Daily Scripture Reading Numbers 10:1-28
Nathan sat in his dimly lit apartment at 2:17 a.m. with his phone glowing like a second sun. He had been doomscrolling for three hours straight, again. Algorithms fed him outrage, cat videos, conspiracy threads, and perfectly targeted ads for socks he didn’t need. Every now and then he’d pause on a post that felt brand new: someone using AI to generate a whole fake life, or a live-streamed protest that circled the planet in minutes.
Then, out of nowhere, his Bible app (installed during a brief phase of “I should get my life together”) pushed a daily verse: “That which has been is that which will be, And that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9)
Nathan stared at the screen. He actually laughed out loud. “Nothing new? The internet is very new, as in 1990s new. TikTok is 2016 new. Grok is last-week new. How can the Bible say there is nothing new when I’m literally holding a device that lets me talk to strangers on the other side of the planet while an algorithm predicts my next thought?”
For hundreds of years, Western Civilization has been inventing new machines such as printing presses, cars, telephones, televisions, airplanes, rockets, and computers. We are inundated with new things. However, the Bible is not wrong when it says there is nothing new. The only thing all this technology does is make it easier, cheaper, and faster to travel and communicate. Sending messages to the other side of the world is not new; the internet simply made it easier, cheaper, and faster to do so, just as the invention of the printing press made it easier, cheaper, and faster to send literature around the world. Humans have been improving communication since the beginning of time. The tenth chapter of Numbers records a primitive example of making it easier and faster to communicate.
The first nine chapters of Numbers tell us about Yahweh commanding the Israelites to take a census, assigning each tribe a specific place in the camp, and taking the Levites to Himself instead of the firstborn. Then on the first anniversary of their exodus from Egypt, the Israelites observed the Passover. They were instructed to follow the cloud through the wilderness, but there was one more item they needed before they were ready to march to the promised land.
Num. 10:1 ¶ Yahweh spoke further to Moses, saying,
Num. 10:2 “Make yourself two trumpets of silver, of hammered work you shall make them; and you shall use them for summoning the congregation and for having the camps set out.
Notice the number of trumpets. There were two of them.
Take note of the purpose of the trumpets, which was to summon the congregation and give them direction.
Num. 10:3 So both will be blown, and all the congregation shall gather themselves to you at the doorway of the tent of meeting.
When the congregation heard two trumpets, they knew they needed to gather at the doorway of the tent of meeting.
Num. 10:4 Yet if only one is blown, then the leaders, the heads of the divisions of Israel, shall assemble before you.
When the congregation heard only one trumpet, they knew only the leaders needed to assemble.
Num. 10:5 But when you blow an alarm, the camps that are pitched on the east side shall set out.
Notice the phrase “blow an alarm”. There was a specific sequence of trumpet sounds which all the Israelites recognized as being an alarm, which told them to break camp and start moving.
Num. 10:6 Then you will blow an alarm the second time, and the camps that are pitched on the south side shall set out; an alarm is to be blown for them to set out.
Num. 10:7 When convening the assembly, however, you shall blow without sounding an alarm.
Num. 10:8 The priestly sons of Aaron, moreover, shall blow the trumpets; and this shall be for you a perpetual statute throughout your generations.
The job of blowing the trumpets was assigned to the priests.
Num. 10:9 Now when you go to war in your land against the adversary who attacks you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, that you may be remembered before Yahweh your God and be saved from your enemies.
The trumpets were also used to communicate during battle.
Num. 10:10 Also in the day of your gladness and in your appointed feasts, and on the first days of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be as a remembrance of you before your God. I am Yahweh your God.”
The trumpets were used as part of their religious practices.
Without the trumpets, if Moses had wanted to gather the congregation, he would have needed to send messengers from tent to tent, summoning all the men to the tent of meeting. After crafting the trumpets, all Moses had to do was have the priests blow the trumpets and the whole congregation knew it was time to assemble. The trumpets made communication easier and faster, just as the internet made it easier and faster to communicate.
Num. 10:11 ¶ Now it happened in the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth of the month, that the cloud was lifted from over the tabernacle of the testimony;
Num. 10:12 and the sons of Israel set out on their journeys from the wilderness of Sinai. Then the cloud settled down in the wilderness of Paran.
Num. 10:13 So they moved out for the first time according to the command of Yahweh by the hand of Moses.
Num. 10:14 And the standard of the camp of the sons of Judah, according to their armies, set out first, with Nahshon the son of Amminadab, over its army,
Num. 10:15 and Nethanel the son of Zuar, over the tribal army of the sons of Issachar;
Num. 10:16 and Eliab the son of Helon over the tribal army of the sons of Zebulun.
Num. 10:17 ¶ Then the tabernacle was taken down; and the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari, who were carrying the tabernacle, set out.
The Levites were divided into three groups. Two of them, the Gershonites and Merarites, carried the boards, curtains, and bases which formed the tabernacle and its courtyard.
Num. 10:18 Next the standard of the camp of Reuben, according to their armies, set out with Elizur the son of Shedeur, over its army,
Num. 10:19 and Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai over the tribal army of the sons of Simeon,
Num. 10:20 and Eliasaph the son of Deuel over the tribal army of the sons of Gad.
Num. 10:21 ¶ Then the Kohathites set out, carrying the holy objects; and the tabernacle was set up before their arrival.
The reason for sending the Gershonites and Merarites before the Kohathites was so that the Gershonites and Merarites could have the tabernacle assembled by the time the Kohathites arrived in the camp carrying the objects that went into the tabernacle.
Num. 10:22 Next the standard of the camp of the sons of Ephraim, according to their armies, set out, with Elishama the son of Ammihud over its army,
Num. 10:23 and Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur over the tribal army of the sons of Manasseh;
Num. 10:24 and Abidan the son of Gideoni over the tribal army of the sons of Benjamin.
Num. 10:25 ¶ Then the standard of the camp of the sons of Dan, according to their armies, which formed the rear guard for all the camps, set out, with Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai over its army,
Num. 10:26 and Pagiel the son of Ochran over the tribal army of the sons of Asher;
Num. 10:27 and Ahira the son of Enan over the tribal army of the sons of Naphtali.
Num. 10:28 This was the order of march of the sons of Israel by their armies as they set out.
Humanity has always been engaged in the process of making it easier, cheaper, and faster to travel and communicate. In the transportation space men invented two-wheeled carts, four-wheeled carts, rowing boats, sailing ships, steamships, cars, trucks, airplanes, and rockets. For communication we invented smoke signals, writing, paper, printing presses, radios, televisions, computers, and the internet.
The Bible is correct that there is nothing new under the sun. The internet is new technology, but it is not a new advancement. The only thing the internet does is make it easier and faster to communicate, just as two trumpets made it easier and faster for Moses to communicate to the Israelites.
Thanks for visiting Bible Mountain. If you have already joined my email list, thank you and please tell others about Bible Mountain. If you have not joined my email list yet, please do so now. In order to join, go to Bible Mountain dotcom, click on subscribe, and that will take you to a page where you can sign up. Your email address will not be sold nor given away. Once again, thanks for visiting Bible Mountain.
“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”