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

(2) By the commandment of the Lord.—It does not clearly appear whether these words should be understood of the record of the journeys of the Israelites as being made by Moses in obedience to a Divine command, or whether they should be understood of the journeys themselves as being taken in obedience to the Divine command.

(40) And King Arad . . . —See Numbers 21:1, and Note.

(45) From Iim.—Instead of the seven intermediate stations between Ijim, or Iie-abarim, and the plains of Moab, which are mentioned in Numbers 21:11-20, we find only three mentioned in this chapter: viz., Dibon of Gad, Almon-diblathaim, and Mount Abarim before Nebo, none of which agree in name with the stations mentioned in Numbers 21. In regard to the number of stations, the diversity may probably be explained on the supposition that Numbers 21 mentions those stations only which were of historical importance—as, e.g., those from which any military expedition was made—whilst Numbers 33 appears to mention every place in which an organised camp was erected, and in which the Tent of Meeting was formally set up. If this supposition be correct, no difficulty is involved in the fact that fewer stations are named between Mount Hor and Ije-abarim in Numbers 21 than in Numbers 33, whilst more stations are. named between Ije-abarim and Arboth-Moab in Numbers 33 than in Numbers 21. There is a further diversity, however, in the two accounts as regards the names of the intermediate stations between Ije-abarim and the plains of Moab. In respect of the stations between Mount Hor and Ije-abarim, if we suppose Zalmonah to have been the station at which the brazen serpent was set up (see Numbers 21:10, and Note), the difference between the two accounts consists only in the insertion in Numbers 33 of the station at Punon, between Zalmonah and Oboth. In respect of the stations, however, between Ije-abarim and Arboth-Moab there is not only a difference in the number, but also in the names of the stations. But this difference is easily accounted for when it is remembered that a host consisting of 600,000 men, with their wives, children, and cattle, must have extended over a large area, and, in the case of an inhabited country in which towns and villages abounded, may have occupied more than one of these at the same time. (Comp. Numbers 33:49, where the Israelites are represented as encamping “from Beth-jesimoth even unto Abel-shittim.”) Hence there is no difficulty in connecting the formal encampment at Dibon of Gad (Numbers 33:45) with some one or more of the stations on the north of the Arnon mentioned in Numbers 23:13-19, or in connecting Almon-diblathaim, which appears to have been situated on the north or north-west of Dibon (Comp. Jeremiah 48:22, where Beth-diblathaim is mentioned in conjunction with Dibon and Nebo) with Bamoth—i.e., heights—which, if identical with Bamoth-Baal (Numbers 22:4), is mentioned by Joshua (Joshua 13:17) in immediate connection with Dibon. In regard to the last station named in this chapter before the encampment in the plains of Moab—viz., “the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo”—there can be no doubt as to the identity of the station with that in “the valley in the country (or, field) of Moab, at the top of Pisgah,” in Numbers 21:20. According to Deuteronomy 34:1, Mount Nebo was a peak of Pisgah, which, as we learn from Deuteronomy 32:49, was one of the mountains of Abarim; and the place of the burial of Moses, who died upon the top of Pisgah, is described as “the valley”—i.e., the well-known valley—“in the land of Moab” (Deuteronomy 34:6).
In Dibon-gad.—Or, Dibon of Gad. The reference is probably to the fact which has already been mentioned in Numbers 32:34, that the children of Gad rebuilt or fortified Dibon, which stood on the northern side of the river Arnon, and which is one of the towns named in Numbers 32:3 as situated in that portion of the country which the Reubenites and the Gadites desired to possess.

(49) Beth-jesimoth even unto Abel-shittim . . . —See Numbers 22:1, and Note, and Numbers 25:1, where Abel-shittim is mentioned as Shittim.

(52) And destroy all their pictures.—The word which is here rendered “pictures” denotes “imagery,” or “engraved figures.” In Leviticus 26:1 the material named is stone—“a stone of imagery,” i.e., a stone which has been formed into an idol. (Comp. Exodus 34:13, where, however, a different word is used for “ images.”)
All their high places.—Hebrew, bamoth. The reference here is probably to the altars which were frequently erected on the high places. (Comp. Numbers 22:41, where Balaam is brought by Balak “up into the high places of Baal.”)

(54) And ye shall divide the land by lot . . . —See Numbers 26:53-56, and Note.

(56) Moreover it shall come to pass . . . —Better, And it shall come to pass that, as I have thought (or, determined) to do unto them, so will I do unto you. It must be borne in mind that the idolatrous inhabitants of Canaan were never wholly exterminated, and the pernicious influence which they exercised was felt throughout the whole of the history of the Israelites until the judgments threatened against them were finally executed in the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities.