Original Meaning

TRUMPET SIGNALS. When the divine cloud over the tabernacle rises from its resting place, the Israelites are supposed to get ready for travel (Num. 9:17). But what if people are inside their tents and do not see the movement of the cloud? No worries! As with other people in the ancient world (e.g., Egyptians; Roman armies), signal sounds get their attention.

Two signal trumpets of silver are to be blown by the priests at the sanctuary in order to assemble the people or to announce the break of camp (10:1–8). “Headquarters” are always guarded by priests, who do notice movements of the cloud, and from this central location the trumpet blasts can be heard throughout the camp.

Different types of trumpet blasts signal a variety of activities, to which a wide range of emotions are associated. Variables in trumpet calls include (1) one or two trumpets, (2) the kind of blast: long (Qal of tqʿ ) or short (teruʿah or Hiphil of rwʿ ),1 and (3) the number of blasts.

Signal blasts included the following:

Assemble at sanctuary	long on 2 trumpets: community assembles at sanctuary court (10:3, 7) long on 1 trumpet: chieftains assemble at sanctuary court (10:4)
Break camp for travel	1st short: tribes camping east of sanctuary set out (10:5) 2d short: tribes camping south of sanctuary set out (10:6) 3rd short: tribes camping west of sanctuary set out (understood; LXX 10:6; cf. 2:24; 10:22) 4th short: tribes camping north of sanctuary set out (understood; LXX 10:6; cf. 2:31; 10:25)
Go to war	short: Israelites go to war in their land against oppressors (10:9)
Celebrate	long: Israelites celebrate religious joyful times, appointed festivals, new moons (10:10)

Notice that with regard to the distinction between the two kinds of trumpet blasts, the order of presentation in the text is chiastic, optimistically ending with celebration:

long: assemble

short: break camp

short: go to war

long: celebrate

Unlike assembly and celebration (both long), breaking camp and going to war (both short) involve moving out. In fact, whenever the Israelite war camp went on the march, it was implicitly going to war. Use of the noun teruʿah or the corresponding Hiphil of rwʿ for short blasts to signal march/war is appropriate in view of the fact that the same Hebrew terminology can elsewhere denote a battle shout (e.g., Josh. 6:5, 10, 16, 20; Amos 1:14). To specify that the martial sound is produced on a trumpet, Numbers 10 must either mention the instrument (10:9) or use tqʿ before teruʿah as the generic term for sounding a trumpet (10:5–6).

On the march! Only twenty days after announcement of the military census (Num. 1:1), “the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle of the Testimony” (10:11). This is not a prescription for some future occasion, nor is it a drill. It is the real thing. After remaining for almost a year at Mount Sinai (cf. Ex. 19:1–2), the Israelites are actually setting out.

The departure from Mount Sinai toward the desert of Paran (Num. 10:12) is a major transition in the Israelites’ experience. The Lord has kept them at Mount Sinai long enough to make them into a functioning nation so that they can be unified under his benevolent rule—“one nation under God”—and stay that way once they spread out in the Promised Land. Now they are ready to fulfill his dream and theirs!

As the Israelites are about to leave Mount Sinai, Moses urges “Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law” (ḥoten) to come with them (10:29). Hobab is a relative of Moses by marriage, but it is not clear whether the description “Moses’ father-in-law” applies to him or to Reuel. In other words, is Hobab the father-in-law of Moses or his brother-in-law? In support of the former, Judges 4:11 speaks of “Hobab the father-in-law [ḥoten] of Moses” (NRSV; cf. 1:16). However, in support of the latter, Exodus 2:18 (cf. 2:21) refers to Moses’ father-in-law as Reuel, who was the “priest of Midian” (2:16). In 3:1 and 18:1, Moses’ father-in-law (ḥoten) and “priest of Midian” is called Jethro. Thus, in the book of Exodus, “Reuel” and “Jethro” are alternative names for the same man.

At least for the first three days of travel from Mount Sinai, the ark of the covenant goes before the Israelites “to find them a place to rest” (Num. 10:33). This indicates that unlike the rest of the tabernacle furniture (10:21; cf. 2:17), the ark precedes the entire column of Israelites. Perhaps the divine cloud that hovers over them (10:34), apparently for shade and protection, moves over the ark when it is time to halt (cf. 9:17). So the cloud and the ark may function together, rather than represent alternative traditions regarding divine guidance.2

Attached to the end of this chapter are two prayers that Moses pronounces, the first whenever the ark sets out and the second whenever it comes to rest (10:35–36).3 The second prayer can be taken in any or all of three ways, depending on whether the Lord returns to the Israelite hosts, is Lord of the Israelite hosts, or is the hosts of Israel, that is, Israel’s strength, as in the traditional expression “LORD of hosts” (e.g., 1 Sam. 1:3, 11; 4:4; 15:2): (lit.) “Return O LORD the myriads of thousands of Israel” (Num. 10:36). In translating this verse, the NIV, NASB, and NKJV have “to” (preposition understood); the NRSV has “of” (Heb. construct); and the NJPS has “you who are” (apposition).

Bridging Contexts

THE SEVENTH TRUMPET. In Leviticus 23:24 we found that there was to be a special reminder of God’s martial sovereignty through short blasts (teruʿcah) on the first day of the seventh month. Since the silver trumpets at the sanctuary were to be blown with long blasts (Qal of tqʿ ) on the first day of every month (Num. 10:10), the unique short blasts coincided with the seventh new moon trumpet signal of the year.

In Joshua 6 there are more connections between trumpets and the number seven. At the Lord’s command (6:3–5), seven priests blowing (tqʿ ) seven horns went before the ark as the Israelites walked around the city of Jericho for six days (6:6–14). On the seventh day they circumambulated the city seven times in the same way. When the trumpets sounded at the seventh time around, Joshua commanded, the people shouted (Hiphil of rwʿ ) a great shout (teruʿah), and the city wall collapsed (6:15–16, 20).

The account of Jericho shows some differences from Numbers 10:9, where the priests are to blow short blasts (Hiphil of rwʿ ) on the silver sanctuary trumpets at the onset of war: (1) At Jericho the seven trumpets are made of animal horns rather than silver, (2) it is the people who produce a teruʿah by shouting, and (3) this is a battle of conquest rather than gaining deliverance from a foreign oppressor. Nevertheless, there are some striking similarities: (1) Priests blow the trumpets, showing that the event is sacred, (2) there is a teruʿah that commences battle, and (3) the teruʿah invokes aid from the divine Sovereign to overcome foreigners. In Joshua 6 the divine response is seismically and paradigmatically miraculous.

Seven trumpets appear in only one other place in the Bible: Revelation 8–11. Here seven trumpets blown by seven angels herald apocalyptic events. As in Leviticus 23:24 and Joshua 6:16, the trumpet blast at the seventh time is a special signal of divine sovereignty: “The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever’” (Rev. 11:15). As in Numbers 10:9, the apocalyptic trumpet sounds the death knell of oppression against God’s people (Rev. 11:18). As at Jericho, the blast announces that the Lord is taking over, but this time his impact is on a cosmic as well as Richter scale (cf. 11:19).

Practicality and causality. Granted that Hobab was an experienced desert-dweller with the right kinds of connections to the people who controlled desert regions on the way to Canaan,4 why does Moses need his guidance (Numbers 10:31) when the Israelites have the Lord’s ark and cloud to perform the same function? Doesn’t Moses fully trust God’s ability to direct Israel? Milgrom resolves the paradox by pointing out a pattern of human and supernatural causality that runs through the desert and conquest accounts. For example, sending scouts to explore Canaan was initiated by God according to 13:2, but by the Israelites according to Deuteronomy 1:22. Later the walls of Jericho miraculously toppled when trumpets blew and the people shouted (Josh. 6), but spies also played a role by looking for weaknesses in the city (ch. 2).

This “double causality” is also present in the Genesis narratives. Jacob’s prosperity as a shepherd is attributed to both his cunning (Gen. 30:32ff.) and God’s directives (31:10–12), and Joseph’s enslavement in Egypt is attributed to his brothers’ machinations (37:18ff.) and to divine design (45:5–8; 50:20).5

Milgrom attributes the double causality of guidance by the cloud and ark, on one hand, and by Hobab, on the other, to conflation of two traditions in the narrative. However, this is not the only possibility. Causality is a notoriously complex matter, even when the question of “Whodunit?” does not involve God.

When God is leading, prospering, protecting, and/or giving victory, he can participate and bring about his purposes providentially through human activity (cf. Gen. 45:5–8). Even when he provided a miracle at Jericho, he had the Israelites cooperate with him by entering and taking the city. Similarly, it appears that Moses saw Hobab’s potential for enhancing the quality of Israel’s desert experience and cooperation with the Lord by guiding some specifics within the overall framework of God’s direction and/or giving the people confidence and ability to plan ahead by telling them what to expect (cf. Num. 13:17–20).

Contemporary Significance

COOPERATION WITH GOD. The concept that God’s people benefit from cooperation with him runs through the Old Testament, from Noah’s building an ark in which God saved him (Gen. 6–8), Abraham’s defeat of a coalition of kings (ch. 14), the Israelites’ conquest of Canaan, and the exploits of “judges” against foreign oppressors (e.g., Othniel, Ehud, Deborah-Barak, Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson),6 to the victories of faithful Israelite kings (especially David).

Divine-human coordination also appears in the New Testament. Jesus had other people use their muscles to roll away the stone blocking the entrance to Lazarus’ tomb rather than performing an unnecessary miracle to do the job (John 11:39, 41). He told his disciples to cast their nets on the other side of the boat rather than giving them fish where they were (21:6).

Why does the Lord have human beings do something, no matter how small, when he wants to do something amazing for them? Obviously it is not because he cannot do those things, and far more efficiently too. Rather, it is because human activity is an expression of faith.

What if Jesus’ disciples had answered, “No way! We’re tired and don’t feel like going to the trouble of hauling our nets over to the other side of the boat.” What if the mourners at Lazarus’ tomb had responded, “Forget it! The man is already decomposing. Why should we open his grave just to take a whiff?” What if the Israelites had refused to shout at Jericho or to enter the city? What if Noah had replied, “Lord, can’t you save me an easier way? Just think how much missionary work I could do in all that time and how many churches could be built with all that wood!”

What if the priests and Levites had decided not to blow trumpets, pack up, and move out when they saw the divine cloud move from over the tabernacle, choosing rather to stay at Mount Sinai and pray that God would levitate them all the way to the Promised Land? “Whoever prays must work. It is for power to work that prayer has such great promises.”7

Not that human work substitutes for prayer or is the basis for success. The apostle Paul encouraged the Christians in Philippi: “Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works [or ‘energizes,’ another definition for the Gk. word energeo] in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Phil. 2:12–13; emphasis supplied). Without the Lord, the Israelites could have packed, moved, and fought to the extent of their strength, ability, and wisdom, and they still would have failed to conquer Canaan.

Today most of us have no problem working. If anything, we tend to work too much, to the detriment of our health and families. So why don’t we see God doing great things in our lives even more than we do? Perhaps we should pray more. Just putting in more time on our knees isn’t the answer. To most fully experience divine power we need coordination between prayer and work, so that our efforts are directed and empowered where God sees and decrees that they will be most effective. To achieve our mission, we need a “transmission” that connects the divine “engine” to where the rubber hits the road.

Cooperation with God requires first learning what he wants and then doing it, so that our work cooperates with his. If our prayers are simply one-way monologues in which we speak to him without listening for his voice or his “trumpet” or looking for his “cloud,” we miss opportunities for his direction to guide our work.

One recalls Lily Tomlin’s line in the play The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe: “Why is it that when we speak to God we are said to be praying, but when God speaks to us we are said to be schizophrenic?” Why should God’s end of the line be equipped with a receiver but no mouthpiece?8

When you are in a room with people of various administrative ranks, you can tell who the most important people are because they control the discussion and do most of the talking when it comes to shaping policy. Others generally listen, take notes, and nod in agreement. So why is it that when we pray to the Lord of the Universe, we often act as if we are more important than he?

As long as we are going to pray to the God who spoke the creation into being, who communicated to prophets and priests and kings—and ordinary people, who wrote a thousand-page book we know as the Bible—and who refers to his Son as “the Word made flesh,” then surely we accept the possibility that sometimes he may want to get in a word or two with us.9

Martin Luther understood the importance of allowing God to control the agendas of our prayers, and therefore of our lives:

If such an abundance of good thoughts comes to us we ought to disregard the other petitions, make room for such thoughts, listen in silence, and under no circumstances obstruct them. The Holy Spirit himself preaches here, and one word of his sermon is far better than a thousand of our prayers. Many times I have learned more from one prayer than I might have learned from much reading and speculation.10