February 11, 2020: Day 10 – Numbers 10

We have trumpets, and these trumpets signaled a few things.  A double trumpet meant the whole assembly had to gather for something really important.  A single trumpet would sound if only the leaders were supposed to gather together.  There were other trumpet signals that would sound to go into battle.  And yet another trumpet sound to signal that we are picking up stakes and moving on, or that we will be settled down right here where we find ourselves.  I love the fact that it was the Levites who blew the trumpets.  Moses makes it really clear that only the Levites and no one else was supposed to be allowed to blow the trumpets.  Look at vs.8 and this was supposed to hold true for all generations.  I guess I am supposed to be the one who rings the bell when the first service starts.

It then moves on to describe how the tribes moved out when it was time to go forward in the journey.  We have an interchange between Moses and his father-in-law.  Remember Moses married a foreign woman who worshiped other gods.  He told Moses that he was going to head back home, it was fun, but home called.  Moses asks him to stay on because there was no one who was a better scout than he was.  He tells him: “You know where we should go.”  We don’t hear, but we can assume that he stayed on.  

Notice that Moses has a prayer for when they start off in the morning and when they settle in for the evening.  It sets the example of prayers in the morning and prayers in the evening.