Guided by God

Numbers 9 opens in the first month of the second year after the exodus. God told Israel to keep the Passover in its appointed season, according to all its statutes. They did so in the wilderness of Sinai. But some men were unclean because of a dead body and could not keep it. They asked Moses and Aaron, Why are we kept back? Moses answered, Wait, that I may hear what Yahweh will command concerning you.

God's answer made room for people who could not keep the feast on time. Those who were unclean or on a long journey could keep it in the second month, on the fourteenth day. They were to eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, leave none until morning, and not break a bone of it. Yet anyone who was clean and simply neglected the Passover would bear his sin. The foreigner living among Israel could also keep the Passover under the same law. John 19:36 sees the unbroken bones of the lamb fulfilled in Jesus on the cross.

The final section describes the cloud. On the day the tabernacle was raised, the cloud covered it, and from evening to morning it looked like fire. When the cloud was taken up from over the Tent, then after that the children of Israel traveled. Whether two days, a month, or a year, Israel stayed as long as the cloud remained, and moved when it lifted. At the commandment of Yahweh they encamped, and at the commandment of Yahweh they traveled. Their whole journey was guided by God.