The Journey from Mount Sinai to Kadesh-barnea
10:11 to 12:16
The chronology of the first two months of the second year after the Exodus is as follows:
1. The setting up of the Tabernacle (7:1) was declared to be completed on the first day of the first month of the second year (Exodus 40:2). On this day, the Sh’khinah glory covered the Tabernacle, as we have already seen (9:15-23). Then, in response to the visible manifestation of God over the completed Tabernacle, also on that day the first of the gifts from the twelve leaders of the tribes was given to the LORD (7:3-17). The presentation of the gifts from each tribe continued until the twelfth day of the first month.
2. The setting apart of the Levites (8:26) presumably followed immediately after the twelve days of gifts, perhaps on the thirteenth day of the month. It seems unlikely that the setting apart of the Levites would have been on the same day as the last of the tribal gifts; to have another significant action on that day would have minimized the importance of gifts of Achira, leader of the descendants of Naftali (7:78-83).
3. The Second Passover was celebrated on the fourteenth day of the first month (9:5).
4. The census began on the first day of the second month (1:1-2).
5. Those who were ritually unclean at the time of the Second Passover were permitted to celebrate it on the fourteenth day of the second month (9:11).
6. Then, the Sh’khinah glory lifted from the Tabernacle and the march from Sinai began on the twentieth day of the second month (10:11).162
The Israelites were about to begin a new phase in their journey to the Promised Land. Their place of rest. The Tabernacle had been set up, the priests had been ordained, and everything was in its place. We have seen the order, discipline and obedience of the people, and how they responded to the commandments of ADONAI. How they listened to Him. Therefore, up to this point, things seemed to be going perfectly. However, the honeymoon didn’t last long. In the words of the Messiah: You have abandoned your first love (see the commentary on Revelation Az – The Church at Ephesus). Then things began to fall apart. If they had kept their trust in YHVH, they would have reached their place of rest in less than ten days. But about three-thousand-five-hundred-years later, they are still looking for this rest. They are in the Land, but there is no rest. The rest will only come when Yeshua comes back. Isra’el’s journey also speaks to us today. So many begin well, filled with joy and excitement, but sometimes in time (and for some a very short time), they begin to forget the promises of God and His presence in their lives. And they look elsewhere for their rest. They began to look back and long for Egypt (or for us today, the world).163
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