And they departed from Iim, and pitched in Dibon–gad.
And they journeyed from Iyim, and encamped in Dibon-gad.
And they journey from Iim, and encamp in Dibon-Gad;
And they removed from Ijim, and encamped in Dibon-Gad.
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.
Voices2
From there they come in turn to Dibongad [Dibon-gad], which bears the meaning "beehive of temptations." How marvelous is the caution of divine providence! For look, this wanderer on his heavenly journey comes right up to the highest perfection by a succession of virtues; and nevertheless temptations do not leave him, though I hear temptations of a new kind. It means "beehive of temptations." Scripture considers the bee a praiseworthy insect, and kings and commoners use what it produces for their health.
Origen of Alexandria· HOMILIES ON NUMBERS 27:12, 253patristic
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.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)reformed
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread — the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
The verses this one reaches2
And the Gadites built up Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer,
The princes dug the well; the nobles of the people hollowed it out with their scepters and with their staffs.” From the wilderness the Israelites went on to Mattanah,
