Numbers 9:6-216And there were certain men, who were defiled by the dead body of a man, that they could not keep the passover on that day: and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day: 7And those men said unto him, We are defiled by the dead body of a man: wherefore are we kept back, that we may not offer an offering of the Lord in his appointed season among the children of Israel? 8And Moses said unto them, Stand still, and I will hear what the Lord will command concerning you. 9And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 10Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If any man of you or of your posterity shall be unclean by reason of a dead body, or be in a journey afar off, yet he shall keep the passover unto the Lord. 11The fourteenth day of the second month at even they shall keep it, and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 12They shall leave none of it unto the morning, nor break any bone of it: according to all the ordinances of the passover they shall keep it. 13But the man that is clean, and is not in a journey, and forbeareth to keep the passover, even the same soul shall be cut off from among his people: because he brought not the offering of the Lord in his appointed season, that man shall bear his sin. 14And if a stranger shall sojourn among you, and will keep the passover unto the Lord; according to the ordinance of the passover, and according to the manner thereof, so shall he do: ye shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger, and for him that was born in the land. 15And on the day that the tabernacle was reared up the cloud covered the tabernacle, namely, the tent of the testimony: and at even there was upon the tabernacle as it were the appearance of fire, until the morning. 16So it was alway: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night. 17And when the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then after that the children of Israel journeyed: and in the place where the cloud abode, there the children of Israel pitched their tents. 18At the commandment of the Lord the children of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of the Lord they pitched: as long as the cloud abode upon the tabernacle they rested in their tents. 19And when the cloud tarried long upon the tabernacle many days, then the children of Israel kept the charge of the Lord, and journeyed not. 20And so it was, when the cloud was a few days upon the tabernacle; according to the commandment of the Lord they abode in their tents, and according to the commandment of the Lord they journeyed. 21And so it was, when the cloud abode from even unto the morning, and that the cloud was taken up in the morning, then they journeyed: whether it was by day or by night that the cloud was taken up, they journeyed. (Numbers 9:6‑21)
HERE WE have the gracious provision for those who might be defiled and not able to keep the feast on the fourteenth day of the first month. The Lord told Moses they could keep it on the fourteenth day of the second month, and this they did. Furthermore, if a man was on a journey or had become unclean because of a dead body, he could keep the passover on the fourteenth day of the second month, but he must keep it. If a man who was clean, and not on a journey, and did not keep the passover, he was to be cut off from among his people.
The people here were under law, and we are under grace. Yet it is a solemn thing for a Christian not to remember the Lord Jesus in His death! It is not a command, but a privilege of love. The love of Christ constrains us to answer to His long request made on the night in which He was betrayed, “this do in remembrance of Me.” Surely it would show a lack of affection for Him on the part of one for whom He died to absent himself from or to hold back from responding to this desire of His heart. How could one intelligent as to these things expect guidance from the Lord for his path if he neglected or willfully absented himself from the remembrance of the Lord in His death?
The pillar of cloud which we get in the last half of the chapter speaks of guidance and this follows the keeping of the passover. The one is the basis of the other. God’s people are totally dependent upon Him for guidance through the wilderness. There is never a time or a circumstance when we do not need His guidance.
The Lord had condescended both to dwell with His people and to guide them through the wilderness. The cloud, a symbol of His presence, covered the tabernacle on the day it was reared up, and it abode with them all through the wilderness journey. It was as a cloud by day and as the appearance of fire by night.
All might see the cloud and the obedient Israelite would watch it for the first sign of the Lord’s will as to the way and time to move on from one place to another. What a privilege it was for a godly Israelite to quietly wait for the Lord to direct all his movements. He who trusted Him was at perfect rest, though no doubt it was irksome to those who wanted to do their own will.
When the cloud moved they moved, when it stopped they pitched their tents; and when it remained they rested, and thus fulfilled the commandment of the Lord. It might be a few days, or it might be a great many, but it was whenever the cloud rested they rested. So they were just really traveling with God.
Oh how good it was to have such a sure unfailing, Guide who always “Led them forth by the right way” (Psa. 107:77And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation. (Psalm 107:7)). And we too have that same faithful loving Guide who journeys with us and leads us by His Spirit along the way. He shows U3 plainly where He would have us go, and where we shall have His presence with us, and that is where He will feed us day by day with that heavenly manna, Himself the bread of life come down from heaven. May we ever wait upon Him, being careful that we do not stand still when He wants us to go forward, or go forward when He wants us to stand still.
ML-06/17/1973