into the restfulness and blessed joy of
obedience. The children of Israel simply obeyed. Theirs was not a life of
controversy, ours, unhappily, is. We have made it a life of controversy when
we need not. We are always arguing with our orders; we are trying to
construe them into different and inferior meanings; we are wasting life by
discussing in idle words, which can settle nothing, the gravity and authority
of our marching orders. If we accept God’s Book, do let us accept it with full
trust, not as a field for criticism, but as a code of life—the Word, or the
testimony, by which every thought, feeling, and action is to be determined.
Live that life and risk your destiny. To obey is to live. (J. Parker. D. D.)
The cloud tarrying
I. A word of description. The time “the cloud tarried” was—
1. One of rest.
2. One of spiritual activity.
3. Peculiarly a time of temptation.
II. A word of exhortation.
1. Be more anxious to keep the cloud in sight than to see it tarry. We are
responsible for the one, but not for the other.
2. Be more anxious to improve than to enjoy these refreshing times.
3. Be more anxious to improve than prolong these periods.
III. A WORD OF CAUTION.
1. If the cloud tarry long, think not that it will never move. Rest should be
the preparation time for exertion.
2. Be not impatient if it tarry when you wish to journey. It does rest
sometimes over a desert land.
3. Be ready, that whenever the cloud moves you may be ready to journey.
(R. A. Griffin.)
The cloud and the tabernacle:
I. Why is the church in our day so much of the time under the cloud, and
seemingly put back in the progress of long-continued revivals of religion?
Sin is the trouble. It took but a few moments to bring it into the world, but it
takes ages to get it out. It makes us ignorant, weak, self-reliant, and self-
seeking, so that we cannot march long at a time without getting so elated
61

62. that God must let down the cloud a little while; a day, a month, or a year, as
our case may be, to get us ready to march again. It requires great grace and
a large measure of previous discipline, and frequent humiliations to keep us
feeling and saying, as we go to our work of conquest for Christ, “Not by
might, nor by power, but by Thy Spirit, O Lord.” And so, God must often
bring us into pecuniary straits, and cut off our men and our means, and
cause painful delays, and sad embarrassments, and short triumphs, and
unforeseen obstacles, and cloud-falling times, that we may feel our
weakness and renew our strength; and, with all our facilities for saving
ourselves and the world, that we may just lay ourselves over, with the
simplicity of children, upon the supernatural power of God, and the sole
guidance of Christ, saying, “Help, Lord, for without Thee we can do
nothing.”
II. What are some of the prominent duties which god requires from us while
under the cloud, that we may be ready the sooner to arise and go forward in
the more active duties, and in the more joyful experiences of the revival
days?
1. In general, to be ready for the lifting up of the cloud, that we may go
forth in efficient service in revival scenes, we must be diligent in all the
ordinary duties of the tabernacle when it is resting.
2. Among the duties which are specially incumbent when the Church is
under the cloud we will enumerate those which God has signalised in the
history of the tabernacle as those which are at all times essential to the
Christian character and life.
(1) Christian benevolence, which answers quickly to the voice of God,
as stewards of His manifold grace, in liberal and conscientious giving
to the various objects of religious charity which are designed to
promote the good of men and the glory of Christ.
(2) The ordinary means of grace should be specially improved by the
entire membership of the Church as a preparation for seasons of
extraordinary effort. It is not by artificial stimulants, occasionally
taken, that we gain the compactness of muscle and the strength of
frame which fit us for those emergencies which call forth great
physical strength. This strength is the slow growth of nutriment
habitually taken to satisfy the cravings of hunger and to supply the
daily waste of the system. (E. S. Wright.)
God’s guidance:—A preacher of the gospel was travelling by steamboat from
Chicago to the north of Lake Michigan, and found that at a certain point the
course lay through a narrow and difficult channel between several small
islands and the shore. The difficulty of advancing here is greatly increased
by the fact that a dense fog almost always rests upon the surface of the
water. When, therefore, this part of the voyage is reached, a man is sent up
to the mast-head where he can see the landmarks on either side rising above
the fog, and, though himself out of sight, is able to give directions for
steering to those below. Thus the vessel is guided safely through. So our
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63. gracious God sits above the clouds of temptation and trial which surround
us on earth, and make our voyage through life so perilous, and, seeing all
the dangers of the way, He counsels us as to the track of safety. Let us fully
trust the guidance of His eye, and boldly proceed as He directs.
A trustworthy guide
I trust myself implicitly to the pilots on the ferry-boats. I do not know the
tides and currents that change with every trip across the river, but I have no
doubt that they know them, and I have never stopped to question them as to
how they came by their knowledge. I am satisfied that they are good pilots,
for I see them carrying millions of people back and forth between the two
cities without accident; and I think that our Brooklyn and New York ferries
as they are served are a miracle of safety; and if I put my life, my happiness,
all that is dear to me, in the hands of those men because I believe that they
know what they can do, and know what they are about, how much more can
I put my trust in Jesus Christ, who has, by His deeds, by His death and by
His resurrection, manifested Himself as worthy of all trust. (H. W.
Beecher.)
Following the Divine leading:
I said to an aged minister of much experience, “All the events of my life
seem to have been Divinely connected. Do you suppose it is so in all lives?”
He answered, “Yes, but most people do not notice the Divine leadings.” I
stand here this morning to say from my own experience that the safest thing
in all the world to do is to trust the Lord. I never had a misfortune or a trial
or a disappointment, however excruciating at the time, that God did not
make turn out for my good. My one wish is to follow the Divine leading. (T.
De Witt Talmage.).
16 That is how it continued to be; the cloud
covered it, and at night it looked like fire.
GILL, "So it was alway,.... Night and day, as long as the people of Israel were
in the wilderness, see Exo_13:21,
the cloud covered it by day: the phrase, "by day", is not in the text, but is
easily and necessarily supplied from Exo_40:38; and as it is in the Targum
63

64. of Jonathan, and in the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic
versions, and which the following clause requires:
and the appearance of fire by night; when as a cloud it could not be because
of the darkness of the night; as in the daytime it could not be discerned as a
body of fire or light, because of the light of the sun; but being seen under
these different forms, was serviceable both by day and night, for the
following purposes.
ELLICOTT, " (16) The cloud covered it by day.—There is no need for the insertion
of the words in italics. It was the same cloud which was “alway” over the
Tabernacle during the continuance of the journeyings through the wilderness.
And the appearance of fire by night.—Better, and there was the appearance of fire
by night. (Comp. Exodus 13:21-22.)
PETT, "Numbers 9:16
‘So it was always. The cloud covered it, and the appearance of fire by night.’
This was how it always was. The cloud covered it, and by night there was the
appearance of fire. This cloud and fire had been with them from the original
deliverance at the Reed Sea (see Exodus 13:21-22).
PULPIT, "Numbers 9:16
So it was alway. This supernatural phenomenon was not transitory, like the glory-
cloud within the tabernacle (Exodus 40:35; cf. 1 Kings 8:10), but permanent, as long
at least as the Israelites were in the wilderness.
WHEDON, "Verse 16
16. So it was alway — “The covering of the dwelling with the cloud which shone by
night with a fiery aspect was constant, and not merely a phenomenon which
appeared when the tabernacle was first erected, and then vanished away.” — Keil.
By night — In the East, when the heat of the day is very oppressive, and day
traveling is perilous by reason of the sunstroke, it is customary to travel by night.
“The Arabs of the present day, when they wish to reach a particular spot in a given
time, often travel for six or eight hours, and then, after a short rest, resume their
journey and perform the remainder by night.” — E.H. Palmer.
64

65. 17 Whenever the cloud lifted from above the tent,
the Israelites set out; wherever the cloud settled,
the Israelites encamped.
GILL, "And when the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle,.... Or went up
from it, higher than it was before, yet not out of sight, but hung as it were
hovering in the air over the tabernacle, but at some distance from it; this
was done by the Lord himself:
then after that the children of Israel journeyed; as soon as they saw the
cloud moving upwards, the Levites took down the tabernacle, and each took
their post assigned them in the carriage of it, and the priests blew their
trumpets mentioned in Num_10:2, and the whole camp moved and marched
on in their journey:
and in the place where the cloud abode, there the children of Israel pitched
their tents; when it stopped and remained without any motion, it was a
signal to the children of Israel to stop also, and to set up the tabernacle, and
pitch their tents about it by their standards, and according to the order of
encampment which had been given them.
JAMISON, "when the cloud was taken up — that is, rose to a higher
elevation, so as to be conspicuous at the remotest extremities of the camp.
That was a signal for removal; and, accordingly, it is properly called (Num_
9:18) “the commandment of the Lord.” It was a visible token of the presence
of God; and from it, as a glorious throne, He gave the order. Song that its
motion regulated the commencement and termination of all the journeys of
the Israelites. (See on Exo_14:19).
K&D, "Num_9:17
“In accordance with the rising of the cloud from the tent, then afterwards
the children of Israel broke up,” i.e., whenever the cloud ascended up from
the tent, they always broke up immediately afterwards; “and at the place
where the cloud came down, there they encamped.” The ‫ן‬ ַ‫כ‬ ָ‫,שׁ‬ or settling
down of the cloud, sc., upon the tabernacle, we can only understand in the
65

66. following manner, as the tabernacle was all taken to pieces during the
march: viz., that the cloud visibly descended from the height at which it
ordinarily soared above the ark of the covenant, as it was carried in front of
the army, for a signal that the tabernacle was to be set up there; and then
this had been done, it settled down upon it.
CALVIN, "17.And when the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle. Moses before
informed us that the tabernacle was so distinguished by a visible miracle, that God
made it manifest that He dwelt there: not that He left heaven and removed to that
earthly house, but in order to be nigh to His people by the presence of His power
and grace, whenever He was invoked by them. He now reports another miracle, that
God, by uplifting the cloud, gave a sign, as it were, by which He commanded them to
strike the camp; and when the cloud rested on the tabernacle, it was a sign that they
should abide where they were. Here, however, a question arises; since it has been
already said that, immediately after their departure from Egypt, the cloud was like
a banner to direct the march of the people, it follows that they were not now for the
first time admonished by its being lifted up to collect their baggage, and ordered as
it were to advance. The answer is easy, that the people were indeed previously
directed by the sight of the cloud, as we have seen; but that here a new fact is
related, viz., that since the tabernacle was set up, the cloud, which hitherto was
suspended in the air and went before the camp, now settled on the sanctuary: for a
fresh acquisition of grace is here proclaimed by the more certain and conspicuous
sign, as if God showed himself more closely and familiarly as the leader of the
people. Although, therefore, the cloud had been the director of their march from its
very commencement, yet it more fully illustrated the glory of the tabernacle when it
proceeded from thence.
BENSON, "Verses 17-19
Numbers 9:17-19. Was taken up — Or, ascended on high, above its ordinary place,
by which it became more visible to all the camp. The motion or stay of the cloud is
fitly called the command of God, because it was a signification of God’s will and
their duty. The charge — That is, the command of God that they should stay as long
as the cloud stayed.
ELLICOTT, "(17) And when the cloud was taken up. . . —Only one instance is
recorded of disregard of the Divine direction thus miraculously vouchsafed, viz., in
Numbers 14:40-42. It was necessary that the hosts of Israel should be always in a
watchful state, and ready to obey at once the intimations given to them of the Divine
will, thus affording a striking type and pattern to the Christian Church, and
teaching it both collectively and individually to seek and to follow the guidance of its
Divine Head, whose promise is “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the
world.”
66

67. PETT, "Numbers 9:17
“And whenever the cloud was taken up from over the Tent,
Then after that the children of Israel journeyed,
And in the place where the cloud abode,
There the children of Israel encamped.”
From this point on the narrative takes on a kind of poetic prose. It may well be
taken from something the people chanted when they were gathered together.
By means of the cloud Yahweh determined when they should journey. When the
cloud arose from the Dwellingplace then they journeyed forward. And when the
cloud again settled down there they made their camp, and set up the Dwellingplace.
PULPIT, "Numbers 9:17
When the cloud was taken up. This verse and the following to the end of the chapter
are an amplification of Exodus 40:36-38 (cf. Exodus 13:21, Exodus 13:22; Nehemiah
9:12; Psalms 78:14). It would appear from Exodus 13:21 that there was nothing new
in the fact of the cloudy fiery pillar directing the movements of the host, but only in
the fact of its resting on the tabernacle when in repose. In the place where the cloud
abode, or "came down." ‫ז‬ַ‫כ‬ ָ‫שׁ‬ . As the tabernacle was taken all to pieces, and its
portions widely separated on the march, the cloud could not rest upon it as a signal
for halting. We must probably picture to ourselves the cloud rising to some
considerable height when it was "taken up," so as to be visible for a great distance,
and as settling down again over the spot where the tabernacle was to be set up. In
this way the signals given by the cloud would be immediately perceived by a vast
multitude.
TRAPP, "Numbers 9:17 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.
Ver. 17. And when the cloud.] This visible sign they had of God’s presence, for their
motion or station by night or by day, through all their pilgrimage. "In all thy ways
acknowledge God, and he shall direct thy paths." [Proverbs 3:6] "When thou sittest
in darkness, the Lord shall give thee light." [Micah 7:8]
WHEDON, "Verse 16
67

68. 16. So it was alway — “The covering of the dwelling with the cloud which shone by
night with a fiery aspect was constant, and not merely a phenomenon which
appeared when the tabernacle was first erected, and then vanished away.” — Keil.
By night — In the East, when the heat of the day is very oppressive, and day
traveling is perilous by reason of the sunstroke, it is customary to travel by night.
“The Arabs of the present day, when they wish to reach a particular spot in a given
time, often travel for six or eight hours, and then, after a short rest, resume their
journey and perform the remainder by night.” — E.H. Palmer.
18 At the Lord’s command the Israelites set out,
and at his command they encamped. As long as
the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they
remained in camp.
GILL, "At the commandment of the Lord the children of Israel journeyed,....
Or "mouth of the Lord"; not that there was any command in form given, or
any audible voice heard, directing when to march; but the removal of the
cloud was interpretatively the order and command of God for them to move
also:
and at the commandment of the Lord they pitched; their tents; when the
cloud stopped, they understood that as a signal to them, as a token of the
will of God that they should stop likewise; it was to them as an authoritative
command, which they obeyed:
as long as the cloud abode upon the tabernacle, they rested in their tents;
whether a longer or a shorter time, as is after expressed.
K&D, "Num_9:18
As Jehovah was with His people in the cloud, the rising and falling of the
cloud was “the command of the Lord” to the Israelites to break up or to
pitch the camp. As long, therefore, as the cloud rested upon the dwelling,
i.e., remained stationary, they continued their encampment.
68

69. CALVIN, "18.At the commandment of the Lord. (2) The mouth is here used by
metonymy for the speech; nor does there appear to me to be so much harshness in
the Hebraism, but that it may be appropriately retained. But it is asked whether
God actually spoke or not; for the word mouth is often repeated. It is indeed likely
that Moses was instructed but once what was meant by the removal or remaining of
the cloud; yet I doubt not but that the name of word, or commandment, was given to
the sign, inasmuch as God speaks as much to the eyes by outward signs as He does
to the ears by His voice. Still, from this mode of expression we may gather that the
use of signs (3) is perverted and nullified, unless they are taken to be visible
doctrine, as Augustin writes. The repetition, which certainly has no little force,
shows how worthy this is of observation.
COFFMAN, ""At the commandment of Jehovah the children of Israel journeyed,
and at the commandment of Jehovah they encamped: as long as the cloud abode
upon the tabernacle, they remained encamped. And when the cloud tarried upon the
tabernacle many days, then the children of Israel kept the charge of Jehovah, and
journeyed not. And sometimes the cloud was a few days upon the tabernacle; then
according to the commandment of Jehovah they remained encamped, and according
to the commandment of Jehovah they journeyed. And sometimes the cloud was from
evening until morning; and when the cloud was taken up in the morning, they
journeyed: or if it continued by day and by night, when the cloud was taken up,
they journeyed. Whether it were two days, or a month, or a year, that the cloud
tarried upon the tabernacle, abiding thereon, the children of Israel remained
encamped, and journeyed not; but when it was taken up, they journeyed. At the
commandment of Jehovah they encamped, and at the commandment of Jehovah
they journeyed: they kept the charge of Jehovah, at the commandment of Jehovah
by Moses."
"At the commandment of Jehovah ..." This phrase occurs no less than seven times in
this paragraph, stressing the important truth that God directed and controlled the
movements of Israel in the wilderness.
"Two days, or a month, or a year ..." (Numbers 9:22). The word here rendered
"year" does not have exactly that meaning. "It indicates a period of time not
precisely indicated."[19] The use of "year" in our version (ASV) and in the KJV is a
translator's interpretation, "Because the word is literally days of indeterminate
number."[20] "Genesis 24:55 shows that this word means a number of days,
possibly ten, but usually, it means more than a month."[21] Cook pointed out that it
was used idiomatically for a year (Leviticus 25:29), and that "It is an expression
equivalent to `a full period,' though not necessarily the period of a year."[22]
PETT, "Numbers 9:18
“At the commandment of Yahweh the children of Israel journeyed,
69

70. And at the commandment of Yahweh they encamped.
As long as the cloud abode on the tabernacle they remained encamped.”
So the cloud was under Yahweh’s control, and it was at the command of Yahweh
that they journeyed, and at the command of Yahweh that they camped. And as long
as the cloud abode on the Dwellingplace they remained encamped.
WHEDON, " 18. At the commandment of the Lord — As indicated by the moving
or resting cloud, they journeyed. C. Wesley thus beautifully spiritualizes this
passage:
“To work for God is good,
If God our work ordain;
But stayed by the incumbent cloud
We in our place remain.
To cease from work is best,
If after Jesus’ will;
For when at his command we rest
We please our Saviour still.”
“God’s commands — halt, forward, the right, or left — were not heard, but were
seen. His signal service was equally good by night or day. Banners more beautiful
than sunrise, and brighter than stars, testify the Leader’s presence. Ballooning is a
pitiable device for discerning roads, food, water, or enemies, compared with the
sleepless eye in the uplifted chariot of cloud.
“It was not only guidance, but protection; a cover from the excessive heat of the
desert. I myself went down into the plain of the Dead Sea under threat of intolerable
heat; but God canopied the whole day with a cloud and a shield from the sun.
Quails, manna, divided sea, and imperishable shoes are no more evident signs of
God’s care than the cover by day and the light by night. ‘I will abide under the
shadow of the Almighty.’” — Bishop H.W. Warren.
70

71. 19 When the cloud remained over the tabernacle a
long time, the Israelites obeyed the Lord’s order
and did not set out.
GILL, "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 Num_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.
JAMISON, "when the cloud tarried long upon the tabernacle, ... then
Israel kept the charge of the Lord, and journeyed not — A desert life has its
attractions, and constant movements create a passionate love of change.
Many incidents show that the Israelites had strongly imbibed this nomad
habit and were desirous of hastening to Canaan. But still the phases of the
cloud indicated the 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 had they 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!
K&D, "Num_9:19-23
Whether it might rest many days long ( ‫י‬ ִ‫ֱר‬‫א‬ ֶ‫,ה‬ to lengthen out the resting),
or only a few days (Gen_34:30), or only from evening till morning, and then
rise up again in the morning, or for a day and a night, or for two days, or for
a month, or for days (yamim), i.e., a space of time not precisely determined
(cf. Gen_4:3; Gen_40:4), they encamped without departing. “Kept the
charge of the Lord” (Num_9:19 and Num_9:23), i.e., observed what was to
be observed towards Jehovah (see Lev_8:35). With ‫ר‬ ֶ‫ֲשׁ‬‫א‬ ‫ֵשׁ‬‫י‬ ְ‫,ו‬ “was it that,” or
71

72. “did it happen that,” two other possible cases are introduced. After Num_
9:20, the apodosis, “they kept the charge of the Lord,” is to be repeated in
thought from Num_9:19. The elaboration of the account (Num_9:15-23),
which abounds with repetitions, is intended to bring out the importance of
the fact, and to awaken the consciousness not only of the absolute
dependence of Israel upon the guidance of Jehovah, but also of the gracious
care of their God, which was thereby displayed to the Israelites throughout
all their journeyings.
CALVIN, "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 (5) has not badly rendered it, “The children of Israel were
upon the watch;” since day and night they anxiously expected the time when God
would command them to move forward. The last verse of the chapter confirms this
sense, where it is again added, that “they kept the charge of the Lord at His mouth
by the hand of Moses:” whence it appears that Moses was God’s interpreter, so that
they might set forth on their march whenever the cloud being lifted up pointed out
to them the way. Nor can it be doubted but that it preceded them; so that they might
know in what direction God would have them proceed, and whither they were to go.
Moreover, it must be observed that in both respects it is counted worthy of praise in
the people, that they should either journey, or continue where they were, at God’s
command. Thus is that absurd activity condemned which engages itself in endless
work; as if men could only obey God by turmoil. Whereas it is sometimes no less a
virtue to rest, when it so pleases God. (6)
PETT, "Numbers 9:19
“And when the cloud tarried on the tabernacle many days,
Then the children of Israel kept the charge of Yahweh,
And journeyed not.”
All was in obedience to Yahweh. When the cloud remained abiding on the
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73. Dwellingplace for many days, they remained there for many days. They obeyed
Yahweh’s charge (or ‘obligation’ or ‘watch’). They did not journey. Thus it was
always Yahweh’s will that they obeyed as He kept watch over them. They responded
to His ‘watch’.
TRAPP, "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.
Ver. 19. Kept the charge of the Lord.] Or, His wateh - viz., to be ready at any hour
to remove. So must we always watch and be in readiness, as not knowing whether at
even, or at midnight, or cock crowing, or in the dawning, Christ will come. [Mark
13:35]
20 Sometimes the cloud was over the tabernacle
only a few days; at the Lord’s command they
would encamp, and then at his command they
would set out.
GILL, "And so it was, when the cloud was a few days upon the tabernacle,....
Or "days of number", which were so few that they might be easily
numbered: the Targum of Jonathan interprets them of the seven days of the
week, as if the sense was, when the cloud rested a week on the tabernacle:
according to the commandment of the Lord they abode in their tents; during
these few days, be they a week, or more, or less:
and according to the commandment of the Lord they journeyed; when it
removed from the tabernacle.
PETT, "Numbers 9:20
“And sometimes the cloud was a few days on the tabernacle.
Then according to the commandment of Yahweh they remained encamped,
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74. And according to the commandment of Yahweh they journeyed.”
Sometimes the cloud remained on the Dwellingplace for a few days. Then,
as Yahweh was commanding by this, they remained encamped. But as soon
as Yahweh commanded otherwise they moved forward.
PULPIT, "Numbers 9:20
And so it was. Rather, "did it happen that." ‫ר‬ ֶ‫שׁ‬ֲ‫א‬ ‫ֵשׁ‬‫י‬ ְ‫ו‬ hypothetical clause introducing
several other cases which actually occurred, and by which their perfect obedience was
proved.
21 Sometimes the cloud stayed only from evening
till morning, and when it lifted in the morning,
they set out. Whether by day or by night,
whenever the cloud lifted, they set out.
CLARKE, "And so it was when the cloud abode from even unto the
morning,.... The whole night, during which time they rested in their beds:
and that the cloud was taken up in the morning, then they journeyed;
whether it was by day or night that the cloud was taken up, they journeyed;
whether at morning or midnight; for sometimes, as Aben Ezra observes,
they travelled in the night; whensoever their sentinels gave notice that the
cloud was taken up, even though at midnight, they arose and prepared for
their journey; and by this it is evident, that the appearance by day and night
was the same body called the cloud, though beheld in a different view, in the
daytime as a cloud, in the nighttime as fire.
BENSON, "Numbers 9:21. When the cloud abode — This is repeated again and
again, because it was a constant miracle, and because it is a matter we should take
particular notice of, as highly significant and instructive. It is mentioned long after
by David, Psalms 105:39; and by the people of God after their captivity, Nehemiah
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75. 9:19. And the guidance of this cloud is spoken of, as signifying the guidance of the
blessed Spirit, Isaiah 63:14; “The Spirit of the Lord caused him to rest, and so didst
thou lead thy people.” And thus, in effect, does he guide all those who commit their
ways unto the Lord. So that they may well say, Father, thy will be done! Dispose of
me and mine as thou pleasest. Here I am, waiting on my God, to journey and rest at
the commandment of the Lord. What thou wilt, and where thou wilt: only let me be
thine, and always in the way of my duty.
PETT, "Numbers 9:21
“And sometimes the cloud was from evening until morning,
And when the cloud was taken up in the morning, they journeyed.
Or by day and by night (or ‘a day and a night'), when the cloud was taken up, they
journeyed.”
When the cloud indicated that they should move they did so, whether it was by day
or by night. Sometimes the cloud remained settled during the night, and when it was
taken up in the morning they journeyed, but whether it was by day or by night,
when it was taken up they journeyed.
22 Whether the cloud stayed over the tabernacle
for two days or a month or a year, the Israelites
would remain in camp and not set out; but when
it lifted, they would set out.
BARNES, "A year - literally, “days,” idiomatically a year Lev_25:29, an
expression equivalent to “a full period,” though not necessarily the period
of a year.
CLARKE, "Two days - a month - a year - It was by the Divine counsel alone
that they were directed in all their peregrinations: and from the above
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76. words we see that their times of tarrying at different stations were very
unequal.
GILL, "Or whether it were two days, or a month, or a year, that the cloud
tarried upon the tabernacle,.... Sometimes it tarried but half a day,
sometimes a whole day, sometimes two days, at other times a whole month,
and even a year; a full year, as the Targum of Jonathan and Aben Ezra; or a
longer time, as the Vulgate Latin version, for in one place it tarried eighteen
years, as Maimonides says (g); some say (h) nineteen years, as in
Kadeshbarnea:
remaining thereon, the children of Israel abode in their tents, and
journeyed not; so that, as the same writer observes, it was not because the
children of Israel lost their way in the wilderness and wandered about, not
knowing where they were, or which way they should go; hence the Arabians
call the wilderness, the wilderness of wandering, nor that they were so long
wandering in it as forty years, but because it was the will of God that should
stay so long at one place, and so long at another, whereby their stay in it was
protracted to such a length of time, according to his sovereign will:
but when it was taken up they journeyed; though they had continued ever so
long, and their situation ever so agreeable.
COKE, "Numbers 9:22. Or whether it were two days, &c.— But if the cloud stood,
and remained upon the tabernacle for some days, or for a whole month, or for a
longer interval, the children of Israel abode in their tents, &c. Houbigant. See his
note.
REFLECTIONS.—We have here, the miraculous pillar of the cloud resting on the
tabernacle in the day of its erection: God gives them orders how to regulate their
marches by the motions and guidance of it.
1. They were to rest as the cloud rested, whether the time were long or short. God's
time is the best time: we may not run, till he calls. Faith will beget patient waiting
upon God. 2. When the cloud moved by day or night, they were to be always ready,
and begin their march. Note; (1.) That we must have our tents struck by death is
certain; the time when, uncertain: it becomes us, therefore, to be always prepared,
that when God calls us out of the body, we may have nothing to do but to die. (2.) It
will be comfortable to every true Israelite to see the cloud remove. This wilderness-
state is not our rest; we look for a more abiding mansion in the skies. (3.) They were
not to stay or encamp on the march, but by the direction of their guide. We must not
desire to choose the place of our own abode; let God fix our habitation, and there
contentedly let us pitch our tent.
How great was the favour thus visibly to have the presence of God among them, and
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77. to be under such a guardian and guide! Blessed be God, their mercies are our own,
as to their substance; God's word and spirit, and providence, lead us in his holy
ways, and keep us safely journeying heavenward. And while we yield ourselves up
to him without reserve, we may confidently exercise faith in our safe arrival at the
promised land of everlasting glory.
PETT, "Numbers 9:22
‘Whether it was two days, or a month, or a long time, that the cloud tarried on the
tabernacle, abiding on it, the children of Israel remained encamped, and journeyed
not, but when it was taken up, they journeyed.’
Their journeying was completely at the behest of Yahweh. When the cloud tarried
on the Dwellingplace for two days, or a moon period, or a long time, dwelling on it,
they remained encamped, and when it was take up they journeyed.
PULPIT, "Numbers 9:22
Or a year. Rather, "days" (yamin): an undefined period (Genesis 4:3; Genesis 40:4),
often equivalent to a year (Le 25:29). It is not known whether or on what occasion
the Israelites actually remained in camp for a year. But it is evident that this passage
must have been written after the wanderings were over, because it is a kind of
retrospect of the whole period as regards one important feature of it. It may of
course have been added here by the hand of Moses on the eve of entry upon the
promised land: or it may have been added by a later hand, perhaps that of Ezra
when he revised these books (see the Introduction).
TRAPP, "Numbers 9:22 Or [whether it were] two days, or a month, or a year, that
the cloud tarried upon the tabernacle, remaining thereon, the children of Israel
abode in their tents, and journeyed not: but when it was taken up, they journeyed.
Ver. 22. When it was taken up they journeyed.] In that wilderness of Arabia there
were no beaten paths, no footsteps of passengers appeared; wherefore travellers
there used to steer their course, as mariners at sea do, by a mathematical chart. But
these Israelites went by a better direction. So do all saints. [Hebrews 11:16]
WHEDON, " 22. Two days, or a month, or a year — The periods varied from a
single night to eighteen years, the longest halt. The irregularities in the intervals of
motion and rest kept the people always watchful for the signal and always in a state
of readiness to obey. Thus they were in a school wherein were taught the important
lessons of constant vigilance, implicit faith, unquestioning obedience, and perfect
patience.
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78. 23 At the Lord’s command they encamped, and at
the Lord’s command they set out. They obeyed
the Lord’s order, in accordance with his
command through Moses.
CLARKE, "Kept the charge of the Lord - When we consider the strong
disposition which this people ever testified to follow their own will in all
things, we may be well surprised to find them, in these journeyings, so
implicitly following the directions of God. There could be no trick or
imposture here. Moses, had he been the most cunning of men, never could
have imitated the appearances referred to in this chapter. The cloud, and
every thing in its motion, was so evidently supernatural, that the people had
no doubt of its being the symbol of the Divine presence. God chose to keep
this people so dependent upon himself, and so submissive to the decisions
of his own will, that he would not even give them regular times of marching
or resting; they were to do both when and where God saw best. Thus they
were ever kept ready for their march, though perfectly ignorant of the time
when they should commence it. But this was all well; they had the presence
of God with them; the cloud by day and the fire by night demonstrated that
God was amongst them. Reader, thou art here a tenant at will to God
Almighty. How soon, in what place, or in what circumstances, he may call
thee to march into the eternal world, thou knowest not. But this uncertainty
cannot perplex thee, if thou be properly subject to the will of God, ever
willing to lose thy own in it. But thou canst not be thus subject, unless thou
have the testimony of the presence and approbation of God. How awful to be
obliged to walk into the valley of the shadow of death without this! Reader,
prepare to meet thy God.
GILL, "At the commandment of the Lord they rested in their tents,....
Though ever so disagreeable:
and at the commandment of the Lord they journeyed; though the
circumstances might be such, that they could have liked a continuance; but
whether agreeable or disagreeable, they were obedient to the divine will:
this, or what is equivalent to it, is frequently observed in this paragraph, to
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79. show that the Israelites, though they were an obstinate and perverse people,
and must in general be desirous of getting as soon as they could into the
land of promise, yet in this case, in all their stations and journeys, were
submissive and obedient to the divine will, as all good men should be with
respect to happiness; and happy are they who have God to be their guide
through it, even unto death:
they kept the charge of the Lord, at the commandment of the Lord by the
hand of Moses; observed the rest or motion of the cloud, the order and
command of God signified thereby, as it was made known unto them by the
ministry and means of Moses.
PETT, "Numbers 9:23
‘At the commandment of Yahweh they encamped, and at the commandment
of Yahweh they journeyed. They kept the charge of Yahweh, at the
commandment of Yahweh by Moses.’
They did all at the command of Yahweh. At His command they encamped. At
His command they journeyed. They obeyed His command, they kept His
charge according to His watch over them. It was all at the command of
Yahweh by Moses. Note the threefold emphasis on camping and journeying
‘at the commandment of Yahweh’ (Numbers 9:18; Numbers 9:20; Numbers
9:23).
The overall emphasis of this passage is clear. They were aware that Yahweh
kept watch over them. They journeyed only at His command. At His
command they remained where they were. And it was all indicated through
the cloud, through which Yahweh revealed His personal will and
guardianship To some extent this would exonerate Moses. He could not be
blamed if they ‘went wrong’ on the journey. The directions were given in the
sight of all, they were not of his choosing. But note the final phrase. All
recognised that Yahweh led them because of Moses.
For us there is no cloud to guide. But we have before us the unveiled glory of
Jesus (2 Corinthians 3:1 to 2 Corinthians 4:6). He leads us through His
Spirit (Romans 8:14; Galatians 5:18) and through His word. The cloud has
been replaced by the Illuminator and the revelation of the glory of Christ,
and His presence is just as surely with us as it was with them.
TRAPP, "Numbers 9:23 At the commandment of the LORD they rested in
the tents, and at the commandment of the LORD they journeyed: they kept
the charge of the LORD, at the commandment of the LORD by the hand of
Moses.
Ver. 23. At the commandment of the Lord.] This signified that the saints are
to rest, or go on, at the voice of Christ, [John 10:3-4] and that "whatsoever
79

80. they do in word or deed, to do all in the name of the Lord Jesus,"
[Colossians 3:17] to seek and find all their perfection and defenee in him
alone.
WHEDON, "23. They kept the charge of the Lord — The lesson of trust in
Jehovah and of patient waiting for his leadings was well learned, and always
practised except on one memorable occasion, (Numbers 14:40-45,) when
they presumed to advance without the guidance of the cloud, and met
discomfiture and death. The term charge has special reference to following
the guidance of Jehovah in marching and encamping, as is seen in Numbers
9:19. When we consider the proneness of men to lean upon their own
understanding, and to direct their own steps, this record is highly creditable
to the Israelites, especially in view of their long periods of encampment,
when their entrance into the promised land seemed to be indefinitely
postponed for reasons in the divine mind to them utterly incomprehensible.
In this whole account of the cloud the fact of Jehovah’s guidance is
reiterated again and again with emphasis. Maimonides says, that this
particularity and repetition of statement was designed to confute the
opinions of the Arabians and others, that the Israelites were so long
detained in the “Wilderness of Wandering,” as Arabic writers style it,
because they had lost their way, and therefore spent forty years in vaguely
wandering over the desert. This, he observes, is a very idle conceit, as the
way from Sinai to Kadesh-Barnea was a well known and frequented route,
and not above eleven days’ journey, so that they could not be supposed to
have missed it, and far less should have wandered in a bewildered condition
forty years.
80