Moving About

'Halt and laager'

Reading stories about the wanderings of the Israelites in the wilderness just brings back some similar memories. In the book of Numbers, they were always on the move, when the pillar of cloud/fire moved, they moved. When God stopped, the people encamped. In some way, this just reminds me of the days in army when we were on a exercises and had to keep moving around.

When we were told to stop and stay at a place, we had to start digging trenches and shellscrapes. Trust me, digging isn't one of the most fun thing to do. The Israelites on the other hand, had to build up this massive tent like structure called the tabernacle, so that the spirit of God could reside there. Judging by the dimensions of it all, I would reckon it's much harder work to do it.

Even more so, it says that the length in which they were encamped varied from a day to a month. Staying for ages at one place in the wilderness/forest can make one go crazy! On the other token, there is no worse feeling then just putting 101% of your strength and effort into digging a shellscrape, just to find out I am staying there only for 1 hour. When orders come, you just gotta go. How long does it take to set up and dismantle the whole tabernacle? Correct me if i'm wrong but I would reckon it isnt a 15 minute affair.

Moving about, setting up and dismantling, not being settled. It really is tough... I might be playing a bit of the devil's advocate here, but it really must have been a trying time for the Israelites... which is evidently seen in their grumbling and murmring.