Slices
Prepare
‘Be still, and know that I am God’ (Psalm 46:10). Take time to put away concerns and worries. Remember the One who is in control.
Bible passage
The silver trumpets
10 The Lord said to Moses: 2 ‘Make two trumpets of hammered silver, and use them for calling the community together and for the camps to set out. 3 When both are sounded, the whole community is to assemble before you at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 4 If only one is sounded, the leaders – the heads of the clans of Israel – are to assemble before you. 5 When a trumpet blast is sounded, the tribes camping on the east are to set out. 6 At the sounding of a second blast, the camps on the south are to set out. The blast will be the signal for setting out. 7 To gather the assembly, blow the trumpets, but not with the signal for setting out.
8 ‘The sons of Aaron, the priests, are to blow the trumpets. This is to be a lasting ordinance for you and the generations to come. 9 When you go into battle in your own land against an enemy who is oppressing you, sound a blast on the trumpets. Then you will be remembered by the Lord your God and rescued from your enemies. 10 Also at your times of rejoicing – your appointed festivals and New Moon feasts – you are to sound the trumpets over your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, and they will be a memorial for you before your God. I am the Lord your God.’
The Israelites leave Sinai
11 On the twentieth day of the second month of the second year, the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle of the covenant law. 12 Then the Israelites set out from the Desert of Sinai and travelled from place to place until the cloud came to rest in the Desert of Paran. 13 They set out, this first time, at the Lord’s command through Moses.
Numbers 10:33-36
33 So they set out from the mountain of the Lord and travelled for three days. The ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them during those three days to find them a place to rest. 34 The cloud of the Lord was over them by day when they set out from the camp.
35 Whenever the ark set out, Moses said,
‘Rise up, Lord!
May your enemies be scattered;
may your foes flee before you.’
36 Whenever it came to rest, he said,
‘Return, Lord,
to the countless thousands of Israel.’
Explore
God’s final instructions to Moses at Mount Sinai are to make two trumpets. These will declare that God’s army is ready and on the move. They will call leaders together (v 4), coordinate the tribes as they move (vs 5,6), and sound the attack in battle (v 9).
What mixed feelings the Israelites must have had as they set out (v 12,13). Excitement and elation, but perhaps also anxiety and fear. Are we ready for this? Will we manage what lies ahead? Moses’ words give reassurance (v 35). The King of kings is in command. Planning and leadership are vital. But what matters most is the God who leads them. Though the journey is hard, Moses knows that God will keep his promise to Abraham, to give his people a land (Genesis 15:18–21).
The New Testament reminds us that we, too, are on a journey. We look for the city that is to come (Hebrews 13:14). Like Israel, the way ahead will not be easy, but we have One who has gone ahead. ‘Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus…’ (Hebrews 12:1,2). What will keep your eyes fixed upon him today?
Respond
On the last day, God’s people will again be summoned ‘with a loud trumpet call’ and the dead raised ‘imperishable’ (Matthew 24:31; 1 Corinthians 15:52). Reflect and give thanks.
Deeper Bible study
Give thanks to the Lord for the variety of life – times to stay and times to go.
The Israelites have been eleven months at Sinai and made little progress towards the Promised Land of Canaan. Now they are to move forward, but first they need musical instruments to summon the people to action. Silver trumpets (v 2) are an addition to other instruments that the Israelites already have, such as Miriam’s tambourine1 and the shofar (ram’s horn).2 We find trumpets in the lists of instruments in Psalm 150, but silver trumpets are not often mentioned in the Old Testament. The Greek translation for these trumpets carries over into the New Testament and we hear the trumpet that summons us to bodily resurrection life – our reaching the true Promised Land.3
When we are settled for a long time in one place it is easy to forget that we are a pilgrim people. Some of us may be slow to move, but others have itchy feet and love moving. We may not have a cloud over a tabernacle, but the pattern set here of moving when God calls you to move and remaining otherwise is a good principle of life. Sometimes, like the Israelites, we need God’s rebuke for staying too long in one place and not heeding his call to move forward.4 They, and we, make a short journey as the covenant people of God with a final destination in view. No longer just escaped slaves, but a kingdom of priests.
The final verses are separated off from the rest of the text. They present Moses’ words on setting out on a journey and arriving at his destination. He wants to have the Lord’s presence with him at all times and knows that, without God, Israel will be overwhelmed by her enemies. And it is not just in journeying that they need that presence, but when resting as well.
Compose a Christian version of verses 35 and 36 for your own journeys.
1 Exod 15:20 2 Exod 19:16, NLT 3 1 Cor 15:52 4 Cf Deut 2:1–3
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Exodus 9,10; Matthew 21
Pray for Scripture Union
Local Mission Partner Great Open Door in Harlow thanks God for their assembly team (Angela, Andy, David, Pam, Paul and Jo). Pray that they will have the health and strength to continue the work. Pray for two new team members.
