Page 97 - Pentateuch - Student Textbook

out-of-town at the time of the Passover? Not celebrating brought judgment but celebrating while
unclean also brought judgment. An alternate date was given to provide for these exceptions (9:1-14).

These things were necessary to allow a sinful nation to have God’s guiding presence. He was there as
cloud of fire. When the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, Israel was to move. If the cloud stayed,
they stayed. Obedience was required (9:15-23). To make communication easier among the host,
instructions were even given about the sounding of trumpets. One blast called for the leaders to
assemble. Others signaled the beginning of a move or a battle or a sacrifice (10:1-10). All of this was
necessary because of God. “I am the Lord your God,” ends the section (10:10). If they wanted his
blessing (6:22-27), then these were his requirements.

If we are in a hurry, ready to move on to more action in Numbers, we might miss the power in this
section. While recording the preparations of Israel for the trip to the Promised Land, these chapters are
also testimony to the faithfulness of Yahweh. He keeps his promises. He is worth following.

We are meant to understand that God has given a hefty down payment on his
603,550 fighting men promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He had said, “I will make your offspring
2.4 million people like the dust of the earth (Gen. 13:16; 15:5; 16:10; etc.).” The census records
603,550 fighting men, besides their families (Num. 1:44). Israel has become a
mighty nation. God has already worked wonderfully on their behalf in freeing them from Egypt through
the ten plagues and by bringing them to Mount Sinai. The events are miraculous as God has fed and
given thousands of people safe passage across the Red Sea. God’s people have experienced his
blessings.

Somehow God’s people had already absorbed information about Yahweh even while slaves dominated
by worship of the gods of Egypt. Many of their names have God’s name, “El”, in them. “Elizur” (1:5)
means “God is rock.” “Shelumiel” (v. 6) means “God is peace”. Nethanel” (v. 8) means “God gives.”
“Eliab” (v. 9) means “God is father.” “Eliasaph” (v. 14) means “God gathers.” All speak of a God who is
involved in the everyday life of people. Parents living in Egypt with all that pagan influence decided to
name a son for a different God, El. No Egyptian god bears this name.

We do not just exercise our imaginations by
seeing generation after generation of parents
passing on the history, the stories of Genesis, to
their children. “The writer of the Pentateuch
appears to have composed his work from
archival records of God’s great deeds in the
past… (Ex. 17:14; Nu. 21:14; Jos. 10:13). It is not
unlikely that similar records were kept at far
earlier stages within the individual households of
the patriarchs and their tribal ancestors. The
104
stories had not been written down in final form
by the beginning of Exodus. Perhaps bits and Fig. 64: Family reading Bible
pieces had been committed to Egyptian papyrus.
Perhaps stories had been committed to memory.

104 Sailhammer, Pentateuch, 25.

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