1And these are the places where the children of Israel and their army stayed (under the direction of Moses and Aaron) after they left the land of Egypt. 2For, following the instructions of Jehovah, Moses wrote down the places that they moved to and where they stayed. So, here are the stages of their journey: 3They left Ramses on the fifteenth day of the first month. Then after the Passover, the children of Israel proudly walked away from the Egyptians, 4since the Egyptians were burying all the dead that Jehovah had struck down – all the firstborn in the land of Egypt – and He also brought vengeance on their gods. 5The children of Israel left Ramses and camped in SocChoth, 6then they left SocChoth and camped in BuThan, near the desert. 7They left BuThan and camped at the mouth of the IrOth, which is across from Beel SepPhon and opposite MagDol. 8Then, it was when they left IrOth that they crossed through the middle of the sea and into the desert. Thereafter, they traveled through the desert for three days and camped in PicriAe. 9When they left PicriAe they went to AiLim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped next to the water. 10When they left AiLim, they camped next to the Red Sea. 11And when they left the Red Sea, they camped in the Sin Desert. 12After they left the Sin Desert, they camped in Raphaca. 13And when they left Raphaca, they camped in AiLus. 14When they left AiLus, they camped in RaphiDin (where there was no water for the people to drink). 15Then they left RaphiDin and camped in the Sinai Desert. 16When they left the Sinai Desert, they camped at the Graves of Greed. 17Then they left the Graves of Greed and camped in AsherOth, 18and after AsherOth, they camped in RathAma. 19When they left RathAma, they camped in Remmon Phares. 20And when they left Remmon Phares, they camped in Lebona. 21After leaving Lebona, they camped in Ressan. 22Then they left Ressan and camped in MakelLath. 23After MakelLath, they camped in Saphar. 24When they left Saphar, they camped in CharaDath. 25Then they left CharaDath and camped in MakelOth. 26And they left MakelOth, and camped in KataAth. 27Then they left KataAth and camped in TarAth. 28After leaving TarAth, they camped in MathecCa. 29Then they left MathecCa and camped in Selmona. 30After Selmona, they camped in MasurUth. 31And from MasurUth they went to BanaYa. 32And after leaving BanaYa, they camped at Mount GadGad. 33After leaving Mount GadGad, they camped in EteBatha. 34When they left EteBatha, they camped in Ebrona. 35After Ebrona, they camped in Gesion Gaber. 36Then they left Gesion Gaber and camped in the Sin Desert. Thereafter, they left the Sin Desert and camped in the Pharan Desert at Cades. 37And when they left Cades, they camped at Mount Or, near the land of Edom. 38It was there at Mount Or that Aaron the Priest climbed the mountain, following Jehovah’s instructions, and died there on the first day of the fifth month, forty years after they left the land of Egypt. 39Aaron was a hundred and twenty-three years old when he died on Mount Or. 40And after Arad (who was the CanaAnite king) heard that the children of Israel were in the land, 41they left Mount Or and camped in Selmona. 42From Selmona they went to Phino, 43and after leaving Phino, they camped in ObOth. 44When they left ObOth, they camped in Gai at the border of Moab. 45Then they left Gai and camped in DaEbon Gad. 46When they left DaEbon Gad, they camped in Gelmon Deblathaim. 47After leaving Gelmon Deblathaim, they camped on the Mountains of Abarim, which border Nabau. 48Then, when they left the Mountains of Abarim, they camped on the west side [of the land] of Moab, by the Jordan River near Jericho. 49So they stayed camped there by the Jordan from AiSimOth to Belsa, west of Moab. 50And it was there that Jehovah spoke to Moses (west of Moab by the Jordan River, close to Jericho) and said, 51‘Now tell the children of Israel that they are to cross the Jordan into the land of CanaAn, 52and they must destroy everyone who lives in that land. They must tear down their altars, destroy all their molded images, and demolish all their [sacred] columns. 53All the inhabitants of the land must be destroyed so they can live there; for I have given this land as their inheritance. 54‘The land that each tribe inherits must be divided in a lottery. And the more people there are in each tribe, the larger their inheritance must be; and the smaller the tribe, the smaller its inheritance… the inheritance must be divided by their tribes and families. 55‘Now, if you don’t destroy the people who live in that land; those who are left will eventually become thorns in your eyes and darts in your sides. They will always be your enemies in this land, 56and the things that I had planned to do to them I’ll do to you.’
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 TWO AND FORTY JOURNEYS OF THE ISRAELITES--FROM EGYPT TO SINAI. (
Num 33:1-
Num 33:15)
These are the journeys of the children of Israel--This chapter may be said to form the winding up of the history of the travels of the Israelites through the wilderness; for the three following chapters relate to matters connected with the occupation and division of the promised land. As several apparent discrepancies will be discovered on comparing the records here given of the journeyings from Sinai with the detailed accounts of the events narrated in the Book of Exodus and the occasional notices of places that are found in that of Deuteronomy, it is probable that this itinerary comprises a list of only the most important stations in their journeys--those where they formed prolonged encampments, and whence they dispersed their flocks and herds to pasture on the adjacent plains till the surrounding herbage was exhausted. The catalogue extends from their departure out of Egypt to their arrival on the plains of Moab.
went forth . . . with their armies--that is, a vast multitude marshalled in separate companies, but regular order.
2 Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the commandment of the Lord--The wisdom of this divine order is seen in the importance of the end to which it was subservient--namely, partly to establish the truth of the history, partly to preserve a memorial of God's marvellous interpositions on behalf of Israel, and partly to confirm their faith in the prospect of the difficult enterprise on which they were entering, the invasion of Canaan.
3 Rameses--generally identified with Heroopoils, now the modern Abu-Keisheid (see on
Exod 12:37), which was probably the capital of Goshen, and, by direction of Moses, the place of general rendezvous previous to their departure.
4 upon their gods--used either according to Scripture phraseology to denote their rulers (the first-born of the king and his princes) or the idolatrous objects of Egyptian worship.
5 pitched in Succoth--that is, "booths"--a place of no note except as a temporary halting place, at Birketel-Hadji, the Pilgrim's Pool [CALMET].
6 Etham--edge, or border of all that part of Arabia-Petrća which lay contiguous to Egypt and was known by the general name of Shur.
7 Pi-hahiroth, Baal-zephon . . . Migdol--(See on
Exod 14:2).
8 Marah--thought to be Ain Howarah, both from its position and the time (three days) it would take them with their children and flocks to march from the water of Ayun Musa to that spot.
9 Elim--supposed to be Wady Ghurundel (see on
Exod 15:27).
10 encamped by the Red Sea--The road from Wady Ghurundel leads into the interior, in consequence of a high continuous ridge which excludes all view of the sea. At the mouth of Wady-et-Tayibeh, after about three days' march, it opens again on a plain along the margin of the Red Sea. The minute accuracy of the Scripture narrative, in corresponding so exactly with the geographical features of this region, is remarkably shown in describing the Israelites as proceeding by the only practicable route that could be taken. This plain, where they encamped, was the Desert of Sin (see on
Exod 16:1).
12 Dophkah . . . Alush . . . Rephidim--These three stations, in the great valleys of El Sheikh and Feiran, would be equivalent to four days' journey for such a host. Rephidim (
Exod 17:6) was in Horeb, the burnt region--a generic name for a hot, mountainous country. [See on
Exod 17:1.]
15 wilderness of Sinai--the Wady Er-Raheh.
16 FROM SINAI TO KADESH AND PLAINS OF MOAB. (Num. 33:16-56)
Kibroth-Hattaavah ("the graves of lust," see on
Num 11:34) --The route, on breaking up the encampment at Sinai, led down Wady Sheikh; then crossing Jebel-et-Tih, which intersected the peninsula, they descended into Wady Zalaka, pitching successively at two brief, though memorable, stations (
Deut 9:22); then they encamped at Hazeroth ("unwalled villages"), supposed to be at Ain-Hadera (see on
Num 11:35). Kadesh, or Kadesh-barnea, is supposed to be the great valley of the Ghor, and the city Kadesh to have been situated on the border of this valley [BURCKHARDT; ROBINSON]. But as there are no less than eighteen stations inserted between Hazeroth and Kadesh, and only eleven days were spent in performing that journey (
Deut 1:2), it is evident that the intermediate stations here recorded belong to another and totally different visit to Kadesh. The first was when they left Sinai in the second month (
Num 1:11;
Num 13:20), and were in Kadesh in August (
Deut 1:45), and "abode many days" in it. Then, murmuring at the report of the spies, they were commanded to return into the desert "by the way of the Red Sea." The arrival at Kadesh, mentioned in this catalogue, corresponds to the second sojourn at that place, being the first month, or April (
Num 20:1). Between the two visits there intervened a period of thirty-eight years, during which they wandered hither and thither through all the region of El-Tih ("wanderings"), often returning to the same spots as the pastoral necessities of their flocks required; and there is the strongest reason for believing that the stations named between Hazeroth (
Num 33:8) and Kadesh (
Num 33:36) belong to the long interval of wandering. No certainty has yet been attained in ascertaining the locale of many of these stations. There must have been more than are recorded; for it is probable that those only are noted where they remained some time, where the tabernacle was pitched, and where Moses and the elders encamped, the people being scattered for pasture in various directions. From Ezion-geber, for instance, which stood at the head of the gulf of Akaba, to Kadesh, could not be much less than the whole length of the great valley of the Ghor, a distance of not less than a hundred miles, whatever might be the exact situation of Kadesh; and, of course, there must have been several intervening stations, though none are mentioned. The incidents and stages of the rest of the journey to the plains of Moab are sufficiently explicit from the preceding chapters.
18 Rithmah ("the place of the broom")--a station possibly in some wady extending westward of the Ghor.
19 Rimmon-parez, or Rimmon--a city of Judah and Simeon (
Josh 15:32); Libnah, so called from its white poplars (
Josh 10:29), or, as some think, a white hill between Kadesh and Gaza (
Josh 10:29); Rissah (El-arish); mount Shapher (Cassius); Moseroth, adjacent to mount Hor, in Wady Mousa. Ezion-geber, near Akaba, a seaport on the western shore of the Elanitic gulf; Wilderness of Zin, on the east side of the peninsula of Sinai; Punon, in the rocky ravines of mount Hor and famous for the mines and quarries in its vicinity as well as for its fruit trees, now Tafyle, on the border of Edom; Abarim, a ridge of rugged hills northwest of the Arnon--the part called Nebo was one of its highest peaks--opposite Jericho. (See on
Deut 10:6).
50 ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you--not, however, by expulsion, but extermination (
Deut 7:1).
and destroy all their pictures--obelisks for idolatrous worship (see on
Lev 26:1).
and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places--by metonymy for all their groves and altars, and materials of worship on the tops of hills.
54 ye shall divide the land by lot--The particular locality of each tribe was to be determined in this manner while a line was to be used in measuring the proportion (
Josh 18:10;
Ps 16:5-
Ps 16:6).
55 But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you--No associations were to be formed with the inhabitants; otherwise, "if ye let remain, they will be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides"--that is, they would prove troublesome and dangerous neighbors, enticing to idolatry, and consequently depriving you of the divine favor and blessing. The neglect of the counsel against union with the idolatrous inhabitants became fatal to them. This earnest admonition given to the Israelites in their peculiar circumstances conveys a salutary lesson to us to allow no lurking habits of sin to remain in us. That spiritual enemy must be eradicated from our nature; otherwise it will be ruinous to our present peace and future salvation.