Bible Commentaries
Numbers 33

Verses 1-49

Numbers 33:1-49 . The Itinerary of the Israelites between Egypt and the Jordan (P)— The time covered is rather more than forty years ( Numbers 33:3; Numbers 33:38), and there is probably an artificial correspondence between the number of the years and the number of the stations, which, excluding the terminus (the plain of Moab), amount to Numbers 33:40. The names in Numbers 33:5-15 designate stations on the march from Egypt to Sinai; those in Numbers 33:16-36 places visited during the forty years’ wanderings; and those in Numbers 33:37-49 stations on the march from Kadesh to the Jordan. The writer seems to assume that Kadesh was reached at the end (not the beginning) of the wanderings, and that Israel did not compass but crossed Edom. The citation in 2 of Moses’ authority for the itinerary can at most imply that the writer used some writing which he attributed to Moses.

Numbers 33:8 . Read, “ from Pi-hahiroth” ( Numbers 33:7, Exodus 14:2; Exodus 14:9).

Numbers 33:31 . Moseroth . . . Bene-jaakan: the Moserah and Beeroth Bene-jaakan of Deuteronomy 10:6 (in reverse order)— Hor-haggidgad: the Gudgodah of Deuteronomy 10:7.

Numbers 33:35 . Ezion-geber: this was at the N. end of the Gulf of Akabah, and at a later date a Hebrew seaport ( 1 Kings 9:26 *).

Numbers 33:40 . This parenthetic notice about the king of Arad lacks a conclusion.

Numbers 33:45 . Iyim: the Iye-abarim of Numbers 33:44.— Dibon-gad: the name reflects the occupation of Dibon by the Gadites ( Numbers 32:34).

Numbers 33:49 . Abel Shittim: the Shittim of Numbers 25:1.

Verses 50-56

Numbers 33:50-56 . A Command to Destroy the Objects of Canaanite Worship.— The substance of this is given also in Exodus 23:24; Exodus 34:13, Deuteronomy 12:2 f. With Numbers 33:55 cf. Joshua 23:13, Judges 2:3.

Numbers 33:52 . figured stones: stones covered with idolatrous emblems— high places: since these could be “ demolished,” the expression must here mean not natural heights ( Isaiah 15:2; Isaiah 16:12) but artificial mounds or shrines ( cf. 1 Kings 11:7).

Numbers 33:54 . Render, “ wheresoever the lot falleth for any (family or clan), to that it shall belong.” The lot was an appeal to God ( cf. 1 Samuel 14:41 mg., Acts 1:24-26, Proverbs 16:33, Jonah 1:7).