And they went from Mithcah, and pitched in Hashmonah.
And they journeyed from Mithkah, and encamped in Hashmonah.
And they journey from Mithcah, and encamp in Hashmonah;
And they removed from Mithcah, and encamped in Hashmonah.
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.
Voices1
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· HOMILIES ON NUMBERS 27:12, 253patristic
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread — the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
