---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Numbers 33"
description: "CHAPTER 33   :-. TWO AND FORTY
JOURNEYS OF THE
ISRAELITES—FROM EGYPT
TO SINAI. 1. These are the journeys of the
children of Israel—This chapter may be sai"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/numbers/33"
---

CHAPTER 33

. TWO AND FORTY
JOURNEYS OF THE
ISRAELITES—FROM EGYPT
TO SINAI.

**1. These are the journeys of the
children of Israel**—This chapter may be said to form the winding
up of the history of the travels of the Israelites through the
wilderness; for the three following chapters relate to matters
connected with the occupation and division of the promised land. As
several apparent discrepancies will be discovered on comparing the
records here given of the journeyings from Sinai with the detailed
accounts of the events narrated in the Book of Exodus and the
occasional notices of places that are found in that of Deuteronomy,
it is probable that this itinerary comprises a list of only the *most
important* stations in their journeys—those where they formed
prolonged encampments, and whence they dispersed their flocks and
herds to pasture on the adjacent plains till the surrounding herbage
was exhausted. The catalogue extends from their departure out of
Egypt to their arrival on the plains of Moab.
**went forth . . . with their
armies**—that is, a vast multitude marshalled in separate
companies, but regular order.

**2. Moses wrote their goings out
according to their journeys by the commandment of the Lord**—The
wisdom of this divine order is seen in the importance of the end to
which it was subservient—namely, partly to establish the truth of
the history, partly to preserve a memorial of God's marvellous
interpositions on behalf of Israel, and partly to confirm their faith
in the prospect of the difficult enterprise on which they were
entering, the invasion of Canaan.

**3. Rameses**—generally
identified with Heroopoils, now the modern Abu-Keisheid (see on ), which was probably the capital of Goshen, and, by
direction of Moses, the place of general rendezvous previous to their
departure.

**4. upon their gods**—used either
according to Scripture phraseology to denote their rulers (the
first-born of the king and his princes) or the idolatrous objects of
Egyptian worship.

**5. pitched in Succoth**—that is,
"booths"—a place of no note except as a temporary halting
place, at Birketel-Hadji, the Pilgrim's Pool [CALMET].

**6. Etham**—edge, or border of
all that part of Arabia-Petræa which lay contiguous to Egypt and was
known by the general name of Shur.

**7. Pi-hahiroth, Baal-zephon . . .
Migdol**—(See on ).

**8. Marah**—thought to be Ain
Howarah, both from its position and the time (three days) it would
take them with their children and flocks to march from the water of
Ayun Musa to that spot.

**9. Elim**—supposed to be Wady
Ghurundel (see on ).

**10. encamped by the Red Sea**—The
road from Wady Ghurundel leads into the interior, in consequence of a
high continuous ridge which excludes all view of the sea. At the
mouth of Wady-et-Tayibeh, after about three days' march, it opens
again on a plain along the margin of the Red Sea. The minute accuracy
of the Scripture narrative, in corresponding so exactly with the
geographical features of this region, is remarkably shown in
describing the Israelites as proceeding by the only practicable route
that could be taken. This plain, where they encamped, was the Desert
of Sin (see on ).

**12-14. Dophkah . . . Alush . . .
Rephidim**—These three stations, in the great valleys of El
Sheikh and Feiran, would be equivalent to four days' journey for such
a host. Rephidim ([Exodus 17:6](../../../kjv/exodus/17/6)) was
in Horeb, the burnt region—a generic name for a hot, mountainous
country. [See on [Exodus 17:6](../../../kjv/exodus/17/6).]

**15. wilderness of Sinai**—the
Wady Er-Raheh.
. FROM SINAI
TO KADESH AND
PLAINS OF MOAB.

**16-37. Kibroth-Hattaavah** ("the
graves of lust," see on ) —The route, on breaking up the encampment at Sinai, led
down Wady Sheikh; then crossing Jebel-et-Tih, which intersected the
peninsula, they descended into Wady Zalaka, pitching successively at
two brief, though memorable, stations (); then they encamped at Hazeroth ("unwalled villages"),
supposed to be at Ain-Hadera (see on ). Kadesh, or Kadesh-barnea, is supposed to be the great
valley of the Ghor, and the city Kadesh to have been situated on the
border of this valley [BURCKHARDT;
ROBINSON]. But as there
are no less than *eighteen stations* inserted between Hazeroth
and Kadesh, and only eleven days were spent in performing that
journey ([Deuteronomy 1:2](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/1/2)), it is evident
that the intermediate stations here recorded belong to another and
totally different visit to Kadesh. The first was when they left Sinai
in the second month ([Numbers 1:11](../../../kjv/numbers/1/11);
[Numbers 13:20](../../../kjv/numbers/13/20)), and were in Kadesh in
August ([Deuteronomy 1:45](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/1/45)), and "abode
many days" in it. Then, murmuring at the report of the spies,
they were commanded to return into the desert "by the way of the
Red Sea." The arrival at Kadesh, mentioned in this catalogue,
corresponds to the *second* sojourn at that place, being the
*first* month, or April ([Deuteronomy 1:45](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/1/45)). Between the two visits there intervened a period of
thirty-eight years, during which they wandered hither and thither
through all the region of El-Tih ("wanderings"), often
returning to the same spots as the pastoral necessities of their
flocks required; and there is the strongest reason for believing that
the stations named between Hazeroth ([Deuteronomy 1:45](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/1/45)) and Kadesh ([Numbers 33:36](../../../kjv/numbers/33/36))
belong to the long interval of wandering. No certainty has yet been
attained in ascertaining the locale of many of these stations. There
must have been more than are recorded; for it is probable that those
only are noted where they remained some time, where the tabernacle
was pitched, and where Moses and the elders encamped, the people
being scattered for pasture in various directions. From Ezion-geber,
for instance, which stood at the head of the gulf of Akaba, to
Kadesh, could not be much less than the whole length of the great
valley of the Ghor, a distance of not less than a hundred miles,
whatever might be the exact situation of Kadesh; and, of course,
there must have been several intervening stations, though none are
mentioned. The incidents and stages of the rest of the journey to the
plains of Moab are sufficiently explicit from the preceding chapters.

**18. Rithmah** ("the place of
the broom")—a station possibly in some wady extending westward
of the Ghor.

**19. Rimmon-parez,** or Rimmon—a
city of Judah and Simeon (); Libnah, so called from its white poplars (), or, as some think, a white hill between Kadesh and Gaza
([Joshua 10:29](../../../kjv/joshua/10/29)); Rissah (El-arish);
mount Shapher (Cassius); Moseroth, adjacent to mount Hor, in Wady
Mousa. Ezion-geber, near Akaba, a seaport on the western shore of the
Elanitic gulf; Wilderness of Zin, on the east side of the peninsula
of Sinai; Punon, in the rocky ravines of mount Hor and famous for the
mines and quarries in its vicinity as well as for its fruit trees,
now Tafyle, on the border of Edom; Abarim, a ridge of rugged hills
northwest of the Arnon—the part called Nebo was one of its highest
peaks—opposite Jericho. (See on [Joshua 10:29](../../../kjv/joshua/10/29)).

**16-37. Kibroth-Hattaavah** ("the
graves of lust," see on ) —The route, on breaking up the encampment at Sinai, led
down Wady Sheikh; then crossing Jebel-et-Tih, which intersected the
peninsula, they descended into Wady Zalaka, pitching successively at
two brief, though memorable, stations (); then they encamped at Hazeroth ("unwalled villages"),
supposed to be at Ain-Hadera (see on ). Kadesh, or Kadesh-barnea, is supposed to be the great
valley of the Ghor, and the city Kadesh to have been situated on the
border of this valley [BURCKHARDT;
ROBINSON]. But as there
are no less than *eighteen stations* inserted between Hazeroth
and Kadesh, and only eleven days were spent in performing that
journey ([Deuteronomy 1:2](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/1/2)), it is evident
that the intermediate stations here recorded belong to another and
totally different visit to Kadesh. The first was when they left Sinai
in the second month ([Numbers 1:11](../../../kjv/numbers/1/11);
[Numbers 13:20](../../../kjv/numbers/13/20)), and were in Kadesh in
August ([Deuteronomy 1:45](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/1/45)), and "abode
many days" in it. Then, murmuring at the report of the spies,
they were commanded to return into the desert "by the way of the
Red Sea." The arrival at Kadesh, mentioned in this catalogue,
corresponds to the *second* sojourn at that place, being the
*first* month, or April ([Deuteronomy 1:45](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/1/45)). Between the two visits there intervened a period of
thirty-eight years, during which they wandered hither and thither
through all the region of El-Tih ("wanderings"), often
returning to the same spots as the pastoral necessities of their
flocks required; and there is the strongest reason for believing that
the stations named between Hazeroth ([Deuteronomy 1:45](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/1/45)) and Kadesh ([Numbers 33:36](../../../kjv/numbers/33/36))
belong to the long interval of wandering. No certainty has yet been
attained in ascertaining the locale of many of these stations. There
must have been more than are recorded; for it is probable that those
only are noted where they remained some time, where the tabernacle
was pitched, and where Moses and the elders encamped, the people
being scattered for pasture in various directions. From Ezion-geber,
for instance, which stood at the head of the gulf of Akaba, to
Kadesh, could not be much less than the whole length of the great
valley of the Ghor, a distance of not less than a hundred miles,
whatever might be the exact situation of Kadesh; and, of course,
there must have been several intervening stations, though none are
mentioned. The incidents and stages of the rest of the journey to the
plains of Moab are sufficiently explicit from the preceding chapters.

**50-53. ye shall drive out all the
inhabitants of the land from before you**—not, however, by
expulsion, but extermination ().
**and destroy all their
pictures**—obelisks for idolatrous worship (see on ).
**and destroy all their molten
images, and quite pluck down all their high places**—by metonymy
for all their groves and altars, and materials of worship on the tops
of hills.

**54. ye shall divide the land by
lot**—The particular locality of each tribe was to be determined
in this manner while a line was to be used in measuring the
proportion ([Joshua 18:10](../../../kjv/joshua/18/10); [Psalms 16:5](../../../kjv/psalms/16/5);
[Psalms 16:6](../../../kjv/psalms/16/6)).

**55. But if ye will not drive out the
inhabitants of the land from before you**—No associations were to
be formed with the inhabitants; otherwise, "if ye let remain,
they will be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides"—that
is, they would prove troublesome and dangerous neighbors, enticing to
idolatry, and consequently depriving you of the divine favor and
blessing. The neglect of the counsel against union with the
idolatrous inhabitants became fatal to them. This earnest admonition
given to the Israelites in their peculiar circumstances conveys a
salutary lesson to us to allow no lurking habits of sin to remain in
us. That spiritual enemy must be eradicated from our nature;
otherwise it will be ruinous to our present peace and future
salvation.

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