Numbers 10:1-10

The Two Silver Trumpets

1 Then the LORD said to Moses,

2 “Make two trumpets of hammered silver to be used for calling the congregation and for having the camps set out.

3 When both are sounded, the whole congregation is to assemble before you at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

4 But if only one is sounded, then the leaders, the heads of the clans of Israel, are to gather before you.

5 When you sound short blasts, the camps that lie on the east side are to set out.

6 When you sound the short blasts a second time, the camps that lie on the south side are to set out. The blasts are to signal them to set out.

7 To convene the assembly, you are to sound long blasts, not short ones.

8 The sons of Aaron, the priests, are to sound the trumpets. This shall be a permanent statute for you and the generations to come.

9 When you enter into battle in your land against an adversary who attacks you, sound short blasts on the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the LORD your God and saved from your enemies.

10 And on your joyous occasions, your appointed feasts, and the beginning of each month, you are to blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and peace offerings to serve as a reminder for you before your God. I am the LORD your God.”

Numbers 10:1-10 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 10

This chapter gives an account of the directions given for making two silver trumpets, and of the use of them, the ends and purposes for which they were to be made, Nu 10:1-10; and of the time of taking up of the cloud from the tabernacle, and of the removal of the camp of Israel from the wilderness of Sinai, and of the order of their march, Nu 10:11-28; when Moses most earnestly passed Hobab, his brother in law, to continue with him, Nu 10:29-32; and the chapter is closed with the prayer of Moses at the setting forward of the ark, and the resting of it, Nu 10:33-36.