I’ve always taken this passage as a marvelous lesson in living by God’s guidance.

And whenever the cloud lifted from over the tent, after that the people of Israel set out, and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the people of Israel camped. At the command of the LORD the people of Israel set out, and at the command of the LORD they camped…Sometimes the cloud was a few days over the tabernacle, and according to the command of the LORD they remained in camp; then according to the command of the LORD they set out. And sometimes the cloud remained from evening until morning…Whether it was two days, or a month, or a longer time, that the cloud continued over the tabernacle, abiding there, the people of Israel remained in camp and did not set out, but when it lifted they set out. At the command of the LORD they camped, and at the command of the LORD they set out…. (Numbers 9.17 – 23, ESV)

“At the command of the LORD they camped, and at the command of the LORD they set out.” Sometimes overnight. Sometimes months. That’s mobile…and flexible!

But here’s the kicker: they had to move the tabernacle! That’s where the cloud rested. So it’s not like if they were just going be overnight, they wouldn’t set the tabernacle up. First, they didn’t know if it would be an overnight only. Second, the cloud rested “on the tabernacle,” which it couldn’t do unless the tabernacle were set up.

Can you say “teamwork” and a system? We’re talking about a courtyard 75 feet x 150 feet with the tabernacle itself 15 feet x 45 feet, plus the furniture.

A description of their first move is in Numbers 10.11 – 28. Three tribes moved out first, then the tabernacle moved by the sons of Gershon and Merari. (Numbers 4 outlines their duties). The Kohathites, carrying the tabernacle furniture (on foot) didn’t leave until after another three tribes:

Then the Kohathites set out, carrying the holy things, and the tabernacle was set up before their arrival. (Numbers 10.21, ESV)

I’m impressed. The tabernacle was set up and ready for the furniture by the time the furniture arrived!

There were lots of men (2,750 Kohathites, 2,630 Gershonites, and 3,200 Merarites), and they probably didn’t all work each time so there had to be a way to divide each group into teams and a system for each team to carry out its duties quickly. A LOT of organization. The only thing I could think of that comes close, even at a much smaller scale, is the grounds crew at a Major League Baseball stadium pulling out the tarp when it rains:

If you are sitting at a major or minor league baseball game when a rain delay is called, you’ll see the ground crew jump into action and within about 2 minutes the field has been covered — usually it’s made to look all too easy. But for those of us who have done it, we know just how critical it is for everyone to work together to ensure the tarp is placed properly and safely on the field.

Full infield tarps can be as large as 175′ x 175′ and, depending on material, can weigh about 2,500 lbs for the heavier 10 oz per sq. yd. vinyl material that some major league teams use…The bottom line is a trained tarp staff and an experienced person directing them can make it look easy. – Paul Zwaska: Handling Full Infield Tarps

I’ll bet that the Rules of Baseball do NOT lay out instructions for placing the tarp. It is expected that the teams’ ground crews will figure that out for themselves. In like manner, in a book (The Torah) that has detailed instructions for all kinds of things, there is no instruction on how to organize the tabernacle moving crews. The Israelites were left to figure that out for themselves.

Recently, I was discussing church governance with someone who is deeply involved in the governance of our church. It turns out there are folks who insist there’s “only one way” to do…whatever. We agreed that there are a lot of ways to run a church within Biblical guidelines and that any of those ways can be executed well or poorly.

In the case of the mobile Israelites, it appears that they worked it out. There is no record of any glitches except when King David tried to get creative in 2 Samuel 6. (The ark was to be carried by men on foot, not put on a cart.)

Anyway, our slow pace through the Pentateuch has allowed time for these observations, remembering that these are stories of real people solving nontrivial logistical challenges. Good for them.

He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christians in skilled servant work, working within Christ’s body, the church, until we’re all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God’s Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ. (Ephesians 4.11 – 13, MSG)