Matthew Poole's Commentary These are the journeys of the children of Israel, which went forth out of the land of Egypt with their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron. A relation of the marches and campings of the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan, Numbers 33:1-49. They are commanded to drive out the Canaanites, and destroy their pictures, molten images, and high places, and to divide the land by lot, Numbers 33:50-54. The Canaanites, if not dispossessed, should trouble and vex them; and God would do to them as he thought to do to the others, Numbers 33:55-56. With their armies, i.e. in great number and exact order, as armies march, and they did, Exodus 12:37,38 13:18. 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 would have this done, partly to evince the truth of the history, partly to preserve the remembrance of God’s glorious and miraculous works both of judgment and mercy towards his people, and thereby to confirm their faith in their present difficult undertaking. And they departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the morrow after the passover the children of Israel went out with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians. They all repaired to Rameses by Moses’s order from all parts of the land. In the sight of all the Egyptians. See Exodus 14:8 Numbers 15:30. For the Egyptians buried all their firstborn, which the LORD had smitten among them: upon their gods also the LORD executed judgments. Upon their gods; either, 1. Their princes and rulers, who are sometimes called gods in Scripture; and so this is added by way of amplification, God slew their first-born; not only of the meaner sort, but even of their king and princes. Or, 2. Their false gods, to wit, those beasts which the brutish Egyptians worshipped as gods, which were killed with the rest, for the first-born both of men and beasts were then killed, Exodus 13:5. See Poole "Exodus 12:12"; See Poole "Exodus 18:11". And the children of Israel removed from Rameses, and pitched in Succoth. No text from Poole on this verse. And they departed from Succoth, and pitched in Etham, which is in the edge of the wilderness. No text from Poole on this verse. And they removed from Etham, and turned again unto Pihahiroth, which is before Baalzephon: and they pitched before Migdol. No text from Poole on this verse. And they departed from before Pihahiroth, and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, and went three days' journey in the wilderness of Etham, and pitched in Marah. No text from Poole on this verse. And they removed from Marah, and came unto Elim: and in Elim were twelve fountains of water, and threescore and ten palm trees; and they pitched there. No text from Poole on this verse. And they removed from Elim, and encamped by the Red sea. No text from Poole on this verse. And they removed from the Red sea, and encamped in the wilderness of Sin. No text from Poole on this verse. And they took their journey out of the wilderness of Sin, and encamped in Dophkah. No text from Poole on this verse. And they departed from Dophkah, and encamped in Alush. No text from Poole on this verse. And they removed from Alush, and encamped at Rephidim, where was no water for the people to drink. No text from Poole on this verse. And they departed from Rephidim, and pitched in the wilderness of Sinai. No text from Poole on this verse. And they removed from the desert of Sinai, and pitched at Kibrothhattaavah. No text from Poole on this verse. And they departed from Kibrothhattaavah, and encamped at Hazeroth. No text from Poole on this verse. And they departed from Hazeroth, and pitched in Rithmah. Ritmah; a place in the wilderness of Paran, near Kadesh-barnea. And they departed from Rithmah, and pitched at Rimmonparez. No text from Poole on this verse. And they departed from Rimmonparez, and pitched in Libnah. No text from Poole on this verse. And they removed from Libnah, and pitched at Rissah. No text from Poole on this verse. And they journeyed from Rissah, and pitched in Kehelathah. No text from Poole on this verse. And they went from Kehelathah, and pitched in mount Shapher. No text from Poole on this verse. And they removed from mount Shapher, and encamped in Haradah. No text from Poole on this verse. And they removed from Haradah, and pitched in Makheloth. No text from Poole on this verse. And they removed from Makheloth, and encamped at Tahath. No text from Poole on this verse. And they departed from Tahath, and pitched at Tarah. No text from Poole on this verse. And they removed from Tarah, and pitched in Mithcah. No text from Poole on this verse. And they went from Mithcah, and pitched in Hashmonah. No text from Poole on this verse. And they departed from Hashmonah, and encamped at Moseroth. No text from Poole on this verse. And they departed from Moseroth, and pitched in Benejaakan. Called more fully Beeroth-bene-jaacan, Deu 10:6. And they removed from Benejaakan, and encamped at Horhagidgad. Called Gudgodah, as Jotbathah is called Jotbath, Deu 10:7. And they went from Horhagidgad, and pitched in Jotbathah. No text from Poole on this verse. And they removed from Jotbathah, and encamped at Ebronah. No text from Poole on this verse. And they departed from Ebronah, and encamped at Eziongaber. A place upon the Red Sea, as appears from 1 Kings 9:26 22:48 And they removed from Eziongaber, and pitched in the wilderness of Zin, which is Kadesh. No text from Poole on this verse. And they removed from Kadesh, and pitched in mount Hor, in the edge of the land of Edom. No text from Poole on this verse. And Aaron the priest went up into mount Hor at the commandment of the LORD, and died there, in the fortieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the first day of the fifth month. No text from Poole on this verse. And Aaron was an hundred and twenty and three years old when he died in mount Hor. No text from Poole on this verse. And king Arad the Canaanite, which dwelt in the south in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the children of Israel. No text from Poole on this verse. And they departed from mount Hor, and pitched in Zalmonah. No text from Poole on this verse. And they departed from Zalmonah, and pitched in Punon. No text from Poole on this verse. And they departed from Punon, and pitched in Oboth. No text from Poole on this verse. And they departed from Oboth, and pitched in Ijeabarim, in the border of Moab. No text from Poole on this verse. And they departed from Iim, and pitched in Dibongad. Iim, rather Ijim, i.e. the heaps, as the word signifies, even the heaps of Abarim, last mentioned; the Hebrew word is the same with Ije, Numbers 33:44, only there it is in the construed, and here in the absolute, form. Dibon-gad; so called partly by way of distinction of this from another Dibon, in the portion of Reuben, Joshua 13:17, and partly, because it was rebuilt by the tribe of Gad. And they removed from Dibongad, and encamped in Almondiblathaim. No text from Poole on this verse. And they removed from Almondiblathaim, and pitched in the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo. Of which see Numbers 27:12 Deu 32:49,50 34:1 And they departed from the mountains of Abarim, and pitched in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho. No text from Poole on this verse. And they pitched by Jordan, from Bethjesimoth even unto Abelshittim in the plains of Moab. Abel-shittim; called Shittim, Numbers 25:1, and here Abel-shittim, for the grievous mourning which there was both for the heinous crimes committed, and horrible judgments there inflicted. And the LORD spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying, No text from Poole on this verse. Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye are passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan; No text from Poole on this verse. Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places: Ye shall drive out; not by banishing, but by destroying them, as it is explained, Deu 7:1,2, and elsewhere. Their pictures seem to have been stones curiously engraven, and set up for worship. See Deu 16:22. Molten images. See Exodus 23:24,32 Deu 7:5. High places, i.e. by a metonymy, the chapels, altars, groves, or other means of worship there set up, for the hills themselves could not be destroyed by them. See Poole "Deu 12:2". And ye shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein: for I have given you the land to possess it. No text from Poole on this verse. And ye shall divide the land by lot for an inheritance among your families: and to the more ye shall give the more inheritance, and to the fewer ye shall give the less inheritance: every man's inheritance shall be in the place where his lot falleth; according to the tribes of your fathers ye shall inherit. No text from Poole on this verse. But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell. Pricks in your eyes, i.e. both vexatious and pernicious, for the eye is a tender part, and a wound there is very mischievous. Moreover it shall come to pass, that I shall do unto you, as I thought to do unto them. No text from Poole on this verse. |
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