Numbers 10
McGeeCHAPTER 10THEME: Silver trumpets; order of marchThe last preparation for the march is the instructions for making two silver trumpets. The wilderness march will then begin in verse Num_10:11 of this chapter.
Numbers 10:1
SILVER TRUMPETSTwo is the number of witnessesit is in the mouth of two witnesses that a matter is established. These two trumpets were used to move Israel on the wilderness march.
Numbers 10:3
The blowing of one trumpet brought the princes together. This reminds us that there is to be a last trump for the church. That last trump, I believe, is the voice of Christ which will be His last call. He has sent out invitation after invitation. His final invitation to the Laodicean church is “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Rev_3:20). At the last trump, He will call His church out of the world. That will be the last call. The one single trumpet, which is the voice of the Lord Jesus, will bring the believers together. This is what we call the Rapture of the church.
Numbers 10:5
The trumpets were used to bring this tremendous number of people into formation for the march through the wilderness.
Numbers 10:9
Another use of the trumpets was to blow the alarm for war.
Numbers 10:10
The sounding of the trumpets also would denote certain segments of time and special occasions. These trumpets, made of silver, which is the metal of redemption, sounded the call for a redeemed people. This was the way God moved them on the wilderness march. They were used as a way of signalling to the people how they should march through the wilderness.
Numbers 10:11
ORDER OF MARCHThey have been here at Sinai for about a year, getting the Law from God. The instructions for the silver trumpets have been given, and the trumpets have been made. Now they are blown and the children of Israel begin their wilderness march. This becomes very detailed in its instructions here in this chapter. Let us go back for a moment to the plan of encampment which we had in chapter 2. You remember that the families of Levi were encamped around the tabernacle. Moses and Aaron were on the east side, Merari on the north, Gershon on the west, and Kohath on the south. Then the camps of the twelve tribes were out beyond that. Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun were on the east; Dan, Ashur, and Naphtali on the north; Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin on the west; and Reuben, Simeon, and Gad on the south. Early one morning the people of Israel strike camp because the pillar of cloud is lifted. Each family packs their things; the tabernacle is taken down. The time has come to move. What do they do first? Moses and Aaron give the signal and the silver trumpets are blown to sound an alarm. Who moves first? The family of Kohath which carries the ark moves out in front. The ark leads the wilderness march. Also Christ leads His church through the wilderness of this world. The ark is a picture of Jesus Christ. So the first trumpet puts Moses and Aaron and the ark out in front. The trumpet blows again and Judah moves out from the east side, with Issachar and Zebulun marching with Judah under his banner. After them come Gershon and Merari, bearing their part of the tabernaclethey had the heavier things, such as the boards and the bars and the coverings. Then the trumpet blows and Reuben with Simeon and Gad move out, marching under the standard of Reuben. The trumpet blows again and the Kohathites follow them. They are carrying all the articles of furniture of the tabernacle except the ark, which has gone ahead to the front of the march.
All these articles of furniture were equipped with poles and the Kohathites bore them on their shoulders. The trumpet sounds again and Ephraim moves out with Manasseh and Benjamin under his standard. Finally, Dan moves out with Asher and Naphtali, under the standard of Dan. Bringing up the rear is the mixed multitude, folk who were part Israelite and part Egyptian. They didn’t know whether they should stay or go. Each one was mixed up.
As a result, they were stragglers who came along on the wilderness march. The young man who blasphemed (whom we read about in Leviticus 24), who had an Egyptian father and an Israelite mother, had been part of this group. Did you notice that the trumpet was blown seven times? In the Book of Revelation there is the blowing of the seven trumpets. Those seven trumpets are connected with the children of Israel. The blowing of those trumpets in the Great Tribulation period will move the children of Israel from all corners of the earth back into that land. A great many people try to associate the last trump that is mentioned in 1Co_15:52 with the last trumpet in the Book of Revelation, and then they draw the conclusion that the church is going through the Great Tribulation period. However, that last trump which is mentioned in Corinthians is the voice of the Son of God, which is detailed in 1Th_4:16, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God….” His voice is like the voice of an archangel and like the sound of a trumpet. We know this because in Rev_1:10-11 John writes, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last….” Whom did John see when he turned to see who had spoken to him? He saw the glorified Christ, the Great High Priest. His voice is like a trumpet. His voice is going to raise the dead and change the mortal bodies of those who are living when He comes for His church. The trumpet sound for the church is the voice of the Son of God. Trumpets are connected with the children of Israel. It is the trumpet that moved them on the wilderness march. It will be the trumpets that will bring them from the wilderness of this world back into the land.
Numbers 10:29
Here we have recorded an encounter with Moses’ father-in-law and Moses’ invitation to him. This could be applied to the church. We are strangers and pilgrims going through this world today. We are in a wilderness here, but we are on the way to the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our invitation is the same invitation that Moses gave, “Come thou with us.” If you are not a child of God by faith in Jesus Christ, you may join the party. It is a great one, by the way, as we are marching to go into the presence of Jesus Christ. We are not a group that is marching because we are better than anyone else. We are sinners who have been saved by the grace of God. If you see yourself as a sinner and you need a Savior, turn to Him by simple faith and trust Him. Join the march! This is no protest march; it is a salvation march, a redemption march. It is the march that is going to Zion, not the earthly Zion but the heavenly one, the city of Jerusalem which will come down from God out of heaven, adorned like a bride for the bridegroom.
Numbers 10:30
Now Moses keeps on talking, and maybe he shouldn’t have done that. Old Hobab, the father-in-law, didn’t want to go along. He wanted to go home. So Moses answered him,
Numbers 10:31
I want to say to you right here that I don’t understand Moses. God has made it clear to Moses that the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night would guide them and that the ark was leading them, both of which speak of Christ. He is the leader. Now Moses is suggesting to his own father-in-law that he needs him to lead them. The old man had been raised in the desert in Midian. He was a Midianite and he knew that area. He could have been a great help, I’m sure. But, you see, they were not to depend upon natural means. This old man didn’t know the way God wanted them to go. Unfortunately, the church is listening to the voice of the “experts,” men without real spiritual discernment. As a result, the church is being led down the garden path in many instances. And the church is brought to a very sad place many times. What a responsibility rests upon the church leaders today, the ministers and the church officers! Are you sure Christ is the Head of your church? Are you sure that He is leading and guiding you, or are you today asking some man to come and be eyes for you? Moses made a mistake here, friend. Moses could make mistakes, by the way. He was a sinner. The interesting thing is that he wrote this; so he recorded his own mistake. I’m afraid that if some of us had made these mistakes, we wouldn’t have mentioned them.
Numbers 10:33
Now they are on their way. God is leading them. God Himself is searching out the land. There was no need to have the father-in-law of Moses do the searching for them.
Numbers 10:35
Apparently Moses followed this ritual of prayer each morning and every evening when they were on the wilderness march.