Numbers 9:17

Num 9:17 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.

Ver. 17. And when the cloud.] This visible sign they had of God’s presence, for their motion or station by night or by day, through all their pilgrimage. "In all thy ways acknowledge God, and he shall direct thy paths." {Pro 3:6} "When thou sittest in darkness, the Lord shall give thee light." {Mic 7:8}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Num 9:17-19. Was taken up — Or, ascended on high, above its ordinary place, by which it became more visible to all the camp. The motion or stay of the cloud is fitly called the command of God, because it was a signification of God’s will and their duty. The charge — That is, the command of God that they should stay as long as the cloud stayed.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

when the cloud was taken up--that is, rose to a higher elevation, so as to be conspicuous at the remotest extremities of the camp. That was a signal for removal; and, accordingly, it is properly called (Num 9:18) "the commandment of the Lord." It was a visible token of the presence of God; and from it, as a glorious throne, He gave the order. So that its motion regulated the commencement and termination of all the journeys of the Israelites. (See on Exo 14:19).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(17) And when the cloud was taken up. . . —Only one instance is recorded of disregard of the Divine direction thus miraculously vouchsafed, viz., in Num_14:40-42. It was necessary that the hosts of Israel should be always in a watchful state, and ready to obey at once the intimations given to them of the Divine will, thus affording a striking type and pattern to the Christian Church, and teaching it both collectively and individually to seek and to follow the guidance of its Divine Head, whose promise is “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

At the commandment of the Lord the children of Israel journeyed,.... Or "mouth of the Lord"; not that there was any command in form given, or any audible voice heard, directing when to march; but the removal of the cloud was interpretatively the order and command of God for them to move also:

and at the commandment of the Lord they pitched; their tents; when the cloud stopped, they understood that as a signal to them, as a token of the will of God that they should stop likewise; it was to them as an authoritative command, which they obeyed:

as long as the cloud abode upon the tabernacle, they rested in their tents; whether a longer or a shorter time, as is after expressed.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Was taken up, or, ascended on high, above its ordinary place, by which it became more visible to all the camp.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

17. Taken up… pitched their tents — “The movement of the mysterious cloud was the signal for striking or pitching the camp. When it was taken up from off the tabernacle, the advance was sounded on silver trumpets by the Levites, Moses repeating the words, ‘Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee;’ the whole host re-echoing them, far and near, in a mighty shout as the ark moved off before them, ‘to search out their next resting-place.’ In the same way the descent of the cloud to its accustomed place was the intimation to halt, and then, as the ark was once more solemnly laid down from the shoulders of the Kohathites, the prayer, caught up from the lips of Moses and intoned by the whole camp, rose with overpowering sublimity; ‘Return, O Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel.’” — Geikie. Thus during forty years there was a standing miracle before the eves of all Israel, by day and by night. Yet its moral influence upon the people, becoming semi-natural in their estimation by its long duration, seems to have been very slight. They followed whither the supernatural cloud led the way, but often with unbelieving, lustful, and rebellious hearts. Though often deserving to be abandoned by Jehovah, he continued to guide them. Nehemiah (Neh_9:19) gratefully records the divine compassion: “Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to show them light, and the way wherein they should go.” The sublimity of this scene transcends the most poetical imagination, especially when by night the Lord carried his lantern before his bannered hosts in the wilderness.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

When the cloud was taken up. This verse and the following to the end of the chapter are an amplification of Exo_40:36-38. (cf. Exo_13:21, 22 Neh_9:12 Psa_78:14) It would appear from Exo_13:21 that there was nothing new in the fact of the cloudy fiery pillar directing the movements of the host, but only in the fact of its resting on the tabernacle when in repose. In the place where the cloud abode, or "came down." zkv. As the tabernacle was taken all to pieces, and its portions widely separated on the march, the cloud could not rest upon it as a signal for halting. We must probably picture to ourselves the cloud rising to some considerable height when it was "taken up," so as to be visible for a great distance, and as settling down again over the spot where the tabernacle was to be set up. In this way the signals given by the cloud would be immediately perceived by a vast multitude.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Was taken up - Or, ascended on high, above its ordinary place, by which it became more visible to all the camp.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

העלות הענן — Understand this as the Targum does: the departure (more lit., the raising itself). Similar is, (v. 21): תעלה הענן which means “when the cloud raised itself” (departed; in both cases the verbs are Niphal). It would not be correct to have written in these passages ולפי עֲלוֹת הענן and וְעָלָה הענן (the verbs in the Kal), because this would not be an expression denoting departure, but “springing forth” and “rising”, just as, (1 Kings 18:44): “Behold a little cloud as small as a man’s hand rises (עלה) from the sea."

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.