Comentário sobre Números 9:23

על פי ה' יחנו, even when the encampment was so short-lived and the time for the to arrange their affairs was so short.

על פי ה' יחנו ועל פי ה' יסעו, “They would encamp according to the word of Hashem, and they would break camp and commence their journey according to the word of Hashem.” This has been repeated once more to tell us that this pattern continued for all the forty years they were in the desert. Previously, the Torah had described the people as journeying followed by their making camp, whereas here the pattern is reversed and their encamping is mentioned ahead of their breaking camp. The Torah wanted to stress that on all occasions the glory of Hashem accompanied them. It also appears to me that the verse that concludes with ובמקום אשר ישכן שם הענן, שם יחנו בני ישראל is the verse to which the words על פי ה' יסעו apply, to tell us that after having encamped according to the word of Hashem, they also commenced journeying again only at the command of Hashem. On the other hand, when we read על פי ה' יסעו, the Torah follows with the report that the people started to journey at the command of Hashem, by adding that they did not continue but they encamped at the command of Hashem although they might have preferred to keep on journeying toward their ultimate destination.

V. 23. על פי ד׳ ביד משה. Ihre Lagerungen und Wanderungen geschahen nach dem durch die Wolke angekündigten Aussprüche Gottes, aber durch Mosche Vermittlung. Mosche hatte die jedesmalige Aufforderung zur Befolgung des durch die Wolke ergangenen Gottesausspruchs an das Volk ergehen zu lassen, wie sogleich im folgenden des näheren angedeutet wird.

ועל פי ה' יסעו, when the dismantling in advance of the next journey would be more time consuming seeing that they had been in the same location for a long time, they still hastened and packed up to follow the cloud.