Numbers 33:2

_AND MOSES WROTE THEIR GOINGS OUT ACCORDING TO THEIR JOURNEYS BY THE COMMANDMENT OF THE LORD: AND THESE ARE THEIR JOURNEYS ACCORDING TO THEIR GOINGS OUT._ Moses wrote ... by the commandment of the Lord - namely, in the book (see the notes at Exodus 17:14; Exodus 24:4). 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 marvelous interpositions on behalf of Israel, and partly to confirm their faith in the prospect of the difficult enterprize on winch they were entering-the invasion of Canaan....

1-49 This is a brief review of the travels of the children of Israel through the wilderness. It is a memorable history. In their travels towards Canaan they were continually on the remove. Such is our state in this world; we have here no continuing city, and all our removes in this world are but from one part a desert to another. They were led to and fro, forward and backward, yet were all the while under the direction of the pillar of cloud and fire. God led them about, yet led them the right way. The way God takes in bringing his people to himself is always the best way, though it does not always seem to us the nearest way. Former events are mentioned. Thus we ought to keep in mind the providences of God concerning us and families, us and our land, and the many instances of that Divine care which has led us, and fed us, and kept us all our days hitherto. Few periods of our lives can b...

Verse Numbers 33:2. _AND MOSES WROTE THEIR GOINGS OUT ACCORDING TO THEIR_ _JOURNEYS_] We may consider the whole book of Numbers as a _diary_, and indeed the first _book of travels_ ever published. Dr. Shaw, Dr. Pococke, and several others, have endeavoured to mark out the route of the Israelites, through this great, dreary, and trackless desert, and have ascertained many of the stages here described. Indeed there are sufficient evidences of this important journey still remaining, for the descriptions of many are so particular that the places are readily ascertained by them; but this is not the case with all. Israel was the Church of God in the wilderness, and its unsettled, wandering state under Moses may point out the unsettled state of religion under the law. Their being brought, after the death of Moses, into the promised rest by Joshua, may point out...

This list was written out by Moses at God’s command Numbers 33:2, doubtless as a memorial of God’s providential care for His people throughout this long and trying period. Numbers 33:3. For these places, see the marginal reference. Numbers 33:8 PI-HAHIROTH - Hebrew “Hahiroth,” but perhaps only by an error of transcription. However, the omitted “pi” is only a common Egyptian prefix. WILDERNESS OF ETHAM - i. e., that part of the great wilderness of Shur which adjoined Etham; compare Exodus 15:22

EXPOSITION ITINERARY OF THE WANDERINGS (Numbers 33:1). NUMBERS 33:1 THESE ARE THE JOURNEYS. The Hebrew word מַסְעֵי is rendered σταθμοί_ _by the Septuagint, which means "stages" or "stations." It is, however, quite rightly translated "journeys," for it is the act of setting out and marching from such a place to such another which the word properly denotes (cf. Genesis 13:3; Deuteronomy 10:11). Numbers 33:2

AND MOSES WROTE THEIR GOINGS OUT ACCORDING TO THEIR JOURNEYS, BY THE COMMANDMENT OF THE LORD,.... Which may be understood, either that their journeys were by the commandment of the Lord; so Aben Ezra takes the connection to be, and which is undoubtedly true, and which is expressed plainly elsewhere; for so it was, that when the cloud abode on the tabernacle they rested, and had their stations, and continued as long as the cloud tarried on it, and when that was taken up, then they marched; and thus at the commandment of the Lord they rested, and at the commandment of the Lord they journeyed, see Numbers 9:17 or that Moses wrote the account of their journeys, and several stations, at the commandment of the Lord, that it might be on record, and be read in future ages, and appear to be a fact, that they were led about in a wilderness, in places which were unknown to others, and had no names...

9. THE ENCAMPMENTS IN THE WILDERNESS CHAPTER 33:1-49 _ 1. The first stage: From Egypt to Sinai (Numbers 33:1)_ 2. The second stage: From Sinai to Kadesh (Numbers 33:16) 3. The third stage: From Rithmah to Kadesh-- The 38 years wandering (Numbers 33:18) 4. The fourth stage: From Kadesh to the plain of Moab-- The fortieth year (Numbers 33:37) The chapter shows most blessedly how the eye of God follows the journeys and wanderings of His people and how He keeps record of them. Nothing escapes His watchful eye. And He leads His people in spite of their failures to the promised goal. Noti

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 designate stations on the march from Egypt to Sinai; those in Numbers 33:16 places visited during the forty years-' wanderings; and those in...

WROTE. See note on Exodus 17:14, and App-47. COMMANDMENT. Hebrew "mouth", put by Figure of speech _Metonymy_ (of Cause) for what is spoken by it....

MOSES WROTE THEIR GOINGS OUT, ACCORDING TO THEIR JOURNEYS—AND THESE ARE THEIR JOURNEYS, &C.— Houbigant renders the verse, _For Moses wrote, at the command of the Lord, their journeys, according to their several stages;_ and hence he thinks it may plainly be collected, that a daily journal of their occurrences was written, which was kept as a public deposit, and that the sacred writers (under Divine inspiration) drew their materials principally from these annals. See his note on Deuteronomy 4:34. Bishop Kidder thinks, that the words, _by the command of the Lord,_ may well refer both to their journeyings, which were directed by God, Exodus 13:21; Exodus 14:2 and to Moses's description of them in this place, wh