The Fourth Book of Moses, called Numbers
Numbers 33
Chapter XXXIII · Vol. I, pp. 469–472
1 Two and forty journeys of the Israelites. 50 The Canaanites are to be destroyed.
1 THESE are the a journeys of the children of Israel, which went forth out of the land of Egypt with their b armies, under the hand of Moses and Aaron.
2 And Moses wrote their goings out according to their c journeys by the commandment of the LORD: and these are their journeys according to their goings out.1
c ch. 9.17-23.
1 Several names of places occur in the itineraries of Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, which are not mentioned in this chapter; and some are mentioned in this chapter which do not appear in the others. Such omissions or insertions, however, are not contradictions, as any one in relating a journey will omit towns little known, or uninteresting to his auditors, or unmarked by any incident, while those omitted towns he will specially recount to a new audience acquainted with them, or in relation to some event that has occurred since his former narrative.—C.
3 And they d departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month: on the morrow after the passover the children of Israel went out e with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians.
4 (For f the Egyptians buried all their first-born, which the LORD had smitten among them: g upon their gods also the LORD executed judgments.)
5 And the children of Israel removed from Rameses, and pitched in Succoth.
6 And they h departed from Succoth, and pitched in Etham, which is in the edge of the wilderness.
h Ex. 13.20.
7 And they i removed from Etham, and turned again unto Pi-hahiroth, which is before Baal-zephon: and they pitched before Migdol.
i Ex. 14.2, 9.
8 And they k departed from before Pi-hahiroth, and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, and went three days' journey in the wilderness of Etham, and pitched in Marah.
9 And they l removed from Marah, and came unto Elim: and in Elim were twelve fountains of water, and threescore and ten palm-trees; and they pitched there.
l Ex. 15.27.
10 And they removed from Elim, and encamped by the Red sea.
11 And they m removed from the Red sea, and encamped in the wilderness of Sin.
A.M. 2552. B.C. 1452.
m Ex. 16.1-31.
12 And they took their journey out of the wilderness of Sin, and encamped in Dophkah.
13 And they departed from Dophkah, and encamped in Alush.
14 And they removed from Alush, and encamped at n Rephidim, where was no water for the people to drink.
n Ex. 17.1-16; 19.1.
15 And they departed from Rephidim, and pitched in the o wilderness of Sinai.2
o Ex. xix.-xl. Le. i.-xxvii. ch. i.-x.
2 In this account of the Hebrew march, there are three stages not recorded in Exodus. These are 'the encampment at the Red Sea, ver. 10, at Dophkah, and at Alush, ver. 13. Exodus was written when the events were fresh in the memory of the witnesses, less important removals were therefore omitted; but Deuteronomy was written when that generation had died, and the minuter movements of the fathers are recorded for the instruction of their sons.—C.—In front of the 'mount of God.' Here they remained for a year, and this is the first great stage of the wilderness journey.—P.
16 And they p removed from the desert of Sinai, and pitched at Kibroth-hattaavah.3
p ch. 11.4-34.
3 That is, the graves of lust.
18 And they departed from Hazeroth, and pitchedr in Rithmah.4
r ch. xiii. xiv.
4 Greenfield describes Rithmah as near Kadesh-barnea, and the Pictorial Bible identifies them. Creighton's map of Palestine places Rithmah a little way S.W. of Kadesh-barnea; but the map of the Sunday-school Union, London, places it to the south, and at the distance of about 70 geographical miles. The whole is mere conjecture, and therefore void of authority. It is wiser and better to acknowledge ignorance of such details, and to rest in the great historical fact which nothing can gainsay, that the Hebrews were now entered upon those 'wanderings' to which they were condemned because they 'tempted the Lord;' and on account of which he 'sware in his wrath they should not enter into his rest.'—C.
19 And they departed from Rithmah, and pitched at Rimmon-parez.
20 And they departed from Rimmon-parez, and pitched in Libnah.
21 And they removed from Libnah, and pitched at Rissah.
22 And they journeyed from Rissah, and pitched in Kehelathah.
23 And they went from Kehelathah, and pitched in mount Shapher.
24 And they removed from mount Shapher, and encamped in Haradah.
25 And they removed from Haradah, and pitched in Makheloth.
26 And they removed from Makheloth, and encamped at Tahath.
27 And they departed from Tahath, and pitched at Tarah.
28 And they removed from Tarah, and pitched in Mithcah.
29 And they went from Mithcah, and pitched in Hashmonah.
30 And they departed from Hashmonah, and encamped at Moseroth.
33 And they went from Hor-hagidgad, and pitched in Jotbathah.
34 And they removed from Jotbathah, and encamped at Ebronah.
35 And they departed from Ebronah, and encamped at u Ezion-gaber.
u De. 2.8. 1 Ki. 22.48; 9.26.
36 And they removed from Ezion-gaber,5 and pitched in the x wilderness of Zin, which is Kadesh.
5 This place was highly distinguished in the days of Solomon, and having become transit port for much of the eastern commerce, 1 Ki. 9.26, it has retained an historical importance that serves to fix its locality. It was situated about 60 miles nearly south of Sinai. But though its place is known by means of the peculiar rocks from which its name was derived, signifying the backbone of a man, as well as by historic record, yet its very ruins have disappeared. Like other encampments of the Israelites it retains a name—more distinguished than some, it has a local habitation—but like Israel it has fallen, by sin, under the displeasure of Jehovah, and has been swept of all its commerce and riches by the besom of a righteous destruction.—C.
A.M. 2552. B.C. 1452.
x ch. 20.1; 27.14; 33.34.
37 And they y removed from Kadesh, and pitched in mount Hor, in the edge of the land of Edom.
y ch. 20.21-23; 21.4.
38 And z Aaron the priest went up into mount Hor at the commandment of the LORD, and died there, in the fortieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the first day of the fifth month.
39 And Aaron was an hundred and twenty and three years old when he died in mount Hor.
40 And a king Arad the Canaanite, which dwelt in the south, in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the children of Israel.
a ch. 21.1-3. Ju. 1.16, 17.
42 And they departed from Zalmonah, and pitched in Punon.
44 And they departed from Oboth, and pitched in Ije-abarim,6 in the border of Moab.
6 Or, heaps of Abarim.
45 And they departed from Iim, and pitched in Dibon-gad.
47 And they removed from Almon-diblathaim, and pitched in the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo.
48 And they departed from the mountains of Abarim, and pitched e in the plains of Moab, by Jordan near Jericho.7
e ch. 22.1; 25.1; ver. 50.
7 All the stations from Kadesh to Arboth-Moab are not given here. Others at which the people encamped on their route southward to Ezion-gaber are mentioned in De. 10.6, 7. Immediately after leaving Kadesh they crossed the Arabah to the foot of Mount Hor, where Aaron died. After thirty days' mourning they set out on their long but final journey. The rate of travel must have been very slow. They must have lingered at places, and zigzagged through the desert in search of water and pastures. Passing down the Arabah once more, they turned eastward at Ezion-gaber, which stood at the northern extremity of the Gulf of Akabah. They swept round the southern and eastern borders of Edom, and passed through a desert wild and waterless. At length the territory of the Edomites was passed, and the people encamped at Ije-Abarim ('the mounds of Abarim'), in the border of Moab. Two more stages brought them to the banks of the Arnon, on crossing which they entered the land of the Amorites. The wilderness was now left behind, but the wanderings had not yet drawn to a close. Their eyes and hearts were fixed upon Canaan—the country west of the Jordan. They wished to enter it by the shortest and easiest road. They consequently asked of Sihon a passage through his borders. It was refused. A new struggle was made, the whole country east of the Jordan was conquered, and two tribes settled there.—P.
49 And they pitched by Jordan, from Beth-jesimoth even unto f Abel-shittim, in the plains of Moab.8
f Mournful Shittim, ch. 25.1-9. Jos. 2.1.
8 Whether this enumeration contains the entire, or only the principal movements and encampments, is unknown. Analogy would lead us to conclude that it records not the various daily marchings, but merely the departures and encampments. Moses does indeed give a brief epitome of the history of the Jews; but history is not his object. Providence and redemption are his object, and history is the means by which his grand object is attained.—C.
50 And the LORD spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab, by Jordan near Jericho, saying,
51 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, g When ye are passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan;
g De. 7.2. Jos. 11.12.
52 Then ye shall h drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures,9 and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places.
h Ex. 23.24, 31-33; 34.12-17. De. 7.3-5, 16, 25; 12.2, 3, 30, 31; 20.16-18; 9.3. Jos. 23.7.
9 Boothroyd translates it 'sculptured stones,' Onkelos renders it 'temples.'—C.
53 And ye shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein: for I have given you the land to possess it.
54 And i ye shall divide the land by lot for an inheritance among your families; and to the more ye shall give the more inheritance,1 and to the fewer ye shall give the less inheritance:2 every man's inheritance shall be in the place where his lot falleth; according to the tribes of your fathers ye shall inherit.
i ch. 26.53-55. Jos. xv.-xix.
A.M. 2552. B.C. 1452.
1 Heb. multiply his inheritance.
2 Heb. diminish his inheritance.
55 But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land3 from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be k pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell.4
3 Either through cowardly fear, or worldly policy, or a desire to enslave them, or wilful contempt of God's injunction to cast them out.—C.
k Jos. 23.12, 13. Ju. 2.2, 3; 1.21-33; 3.5-7. Ps. 100.34-42.
4 This was remarkably fulfilled in the case of the Philistines and Phœnicians.—P.
Notes
[Ver. 2. The Israelites in going from Egypt to Canaan did not proceed along one direct line of route. They were led from place to place, sometimes back, sometimes forward, by a divine guide. For thirty-eight years they were literally 'wanderers,' moving apparently from pasture to pasture, and from fountain to fountain, like one of the great nomad tribes of Arabia. The full history of these wanderings is not given. All the places through which they passed are not mentioned. Even the few stations whose names are recorded cannot all be identified. It is consequently impossible to trace the footsteps of the Israelites in every part of the wilderness journey. There are, however, several leading stations which have been identified; and taking these as landmarks, it is not difficult to determine the general line of march. It would seem that Moses first wrote the diary which is given in Exodus, Leviticus, and the early chapters of Numbers; then by divine command he wrote this summary, supplying the names of many stations not given in the diary. It forms a most valuable topographical document. P.]
Ver. 10. [The plain at the mouth of Wady Taiyibeh must be the place of the encampment by the sea. It is a wild lonely spot. The sublime scenery of the Sinai mountains here first bursts upon their view: the glittering granite peaks, the gorgeous colouring of the nearer cliffs, the deep blue sea, and away far beyond it the pale outline of the African coast. P.]
Ver. 13. [The sites of Dophkah and Alush are unknown. The route from the Wilderness of Sin to Rephidim was in all probability up Wady Feiran, which affords a tolerably easy and wide approach from the coast-plain of Sin to Sinai. In it is the copious fountain of Feiran; and it ought to be noted that between Sin and Rephidim there was no complaint of want of water. Perhaps Feiran may be identical with Dophkah or Alush. P.]
Ver. 36. [The Israelites were twice at Kadesh; once on the second, and once on the fortieth year of their journey, Nu. 12. 16; 13. 2, 26, 33; 20. 1. In this chapter the first visit is not noticed. In the extended narrative in Nu. x.-xii. there are only two stations mentioned between Sinai and Kadesh; here no less than seventeen are enumerated. The question arises, Were all these visited during the first journey to Kadesh? or do any of them belong to the second? The former appears more probable. In giving the summary contained in this chapter Moses would scarcely have omitted the first visit to Kadesh, had he been enumerating the stations as well after as before that visit. It is more natural to suppose that he gives a full list of the places of encampment between Sinai and Kadesh; and then, omitting all notice of the thirty-eight years' wandering as not properly pertaining to the journey to Canaan, he takes up the narrative again at the close of the second visit. This theory, however, is not free from difficulties. According to ver. 36 the people marched direct from Ezion-gaber to Kadesh; and the stations from Moseroth to Jotbathah were passed in succession before reaching Ezion-gaber. But these stations are identical with those mentioned in De. 10. 6, 7, where they afterwards encamped when going from Kadesh to Ezion-gaber, comp. Nu. 21. 4; De. 2. 8; they consequently lay between these places, and in the Arabah. The Israelites must therefore have traversed the Arabah several times. The most direct line of route was rarely, if ever, followed. The people appear to have directed their course right and left, back and forward, passing and repassing the same spots, in obedience to their divine guide. Two points alone are fixed between Sinai and Kadesh; these are Hazeroth and Ezion-gaber. The latter they must have approached from the north; and after encamping there, they turned back again northward. In going from Hazeroth they probably went down Wadys el-Ain and Wetír to the shore of the gulf; then along the shore past Ezion-gaber, and up the Arabah; then back down the Arabah to Ezion-gaber, and finally up it to Kadesh.—P.]
Reflections.—It is useful to remember and record God's providences, for the after direction or comfort of ourselves and others in future trials and temptations; for this world is but a waste howling wilderness, and the condition of churches and saints therein always changing and unsettled.—But the believing recollection of God's dispensations will enable us cheerfully to pass on, while we discover how he preserves his people in all, and sets their mercies and judgments the one over against the other,—guides them with his counsel while here, and afterwards brings them to glory! But dangerous and infectious is intimacy with wicked men, and with the unfruitful works of darkness! Carefully then ought professors of the true religion to avoid it, and to remove out of the way whatever might occasion temptation or stumbling.