Numbers 33 Look at the Journal

seekeroftruth

Well-Known Member
Numbers 33:1 Here are the stages in the journey of the Israelites when they came out of Egypt by divisions under the leadership of Moses and Aaron. 2 At the Lord’s command Moses recorded the stages in their journey. This is their journey by stages:

3 The Israelites set out from Rameses on the fifteenth day of the first month, the day after the Passover. They marched out defiantly in full view of all the Egyptians, 4 who were burying all their firstborn, whom the Lord had struck down among them; for the Lord had brought judgment on their gods.

5 The Israelites left Rameses and camped at Sukkoth​

First I went to studylight.org this morning.

The account of Israel’s journey, written by the command of the LORD.

These are the journeys of the children of Israel, who went out of the land of Egypt by their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron. Now Moses wrote down the starting points of their journeys at the command of the LORD. And these are their journeys according to their starting points:

They departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the day after the Passover the children of Israel went out with boldness in the sight of all the Egyptians. For the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn, whom the LORD had killed among them. Also on their gods the LORD had executed judgments.

Though they were slaves, they did not have to shrink out of Egypt; God gave them the boldness to leave as conquerors, not as escaping slaves.

The plagues the LORD brought upon Egypt were not randomly chosen; they were specifically intended to humble the people and rebuke their belief in the bizarre and demonic Egyptian deities.

I got this from a site called bibletrack.org.

Okay, so maybe this chapter is not the most interesting reading, but there is some very helpful information here. For instance, just from reading the incidents of Exodus through Numbers 32, it may seem that Israel did not often break camp and move on during their 40 years in the wilderness. However, there is a gap of 38+ years of recorded activity that begins somewhere between the return of the spies in Numbers 14 (see notes) and the beginning of Numbers 20 (see notes). It cannot be known with absolute certainty when exactly the events of chapters 15-19 took place; but Numbers 16 (see notes) reads like the events of that chapter took place at the beginning of the 38+ years. Also, the instructions of Numbers 17-19 appear to be given in the aftermath of the tragic events of Numbers 16. For that reason, I'm relatively certain that the 38+ year gap takes place between Numbers 19 and 20 (see notes). This record bridges that gap by giving the route which Israel took during this time in verses 19-36. This is the only place in scripture where we get a complete overview (although without details) of their wilderness journey.

The 17 camp sites mentioned in verses 19-36 between Rithmah and Kadesh, are the places at which Israel set up in the desert, from their return from Kadesh into the “desert of the way to the Red Sea” (Numbers 14:25, see notes), till the reassembling of the whole congregation in the desert of Zin at Kadesh (Numbers 20:1, see notes). You may be asking, "Why are the maps of Israel's journey so vague?" The reason is that most of the place names where the Hebrews traveled were camp sites - not cities, and thus cannot be identified with certainty today. Centers of activity come and go. For example, if I asked 100 people in my community where Kenwood, Georgia is located, I seriously doubt that ten people could tell me. Fifty years from now, it is likely that no one will remember. It's no longer found on most maps and remains as just a memory for our county's old timers who used to gather around the country store at the train depot there. It even had it's own post office. That's the way it is with regard to the mapping of Israel's journeys in the wilderness; we simply have no accurate record regarding the exact location of most of these camp sites.

So here's a map I found.

Numbers 33.jpg

It occurred to me this morning that Jacob's [Israel's] son Joseph was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers. Then Jacob [Israel] was forced to take his family to Egypt because of the same horrible drought that allowed Joseph to raise to the rank second only to Pharaoh himself. After Jacob, Joseph, and the Pharaoh had passed, the whole of Jacob's family were made slaves who became accustomed to the worship of the little gods of Egypt. God used extraordinary steps to bring Jacob's family back out of Egypt. He taught them to believe in Him and Him alone as God. He taught them to worship Him. He taught them to depend on Him. God taught them all to use their gifts to build the place of worship. He taught them how to live in peace with each other in spite of their dysfunctional roots. This took every bit of the forty years they spent wandering around the desert. This is a journal of the places they set up camp over those forty years.

Boring... yep....

Interesting.... pretty much too!

:coffee:
 
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