Year 7, Day 125: Numbers 10

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Communication and order are a good thing.  Both of these attributes allow people to work together and get along.  Both of these things allow businesses to function properly.

When communication and order break down, chaos naturally ensues.  In relationships, when communication ceases the people involved in the relationship typically stop getting along.  When communication stops in business, employees end up doing their own thing and the company flounders from a lack of unifying direction.  The same is true for order.

God knows this, and he desires to teach this lesson to the people of Israel.  If they are going to be His successful people and take over the Promised Land, then they are going to need to be able to receive and follow directions.  If they are going to forge a nation together and have a national identity that unifies them, they will have to learn to communicate.  This is why God tells Moses about the trumpets.

God gives Moses orders to make trumpets and then tells them what the trumpets will signify.  If they are blown one way, then the leaders need to gather.  If they are blown another way, then it is a sign that the camp is to set out in motion.  If they are blown a different way, then it is to signify the start of one of their days of celebration.  The trumpets bring order.  The trumpets communicate.

It might seem like a strange chapter to have in the Bible.  After all, why do modern people need to hear about trumpets and trumpets blowing?  The reality is that we do not need to hear about the trumpets.  What we need is to understand our communal need for communication to help society stay organized and functioning well.  Every society needs a means to communicate.

Furthermore, we can break this idea back down into small units.  While society needs communication and order, so do communities.  Churches need the same thing.  Companies need the same thing.  Friends need the same thing. Families need the same thing.  Every level of human organization can benefit from communication and order.

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