Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
God commands two trumpets to be made, and their uses. Secondly, at verse 11, at the movement of the column of cloud the Hebrews, with their army drawn up, move camp from Sinai to Paran. Thirdly, at verse 29, Moses detains Hobab, his brother-in-law. Fourthly, at verse 35, the Ark goes before the camp, with Moses praying.
Vulgate Text: Numbers 10:1-36
1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2. Make for yourself two silver trumpets of hammered work, with which you may summon the multitude when camp is to be moved. 3. And when you sound the trumpets, the whole assembly shall gather to you at the entrance of the tabernacle of the covenant. 4. If you sound only once, the princes and heads of the multitude of Israel shall come to you. 5. But if a longer and broken blast sounds, those who are on the eastern side shall move camp first. 6. At the second blast and similar cry of the trumpet, those who dwell to the south shall raise their tents, and in this manner the rest shall do, with the trumpets sounding for the departure. 7. When the people is to be assembled together, the trumpets shall sound with a plain blast, and they shall not make a broken cry. 8. And the sons of Aaron the priests shall sound the trumpets; and this shall be an ordinance forever in your generations. 9. If you go out to war from your land against the enemies who fight against you, you shall sound the trumpets with a broken cry, and there shall be a remembrance of you before the Lord your God, that you may be delivered from the hands of your enemies. 10. If at any time you have a feast, and festive days, and the first days of the months, you shall sound the trumpets over the holocausts and the sacrifices of peace offerings, that they may be for you a remembrance of your God: I am the Lord your God. 11. In the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month, the cloud was lifted up from the tabernacle of the covenant, 12. and the children of Israel set out by their companies from the desert of Sinai, and the cloud rested in the wilderness of Paran. 13. And the first moved their camps according to the commandment of the Lord by the hand of Moses. 14. The sons of Judah by their companies, whose prince was Nahshon the son of Amminadab. 15. In the tribe of the sons of Issachar the prince was Nethanel the son of Zuar. 16. In the tribe of Zebulun the prince was Eliab the son of Helon. 17. And the tabernacle was taken down, and the sons of Gershon and Merari set out, carrying it. 18. And the sons of Reuben also set out, by their companies and order, whose prince was Elizur the son of Shedeur. 19. And in the tribe of the sons of Simeon, the prince was Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai. 20. And in the tribe of Gad, the prince was Eliasaph the son of Deuel. 21. And the Kohathites set out, carrying the Sanctuary. The tabernacle was carried until they came to the place of erecting it. 22. The sons of Ephraim also moved their camps by their companies, in whose army the prince was Elishama the son of Ammihud. 23. And in the tribe of the sons of Manasseh, the prince was Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur. 24. And in the tribe of Benjamin the leader was Abidan the son of Gideoni. 25. Last of all the camps, the sons of Dan set out by their companies, in whose army the prince was Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai. 26. And in the tribe of the sons of Asher, the prince was Pagiel the son of Ochran. 27. And in the tribe of the sons of Naphtali, the prince was Ahira the son of Enan. 28. These are the camps and the marches of the children of Israel by their companies, when they set out. 29. And Moses said to Hobab the son of Raguel the Midianite, his kinsman: We are setting out to the place which the Lord will give us; come with us, that we may do you good, for the Lord has promised good things to Israel. 30. And he answered him: I will not go with you, but I will return to my land, in which I was born. 31. And he said: Do not leave us, for you know in what places we should encamp in the wilderness, and you shall be our guide. 32. And when you come with us, whatever is best of the riches which the Lord shall give us, we will give to you. 33. So they set out from the Mount of the Lord three days' journey, and the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord went before them for three days, providing a place for the camp. 34. The cloud of the Lord was also over them by day, when they marched. 35. And when the Ark was raised up, Moses said: Arise, O Lord, and let Your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate You flee before Your face. 36. And when it was set down, he said: Return, O Lord, to the multitude of the army of Israel.
Verse 2: Make for yourself two silver trumpets
2. MAKE FOR YOURSELF TWO SILVER TRUMPETS OF HAMMERED WORK -- so that with them you may summon the people: first, to move camp; second, for feasts; third, for sacrifices; fourth, for wars. God commands only two trumpets to be made, lest He burden the Hebrews with the expense of furnishing them, but not that He forbids more to be made. Hence it is clear that more were made, if not trumpets then at least horns, either then or later, from Joshua 6:4, where seven horns are counted, at whose blasting the walls of Jericho fell.
Note: God commands them to be made of silver, both out of reverence for divine worship and so that they may be more resonant.
Josephus describes the form of these trumpets, Antiquities book 3, chapter 11: "It was," he says, "a pipe a little thicker than a flute, a little less than a cubit in length, whose opening was only wide enough for blowing into, and it ended in a bell-shaped extremity, like a trumpet." Moreover, it was the priests' duty to sound these trumpets, as is evident from verse 8.
Allegorical meaning: the two comings of Christ
Allegorically, Rupert takes the two trumpets as the two comings of Christ, namely the first in the flesh and the second for judgment. For first Christ sounded: "Do penance, the kingdom of heaven has drawn near." Secondly He will sound: "Go, you cursed, into eternal fire." Hence others take the trumpets as threats, for example of hell, and promises, for example of heaven, which preachers must continually sound to the people, so that they may strike and pierce the hearts of men with both fear and hope of eternity. Thus did St. Chrysostom, St. Antoninus, St. Dominic, St. Vincent, and other great heralds, who had not ornate but effective sermons with which they converted men. For the greatest stupor of men, and the greatest of all the world's insanities, is that almost all pursue perishable and temporal things with all their effort and striving, but neglect divine and eternal things, and scarcely think about them, even though all their good, eternal and complete, depends on them. Hence St. Hilary says that preachers ought to be "sowers of eternity."
Such a herald was St. John the Baptist: "Brood of vipers," he says, "who has shown you how to flee from the coming wrath?" etc. "His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly cleanse His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire." See his sermon, Matthew 3, which entirely pertains to this point. Such was the voice of one crying in the wilderness, which crushed rocks and stones, and drew from them waters of tears, with which he prepared them for the grace and justice of Christ.
Such a herald was Christ: "Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven has drawn near;" Matthew 4; and in chapters 24 and 25 His entire discourse is about the end of the world, the signs preceding the judgment, the judgment itself, eternal life for the pious, and hell to be inflicted on the impious.
Such was St. Peter: "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and manifest day of the Lord comes. Save yourselves from this perverse generation," Acts 2:20 and 40.
Such were James and John, who were therefore called by Christ "Boanerges," that is, "sons of thunder," Mark 3. Describing this voice, that is, this thunder, the Psalmist says in Psalm 28: "The voice of the Lord is upon the waters, the God of majesty has thundered: the voice of the Lord in power, the voice of the Lord in magnificence: the voice of the Lord breaking cedars: the voice of the Lord dividing the flame of fire: the voice of the Lord shaking the wilderness: the voice of the Lord preparing the deer," so that with the womb dilated by the terror of thunder they may give birth more easily; "and in His temple all shall speak glory." For this preaching of the last things, like thunder upon waters, that is, many peoples, moved them to penance and tears: it broke the cedars, that is, the proud; it divided the fire, that is, distributed charity and fiery tongues at Pentecost; it shook the deserted regions of the Gentiles; it prepared the deer, that is, the timid and slow in bringing forth virtues, through the fear of God's judgment; it brought on a flood, both of baptism and of contrition, by which sins are drowned. Thus St. Basil, Theodoret, Augustine, Didymus, and Origen explain it there.
Such was St. Paul, who, as St. Jerome says, was "the trumpet of the Gospel, the thunder of the Gentiles, the roar of a lion." Hear him in the Areopagus: "God now declares to all men, that all everywhere should do penance, because He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in equity, by the man whom He has appointed, giving assurance to all by raising Him from the dead," Acts 17:30; and Acts 24:25: "As he (Paul) reasoned about justice and chastity and the judgment to come, Felix trembled," etc. And chapter 26:24, preaching the resurrection of the dead, he heard from Festus the governor: "You are mad, Paul; much learning has driven you to madness. And Paul said: I am not mad, most excellent Festus, but I speak words of truth and sobriety."
Such was St. Francis, whose constant sermon was: "Labor is brief, delight is eternal; delight is brief, punishment is perpetual; the calling of many, the election of few, the retribution of all."
Tropological meaning: the twofold preaching of the Church
Tropologically, Cyril, book 5 On Adoration, page 97, takes these two hammered trumpets as a twofold kind of preaching used in the Church: the first, which strengthens and expands faith; the second, which corrects morals. They are silver for their splendor, and in sum their sincerity. They are hammered, because it is necessary that those who preach the life to come grow through the blows and drawings out of present tribulations, says St. Gregory, Moralia book 30, chapter 7. So also Procopius: One trumpet, he says, is doctrinal, the second moral.
Symbolically: bells in place of trumpets
Symbolically, in place of the Jewish trumpets the Church uses bells, which are larger, stronger, and more resonant and durable, and therefore signify the Evangelical preaching resounding throughout the whole world, and destined to last until the end of the world, whereas Judaism was confined to one corner of Judea. So Amalarius, Bishop of Trier, in the year of Christ 820, book 3 On Ecclesiastical Offices, chapter 1. Moreover, bells are called "campanae" from the city of Nola in Campania, where the first larger bells were fashioned; so Walafrid Strabo, book On Ecclesiastical Things, chapter 5. Moreover, a Poet has encompassed the manifold uses of bells in these verses:
"I praise the true God; I call the people; I assemble the congregation; I mourn the dead; I drive away pestilence; I adorn the feasts."
See Jodocus Coccius in the Catholic Thesaurus, part 2, book 3, article 6.
When camp is to be moved
WHEN CAMP IS TO BE MOVED. -- In Hebrew, "and when camp is to be moved"; hence in the Hebrew two functions of the trumpets seem to be signified here, namely first, to assemble the gathering of the people; second, to move camp. But our Translator did not take the "and" as a conjunction but as an explanation and specification, as if to say: To summon the multitude, so that each one in ordered series under his own standard, roused by the sound of the trumpet, may move camp.
Verse 4: If you sound once
4. IF YOU SOUND ONCE -- that is, if you sound one trumpet, as the Hebrew, Chaldean, Septuagint, and Josephus have it, who says and adds: Moses made two horns, by one of which the people were summoned to assembly, by the other the princes were called to deliberate about the commonwealth were roused; when both sounded, the entire people was summoned. Just as therefore when both sounded there was a double blast, and they could be said to sound twice, so when one sounded, they are said to sound once. Finally, if they sounded terua, that is, with a broken and interrupted sound (which our Translator calls a wailing cry), they moved camp; for otherwise the sound of these trumpets was smooth and even. Whether they sounded one or two trumpets in the movement of camps is not clear.
Verse 6: And in this manner the rest shall do
6. AND IN THIS MANNER THE REST SHALL DO -- so that, just as at the first trumpet blast the camp moved and Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun set out, who were on the east side of the tabernacle; and at the second blast Reuben, Simeon, and Gad set out, who were on the south side of the tabernacle; so at the third blast Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin should move camp, who were on the west; and fourthly and finally Dan, Asher, and Naphtali should move camp, who were on the north; as is evident from what was said in chapter 2.
WITH THE TRUMPETS WAILING (that is, sounding in broken blasts) -- as the howling of beasts is broken.
Verse 9: If you go out to war
9. IF YOU GO OUT TO WAR, etc., YOU SHALL SOUND, etc., AND THERE SHALL BE A REMEMBRANCE OF YOU BEFORE THE LORD -- as if to say: The Lord will remember you in battles, when you sound according to this His precept, so that He may rescue you from enemies and give you victory.
Verse 10: If at any time you have a feast
10. IF AT ANY TIME YOU HAVE A FEAST -- a solemn and sacred one from peace offerings, or a feast that is held with a preceding sacrifice and closes it, such as at the consecration of kings -- then you shall sound these trumpets. Likewise also on the Calends, that is, at the new moon or new-moon day, namely, on the first day of the lunar month; for this day was a feast day for the Jews.
THAT THEY MAY BE FOR YOU A REMEMBRANCE OF YOUR GOD -- so that God, roused by them, or rather by your obedience which you render by this sounding, may remember you, that is, may think of you, graciously accept your sacrifices, and assist you with His aid, as those who remember are accustomed to do. For God is said to remember anthropopathically, not properly. For in God, for whom all things are stable and present, there is no memory, but a constant vision and beholding of all things, past and future as well as present.
Verse 11: The cloud was lifted up -- departure from Sinai
11. In the second year (from the departure of the Hebrews from Egypt), IN THE SECOND MONTH, ON THE TWENTIETH DAY OF THE MONTH, THE CLOUD WAS LIFTED UP. -- "The cloud," that is, the column of cloud, began to move and go before the camp, which accordingly moved. Hence it is evident that the Hebrews remained at Sinai (which was the twelfth station of the Hebrews in the desert) for an entire year, except for thirteen days. For they came to Sinai on the third day of the third month of the first year, as is evident from Exodus 19:1; and they departed from Sinai on the twentieth day of the second month of the second year. Therefore everything that is narrated from Exodus chapter 19 up to this point was done and said at Sinai. Wherefore, first, all the moral, judicial, and ceremonial laws were given at Sinai. Second, there the tabernacle was built as a temple. Third, there the priests and Levites were consecrated. Fourth, there the camp was organized, and thus the commonwealth and the old Church of the Hebrews were established and formed, just as on Zion the new law was promulgated and the commonwealth and Church of Christians began, Acts 2:1 and Hebrews 12:22.
Torniellus notes that in this second year of the departure of the Hebrews from Egypt, holy Job died; and this must be said if we suppose what he and many others teach, that holy Job lived 217 years: for that many years are from the 130th year of Jacob, when holy Job appears to have been born, up to this second year, as I said at Genesis 36:33.
Verse 12: The children of Israel set out to Paran
12. AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL SET OUT, etc., FROM THE DESERT OF SINAI, AND THE CLOUD SETTLED IN THE WILDERNESS OF PARAN -- namely, in the place that was later called the Graves of Craving. In that place, therefore, was the thirteenth station of the Hebrews, which was in that vast desert of Paran, which is one in itself but encompasses many partial areas; for the desert of Sin is part of this desert of Paran, where the thirty-third station was, about which see chapter 33, verse 36 (although St. Jerome, in the treatise On the 42 Stations, ends Paran at Sin, and places in Paran only the eighteen following stations which were up to Sin and Kadesh). Here observe, admire, and celebrate the wonderful providence of God toward His people, which led the Hebrews wandering through this desert for thirty-eight years, during which time: first, manna and water never failed them. Second, the column of cloud always went before them on the way. Third, their garments and shoes were never worn out; indeed, they grew along with the children as they grew; for they did not change or replace their garments in the desert. Fourth, here they received quail from heaven, and water from the rock, and all the portents that are hereafter narrated in Numbers occurred here. Fifth, in this desert all who had departed from Egypt, namely more than six hundred thousand, perished and died because of their murmuring. Those who have carefully surveyed this desert report that: first, it is a very vast wilderness, for it extends from Mount Sinai to Kadesh-Barnea, a journey of eleven days; second, it is pathless and waterless; third, barren and uncultivable; fourth, uninhabited by men as well as by beasts; fifth, it lacks herbs and trees, though here and there it has them, as will appear at verse 33. Sixth, it is rough with steep cliffs and mountains. Seventh, it is extremely dry and scorching from the heat of the sun. Eighth, one must constantly struggle in it with the most tenacious sand, which being very deep and yielding to footsteps greatly hinders and slows one's progress. Yet through this desert the Hebrews, even the children, under God's guidance, walked comfortably for thirty-eight years: see Adrichomius, Borchardus, Ziegler, and others on Paran.
Verses 13-14: The order of march
13 and 14. AND THE CHILDREN OF JUDAH MOVED CAMP. -- Concerning the order of the individual tribes and the formation of these camps, I spoke at Numbers 2. From this passage, namely from verse 17, it is evident that the Gershonites and Merarites marched after the first division of Judah; the Kohathites however after the second, Reuben, as I said at chapter 2; although others think differently and suppose there is here a hysteron proteron. But not correctly; for the whole army, both of the people and of the Levites, is here described distinctly and in order.
Tropological meaning: life as warfare
Note here: God willed the Hebrews to live for forty years in the desert, in arms and in camp, so that, placed among enemies, they would keep perpetual watch and be ready for battle, lest they grow slack with idleness and inertia. Thus Epaminondas, wishing to keep the Boeotians, who were dissolute with idleness, always under arms, whenever they chose him as Boeotarch, that is, as their leader, used to urge them to reconsider; for if they made him general, they would have to serve as soldiers, and he called their country, which was flat and open, the theater of war, because they could not hold it unless with hand inserted in the shield-grip. So Plutarch in the Laconic Sayings.
Tropologically, this camp signified that the life of the faithful is a warfare, as holy Job says, from which, armed and constantly fighting, we press toward the heavenly homeland. "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places," Ephesians 6:12.
AT THE COMMAND OF THE LORD BY THE HAND OF MOSES -- which He gave or proclaimed through Moses, His minister and instrument; for the hand is the symbol of this.
Verse 21: The Kohathites carrying the Sanctuary
21. THE KOHATHITES CARRYING THE SANCTUARY -- that is, the holy vessels of the Sanctuary, namely of the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies.
SO LONG WAS THE TABERNACLE CARRIED, UNTIL THEY CAME TO THE PLACE OF ERECTION. -- The Hebrew reads: They erected the tabernacle (the Gershonites and Merarites), until they (the Kohathites) came to bring the sacred vessels into it. Whence it is again evident that the Gershonites and Merarites went ahead and followed the first division, in order to erect the boards and curtains of the tabernacle, namely the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, so that the Kohathites following the second division, upon arriving, would find the tabernacle already erected, into which they would bring their vessels; for the fitting providence, arrangement, and order of all things required this.
Verse 29: Moses and Hobab son of Raguel
29. AND MOSES SAID TO HOBAB SON OF RAGUEL THE MIDIANITE, HIS KINSMAN. -- The question is asked whether Hobab here was Jethro himself, Moses' father-in-law, or rather a son of Jethro. The Septuagint asserts that Hobab was Jethro himself; so also Abulensis. Jethro therefore had four names: for first he was called Jethro; second, Raguel; third, Hobab; fourth, the Kenite, as is evident from Judges 1:16. For Jethro came with his daughter Zipporah, Moses' wife, to Moses at Sinai, Exodus 18:1.
If you say: Hobab here is called the son of Raguel, therefore he was not Raguel himself.
They respond that Hobab was the son of the elder Raguel, but was himself the younger Raguel, who was also called Jethro; for the father's name was given to the son, either as a proper name or as a patronymic, as is done among the Dutch and English: for from this they call their people Robertsons, that is, sons of Robert; Petersons, that is, sons of Peter; Jansons, Andrisons, etc.
Others, such as Paul of Burgos, Cajetan, and Oleaster, more plausibly judge that this Hobab was the son of Jethro or Raguel. For first, he is expressly called so here: for Raguel here appears to be the same as the one so named in Exodus 2:18, and he was Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses; nor does Scripture usually trace the fathers or grandfathers of Gentiles (as Jethro was).
Secondly, because Jethro returned to Midian, as is evident from Exodus 18, last verse; but Hobab here, persuaded by Moses, seems to have remained with him and gone to Canaan, as is gathered from verse 31; and this is further confirmed from the fact that all the Midianites shortly after, namely 38 years from this point, which was the fortieth and last year of the wandering in the desert, were completely destroyed by the Hebrews who were about to enter Canaan. If therefore Hobab had returned to Midian, he too would have been destroyed there with his family; but this is false, as I shall presently show. For what some respond -- that Moses, when he was about to wage war on the Midianites, first called Hobab with his family from there -- is said without authority or witness.
Therefore only Jethro, being an elderly centenarian (for Moses, his son-in-law, was already 81 years old), returned to Midian, and died there shortly after, before the Midianites were destroyed.
Thirdly, because the Hebrew is best translated thus: "And Moses said to Hobab, son of Raguel, his father-in-law," and perhaps thus the Septuagint translated it, but not "to his father-in-law," as the Greek manuscripts now have. Our Translator however renders it "kinsman," that is, relative by marriage, because the Hebrew choten signifies both father-in-law and kinsman, that is, relative by marriage; for both Hobab and Raguel or Jethro were relatives of Moses by marriage. For Hobab was his brother-in-law, and Raguel was Moses' father-in-law.
It appears therefore that when Jethro returned from Sinai to the neighboring Midian, Hobab his son remained with Moses along with his sister Zipporah, and went on with him to Canaan; for there he received the fertile land of the field of Jericho as his allotment; and from there afterward, with the consent of the Hebrews, he migrated to the excellent portion of the tribe of Judah, as is evident from Judges 1:16, where it says: "The children of the Kenite (that is, of Jethro), the kinsman (that is, father-in-law) of Moses, went up from the City of Palms (that is, Jericho) with the children of Judah into the wilderness of his allotment, and dwelt with them;" that some of them also migrated to the allotment of Naphtali is evident from Judges 4:10 and 11, where Heber the Kenite (whose wife Jael killed Sisera the commander) is said to have dwelt near Kedesh, which was in the allotment of Naphtali, as is evident from Joshua 19:36. Mention of these Kenites is also made in 1 Samuel 15:6, who finally in the common captivity were devastated and captured by the Assyrians, namely by Shalmaneser. For Balaam predicted that this would happen, Numbers 24:22: "Assur," he says, "shall take you captive," O Kenite.
The descendants of Hobab: the Kenites and Rechabites
Finally from this Jethro and Hobab descended Rechab, whose son was the pious Jonadab, who with Jehu overthrew Baal and the worshippers of Baal, 2 Kings 10:23. From this Jonadab arose the Rechabites, whom Jeremiah so highly praises for abstinence, obedience, and holiness, chapter 25; for that the Rechabites were Kenites is evident from 1 Chronicles 2:25. The Rechabites therefore were not Jews, but Midianites, that is, descendants of Jethro. Furthermore, the descendants of the Rechabites were the Essenes, whom Philo, Eusebius, and others commend for temperance and continence, says Suidas. See here the holy lineage, and the holy children of holy parents: this is what the pious education of parents produces, and association with upright people.
Verses 30-31: Hobab as guide
30. I WILL RETURN TO MY OWN LAND -- to Midian.
31. "Do not," he says, "leave us, for you know IN WHICH PLACES THROUGH THE DESERT WE OUGHT TO PITCH CAMP." -- For Midian was near Mount Sinai and this desert; whence Moses, living with Jethro in Midian, pastured his sheep in this desert. But Moses said this to Hobab not as if he needed his help and guidance, since he was instructed outwardly by the pillar of cloud, and inwardly by God or by an angel speaking, and learned where the camp should be pitched; and since he, who had been grazing sheep in that region, namely in this desert, for 40 years, was just as experienced, or more so, than Hobab. Therefore Moses wanted to keep Hobab with him, so that he might instruct him, being his brother-in-law and a Gentile, in the religion and worship of the true God, and lead him from paganism to Judaism.
Note here the charity and prudence of Moses in persuading Hobab: for, as Rabanus and Rupert say: "The prudent man (Moses), speaking to the proud listener (Hobab), asked for comfort in order to give it, sought a guide on the road so that he might become a guide to life; for generally we can better persuade the proud of useful things if we say that their progress will benefit us rather than them, and if we ask that what we seek be given to us rather than to them."
For when Hobab refused to agree with Moses saying: "Come with us, and we will do you good," Moses insists that he stay, as if he needed him, saying: "Do not leave us."
YOU WILL BE OUR GUIDE -- in Hebrew, you will be for us as eyes, that is, you will be our guide, to show us where the springs are, where the pastures for our flocks, where the wood, etc. Hobab is silent: whence it is likely that he agreed and remained with Moses, as I said at verse 29.
Verse 33: The Ark going before the camp
33. SO THEY SET OUT FROM THE MOUNT OF THE LORD (from Sinai) A THREE DAYS' JOURNEY, AND THE ARK OF THE COVENANT OF THE LORD WENT BEFORE THEM -- that is to say, they set out for three days and did not pitch camp before that: during those days the ark in which were the tablets of the covenant, namely the tablets of the Decalogue, went before them, and upon the ark rested the pillar of cloud, which was the guide of the journey, and this to commend to the people the reverence for the ark and the observance of the Decalogue contained in the ark.
But whether the ark always continued to precede the camp is not entirely clear. Abulensis, from Josephus, affirms it: for if it preceded here, why not also afterward? Now the ark was carried by four Levites of the Kohathite clan, as is evident from chapters 3 and 4, and 1 Chronicles 15:15. For although occasionally, for a grave reason, the ark was carried by the priests, as in the crossing of the Jordan and in the demolition of the walls of Jericho, Joshua 6:6, nevertheless ordinarily it was carried by the Levites; for the priests could not carry it continuously and always, since at that time there were only two, namely Eleazar and Ithamar, with their father Aaron the high priest, who had to oversee the ark, all the Levites, and the sacred vessels.
PROVIDING A PLACE FOR THE CAMP -- in Hebrew, to explore, or to seek out rest for them, that is, a place where they could comfortably rest and pitch camp, where namely there were grasses and fodder for the sheep, cattle, and beasts of burden, where there were springs and water, healthy air, etc. The pillar of cloud did this, being the guide of the journey, and consequently the ark, upon which the cloud rested. Secondly, the ark provided a place for the camp because by going ahead it removed serpents, wild beasts, and other inconveniences of the road, says Abulensis. But the first meaning is the genuine one, and the Hebrew word tur requires it, which properly means to explore, not to remove.
Verse 35: Arise, O Lord -- Moses' prayer
35. And when the ark was raised up -- for carrying it when the camp moved. The rabbis at this verse 35, and at the next chapter, verse 1, wrote two inverted letters nun in the Hebrew text, namely one in the word binsoa, that is, "when it set forth," and another in the word kemitonenim, that is, "when they murmured." By the first inverted nun they signify God's benevolent turning toward the people, on account of Moses' prayers; by the second, the impiety and ingratitude of the people, wanting to return to Egypt. This is rabbinical and kabbalistic.
MOSES SAID: ARISE, O LORD, AND LET YOUR ENEMIES BE SCATTERED. -- Note: God formerly represented Himself especially through the ark; therefore Moses here prays that, when the ark arises, God also may arise, as if He who had hitherto been at rest with the Hebrews in the ark, and now having set out, may be asked to arise to go before them on the way and secure it, and to scatter His enemies, that is, the neighboring nations who were the enemies of His people, from before His face, so that, seeing the ark of the Lord or being seized with dread and fear of the confident ones before it, they might flee. Hence the confidence of the Israelites in the ark of the Lord was such that they would bring it out to the camp in time of war, and this to the great terror of the enemy, and then they believed God was present with them and helping them, as is evident from the deeds both of Joshua in chapter 6, and of Eli in 1 Samuel 4:3.
From these words and prayer of Moses, says Abulensis, the custom began in the Church that at the beginning of the Canonical Hours one says: "O God, come to my assistance," namely to help and direct us in the psalmody.
Again, Abbot Marcellus in the Spiritual Meadow, chapter 155, says that nothing is so useful and nothing so grieves the demons as to chant psalms. For "when we chant," he says, "partly we pray for ourselves, praising God, partly we assail the demon with curses, as when we say: Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered." More wonderful still, and more to be put into practice, is what St. Athanasius writes to Antiochus, Question 14: "There does not exist," he says, "in the entire Old or New Testament, a word more terrible, and more destructive of our power (that is, the devil's), than the beginning of Psalm 67 (which is taken from these words and prayers of Moses): for as soon as one speaks the word, 'Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered,' immediately howling he vanishes and the devil disappears, showing the virtue and efficacy of this prayer."
Hence an Angel appearing, and chanting with the interposition of prayers, taught the monks the manner of chanting; and from this twelve Psalms are sung in the Nocturnal and Daytime Hours throughout all Egypt, says Cassian, book 2 of the Institutes, chapter 5. Just as angels singing in alternation, seen by St. Ignatius, taught the choir to sing in alternation, which the Greeks call antiphonal psalmody; whence the name and origin of Antiphons, as I have shown elsewhere from ancient historians. Thus day and night without ceasing Isidore the Presbyter sang psalms, in the Lives of the Fathers, book 5, title 11, number 17.
Verse 36: Return, O Lord
36. But when (the ark) was set down, he said: Return, O Lord -- to the camp, that is, which followed the ark and the Lord. For when the pillar of cloud stopped, and the ark was set down, there simultaneously the camp was pitched all around; for in the middle of the encamped camp was the ark. Therefore Moses prays that the Lord may return to the midst of the camp, and protect the entire camp.
TO THE MULTITUDE OF THE ARMY OF ISRAEL. -- In Hebrew, to the myriads of the thousands of Israel. For the Hebrews report that three million people went out from Egypt with Moses, and wandered through the desert toward Canaan.