And they set forward from the mountain of Jehovah [and went] three days' journey; and the ark of the covenant of Jehovah went before them in the three days' journey, to search out a resting-place for them.
Israel breaks camp at Sinai for the first stage of the march, and the ark of the covenant moves out ahead of them all. That chest marked God's presence in the middle of the tribes, so why does He now step outside the order He Himself arranged?
The verse before explains the move. Moses had asked his relative Hobab, who knew the desert, to be Israel's eyes. One writer reads the ark's advance as God's reply:
Had not the Lord, the God of Israel, undertaken to care for His people Israel? Did He need the help of Hobab? What could the knowledge and experience of any man in this world add to the God of Israel? He had brought His people out of Egypt. He had kept them alive with the food of the mighty and with water out of the rock. God's answer to the lack of faith in Moses was to send the ark before His people. Israel, and Moses, were to rely on their God. They were to know that they did not depend on the wisdom and knowledge of this world, or on its men of experience and discernment.
The ark's assigned place was in the centre of the camp. Here it leaves that place:
But God appears in a remarkable way in grace, outside the whole order He had prescribed; for it is the ark itself which goes before the whole camp. Moses had asked a child of the wilderness to be eyes to them; but what man does not care to do, God takes upon Himself. He comes out of the place He had taken in the middle of the tribes, where they cared for Him, so to speak, and honoured Him. He makes Himself, in a way, their servant, seeking a place where they might rest in the trackless desert.
Israel should have been finding a place for God to rest. Instead He goes looking for a place for them:
What rich, what precious grace! Instead of their finding a resting place for Him, He would find a resting place for them. What a thought! The mighty God, the Creator of the ends of the earth, going through the wilderness to look out for a suitable camping ground! And this for a people who were ready, at every turn in their path, to murmur and rebel against Him!
The resting place searched out here is not the promised land. It is a stop along a road with years still to run:
Here again grace acts in an extraordinary way. God knows very well that even in the desert we need rest before Him. … Moses wished to find a guide in Hobab: this was to forget the guidance of the cloud. There is no way in the wilderness; but God is there.
One writer links the journey to a rest still ahead:
We may also note a striking foreshadowing in this incident. The Lord Jesus went the three days' journey, through death, to find a resting place for His people. So there remains a rest for them at the end of the wilderness journey — God's own rest. And those who believe enter into this rest. (See Hebrews 4.)
Christ leads His people the same way now, and He is with them when the march stops:
The proper place of the ark was in the centre, but it went before them; and so in Joshua 3:4, "you have not passed this way before" — death. We have the power and presence of Jesus with us in our journey and our worship. If we are resting, it is to learn God; if journeying, it is for the display of God's power in ordering. … So it is now: when He puts out His own sheep He goes before them; or resting, "where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I among them."
One writer draws the rule, and a question from it:
The people were never to march without the ark. It was to go before them and mark out the way… So Christ, in the power of resurrection, always leads His beloved ones through the trackless waste. What need have we of "eyes," when such an One leads us on?
- Request. Moses looked to a desert guide to be Israel's eyes. God answered by sending the ark ahead: His people did not need the world's experience.
- Grace. God left the very order He had set. He came out of the honoured place in the camp to serve His people as their guide.
- Reversal. They did not find a resting place for Him; He searched out a resting place for them — a murmuring people at that.
- Road. The rest He sought was in the wilderness itself. There is no way in the desert, but God is there, and His people need rest before Him even on the road.
- Result. Commentators see Christ in the ark. He went the three days' journey through death, so a rest remains for those who believe. And He still goes before His sheep now.
And the cloud of Jehovah was over them by day when they set forward out of the camp.
The camp has just left Sinai on its first march. This verse answers the question the chapter raises: who is really leading Israel?
Moses had asked Hobab, a relative who knew the desert tracks, to be "eyes" for Israel. One writer sets Hobab beside the guide Israel actually had:
God certainly proved to Moses and to Israel that He was a far better guide than ten thousand Hobabs. We are not told here whether Hobab went or not. He certainly refused the first appeal, and perhaps the second as well. But we are told that the Lord went with them. "And the cloud of the LORD was over them by day, whenever they set out from the camp." A blessed shelter in the wilderness! A blessed, unfailing resource in everything! He went before His people to search out a resting place for them. When He had found a spot suited to their need, He stopped with them. He spread His sheltering wing over them, to protect them from every foe.
The cloud did two things at once. It covered them, and it commanded them.
This pillar of cloud represented the divine presence. It protected them from the burning heat by day, and from the countless dangers and terrors of the darkness by night. It guided vast numbers of wayward and ignorant people through the empty, howling wilderness, home to the promised land. But to do this, the movements of the cloud had to guide the people on every stage of their journey. Here we have the two great essential principles of protection and subjection.
Being under the cloud meant a whole nation could not plan its own route:
That huge camp all depended on the cloud: over 600,000 men aged twenty and upward, the 22,000 Levites, and hundreds of thousands of women and children. They could make no plans of their own. They did not know where they would go the next day. When they camped they did not know how long they would stay. When they marched they did not know how long the march would last. Their eyes had to be fixed on the cloud every morning, every night, and all through the day. They had to look up. Day by day they depended on Jehovah and on the cloud for guidance.
The timing was not Israel's to choose:
The cloud also acted as a sign that set when the people moved and when they stayed. No vote of the people and no wisdom of Moses settled such matters — only the commandment of the Lord. The cloud might rest for only two days, or it might rest for a month or even a year. While it rested, the people rested. When it moved, the people moved.
What Israel saw overhead looked like ordinary cloud. Faith saw what was inside it:
The cloud that led Israel through the wilderness was the servant and the companion of the camp. But it was also the veil, or the covering, of the glory. Usually Israel saw it only as a cloud, and only faith knew that the glory was inside. But the glory was always there, and at times it shone out.
One writer ties such guidance to waiting on God, then notes how Israel responded:
But saints are guided as they wait on God… Then the people complained and murmured, though God led them like this.
The verse says the cloud was over them "by day." Another writer takes up what happened at night, and what hard times do to God's guidance:
The people are called to unlimited dependence on the Lord's guidance. This was shown first of all by the cloud, their guide by day, as the pillar of fire was by night. And note this: no circumstances, no times, no difficulties lessen the necessity of Jehovah's guidance. Suppose night comes with its darkness — what then? The guidance of God is only so much the more obvious… Whatever the trial may be, the Lord will be with us if we really look to Him. And the greater the need, the more evident His guidance will be. All that is needed is a heart that is really simple in its dependence on Him.
- Failure — Moses looked for human eyes to guide the march. The cloud showed God to be a better guide than ten thousand Hobabs.
- Shelter — the cloud that led them also covered them. It gave shade from the burning heat by day and kept them through the dangers of the night.
- Subjection — the cloud commanded as well as covered. The Lord's word set every march and every halt, not a vote and not Moses' wisdom.
- Dependence — a whole nation could make no plans of its own. Every morning, every night and all day long, they had to look up.
- Faith — the glory hid inside an ordinary-looking cloud, and the people it led still murmured. God guides saints who wait on Him.
And it came to pass when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, Jehovah, and let thine enemies be scattered; And let them that hate thee flee before thy face.
Moses spoke these words every time the ark moved. They are a battle cry and a prayer at once, said over a nation three days out from the mountain of the LORD, with the wilderness ahead. Two questions run through them: whose war is this, and who goes first?
The ark stood for God's presence among Israel. Its place was in the centre of the marching camp, with the tribes camped around it on every side. On this journey God breaks that order. One writer sees the change as pure grace.
The Book of Numbers puts God's people in their place and sets the order of their journeys. They had travelled three days' journey from the mountain of the LORD. This was their first time setting out, and here we find the LORD going out of His place in grace. The people should have been all around, taking care of the LORD. Instead, "the ark of the covenant of the LORD went before them." Moses wanted Hobab to be their eyes; but God says, I will be eyes for you.
Moses does not ask God to scatter the people who hate Israel. He says "those who hate you." One commentator makes the whole verse turn on that difference.
In verse 35, "let those who hate you flee before you" — not those who hate us. Faith blows the trumpet, the battle is the Lord's.
Another writer roots this in God's choice to tie Himself to this people. Their enemies become His enemies.
See how completely He has identified Himself with the people. God taught Moses this prayer, and Moses speaks it as the ark sets forward. The enemies Moses expects are now only the LORD's enemies, and they scatter as He advances.
The prayer does not ask God to become strong. It rests on something already true — God was there, in the cloud and on the ark.
God showed His presence with His people in the cloud of glory, and in the ark on which the cloud rested when they set up the tabernacle. What could the enemies of His people do when God was there among them? They had no power at all, and His presence kept His people safe.
The ark went ahead "to seek out a resting place for them." One writer sees a greater journey pictured in that detail.
This incident is a striking picture of something greater. The Lord Jesus went the three days' journey, through death, to find a resting place for His people. So a rest remains for them, God's own rest, at the end of the wilderness journey, and those who believe enter into this rest.
Another writer sees God's enemies defeated at the very point where they seemed to win.
All the enemies of God gathered their forces against His Christ to put Him to death. But when He entered death, the power of God showed itself. Through death Jesus destroyed the one who has the power of death. So He set free all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
The same prayer turns up later in the Psalms. One writer shows what changed in it.
This Psalm celebrates God stepping in for His earthly people: "God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered; and those who hate him shall flee before him." Moses could ask God to do this when the ark of the Lord was lifted up for each journey in the wilderness. The psalmist uses similar language, but with a difference. Moses asks God to arise so that the result may come. The psalmist waits in confidence for it to happen, and the next two verses describe what the outcome will be for the wicked and for the righteous.
Generations later Israel dragged the ark from its place into a battle camp. They expected these words to work like a charm.
It seems the Israelites put their confidence in the ark itself. They misunderstood, or wrongly applied, the words Moses spoke when Israel set out on their wilderness journeys... Man's sinful heart finds it easy to appeal to examples in Scripture to justify practices God never authorised. It lifts those Scriptures out of their setting and misapplies them. Once Israel had settled in the land, no one had any authority to move the ark from its resting place. God had in fact forbidden it. God's presence, symbolized by the ark, was not to come to them, but they were to go to it!
- Presence first. The prayer works because God is already there. The cloud and the ark left the enemy powerless before Moses said a word.
- Presence in front. God left His place in the centre and went ahead. He chose to be Israel's eyes instead of a human guide.
- Presence owns the war. Moses says "your enemies," never ours. Faith blows the trumpet and leaves the battle to the Lord.
- Presence through death. The ark seeking a resting place pictures Christ going through death, so that a rest remains for His people.
- Presence cannot be carried. Later Israel quoted these same words to justify hauling the ark into battle. Scripture pulled out of its setting becomes a charm, not faith.
And when it rested, he said, Return, Jehovah, unto the myriads of the thousands of Israel.
The ark had gone ahead of the camp to find a resting place, and now it stops. Moses meets the halt with a prayer — and the question is why a resting place needs one at all.
The chapter ends with two prayers: one for the road, one for the camp. The cloud told Israel where God had chosen to be.
If God went ahead of His people as their leader, He would scatter every opposing force and keep them safe. If the cloud rested when they reached the camping place, it meant He had returned to be the centre of the many thousands of Israel. That, and that alone, was the guarantee of their prosperity and blessing.
Older translations render the closing phrase as "the many thousands of Israel." One writer treats that as a plain count.
They were moving on in order under the guidance of the Lord of hosts. And when the ark rested, Moses, the lawgiver, said, "Return, O LORD, to the many thousands of Israel." Israel could truly be described that way, since their number was over 600,000, besides women and children.
The ark's normal position was in the middle of the tribes. For this journey it moved to the front, which is why the word at the halt is a call to come back.
But God appears in grace in a remarkable way, outside the whole order He had laid down. It is the ark itself that goes ahead of the whole camp. Moses had asked a man of the desert to be their eyes; but what man does not care to do, God takes on Himself. He comes out of the place He had taken in the middle of the tribes, where they cared for Him, so to speak, and honoured Him. He makes Himself their servant, in a way, looking for a place where they might rest in the pathless desert.
The same writer shows what that grace looks like on the road and at the halt.
Here is a beautiful picture of His tender and precious grace. If He makes us pass through the wilderness for our good, He does not fail to be there with us. When He puts out His sheep, He takes care to go before them and to comfort them with His love. Mighty leader of His people along the way, He is their joy and their glory when He comes to rest among them!
The verse has an everyday use. Setting out and stopping are both moments to ask for the same thing.
Because the ark was the symbol of the Lord's presence, Moses prayed when it set out, "Arise, O LORD!" (v. 35). Believers too do well to put themselves under the Lord's protection at the start of each day's journey. Then when the ark rested, Moses prayed, "Return, O Lord, to the many thousands of Israel" (v. 36). So, whether journeying or at rest, we need the presence of the Lord.
The order matters: first His power against His foes, then His presence among His own. That pattern reaches far past the desert.
If God has shown His mighty power by scattering all His foes, He shows His delight in His people by dwelling among them. God has a dwelling place among His people today, for the church is His habitation by the Spirit (Eph. 2:22). In the millennium, the Lord will be among the many thousands of Israel, after He has poured out His righteous judgment on His enemies. And God will dwell with men in the eternal state, after every judgment is past and the last enemy, death, is destroyed.
Moses' prayer suited a camp that would move on again. Later Israel moved the ark themselves, and Moses' words no longer fit.
When God had given Israel rest up to a point, they did not know how to enjoy it. Their enemies defeated them because of their unfaithfulness. So they took the ark out of its place and carried it into the camp of Israel. But this was no longer the place for the ark. Neither of Moses' words suited this move of the ark into the middle of the camp… another word is given: "Arise, O LORD, and go to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your might" (Psalm 132:8).
- Return. The prayer asks God to come back to the middle of the camp, because for this journey He had stepped out of that place and gone ahead.
- Grace. He left the place where the tribes cared for Him and honoured Him, and took the servant's task of finding His people somewhere to rest.
- Rhythm. One word for setting out, one for stopping — we need the Lord's presence on the road and in the camp alike.
- Reach. Enemies scattered, then God dwelling among His people: in the church now, with Israel in the millennium, with men in eternity.
- Not yet. A halt in the desert is not God's final rest; that waits for the later prayer, "Arise, O LORD, and go to Your resting place."