Daily Devotion | Numbers 10:1–28 | 2026 April 24

Title: Daily Devotion | Numbers 10:1–28 | 2026 April 24

Scripture: Numbers 10:1–28 (ESV, reference only)

Date: 2026 April 24

Speaker: Rev. John Chen

Transcribed, translated & edited by: Joseph Wang (Yufan)

All right, dear brothers and sisters, peace to you. Thanks be to God for His grace. We have come to a new day to study our Daily Devotion. The passage we are studying today is Numbers chapter 10, verses 1 through 28. Let us pray to God. We thank You, O God. We thank You that You always require us to blow the trumpets, and You also blow the trumpet for us to see. Lord, enable us to be watchful. In this age, Lord, enable us truly to know that You love us in this way. Lord, You are so willing to remind us. We ask You to help us, so that we may hear the trumpet that You blow, that we may discern Your voice, and that we may follow Your steps. We pray and ask this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

So chapter 10 is about making preparations before setting out. Before setting out, God commanded Moses to use silver to make two silver trumpets. Then why did they need to make silver trumpets? First, speaking from the practical meaning, this was very necessary. Why? Because when would the cloud set out? The camp of Israel, the Israelites, this army of more than six hundred thousand men, and these more than two million people, if they were to move together in a unified way, and if there were no unified command, then as soon as they moved, everything would become chaotic. So the Israelites needed to take the trumpet as a signal, to listen to the sound of the trumpet, and then to decide the time when they themselves should move. This was a very, very practical need.

In our present age, this is an age of peace. We have not experienced war. But when you watch people fighting in war, when you watch war films, you can see that, especially in more primitive times, they needed drums and trumpets to decide when to fight and when to retreat. For us Chinese people, when we watch movies, if there is a drum, then when the sound of the drum is heard, it means to advance. And when the sound of striking the gong is heard, it means to retreat. This is what we see in movies. Or, if you have listened to traditional storytelling, you also know this: beating the drum means advancing; sounding the metal gong means withdrawing the troops. But soldiers are on the battlefield. Think about it: with the shouts of battle everywhere, how can you know whether you should advance or retreat? Right? There has to be a signal. This is something we can understand very clearly from ordinary common sense.

For example, when fighting a war, during the time of our War of Liberation, we have also heard of this, and we have seen it in films, right? There was the bugle call for charging; there was the bugle call for assembly; and there was also the trumpet call for retreating, for withdrawing the troops. So in ancient times, one very important way of transmitting information was to blow the trumpet. I believe that perhaps by the time of modern warfare, this has changed. Everyone has earphones now. Everyone can hear commands. There is radio communication, so there is no need for the charge bugle, no need for that kind of trumpet. But in ancient times, there absolutely had to be the sound of the trumpet. So this was a very practical need.

They were to blow two silver trumpets. And when the trumpets were blown, each way of blowing had its own meaning. It is explained here. If two trumpets were blown together with a long sound, a relatively low and long sound, what did that mean? It meant that the congregation was to gather at the entrance of the tent of meeting. That was to gather the whole congregation. If one trumpet was blown with a long sound, then the leaders were to gather.

If a very loud sound was blown, then that was a charge. A sound like “di-di-di-di,” when it was blown loudly, meant that the camps on the east side were to set out. Then when the second loud blast was blown, when another charge signal came, then the camps on the south side were to set out, to follow the army. After that, once the trumpet had been blown twice, then you could see each leader leading his own people forward. The formation was already prepared, right? But remember, here it especially reminds them that when summoning the congregation, they were not to blow loudly. They were not to blow that very urgent sound, the sound like a charge. Rather, they were to blow a long sound, a relatively low and slow long sound, to summon the whole congregation. And who was to blow it? The priests were to blow this trumpet.

And when else were they to blow the trumpet? What is said here is that if the enemy came to attack you, when you fought against the enemy in your own land and among your own people, you were to blow the trumpet. Then how could this blowing of the trumpet still bring remembrance before God? The meaning of blowing the trumpet is that it is a cry to God. If there is battle among your people, then on the one hand, when you blow the trumpet, you gather your own people and let them know that there is going to be war. Right? In the Book of Judges, we often see that when the trumpet is blown, the people must gather, and they must fight. So the sound of the trumpet, when the sound of the trumpet is heard—remember, this does not happen casually. It is when something significant is about to happen that the sound of the trumpet is heard.

And what other matters required the trumpet to be blown? On days of gladness and at appointed feasts, they were to blow the trumpet. Also at the new moons, when the burnt offerings and peace offerings were offered, they were to blow the trumpet every month at the new moon. The new moon refers to the first day of the lunar month. The first day of the lunar month is called the new moon, that is, when the moon is at its least visible. And the fifteenth day of the lunar month is called the full moon, because that is when the moon is at its roundest. At the new moon, that is, at the beginning of the month, on the first day, they were to blow the trumpet. So this passage makes clear how the trumpet was to be blown, who was to blow it, and what kind of sound was to be blown.

Now here some people may say, “This has nothing to do with me. If they blow the trumpet, then they blow the trumpet,” right? Perhaps we may not pay attention to this passage. But I think that for Christians today, the blowing of the trumpet still has a very deep meaning. We can speak of it from two angles. The first is that the priests blowing the trumpet here tells us that, as preachers in the church, and as those who serve in the church, we must at all times blow the trumpet to the congregation. That is, we must tell them what should be done at what time. Because Israel was an army. At this point, we have already seen this very clearly. They had now stayed at Mount Sinai for a year, right? A year earlier, when they had just come out, they were still a disorderly crowd, right? A group of slaves. But after this year of rest and reorganization, besides the giving of the law and the building of the tabernacle, through the numbering of the people, the Israelites very quickly gathered together and became an army. So when this army moved, what did it have to listen to? It had to listen to the trumpet.

So I think that, in our church, for example, those who serve, and the co-workers, what should we do? We must at all times and in every place blow the trumpet to the congregation. What problems have appeared? What areas need improvement? We must blow the trumpet at any time. Through our preaching and through our service, we must remind the congregation. We must not be like people who have no trumpet, where everything is very confused, and where brothers and sisters live and conduct themselves in sin, yet no one pays any attention to it.

No, it must not be like that. When we hear that there is sin, we must blow the trumpet. We must remind them that something serious is about to happen, and that they must properly pursue God and do things earnestly. This is the responsibility of our pulpit, and it is also the responsibility of the co-workers. We must remind the congregation not to be lazy, not to be slack, but to charge forward. This is one application.

The second application is that, as Christians, we ought to blow the trumpet to the world. We must preach the gospel. We must blow out a loud sound. We must tell this world that, if it does not repent, God’s judgment will come upon this world. This is the voice of Christians. We must speak to the world. We must go and tell this world that Jesus Christ is coming soon. If you do not blow the trumpet, if you do not make a sound, then you have not fulfilled your priestly responsibility.

In addition, there is also the matter of the trumpet from our own level. But besides this, we must notice that the angels have actually already blown the trumpets in heaven. This appears in Revelation chapter 8, verse 6, beginning from there, with the six trumpets, and then continuing to the seventh trumpet. So here, what does the blowing of the trumpet tell us? God has also done many things in the world to remind us that He is coming. Every time a trumpet is blown, it shows that a great event is taking place. This is what Revelation chapter 8 speaks of: the angels are blowing the trumpets. Each time a trumpet is blown, it shows God’s striking of the natural world. Therefore, we must observe the trumpets that God blows toward this world. I think we must hear the sound of the trumpet, right?

The wars of the present day, right? The war in the Middle East—this is one expression of God blowing the trumpet. He blows the trumpet. What is His purpose? It is to remind us, this group of Christians, that we must properly reform our faith and no longer love this world. So every time the trumpet is blown, it is a reminder. This includes the decline of things in the world, and even the death of a certain celebrity. I think these are all God blowing the trumpet. God allows these people to have fame, and then He causes them to die. Then you know what this matter is: it is God sounding the trumpet, right? Even a person who is so capable, so competent, and so wealthy—what does this show? It shows the nearness of death.

It shows that this world truly is not worth clinging to. In the sound of the trumpet again and again, we must be awakened and reminded. From small things, such as the death and fall of these celebrities, to great things, such as wars between nations, we must pay attention. These are the blowing of the trumpet, constantly reminding the Christian community that we must live the Christian life earnestly. We must not be careless. We must not think that living in this world is as if the years are peaceful and life is entirely a smooth road. Actually, it is not. It is not as though every time you open your eyes, the sunshine is bright and everything is fine. It is not like that.

We are constantly hearing the sound of the trumpet, right? Wars between nations, great changes in the international situation—these are all God blowing the trumpet. We must be watchful. We must not be like deaf people with our ears stopped. We must not be like people who cannot hear anything at all. God is constantly blowing the trumpet to us through this world. We ought to set out. We ought to break camp. We ought to say farewell to the world. Therefore, we must hear the sound of the trumpet and not be so immersed in this world that we are like deaf people, completely unable to hear. This is what we especially need to pay attention to.

Of course, we know that all Scripture points to Christ. Then whose is the loudest sound of the trumpet? It is the trumpet that Jesus Christ sounded on the cross. When the Lord Jesus said on the cross, “It is finished,” it showed that He had already completed His work of redemption for His people. This is the work of redemption. In the Lord Jesus Christ, as we follow Jesus, we can be delivered from this world. We must hear the sound of the trumpet. Jesus Christ has already sounded this trumpet. He has blown it loudly. Therefore, we must set out. We must rise and go forward. We must follow Jesus. We must enter that new heavens and new earth. When the new heavens and new earth come, the sound of the trumpet will also resound throughout all the earth. So this is our hope.

We are waiting to hear that, to hear the sound of that trumpet again. So brothers and sisters, I think that for every Christian, we must carefully consider this passage about the blowing of the trumpet. Under the sound of the trumpet of Jesus Christ, we must sound the trumpet to the community. We ourselves must sound the trumpet to unbelievers. We must hear the sound of God’s trumpet. In short, we must live a godly life in this present life, and we must not love this world, because the present form of this world is passing away.

All right, this is my sharing on the matter of blowing the trumpet. Next, it comes to setting out. This is the first time the Israelites set out. The cloud rose up from above the tabernacle—this happened on the twentieth day of the second month. Now earlier, in Exodus chapter 40, in the second year, on the first day of the first month, the tabernacle was erected. Then in verse 34, at that time, the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. So that was on the first day of the first month, when the glory of God filled the tabernacle. After that, they stayed there for a period of time—about a month, nearly two months. Then the cloud lifted, and this was their first setting out.

So when they set out for the first time, the Israelites began to move forward according to their divisions. The cloud rose up from Sinai and came to rest in the wilderness of Paran. So they began to move forward. The first to set out was the camp of Judah. We have already talked about this earlier, so we will not repeat it again. After the camp of Judah, the position of the priests was very important. Immediately following the first camp, the camp of Judah, who came next? It was the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari. Among them, Gershon had two carts, and Merari had four carts.

Why were there two carts and four carts? We have already explained this before. One was for the fabrics, and the other was for the heavy metal objects. So the four carts were for what? They followed behind the camp of Judah, that is, right after the first camp, carrying the outer materials of the tabernacle. Then after that came the camp of the Levites. The names of the leaders had all been mentioned earlier. Then after that came the Kohathites. The Kohathites carried the holy things as they went forward.

Why did Gershon and Merari go ahead first? Because before the Kohathites arrived, the tabernacle could already be set up. Once it was set up, when the Kohathites arrived, they could immediately place the furnishings, including the ark of the covenant. So this is a more detailed arrangement. They first set out. Once the trumpet was blown, they likely began to dismantle, because the cloud had moved. As soon as the cloud moved, they began to take down the tabernacle. After taking it down, the Gershonites and Merarites moved forward. They followed behind the camp of Judah. Then the Kohathites followed in the middle, behind the second camp, the camp of Reuben.

Then after that came the camp of Ephraim, and finally the camp of Dan. So once again, we see that this was a very tightly ordered arrangement, just like an army. And for each camp, the name of its leader was given. Why? Because there were too many people. With six hundred thousand men in the army, how could you manage them all? So each of the twelve tribes had its own leader. Then under them, there could be leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties, and leaders of tens. In this way, management became much easier. It was a hierarchical system of management.

So this was the formation of the Israelites when they set out in the wilderness. Up to verse 28, it comes to an end. Here again, we see that God’s promise to Abraham was finally being fulfilled at this time. His descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. So when we stop at verse 28, what do we see? We see a very beautiful state. The Israelites were obedient. They camped according to their divisions, and they moved forward according to their divisions. Everything was orderly. Each camp followed its proper place. There was the trumpet directing them, and there were priests among them. All of this was a very beautiful scene.

Now here there is a question. In verse 17, it says that the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari carried the tabernacle as they went forward. Then here a question arises: did they carry it, or did they transport it by carts? Strictly speaking, they could use ox carts to carry it, right? So did they carry the tabernacle, or did they use carts to transport it? The Bible does not explain this in detail, so we should not speculate too much. Was it that they were very devout and therefore chose to carry it themselves? We are not sure. It is also possible that they first carried it and then placed it onto the carts. That is also possible. So we will not dwell too much on this detail. In any case, the Israelites were very obedient.

So throughout Numbers chapter 10 up to verse 28, what we see is an obedient Israel. What we see is a well-ordered, united Israel, like an army. So we thank God. We truly see how faithful God’s promise is. God has never dealt with Israel according to their sins and transgressions, right? Even in the wilderness, they still sinned. In Exodus chapter 32, they worshiped the golden calf. But God’s promise was still fulfilled upon them. And in this process, they were also willing to obey God.

So if we stop at verse 28, what we see is an obedient Israel, a well-ordered Israel. I think this is also a reminder for us. Our church must also be orderly and well-arranged. There must be structure and order, because God is a God of order. So for us as Christians, we must also be united and orderly, like an army going to battle. Because the enemy we face is the whole world, the whole society. Although we may not be facing visible enemies like the Canaanites, we are still facing the world.

So for every Christian, you must be committed in the church and diligently pursue growth in life. This is necessary. The reminder here is that Israel, as a nation, is always in a state of warfare. As a community, what Israel needed was obedience to God’s statutes and ordinances. So what is the reminder for us today? It is that we must understand that we are actually in warfare with the world.

We must not think that after we believe in Jesus, Jesus Christ has cleansed our past sins, and in the future He will take us to heaven, and therefore now, in the present, we can live however we want, as if we have a license to sin. Such a faith does not exist at all. I have mentioned this many times. Jesus saved us in the past with the purpose that we might live a life in the present that glorifies His name, so that He may better lead us into our heavenly home.

Our life on earth is not one of indulging the flesh. It is not one of doing whatever we please. On the contrary, it is a life of warfare. On this earth, we must follow the law of Jesus Christ and contend with the world. This is our purpose. And we do not fight alone. We fight as a group. We are a church. Not only that, we also have many brothers and sisters walking together with us. You are not reading the Bible by yourself. Therefore, you must be committed in the church and pursue together with the body, just as the Israelites moved forward in battle according to their divisions, like an army.

So I think these passages are reminding us: what is the position of a Christian in this present life? It is not what we might think, as if life is peaceful and we are here to pursue the world. On the contrary, you have already stepped onto a path of warfare. How you follow the trumpet of the LORD in this warfare—that is something we must think about. May God help us, in such a life of warfare, to obtain that true peace. All right, this is the end of today’s sharing. Thank you, everyone.