Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 10:6
When ye blow an alarm the second time, then the camps that lie on the south side shall take their journey: they shall blow an alarm for their journeys.
6. they shall blow an alarm for their journeys ] i.e. for their startings. This is apparently intended as a brief way of saying that for each of the four groups of tribes a separate alarm shall be blown as a signal to start. It might be expected that the priestly writer, with his love of repetition, would continue his statement in similar language for the other three groups. In the LXX. this is actually done, the order being East, South, West, North. This statement has very possibly dropped out of the Heb. text. In the Vulg. there is the short sentence ‘and according to this manner shall the rest do.’
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 6. When ye blow an alarm the second time] A single alarm, as above stated, was a signal for the eastward division to march; two such alarms, the signal for the south division; and probably three for the west division, and four for the north. It is more likely that this was the case, than that a single alarm served for each, with a small interval between them.
The camps, or grand divisions of this great army, always lay, as we have already seen, to the east, south, west, and north: and here the east and south camps alone are mentioned; the first containing Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun; the second, Reuben, Simeon, and Gad. The west and north divisions are not named, and yet we are sure they marched in consequence of express orders or signals, as well as the other two. There appears therefore a deficiency here in the Hebrew text, which is thus supplied by the Septuagint: , , . “And when ye blow a third alarm or signal, the camps on the west shall march: and when ye blow a fourth alarm or signal, the camps on the north shall march.” This addition, however, is not acknowledged by the Samaritan, nor by any of the other versions but the Coptic. Nor are there any various readings in the collections of Kennicott and De Rossi, which countenance the addition in the above versions. Houbigant thinks this addition so evidently necessary, that he has inserted the Latin in his text, and in a note supplied the Hebrew words, and thinks that these words were originally in the Hebrew text, but happened to be omitted in consequence of so many similar words occurring so often in the same verse, which might dazzle and deceive the eye of a transcriber.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
As a sign for them to march forward, and consequently for the rest to follow them, which is easily understood out of these words.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
When ye blow an alarm the second time,…. Another “tara-tan-tara”:
then the camps that lie on the south side shall take their journey; the camps of Reuben, Simeon, and Gad, which were encamped on the south side of the tabernacle, Nu 2:10; and, as Josephus k says, at the third sounding of the alarm, that part of the camp which lay to the west moved, which were the camps of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin, Nu 2:18; and at the fourth sounding, as he says, those which were at the north, the camps of Dan, Asher, and Naphtali, Nu 2:25; which, though not expressed in the Hebrew text, are added in the Septuagint version, as they are to be understood:
they shall blow an alarm for their journeys; for the journeys of the said camps, as a signal or token when they should begin to march.
k Ut supra. (Antiq. l. 3. c. 12. sect. 6.)
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Num 10:6. When ye blow an alarm the second time, &c. In the LXX we have the following addition, When ye blow a third alarm, the camps that are on the west shall march: and when ye blow a fourth alarm, the camps that are on the north shall march. They shall blow an alarm for their marching. See Wall’s critical notes.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
ye blow: A single alarm was a signal for the eastward division to march; two such alarms the signal for the south; and probably three for the west, and four for the North. There appears therefore, a deficiency in the Hebrew Text, which is thus supplied by the LXX:
, . , .
And when ye blow a third alarm or signal, the camps on the west shall march; and when ye blow a fourth alarm, the camps on the north shall march.” This addition, however, is not acknowledged by the Samaritan, nor any other version than the Coptic, nor any manuscript yet collated.
the camps: Num 2:10-16
Reciprocal: Num 10:5 – blow Num 33:2 – journeys Deu 10:6 – took
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Num 10:6. For their journeys As a sign for them to march forward, and consequently for the rest to follow them.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
10:6 When ye blow an alarm the second time, then the camps that lie on the {c} south side shall take their journey: they shall blow an alarm for their journeys.
(c) Meaning, the heart of Reuben.