ÍNDICE
V.3. DISCUSIÓN SOBRE LOS GENES IL1B E IL1RN
(Numbers 10:11-32)
11. And it came to pass on the twentieth day of the second month, in the second year, that the cloud was taken up from off the tabernacle of the testimony.
12. And the children of Israel took their journeys out of the wilderness of Sinai;
and the cloud rested in the wilderness of Paran.
13. And they first took their journey according to the commandment of the LORD by the hand of Moses.
14. In the first place went the standard of the camp of the children of Judah according to their armies: and over his host was Nahshon the son of Amminadab.
15. And over the host of the tribe of the children of Issachar was Nethaneel the son of Zuar.
16. And over the host of the tribe of the children of Zebulun was Eliab the son of Helon.
17. And the tabernacle was taken down; and the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari set forward, bearing the tabernacle.
18. And the standard of the camp of Reuben set forward according to their armies:
and over his host was Elizur the son of Shedeur.
19. And over the host of the tribe of the children of Simeon was Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai.
20. And over the host of the tribe of the children of Gad was Eliasaph the son of Deuel.
21. And the Kohathites set forward, bearing the sanctuary: and the other did set up the tabernacle against they came.
22. And the standard of the camp of the children of Ephraim set forward according to their armies: and over his host was Elishama the son of Ammihud.
23. And over the host of the tribe of the children of Manasseh was Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur.
24. And over the host of the tribe of the children of Benjamin was Abidan the son of Gideoni.
25. And the standard of the camp of the children of Dan set forward, which was the rearward of all the camps throughout their hosts: and over his host was Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai.
26. And over the host of the tribe of the children of Asher was Pagiel the son of Ocran.
27. And over the host of the tribe of the children of Naphtali was Ahira the son of Enan.
28. Thus were the journeyings of the children of Israel according to their armies, when they set forward.
29. And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, We are journeying unto the place of which the LORD said, I will give it
you: come thou with us, and we will do thee good: for the LORD hath spoken good concerning Israel.
30. And he said unto him, I will not go; but I will depart to mine own land, and to my kindred.
31. And he said, Leave us not, I pray thee; forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes.
32. And it shall be, if thou go with us, yea, it shall be, that what goodness the LORD shall do unto us, the same will we do unto thee. (Numbers 10:11-32) In these verses, we have an account of Israel’s journey from Sinai to Paran. Here again we see God’s particularity. Even though the generation of that day was in time sentenced to die in the wilderness for their unfaithfulness, God notes their activity. God gives us, after all, the family records of more than a few ungodly men, of the line of Esau, for example. Just as God’s judgments far exceed ours, so, too, do His mercies. The God who keeps books keeps total books.
We have a specific account of breaking camp and then moving. First, the tribe of Judah, under Nahshon, son of Amminadab, moved, accompanied by the people of Issachar, then Zebulun.
Next, the dismantled tabernacle followed, under the Levitical bearers, the subclans of Gershon and Merari.
Second, came Elizur, son of Shedeur, of the tribe of Reuben, accompanied by the clans of Simeon and Gad and the Levitical subclans of Kohathites.
Third, Ephraim, under Elishama, son of Ammihud, led Manasseh and Benjamin, again three tribes together.
Fourth, Dan, in the rearguard, headed by Ahiezer, son of Ammishaddai, led the tribes of Dan and Naphtali.
This move began ten months and nineteen days after the arrival at Sinai (v. 11; cf. Ex. 19:1). We do not now know where Paran was located. It was the home, centuries earlier, of Ishmael (Gen.
21:21, 25:13-15). The name, Paran, survives among some Arab tribes.
The Levites, carrying the ark, were in the vanguard of the march, although they were led by the cloud. The ark and the cloud were thus closely associated one with the other, because the covenant was essential to the relationship between God and man.
The journey was essentially a journey home. Many generations had passed since Jacob went into Egypt, and a family had become a nation. The covenant God, however, had declared that Canaan was their home, and this was conditional upon their faithfulness. Because of their disobedience, the generation that left Egypt died in the wilderness. Over the centuries, when Israel was disobedient, the land fell under the rule of foreign powers. The apostasy of the people led finally to the Assyrian captivity of Israel and the Babylonian captivity of Judah. The destruction of Jerusalem followed Judah’s rejection of Jesus Christ. None of God’s promises are unconditional;
it is a perversion of Scripture to say so, as many Arminians and dispensationalists do. Modern antinomianism is very prone to insisting on an unconditional covenant, and such a heresy can
only invoke judgment. It is faithfulness which assures a people of God’s presence and guidance on their march and pilgrimage into the future. It was not an easy march. The men were armed and ready for battle. They had, however, the limitation of their women and children. Added to this were the numerous livestock, and the situation consequently became more complex. The journey had to be one mindful of the ongoing need of water periodically for men and beasts and other practical concerns. Journeys similar to this, but with fewer numbers, marked the westward migration in America, and the moves of the Boers in South Africa.
Stops along the way to Paran are mentioned in Numbers 11:3, 11:34-35, and the arrival cited in Numbers 12:16.
In v. 12, reference is made to “the wilderness of Sinai,” and also to “the wilderness of Paran.”
The world translated as “wilderness” is in the Hebrew midbar, and it can mean a “pasture” or a
“desert,” among other things. The term desert in the Bible does not have the meaning we associate with it; if we look at an alternate meaning, pasture, it becomes apparent that its meaning is uninhabited or uncultivated on any continuing basis. At one time, about a century and a half ago, the American West between the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada mountains was known as the “Great American Desert.” In the Bible especially, a wilderness is a place not yet under man’s control and development. The first English settlers in New England described it as a
“howling wilderness.”
In vv. 29-32, we have Moses’s invitation to his brother-in-law, Hobab, to accompany Israel into the Promised Land. Hobab was a Kenite, a sub-tribe of Midian which was centuries later absorbed into Israel. His invitation was accepted, according to Judges 1:16 and 4:11 (see also 1 Sam. 15:6). Moses asks Hobab to be Israel’s guide on their journey: “Leave us not, I pray thee;
forasmuch as though knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes” (v. 31). This was in no way in conflict with the guidance of the cloud. At every point, Israel needed to know where the best sources of water and grazing would be. Because Hobab was familiar with the region, and none of the Hebrews were, Moses appealed to him to govern them in this respect. The westward treks in the United States by settlers depended on guides who knew where the best water and grazing were, and stops tended to be governed by this knowledge. Hobab was therefore an important addition to the journey.
It should be remembered that Hobab was a foreigner, and yet, by God’s providence, he was not only Israel’s guide but also a privileged leader. Moses said to Hobab, “...come thou with us, and we will do thee good.” As J. Baldwin Brown noted:
God’s privileges, the gifts which He bestows, and the advantages which He confers on some are never intended to be exclusive.46
This in every age is an urgently important fact. God’s purposes encompass all peoples, tribes, races, and tongues. Few things are clearer in Scripture than this. We must therefore recognize, first, that God who made all peoples and races has a purpose for all of them. His covenant is not the exclusive possession, nor the unconditional property, of any one people or group of peoples.
It is inclusive of all. Man cannot limit what God does not limit. It is a heresy to restrict the covenant to one people. Psalm 87 is evidence of the presence of peoples other than the Hebrews
at the Temple, as is 1 Kings 8:41-43. To treat God’s covenant as a national or racial possession is evil.
Second, God’s covenant salvation is all of grace, His sovereign grace. God reminds us in His law of the moral depravities of some peoples, and conditions are laid down with respect to their entrance into full covenant status (Deut. 23:1-3, 7-8). At the same time, one law should govern all people (Ex. 22:21, 23:9, 12:48-49; Lev. 19:33- 34, 24:22; Numbers 15:14-16, 35:15; Deut.
1:16; 24:14, 17-18; 27:19; etc.).
Third, all covenant peoples are heirs of the grace God gave to their ancestors. The difference between themselves and other peoples is not one of racial inheritance but of covenant grace.
Thus, the covenant people must extend the invitation to all peoples, “Come thou with us, and we will do thee good.” Not the humanistic one-world dream, but only the grace of God can accomplish that good. Moses recognized this and added, “for the LORD hath spoken good concerning Israel” (v. 29).
The text does not tell us that Hobab agreed. In fact, his first reaction (v. 30) was to return to his own land and his kindred. Apparently, in agreeing finally with Moses, he asked that his people also be included. Moses promised, “...what goodness the LORD shall do unto us, the same will we do unto thee” (v. 32). Thus, Moses made it clear that God’s bounties would be shared equally. Although many centuries later the Kenites finally disappeared into the Hebrews, no attempt was made to require nor to impede that union. Whereas the humanistic dream seeks to merge all peoples and destroy all differences as invidious, Biblical faith neither draws lines nor obliterates them; it repeats God-created differences, and it centers society on grace, not race.