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Numbers Chapter Nine

 

Numbers 9 Outlines

The Second Passover (v.1~14)

The Cloud and the Fire (v.15~23)

New King James Version (NKJV)

 

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 9

In this chapter the command for keeping the passover is repeated and it was accordingly kept Numbers 9:1; but some persons being defiled and disqualified for observing it Moses inquires of the Lord on their solicitation what should be done in such a case Numbers 9:6; when it was ordered to be kept by such and those on journeys on the fourteenth day of the second month but not by others who were to observe it according to its first appointment Numbers 9:9; and an account is given of the appearance of the cloud by day and fire by night upon the tabernacle which directed the children of Israel when to journey and when to pitch their tents Numbers 9:15.

 

Numbers 9:1   Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt saying:

   YLT  1And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the second year of their going out of the land of Egypt in the first month saying

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 Numbers 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:

saying as follows.

 

Numbers 9:2   2 “Let the children of Israel keep the Passover at its appointed time.

   YLT  2`Also the sons of Israel prepare the passover in its appointed season;

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 Leviticus 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 Exodus 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.

 

Numbers 9:3   3 On the fourteenth day of this month at twilight you shall keep it at its appointed time. According to all its rites and ceremonies you shall keep it.”

   YLT  3in the fourteenth day of this month between the evenings ye prepare it in its appointed season; according to all its statutes and according to all its ordinances ye prepare it.'

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 Exodus 12:6; and even if it fall on the sabbath day as Jarchi; and this was a sabbath day according to the Jewish writersF25Seder Olam Rabba. c. 7. :

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 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.

 

Numbers 9:4   4 So Moses told the children of Israel that they should keep the Passover.

   YLT  4And Moses speaketh unto the sons of Israel to prepare the passover

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.

 

Numbers 9:5   5 And they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight in the Wilderness of Sinai; according to all that the Lord commanded Moses so the children of Israel did.

   YLT  5and they prepare the passover in the first [month] on the fourteenth day of the month between the evenings in the wilderness of Sinai; according to all that Jehovah hath commanded Moses so have the sons of Israel done.

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 Exodus 12:48.

 

Numbers 9:6   6 Now there were certain men who were defiled by a human corpse so that they could not keep the Passover on that day; and they came before Moses and Aaron that day.

   YLT  6And there are men who have been defiled by the body of a man and they have not been able to prepare the passover on that day and they come near before Moses and before Aaron on that day

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 Numbers 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 Leviticus 7:20; and it is saidF26Chaskuni in loc. 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 Numbers 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:

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.

 

Numbers 9:7   7 And those men said to him “We became defiled by a human corpse. Why are we kept from presenting the offering of the Lord at its appointed time among the children of Israel?”

   YLT  7and those men say unto him `We are defiled by the body of a man; why are we withheld so as not to bring near the offering of Jehovah in its appointed season in the midst of the sons of Israel?'

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 saidF1Maimon. in Misn. Pesachim c. 7. sect. 6. 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.

 

Numbers 9:8   8 And Moses said to them “Stand still that I may hear what the Lord will command concerning you.”

   YLT  8And Moses saith unto them `Stand ye and I hear what Jehovah hath commanded concerning you.'

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 Exodus 25:22.

 

Numbers 9:9   9 Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying

   YLT  9And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses saying

And the Lord spake unto Moses .... From between the cherubim after he had laid the case before him and he gave him an answer:

saying; as follows.

 

Numbers 9:10   10 “Speak to the children of Israel saying: ‘If anyone of you or your posterity is unclean because of a corpse or is far away on a journey he may still keep the Lord’s Passover.

   YLT  10`Speak unto the sons of Israel saying Though any man is unclean by a body or in a distant journey (of you or of your generations) yet he hath prepared a passover to Jehovah;

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"F2לדרתיכם "generationibus vestris" Pagninus Montanus; "in aetatibus vestris" Drusius. 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 Numbers 9:6; MaimonidesF3In Misn. ut supra (c. 7. sect. 6.) T. Bab. Pesachim fol. 93. 2. 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 though a private person and eat the passover at evening with purity when he had been cleansed: yet he says elsewhereF4Hilchot Corban Pesach c. 6. sect. 1. 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 MisnahF5Pesachim c. 9. sect. 2. Maimon. & Bartenora in ib. 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 Numbers 9:11.

 

Numbers 9:11   11 On the fourteenth day of the second month at twilight they may keep it. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

   YLT  11in the second month on the fourteenth day between the evenings they prepare it; with unleavened and bitter things they eat it;

The fourteenth day of the second month at even they shall keep it .... The mouth Ijar as the Targum of Jonathan which answers to part of our April and part of May; so that there was a month allowed for those that were defiled to cleanse themselves; and for those on a journey to return home and prepare for the passover which was not to be totally omitted nor deferred any longer; and it was to be kept on the same day of the month and at the same time of the day the first passover was observed; still the more to keep in mind the saving of their firstborn; and their deliverance out of Egypt at that time: an instance of keeping such a passover we have in 2 Chronicles 30:1 &c.

and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs; in the same manner as the first passover was eaten Exodus 12:8; only no mention is made of keeping the feast of unleavened bread seven days which some think those were not obliged unto at this time only to keep the feast of the passover.

 

Numbers 9:12   12 They shall leave none of it until morning nor break one of its bones. According to all the ordinances of the Passover they shall keep it.

   YLT  12they do not leave of till morning; and a bone they do not break in it: according to all the statute of the passover they prepare it.

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 Exodus 12:10

nor break any bone of it; the same was enjoined; see Gill on Exodus 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.

 

Numbers 9:13   13 But the man who is clean and is not on a journey and ceases to keep the Passover that same person shall be cut off from among his people because he did not bring the offering of the Lord at its appointed time; that man shall bear his sin.

   YLT  13`And the man who is clean and hath not been on a journey and hath ceased to prepare the passover even that person hath been cut off from his people; because the offering of Jehovah he hath not brought near in its appointed season that man doth bear his sin.

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 Latin version of Numbers 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.

 

Numbers 9:14   14 ‘And if a stranger dwells among you and would keep the Lord’s Passover he must do so according to the rite of the Passover and according to its ceremony; you shall have one ordinance both for the stranger and the native of the land.’”

   YLT  14`And when a sojourner sojourneth with you then he hath prepared a passover to Jehovah according to the statute of the passover and according to its ordinance so he doth; one statute is to you even to a sojourner and to a native of the land.'

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 Exodus 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 Exodus 12:49.

 

Numbers 9:15   15 Now on the day that the tabernacle was raised up the cloud covered the tabernacle the tent of the Testimony; from evening until morning it was above the tabernacle like the appearance of fire.

   YLT  15And in the day of the raising up of the tabernacle hath the cloud covered the tabernacle even the tent of the testimony; and in the evening there is on the tabernacle as an appearance of fire till morning;

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 Exodus 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" Leviticus 9:1; "and the glory of the Lord shall appear unto you" Leviticus 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 Exodus 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 Isaiah 4:5.

 

Numbers 9:16   16 So it was always: the cloud covered it by day and the appearance of fire by night.

   YLT  16so it is continually; the cloud covereth it also the appearance of fire by night.

So it was alway .... Night and day as long as the people of Israel were in the wilderness see Exodus 13:21

the cloud covered it by day: the phrase "by day" is not in the text but is easily and necessarily supplied from Exodus 40:38; and as it is in the Targum 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.

 

Numbers 9:17   17 Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle after that the children of Israel would journey; and in the place where the cloud settled there the children of Israel would pitch their tents.

   YLT  17And according to the going up of the cloud from off the tent and afterwards do the sons of Israel journey; and in the place where the cloud doth tabernacle there do the sons of Israel encamp;

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 Numbers 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.

 

Numbers 9:18   18 At the command of the Lord the children of Israel would journey and at the command of the Lord they would camp; as long as the cloud stayed above the tabernacle they remained encamped.

   YLT  18by the command of Jehovah the sons of Israel journey and by the command of Jehovah they encamp; all the days that the cloud doth tabernacle over the tabernacle they encamp.

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.

 

Numbers 9:19   19 Even when the cloud continued long many days above the tabernacle the children of Israel kept the charge of the Lord and did not journey.

   YLT  19And in the cloud prolonging itself over the tabernacle many days then have the sons of Israel kept the charge of Jehovah and journey not

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 Numbers 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.

 

Numbers 9:20   20 So it was when the cloud was above the tabernacle a few days: according to the command of the Lord they would remain encamped and according to the command of the Lord they would journey.

   YLT  20and so when the cloud is a number of days over the tabernacle; by the command of Jehovah they encamp and by the command of Jehovah they journey.

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.

 

Numbers 9:21   21 So it was when the cloud remained only from evening until morning: when the cloud was taken up in the morning then they would journey; whether by day or by night whenever the cloud was taken up they would journey.

   YLT  21And so when the cloud is from evening till morning when the cloud hath gone up in the morning then they have journeyed; whether by day or by night when the cloud hath gone up then they have journeyed.

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.

 

Numbers 9:22   22 Whether it was two days a month or a year that the cloud remained above the tabernacle the children of Israel would remain encamped and not journey; but when it was taken up they would journey.

   YLT  22Whether two days or a month or days in the cloud prolonging itself over the tabernacle to tabernacle over it the sons of Israel encamp and journey not; and in its being lifted up they journey;

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 saysF7Moreh Nevoch. par. 2. c. 50. p. 512. ; some sayF8Seder Olam Rabba c. 8. p. 24. 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.

 

Numbers 9:23   23 At the command of the Lord they remained encamped and at the command of the Lord they journeyed; they kept the charge of the Lord at the command of the Lord by the hand of Moses.

   YLT  23by the command of Jehovah they encamp and by the command of Jehovah they journey; the charge of Jehovah they have kept by the command of Jehovah in the hand of Moses.

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 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.

 

──John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible