פרשת בהעלותך תשכ"ט - הענן והחצוצרות

And when the cloud tarried upon the tabernacle many days, then the children of Israel kept the charge of the LORD, and journeyed not.

When the Cloud tarried. The verse teaches us that even if the Cloud tarried on the Mishkon many days and yet the place of the encampment did not find favor in their eyes, so they wanted very much to leave, nevertheless, they would not transgress on the word of Hashem. And this is the explanation of the continuation: Bnei Yisroel would keep the watch of Hashem and they would not travel — due to their fear of Hashem, and because they wanted to keep His commands, they would not travel. Similarly, if the Cloud rested only a few days, and the nation was still very tired from the efforts of traveling, nevertheless, they would do the will of Hashem and travel after the Cloud. The Torah continues to relate (v. 21) that sometimes they camped only one night and traveled in the morning, although this was a great burden on them. And sometimes the Cloud rested a day and a night, which means they walked the entire night and came to the place of their encampment in the morning, where the Cloud rested for the entire day and the following night, and the next morning it lifted and they traveled. This was an even greater burden than the previous case, because they thought they were going to stay there and they unloaded the wagons and unpacked all their possessions, as people are wont to do when they return from their travels. When the Cloud lifted in the morning they had to repack everything, and had no time to make preparations for the trip. And sometimes the Cloud rested for two days (v. 22) and they had to travel from there at night. It could be that only the occurrences recorded here happened during their travels, and no other occurrence. That is, it happened that the Cloud rested overnight, or one day and one night, or two days, or a month or year. Therefore, the verse specifies these times. However, it did happen that the Cloud rested for many years, as mentioned here (v. 22): “The Cloud prolonged its stay above the Mishkon” — many years. This happened in Kodeish, as it says (Devarim 1:46): “You lived in Kodeish many years”.

And sometimes the cloud was from evening until morning; and when the cloud was taken up in the morning, they journeyed; or if it continued by day and by night, when the cloud was taken up, they journeyed.