Read-Post Through the Bible

[daniel1212av]

(Num 33)  "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 Pihahiroth, which is before Baalzephon: and they pitched before Migdol. {8} And they departed from before Pihahiroth, 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 Kibrothhattaavah. {17} And they departed from Kibrothhattaavah, and encamped at Hazeroth. {18} And they departed from Hazeroth, and pitched in Rithmah. {19} And they departed from Rithmah, and pitched at Rimmonparez. {20} And they departed from Rimmonparez, 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 Benejaakan. {32} And they removed from Benejaakan, and encamped at Horhagidgad. {33} And they went from Horhagidgad, and pitched in Jotbathah. {34} And they removed from Jotbathah, and encamped at Ebronah. {35} And they departed from Ebronah, and encamped at Eziongaber. {36} And they removed from Eziongaber, 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 Ijeabarim, in the border of Moab. {45} And they departed from Iim, and pitched in Dibongad. {46} And they removed from Dibongad, and encamped in Almondiblathaim. {47} And they removed from Almondiblathaim, 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 Bethjesimoth even unto Abelgotcha2tim in the plains of Moab. {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, When ye are passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan; {52} Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places: {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 ye shall divide the land by lot for an inheritance among your families: and to the more ye shall give the more inheritance, and to the fewer ye shall give the less inheritance: every man's inheritance shall be in the place where his lot falleth; according to the tribes of your fathers ye shall inherit. {55} But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell. {56} Moreover it shall come to pass, that I shall do unto you, as I thought to do unto them."

[daniel1212av]

Numbers 33 -
In this chapter we have,  I. A particular account of the removals and encampments of the children of Israel, from their escape out of Egypt to their entrance into Canaan, forty-two in all, with some remarkable events that happened at some of those places (v. 1-49).  II. A strict command given them to drive out all the inhabitants of the land of Canaan, which they were not going to conquer and take possession of (Num_33:50-56). So that the former part of the chapter looks back upon their march through the wilderness, the latter looks forward to their settlement in Canaan. — Henry 

Numbers 33 -
The journeyings of the Israelites written out by Moses, according to the commandment of the Lord, Num_33:1, Num_33:2. They depart from Rameses on the fifteenth day of the first month, on the day after the passover, the first-born of the Egyptians having been slain, Num_33:3, Num_33:4. Their forty-two stations enumerated, vv. 5-49. They are authorized to expel all the former inhabitants, and destroy all remnants of idolatry, Num_33:50-53. The land is to be divided by lot, Num_33:54. Should they not drive out the former inhabitants, they shall be to them as pricks in their eyes and thorns in their sides, Num_33:55. And if not obedient, God will deal with them as he has purposed to do with the Canaanites, Num_33:56. — Clarke

Num 33:1 - TWO AND FORTY JOURNEYS OF THE ISRAELITES--FROM EGYPT TO SINAI. (Num_33:1-15)

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. — JFB

Num 33:1-49 -
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, Num_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, Deu_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 (Num_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, Num_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, Num_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 (Num_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 (Num_33:, of Sin (Num_33:11), of Sinai, Num_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 (Deu_32:10), and yet led them the right way, Psa_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 (Num_33:14), the death of Aaron (Num_33:38, Num_33:39), the insult of Arad (Num_33:40); and the very name of Kibroth-hattaavah - the graves of lusts (Num_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. gotcha2tim, the place where the people sinned in the matter of Peor (Num_25:1), is here called Abel-gotcha2tim. Abel signifies mourning (as Gen_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. — Henry 

[daniel1212av]

Num 33:1-49 -
As the Israelites had ended their wanderings through the desert, when they arrived in the steppes of Moab by the Jordan opposite to Jericho (Num_22:1), and as they began to take possession when the conquered land beyond Jordan was portioned out (ch. 32), the history of the desert wandering closes with a list of the stations which they had left behind them. This list was written out by Moses “at the command of Jehovah” (Num_33:2), as a permanent memorial for after ages, as every station which Israel left behind on the journey from Egypt to Canaan “through the great and terrible desert,” was a memorial of the grace and faithfulness with which the Lord led His people safely “in the desert land and in the waste howling wilderness, and kept him as the apple of His eye, as an eagle fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings” (Exo_19:4; Deu_32:10.).

Numbers 33:16-35
In vv. 16-36 there follow twenty-one names of places where the Israelites encamped from the time that they left the wilderness of Sinai till they encamped in the wilderness of Zin, i.e., Kadesh. The description of the latter as “the wilderness of Zin, which is Kadesh,” which agrees almost word for word with Num_20:1, and still more the agreement of the places mentioned in Num_33:37-49, as the encampments of Israel after leaving Kadesh till their arrival in the steppes of Moab, with the march of the people in the fortieth year as described in Num 20:22-22:

1, put it beyond all doubt that the encampment in the wilderness of Zin, i.e., Kadesh (Num_33:36), is to be understood as referring to the second arrival in Kadesh after the expiration of the thirty-eight years of wandering in the desert to which the congregation had been condemned. Consequently the twenty-one names in vv. 16-36 contain not only the places of encampment at which the Israelites encamped in the second year of their march from Sinai to the desert of Paran at Kadesh, whence the spies were despatched into Canaan, but also those in which they encamped for a longer period during the thirty-eight years of punishment in the wilderness. This view is still further confirmed by the fact that the two first of the stations named after the departure from the wilderness of Sinai, viz., Kibroth-hattaavah and Hazeroth, agree with those named in the historical account in Num_11:34 and Num_11:35. Now if, according to Num_12:16, when the people left Hazeroth, they encamped in the desert of Paran, and despatched the spies thence out of the desert of Zin (Num_13:21), who returned to the congregation after forty days “into the desert of Paran to Kadesh” (Num_13:26), it is as natural as it well can be to seek for this place of encampment in the desert of Paran or Zin at Kadesh under the name of Rithmah, which follows Hazeroth in the present list (Num_33:18). This natural supposition reaches the highest degree of probability, from the fact that, in the historical account, the place of encampment, from which the sending out of the spies took place, is described in so indefinite a manner as the “desert of Paran,” since this name does not belong to a small desert, just capable of holding the camp of the Israelites, but embraces the whole of the large desert plateau which stretches from the central mountains of Horeb in the south to the mountains of the Amorites, which really form part of Canaan, and contains no less than 400 (? 10,000 English) square miles. In this desert the Israelites could only pitch their camp in one particular spot, which is called Rithmah in the list before us; whereas in the historical account the passage is described, according to what the Israelites performed and experienced in this encampment, as near to the southern border of Canaan, and is thus pointed out with sufficient clearness for the purpose of the historical account. To this we may add the coincidence of the name Rithmah with the Wady Abu Retemat, which is not very far to the south of Kadesh, “a wide plain with shrubs and retem,” i.e., broom (Robinson, i. p. 279), in the neighbourhood of which, and behind the chalk formation which bounds it towards the east, there is a copious spring of sweet water called Ain el Kudeirât. This spot was well adapted for a place of encampment for Israel, which was so numerous that it might easily stretch into the desert of Zin, and as far as Kadesh.

The seventeen places of encampment, therefore, that are mentioned in vv. 19-36 between Rithmah and Kadesh, are the places at which Israel set up in the desert, from their return from Kadesh into the “desert of the way to the Red Sea” (Num_14:25), till the reassembling of the whole congregation in the desert of Zin at Kadesh (Num_20:1).

Of all the seventeen places not a single one is known, or can be pointed out with certainty, except Eziongeber. Only the four mentioned in Num_33:30-33, Moseroth, Bene-Jaakan, Hor-hagidgad, and Jotbathah, are referred to again, viz., in Deu_10:6-7, where Moses refers to the divine protection enjoyed by the Israelites in their wandering in the desert, in these words: “And the children of Israel took their journey from Beeroth-bene-Jaakan to Mosera; there Aaron died, and there he was buried.... From thence they journeyed unto Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of water-brooks.” Of the identity of the places mentioned in the two passages there can be no doubt whatever. Bene Jaakan is simply an abbreviation of Beeroth-bene-Jaakan, wells of the children of Jaakan. Now if the children of Jaakan were the same as the Horite family of Kanan mentioned in Gen_36:27, - and the reading יעקן for ועקן in 1Ch_1:42 seems to favour this-the wells of Jaakan would have to be sought for on the mountains that bound the Arabah on either the east or west.
Gudgodah is only a slightly altered and abbreviated form of Hor-hagidgad, the cave of Gidgad or Gudgodah; and lastly, Moseroth is simply the plural form of Mosera. But notwithstanding the identity of these four places, the two passages relate to different journeys. Deu_10:6 and Deu_10:7 refers to the march in the fortieth year, when the Israelites went from Kadesh through the Wady Murreh into the Arabah to Mount Hor, and encamped in the Arabah first of all at the wells of the children, and then at Mosera, where Aaron died upon Mount Hor, which was in the neighbourhood, and whence they travelled still farther southwards to Gudgodah and Jotbathah. In the historical account in Num 20 and 21 the three places of encampment, Bene-Jaakan, Gudgodah, and Jotbathah, are not mentioned, because nothing worthy of note occurred there. Gudgodah was perhaps the place of encampment mentioned in Num_21:4, the name of which is not given, where the people were punished with fiery serpents; and Jotbathah is probably to be placed before Zalmonah (Num_33:41). The clause, “a land of water-brooks” (Deu_10:7), points to a spot in or near the southern part of the Arabah, where some wady, or valley with a stream flowing through it, opened into the Arabah from either the eastern or western mountains, and formed a green oasis through its copious supply of water in the midst of the arid steppe. But the Israelites had encamped at the very same places once before, namely, during their thirty-seven years of wandering, in which the people, after returning from Kadesh to the Red Sea through the centre of the great desert of et Tih, after wandering about for some time in the broad desert plateau, went through the Wady el Jerafeh into the Arabah as far as the eastern border of it on the slopes of Mount Hor, and there encamped at Mosera (Moseroth) somewhere near Ain et Taiyibeh (on Robinson's map), and then crossed over to Bene-Jaakan, which was probably on the western border of the Arabah, somewhere near Ain el Ghamr (Robinson), and then turning southwards passed along the Wady el Jeib by Hor-gidgad (Gudgodah), Jotbathah, and Abronah to Eziongeber on the Red Sea; for there can be no doubt whatever that the Eziongeber in Num_33:35, Num_33:36, and that in Deu_2:8, are one and the same town, viz., the well-known port at the northern extremity of the Elanitic Gulf, where the Israelites in the time of Solomon and Jehoshaphat built a fleet to sail to Ophir (1Ki_9:26; 1Ki_22:49). It was not far from Elath (i.e., Akaba), and is supposed to have been “the large and beautiful town of Asziun,” which formerly stood, according to Makrizi, near to Aila, where there were many dates, fields, and fruit-trees, though it has now long since entirely disappeared.

Consequently the Israelites passed twice through a portion of the Arabah in a southerly direction towards the Red Sea, the second time from Wady Murreh by Mount Hor, to go round the land of Edom, not quite to the head of the gulf, but only to the Wady el Ithm, through which they crossed to the eastern side of Edomitis; the first time during the thirty-seven years of wandering from Wady el Jerafeh to Moseroth and Bene Jaakan, and thence to Eziongeber.  — K+D (abridged)

[daniel1212av]

Num_33:36
“And they removed from Eziongeber, and encamped in the desert of Zin, that is Kadesh:” the return to Kadesh towards the end of the thirty-ninth year is referred to here. The fact that no places of encampment are given between Eziongeber and Kadesh, is not to be attributed to the “plan of the author, to avoid mentioning the same places of encampment a second time,” for any such plan is a mere conjecture; but it may be simply and perfectly explained from the fact, that on this return route-which the whole of the people, with their wives, children, and flocks, could accomplish without any very great exertion in ten or fourteen days, as the distance from Aila to Kadesh through the desert of Paran is only about a forty hours' journey upon camels, and Robinson travelled from Akabah to the Wady Retemath, near Kadesh, in four days and a half-no formal camp was pitched at all, probably because the time of penal wandering came to an end at Eziongeber, and the time had arrived when the congregation was to assemble again at Kadesh, and set out thence upon its journey to Canaan. - Hence the eleven names given in Num_33:19-30, between Rithmah and Moseroth, can only refer to those stations at which the congregation pitched their camp for a longer or shorter period during the thirty-seven years of punishment, on their slow return from Kadesh to the Red Sea, and previous to their entering the Arabah and encamping at Moseroth.

This number of stations, which is very small for thirty-seven years (only seventeen from Rithmah or Kadesh to Eziongeber), is a sufficient proof that the congregation of Israel was not constantly wandering about during the whole of that time, but may have remained in many of the places of encampment, probably those which furnished an abundant supply of water and pasturage, not only for weeks and months, but even for years, the people scattering themselves in all directions round about the place where the tabernacle was set up, and making use of such means of support as the desert afforded, and assembling together again when this was all gone, for the purpose of travelling farther and seeking somewhere else a suitable spot for a fresh encampment. Moreover, the words of Deu_1:46, “ye abode in Kadesh many days,” when compared with Num_2:1, “then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness of the way to the Red Sea,” show most distinctly, that after the sentence passed upon the people in Kadesh (Num 14), they did not begin to travel back at once, but remained for a considerable time in Kadesh before going southwards into the desert.
With regard to the direction which they took, all that can be said, so long as none of the places of encampment mentioned in Num_33:19-29 are discovered, is that they made their way by a very circuitous route, and with many a wide detour, to Eziongeber, on the Red

Num_33:37-49
The places of encampment on the journey of the fortieth year from Kadesh to Mount Hor, and round Edom and Moab into the steppes of Moab, have been discussed at Num 20 and 21. On Mount Hor, and Aaron's death there, see at Num_20:22. For the remark in Num_33:40 concerning the Canaanites of Arad, see at Num_21:1. On Zalmonah, Phunon, and Oboth, see at Num_21:10; on Ijje Abarim, at Num_21:11; on Dibon Gad, Almon Diblathaim, and the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo, Num_21:16-20. On Arboth Moab, see Num_22:1. — K+D (abridged).

Num 33:50-56 -
These instructions, with which the eyes of the Israelites were directed to the end of all their wandering, viz., the possession of the promised land, are arranged in two sections by longer introductory formulas (Num_33:50 and Num_35:1). The former contains the divine commands (a) with regard to the extermination of the Canaanites and their idolatry, and the division of the land among the tribes of Israel (Num_33:50-56); (b) concerning the boundaries of Canaan (Num_34:1-15); (c) concerning the men who were to divide the land (Num_34:16-29). The second contains commands (a) respecting the towns to be given up to the Levites (Num_35:1-8); (b) as to the setting apart of cities of refuge for unintentional manslayers, and the course to be adopted in relation to such manslayers (Num 35:9-34); and (c) a law concerning the marrying of heiresses within their own tribes

(Num_36:1-13). - The careful dovetailing of all these legal regulations by separate introductory formulas, is a distinct proof that the section Num_33:50-56 is not to be regarded, as Baumgarten, Knobel, and others suppose, in accordance with the traditional division of the chapters, as an appendix or admonitory conclusion to the list of stations, but as the general legal foundation for the more minute instructions in Num 34-36.

Num_33:50-56
Command to Exterminate the Canaanites, and Divide their Land among the Families of Israel.

Num_33:51-53
When the Israelites passed through the Jordan into the land of Canaan, they were to exterminate all the inhabitants of the land, and to destroy all the memorials of their idolatry; to take possession of the land and well therein, for Jehovah had given it to them for a possession. הורישׁ, to take possession of (Num_33:53, etc.), then to drive out of their possession, to exterminate (Num_33:52; cf. Num_14:12, etc.). On Num_33:52, see Exo_34:13. משׂכּית, an idol of stone (cf. Lev_26:1). מסּכת צלמי, idols cast from brass. Massecah, see at Exo_32:4. Bamoth, altars of the Canaanites upon high places (see Lev_26:30).

Num_33:54-56
The command to divide the land by lot among the families is partly a verbal repetition of Num_26:53-56. וגו לו יצא אל־אשׁר: literally, “into that, whither the lot comes out to him, shall be to him” (i.e., to each family); in other words, it is to receive that portion of land to which the lot that comes out of the urn shall point it. “According to the tribes of your fathers:” see at Num_26:55. - The command closes in Num_33:55, Num_33:56, with the threat, that if they did not exterminate the Canaanites, not only would such as were left become “thorns in their eyes and stings in their sides,” i.e., inflict the most painful injuries upon them, and make war upon them in the land; but Jehovah would also do the very same things to the Israelites that He had intended to do to the Canaanites, i.e., drive them out of the land and destroy them. This threat is repeated by Joshua in his last address to the assembled congregation (Jos_23:13).  — K+D

Vs. 51-53: The children of Israel were to dispossess out all the inhabitants and destroy all vestiges of their idolatry. So also we are to be crucified to the world, putting to death the deeds and heart affections of the flesh, replacing it with that which is from above. (Rm. 6-8) May i do better in this today.

[daniel1212av]

(Num 34)  "And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, {2} Command the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land of Canaan; (this is the land that shall fall unto you for an inheritance, even the land of Canaan with the coasts thereof:) {3} Then your south quarter shall be from the wilderness of Zin along by the coast of Edom, and your south border shall be the outmost coast of the salt sea eastward: {4} And your border shall turn from the south to the ascent of Akrabbim, and pass on to Zin: and the going forth thereof shall be from the south to Kadeshbarnea, and shall go on to Hazaraddar, and pass on to Azmon: {5} And the border shall fetch a compass from Azmon unto the river of Egypt, and the goings out of it shall be at the sea. {6} And as for the western border, ye shall even have the great sea for a border: this shall be your west border. {7} And this shall be your north border: from the great sea ye shall point out for you mount Hor: {8} From mount Hor ye shall point out your border unto the entrance of Hamath; and the goings forth of the border shall be to Zedad: {9} And the border shall go on to Ziphron, and the goings out of it shall be at Hazarenan: this shall be your north border. {10} And ye shall point out your east border from Hazarenan to Shepham: {11} And the coast shall go down from Shepham to Riblah, on the east side of Ain; and the border shall descend, and shall reach unto the side of the sea of Chinnereth eastward: {12} And the border shall go down to Jordan, and the goings out of it shall be at the salt sea: this shall be your land with the coasts thereof round about. {13} And Moses commanded the children of Israel, saying, This is the land which ye shall inherit by lot, which the LORD commanded to give unto the nine tribes, and to the half tribe: {14} For the tribe of the children of Reuben according to the house of their fathers, and the tribe of the children of Gad according to the house of their fathers, have received their inheritance; and half the tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance: {15} The two tribes and the half tribe have received their inheritance on this side Jordan near Jericho eastward, toward the sunrising. {16} And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, {17} These are the names of the men which shall divide the land unto you: Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun. {18} And ye shall take one prince of every tribe, to divide the land by inheritance. {19} And the names of the men are these: Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh. {20} And of the tribe of the children of Simeon, Shemuel the son of Ammihud. {21} Of the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad the son of Chislon. {22} And the prince of the tribe of the children of Dan, Bukki the son of Jogli. {23} The prince of the children of Joseph, for the tribe of the children of Manasseh, Hanniel the son of Ephod. {24} And the prince of the tribe of the children of Ephraim, Kemuel the son of Shiphtan. {25} And the prince of the tribe of the children of Zebulun, Elizaphan the son of Parnach. {26} And the prince of the tribe of the children of Issachar, Paltiel the son of Azzan. {27} And the prince of the tribe of the children of Asher, Ahihud the son of Shelomi. {28} And the prince of the tribe of the children of Naphtali, Pedahel the son of Ammihud. {29} These are they whom the LORD commanded to divide the inheritance unto the children of Israel in the land of Canaan."

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Numbers 34 -
In this chapter God directs Moses, and he is to direct Israel,  I. Concerning the bounds and borders of the land of Canaan (Num_34:1-15).  II. Concerning the division and distribution of it to the tribes of Israel (Num_34:16, etc.). — Henry 

Numbers 34 -
The land of Canaan is described, Num_34:1, Num_34:2. The south quarter, Num_34:3-5. The western border, Num_34:6. The north border, Num_34:7-9. The east border, Num_34:10-12. This land to be divided by lot among the nine tribes and half, Num_34:13; two tribes and half, Reuben and Gad, and the half of Manasseh, having already got their inheritance on the east side of Jordan, Num_34:14, Num_34:15. Eleazar the priest, and Joshua, to assist in dividing the land, Num_34:16, Num_34:17; and with them a chief out of every tribe, Num_34:18. The names of the twelve chiefs, Num_34:19-29. -Clarke
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Num 34:1-15 -
Canaan was of small extent; as it is here bounded, it is but about 160 miles in length, and about 50 in breadth; yet this was the country promised to the father of the faithful, and the possession of the seed of Israel. This was that little spot of ground, in which alone, for many ages, God was known. This was the vineyard of the Lord, the garden enclosed; but as it is with gardens and vineyards, the narrowness of the space was made up by the fruitfulness of the soil. Though the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof, yet few know him, and serve him; but those few are happy, because fruitful to God. Also, see how little a share of the world God gives to his own people. Those who have their portion in heaven, have reason to be content with a small pittance of this earth. Yet a little that a righteous man has, having it from the love of God, and with his blessing, is far better and more comfortable than the riches of many wicked. — MHCC

Num 34:1-15 -
We have here a particular draught of the line by which the land of Canaan was meted, and bounded, on all sides. God directs Moses to settle it here, not as a geographer in his map, merely to please the curious, but as a prince in his grant, that it may be certainly known what passes, and is conveyed, by the grant. There was a much larger possession promised them, which in due time they would have possessed if they had been obedient, reaching even to the river Euphrates, Deu_11:24. And even so far the dominion of Israel did extend in David's time and Solomon's, 2Ch_9:26. But this which is here described is Canaan only, which was the lot of the nine tribes and a half, for the other two and a half were already settled, Num_34:14, Num_34:15. Now concerning the limits of Canaan observe,

I. That it was limited within certain bounds: for God appoints the bounds of our habitation, Act_17:26. The borders are set them,

1. That they might know whom they were to dispossess, and how far the commission which was given them extended (Num_33:53), that they should drive out the inhabitants. Those that lay within these borders, and those only, they must destroy; hitherto their bloody sword must go, and no further.

2. That they might know what to expect the possession of themselves. God would not have his people to enlarge their desire of worldly possessions, but to know when they have enough, and to rest satisfied with it. The Israelites themselves must not be placed alone in the midst of the earth, but must leave room for their neighbours to live by them. God sets bounds to our lot; let us then set bounds to our desires, and bring our mind to our condition.
II. That it lay comparatively in a very little compass: as it is here bounded, it is reckoned to be but about 160 miles in length and about fifty in breadth; perhaps it did not contain more than half as much ground as England, and yet this is the country which was promised to the father of the faithful and was the possession of the seed of Israel. This was that little spot of ground in which only, for many ages, God was known, and his name was great, Psa_76:1. This was the vineyard of the Lord, the garden enclosed; but, as it is with gardens and vineyards, the narrowness of the extent was abundantly compensated by the extraordinary fruitfulness of the soil, otherwise it could not have subsisted so numerous a nation as did inhabit it. See here then,

1. How small a part of the world God has for himself. Though the earth is his, and the fullness thereof, yet few have the knowledge of him and serve him; but those few are happy, very happy, because fruitful to God.

2. How small a share of the world God often gives to his own people. Those that have their portion in heaven have reason to be content with a small pittance of this earth; but, as here, what is wanting in quantity is made up in quality; a little that a righteous man has, having it from the love of God and with his blessing, is far better and more comfortable than the riches of many wicked, Psa_37:16.

III. It is observable what the bounds and limits of it were.

1. Canaan was itself a pleasant land (so it is called Dan_8:9), and yet it bordered upon wilderness and seas, and was surrounded with divers melancholy prospects. Thus the vineyard of the church is compassed on all hands with the desert of this world, which serves as a foil to it, to make it appear the more beautiful for situation.

2. Many of its borders were its defences and natural fortifications, to render the access of enemies the more difficult, and to intimate to Israel that the God of nature was their protector, and with his favour would compass them as with a shield.

3. The border reached to the river of Egypt (Num_34:5), that the sight of that country which they could look into out of their own might remind them of their bondage there, and their wonderful deliverance thence.

4. Their border is here made to begin at the Salt Sea (Num_34:3), and there it ends, Num_34:12. This was the remaining lasting monument of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. That pleasant fruitful vale in which these cities stood became a lake, which was never stirred by any wind, bore no vessels, was replenished with no fish, no living creature of any sort being found in it, therefore called the Dead Sea. This was part of their border, that it might be a constant warning to them to take heed of those sins which had been the ruin of Sodom; yet the iniquity of Sodom was afterwards found in Israel (Eze_16:49), for which Canaan was made, though not a salt sea as Sodom, yet a barren soil, and continues so to this day.

5. Their western border was the Great Sea (Num_34:6), which is now called the Mediterranean. Some consider this sea itself to have been a part of their possession, and that by virtue of this grant, they had the dominion of it, and, if they had not forfeited it by sin, might have rode masters of it. — Henry 
 

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Num 34:16-29 -
God here appoints commissioners for the dividing of the land to them. The conquest of it is taken for granted, though as yet there was never a stroke struck towards it. Here is no nomination of the generals and commanders-in-chief that should carry on the war; for they were to get the land in possession, not by their own sword or bow, but by the power and favour of God; and so confident must they be of victory and success while God fought for them that the persons must now be named who should be entrusted with the dividing of the land, that is, who should preside in casting the lots, and determine controversies that might arise, and see that all was done fairly.

1. The principal commissioners, who were of the quorum, were Eleazar and Joshua (Num_34:17), typifying Christ, who, as priest and king, divides the heavenly Canaan to the spiritual Israel; yet, as they were to go by the lot, so Christ acknowledges the disposal must be by the will of the Father, Mat_20:23. Compare, Eph_1:11.

2. Besides these, that there might be no suspicion of partiality, a prince of each tribe was appointed to inspect this matter, and to see that the tribe he served for was in no respect injured. Public affairs should be so managed as not only to give their right to all, but, if possible, to give satisfaction to all that they have justice done them., It is a happiness to a land to have the princes of their people meet together, some out of every tribe, to concert the affairs that are of common concern, a constitution which is the abundant honour, ease, and safety, of the nation that is blessed with it.

3. Some observe that the order of the tribes here very much differs from that in which they hitherto, upon all occasions, been named, and agrees with the neighbourhood of their lots in the division of the land. Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin, the first three here named, lay close together; the inheritance of Dan lay next them on one side, that of Ephraim and Manasseh on another side; Zebulun and Issachar lay abreast more northerly, and, lastly, Asher and Naphtali most northward of all, as is easy to observe in looking over a map of Canaan; this (says bishop Patrick) is an evidence that Moses was guided by a divine Spirit in his writings. Known unto God are all his works beforehand, and what is new and surprising to us he perfectly foresaw, without any confusion or uncertainty. — Henry 


Num 34:19-28 - And the names of the men are these,.... Which were not left to the tribes to choose, but were nominated by the Lord himself, who best knew their capacities and qualifications for this service:

of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh: who was one of the two spies that brought a good report of the land, and Joshua is the other; and these were the only two of the spies living, and who are the first that were appointed to this service, of overseeing the division of the land; the rest were all of the new generation, that were sprung up, whose fathers fell in the wilderness, and we know no more of them than their names; and therefore from hence, to the end of Num_34:28, no further remarks are necessary, only that the tribes and the princes are reckoned in a different order than they were at any time before, either at the first numbering of them, Num_1:1 or at the offerings for the dedication of the altar, Num_7:1 or at the taking the sum of them, Num_26:1 even according to the order of their situation in the land of Canaan by their lots, and which Moses did not live to see; and which therefore shows the prescience and predisposing providence of God, and that Moses, as Bishop Patrick observes, was guided by a divine Spirit in all his writings. — Gill

 

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Num 32:28-42 -
Here,

1. Moses settles this matter with Eleazar, and with Joshua who was to be his successor, knowing that he himself must not live to see it perfected, Num_32:28-30. He gives them an estate upon condition, leaving it to Joshua, if they fulfilled the condition, to declare the estate absolute: “If they will not go over with you,” he does not say “you shall give them no inheritance at all,” but “you shall not give them this inheritance which they covet. if their militia will not come over with you, compel the whole tribes to come over, and let them take their lot with their brethren, and fare as they fare; they shall have possessions in Canaan, and let them not expect that the lot will favour them.” Hereupon they repeat their promise to adhere to their brethren, v. 31, 32.

2. Moses settles them in the land they desired. He gave it to them for a possession, v. 33. Here is the first mention of the half tribe of Manasseh coming in with them for a share; probably they had not joined with them in the petition, but, the land when it came to be apportioned proving to be too much for them, this half tribe had a lot among them, perhaps at their request, or by divine direction, or because they had signalized themselves in the conquest of this country: for the children of Machir, a stout and warlike family, had taken Gilead and dispossessed the Amorites, v. 39. “Let them win it and wear it, get it and take it.” And, they being celebrated for their courage and bravery, it was for the common safety to put them in this frontier-country. Concerning the settlement of these tribes observe,

(1.) They built the cities, that is, repaired them, because either they had been damaged by the war or the Amorites had suffered them to go to decay.

 (2.) They changed the names of them (v. 38), either to show their authority, that the change of the names might signify the change of their owners, or because their names were idolatrous, and carried in them a respect to the dunghill-deities that were there worshipped. Nebo and Baal were names of their gods, which they were forbidden to make mention of (Exo_23:13), and which, by changing the names of these cities, they endeavoured to bury in oblivion; and God promises to take away the names of Baalim out of the mouths of his people, Hos_2:17.

Lastly, It is observable that, as these tribes were now first placed before the other tribes, so, long afterwards, they were displaced before the other tribes. We find that they were carried captive into Assyria some years before the other tribes, 2Ki_15:29. Such a proportion does Providence sometimes observe in balancing prosperity and adversity; he sets the one over-against the other. — Henry 

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(Num 32)  "Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle: and when they saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead, that, behold, the place was a place for cattle; {2} The children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spake unto Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and unto the princes of the congregation, saying, {3} Ataroth, and Dibon, and Jazer, and Nimrah, and Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Shebam, and Nebo, and Beon, {4} Even the country which the LORD smote before the congregation of Israel, is a land for cattle, and thy servants have cattle: {5} Wherefore, said they, if we have found grace in thy sight, let this land be given unto thy servants for a possession, and bring us not over Jordan. {6} And Moses said unto the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben, Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here? {7} And wherefore discourage ye the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the LORD hath given them? {8} Thus did your fathers, when I sent them from Kadeshbarnea to see the land. {9} For when they went up unto the valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, that they should not go into the land which the LORD had given them. {10} And the LORD'S anger was kindled the same time, and he sware, saying, {11} Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me: {12} Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite, and Joshua the son of Nun: for they have wholly followed the LORD. {13} And the LORD'S anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation, that had done evil in the sight of the LORD, was consumed. {14} And, behold, ye are risen up in your fathers' stead, an increase of sinful men, to augment yet the fierce anger of the LORD toward Israel. {15} For if ye turn away from after him, he will yet again leave them in the wilderness; and ye shall destroy all this people. {16} And they came near unto him, and said, We will build sheepfolds here for our cattle, and cities for our little ones: {17} But we ourselves will go ready armed before the children of Israel, until we have brought them unto their place: and our little ones shall dwell in the fenced cities because of the inhabitants of the land. {18} We will not return unto our houses, until the children of Israel have inherited every man his inheritance. {19} For we will not inherit with them on yonder side Jordan, or forward; because our inheritance is fallen to us on this side Jordan eastward. {20} And Moses said unto them, If ye will do this thing, if ye will go armed before the LORD to war, {21} And will go all of you armed over Jordan before the LORD, until he hath driven out his enemies from before him, {22} And the land be subdued before the LORD: then afterward ye shall return, and be guiltless before the LORD, and before Israel; and this land shall be your possession before the LORD. {23} But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out. {24} Build you cities for your little ones, and folds for your sheep; and do that which hath proceeded out of your mouth. {25} And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben spake unto Moses, saying, Thy servants will do as my lord commandeth. {26} Our little ones, our wives, our flocks, and all our cattle, shall be there in the cities of Gilead: {27} But thy servants will pass over, every man armed for war, before the LORD to battle, as my lord saith. {28} So concerning them Moses commanded Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the chief fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel: {29} And Moses said unto them, If the children of Gad and the children of Reuben will pass with you over Jordan, every man armed to battle, before the LORD, and the land shall be subdued before you; then ye shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession: {30} But if they will not pass over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan. {31} And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben answered, saying, As the LORD hath said unto thy servants, so will we do. {32} We will pass over armed before the LORD into the land of Canaan, that the possession of our inheritance on this side Jordan may be ours.

{33} And Moses gave unto them, even to the children of Gad, and to the children of Reuben, and unto half the tribe of Manasseh the son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, the land, with the cities thereof in the coasts, even the cities of the country round about. {34} And the children of Gad built Dibon, and Ataroth, and Aroer, {35} And Atroth, Shophan, and Jaazer, and Jogbehah, {36} And Bethnimrah, and Bethharan, fenced cities: and folds for sheep. {37} And the children of Reuben built Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Kirjathaim, {38} And Nebo, and Baalmeon, (their names being changed,) and Shibmah: and gave other names unto the cities which they builded. {39} And the children of Machir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead, and took it, and dispossessed the Amorite which was in it. {40} And Moses gave Gilead unto Machir the son of Manasseh; and he dwelt therein. {41} And Jair the son of Manasseh went and took the small towns thereof, and called them Havothjair. {42} And Nobah went and took Kenath, and the villages thereof, and called it Nobah, after his own name."

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Numbers 32 -
The Reubenites and Gadites request Moses to give them their inheritance on this side of Jordan, Num_32:1-5. Moses expostulates with and reproves them, Num_32:6-15. They explain themselves, and propose conditions, with which Moses is satisfied - they are to build cities for their wives and children, and folds for their cattle, and go ever Jordan armed with the other tribes, and fight against their enemies till the land is subdued; after which they are to return, Num_32:16-27. Moses proposes the business to Eleazar, Joshua, and the elders, Num_32:28-30. The Gadites and Reubenites promise a faithful observance of the conditions, Num_32:31, Num_32:32; on which Moses assigns to them, and the half tribe of Manasseh, the kingdom of Sihon, king of the Amorites, and the kingdom of Og, king of Bashan, Num_32:33. The cities built by the Gadites, Num_32:34-36. The cities built by the Reubenites, Num_32:37, Num_32:38. The children of Machir, the son of Manasseh, expel the Amorites from Gilead, Num_32:39, which Moses grants to them, Num_32:40. Jair, the son of Manasseh, takes the small towns of Gilead, Num_32:41. And Nobah takes Kenath and its villages, Num_32:42. — Clarke


Num 32:1-5 - THE REUBENITES AND GADITES ASK FOR AN INHERITANCE. (Num. 32:1-42)

the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead--A complete conquest had been made of the country east of the Jordan, comprising "the land of Jazer," which formed the southern district between the Arnon and Jabbok and "the land of Gilead," the middle region between the Jabbok and Jarmouk, or Hieromax, including Bashan, which lay on the north of that river. The whole of this region is now called the Belka. It has always been famous for its rich and extensive pastures, and it is still the favorite resort of the Bedouin shepherds, who frequently contend for securing to their immense flocks the benefit of its luxuriant vegetation. In the camp of ancient Israel, Reuben and Gad were pre-eminently pastoral; and as these two tribes, being placed under the same standard, had frequent opportunities of conversing and arranging about their common concerns, they united in preferring a request that the trans-jordanic region, so well suited to the habits of a pastoral people, might be assigned to them. — JFB

Num 32:1-15 -
Israel's tents were now pitched in the plains of Moab, where they continued many months, looking back upon the conquests they had already made of the land of Sihon and Og, and looking forward to Canaan, which they hoped in a little while to make themselves masters of. While they made this stand, and were at a pause, this great affair of the disposal of the conquests they had already made was here concerted and settled, not by any particular order or appointment of God, but at the special instance and request of two of the tribes, to which Moses, after a long debate that arose upon it, consented. For even then, when so much was done by the extraordinary appearances of divine Providence, many things were left to the direction of human prudence; for God, in governing both the world and the church, makes use of the reason of men, and serves his own purposes by it.

I. Here is a motion made by the Reubenites and the Gadites, that the land which they had lately possessed themselves of, and which in the right of conquest belonged to Israel in common, might be assigned to them in particular for their inheritance: upon the general idea they had of the land of promise, they supposed this would be about their proportion. Reuben and Gad were encamped under the same standard, and so had the better opportunity of comparing notes, and settling this matter between themselves. In the first verse the children of Reuben are named first, but afterwards the children of Gad (Num_32:2, Num_32:25, Num_32:31), either because the Gadites made the first motion and were most forward for it, or because they were the better spokesmen and had more of the art of management, Reuben's tribe still lying under Jacob's sentence, he shall not excel. Two things common in the world induced these tribes to make this choice and this motion upon it, the lust of the eye and the pride of life, 1Jo_2:16.

1. The lust of the eye. This land which they coveted was not only beautiful for situation, and pleasant to the eye, but it was good for food, food for cattle; and they had a great multitude of cattle, above the rest of the tribes, it is supposed because they brought more out of Egypt, than the rest did; but that was forty years before, and stocks of cattle increase and decrease in less time than that; therefore I rather think they had been better husbands of their cattle in the wilderness, had tended them better, had taken more care of the breed, and not been so profuse as their neighbours in eating the lambs out of the flock and the calves out of the midst of the stall. Now they, having these large stocks, coveted land proportionable. Many scriptures speak of Bashan and Gilead as places famous for cattle; they had been so already, and therefore these tribes hoped they would be so to them, and whatever comes of it here they desire to take their lot. The judicious Calvin thinks there was much amiss in the principle they went upon, and that they consulted their own private convenience more than the public good, that they had not such regard to the honour and interest of Israel, and the promise made to Abraham of the land of Canaan (strictly so called), as they ought to have had. And still it is too true that many seek their own things more than the things of Jesus Christ (Phi_2:21), and that many are influenced by their secular interest and advantage to take up short of the heavenly Canaan. Their spirits agree too well with this world, and with the things that are seen, that are temporal; and they say, “It is good to be here,” and so lose what is hereafter for want of seeking it. Lot thus chose by the sight of the eye, and smarted for his choice. Would we choose our portion aright we must look above the things that are seen.

2. Perhaps there was something of the pride of life in it. Reuben was the first-born of Israel, but he had lost his birthright. Several of the tribes, and Judah especially, had risen above him, so that he could not expect the best lot in Canaan; and therefore, to save the shadow of a birthright, when he had forfeited the substance, he here catches at the first lot, though it was out of Canaan, and far off from the tabernacle. Thus Esau sold his birthright, and yet got to be served first with an inheritance in Mount Seir. The tribe of Gad descended from the first-born of Zilpah, and were like pretenders with the Reubenites; and Manasseh too was a first-born, but knew he must be eclipsed by Ephraim his younger brother, and therefore he also coveted to get precedency.

II. Moses's dislike of this motion, and the severe rebuke he gives to it, as a faithful prince and prophet.

1. It must be confessed that prima facie - at first sight, the thing looked ill, especially the closing words of their petition: Bring us not over Jordan, Num_32:5

(1.) It seems to proceed from a bad principle, a contempt of the land of promise, which Moses himself was so desirous of a sight of, a distrust too of the power of God to dispossess the Canaanites, as if a lot in a land which they knew, and which was already conquered, was more desirable than a lot in a land they knew not, and which was yet to be conquered: one bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. There seemed also to be covetousness in it; for that which they insisted on was that it was convenient for their cattle. It argued likewise a neglect of their brethren, as if they cared not what became of Israel, while they themselves were well provided for.

(2.) It might have been of bad consequence. The people might have taken improper hints from it, and have suggested that they were few enough, when they had their whole number, to deal with the Canaanites, but how unequal would the match be if they should drop two tribes and a half (above a fifth part of their strength) on this side Jordan. It would likewise be a bad precedent; if they must have the land thus granted them as soon as it was conquered, other tribes might make the same pretensions and claims, and so the regular disposition of the land by lot would be anticipated.

2. Moses is therefore very warm upon them, which is to be imputed to his pious zeal against sin, and not to any peevishness, the effect of old age, for his meekness abated not, any more than his natural force. (1.) He shows them what he apprehended to be evil in this motion, that it would discharge the heart of their brethren, Num_32:6, Num_32:7. “What!” (says he, with a holy indignation at their selfishness) “shall your brethren go to war, and expose themselves to all the hardships and hazards of the field, and shall you sit here at your ease? No, do not deceive yourselves, you shall never be indulged by me in this sloth and cowardice.” It ill becomes any of God's Israel to sit down unconcerned in the difficult and perilous concernments of their brethren, whether public or personal.

(2.) He reminds them of the fatal consequences of the unbelief and faint-heartedness of their fathers, when they were just ready to enter Canaan, as they themselves now were. He recites the story very particularly (Num_32:8-13): “Thus did your fathers, whose punishment should be a warning to you to take heed of sinning after the similitude of their transgression.”... — Henry

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(3.) He gives them fair warning of the mischief that would be likely to follow upon this separation which they were about to make from the camp of Israel; they would be in danger of bringing wrath upon the whole congregation, and hurrying them all back again into the wilderness (Num_32:14, Num_32:15): “You have risen up in your fathers' stead to despise the pleasant land and reject it as they did, when we hoped you had risen up in their stead to possess it.” It was an encouragement to Moses to see what an increase of men there was in these tribes, but a discouragement to see that it was withal an increase of sinful men, treading in the steps of their fathers' impiety. It is sad to see the rising generation in families and countries not only no better, but worse than that which went before it; and what comes of it? Why, it augments the fierce anger of the Lord; not only continues that fire, but increases it, and fills the measure, often till it overflows in a deluge of desolation. Note, If men did but consider as they ought, what would be the end of sin, they would be afraid of the beginnings of it. — Henry

Num 32:16-27 -
We have here the accommodating of the matter between Moses and the two tribes, about their settlement on this side Jordan. Probably the petitioners withdrew, and considered with themselves what answer they should return to the severe reproof Moses had given them; and, after some consultation, they return with this proposal, that their men of war should go and assist their brethren in the conquest of Canaan, and they would leave their families and flocks behind them in this land: and thus they might have their request, and no harm would be done. Now it is uncertain whether they designed this at first when they brought their petition or no. If they did, it is an instance how often that which is honestly meant is unhappily misinterpreted; yet Moses herein was excusable, for he had reason to suspect the worst of them, and the rebuke he gave them was from the abundance of his care to prevent sin. But, if they did not, it is an instance of the good effect of plain dealing; Moses, by showing them their sin, and the danger of it, brought them to their duty without murmuring or disputing. They object not that their brethren were able to contend with the Canaanites without their help, especially since they were sure of God's fighting for them; but engage themselves to stand by them.

I. Their proposal is very fair and generous, and such as, instead of disheartening, would rather encourage their brethren.

1. That their men of war, who were fit for service, would go ready armed before the children of Israel into the land of Canaan. So far would they be from deserting them that, if it were thought fit, they would lead them on, and be foremost is all dangerous enterprises. So far were they from either distrusting or despising the conquest of Canaan that they would assist in it with the utmost readiness and resolution.

2. That they would leave behind them their families and cattle (which would otherwise be but the incumbrance of their camp), and so they would be the more serviceable to their brethren, Num_32:16.

3. That they would not return to their possessions till the conquest of Canaan was completed, Num_32:18. Their brethren should have their best help as long as they needed it.

4. That yet they would not expect any share of the land that was yet to be conquered (Num_32:19): “We will not desire to inherit with them, nor, under colour of assisting them in the war, put in for a share with them in the land; no, we will be content with our inheritance on this side Jordan, and there will be so much the more on yonder side for them.”

II. Moses thereupon grants their request, upon consideration that they would adhere to their proposals.

1. He insists much upon it that they should never lay down their arms till their brethren laid down theirs. They promised to go armed before the children of Israel, Num_32:17. “Nay,” says Moses, “you shall go armed before the Lord, Num_32:20, Num_32:21. It is God's cause more than your brethren's, and to him you must have an eye, and not to them only.” Before the Lord, that is, before the ark of the Lord, the token of his presence, which, it should seem, they carried about with them in the wars of Canaan, and immediately before which these two tribes were posted, as we find in the order of their march, Num_2:10, Num_2:17.

2. Upon this condition he grants them this land for their possession, and tells them they shall be guiltless before the Lord and before Israel, Num_32:22. They should have the land, and neither sin nor blame should cleave to it, neither sin before God nor blame before Israel; and, whatever possessions we have, it is desirable thus to come guiltless to them. But,

3. He warns them of the danger of breaking their word: “If you fail, you sin against the Lord (Num_32:23), and not against your brethren only, and be sure your sin will find you out;” that is, “God will certainly reckon with you for it, though you may make a light matter of it.” Note, Sin will, without doubt, find out the sinner sooner or later. It concerns us therefore to find our sins out, that we may repent of them and forsake them, lest our sins find us out to our ruin and confusion.

III. They unanimously agree to the provisos and conditions of the grant, and do, as it were, give bond for performance, by a solemn promise: Thy servants will do as my lord commandeth, Num_32:25. Their brethren had all contributed their assistance to the conquest of this country, which they desired for a possession, and therefore they owned themselves obliged in justice to help them in the conquest of that which was to be their possession. Having received kindness, we ought to return it, though it was not so conditioned when we received it. We may suppose that this promise was understood, on both sides, so as not to oblige all that were numbered of these tribes to go over armed, but those only that were fittest for the expedition, who would be most serviceable, while it was necessary that some should be left to till the ground and guard the country; and accordingly we find that about 40,000 of the two tribes and a half went over armed (Jos_4:13), whereas their whole number was about 100,000. — Henry 


Num 32:28-42 -
Here,

1. Moses settles this matter with Eleazar, and with Joshua who was to be his successor, knowing that he himself must not live to see it perfected, Num_32:28-30. He gives them an estate upon condition, leaving it to Joshua, if they fulfilled the condition, to declare the estate absolute: “If they will not go over with you,” he does not say “you shall give them no inheritance at all,” but “you shall not give them this inheritance which they covet. if their militia will not come over with you, compel the whole tribes to come over, and let them take their lot with their brethren, and fare as they fare; they shall have possessions in Canaan, and let them not expect that the lot will favour them.” Hereupon they repeat their promise to adhere to their brethren, v. 31, 32.

2. Moses settles them in the land they desired. He gave it to them for a possession, v. 33. Here is the first mention of the half tribe of Manasseh coming in with them for a share; probably they had not joined with them in the petition, but, the land when it came to be apportioned proving to be too much for them, this half tribe had a lot among them, perhaps at their request, or by divine direction, or because they had signalized themselves in the conquest of this country: for the children of Machir, a stout and warlike family, had taken Gilead and dispossessed the Amorites, v. 39. “Let them win it and wear it, get it and take it.” And, they being celebrated for their courage and bravery, it was for the common safety to put them in this frontier-country. Concerning the settlement of these tribes observe,

(1.) They built the cities, that is, repaired them, because either they had been damaged by the war or the Amorites had suffered them to go to decay.

 (2.) They changed the names of them (v. 38), either to show their authority, that the change of the names might signify the change of their owners, or because their names were idolatrous, and carried in them a respect to the dunghill-deities that were there worshipped. Nebo and Baal were names of their gods, which they were forbidden to make mention of (Exo_23:13), and which, by changing the names of these cities, they endeavoured to bury in oblivion; and God promises to take away the names of Baalim out of the mouths of his people, Hos_2:17.

Lastly, It is observable that, as these tribes were now first placed before the other tribes, so, long afterwards, they were displaced before the other tribes. We find that they were carried captive into Assyria some years before the other tribes, 2Ki_15:29. Such a proportion does Providence sometimes observe in balancing prosperity and adversity; he sets the one over-against the other. — Henry 

[daniel1212av]

(Num 33)  "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 Pihahiroth, which is before Baalzephon: and they pitched before Migdol. {8} And they departed from before Pihahiroth, 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 Kibrothhattaavah. {17} And they departed from Kibrothhattaavah, and encamped at Hazeroth. {18} And they departed from Hazeroth, and pitched in Rithmah. {19} And they departed from Rithmah, and pitched at Rimmonparez. {20} And they departed from Rimmonparez, 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 Benejaakan. {32} And they removed from Benejaakan, and encamped at Horhagidgad. {33} And they went from Horhagidgad, and pitched in Jotbathah. {34} And they removed from Jotbathah, and encamped at Ebronah. {35} And they departed from Ebronah, and encamped at Eziongaber. {36} And they removed from Eziongaber, 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 Ijeabarim, in the border of Moab. {45} And they departed from Iim, and pitched in Dibongad. {46} And they removed from Dibongad, and encamped in Almondiblathaim. {47} And they removed from Almondiblathaim, 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 Bethjesimoth even unto Abelgotcha2tim in the plains of Moab. {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, When ye are passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan; {52} Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places: {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 ye shall divide the land by lot for an inheritance among your families: and to the more ye shall give the more inheritance, and to the fewer ye shall give the less inheritance: every man's inheritance shall be in the place where his lot falleth; according to the tribes of your fathers ye shall inherit. {55} But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell. {56} Moreover it shall come to pass, that I shall do unto you, as I thought to do unto them."

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Numbers 33 -
In this chapter we have,  I. A particular account of the removals and encampments of the children of Israel, from their escape out of Egypt to their entrance into Canaan, forty-two in all, with some remarkable events that happened at some of those places (v. 1-49).  II. A strict command given them to drive out all the inhabitants of the land of Canaan, which they were not going to conquer and take possession of (Num_33:50-56). So that the former part of the chapter looks back upon their march through the wilderness, the latter looks forward to their settlement in Canaan. — Henry 

Numbers 33 -
The journeyings of the Israelites written out by Moses, according to the commandment of the Lord, Num_33:1, Num_33:2. They depart from Rameses on the fifteenth day of the first month, on the day after the passover, the first-born of the Egyptians having been slain, Num_33:3, Num_33:4. Their forty-two stations enumerated, vv. 5-49. They are authorized to expel all the former inhabitants, and destroy all remnants of idolatry, Num_33:50-53. The land is to be divided by lot, Num_33:54. Should they not drive out the former inhabitants, they shall be to them as pricks in their eyes and thorns in their sides, Num_33:55. And if not obedient, God will deal with them as he has purposed to do with the Canaanites, Num_33:56. — Clarke

Num 33:1 - TWO AND FORTY JOURNEYS OF THE ISRAELITES--FROM EGYPT TO SINAI. (Num_33:1-15)

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. — JFB

Num 33:1-49 -
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, Num_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, Deu_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 (Num_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, Num_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, Num_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 (Num_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 (Num_33:, of Sin (Num_33:11), of Sinai, Num_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 (Deu_32:10), and yet led them the right way, Psa_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 (Num_33:14), the death of Aaron (Num_33:38, Num_33:39), the insult of Arad (Num_33:40); and the very name of Kibroth-hattaavah - the graves of lusts (Num_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. gotcha2tim, the place where the people sinned in the matter of Peor (Num_25:1), is here called Abel-gotcha2tim. Abel signifies mourning (as Gen_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. — Henry 

[daniel1212av]

Num 33:1-49 -
As the Israelites had ended their wanderings through the desert, when they arrived in the steppes of Moab by the Jordan opposite to Jericho (Num_22:1), and as they began to take possession when the conquered land beyond Jordan was portioned out (ch. 32), the history of the desert wandering closes with a list of the stations which they had left behind them. This list was written out by Moses “at the command of Jehovah” (Num_33:2), as a permanent memorial for after ages, as every station which Israel left behind on the journey from Egypt to Canaan “through the great and terrible desert,” was a memorial of the grace and faithfulness with which the Lord led His people safely “in the desert land and in the waste howling wilderness, and kept him as the apple of His eye, as an eagle fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings” (Exo_19:4; Deu_32:10.).

Num_33:1-15
The first and second verses form the heading: “These are the marches of the children of Israel, which they marched out,” i.e., the marches which they made from one place to another, on going out of Egypt. מסּע does not mean a station, but the breaking up of a camp, and then a train, or march (see at Exo_12:37, and Gen_13:3). לצבאתם (see Exo_7:4). בּיד, under the guidance, as in Num_4:28, and Exo_38:21. למסעיהם מוצאיהם, “their goings out (properly, their places of departure) according to their marches,” is really equivalent to the clause which follows: “their marches according to their places of departure.” The march of the people is not described by the stations, or places of encampment, but by the particular spots from which they set out. Hence the constant repetition of the word ויּסעוּ, “and they broke up.” In Num_33:3-5, the departure is described according to Exo_12:17, Exo_12:37-41. On the judgments of Jehovah upon the gods of Egypt, see at Exo_12:12. “With an high hand:” as in Exo_14:8. - The places of encampment from Succoth to the desert of Sinai (Num_33:5-15) agree with those in the historical account, except that the stations at the Red Sea (Num_33:10) and those at Dophkah and Alush (Num_33:13 and Num_33:14) are passed over there. For Raemses, see at Exo_12:37. Succoth and Etham (Exo_13:20). Pihahiroth (Exo_14:2). “The wilderness” (Num_33:8 ) is the desert of Shur, according to Exo_15:22. Marah, see Exo_15:23. Elim (Exo_15:27). For the Red Sea and the wilderness of Sin, see Exo_16:1. For Dophkah, Alush, and Rephidim, see Exo_17:1; and for the wilderness of Sinai, Exo_19:2.

Numbers 33:16-35
In vv. 16-36 there follow twenty-one names of places where the Israelites encamped from the time that they left the wilderness of Sinai till they encamped in the wilderness of Zin, i.e., Kadesh. The description of the latter as “the wilderness of Zin, which is Kadesh,” which agrees almost word for word with Num_20:1, and still more the agreement of the places mentioned in Num_33:37-49, as the encampments of Israel after leaving Kadesh till their arrival in the steppes of Moab, with the march of the people in the fortieth year as described in Num 20:22-22:

1, put it beyond all doubt that the encampment in the wilderness of Zin, i.e., Kadesh (Num_33:36), is to be understood as referring to the second arrival in Kadesh after the expiration of the thirty-eight years of wandering in the desert to which the congregation had been condemned. Consequently the twenty-one names in vv. 16-36 contain not only the places of encampment at which the Israelites encamped in the second year of their march from Sinai to the desert of Paran at Kadesh, whence the spies were despatched into Canaan, but also those in which they encamped for a longer period during the thirty-eight years of punishment in the wilderness. This view is still further confirmed by the fact that the two first of the stations named after the departure from the wilderness of Sinai, viz., Kibroth-hattaavah and Hazeroth, agree with those named in the historical account in Num_11:34 and Num_11:35. Now if, according to Num_12:16, when the people left Hazeroth, they encamped in the desert of Paran, and despatched the spies thence out of the desert of Zin (Num_13:21), who returned to the congregation after forty days “into the desert of Paran to Kadesh” (Num_13:26), it is as natural as it well can be to seek for this place of encampment in the desert of Paran or Zin at Kadesh under the name of Rithmah, which follows Hazeroth in the present list (Num_33:18). This natural supposition reaches the highest degree of probability, from the fact that, in the historical account, the place of encampment, from which the sending out of the spies took place, is described in so indefinite a manner as the “desert of Paran,” since this name does not belong to a small desert, just capable of holding the camp of the Israelites, but embraces the whole of the large desert plateau which stretches from the central mountains of Horeb in the south to the mountains of the Amorites, which really form part of Canaan, and contains no less than 400 (? 10,000 English) square miles. In this desert the Israelites could only pitch their camp in one particular spot, which is called Rithmah in the list before us; whereas in the historical account the passage is described, according to what the Israelites performed and experienced in this encampment, as near to the southern border of Canaan, and is thus pointed out with sufficient clearness for the purpose of the historical account. To this we may add the coincidence of the name Rithmah with the Wady Abu Retemat, which is not very far to the south of Kadesh, “a wide plain with shrubs and retem,” i.e., broom (Robinson, i. p. 279), in the neighbourhood of which, and behind the chalk formation which bounds it towards the east, there is a copious spring of sweet water called Ain el Kudeirât. This spot was well adapted for a place of encampment for Israel, which was so numerous that it might easily stretch into the desert of Zin, and as far as Kadesh.

The seventeen places of encampment, therefore, that are mentioned in vv. 19-36 between Rithmah and Kadesh, are the places at which Israel set up in the desert, from their return from Kadesh into the “desert of the way to the Red Sea” (Num_14:25), till the reassembling of the whole congregation in the desert of Zin at Kadesh (Num_20:1).

Of all the seventeen places not a single one is known, or can be pointed out with certainty, except Eziongeber. Only the four mentioned in Num_33:30-33, Moseroth, Bene-Jaakan, Hor-hagidgad, and Jotbathah, are referred to again, viz., in Deu_10:6-7, where Moses refers to the divine protection enjoyed by the Israelites in their wandering in the desert, in these words: “And the children of Israel took their journey from Beeroth-bene-Jaakan to Mosera; there Aaron died, and there he was buried.... From thence they journeyed unto Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of water-brooks.” Of the identity of the places mentioned in the two passages there can be no doubt whatever. Bene Jaakan is simply an abbreviation of Beeroth-bene-Jaakan, wells of the children of Jaakan. Now if the children of Jaakan were the same as the Horite family of Kanan mentioned in Gen_36:27, - and the reading יעקן for ועקן in 1Ch_1:42 seems to favour this-the wells of Jaakan would have to be sought for on the mountains that bound the Arabah on either the east or west. — K+D

[daniel1212av]

Gudgodah is only a slightly altered and abbreviated form of Hor-hagidgad, the cave of Gidgad or Gudgodah; and lastly, Moseroth is simply the plural form of Mosera. But notwithstanding the identity of these four places, the two passages relate to different journeys. Deu_10:6 and Deu_10:7 refers to the march in the fortieth year, when the Israelites went from Kadesh through the Wady Murreh into the Arabah to Mount Hor, and encamped in the Arabah first of all at the wells of the children, and then at Mosera, where Aaron died upon Mount Hor, which was in the neighbourhood, and whence they travelled still farther southwards to Gudgodah and Jotbathah. In the historical account in Num 20 and 21 the three places of encampment, Bene-Jaakan, Gudgodah, and Jotbathah, are not mentioned, because nothing worthy of note occurred there. Gudgodah was perhaps the place of encampment mentioned in Num_21:4, the name of which is not given, where the people were punished with fiery serpents; and Jotbathah is probably to be placed before Zalmonah (Num_33:41). The clause, “a land of water-brooks” (Deu_10:7), points to a spot in or near the southern part of the Arabah, where some wady, or valley with a stream flowing through it, opened into the Arabah from either the eastern or western mountains, and formed a green oasis through its copious supply of water in the midst of the arid steppe. But the Israelites had encamped at the very same places once before, namely, during their thirty-seven years of wandering, in which the people, after returning from Kadesh to the Red Sea through the centre of the great desert of et Tih, after wandering about for some time in the broad desert plateau, went through the Wady el Jerafeh into the Arabah as far as the eastern border of it on the slopes of Mount Hor, and there encamped at Mosera (Moseroth) somewhere near Ain et Taiyibeh (on Robinson's map), and then crossed over to Bene-Jaakan, which was probably on the western border of the Arabah, somewhere near Ain el Ghamr (Robinson), and then turning southwards passed along the Wady el Jeib by Hor-gidgad (Gudgodah), Jotbathah, and Abronah to Eziongeber on the Red Sea; for there can be no doubt whatever that the Eziongeber in Num_33:35, Num_33:36, and that in Deu_2:8, are one and the same town, viz., the well-known port at the northern extremity of the Elanitic Gulf, where the Israelites in the time of Solomon and Jehoshaphat built a fleet to sail to Ophir (1Ki_9:26; 1Ki_22:49). It was not far from Elath (i.e., Akaba), and is supposed to have been “the large and beautiful town of Asziun,” which formerly stood, according to Makrizi, near to Aila, where there were many dates, fields, and fruit-trees, though it has now long since entirely disappeared.

Consequently the Israelites passed twice through a portion of the Arabah in a southerly direction towards the Red Sea, the second time from Wady Murreh by Mount Hor, to go round the land of Edom, not quite to the head of the gulf, but only to the Wady el Ithm, through which they crossed to the eastern side of Edomitis; the first time during the thirty-seven years of wandering from Wady el Jerafeh to Moseroth and Bene Jaakan, and thence to Eziongeber.  — K+D

Num_33:36
“And they removed from Eziongeber, and encamped in the desert of Zin, that is Kadesh:” the return to Kadesh towards the end of the thirty-ninth year is referred to here. The fact that no places of encampment are given between Eziongeber and Kadesh, is not to be attributed to the “plan of the author, to avoid mentioning the same places of encampment a second time,” for any such plan is a mere conjecture; but it may be simply and perfectly explained from the fact, that on this return route-which the whole of the people, with their wives, children, and flocks, could accomplish without any very great exertion in ten or fourteen days, as the distance from Aila to Kadesh through the desert of Paran is only about a forty hours' journey upon camels, and Robinson travelled from Akabah to the Wady Retemath, near Kadesh, in four days and a half-no formal camp was pitched at all, probably because the time of penal wandering came to an end at Eziongeber, and the time had arrived when the congregation was to assemble again at Kadesh, and set out thence upon its journey to Canaan. - Hence the eleven names given in Num_33:19-30, between Rithmah and Moseroth, can only refer to those stations at which the congregation pitched their camp for a longer or shorter period during the thirty-seven years of punishment, on their slow return from Kadesh to the Red Sea, and previous to their entering the Arabah and encamping at Moseroth.

This number of stations, which is very small for thirty-seven years (only seventeen from Rithmah or Kadesh to Eziongeber), is a sufficient proof that the congregation of Israel was not constantly wandering about during the whole of that time, but may have remained in many of the places of encampment, probably those which furnished an abundant supply of water and pasturage, not only for weeks and months, but even for years, the people scattering themselves in all directions round about the place where the tabernacle was set up, and making use of such means of support as the desert afforded, and assembling together again when this was all gone, for the purpose of travelling farther and seeking somewhere else a suitable spot for a fresh encampment. Moreover, the words of Deu_1:46, “ye abode in Kadesh many days,” when compared with Num_2:1, “then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness of the way to the Red Sea,” show most distinctly, that after the sentence passed upon the people in Kadesh (Num 14), they did not begin to travel back at once, but remained for a considerable time in Kadesh before going southwards into the desert.
With regard to the direction which they took, all that can be said, so long as none of the places of encampment mentioned in Num_33:19-29 are discovered, is that they made their way by a very circuitous route, and with many a wide detour, to Eziongeber, on the Red

Num_33:37-49
The places of encampment on the journey of the fortieth year from Kadesh to Mount Hor, and round Edom and Moab into the steppes of Moab, have been discussed at Num 20 and 21. On Mount Hor, and Aaron's death there, see at Num_20:22. For the remark in Num_33:40 concerning the Canaanites of Arad, see at Num_21:1. On Zalmonah, Phunon, and Oboth, see at Num_21:10; on Ijje Abarim, at Num_21:11; on Dibon Gad, Almon Diblathaim, and the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo, Num_21:16-20. On Arboth Moab, see Num_22:1. — K+D (abridged)