Numberschapter 33
56 verses · Moses, by tradition · 15th to 13th century BC · The Law
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.
Introduction
Moses, by tradition, The Law, Numbers Overview.
Moses wrote down the whole road from Egypt to the Jordan, and this chapter is that record. It was set down on the plains of Moab at the end of forty years, with the crossing still ahead. Most of the stopping places are names a reader meets nowhere else. The list was kept for a generation that had not seen the start of the march, and many had been born on the way. Listen for the places where the list pauses to recall an event, and for the change at the end from record to command. It looks back before it looks forward.
Context
- Who
- The generation about to cross, given the record of where their parents had been and where they themselves had grown up
- What
- The list of every stage of Israel's march from Egypt to the plains of Moab, followed by the order to clear the land of its idols.
- Where
- The route from Rameses in Egypt through the wilderness of Sinai and Kadesh to the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho.
- When
- In the fortieth year after the Exodus, about 1406 BC on the traditional dating, between Aaron's death in the fifth month and Moses' last addresses in the eleventh, while other scholars date the writing of the book later.
- Why
- To keep a written memory of God's leading through forty years and to charge the people for what they must do once across the river.
Historical context
Verse 2 names the writer and the reason in one line. At the LORD's command Moses recorded the stages of the march, which makes this the one place in the book where Moses is said to have written. It was set down in the fortieth year in the camp on the plains of Moab, and covers the whole span from the exodus to that camp. The occasion is the crossing now in front of them, and the chapter turns to it at verse 50, where the LORD gives the orders for taking the land. A first hearer knew what a list like this was for. Armies and caravans in Egypt and Mesopotamia kept itineraries of this form, a chain of set out from one place and camped at the next. He also knew most of these places by water, since a station in that country is a well or a spring. The chapter carries three dated notices inside the list. They are the departure from Rameses at verse 3, Aaron's death on Mount Hor at verses 38 and 39, and the report of the king of Arad at verse 40. Most stations between Sinai and Kadesh cannot be placed on the ground today, and the identifications scholars propose remain proposals held by name.
Significance
The list gave the second generation a record they could count through. It set the forty years out as a chain of places, with the one grave at Mount Hor marked in it. The cost of the refusal at Kadesh stood in the geography rather than in an argument. Verses 50 to 56 then turn the record forward and make the same land into the thing they were to enter, clear of its images and high places.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
How it is read
Rashi opens the itinerary by asking why it is here at all, and answers that it records kindness. The list holds forty-two stages rather than forty years of constant moving. Fourteen of them belong to the first year, before the decree at Kadesh-barnea, so the wandering was less restless than a reader might assume (Rashi on Numbers 33:1:1). He reads one station name as a record of what happened there. Rithmah is named for the slander of the spies, and he takes the name from the juniper of Psalm 120:4 (Rashi on Numbers 33:18:1).
Ramban explains what the list leaves out and why. The water at Marah and the manna in the wilderness of Sin are not mentioned here, and Rephidim is, because the trial at Rephidim was the weightier event. God was sanctified there by bringing water from the rock, and Amalek attacked there, so the place was known by the want of water (Ramban on Numbers 33:14:1, the Chavel translation, CC-BY). At Zalmonah and Punon he fills in the narrative from Numbers 21. Those camps fall on the road round Edom where the people spoke against God and the serpents came. The serpent of brass was carried on the pole through both camps, and was still with them until Oboth (Ramban on Numbers 33:41:1).
Two notes on Aaron stand together in this chapter. Rashi reads the words about the mouth of the Lord at the thirty-eighth verse as saying that Aaron died by the divine kiss (Rashi on Numbers 33:38:1, citing Bava Batra 17a). He then explains why the Canaanite hearing is repeated at the fortieth verse. What the Canaanite heard was the death of Aaron, and with it the departure of the clouds of glory that had guarded Israel (Rashi on Numbers 33:40:1, citing Rosh Hashanah 3a).
Rashi measures the last camp and reads the last commands as conditions. From Beth-jeshimoth to Abel-shittim he takes as twelve miles, on the report of Rabba bar bar Chana, who said he had seen the place (Rashi on Numbers 33:49:1, citing Eruvin 55b). On the command at the fifty-first verse he holds that Moses tied the crossing itself to the intention. Israel was to pass through the Jordan on dry ground meaning to drive out the inhabitants, or the waters would overwhelm them (Rashi on Numbers 33:51:1, citing Sotah 34a). He reads the fifty-third verse the same way. Israel would remain in the land if it dispossessed the inhabitants, and would not remain otherwise (Rashi on Numbers 33:53:1). Sforno reads the warning of the last verse as a warning about worship. Israel would follow the religious cult of those left behind, and expulsion or death would follow (Sforno on Numbers 33:56:1, the Munk translation, CC-BY).
Ibn Ezra comments at eight places here and Malbim at one, and the corpus carries none of their text. Ibn Ezra stands cited at Numbers 33:2:1, 33:3:1, 33:7:1, 33:8:1, 33:16:1, 33:37:1, 33:42:1 and 33:46:1, held back by the licence Sefaria reports. Malbim stands cited at Numbers 33:5:1, because Sefaria holds no English version.
This row places no station on the ground. The corpus carries no identification of any site in the list. The site's own station data holds the names and their verses alone, at src/lib/maps/numbers-33-stations.generated.json. It records thirty-nine stations from the Berean Standard Bible text and no coordinates. Where a reader wants the route drawn, the honest answer is that most of these places cannot be fixed, and this row names none of them as found.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries forty locators on this chapter and the text of none, so each is cited and linked here rather than quoted. Thirty of them are midrashic and ten are Talmudic. Bamidbar Rabbah stands at 13:20, 16:24, 19:20, 20:24, 23:1, 23:2 and 23:9. Midrash Lekach Tov stands at Numbers 33:2:1, 33:40:1 and 21:19:1, and at Exodus 12:37:1 and 15:22:2. Ein Yaakov in the Glick Edition stands at Sotah 1:52 and 7:3, Yoma 3:13 and Megillah 1:13, with Ein Yaakov at Yevamot 1:3. The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael stands at Tractate Pischa 14:4, Tractate Vayassa 1:3 and Tractate Bachodesh 1:11.
The rest of the midrashic locators sit in seven works. Bereshit Rabbah stands at 48:12 and 62:3, and Learning to Read Midrash at Appendix, Hebrew Sources 7:3 and at Chapter 7, Aharon Purifies God 25. Seder Olam Rabbah stands at 8:2, Midrash Tanchuma at Pinchas 4:1, the Buber recension at Chukat 42:3, Shir HaShirim Rabbah at 1:16:3, Vayikra Rabbah at 20:7, and Yalkut Shimoni on Torah at 787:5. The Talmudic locators are fewer. Avot DeRabbi Natan stands at 29:4 and 36:3. Bava Batra stands at 17a:3, Rosh Hashanah at 3a:12, Eruvin at 55b:15, Yevamot at 13b:6, Bekhorot at 55a:13 and Megillah at 11a:14, with Tractate Soferim at 16:12 and the Jerusalem Talmud at Beitzah 2:1:2. What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text, because the corpus holds these locators without it.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Numbers 33:1:1 to 33:55:1, the Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary translated by M. Rosenbaum and A. M. Silbermann, 1929 to 1934, public domain; Ramban, Ramban on Numbers 33:14:1 and 33:41:1, the Commentary on the Torah translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel, New York, Shilo Publishing House, 1971 to 1976, CC-BY; Sforno, Sforno on Numbers 33:56:1, the HaChut Hameshulash translation by Eliyahu Munk, CC-BY; Ibn Ezra, Ibn Ezra on Numbers 33:2:1, 33:3:1, 33:7:1, 33:8:1, 33:16:1, 33:37:1, 33:42:1 and 33:46:1, cited by ref because the licence the corpus reports does not permit keeping the text; Malbim, Malbim on Numbers 33:5:1, cited by ref because Sefaria holds no English version; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/numbers/33.json, the 30 Midrash and 10 Talmud locators of this chapter, fetched 2026-09-19; MannaFest, src/lib/maps/numbers-33-stations.generated.json, the thirty-nine station names and their verses, carrying no location on the ground.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
From Rameses out to the wilderness of Sinai
Numbers 33:1-4
The list opens by saying that "Moses recorded the stages" at the command of the LORD, so keeping the record was commanded work. Verse 4 adds what the Exodus account never gave, that "the LORD had executed judgment against their gods", reporting as done what Exodus 12:12 said would be done. On the day after the Passover Israel "marched out defiantly" while Egypt buried its firstborn.
Numbers 33:1
“Unrolling the book still further, [Fabiola] came to the passage in which is given the list of all the halting places by which the people after leaving Egypt made its way to the waters of Jordan. And when she asked me the meaning and reason of each of these, I spoke doubtfully about some, dealt with others in a tone of assurance and in several instances simply confessed my ignorance.”
Jerome · written before 420 · LETTER 77.7patristic
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Numbers 33:1
“This list was written out by Moses at God’s command Num 33:2, doubtless as a memorial of God’s providential care for His people throughout this long and trying period. Num 33:3-6. For these places, see the marginal reference. Num 33:8 Pi-hahiroth - Hebrew “Hahiroth,” but perhaps only by an error of transcription. However, the omitted “pi” is only a common Egyptian prefix. Wilderness of Etham - i. e., that part of the great wilderness of Shur which adjoined Etham; compare Exo 15:22 note.”
Moses kept this record at the LORD's command. Adam Clarke calls the book of Numbers a diary and the first book of travels ever published, and he notes that many of these stages can still be traced while others cannot. John Wesley draws the use for the reader, keeping an account of God's providences in one's own life.
Numbers 33:2
“And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys - We may consider the whole book of Numbers as a diary, and indeed the first book of travels ever published. Dr. Shaw, Dr. Pococke, and several others, have endeavored to mark out the route of the Israelites, through this great, dreary, and trackless desert, and have ascertained many of the stages here described. Indeed there are sufficient evidences of this important journey still remaining, for the descriptions of many are so particular that the places are readily ascertained by them; but this is not the case with all.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 33:2
“He wrote them down, then, "by the word of the Lord" so that when we read them and see how many starting places lie ahead of us on the journey that leads to the kingdom, we may prepare ourselves for this way of life. [Thus,] considering the journey that lies ahead of us, [we] may not allow the time of our life to be ruined by sloth and neglect.”
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · HOMILIES ON NUMBERS 27:7patristic
The feast dates the departure, the day after the Passover. The words marched out defiantly are the same the Berean Standard Bible uses at Exodus 14:8, where Pharaoh sets out in pursuit. Adam Clarke takes Rameses as the chief town of Goshen and the gathering point of the whole nation, as at Exodus 12:37.
Numbers 33:3
“And they departed from Rameses,.... A city in Egypt, where the children of Israel, a little before their departure, seem to have been gathered together in a body, in order to march out all together, as they did. This place the Targum of Jonathan calls Pelusium.”
2 more voices on this verse
Numbers 33:3
“From Rameses - This appears to have been the metropolis of the land of Goshen, and the place of rendezvous whence the whole Israelitish nation set out on their journey to the promised land; and is supposed to be the same as Cairo. See the notes on Exo 12:37. Here Follow the Forty-Two Stations Station 1.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Numbers 33:3
“Rameses--generally identified with Heroopoils, now the modern Abu-Keisheid (see on Ex 12:37), which was probably the capital of Goshen, and, by direction of Moses, the place of general rendezvous previous to their departure.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Egypt was burying its firstborn while Israel marched out. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the gods either as Egypt's rulers, whose firstborn died, or as the objects of its worship. John Wesley takes the second view, the sacred animals whose firstborn fell with the rest on the night of Exodus 12:29.
Numbers 33:4
“On their gods - Their false gods, namely 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.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Numbers 33:5-11
These first stages follow Exodus 12 to 16, from Succoth and Etham to Pi-hahiroth, the sea, Marah and Elim with its "twelve springs and seventy palm trees". Verse 10, the camp "by the Red Sea", has no place in the Exodus narrative, which moves from Elim to the Desert of Sin at Exodus 16:1, and John Gill marks the omission. The list keeps camps the story never mentions.
Numbers 33:5
“And pitched in Succoth - This name signifies booths or tents, and probably refers to no town or village, but simply designates the place where they pitched their tents for the first time after their departure from Rameses. Stat. 2.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 33:5
“Sochoth [Succoth] is interpreted "tents." Thus the first progress of the soul is to be taken away from earthly agitation and to learn that it must dwell in tents like a wanderer, so that it can be, as it were, ready for battle and meet those who lie in wait for it unhindered and free.”
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · HOMILIES ON NUMBERS 27:9patristic
Exodus 13:20 gives this camp in the same words, at Etham on the edge of the wilderness. The site is still unlocated. John Gill puts it eight miles from Succoth, and Adam Clarke reports Calmet's guess that it was the city of Buthum on the frontier of Egypt.
Numbers 33:6
“And they departed from Succoth, and pitched in Etham,.... Which was eight miles from Succoth: which is in the edge of the wilderness; of the name, see Exo 13:20 but Dr. Shaw (c) makes this particular portion of the wilderness to be fifty miles from Cairo or Rameses. (c) Travels, p. 308.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 33:6
“Etham, which is in the edge of the wilderness - This place is not well known; Dr. Shaw supposes it to have been one mile from Cairo. Calmet thinks it is the city of Buthum mentioned by Herodotus, which he places in Arabia, on the frontiers of Egypt. Stat. 3.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The turn back follows the order of Exodus 14:2, to encamp before Pi-hahiroth between Migdol and the sea. Exodus 14:3 gives its purpose. Pharaoh would take the people for wanderers boxed in by the wilderness, and Adam Clarke reports Calmet's view that Baal-zephon was the Clysma of the Greeks.
Numbers 33:7
“Pi-hahiroth - See on Exo 14:1 (note), and Exo 14:2 (note). Baal-zephon Calmet supposes to be the Clysma of the Greeks, and the Kolzum of the Arabians. Stat. 4.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The whole crossing of Exodus 14 is compressed into one clause of travel. Adam Clarke notes that the Wilderness of Etham here is the Desert of Shur at Exodus 15:22, where the people walked three days without finding water. Marah follows at Exodus 15:23, named for its bitter water.
Numbers 33:8
“And they departed from before Pihahiroth,.... Being forced by Pharaoh's army pressing upon them: and passed through the midst of the sea; from shore to shore, as on dry laud: into the wilderness: that part of it which lay on the other side, for still it was the wilderness of Etham they went into, as follows: and went three days' journey in the wilderness of Etham, and pitched in Marah; so called from the bitterness of the waters there, and which is computed to be forty miles from Pihahiroth.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 33:8
“And went three days’ journey in the wilderness of Etham - Called the wilderness of Shur, Exo 15:22. And pitched in Marah - Dr. Shaw supposes this place to be at Sedur, over against the valley of Baideah, on the opposite side of the Red Sea. Stat. 5.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Exodus 15:27 describes Elim with the same numbers, twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees. It is one of the few camps the list describes. Adam Clarke reports that the traveller Shaw found nine of the wells there and upwards of two thousand palms.
Numbers 33:9
“And came unto Elim - A place on the skirts of the deserts of Sin, two leagues from Tor, and nearly thirty from Corondel, a large bay on the east side of the Red Sea. Dr. Shaw, when he visited this place, found but nine of the twelve wells mentioned in the text, and instead of 70 palm trees, he found upwards of 2,000. See on Exo 15:27 (note). Stat. 6.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Exodus 16:1 moves from Elim straight to the Desert of Sin, so this camp is known from this list alone. Adam Clarke finds it hard to place. He suggests the sea was still the chief thing in view as the people turned toward Sinai, which lay farther east.
Numbers 33:10
“And they removed from Elim, and encamped by the Red sea. This encampment, is omitted in the book of Exodus, see Exo 16:1 this part or arm of the Red sea, whither they came, was six miles from Elim.”
2 more voices on this verse
Numbers 33:10
“Encamped by the Red Sea - It is difficult to assign the place of this encampment, as the Israelites were now on their way to Mount Sinai, which lay considerably to the east of Elim, and consequently farther from the sea than the former station. It might be called by the Red Sea, as the Israelites had it, as the principal object, still in view. This station however is mentioned nowhere else.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Numbers 33:10
“The minute accuracy of the Scripture narrative, in corresponding so exactly with the geographical features of this region, is remarkably shown in describing the Israelites as proceeding by the only practicable route that could be taken. This plain, where they encamped, was the Desert of Sin (see on Ex 16:1).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Exodus 16:1 places the Desert of Sin between Elim and Sinai and dates the arrival to the fifteenth day of the second month. The quail and the manna were first given there, in Exodus 16. Adam Clarke reports that travellers crossed these plains in nine hours.
Numbers 33:11
“The wilderness of Sin - This lies between Elim and Mount Sinai. Dr. Shaw and his companions traversed these plains in nine hours. Stat. 8.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Numbers 33:12-15
Dophkah and Alush are named here and nowhere else in Scripture, so two camps survive in this list alone. Verse 14 breaks the pattern with a clause about the place, "where there was no water for the people to drink", and Exodus 17:1-7 stands behind it. The Wilderness of Sinai at verse 15 covers Exodus 19 to Numbers 10, close to a year of the story.
Numbers 33:12
“And they took their journey out of the wilderness of Sin,.... According to the account in Exodus, this was after they had the manna given them, see Exo 17:1. and encamped at Dophkah; twelve miles from the wilderness of Sin; and of this, and the next encampment, no mention is made in Exodus.”
Alush, like Dophkah before it, appears only in this list, and Adam Clarke calls its site unknown. John Gill reports that the Jewish chronology Seder Olam places the first Sabbath at Alush. Gill ties this to Exodus 16:30.
Numbers 33:13
“And they departed from Dophkah, and encamped in Alush. The strong fort, as the Targum of Jonathan calls it; this was twelve miles from Dophkah: according to the Jewish chronology (d), this Alush is the wilderness of Sin, where the Israelites came on the fifteenth day of the seventh month from their going out of Egypt; and they say, that in Alush the sabbath was given them, and that there they kept the first sabbath, as it is said: and the people rested on the seventh day, Exo 16:30. (d) Seder Olam Rabba, c. 5. p. 17.”
The clause matches Exodus 17:1 almost word for word. At Rephidim the rock was struck and the place named Massah and Meribah, as Exodus 17:7 records, and Exodus 17:8 sets the battle with Amalek there. Adam Clarke marks the camp for the people's rebellion against Moses over water.
Exodus 19:1-2 records this move, in the third month. The camp lasted until Numbers 10:11-12, the twentieth day of the second month of the second year. John Gill notes that the Ten Commandments, the laws and the tabernacle all came from this one station.
Numbers 33:15
“And they departed from Rephidim, and pitched in the wilderness of Sinai. Eight miles from Rephidim; and from a mount of this name here were given the decalogue, with all other statutes and ordinances, judicial and ceremonial, and orders and directions for building the tabernacle, and making all the vessels appertaining to it, and which were all made during their stay here.”
Stage by stage through forty years
Numbers 33:16-20
Two of these camps carry their own stories, the graves of those who craved meat at Kibroth-hattaavah in Numbers 11:34 and Miriam's seven days outside the camp at Hazeroth in Numbers 12:14-15. After Hazeroth the record goes quiet, naming Rithmah, Rimmon-perez and Libnah and nothing that happened there. Nothing in the list marks the sentence passed at Kadesh, which decided the rest of the book.
Numbers 33:16
“Kibroth-hattaavah - No city, village, etc., but a place in the open desert, which had its name from the plague that fell upon the Israelites, through their murmuring against God, and their inordinate desire of flesh. See on Numbers 11 (note). But it appears that the Israelites had traveled three days’ journey in order to reach this place, Num 10:33, and commentators suppose there must have been other stations which are not laid down here, probably because the places were not remarkable. Stat. 13.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 33:16
“From there they come to the Tombs of Lust [Kibroth-hattavah]. What are the Tombs of Lust? Doubtless it is where lusts are buried and covered over, where all desire is quenched and the flesh no longer lusts against the spirit, since it has been put to death by the death of Christ.”
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · HOMILIES ON NUMBERS 27:12patristic
Numbers 11:35 records this move from Kibroth-hattaavah and says the people remained there for some time. At Hazeroth Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses, and John Gill notes from Numbers 12 that Miriam was struck with leprosy there. Numbers 12:16 then takes the camp into Paran.
Numbers 33:17
“And they departed from Kibrothhattaavah, and encamped at Hazeroth. Eight miles from Kibrothhattaavah, where Miriam was smote with leprosy, Num 12:1.”
Rithmah appears only in this list, and Adam Clarke places it in the Wilderness of Paran. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown count eighteen stations between Hazeroth and Kadesh against the eleven days of travel in Deuteronomy 1:2. They conclude these camps belong to a second visit to Kadesh.
Numbers 33:18
“Rithmah - This place lay somewhere in the wilderness of Paran, through which the Israelites were now passing. See Num 13:1, Num 13:3. The name signifies the juniper tree; and the place probably had its name from the great number of those trees growing in that district. Stat. 15.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Rimmon-perez appears only in this verse and the next. Its site is unknown, and John Gill gives the name without comment. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, noting at verse 16 how many stations lie between Hazeroth and Kadesh, take this stretch as part of a later march to Kadesh.
Numbers 33:19
“And they departed from Rithmah, and pitched at Rimmonparez.”
Adam Clarke calls the site of this camp uncertain. He points to the town of Libnah that Joshua takes at Joshua 10:29 and places it between Kadesh-barnea and Gaza. Origen reads the name as whitening, the washing of the prayer that asks to be made whiter than snow.
Numbers 33:20
“Libnah - The situation of this place is uncertain. A city of this name is mentioned Jos 10:29, as situated between Kadesh-barnea and Gaza. Stat. 17.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Numbers 33:21-29
Nine camps in nine verses with nothing but names attached. Most cannot be located now, and Adam Clarke marks Kehelathah utterly unknown while giving the distances the older writers assigned to the rest. These stations belong to the years under the sentence of chapter 14, which Deuteronomy 2:14 counts at thirty and eight from Kadesh-barnea to the brook Zered. The record keeps the movements of a generation whose story the narrative had stopped telling.
Numbers 33:21
“The next stage takes place in Ressa [Rissah], which could be put into our words as "visible or praiseworthy temptation." Why is it that however great the progress made by the soul nonetheless temptations are not taken away from it? Here it becomes clear that temptations are brought to it as a kind of protection and defense. For just as meat, if it is not sprinkled with salt, no matter how great and special it is, becomes rotten, so also the soul, unless it is somehow salted with constant temptations, immediately becomes feeble and soft.”
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · HOMILIES ON NUMBERS 27:12patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 33:21
“Bissah - A place mentioned nowhere else in the sacred writings. Its situation utterly uncertain. Stat. 18.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Kehelathah appears only in this list. Adam Clarke calls it utterly unknown and judges unlikely the guess that it was the Keilah of 1 Samuel 23:1. Origen reads the name as sovereignty or staff, the stage where the soul has come to rule over the body.
Numbers 33:22
“Kehelathah - Utterly unknown; though some conjecture that it might have been the place called Keilah, 1Sa 23:1, etc., but this is unlikely. Stat. 19.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Mount Shepher is the only mountain the list names between the Wilderness of Sinai and Mount Hor. Adam Clarke says where it lay cannot be determined. Read with Deuteronomy 2:14, it falls in the thirty-eight years between Kadesh-barnea and the brook Zered, while that generation died out.
Numbers 33:23
“Shapher - Where this mountain lay cannot be determined. Stat. 20.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Haradah appears only in this list. Adam Clarke calls it unknown and reports Calmet's guess that it is the Bered of Genesis 16:14, which lay near Kadesh. Origen reads the name as made competent and joins it to Paul's words about ministers of a new covenant.
Numbers 33:24
“Haradah - Unknown, Calmet supposes that it may be the place called Bered, Gen 16:14, which was in the vicinity of Kadesh. Stat. 21.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Adam Clarke notes that Makheloth is a name found nowhere else in Scripture. Its site is unknown. Origen reads it as from the beginning, and he makes it the stage where the soul refers everything to him who was in the beginning.
Numbers 33:25
“Makheloth - A name found nowhere else in Scripture. Stat. 22.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 33:25
“From there a stage is made at Maceloth [Makheloth], which means "from the beginning." For the person who strives for contemplation contemplates the beginning of things, or rather he refers everything to him who was in the beginning, nor is there any time when he abandons that beginning.”
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · HOMILIES ON NUMBERS 27:12patristic
Tahath appears as a camp only in this list, and its site is unknown. Origen reads the name as encouragement or endurance. He applies it to the one who would be of use to others and so must suffer many things, as was said of Paul.
Numbers 33:26
Next a stage is made at Cataath [Tahath], which is "encouragement" or "endurance." For it is necessary for someone who wants to be of use to others to suffer many things and to bear them all patiently, as it is said of Paul, "For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name."
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · HOMILIES ON NUMBERS 27:12patristic
Terah appears as a camp only in this verse and the next. Its site is unknown. Read with Deuteronomy 2:14, it falls in the thirty-eight years from Kadesh-barnea to the brook Zered, when Numbers 14:33 had the children shepherding in the wilderness until their fathers' generation died.
Mithkah appears only in this list, and its site is unknown. Adam Clarke reports Calmet's guess that it is Mocha, a city in Arabia Petraea. Origen reads the name as new death, the dying with Christ that leads to living with him.
Numbers 33:28
“Mithcah - Calmet conjectures that this may be Mocha, a city in Arabia Petraea. Stat. 25.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 33:28
“Next they come to Matheca [Mithkah], which means "new death." What is the new death? When we die with Christ so that we may live with him.”
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · HOMILIES ON NUMBERS 27:12patristic
Hashmonah appears only in this list. Adam Clarke reports the view that it is Azmon, which Numbers 34:4 sets on the southern border of the land beyond Kadesh-barnea. Origen reads the name as bone or bones, and so as strength and firm endurance.
Numbers 33:29
“Hashmonah - Supposed by some to be the same as Azmon, Num 34:4. Stat. 26.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 33:29
“From there they come to Asenna [Hashmonah], which is said to mean "bone" or "bones." By this it is doubtless strength and the firmness of endurance that is revealed.”
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · HOMILIES ON NUMBERS 27:12patristic
Numbers 33:30-35
Deuteronomy 10:6-7 names these camps in the other order, from Beeroth Bene-jaakan to Moserah, Gudgodah and Jotbathah, and puts Aaron's death at Moserah, where verse 38 puts it at Mount Hor. Keil and Delitzsch read Moserah as the district around Mount Hor, and others take the lists to record the same ground crossed twice. Both accounts stand in the canon, and the chapter explains nothing about the other order.
Numbers 33:30
“And they departed from Hashmonah, and encamped at Moseroth. Thirty two miles from Hashmonah. In Deu 10:6 it is called Mosera; and according to the account there, they came hither from the following place, Benejaakan; probably they went first thither from Hashmonah, and then from Mosera or Moserot, and so to Benejaakan again, going backwards and forwards, so Jarchi; the distance of the two places was twenty four miles; for the further reconciliation this; see Gill on Deu 10:6 and the Samaritan version there.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 33:30
“Moseroth - Situation unknown. In Deu 10:6 it is said that the Israelites took their journey from Beeroth, the wells of the children of Jaakan, to Mosera, and there Aaron died. If so, Mosera, Moseroth, and Hor, must be different names of the same place; or Moseroth, or Mosera, must have been some town or village near Mount Hor, for there Aaron died. See Num 33:38. Stat. 27.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Deuteronomy 10:6 calls this camp Beeroth Bene-jaakan, which Adam Clarke renders the wells of the children of Jaakan. There the order runs the other way, from Bene-jaakan to Moserah. John Gill, following Jarchi, reads the two lists as the people going backwards and forwards between the camps.
Numbers 33:31
“Next they come to Banaim [Bene-jaakan], which means "springs" or "filterings," that is, where one draws water from the springs of divine words until one filters them by drinking.… Thus a person filters the word of God when he does not omit even the least commandment, indeed when he gains the understanding that not even one iota or one dot in the word of God is insignificant.”
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · HOMILIES ON NUMBERS 27:12patristic
Deuteronomy 10:7 names Gudgodah at the same point in its sequence, between Moserah and Jotbathah. Adam Clarke reads Hor-haggidgad as the hole or pit of Gidgad. He calls the site unknown and guesses the place was named for some large pit or cavern.
Numbers 33:32
“Hor-hagidgad - The hole or pit of Gidgad. Unknown. It was a place perhaps remarkable for some vast pit or cavern, from which it took its name. Stat. 29.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Deuteronomy 10:7 describes Jotbathah as a land with streams of water, a rare detail for a camp of these years. Adam Clarke calls its site unknown. Origen reads the name as good things, reached only after the trials that come before them.
Numbers 33:33
“When you pass through them, you will camp at Tabatha [Jotbathah]. Tabatha means "good things." Thus they do not come to good things except after the trials of temptations.”
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · HOMILIES ON NUMBERS 27:12patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 33:33
“Jotrathah - Situation unknown. It is said in Deu 10:7 to be a land of rivers of waters. Stat. 30.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Abronah appears only in this verse and the next, and Adam Clarke notes it is mentioned nowhere else. Its site is unknown. Origen reads the name as passage, since even good things must be passed through on the way to better ones.
Numbers 33:34
“Ebronah - Nowhere else mentioned. Stat. 31.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 33:34
“From there, it says, they camped at Ebrona [Abronah], which is "passage." For everything must be passed through. Even if you have come to good things, you must pass through them to better things until you come to that good thing in which you should always remain.”
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · HOMILIES ON NUMBERS 27:12patristic
Ezion-geber is one of the few stations the rest of Scripture places, near Eloth in Edom on the shore of the Red Sea, where Solomon built a fleet at 1 Kings 9:26. Deuteronomy 2:8 names it again on the road past Edom. From here the list goes to Kadesh.
Numbers 33:36-40
in the wilderness of Zin: The second and last date in the chapter is a death, "the first day of the fifth month, in the fortieth year", and Aaron at 123 is the only man whose dying this list records. Numbers 20:22-29 tells how his garments passed to Eleazar. Verse 40 brings in the king of Arad and leaves him, and Numbers 21:1-3 finishes that matter with the vow and the name Hormah.
Numbers 33:36
“Zin, which is Kadesh - A place remarkable for the death of Miriam the prophetess, and bringing water out of the rock. As this place was on the borders of Edom, the Israelites, being denied permission to pass through their land, which lay on the direct road to the promised land, were obliged to turn to the right to Mount Hor, now called Accaba by the Arabs. Stat. 33.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Numbers 20:22-23 records this move from Kadesh and sets Mount Hor near the border of Edom. Edom had refused Israel passage at Numbers 20:21, and Adam Clarke explains the turn toward the mountain by that refusal. Verse 38 records what happened there.
Numbers 33:37
“Hor - Famous for the death of Aaron. See on Numbers 20 (note). Perhaps Moseroth or Mosera, Num 33:30 (note), was a village near this mountain. Stat. 34.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Aaron's death, and camp on the plains of Moab
The verse gives the only full date in the list after the departure, the first day of the fifth month in the fortieth year. Numbers 20:28 records the death on top of the mountain after Aaron's garments passed to Eleazar. Deuteronomy 32:50 points Moses to it before his own death.
John Gill works the age out from Exodus 7:7, where Aaron was eighty-three when he and Moses spoke to Pharaoh. Forty years in the wilderness bring the total to a hundred and twenty-three. The figure agrees with the fortieth year given in verse 38.
Numbers 33:39
“And Aaron was one hundred and twenty three years old when he died in Mount Hor. He was eighty three when he stood before Pharaoh, Exo 7:7, and forty years he had been with Israel since, which make this number; he was three years older than Moses.”
Numbers 21:1 tells the rest, that the king attacked Israel on the road to Atharim and took some of them prisoner. The list keeps only that he heard. Its place after Aaron's death matches the order of Numbers 20 and 21.
Numbers 33:41-49
Zalmonah and Punon fall between Mount Hor and Oboth, the stretch where Numbers 21:4-9 sets the venomous snakes and the bronze snake that John 3:14-15 takes up by name. At verse 47 the list names "the mountains of Abarim facing Nebo", where Moses will see the land and die in Deuteronomy 34:1-5. The stages stop at Abel-shittim, the Shittim of Numbers 25:1, where the plague of chapter 25 fell.
Numbers 33:41
“Zalmonah - Probably in the neighborhood of the land of Edom. As צלם tselem signifies an image, this place probably had its name from the brazen serpent set up by Moses. See Num 21:9 (note), etc. From the same root the word telesm, corruptly called talisman, which signifies a consecrated image, is derived. Stat. 35.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Punon appears only in this list, and Adam Clarke places it in Idumea. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown set it in the rocky ravines of Mount Hor on the border of Edom, known for its mines and quarries and its fruit trees. Numbers 21 names neither Zalmonah nor Punon.
Numbers 33:42
“Wilderness of Zin, on the east side of the peninsula of Sinai; Punon, in the rocky ravines of mount Hor and famous for the mines and quarries in its vicinity as well as for its fruit trees, now Tafyle, on the border of Edom; Abarim, a ridge of rugged hills northwest of the Arnon--the part called Nebo was one of its highest peaks--opposite Jericho.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Oboth is the first camp after Mount Hor that the narrative also names, and Adam Clarke points back to Numbers 21:10. From here the two accounts run together to Iye-abarim at Numbers 21:11. Origen admits he found no meaning for the name.
Numbers 33:43
“Oboth - Mentioned before, Num 21:10. Stat. 37.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 33:43
“Next they come to Oboth. Although we have not found an interpretation of this name, nonetheless we do not doubt that in this name as in all the others the logic of the progresses is preserved.”
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · HOMILIES ON NUMBERS 27:12patristic
Numbers 21:11 places Iye-abarim in the wilderness opposite Moab to the east. Adam Clarke reads the name as the heaps of Abarim and notes that the next verse shortens it to Iyim. This list skips Zered, the next camp of Numbers 21:12.
Numbers 33:44
“Ije-abarim - The heaps of Abarim. See Num 21:11. Situation uncertain. It is called Iim in the following verse. As the word signifies heaps or protuberances, it probably means tumuil or small hills near some of the fords of Jordan. Stat. 38.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Adam Clarke takes Dibon-gad as the Dibon that the Gadites built up at Numbers 32:34, and he places it on the brook Arnon. John Gill suggests the name Gad was added because Gad rebuilt the town. Numbers 21:13 makes the Arnon the border of Moab.
Numbers 33:45
“And they departed from Ijim, and pitched in Dibongad. Sixteen miles from Ijim; the remove from whence is said to be to the valley of Zared, Num 21:12 in which Dibongad was, so called perhaps because rebuilt by Gad afterwards.”
Numbers 21:16-20 names Beer, Mattanah, Nahaliel and Bamoth on this part of the route, and this list names none of them. John Gill takes them as short moves, never full stations. Adam Clarke says the town was Moab's in Jeremiah's day, citing Jeremiah 48:22.
Numbers 33:46
“And they removed from Dibongad, and encamped in Almondiblathaim. Sixteen miles from Dibon, perhaps the same with Diblath, Eze 6:14, according to the account in Num 21:16, &c. they went from hence to Beer, a place where they found a well, which gave it this name; and several other removes are mentioned there, which are not here, and which, perhaps, were small removes, and not properly stations.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 33:46
“Almon-diblathaim - Situation not known. It belonged to the Moabites in the time of the prophet Jeremiah. Jer 48:22. Stat. 40.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Deuteronomy 32:49 sends Moses up this same range to Mount Nebo to view Canaan before he dies. John Gill takes the name Abarim from the crossings over the Jordan near it. Adam Clarke places it after the Amorite defeat of Numbers 21.
Numbers 33:47
“And they removed from Almondiblathaim, and pitched in the mountains of Abarim,.... Sixteen miles from Almondiblathaim; these were so called from passages near them over the river Jordan: and this station was pitched before Nebo; one of those mountains, whither Moses went up and died.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 33:47
There follows next the stage at Abarim opposite Nabau [Nebo], which is "passage." But Nabau means "separation." For when the soul has made its journey through all these virtues and has climbed to the height of perfection, it then "passes" from the world and "separates" from it, as it is written of Enoch, "And he was not found, because God had taken him across."
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · HOMILIES ON NUMBERS 27:12patristic
This is the camp of Numbers 22:1. Adam Clarke names the plains as the scene of the dealings between Balak and Balaam, and he counts this the forty-second station. John Gill notes the camp lay on the east bank, across from Jericho.
Numbers 33:48
“And they departed from the mountains of Abarim, and pitched in the plains of Moab,.... Sixteen miles from Abarim, where all those things were transacted, which make the history of Balak and Balaam, Num 22:1 and where the Israelites now were by Jordan near Jericho; not on that side Jordan where Jericho stood, but on the other; Jericho, according to Eusebius, was ten miles from Bethjesimoth, where Israel now were, as follows.”
Beth-jeshimoth later fell to Reuben at Joshua 13:20, as Adam Clarke notes. John Wesley reads Abel as mourning and ties the name to Israel's grief over the sin at Peor and its punishment. Joshua 3:1 starts the crossing from Shittim.
Numbers 33:49
“From Beth-jesimoth even unto Abel-shittim - The former of these places fell to the Reubenites, Jos 13:15-20. The Israelites were now come to the edge of Jordan, over against Jericho, where they afterwards passed. For further information on the subject of these different encampments, the reader is requested to refer to the extracts from Dr. Shaw at the end of the book of Exodus.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 33:49
“Shittim - The place where the people sinned in the matter of Peor, is here called Abel-Shittim - Abel signifies mourning; and probably this place was so called, from the mourning of Israel for that sin, and the heavy punishment inflicted on the sinners.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Drive them out, or they become thorns in your eyes
Numbers 33:50-54
The order names three things to destroy, "carved images and cast idols" and "high places," and Adam Clarke reads the first word as carved or figured stones set up for worship. Verse 53 grounds the conquest in a gift already made, "for I have given you the land to possess". Verse 54 lets the lot decide the place and a clan's size decide the amount, as in Numbers 26:53-56.
Numbers 33:50
“The expulsion of the Canaanites and the destruction of their monuments of idolatry had been already enjoined (see the marginal references); and Num 33:54 is substantially a repetition from Exo. 26:53-55. But the solemn warning of Num 33:55-56 is new. A call for it had been furnished by their past transgressions in the matter of Baal-peor, and by their imperfect fulfillment, at the first, of Moses’ orders in the Midianite war.”
The same words open the law of the cities of refuge at Numbers 35:10, so both commands look across the river. John Gill notes that Moses was about to leave them. That made it the more necessary to give these directions before the crossing, while he could still give them.
Numbers 33:51
“Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them,.... What was to be said, being what concerned the whole body of the people: when ye are passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan; near to which they now were, and Moses was about to leave them; and therefore it was the more necessary to give them some instructions and directions what they should do, when they were come into it.”
Albert Barnes notes that this order had been given before, and Exodus 23:24 had already told Israel to demolish the gods of the land and smash their sacred stones. John Wesley reads high places as every chapel, altar or grove set up for worship. The command reaches the sites as well as the objects.
Numbers 33:52
“Drive out - Not by banishing, but by destroying them. Pictures - Which seem to have been stones curiously engraven, and set up for worship. High Places - Chapels, altars, groves, or other means of worship there set up.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 33:52
“Ye shall - destroy all their pictures - משכיתם maskiyotham, from שחה sachah, to be like, or resemble, either pictures, carved work, or embroidery, as far as these things were employed to exhibit the abominations of idolatry. Molten images צלמי מסכתם tsalmey massechotham, metallic talismanical figures, made under certain constellations, and supposed in consequence to be possessed of some extraordinary influences and virtues.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
for I have given you the land to possess: The claim to the land rests on a gift. John Gill says the people needed no better title than the one the LORD could and did make them. Matthew Henry ties the promise to verse 52, purity from the idols of Canaan first and then its wealth.
Numbers 33:53
“And ye shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein,.... Turn them out of their cities, towns, and houses, and inhabit them: for I have given you the land to possess it; who had a right to dispose of it, and a better title they needed not desire than the Lord could and did make them.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 33:53
“If they would keep themselves pure from the idols of Canaan, God would enrich them with the wealth of Canaan. Learn not their way, and then fear not their power. They were threatened that, if they spared either the idols or the idolaters, they should be beaten with their own rod and their sin would certainly be their punishment.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The rule repeats Numbers 26:53-56 almost clause for clause, the size of a clan fixing the amount and the lot fixing the place. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown explain the pairing. The lot settled where each tribe lay and a measuring line settled its share, and Joshua 18:10 shows the lots cast at Shiloh.
Numbers 33:54
“And ye shall divide the land by lot,.... What is said in this verse is the same with Num 26:53, where it has been explained; See Gill on Num 26:53; see Gill on Num 26:54; see Gill on Num 26:55; see Gill on Num 26:56.”
Numbers 33:55-56
not drive out the inhabitants: Judges 2:1-3 quotes this warning back and reports the outcome, the nations left in the land becoming thorns in their sides and their gods a snare, and Judges 3:5-6 names the marriages that followed. Verse 56 turns the sentence around, so that what was purposed for the inhabitants falls on Israel instead. The record of the wandering closes with the terms of staying in the land.
Numbers 33:55
“Shall be pricks in your eyes - Under these metaphors, the continual mischief that should be done to them, both in soul and body, by these idolaters, is set forth in a very expressive manner. What can be more vexatious than a continual goading of each side, so that the attempt to avoid the one throws the body more forcibly on the other? And what can be more distressing than a continual pricking in the eye, harassing the mind, tormenting the body, and extinguishing the sight?”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
John Gill reads the threat as exile, Israel handed over to its enemies and carried captive into other lands. Matthew Henry turns the verse on the reader. In his words, if we do not drive sin out, sin will drive us out.
Numbers 33:56
“Moreover, it shall come to pass,.... This being the case, they suffering the Canaanites to dwell among them, and they mingling with them, learning their works, and serving their gods: that I shall do unto you as I thought I should do unto them; deliver them up into the hands of their enemies, who should carry them captive into other lands.”
How this psalm is built
The form: An itinerary, a chain of stages each naming where Israel set out from and where it camped, as Clarke classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| They set out from, and they camped at | One formula carries the whole list. Each stage names the place left and the place reached, and the place reached becomes the place left in the next line. The chain runs unbroken from verse 5 to verse 49. | Numbers 33:5, Numbers 33:12, Numbers 33:30, Numbers 33:47 |
| The stages of forty years in one list | The chapter gives the stages in order from Rameses to the plains of Moab. The formula that opens a stage stands forty-two times in the text and forty-one camps are named, counted over verses 3 to 49 in the Berean text in the store. | Numbers 33:3, Numbers 33:49 |
| Three notices set inside the chain | The list stops three times to record something. Verses 3 and 4 give the departure from Rameses on the day after the Passover. Verses 38 and 39 give Aaron's death on Mount Hor in the fortieth year, and verse 40 reports that the king of Arad heard Israel was coming. | Numbers 33:3-4, Numbers 33:38-39, Numbers 33:40 |
The one place Moses is said to have written
8 more paragraphs on the patterns
Verse 2 is unusual in the book. It says that at the LORD's command Moses recorded the stages, which makes the chapter a document with a stated author and a stated reason. Adam Clarke calls the whole book a diary on the strength of it, and the first book of travels ever published.
What the list keeps in view
The list carries its own theology in the notices set inside it. Verse 4 says the Egyptians were burying their firstborn as Israel marched out, and that the LORD had executed judgment against their gods. John Wesley takes those gods to include the animals the Egyptians worshipped, which died with the rest.
Verses 38 and 39 put Aaron's death and his age inside the chain of place names. The one grave the list marks belongs to the high priest, and it stands in the fortieth year.
What can still be seen
Adam Clarke reports of Elim at verse 9 that when Dr Shaw visited the place he found nine of the twelve wells the chapter names. The observation is offered as a traveller's report rather than as a settled identification.
The command that closes it
Verse 55 warns that inhabitants left in the land will be barbs in the eyes and thorns in the sides of Israel. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the warning forward as a lesson about allowing a habit of sin to remain. Adam Clarke reads the figure plainly, as continual goading.
Keep studying
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1832, on Numbers 33:2 and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, on Numbers 33:2.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary on the Four Last Books of Moses Arranged in the Form of a Harmony; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch; MannaFest exposition; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Origen of Alexandria, Homilies on Numbers 27.