Numbers 9:18

18 At the command of the LORD the people of Israel set out, and at the command of the LORD they encamped; as long as the cloud rested over the tabernacle, they remained in camp.

Numbers 9:18 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 9:18

At the commandment of the Lord the children of Israel
journeyed
Or "mouth of the Lord"; not that there was any command in form given, or any audible voice heard, directing when to march; but the removal of the cloud was interpretatively the order and command of God for them to move also:

and at the commandment of the Lord they pitched;
their tents; when the cloud stopped, they understood that as a signal to them, as a token of the will of God that they should stop likewise; it was to them as an authoritative command, which they obeyed:

as long as the cloud abode upon the tabernacle, they rested in their
tents;
whether a longer or a shorter time, as is after expressed.

Numbers 9:18 In-Context

16 So it was continually; the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.

17 And whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tent, after that the people of Israel set out; and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the people of Israel encamped.

18 At the command of the LORD the people of Israel set out, and at the command of the LORD they encamped; as long as the cloud rested over the tabernacle, they remained in camp.

19 Even when the cloud continued over the tabernacle many days, the people of Israel kept the charge of the LORD, and did not set out.

20 Sometimes the cloud was a few days over the tabernacle, and according to the command of the LORD they remained in camp; then according to the command of the LORD they set out.