Numbers 10:35

Whenever the Ark departed. Scripture placed symbols before and after this [chapter] to teach that this is not its place. Why, then, was it written here? In order to intervene between one punishment and the next . . . etc., as stated in “all the sacred scriptures.”

Rise, Adonoy. Because He (Adonoy) preceded them by three days’ travel, Moshe would say, ‘Rise and wait for us, do not go further away.’ Midrash Tanchuma, Vayakhel.

May Your enemies disperse. Those gathered together.

Those who hate You flee. These are the pursuers.

Those who hate You. These are the haters of Yisroel, since all those who hate Yisroel hate the One who spoke, and the world came into being, as it is said, “those who hate You have raised [their] heads” — who are they? — “Against Your people they counsel cunningly.”

And it was when the ark should go forward, the Cloud gathered itself together and stood still, not going on, until Mosheh, standing in prayer, prayed and supplicated mercy from before the Lord, and thus spake: Let the Word of the Lord be now revealed in the power of Thy anger, that the adversaries of Thy people may be scattered; and let not the banner of those who hate them be uplifted before Thee.

AND IT CAME TO PASS WHEN THE ARK SET FORWARD. “He [the Eternal] made for this section [i.e., this verse and the following one] a special mark in front of it and behind it [by placing two inverted letters nun at the beginning and end of it] in order to indicate that this section is not in its proper place. etc. This section, beginning with And it came to pass when the ark set forward …, should have followed on there. Why then was it written here? In order to separate between [the narrative of] one punishment and that of another punishment, as is stated in the Chapter of ‘Any of the Holy Scriptures.’” This is Rashi’s language. But the Rabbi did not explain to us what is this [first] “punishment” from which it was necessary to separate [the later verses], for there is no “punishment” mentioned here in Scripture before the verse, And it came to pass when the ark set forward. The language of the Gemara there is:, 116 a. “The second punishment is [the section], And the people were as murmurers. The first ‘punishment’ is that which says, And they set forward from the mount of the Eternal, on which Rabbi Chanina said: This teaches us that they turned aside from the Eternal.” On this [statement of Rabbi Chanina] the Rabbi [Rashi] wrote there in his commentaries: “Within three days of their journeying the mixed multitude … fell a lusting, Verse 4. complaining about the [lack of] meat, in order to rebel against G-d.” But these are astonishing words, for the “punishment” stated in the verse And the people were as murmurers [… and the fire of the Eternal burnt among them etc.] is written first, and that of the lusting is second,, Verse 4. and they are both next to each other [so why did Rashi mention the sin of the lusting following upon their journeying as the first “punishment,” since that of the murmurers is closer to it]? Perhaps the Rabbi [Rashi] thought that these episodes were not written in their [chronological] order, and that He [already] alluded to the first [punishment] in saying, [and they set forward] from the mount of the Eternal, for perhaps they already intended to do so [to demand meat] from the time that they set forth on that journey; but He made a break [by writing the section of the ark], and then wrote the second [punishment, i.e., that of the murmurers], and afterwards He went back to [relate the actual realization of their original intention to ask for meat, …

'קומה ה, seeing that during the period of their wanderings the Shechinah had been absent from its usual place above the kapporet.

ויהי בנסוע הארון proceeding to enter the holy Land;

קומה ה' ויפוצו אויביך, if the people had not insisted on dispatching the spies the march would have been proceeding unopposed, the enemies scattering before the armies of G’d without offering resistance. Isaiah 17,9 phrases it thus: “In that day their fortress cities shall be like the deserted sites which the Choresh and the Amir abandoned because of the Israelites, and there shall be desolation.”

וינוסו מפניך, lest the Israelites would wipe them out.

'קומה ה' וגו, “rise up O Lord, etc.” this is a prayer that if enemies will gather to attack the Israelites they should be dispersed by G–d before carrying out their plans. If, for some reason they had already succeeded in massing, G–d should put them to flight. [In both instances Israel’s enemies are described as G–d’s enemies by definition. Ed.]