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This is a difficult, laborious chapter. There are lots of hard-to-pronounce names — 40, 42 or 43 depending on the count. Yet the name of each encampment carries important teachings from what happened at each site and the meaning of the names themselves.
Text: Num. 33:1-17
The American education system in recent years have failed to teach American history. Most people have little knowledge of the Civil War, World War I, World War II or the Korean War. Some may know about the Vietnam War if their parents fought in that war and they have lived through the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
It says, “these are the journeys of the people of Israel” (Num. 33:1). They had to break up stakes, move out and moving where the Tabernacle led. “They came out from the land of Egypt by their armies” (Num. 33:1), but this is not the army we think of. צִבְאֹת tzivʾot, translated “armies,” just means “those who go forth.” It can mean a military force but it is not a military force in this case. All the people of Israel, men, women and children were moving forth towards a specific destination.
As you read Numbers 33, you will notice that God doesn’t mention those things that Israel did right or wrong. He simply re-iterates the names of each of the stops along the way.
The first place mentioned is called Ramses (רַעְמְסֵס raʿmeses, Strong’s lexicon No. H7486). The word Ramses in Egyptian means “Ra created it.” This is an Egyptian word, not a Hebrew word. Ramses is not a city, but a territory. When they left the city of Ramses, they went to a town called Sukkot. They left Ramses with a “high hand” not in fear and trembling. God took them from the “place Ra built” to Sukkot (סֻכּוֹת, H5523).
What is a סֻכָּה sukkah (H5521)? A temporary dwelling? A barn? The basic meaning of the word is a thicket, a covering that is fence about and has some protection. The children of Israel took a lot of farm animals with them as they were leaving: donkeys, lambs, goats and cattle. The children of Israel had to leave their homes, their permanent dwellings and live a nomadic life.
Joseph was taken to Egypt and ended up second in command of all of Egypt. Joseph was sent there in advance to save the people of Israel. He marries the daughter of the Priest of On, who lived in the land of Goshen. Did Joseph marry a pagan woman? The land of Egypt in the time of Moses had many gods, not just one god.
The children of Israel pulled up their stakes and moved forward to the next location, which was Etham (אֵתָם ʾetam H0864a), which was on the edge or the beginning of the wilderness. The children of Israel took their farming tools with them.
Just like Abraham, who took everything he owned with him. He left nothing behind when he left his father’s house to go to the land God called him to move to. If and when God calls us to move, we will take our skills, our tools with us, too. Sometimes, when God calls us to move, we think we are leaving everything but that’s not the case. We still take with us who we are and what we do. We may have to leave behind land and property but we also take with us the tools of our trade and the skills to apply them.
Then the children of Israel took a journey through the Sinai peninsula to a gorge, where they were trapped. They had gone toward “Pi-hahiroth, which faces Baal-zephon, and they camped before Migdol” (Num. 33:7). The Red Sea is in front of them and the Egyptian army behind them.
Then they crossed over the Red Sea and journeyed for three more days before arriving at place called Marah (מָרָה H4785). After three days journey, they arrived at a place with deadly water. Then God commanded Moses to put a piece of wood in the water to purify it. God took them to this desolate place deliberately to teach them a lesson. God wanted them to understand that He is the one who would heal them. God is going to heal us spiritually. Yeshua told the disciples that they were clean by the words He gave them (John 15:3).
The next encampment was called Elim (אֵילִם ʾelim H0362), a place of palm trees. It was a wadi with lots of water, the direct opposite of Marah. They moved back towards the Red Sea. Why did He do that? He was showing them that they could not go back to Egypt. God would not part the waters again to send them back there.
The people camped in the wilderness of Sin (מִדְבַּר־סִין midbar-sim). Sin (סִין H5512b) means dirt, clay or mud. Sinai (סִינַי H5514) can mean thorns. Midbar (מִדְבָּר H4057b) has the same spelling as the word for mouth. Both uses of midbar are traced to the word דָּבַר dabar (H1696), which means to speak. The wilderness is the place where God speaks to you. It’s a place where we are alone with God.
The next place is called Dophkah (דָּפְקָה H1850), a place of knocking or beating (דָּפַק daphaq H1849, to beat, knock).
Then they went to Alush (אָלוּשׁ ʾalush H0442), the meaning of which could come from לוּשׁ lush (H3888, to knead), as in a woman kneading bread.
Then God took them to a place with no water at all, called Rephidim (רְפִידִים refidim H7508), a place where they had to support Moses. (Rephidim is traced to the root verb רָפַד raphad (H7502, to spread).) They children of Israel had to go to war and Moses had to raise his arms in prayer to help them prevail. When Moses grew weary, they brought a rock for him to sit and two men had to support Moses keep his arms and rod raised. After that point, the people started to look to Moses as an אלוהים elohim. The war lasted the entire day from morning to sunset. That is a long time for Moses to have to keep his arms raised and his prayers focused, but Moses was not alone.
God is telling us something with all the places He took the children of Israel. He wasn’t doing all this to torment them but to teach them something. It was recorded permanently to teach us something, too. We are supposed to learn from history.
After the war, God took them to Sinai, where He gave them the 10 commandments, which were a hedge to protect them.
The next camp was קִבְרֹת הַתַּאֲוָה Kibroth-Hattavah (qivrot-hattaʾawa H6914), which could be called the “grave of desire.” The name contains the words qivrot, the plural of קֶבֶר qeber (H6913, grave), and תַּאֲוָה taavah (H8378, desire or lust). This is children of Israel complained and lusted for quail and meat. They didn’t want to kill their own animals, they were longing for the foods they had access to back in Egypt. God sent the quail from the other side of the Red Sea, probably from Egypt. God gave them what they said they wanted. The complainers died while the quail meat was stuck in between their teeth. The survivors had to dig their graves and leave them there. They were remembering how “good” it was with permanent homes, land to grow their own food, etc. but they conveniently forgot how bad it was there. They were subjected to slavery and genocide there, too. They were forgetting their history and longing for the “good old days.”
After they buried the dead, they were temporarily sorry for their longing for Egypt. God was merciful and brought them to a place of safety. Hazeroth (חֲצֵרוֹת chatzerot H2698) was a place of safety within the wilderness.
Abraham did not see the conclusion of the promise, yet he trusted and believed that God would fulfill it. We are called to have that kind of faith. Watch and understand the best you can. Take note of what God is doing, what your spouse is doing, what you are doing and what God is doing with your life. Even take a look at what God is doing with those people you don’t like.
A lot of people believe God, but they don’t trust Him. However, that’s not what you should focus up. The real question is “Do I believe God? Do I trust God?”
Speaker: Richard Agee. Reader: David De Fever. Summary: Tammy.