Reflection: Two blasts and thousands kick up dust

Two shrill trumpet blasts …and they’re off! (Numbers 10:5-6) … But this is no racecourse commentary. Just picture the Israelites, family/clan/tribe-by-tribe, each under their standard and commander, with all their gear and animals…First Judah, then Issachar, then Zebulun; then, dismantling and carrying the tabernacle were the Gershonites and Merarites.

Two more silver-trumpet blasts and the camps on the South set off. First the Reubenites, then the tribe of Simeon, the Gadites, then the Kohathites carrying the holy objects. And we’re only half-way on the move. Just pause and imagine the logistics, the mood, the conversations, the songs!

I grew up in the pine forested foothills of the Himalayas. In energetic, carefree groups of little boys and girls I remember singing through the woods, “I love to go a-wandering…Yodalee! Yodaloh!” There’d have been ecstatic song and dance in this God-claimed mob. Ahead may loom wasteland and warfare, but glimmering on the horizon was a homeland.

“Take the lead, conquering Lord!” sang Moses.

“Scatter your enemies. May they panic and run.” Then,

“Return to us, O Lord!” was his song each time the procession stopped.

“Be here with your countless covenant people.”

Prayer:

Sharing and shaping our beliefs are songs like this one of Moses. David penned a version of it in Psalm 68, which we can pray: “Praise be to the Lord, to God our Saviour, who daily bears our burdens. Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death.”

What song will bookend your day today? Here are two versions of Psalm 68 to pray/sing:

(Jewish)  Blessed be Our God (Spotify) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbMYoUh9yM0

(more traditional)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fk0Mt0FTz8