Did the Ark go before the people or in the middle of them?

[JTB.SDG]

Hi,

Numbers 10:33 says the ark went before all Israel, they followed behind. But earlier in Numbers 10 (vv14ff) it seems to indicate that normally the ark actually went in the middle of the pack of Israel. Has anyone studied this? Any conclusions? Thanks...

 

[TylerRay]

Hi,

Numbers 10:33 says the ark went before all Israel, they followed behind. But earlier in Numbers 10 (vv14ff) it seems to indicate that normally the ark actually went in the middle of the pack of Israel. Has anyone studied this? Any conclusions? Thanks...

It was in the front of the middle.

In all seriousness, Gill has a good note on this. He says that either the three-day journey of v33 is a special case, or that the ark "going before" them is figurative language, like when a military leader is said to "go before" his troops, even when he's not really in front of them.

 

[Contra_Mundum]

like when a military leader is said to "go before" his troops, even when he's not really in front of them.

This is exactly right. Wooden literalism is not intended.

 

[JTB.SDG]

Alright, thanks fellas. Was reading Joshua 3 and trying to discern if Joshua had received a *special* command to place the ark ahead of everyone else or if he was just following what the Lord had already revealed more generally during Moses' day. It had seemed to me that both in crossing the Jordan and coming to Jericho, God had told him what to do but hadn't really fleshed out a lot of the details of how to go about it; and applications for stepping out in faith when we don't have all the answers. Anyways, appreciate the thoughts.