Tanak Foundations-Concepts in Numbers-Chapter 9

In Num 9.1-23 we have some very interesting passages about Passover and the cloud on the Mishkan. In the second year, the first month (of Nisan or Aviv) Yehovah spoke to Moses saying he wanted the sons of Israel to observe the Passover at its appointed time (Aviv/Nisan 14) between the evenings, in the wilderness of Sinai. It will be the only time they will do this in the wilderness.

However, there were some who were ritually unclean because of the dead, so they could not observe Passover on the appointed day, but they wanted to. They came to Moses and Aaron and they asked them why they couldn’t keep it at its appointed time (v 6-7). So Moses told them to wait and he would ask the Lord. Then the Lord said that if anyone becomes unclean because of the dead, or is away on a journey and cannot come to the Mishkan/Temple, he may keep the Passover a month later (v 10-12). God allowed this Passover to be kept outside of the land because he told them to do it, and they had the Mishkan. He also made some changes to the observance since their departure from Egypt.

Now, if you could keep the Passover anywhere, why would the Lord put this into the Torah? If you were away on a journey, why couldn’t you keep the Passover where you were? For more information on these questions, and keeping the festivals today, go to our teaching called “Can You Keep the Festivals Outside of Jerusalem and the Temple Today” on this site. This provision also tells us something else.

The phrase “distant journey” can be applied spiritually as well. Everyone gets a second chance to “come back to the Lord.” We must stress love, mercy and forgiveness and give others a second (and many more) chance. The Torah is not “all or nothing.” We must accept what a person is willing to do, and respect and love them wherever they may be as far as ritual observance.

Num 9.15-23 tells us about the cloud on the Mishkan. When they were to move, the cloud would move showing them where to go. This was not a simple thing in the wilderness. They had to pack up the Mishkan, their tents and belongings, and the animals in order to do this. But life must continue in the Lord. There is a major concept here. We shouldn’t waste our time “waiting on the Lord.” He will lead us in the right way and tell us to move when it is time and when to stop (Psa 37.23). Until then, do what he has told you to do.

v 1…Thus the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they came out of the land of Egypt, saying (this date is one month earlier  than the date that opens Numbers in Num 1.1; this teaches us that many of the chapters in Scripture are not chronological),

v 2…”Now, let the sons of Israel observe the Passover at its appointed time (this was the only time that Passover was celebrated in the wilderness, and until they came to Canaan-Josh 5.4-7; they were out of the land and they were not circumcised-Exo 12.43-48).

v 3…On the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight n(between the evenings) you shall observe it according to all its statutes and according to all its ordinances.”

v 4…So Moses told the sons of Israel to observe Passover.

v 5…And they observed the Passover in the first month (Nisan-Exo 12 begins the religious calendar), on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, in the wilderness of Sinai; according to all that the Lord had commanded Moses, so the sons of Israel did.

v 6…But there were some  men who were unclean because of the dead person (this would rule out most people who celebrate Passover today), so they could not observe Passover on that day, so they came before Moses and Aaron on that day..

v 7…And those men said to him, “Though we are unclean (out of place) because of the dead person (people were dying already in the wilderness), why are we restrained from presenting the offering of the Lord at its appointed time among the sons of Israel?”

v 8…Moses therefore said to them, “Wait, and I will listen to what the Lord will command me (this is a case of dissolving a case of conscience: 1. Don’t determine rashly, take time to consider, the circumstance may be weighed, the case viewed in a true light and spiritual things compared to spiritual things; 2. Ask God’s counsel not according to our bias or affections, but impartially according to the mind of God; 3. To the best of our knowledge take time and spread it out before the Lord in prayer and the Holy Spirit will lead).”

v 9…Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying (now a provision will be added to the original Passover law),

v 10…”Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘If any one of you or of your generations becomes unclean (out of place) because of a dead person, or is on a distant journey (and cannot go to the sanctuary) he may, however, observe the Passover to the Lord,

v 11…in the second month (Iyar) on the fourteenth day at twilight, they shall observe it; they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs (if you could keep Passover anywhere like people do today, why would the Lord put this in; if you were not in the land and on a journey, why wouldn’t they just keep it where they were like people do today; they couldn’t because they had to do it where the Lord put his name and that was the Mishkan in the land, but later it would be in Jerusalem with a functioning Temple and priesthood; for more information see our teaching called, “Can You Keep the Festivals Outside Jerusalem and the Temple?” on this website).

v 12…They shall leave none of it until morning, nor break a bone of it; according to all the statute of the Passover (lamb) they shall observe it.

v 13…But the man who is clean and is not on a journey, and yet neglects to observe the Passover, that person shall then be cut off from his people, for he did not present the offering of the Lord at its appointed time.  That man shall bear his sin.

v 14…And if an alien (ger) sojourning among you (circumcised and believes in Yehovah) and observes the Passover to the Lord, according to the statute of Passover and according to its ordinance, so he shall do; you shall have one statute, both for the alien and for the native of the land (the festivals were kept when in the land).’ ”

v 15…Now on the day that the tabernacle (Mishkan) was erected (Nisan 1 in the second year-Exo 40.1-2) the cloud (the Shekinah) covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony (the part where the ark was), and in the evening it was like the appearance of fire over the tabernacle, until morning (a token of Yehovah’s presence).

v 16…So it was continuously; the cloud would cover it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.

v 17…And whenever the cloud was lifted from over the tent (so all could see it), afterwards the sons of Israel would then set out; and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the sons of Israel would camp.

v 18…At the command of the Lord the sons of Israel would set out, and at the command of the Lord they would camp; as long as the cloud settled over the tabernacle, they remained camped.

v 19…Even when the cloud lingered over the tabernacle many days, the sons of Israel keep the Lord’s charge and not set out (or proceed on their own).

v 20…If sometimes the cloud remained a few days over the tabernacle, according to the command of the Lord they remained camped.  Thyen according to the command of the Lord they set out.

v 21…If sometimes the cloud remained from evening until morning, when the cloud was lifted in the morning, they would move out; or if it remained in the daytime and at night, whenever the cloud lifted, they would set out.

v 22…Whether it was two days or a month or a year that the cloud lingered over the tabernacle, staying above it, the sons of Israel remained camped and did not set out; but when it lifted, they did set out.

v 23…At the command of the Lord (Yehovah) they set out; they kept the Lord’s charge, according to the command of the Lord through Moses (we don’t waste our time waiting on the Lord; he will lead us in the right way-Psa 37.23).

Posted in All Teachings, Articles, Idioms, Phrases and Concepts, Prophecy/Eschatology, The Festivals of the Lord, The Tanak, Tying into the New Testament

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