Verse-by-Verse Commentary
The Book of Numbers
Chapter 33: The Record of the Journeys
Before Israel crosses the Jordan, God has Moses write down the whole itinerary of the wilderness years, stage by stage, from Rameses to the plains of Moab. It is a record of the pilgrim journey, every stopping place remembered, kept by the God who knows the way His people came. And it closes with a solemn charge: when they enter the land, they must drive out its inhabitants and destroy every idol, or what they let remain will become 'pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides.' A chapter about the journey God records and the complete obedience He requires.
About This Commentary
This is a verse-by-verse study of Numbers chapter 33. For each section you will find the KJV text, the Hebrew words that sharpen the meaning, plain explanation, and a Gospel Focus. The chapter records the stages of Israel's journey from Egypt to the edge of the land, and gives the charge to dispossess Canaan and destroy its idols. It shows the God who records His people's pilgrimage and calls us to complete obedience against every idol. Every Scripture quotation is from the King James Version.
Setting the Stage
Moses Wrote It Down
By God's command, Moses recorded every stage of the journey, a written testimony of the wilderness years.
Stage by Stage
From Rameses to the plains of Moab, every stopping place is remembered, the hard and the sweet alike.
Drive Them Out
Entering the land, Israel was to dispossess its people and destroy every idol and high place.
Pricks and Thorns
What they failed to drive out would become pricks in their eyes and thorns in their sides.
Moses Wrote Their Journeys (Numbers 33:1-4)
By God's command, Moses wrote down every stage of the journey, a record of the pilgrim way kept by the God who knows the path His people came.
Moses Wrote Their Goings Out
"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. And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the commandment of the LORD: and these are their journeys according to their goings out."
Hebrew Study
"journeys," masa (מַסַּע), from nasa (נָסַע). The word means a pulling up of stakes, a setting out, a stage of a journey. Each "journey" was a breaking of camp and moving on. The pilgrim life of Israel was a long succession of pulling up stakes and following God to the next place, and every stage was written down.
Explanation
Before Israel enters the land, God has Moses set down the whole itinerary of the wilderness: "These are the journeys of the children of Israel, which went forth out of the land of Egypt." And it was no casual record: "Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the commandment of the LORD." God Himself directed that the stages be written. The list begins at the deliverance: they "departed from Rameses... on the morrow after the passover... with an high hand," while "upon their gods also the LORD executed judgments." Then follows stage after stage, name after name, the record of forty years of pulling up stakes and moving on. It is the diary of a pilgrim people, kept at God's command, so that the journey would be remembered.
Gospel Focus
That God commanded the journey to be written down is a quiet comfort: the LORD keeps a record of His people's pilgrimage. Every stage, every stopping place, every hard camp and every green oasis, He knows and remembers. David rejoiced in this: "thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?" (Psalm 56:8). Your journey, too, is known and kept by God; not one weary stage of the road is forgotten by Him. And the record begins where our story begins, at redemption, when Israel went out "on the morrow after the passover... with an high hand," and God executed judgment "upon their gods," a picture of Christ, who "having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them" (Colossians 2:15). Our pilgrimage, like theirs, starts at the blood of the Lamb and the defeat of the powers that held us. It is good to look back and trace the stages of the way God has led us, to remember His faithfulness from camp to camp, and to know that the whole journey is written in His book.
From Rameses to the Plains of Moab (Numbers 33:5-49)
Stage by stage, the record traces the whole journey, the hard places and the sweet, forty years of a pilgrim people following God to the edge of the promise.
Out with an High Hand
"And they departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the morrow after the passover the children of Israel went out with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians. For the Egyptians buried all their firstborn, which the LORD had smitten among them: upon their gods also the LORD executed judgments. And the children of Israel removed from Rameses, and pitched in Succoth. And they departed from Succoth, and pitched in Etham, which is in the edge of the wilderness. And they removed from Etham, and turned again unto Pihahiroth, which is before Baalzephon: and they pitched before Migdol. And they departed from before Pihahiroth, and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, and went three days' journey in the wilderness of Etham, and pitched in Marah. And they removed from Marah, and came unto Elim: and in Elim were twelve fountains of water, and threescore and ten palm trees; and they pitched there. And they removed from Elim, and encamped by the Red sea. And they removed from the Red sea, and encamped in the wilderness of Sin. And they took their journey out of the wilderness of Sin, and encamped in Dophkah. And they departed from Dophkah, and encamped in Alush. And they removed from Alush, and encamped at Rephidim, where was no water for the people to drink. And they departed from Rephidim, and pitched in the wilderness of Sinai. And they removed from the desert of Sinai, and pitched at Kibrothhattaavah. And they departed from Kibrothhattaavah, and encamped at Hazeroth. And they departed from Hazeroth, and pitched in Rithmah. And they departed from Rithmah, and pitched at Rimmonparez. And they departed from Rimmonparez, and pitched in Libnah. And they removed from Libnah, and pitched at Rissah. And they journeyed from Rissah, and pitched in Kehelathah. And they went from Kehelathah, and pitched in mount Shapher. And they removed from mount Shapher, and encamped in Haradah. And they removed from Haradah, and pitched in Makheloth. And they removed from Makheloth, and encamped at Tahath. And they departed from Tahath, and pitched at Tarah. And they removed from Tarah, and pitched in Mithcah. And they went from Mithcah, and pitched in Hashmonah. And they departed from Hashmonah, and encamped at Moseroth. And they departed from Moseroth, and pitched in Benejaakan. And they removed from Benejaakan, and encamped at Horhagidgad. And they went from Horhagidgad, and pitched in Jotbathah. And they removed from Jotbathah, and encamped at Ebronah. And they departed from Ebronah, and encamped at Eziongaber. And they removed from Eziongaber, and pitched in the wilderness of Zin, which is Kadesh. And they removed from Kadesh, and pitched in mount Hor, in the edge of the land of Edom. And Aaron the priest went up into mount Hor at the commandment of the LORD, and died there, in the fortieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the first day of the fifth month. And Aaron was an hundred and twenty and three years old when he died in mount Hor. And king Arad the Canaanite, which dwelt in the south in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the children of Israel. And they departed from mount Hor, and pitched in Zalmonah. And they departed from Zalmonah, and pitched in Punon. And they departed from Punon, and pitched in Oboth. And they departed from Oboth, and pitched in Ijeabarim, in the border of Moab. And they departed from Iim, and pitched in Dibongad. And they removed from Dibongad, and encamped in Almondiblathaim. And they removed from Almondiblathaim, and pitched in the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo. And they departed from the mountains of Abarim, and pitched in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho. And they pitched by Jordan, from Bethjesimoth even unto Abelshittim in the plains of Moab. And the LORD spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye are passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan; Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places: And ye shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein: for I have given you the land to possess it. And ye shall divide the land by lot for an inheritance among your families: and to the more ye shall give the more inheritance, and to the fewer ye shall give the less inheritance: every man's inheritance shall be in the place where his lot falleth; according to the tribes of your fathers ye shall inherit."
Hebrew Study
God has Moses write down the whole itinerary — forty-two stages "by the commandment of the LORD," from Rameses to the plains of Moab. Every campsite is recorded, the places of triumph and the places of failure alike, for the entire pilgrimage was under God's hand and worth remembering. He keeps the record of His people's wanderings; not one weary stop was wasted or forgotten. The long road, station by station, was itself the appointed path home.
Explanation
The long list of stations traces the whole pilgrimage: out of Egypt through the Red Sea, into the wilderness of Sin, to Sinai, to Kadesh, and at last to "the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho." Familiar names appear along the way, places of testing and places of refreshment. There was Marah with its bitter water, and there was Elim, where "were twelve fountains of water, and threescore and ten palm trees." There were the hard camps of the wilderness wandering, and the places where loved ones were buried, and the stages of the final approach to the land. Forty years of a people's life are gathered into this quiet list. It is the record of a journey that began in bondage and ends at the border of the promise, every stage a step in the faithfulness of God who led them all the way.
Gospel Focus
The catalog of stages is a portrait of the pilgrim life, and it belongs to us who are "strangers and pilgrims" (1 Peter 2:11), for "here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come" (Hebrews 13:14). Like Israel, our life is a succession of pulling up stakes and following God to the next place, some camps bitter as Marah, some refreshing as Elim with its wells and palms. God leads His people through both. And it is worth doing what this chapter does: looking back over the stages of the way and remembering how God brought us through each one. Every Marah had its healing tree, every wilderness its manna, every stage its provision, and the God who led us from the last camp will lead us to the next. The journey is not aimless; it moves from the Egypt of our bondage to the border of the promise, and every station along the way is a testimony that "hitherto hath the LORD helped us." Take courage from the road already traveled: the faithful God who has brought you this far will bring you home.
Drive Them Out, Every One (Numbers 33:50-56)
Entering the land, Israel was to dispossess its people and destroy every idol, for what they let remain would become pricks in their eyes and thorns in their sides.
Pricks in Your Eyes, Thorns in Your Sides
"But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell. Moreover it shall come to pass, that I shall do unto you, as I thought to do unto them."
Hebrew Study
The command is thorough dispossession — drive out the inhabitants and destroy their idols — with a solemn warning: "those which ye let remain shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides." Half-obedience plants a future snare; the evil tolerated today becomes the torment of tomorrow. Israel's later history proved it exactly. The principle stands for every believer: sin left un-driven-out does not stay quiet, but festers into a thorn that wounds for years.
Explanation
The chapter ends with a charge for the conquest ahead. When Israel crossed the Jordan, they were to "drive out all the inhabitants of the land," and "destroy all their pictures... their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places." The land was God's gift, "I have given you the land to possess it," to be divided by lot for an inheritance. But the command came with a solemn warning about incomplete obedience: "if ye will not drive out the inhabitants... then... those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you." What they failed to remove would not stay harmless; it would become a lasting torment. And the warning went further still: "I shall do unto you, as I thought to do unto them." If Israel adopted the idols of Canaan, they would share the judgment God had appointed for Canaan. Complete obedience was not optional; a spared idol would become a snare.
Gospel Focus
This closing charge is one of the most practical warnings in Scripture about dealing with sin. Israel was to drive out every inhabitant and destroy every idol, and what they spared would become "pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides." Tragically, they did not obey fully, and God's word came true to the letter: "they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you" (Judges 2:3). The lesson for us is unmistakable. The sins and idols we tolerate, the compromises we let remain, do not stay small or harmless; they become the very thorns that vex us and the snares that trip us. A little idol spared is a future torment kept. So the call is to complete obedience: "make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof" (Romans 13:14). Do not negotiate with the sin you should destroy; tear down every high place in your heart. And the final warning humbles all presumption: "I shall do unto you, as I thought to do unto them." Privilege does not exempt us from judgment for the same sins we were meant to put away. Drive out every idol now, completely, or it will vex you later.
Chapter 33 in Review
Numbers 33 records the stages of Israel's journey from Egypt to the plains of Moab, written by Moses "by the commandment of the LORD." From the departure "with an high hand" after the Passover, through Marah and Elim, Sinai and Kadesh, to the border of the land, every stopping place is remembered, the whole pilgrimage kept in God's book. And the chapter closes with the charge for the conquest: drive out the inhabitants and destroy every idol, for what is let remain "shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides."
For the Apostolic reader, the chapter comforts and warns. The recorded journey reminds us that God keeps the whole pilgrimage of His people, "thou tellest my wanderings," and that our road, begun at the blood of the Lamb and the defeat of the powers, moves faithfully from bondage to promise; it is good to look back and remember His faithfulness stage by stage. And the closing charge presses complete obedience upon us: the sins and idols we tolerate become the thorns that vex us, so we must "make not provision for the flesh" but tear down every idol completely. Trace with thanksgiving the way God has led you, and drive out, without compromise, every idol that would otherwise become a thorn.
- God keeps a record of His people's whole journey: "thou tellest my wanderings... are they not in thy book?" (33:2; Psalm 56:8).
- The journey begins at redemption and the defeat of the powers, as Christ "spoiled principalities and powers" (33:3-4; Colossians 2:15).
- We are pilgrims moving stage by stage, remembering God's faithfulness from camp to camp (33:5-49; 1 Peter 2:11; Hebrews 13:14).
- Tolerated sin becomes "pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides"; incomplete obedience leaves a snare (33:55; Judges 2:3).
- Drive out every idol completely: "make not provision for the flesh"; privilege does not exempt us from judgment (33:56; Romans 13:14).
Questions for Reflection
- Can you look back over the stages of your journey and trace the faithfulness of God from camp to camp?
- Is there an idol or compromise you have let remain that is becoming a thorn in your side?
- Will you drive out every idol completely, or negotiate with sin you were meant to destroy?
References & Sources
Scripture is quoted from the King James Version (KJV). The Hebrew terms are standard and can be checked in any Hebrew lexicon. Supporting passages are listed so every claim can be verified in its own setting. If anything here does not look right, a verse, a reference, or a wording, please tell us at info@FruitBearers.net. Thank you for helping us keep Bible Learning error free.
- The recorded journey and God who keeps our pilgrimage: Numbers 33:1-4; Psalm 56:8; Colossians 2:15.
- The stages of the pilgrim way: Numbers 33:5-49; 1 Peter 2:11; Hebrews 13:14.
- The charge to drive out every idol, and tolerated sin as thorns: Numbers 33:50-56; Judges 2:3; Romans 13:14.