Numbers 33:1-49 English Standard Version Recounting Israel's Journey 33 These are the stages of the people of Israel, when they went out of the land of Egypt by their companies under the leadership of Moses and Aaron. 2 Moses wrote down their starting places, stage by stage, by command of the LORD, and these are their stages according to their starting places. 3 They set out from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month. On the day after the Passover, the people of Israel went out triumphantly in the sight of all the Egyptians, 4 while the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn, whom the LORD had struck down among them. On their gods also the LORD executed judgments. 5 So the people of Israel set out from Rameses and camped at Succoth. 6 And they set out from Succoth and camped at Etham, which is on the edge of the wilderness. 7 And they set out from Etham and turned back to Pi-hahiroth, which is east of Baal-zephon, and they camped before Migdol. 8 And they set out from before Hahiroth and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, and they went a three days' journey in the wilderness of Etham and camped at Marah. 9 And they set out from Marah and came to Elim; at Elim there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there. 10 And they set out from Elim and camped by the Red Sea. 11 And they set out from the Red Sea and camped in the wilderness of Sin. 12 And they set out from the wilderness of Sin and camped at Dophkah. 13 And they set out from Dophkah and camped at Alush. 14 And they set out from Alush and camped at Rephidim, where there was no water for the people to drink. 15 And they set out from Rephidim and camped in the wilderness of Sinai. 16 And they set out from the wilderness of Sinai and camped at Kibroth-hattaavah. 17 And they set out from Kibroth-hattaavah and camped at Hazeroth. 18 And they set out from Hazeroth and camped at Rithmah. 19 And they set out from Rithmah and camped at Rimmon-perez. 20 And they set out from Rimmon-perez and camped at Libnah. 21 And they set out from Libnah and camped at Rissah. 22 And they set out from Rissah and camped at Kehelathah. 23 And they set out from Kehelathah and camped at Mount Shepher. 24 And they set out from Mount Shepher and camped at Haradah. 25 And they set out from Haradah and camped at Makheloth. 26 And they set out from Makheloth and camped at Tahath. 27 And they set out from Tahath and camped at Terah. 28 And they set out from Terah and camped at Mithkah. 29 And they set out from Mithkah and camped at Hashmonah. 30 And they set out from Hashmonah and camped at Moseroth. 31 And they set out from Moseroth and camped at Bene-jaakan. 32 And they set out from Bene-jaakan and camped at Hor-haggidgad. 33 And they set out from Hor-haggidgad and camped at Jotbathah. 34 And they set out from Jotbathah and camped at Abronah. 35 And they set out from Abronah and camped at Ezion-geber. 36 And they set out from Ezion-geber and camped in the wilderness of Zin (that is, Kadesh). 37 And they set out from Kadesh and camped at Mount Hor, on the edge of the land of Edom. 38 And Aaron the priest went up Mount Hor at the command of the LORD and died there, in the fortieth year after the people of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, on the first day of the fifth month. 39 And Aaron was 123 years old when he died on Mount Hor. 40 And the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the Negeb in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the people of Israel. 41 And they set out from Mount Hor and camped at Zalmonah. 42 And they set out from Zalmonah and camped at Punon. 43 And they set out from Punon and camped at Oboth. 44 And they set out from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim, in the territory of Moab. 45 And they set out from Iyim and camped at Dibon-gad. 46 And they set out from Dibon-gad and camped at Almon-diblathaim. 47 And they set out from Almon-diblathaim and camped in the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo. 48 And they set out from the mountains of Abarim and camped in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho; 49 they camped by the Jordan from Beth-jeshimoth as far as Abel-shittim in the plains of Moab. It's important for one generation to pass the faith onto the next generation and it is important for a nation to remember to publicly tell the story of how God brought them together and has sustained them--especially a people like Israel who were known to be the "people of God." Moses is going to do exactly that as one of the the last things before he is gathered to be with his people (a phrase we use to talk about someone's spirit being taken to heaven to be with the LORD even though their body may die here on earth).
This new generation may not yet have been born when the journey started in the book of Exodus or they may have been too young to remember it, or if they were old enough it may seem fuzzy as it's been a long time (40 years) since some of those events happened--I'm guessing that you would be unlikely to recall events that happened to you 40 years ago with great detail. God had given Moses the insight to chronicle their journey along the way (or have someone do it for him) and now he is able to recount the people's history, but it's really "His Story"--the story of God being the central character and redeeming a people unto Himself to the praise of His glory. This is the "good news" or the "gospel" that the people knew and Moses is sharing it with everyone in that new generation now that judgment has finally come upon the old generation. Every single person listening is going to be called to not be like the old the generation that rebelled and died, but to be a new generation that would repent and believe and be the kind of people that God intended them to be and was calling them to be. Moses starts his history lesson at Passover as that was when the nation of Israel was officially created in a day. It was a victory not only over the people that were holding them as slaves, but it was a victory for God to prove that He was the only true God and that all the gods of the Egyptians (including Pharaoh who they worshiped) could not hold a candle to the LORD and that when the LORD speaks, we should obey and not harden our hearts. Moses then recounted how the LORD brought them to the Red Sea and intentionally made them camp with their backs to the sea so that there was no seemingly no escape from Pharaoh's advancing army when Pharaoh changed his mind and tried to bring all his wrath upon the people of God one last time and imagined he would drive them into the Red Sea, but instead it was Pharaoh and all his men that were drowned in the Red Sea and the same day that the nation of Israel was established, the empire that was Egypt was destroyed. Moses tells of how the LORD brought them into the wilderness and they had no water for three days and then they found nothing but "bitter" water that was undrinkable, and the LORD had Moses cut down a tree and throw it into the bitter water to make it turn sweet, just like the cross of Christ takes that which is "bitter" and transforms it into that which is "sweet" for us. Moses then fast-forwards a bit and says that they wandered through the wilderness of Sin for a while before reaching Mount Sinai. There God spoke to Moses face-to-face and gave the people the Law (not just the 10 Commandments, but everything we see written in the book of Deuteronomy (the second telling of the Law) and we see much of it in the books of Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers as Moses relates the Law to the people). Yes, Moses skipped over some events that I probably. Most of the rest of the story is the list of different places in which they encamped between Mount Sinai and Mount Hor which is at the edge of Edom. This is where we've seen most of the "action" take place recently, but Moses wants to remind them that this is the place where his brother Aaron died and was gathered to be with his people. Moses says that it was at this point that a Canaanite king heard about the people of Israel being on his doorstep, and we'll see in the book of Joshua that the LORD had caused these pagan Canaanites to hear of what the LORD had done and to strike fear in their hearts that judgment was coming upon them and that the LORD even sent hornets before the people to drive out the Canaanites and we'll see how the LORD will hurl hailstones from heaven (like those we read about in the plagues on Egypt) to destroy the armies of the Canaanites to make it clear that the battle belongs to the LORD. The army of Israel was mostly there to worship the LORD for the victory that He had secured (similar to how the Church will watch Jesus secure the victory over His enemies in the last days and all we will do is praise Him for being victories over all the enemies of the LORD, for He is the Captain of the LORD's Army that we will see in the book of Joshua). From there the people lived in the plains of Moab for a while and they are now at the Jordan River--one of natural boundaries that we think of when we think of the land of Israel and a symbol that we as Christians think of as a metaphor of someone "crossing Jordan" to go from living in the wilderness of this life to the Promised Land of heaven that is on the other side. We'll see the book of Joshua mostly begins with the people crossing the Jordan River, but we do see that while Moses will only see the Promised Land from this vantage point physically, he is about to enter the true "Promised Land" of heaven and will metaphorically cross the Jordan River as well. Comments are closed.
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Daniel WestfallI will mostly use this space for recording my "journal" from my daily devotions as I hope to encourage others to read the Bible along with me and to leave a legacy for others. Archives
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