🔢WEB · Numbers 10:31
What does Numbers 10:31 mean?
"He said, “Don’t leave us, please; because you know how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and you can be our eyes."
— Numbers 10:31 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Thus were the travels of the children of Israel according to their armies; and they went forward.
Moses said to Hobab, the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are journeying to the place of which Yahweh said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will treat you well; for Yahweh has spoken good concerning Israel.”
He said to him, “I will not go; but I will depart to my own land, and to my relatives.”
He said, “Don’t leave us, please; because you know how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and you can be our eyes.
It shall be, if you go with us, yes, it shall be, that whatever good Yahweh does to us, we will do the same to you.”
They set forward from the Mount of Yahweh three days’ journey. The ark of Yahweh’s covenant went before them three days’ journey, to seek out a resting place for them.
The cloud of Yahweh was over them by day, when they set forward from the camp.
Explanation
Numbers 10:31 records a plea Moses makes to his brother-in-law Hobab, a Midianite who knew the desert intimately. In plain language, Moses is saying, "Please don't go home. We need you. You know this wilderness — where to find water, safe paths, hidden dangers — and that knowledge will help guide us as we travel." He is essentially asking Hobab to serve as a scout or guide for the entire nation
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