I detain the Reader in the perusal of these verses, only to remark to him, that those testimonies of the LORD'S pleasure, for the movement or detention of Israel, beheld with an eye to the wilderness journeys of his spiritual Israel now, are very striking. The whole pilgrimage of Israel through the wilderness, had it been pursued, even with a moderate pace, might have been completed in about eleven days; for from Mount Horeb to Kadish-barnea, the borders of Canaan, it required no more. And what are the movements of the LORD'S people up and down now, but of the same kind? And what were the uncertainties of their journeys then, but figures of our removals now; who know not whether tonight or tomorrow the LORD may not call upon us to depart. Reader, it is a delightful account, which the Psalmist gives of the people's sojourning state: who though they wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way, and not unfrequently found it to be a rough way, yet was it a right way by which the LORD led them to a city of habitation. Psalms 107:3-19.
Numbers 9:17-23
17 And 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.
18 At 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.
19 And when the cloud tarried long upon the tabernacle many days, then the children of Israel kept the charge of the LORD, and journeyed not.
20 And 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.
21 And 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.
22 Or whether it were two days, or a month, or a year, that the cloud tarried upon the tabernacle, remaining thereon, the children of Israel abode in their tents, and journeyed not: but when it was taken up, they journeyed.
23 At the commandment of the LORD they rested in the tents, and at the commandment of the LORD they journeyed: they kept the charge of the LORD, at the commandment of the LORD by the hand of Moses.