Numbers 9 Study – “The Second Passover” – “The Cloud and Fire”
The Second Passover
9 Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying: 2 “Let the children of Israel keep the Passover at its appointed time. 3 On the fourteenth day of this month, [a]at twilight, you shall [b]keep it at its appointed time. According to all its [c]rites and ceremonies you shall keep it.” 4 So Moses told the children of Israel that they should keep the Passover. 5 And they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month, at twilight, in the Wilderness of Sinai; according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did.
6 Now there were certain men who were defiled by a human corpse, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day; and they came before Moses and Aaron that day. 7 And those men said to him, “We became defiled by a human corpse. Why are we kept from presenting the offering of the Lord at its appointed time among the children of Israel?”
8 And Moses said to them, “Stand still, that I may hear what the Lord will command concerning you.”
9 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘If anyone of you or your [d]posterity is unclean because of a corpse, or is far away on a journey, he may still keep the Lord’s Passover. 11 On the fourteenth day of the second month, at twilight, they may keep it. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 12 They shall leave none of it until morning, nor break one of its bones. According to all the [e]ordinances of the Passover they shall keep it. 13 But the man who is clean and is not on a journey, and ceases to keep the Passover, that same person shall be cut off from among his people, because he did not bring the offering of the Lord at its appointed time; that man shall bear his sin.
14 ‘And if a stranger [f]dwells among you, and would keep the Lord’s Passover, he must do so according to the rite of the Passover and according to its ceremony; you shall have one [g]ordinance, both for the stranger and the native of the land.’ ”
The Cloud and the Fire
15 Now on the day that the tabernacle was raised up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the Testimony; from evening until morning, it was above the tabernacle like the appearance of fire. 16 So it was always: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night. 17 Whenever the cloud was [h]taken up from above the tabernacle, after that the children of Israel would journey; and in the place where the cloud settled, there the children of Israel would pitch their tents. 18 At the [i]command of the Lord the children of Israel would journey, and at the command of the Lord they would camp; as long as the cloud stayed above the tabernacle they remained encamped. 19 Even when the cloud continued long, many days above the tabernacle, the children of Israel kept the charge of the Lord and did not journey. 20 So it was, when the cloud was above the tabernacle a few days: according to the command of the Lord they would remain encamped, and according to the command of the Lord they would journey. 21 So it was, when the cloud remained only from evening until morning: when the cloud was taken up in the morning, then they would journey; whether by day or by night, whenever the cloud was taken up, they would journey. 22 Whether it was two days, a month, or a year that the cloud remained above the tabernacle, the children of Israel would remain encamped and not journey; but when it was taken up, they would journey. 23 At the command of the Lord they remained encamped, and at the command of the Lord they journeyed; they kept the charge of the Lord, at the command of the Lord by the hand of Moses.
Notes Numbers 9 Study
9:3: Pascha, or Passover, was to be kept ACCORDING TO ITS RULE AND PRACTICE … It’s “rule and practice” refers to its liturgical order of service and worship … This was spelled out very carefully in the Law of Moses … In the Church, the rule and practice of Pascha is also carefully spelled out in the Holy Tradition as the Church moves through its liturgical order of service and worship in Great Lent, Holy Week, and the Easter season …
9:6-8: The Law of Moses could not cover every situation that might arise regarding Pascha … For this law did not exist in a vacuum to itself … Rather, it was ever united to the Lawgiver, the Son of God, who speaks to His people … Similarly, the Holy Tradition of the Church cannot cover every situation that might arise … The Good Shepherd speaks to His Church, and those who have ears to hear follow Him – (John 10:27) …
9:21: When the cloud ascended from the tabernacle, Israel would break camp and move toward the promised land … Therefore, their liturgical worship was to be awesome and not static … They had an objective to achieve … (Psalms 120-133) are called “ODES OF ASCENT …” These odes reveal aspects of the dynamic and living nature of the liturgical worship …
Similarly, the Lord ascended into heaven to teach the Church the dynamic and living nature of worship … For liturgical worship is like an ascent in which the worshippers draw near and enter the heavenly holy of holies … The final objective is “the resurrection from the dead and the life of the world to come” – (Creed) …