And they removed from Makheloth, and encamped at Tahath.
And they journeyed from Makheloth, and encamped in Tahath.
and they journey from Makheloth, and encamp in Tahath.
And they removed from Makheloth, and encamped at Tahath.
Numbers — Israel on the move — and Israel on the ground in rebellion. Two censuses bracket thirty-eight wilderness years; God's faithfulness holds where the people's does not.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread — the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
Voices1
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· HOMILIES ON NUMBERS 27:12, 253patristic
