(3) When both are blown in long blasts, the whole company shall assemble before you at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting; (4) and if only one is blown, the chieftains, heads of Israel’s contingents, shall assemble before you.
These psukim are really interesting to me cause of the repetition of the root יעד.
The appointed congregation comes together in an appointed way, to the tent of Appointment, at the appointed times.
A lot of this parsha is about Israel growing in independence. They are learning to be a nation, going through some teenage growth and experiencing some angst between them and Hashem in the process.
Everything will go from being appointed by Hashem, to later the moedim being appointed by the leaders of the people. The parsha goes on at length about how the people move around the movement of the cloud, but then the people are taught how to sound the shofar blasts to signal a movement and regarding times of war. The idea is maybe that, this cloud will not always be guiding their every movement- they have to learn how to appoint movements on their own.
They have to learn to manage their urges to go back to Egypt without expecting G-d to fix those urges. Maybe that’s why they’re described as grieving over ill-fortune- they are expecting G-d to fix everything for them, and he provides them the meat they ask for, but in a way that they will know to find a different way of managing their urges in the future.
Hashem helps Moshe lessen his burden by placing the spirit upon the elders. Right now, Moshe and Hashem speak directly. But Moshe won’t always be there. They need leaders who will have a lesser level of prophecy than Moshe, but still can guide the people.
They have to learn to manage disagreement on their own too. They have to take responsibility for their actions, like with Aaron and Miriam talking against Moshe. They learn to apologize and forgive each other. Hashem takes an active role in this but prepares them for a time when prophecy won’t be as clear.
A lot of Tanakh reminds me of a parent giving their child more and more independence, while teaching them and directing them. This parsha really exemplifies key points in this journey in the relationship between Hashem and the Jewish people.