Numbers/Bamidbar 33: "and it shall be: as I thought to do to them, so I will do to you!"

[Imagine yourself among the 2nd generation of Israelites:  

• you were born in the wilderness,
• you were born free unlike your slave-parents who have already died,
  • never catching a glimpse of the Land,
  • much like all their contemporaries
  • except for Mosheh who sees the Land from a distance before he dies,
  • and except for Yahushuwah and Caleb
  • who will lead you into the conquest of your inheritance.  

Surely you heard over and over during your 39 years of journeying,

• not only the anecdotes connected with the exodus,
• but also the miracles your God performed as needed,
• climaxing in meeting HIM on Sinai,
  • the covenant and the commandments,
• blessings received as well as disciplines imposed along the way,
• and just as important, a look back at the journey in terms of territory covered. 

This chapter reads like a travelogue, a review of how far Israel has come, as the opening line states:  

1 These are the marching-stages of the Children of Israel that they went on 
from the land of Egypt, by their forces,
 through the hand of Moshe and Aharon.

 
But while it is a look-back, it is also a look-forward in terms of the stern instructions regarding how to deal with the inhabitants of the Land, the Canaanites and the justification, but worse:  if they do not do as told, they will suffer the same way as the inhabitants.  How clear is YHWH about His instructions?  He makes sure no one will misunderstand! 
 
51. Speak to the sons of Yisra’el, and say to them: When you pass over the Yarden into the land of Kena’an, 

• 52. then you will drive out all the populace of the land from before you,
• and destroy all their figured stones,
• and destroy all their molten images,
• and demolish all their high places:

55. But if you will not drive out the populace of the land from before you,

• then with those that you let remain of them be as pricks in your eyes,
• and as thorns in your sides,
• and they will trouble you in the land where you dwell.

56. And it will come to pass that, as I thought to do to them, so I will do to you.

 Commentary is from Pentateuch and Haftorahs, ed. Dr. J.H. Hertz; translation is EF/Everett Fox The Five Books of Moses.—Admin1.]

XXXIII,1-49.  ITINERARY FROM EGYPT TO JORDAN

This chapter supplies us with the stages of the journey of the Israelites from Egypt to the Plains of Moab.  It was written to serve as a memorial not only of historical interest but of deep religious significance.  Every journey and every halting-place had its suggestions for the instruction, admonition, or encouragement of Israel.  The Midrash says, ‘It may be likened unto a king who had taken his ailing son to a distant place to be cured. On the return journey, the king would lovingly recount to the lad all the experiences they went through at each of their halting-places. “At this spot we slept; at that, we had a cool resting-place from the heat; at the other, you were overcome with pains in the head!”  Israel is God’s child, upon whom He bestows compassion, even as a father bestows compassion on his son.’

 

Numbers/Bamidbar 33

1 These are the marching-stages of the Children of Israel that they went on 
from the land of Egypt, by their forces,
 through the hand of Moshe and Aharon.
2 Moshe wrote down their departures, by their marching-stages, by order of YHVH.
 Now these are their marching-stages, by their departures:

goings forth.  i.e. each place from which they went forth to proceed to another place.

3 They marched from Ra’mses, in the first New-moon, 
on the fifteenth day after the first New-moon;
 on the morrow of the Passover-meal
 the Children of Israel departed with a high hand, before the eyes of all Egypt,

with a high hand.  See Exod. XIV,8.

in the sight of all the Egyptians.  The departure was public.  There was nothing clandestine or ignominious in the way in which they left the land of their oppressors.

4 while Egypt was burying those that YHVH had struck-dead among them, all the firstborn, 
and on their gods, YHVH had rendered judgment.

burying.  Israel was joyous and strong whilst his erstwhile master, Egypt, was bent low and broken.

upon the gods.  See on Exod. XII,12 for the meaning of this phrase.  The false deities of Egypt were made contemptible in the eyes of their worshippers.

5-15.  These verses detail the stages of the journey from Rameses in Egypt to the Wilderness of Sinai.  This is related in Exod. XII,37 and XIX,2.  Two stations, Dophkah and Alush, are not mentioned in Exodus.

5 And the Children of Israel marched on from Ra’mses, and encamped at Sukkot;
6 they marched on from Sukkot and encamped at Eitam, which is at the edge of the wilderness.
7 And they marched on from Eitam and turned toward Pi-ha-hirot, that (runs) along the face of Baal Tzefon, 
and encamped before Migdol.
8 They marched on from Penei Ha-Hirot and crossed in the midst of the Sea into the wilderness; then they marched a journey of three days into the Wilderness of Eitam, 
and encamped at Mara.
9 They marched on from Mara and came to Eilim; 
now in Eilim (were) twelve springs of water and seventy palms, 
and they encamped there.
10 They marched on from Eilim and encamped by the Sea of Reeds.
11 They marched on from the Sea of Reeds and encamped in the Wilderness of Syn.
12 They marched on from the Wilderness of Syn and encamped at Dofka.
13 They marched on from Dofka and encamped at Alush.
14 They marched on from Alush and encamped at Refidim,
 but there was no water there for the people to drink.
15 They marched on from Refidim and encamped in the Wilderness of Sinai.

16-36.  At this distance it is exceedingly difficult to identify the exact route of march, more especially as the names were not names of cities or conspicuous landmarks.  They have changed with the centuries, and the designation of the temporary landmarks was forgotten (Dummelow).

16 They marched on from the Wilderness of Sinai and encamped at Kivrot Ha-Taava.
17 They marched on from Kivrot Ha-Taava and encamped at Hatzerot.
18 They marched on from Hatzerot and encamped at Ritma.
19 They marched on from Ritma and encamped at Rimmon Peretz.
20 They marched on from Rimmon Peretz and encamped at Livna.
21 They marched on from Livna and encamped at Rissa.
22 They marched on from Rissa and encamped at Kehelata.
23 They marched on from Kehelata and encamped at Mount Shefer.
24 They marched on from Mount Shefer and encamped at Harada.
25 They marched on from Harada and encamped at Mak’helot.
26 They marched on from Mak’helot and encamped at Tahat.
27 They marched on from Tahat and encamped at Terah.
28 They marched on from Terah and encamped at Mitka.
29 They marched on from Mitka and encamped at Hashmona.
30 They marched on from Hashmona and encamped at Moserot.
31 They marched on from Moserot and encamped at Benei Ya’kan.
32 They marched on from Benei Ya’kan and encamped at Hor Ha-Gidgad.
33 They marched on from Hor Ha-Gidgad and encamped at Yotvata.
34 They marched on from Yotvata and encamped at Avrona.
35 They marched on from Avrona and encamped at Etzyon Gever.
36 They marched on from Etzyon Gever and encamped in the Wilderness of Tzyn-that is
Kadesh.

37-49.  This section deals with the march, in the fortieth year, to the borders of Moab and the fords of the Jordan.

37 They marched on from Kadesh and encamped at Hill’s Hill, at the edge of the land of Edom.
38 Now Aharon the priest went up on Hill’s Hill, by order of YHVH, 
and died there, in the fortieth year after the going-out of the Children of Israel from the land of Egypt,
 in the fifth New-moon, on the first of the New-moon.
39 Aharon was three and twenty and a hundred years old 
when he died at Hill’s Hill.
40 Now the Canaanite, the king of Arad 
-he sat-as-ruler in the Negev, in the land of Canaan-heard of the coming of the Children of Israel.
41 They marched on from Hill’s Hill and encamped at Tzalmona.
42 They marched on from Tzalmona and encamped at Punon.
43 They marched on from Punon and encamped at Ovot.
44 They marched on from Ovot and encamped at Iyyei Ha-Avarim, in the territory of Moav.
45 They marched on from Iyyim and encamped at Divon Gad.
46 They marched on from Divon Gad and encamped at Almon Divlatayim.
47 They marched on from Almon Divlatayim and encamped in the hills of Avarim/The Region-Across, facing Nevo.
48 They marched on from the hills of the Avarim and encamped in the Plains of Moav, by Jordan-jericho.
49 And they encamped along the Jordan, from Bet Yeshimot as far as Avel Shittim/Acacia Meadow, 
in the Plains of Moav.

50-56.  COMMANDS WITH REGARD TO THE SETTLEMENT IN CANAAN

50 Now YHVH spoke to Moshe in the Plains of Moav, 
by Jordan-jericho, saying:
51 Speak to the Children of Israel, and say to them:
 When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan,
52 you are to dispossess all the settled-folk of the land from before you. 
You are to destroy all their figured-objects, 
all their molten images you are to destroy, 
all their high-places you are to annihilate,

drive out.  i.e. dispossess.  The reason given for this command is that no inducements to idolatry remain in the Promised Land (see Exod. XXIII, 31-33, XXXIV,11-17).

their figured stones. See Lev.XXVI,1.

their high places.  The altars and sanctuaries erected on hills and natural mounds, as was the practice of the Canaanites.

Everything that savoured of idolatry was to be swept away, as being offensive to God and religiously perilous to the Israelites.

53 that you may take-possession of the land and settle in it, 
for to you I have given the land, to possess it.

unto you have I given the land.  The Land is not man’s, but God’s.  ‘The earth is the LORD’s, and the fulness thereof’ (Ps. XXIV,1).  God has a right to do what He will with His own.

54 You shall arrange-inheritance of the land by lots, according to your clans: 
for the many, you are to make-much their inheritance,
 for the few, you are to make-little their inheritance, 
wherever the lot comes out for them there, (so) shall theirs be; 
by the tribes of your fathers you are to receive-inheritance.

by lot. The system of dividing land by lot persisted down to Roman times.  It was in practice in Palestine in the days of R. Jose, a tanna of the second century (contra Kennett, Schweich Lectures 1931, p. 76).

55 But if you do not dispossess the settled-folk of the land from before you,
 those who are left of them shall be 
as barbs in your eyes, as spines in your sides;
 they will assault you on the land that you are settling in,

as pricks in your sides.  A source of continual and unabated vexation.

56 and it shall be: 
as I thought to do to them, so I will do to you!

so will I do unto you.  If they left the Canaanites unexpelled, the end would be the expulsion of Israel.