Numbers 33
The Voice
In this next chapter, Moses outlines the Israelites’ journey to this point, and in doing so reminds them of the events that have brought them to this place. In that walk down memory lane, it can be difficult to place the locations within a linear reference of time. The entire book moves through a few months in the first 14 chapters, and suddenly it is 38 years later. After that, time seems to stand still as the people are prepared to go into the promised land. It is hard to determine when things happened in those 38 years.
33 1-2 Based on the meticulous records of departure points Moses kept, at the direction of the Eternal One, he reported that the Israelites’ wilderness journey from Egypt led by Moses and Aaron followed this itinerary: 3 They started out from Rameses in Egypt on Month 1, day 15 (the day after observing the Passover), and were exalted before the Egyptians’ eyes 4 (who were burying their firstborn dead, struck down by God, and whose gods the Eternal was punishing). 5 The Israelites’ first camp after Rameses was Succoth. 6 The next, Etham, was right where the wilderness begins. 7 From Etham, they went toward Pi-hahiroth, facing Baal-zephon, and camped in front of Migdol. 8 From Pi-hahiroth, they crossed the sea and entered the wilderness proper. For three days, they crossed that Etham Wilderness, stopping over at Marah 9 and then Elim. That was a good spot to camp. Elim was an oasis with 12 springs and 70 palm trees. 10 After Elim, their next stop was at the coast of the Red Sea;[a] 11 then they camped in the Sin Wilderness. 12 After leaving Sin, they traveled to Dophkah, 13 then Alush, 14 and then Rephidim. At that point, the people were getting desperate for water and ornery on account of their discomfort and thirst. There, God told Moses to produce water for them from out of a rock.[b] 15 After that, the Sinai Wilderness. 16-17 Their stopping places after Sinai were first Kibroth-hattaavah, then Hazeroth. 18-23 They camped as they moved from place to place through Rithmah, Rimmon-perez, Libnah, Rissah, Kehelathah, and Mount Shepher. 24-27 From there they moved through Haradah, Makheloth, Tahath, and Terah. 28-33 Continuing their journey from place to place, they went through Mithkah, Hashmonah, Moseroth, Bene-jaakan, Hor-haggidgad, and Jotbathah. 34-37 They camped in Abronah, Ezion-geber, Kadesh (in the Zin Wilderness), and then Mount Hor (on the Edomite border). 38 It was at Mount Hor that Aaron the priest went up the mountain and died as the Eternal said he would. That was in the 40th year after the Israelites had left Egypt, and it happened on the first day of the fifth month. 39 Aaron was 123 years old when he died on Mount Hor. 40 That was also when the Canaanite king of Arad, from the Negev region, caught wind of the Israelites’ arrival and attacked them.
One battle between the Amorites (a people of Canaan) and the Israelites seems to be mentioned in four different passages (14:45; 21:1; 33:40; Deuteronomy 1:44). In this chapter, Moses is looking back at what has brought them to this place, ready to enter the land. He rehearses the death of Aaron (20:27–29) and the battle that followed. Initially, the Amorites overcome the Israelites at Hormah (14:45; 33:40; Deuteronomy 1:44) and take prisoners (21:1). Then with the Lord’s help, the Israelites rebound to defeat the king of Arad and rescue the people who have been captured (21:2–4). For some reason, this battle is mentioned in different contexts three times and with two different outcomes.
41-47 After Mount Hor, their next camp site was Zalmonah, then Punon, Oboth, Iye-abarim (on Moab’s border), Dibon-gad, Almon-diblathaim, and Nebo’s foothills of Abarim. 48 From Abarim, they set up camp on the flatlands of Moab, on the western banks of the Jordan River, east of Jericho. 49 Their camp stretched from Beth-jeshimoth on the riverbank to Abel-shittim in the flatlands.
50 In that Moabite flatland, next to the Jordan, east of Jericho, the Eternal One told Moses to speak to the people.
Moses is instructed to remind the people of their mission to take the land and utterly decimate the peoples who are presently living there.
Eternal One: 51 Tell this new generation of Israelites that as soon as they cross the Jordan into Canaan, 52 they must make its inhabitants flee. They must obliterate any carved or molded images of other gods and goddesses and the high places where they’re worshiped. 53 Tell them they must take that land. I promised it to them and have determined they should live in it as their own. 54 Divide it up among the people by clan, and make decisions about who gets what partly based on the size of the groups. But once you’ve made that rough distinction, draw lots for the specific territories. Whatever you draw, that’s how the land shall be allotted. Each of the tribes from Jacob’s extended families shall have their own land. 55 If they do not fully conquer and take the land from its native inhabitants, those remaining people will be a constant irritation, causing trouble and annoyance like thorns in their eyes and barbs in their sides 56 because if they don’t fully dispossess the present occupants, I will do to the Israelites what I would have done to the Canaanites.
Footnotes
- 33:10 Literally, Sea of Reeds
- 33:14 Exodus 17:1
Numbers 33
Darby Translation
33 These are the journeys of the children of Israel, who went forth out of the land of Egypt according to their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron.
2 And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the commandment of Jehovah; and these are their journeys according to their goings out.
3 They journeyed 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 a high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians.
4 And the Egyptians buried those whom Jehovah had smitten among them, all the firstborn; and upon their gods Jehovah executed judgments.
5 And the children of Israel removed from Rameses, and encamped in Succoth.
6 And they removed from Succoth and encamped in Etham, which is at the end of the wilderness.
7 And they removed from Etham, and turned back to Pi-hahiroth, which is opposite Baal-Zephon, and encamped before Migdol.
8 And they removed from before Hahiroth, and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, and went three days' journey in the wilderness of Etham, and encamped in Marah.
9 And they removed from Marah, and came to Elim; and in Elim were twelve springs of water, and seventy palm-trees, and they encamped 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 removed from the wilderness of Sin, and encamped in Dophkah.
13 And they removed from Dophkah, and encamped in Alush.
14 And they removed from Alush, and encamped at Rephidim, where there was no water for the people to drink.
15 And they removed from Rephidim, and encamped in the wilderness of Sinai.
16 And they removed from the wilderness of Sinai, and encamped at Kibroth-hattaavah.
17 And they removed from Kibroth-hattaavah, and encamped at Hazeroth.
18 And they removed from Hazeroth, and encamped in Rithmah.
19 And they removed from Rithmah, and encamped at Rimmon-perez.
20 And they removed from Rimmon-perez, and encamped in Libnah.
21 And they removed from Libnah, and encamped at Rissah.
22 And they removed from Rissah, and encamped in Kehelathah.
23 And they removed from Kehelathah, and encamped in mount Shapher.
24 And they removed from mount Shapher, and encamped in Haradah.
25 And they removed from Haradah, and encamped in Makheloth.
26 And they removed from Makheloth, and encamped at Tahath.
27 And they removed from Tahath, and encamped at Terah.
28 And they removed from Terah, and encamped in Mithcah.
29 And they removed from Mithcah, and encamped in Hashmonah.
30 And they removed from Hashmonah, and encamped in Moseroth.
31 And they removed from Moseroth, and encamped in Bene-Jaakan.
32 And they removed from Bene-Jaakan, and encamped at Hor-hagidgad.
33 And they removed from Hor-hagidgad, and encamped in Jotbathah.
34 And they removed from Jotbathah, and encamped at Abronah.
35 And they removed from Abronah, and encamped at Ezion-geber.
36 And they removed from Ezion-geber, and encamped in the wilderness of Zin, which is Kadesh.
37 And they removed from Kadesh, and encamped in mount Hor, in the border of the land of Edom.
38 And Aaron the priest went up mount Hor by the commandment of Jehovah, and died there, in the fortieth year after the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fifth month, on the first of the month.
39 And Aaron was a hundred and twenty-three years old when he died on mount Hor.
40 And the Canaanite, the king of Arad who dwelt in the south in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the children of Israel.
41 And they removed from mount Hor, and encamped in Zalmonah.
42 And they removed from Zalmonah, and encamped in Punon.
43 And they removed from Punon, and encamped in Oboth.
44 And they removed from Oboth, and encamped in Ijim-Abarim, in the border of Moab.
45 And they removed from Ijim, and encamped in Dibon-Gad.
46 And they removed from Dibon-Gad, and encamped in Almon-Diblathaim.
47 And they removed from Almon-Diblathaim, and encamped in the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo.
48 And they removed from the mountains of Abarim, and encamped in the plains of Moab by the Jordan of Jericho.
49 And they encamped by the Jordan, from Beth-jeshimoth unto Abel-Shittim, in the plains of Moab.
50 And Jehovah spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan of Jericho, saying,
51 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye pass over Jordan into the land of Canaan,
52 then ye shall dispossess all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and ye shall destroy all their figured images, and all their molten images shall ye destroy, and all their high places shall ye lay waste;
53 and ye shall take possession of the land, and dwell therein, for to you have I given the land to possess it.
54 And ye shall take for yourselves the land as an inheritance by lot according to your families: to the many ye shall increase their inheritance, and to the few thou shalt diminish their inheritance: where the lot falleth to him, there shall be each man's [inheritance]; according to the tribes of your fathers shall ye take for yourselves the inheritance.
55 But if ye will not dispossess the inhabitants of the land from before you, those that ye let remain of them shall be thorns in your eyes, and pricks in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land wherein ye dwell.
56 And it shall come to pass that I will do unto you as I thought to do unto them.
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