Commentari biblici

Verse 1. - These are the journeys. The Hebrew word מַסְעֵי is rendered σταθμοί by the Septuagint, which means "stages" or "stations." It is, however, quite rightly translated "journeys," for it is the act of setting out and marching from such a place to such another which the word properly denotes (cf. Genesis 13:3; Deuteronomy 10:11).

XXXIII.

(1) These are the journeys of the children of Israel . . . —The word which is rendered journey appears to denote primarily the breaking up of the encampments, which lasted for very different periods, and which, during the protracted wanderings in the wilderness, may have been of the average duration of a twelvemonth. The list of the encampments is expressly said to have been written by Moses, and it served as a permanent memorial, on the one hand, of the sin and rebellion of the nation, and, on the other hand, of the faithfulness and long-suffering of God in leading and sustaining His people throughout their sojourn in the wilderness.

Numbers 33:1-2. These are the journeys of Israel — As the peculiar providence of God remarkably appeared in the protection and miraculous preservation of the Israelites, from the time they left Egypt till they came to the borders of Canaan, so Moses was particularly commissioned to preserve a history of them for the benefit of posterity. In execution of this commission, he wrote their goings out — Kept an account of their journeys, and of all the remarkable occurrences in the way, for his own satisfaction and the instruction of others. And he here recapitulates the principal stages of their long journey, and sets them all before the reader in one view, that those who would take the pains to examine might be satisfied that it was only by a train of unprecedented miracles that such a multitude of people had been fed and preserved every day, for forty years together, in a barren and unhospitable desert, Jeremiah 2:6; Deuteronomy 29:6. These are their journeys — It is to be observed that Moses only mentions those places where they encamped for some time, passing by others where they only halted for a little refreshment.

Numbers 33:1. These are the journeys of the children of Israel—with their armies— As the journey of the Israelites, from their departure out of Egypt to their arrival in Canaan, was a continued succession of miracles, in which the interposition of Providence was most wonderfully displayed, God thought it proper that Moses should transmit to posterity a journal of their extraordinary travels: in executing which commission, he here recapitulates the principal stages of this long journey, and sets them all before the reader in one view, that those who will take the pains to examine things may be satisfied by what a train of miracles such a multitude of people were fed, supported, and defended for forty years, amidst a barren and inhospitable desart. Jeremiah 2:6. Deuteronomy 29:6. There is no event more memorable, and we may safely say, that, after the history of the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, there is nothing which gives us higher ideas of the Divine Providence, and of its care and dominion over second causes, than this. Dr. Beaumont observes, that "these journeys or removings figured the unstayed state of the church under Moses law otherwise than under the gospel of Christ, where we which have believed do enter into rest; Heb 4:3 by which our immoveable state is prophesied, Isa 33:20 and the accomplishment thereof is shewed by the apostle. Hebrews 12:27-28. Compare with these forty-two stations the forty-two generations from Abraham to Jesus, by whom we have entrance into the kingdom of God; as Joshua carried the people over Jordan into Canaan after these forty-two removings."

return to '

Encampments of the Israelites (1452 BC)

¹ These are the journeys of the children of Israel, which went forth out of the land of Egypt with their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron.
² And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the commandment of the LORD: and these are their journeys according to their goings out.
³ And they 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 with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians.
⁴ For the Egyptians buried all their firstborn, which the LORD had smitten among them: upon their gods also the LORD executed judgments.
⁵ And the children of Israel removed from Rameses, and pitched in Succoth.
⁶ And they departed from Succoth, and pitched in Etham, which is in the edge of the wilderness.
⁷ And they removed from Etham, and turned again unto Pi-hahiroth, which is before Baal-zephon: and they pitched before Migdol.
⁸ And they 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 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.
¹⁰ And they removed from Elim, and encamped by the Red sea.
¹¹ And they removed from the Red sea, and encamped in the wilderness of Sin.
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 Rephidim, where was no water for the people to drink.
¹⁵ And they departed from Rephidim, and pitched in the wilderness of Sinai.
¹⁶ And they removed from the desert of Sinai, and pitched at Kibroth-hattaavah.
¹⁷ And they departed from Kibroth-hattaavah, and encamped at Hazeroth.
¹⁸ And they departed from Hazeroth, and pitched in Rithmah.
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.
³¹ And they departed from Moseroth, and pitched in Bene-jaakan.
³² And they removed from Bene-jaakan, and encamped at Hor-hagidgad.
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 Ezion-gaber.
³⁶ And they removed from Ezion-gaber, and pitched in the wilderness of Zin, which is Kadesh.
³⁷ And they removed from Kadesh, and pitched in mount Hor, in the edge of the land of Edom.
³⁸ And 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 king Arad the Canaanite, which dwelt in the south in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the children of Israel.
⁴¹ And they departed from mount Hor, and pitched in Zalmonah.
⁴² And they departed from Zalmonah, and pitched in Punon.
⁴³ And they departed from Punon, and pitched in Oboth.
⁴⁴ And they departed from Oboth, and pitched in Ije-abarim, in the border of Moab.
⁴⁵ And they departed from Iim, and pitched in Dibon-gad.
⁴⁶ And they removed from Dibon-gad, and encamped in Almon-diblathaim.
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 in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho.
⁴⁹ And they pitched by Jordan, from Beth-jesimoth even unto Abel-shittim in the plains of Moab.

This is a review and brief rehearsal of the travels of the children of Israel through the wilderness. It was a memorable history and well worthy to be thus abridged, and the abridgment thus preserved, to the honour of God that led them and for the encouragement of the generations that followed. Observe here,

I. How the account was kept: Moses wrote their goings out, Nu 33:2. When they began this tedious march, God ordered him to keep a journal or diary, and to insert in it all the remarkable occurrences of their way, that it might be a satisfaction to himself in the review and an instruction to others when it should be published. It may be of good use to private Christians, but especially to those in public stations, to preserve in writing an account of the providences of God concerning them, the constant series of mercies they have experienced, especially those turns and changes which have made some days of their lives more remarkable. Our memories are deceitful and need this help, that we may remember all the way which the Lord our God has led us in this wilderness, De 8:2.

II. What the account itself was. It began with their departure out of Egypt, continued with their march through the wilderness, and ended in the plains of Moab, where they now lay encamped.

1. Some things are observed here concerning their departure out of Egypt, which they are reminded of upon all occasions, as a work of wonder never to be forgotten. (1.) That they went forth with their armies (Nu 33:1), rank and file, as an army with banners. (2.) Under the hand of Moses and Aaron, their guides, overseers, and rulers, under God. (3.) With a high hand, because God's hand was high that wrought for them, and in the sight of all the Egyptians, Nu 33:3. They did not steal away clandestinely (Isa 52:12), but in defiance of their enemies, to whom God had made them such a burdensome stone that they neither could, nor would, nor durst, oppose them. (4.) They went forth while the Egyptians were burying, or at least preparing to bury, their first-born, Nu 33:4. They had a mind good enough, or rather bad enough, still to have detained the Israelites their prisoners, but God found them other work to do. They would have God's first-born buried alive, but God set them a burying their own first-born. (5.) To all the plagues of Egypt it is added here that on their gods also the Lord executed judgments. Their idols which they worshipped, it is probable, were broken down, as Dagon afterwards before the ark, so that they could not consult them about this great affair. To this perhaps there is reference, Isa 19:1, The idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence.

2. Concerning their travels towards Canaan. Observe, (1.) They were continually upon the remove. When they had pitched a little while in one place they departed from that to another. Such is our state in this world; we have here no continuing city. (2.) Most of their way lay through a wilderness, uninhabited, untracked, unfurnished even with the necessaries of human life, which magnifies the wisdom and power of God, by whose wonderful conduct and bounty the thousands of Israel not only subsisted for forty years in that desolate place, but came out at least as numerous and vigorous as they went in. At first they pitched in the edge of the wilderness (Nu 33:6), but afterwards in the heart of it; by less difficulties God prepares his people for greater. We find them in the wilderness of Etham (Nu 33:8), of Sin (Nu 33:11), of Sinai, Nu 33:15. Our removals in this world are but from one wilderness to another. (3.) They were led to and fro, forward and backward, as in a maze or labyrinth, and yet were all the while under the direction of the pillar of cloud and fire. He led them about (De 32:10), and yet led them the right way, Ps 107:7. The way which God takes in bringing his people to himself is always the best way, though it does not always seem to us the nearest way. (4.) Some events are mentioned in this journal, as their want of water at Rephidim (Nu 33:14), the death of Aaron (Nu 33:38,39), the insult of Arad (Nu 33:40); and the very name of Kibroth-hattaavah—the graves of lusts (Nu 33:16), has a story depending upon it. Thus we ought to keep in mind the providences of God concerning us and our families, us and our land, and the many instances of that divine care which has led us, and fed us, and kept us, all our days hitherto. Shittim, the place where the people sinned in the matter of Peor (Nu 25:1), is here called Abel-shittim. Abel signifies mourning (as Ge 50:11), and probably this place was so called from the mourning of the good people of Israel on account of that sin and of God's wrath against them for it. It was so great a mourning that it gave a name to the place.

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.

And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys - We may consider the whole book of Numbers as a diary, and indeed the first book of travels ever published. Dr. Shaw, Dr. Pococke, and several others, have endeavored to mark out the route of the Israelites, through this great, dreary, and trackless desert, and have ascertained many of the stages here described. Indeed there are sufficient evidences of this important journey still remaining, for the descriptions of many are so particular that the places are readily ascertained by them; but this is not the case with all. Israel was the Church of God in the wilderness, and its unsettled, wandering state under Moses may point out the unsettled state of religion under the law. Their being brought, after the death of Moses, into the promised rest by Joshua, may point out the establishment, fixedness, and certainty of that salvation provided by Jesus Christ, of whom Joshua, in name and conduct, was a remarkable type. Mr. Ainsworth imagines that the forty-two stations here enumerated, through which the Israelites were brought to the verge of the promised land, and afterwards taken over Jordan into the rest which God had promised, point out the forty-two generations from Abraham unto Christ, through whom the Savior of the world came, by whose blood we have an entrance into the holiest, and enjoy the inheritance among the saints in light. And Mr. Bromley, in his Way to the Sabbath of Rest, considers each name and place as descriptive of the spiritual state through which a soul passes in its way to the kingdom of God. But in cases of this kind fancy has much more to do than judgment.