UNROLL
Dawn over a vast desert of low ridges and wadis, a faint worn track winding away toward far blue mountains past old rings of stones where tents once stood.

The Book of

Numbers 33

Forty years and more than forty campsites. God had Moses write every one of them down.

56 verses≈ 7 min2 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

  1. 1–10Ready at SinaiCounted and ordered
  2. 11–14GrumblingTo Kadesh and refusal
  3. 15–21Forty yearsRebellion and mercy
  4. 22–25BalaamA curse turned to blessing
  5. 26–36A new generationReady for the landChapter 33

Forty-Two Journeys of the Israelites

These are the journeys of the Israelites when they came out of the land of Egypt by their divisions under the leadership of Moses and Aaron. At the LORD’s command, Moses recorded the stages of their journey. These are the stages listed by their starting points:

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On the fifteenth day of the first month, on the day after the Passover, the Israelites set out from Rameses. They marched out defiantly in full view of all the Egyptians,

who were burying all their firstborn, whom the LORD had struck down among them; for the LORD had executed judgment against their gods.

The stages

From Egypt to Sinai

  1. Egypt

    Rameses to Succoth

    The Israelites set out from Rameses and camped at Succoth.

  2. Etham, on the wilderness edge

    They set out from Succoth and camped at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness.

  3. Back to Pi-hahiroth

    They set out from Etham and turned back to Pi-hahiroth, opposite Baal-zephon, and they camped near Migdol.

  4. Across the sea

    Through the sea to Marah

    They set out from Pi-hahiroth and crossed through the sea, into the wilderness, and they journeyed three days into the Wilderness of Etham and camped at Marah.

  5. Elim: twelve springs, seventy palms

    They set out from Marah and came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there.

  6. Camped by the Red Sea

    They set out from Elim and camped by the Red Sea.

  7. Toward Sinai

    The Desert of Sin

    They set out from the Red Sea and camped in the Desert of Sin.

  8. Dophkah

    They set out from the Desert of Sin and camped at Dophkah.

  9. Alush

    They set out from Dophkah and camped at Alush.

  10. Rephidim, with no water

    They set out from Alush and camped at Rephidim, where there was no water for the people to drink.

  11. At Sinai

    The Wilderness of Sinai

    They set out from Rephidim and camped in the Wilderness of Sinai.

An oasis in a desert valley at evening: springs running among reeds, a great grove of date palms, and a camp of dark tents pitched in their shade.

Reflect

Every stage

God had Moses write down every stop, even the ones nobody remembers now: “At the LORD’s command, Moses recorded the stages of their journey.” Marah was bitter and Elim had “twelve springs and seventy palm trees,” and Rephidim had “no water for the people to drink.” He led them through all of it. Look back over the stages of your own life. Write down three places where God brought you through, a hard one and a good one among them, and thank Him for each.

An empty campsite in a wide desert valley at morning: rings of stones where tents stood, the ash of an old fire, a broken clay pot and hoofprints leading away.

The stages

From Sinai to Kadesh

  1. After Sinai

    Kibroth-hattaavah

    They set out from the Wilderness of Sinai and camped at Kibroth-hattaavah.

  2. Hazeroth

    They set out from Kibroth-hattaavah and camped at Hazeroth.

  3. Sites unknown

    Rithmah to Mount Shepher

    They set out from Hazeroth and camped at Rithmah.

    They set out from Rithmah and camped at Rimmon-perez.

    They set out from Rimmon-perez and camped at Libnah.

    They set out from Libnah and camped at Rissah.

    They set out from Rissah and camped at Kehelathah.

    They set out from Kehelathah and camped at Mount Shepher.

  4. Haradah to Hashmonah

    They set out from Mount Shepher and camped at Haradah.

    They set out from Haradah and camped at Makheloth.

    They set out from Makheloth and camped at Tahath.

    They set out from Tahath and camped at Terah.

    They set out from Terah and camped at Mithkah.

    They set out from Mithkah and camped at Hashmonah.

  5. Moseroth to Jotbathah

    They set out from Hashmonah and camped at Moseroth.

    They set out from Moseroth and camped at Bene-jaakan.

    They set out from Bene-jaakan and camped at Hor-haggidgad.

    They set out from Hor-haggidgad and camped at Jotbathah.

  6. To the gulf

    Abronah to Ezion-geber

    They set out from Jotbathah and camped at Abronah.

    They set out from Abronah and camped at Ezion-geber.

  7. Kadesh

    Kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin

    They set out from Ezion-geber and camped at Kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin.

The stages

From Mount Hor to the Jordan

  1. Around Edom

    Zalmonah

    And the Israelites set out from Mount Hor and camped at Zalmonah.

  2. Punon

    They set out from Zalmonah and camped at Punon.

  3. Oboth

    They set out from Punon and camped at Oboth.

  4. Through Moab

    Iye-abarim, on Moab’s border

    They set out from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim on the border of Moab.

  5. Dibon-gad

    They set out from Iyim and camped at Dibon-gad.

  6. Almon-diblathaim

    They set out from Dibon-gad and camped at Almon-diblathaim.

  7. The Abarim, facing Nebo

    They set out from Almon-diblathaim and camped in the mountains of Abarim facing Nebo.

  8. At the Jordan

    The plains of Moab

    They set out from the mountains of Abarim and camped on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho.

  9. Beth-jeshimoth to Abel-shittim

    And there on the plains of Moab they camped by the Jordan, from Beth-jeshimoth to Abel-shittim.

Mount SinaiMount Hor (site uncertain)Plains of MoabRamesesElim (site uncertain)Ezion-geberKadesh

Stylised map · locations approximate

On the map

Forty years on the road

The main stages Moses recorded: out of Egypt from Rameses, by Elim to Mount Sinai, through the long years to Ezion-geber at the head of the gulf, to Kadesh, to Mount Hor on Edom’s border where Aaron died, and around to the plains of Moab across from Jericho. Most sites are uncertain; the route through Sinai is the traditional one, and many of the stops between Sinai and Kadesh are unknown.

Question

Quick question

In the middle of a list of campsites, one stop gets a story of its own.

Where did Aaron die?

Instructions for Occupying Canaan

From the plains of Moab at morning, the Jordan’s green thickets in front and, across the valley, a small walled town beside a palm oasis at the foot of steep, bare hills.

On the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho, the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, you must drive out before you all the inhabitants of the land, destroy all their carved images and cast idols, and demolish all their high places.

You are to take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given you the land to possess. And you are to divide the land by lot according to your clans. Give a larger inheritance to a larger clan and a smaller inheritance to a smaller one. Whatever falls to each one by lot will be his. You will receive an inheritance according to the tribes of your fathers.

0:41

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

A Canaanite hilltop shrine at dusk: a rough stone platform among old oaks, a row of upright standing stones and a small carved stone figure on a low altar, with no one there.

for I have given you the land to possess

Numbers 33:53

But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land before you, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides; they will harass you in the land where you settle. And then I will do to you what I had planned to do to them.”

Pray

Nothing left standing

God told Israel to “destroy all their carved images and cast idols, and demolish all their high places,” and warned that whatever they let remain would become “barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides.” Ask God to show you anything you have let stay in your life that pulls your heart away from Him. Pray for grace to deal with it fully, not halfway, and thank Him that the land, and every good gift, is His to give.

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Numbers 33

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A verse to carry with you

At the LORD’s command, Moses recorded the stages of their journey.

Numbers 33:2

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