Numbers · chapter 9 of 36
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Numbers 9 tells how Israel keeps the Passover in the wilderness of Sinai a year after leaving Egypt, how a second date is granted to those who were unclean, and how the cloud of God's presence over the tabernacle marks when the people camp and when they set out, a cloud by day and the appearance of fire by night.
After the censuses, the Levites and the offerings, Numbers 9 looks again at Israel's calendar and focuses on two signs of God's presence: the Passover, which recalls the deliverance from Egypt, and the cloud that guides the people. With the Passover kept and the cloud ready, the people are in a position to leave Sinai, which will happen in the next chapter.
In the first month of the second year after leaving Egypt, the Lord tells Moses that the Israelites are to keep the Passover at its appointed time, at twilight on the fourteenth day. They keep it in the wilderness of Sinai, according to all that the Lord had commanded.
Some men, unclean from having touched a dead body, cannot keep it on that day. They come before Moses and Aaron and ask why they should be left without the Lord's offering. Moses consults the Lord, and the answer establishes a Passover in the second month, at twilight on the fourteenth day, for those who are unclean or on a distant journey. It is to be eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, leaving none until morning and breaking no bone. But anyone who is clean and not on a journey and still fails to keep it will be cut off from his people. The foreigner who lives among them may also keep it, under the same rule.
The chapter ends with the cloud. On the day the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered it, and at night it looked like fire. When the cloud lifted, the Israelites set out; where it settled, they camped. Whether the cloud stayed two days, a month or a year, the people stayed. Everything was done at the Lord's command.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
The Lord commands that the Passover be kept at its appointed time, according to all its statutes. A year after the deliverance, Israel again remembers what God did, and that memory remains the center of its identity.
Those who were unclean or on a journey may keep the Passover a month later. God does not want anyone left out of his memorial by a circumstance they could not avoid, and he provides a way to take part again.
The foreigner who lives among the Israelites may also keep the Lord's Passover under the same rule. The door of the covenant is open to anyone who wants to approach God in obedience.
Whenever the cloud lifted from the tent, the Israelites set out; where the cloud settled, they camped. The people do not decide when to move: they follow God's presence, which sets the pace of the journey.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: At twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month of the second year after leaving Egypt. — Numbers 9:1-5
Answer: They were unclean from having touched a dead body. — Numbers 9:6
Answer: A second Passover on the fourteenth day of the second month. — Numbers 9:10-11
Answer: Unleavened bread and bitter herbs, leaving none until morning and breaking no bone. — Numbers 9:11-12
Answer: It had the appearance of fire. — Numbers 9:15-16
Answer: As long as the cloud stayed, whether two days, a month or a year. — Numbers 9:22
Numbers 9 teaches us to remember regularly what God has done. The Passover is a fixed date that keeps the memory of deliverance alive. For Christians, the Lord's Supper serves a similar function and points to Christ, the Lamb. In Sunday school you can ask which habits help keep the memory of the gospel alive in the family and the church.
The cloud teaches us to live attentive to God's guidance. Sometimes it is time to leave and sometimes it is time to wait, and both are obedience. If you are in a season of waiting, the image of Israel camped a month or a year beside the cloud invites you to trust that God guides even when nothing seems to move.
Numbers 9 leaves Israel with the Passover kept and the cloud ready to guide. Numbers 10 will show how, with the silver trumpets and the order of march, the people finally leave Mount Sinai.
It was an alternative date, a month later, for those who could not keep the Passover because they were unclean or on a journey. The text shows that God provides a way to take part for someone with a legitimate obstacle, though someone with no excuse who does not keep it is warned seriously.
The cloud covered the tabernacle by day, and at night it looked like fire. When it lifted, the people set out; when it settled, they camped. In this way Israel depended on God for each stage of the journey, without knowing beforehand how long they would stay in a place.