Bible Chapter Summary
Numbers 33 Summary
Israel's Wilderness Journey Recorded
Numbers 33 presents the complete itinerary of Israel's journey from Rameses in Egypt to the plains of Moab, which Moses recorded by divine command. The list of forty-two encampments begins the day after the Passover, recalling the LORD's judgment on Egypt's firstborn and gods, and includes notable stops such as the crossing of the sea, Elim with its twelve springs, Rephidim, Sinai, and the death of Aaron on Mount Hor in the fortieth year at age 123. Upon Israel's arrival in the plains of Moab by the Jordan near Jericho, the LORD commanded Moses to instruct the people to drive out all Canaanite inhabitants, destroy their idols and high places, and divide the land by lot according to tribal size. The LORD warned that any inhabitants left in the land would become irritants and adversaries to Israel, and that failure to dispossess them would result in God dealing with Israel as He had intended to deal with the Canaanites.
Key themes
Key verses
Numbers 33:2
“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.”
Numbers 33:38
“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.”
Numbers 33:53
“And ye shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein: for I have given you the land to possess it.”
Numbers 33:55
“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.”
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