Numbers 9:18

18 At the mitzvah of the LORD, the children of Yisra'el journeyed, and at the mitzvah of the LORD they encamped. As long as the cloud remained on the tabernacle they remained encamped.

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, and the appearance of fire by night.

17 Whenever the cloud was taken up from over the Tent, then after that the children of Yisra'el journeyed; and in the place where the cloud remained, there the children of Yisra'el encamped.

18 At the mitzvah of the LORD, the children of Yisra'el journeyed, and at the mitzvah of the LORD they encamped. As long as the cloud remained on the tabernacle they remained encamped.

19 When the cloud stayed on the tabernacle many days, then the children of Yisra'el kept the charge of the LORD, and didn't travel.

20 Sometimes the cloud was a few days on the tabernacle; then according to the mitzvah of the LORD they remained encamped, and according to the mitzvah of the LORD they journeyed.