Commentaria in Numeros
Chapter the Thirty-third
The 42 mansions of the Hebrews in the desert are recounted. I had thought to have them engraved, as also many other things, and expressed here; but lest the price of the book should swell too much, I have judged it right to refrain. Let the reader see the tables of Adrichomius.
1. These are the mansions of the children of Israel, who went out of Egypt by their companies under the conduct of Moses and Aaron, 2. which Moses wrote down according to the places of the encampments, which they changed by the commandment of the Lord. 3. They set forward therefore from Ramesses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month, the day after the Phase, the children of Israel with a mighty hand, in the sight of all the Egyptians, 4. who were burying their firstborn, whom the Lord had slain (for upon their gods also he had executed vengeance), 5. and they pitched their tents in Soccoth. 6. And from Soccoth they came to Etham, which is in the utmost borders of the wilderness. 7. Departing thence they came over against Phihahiroth, which looketh toward Beelsephon, and they pitched their tents before Magdalum. 8. And departing from Phihahiroth, they passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness: and having marched three days through the desert of Etham, they camped in Mara. 9. And departing from Mara, they came to Elim, where there were twelve fountains of water and seventy palm trees: and there they camped. 10. And departing from thence, they pitched their tents by the Red Sea. And departing from the Red Sea, 11. they camped in the desert of Sin. 12. Whence departing, they came to Daphca. 13. And departing from Daphca, they camped in Alus. 14. And going out of Alus, they pitched their tents in Raphidim, where the people wanted water to drink. 15. And departing from Raphidim, they camped in the desert of Sinai. 16. And going out of the wilderness of Sinai, they came to the Graves of lust. 17. And departing from the Graves of lust, they camped in Haseroth. 18. And from Haseroth they came to Rethma. 19. And departing from Rethma, they camped in Remmonphares. 20. Whence departing they came to Lebna. 21. From Lebna they camped in Ressa. 22. And going out of Ressa, they came to Ceelatha. 23. Whence departing they camped in mount Sepher. 24. Going out of mount Sepher, they came to Arada. 25. Thence departing, they camped in Maceloth. 26. And departing from Maceloth, they came to Thahath. 27. From Thahath they camped in Thare. 28. Whence going out they pitched their tents in Methca. 29. And from Methca they camped in Hesmona. 30. And departing from Hesmona, they came to Moseroth. 31. And from Moseroth they camped in Benejaacan. 32. And departing from Benejaacan, they came to the mount Gadgad. 33. Whence departing they camped in Jetebatha. 34. And from Jetebatha they came to Hebrona. 35. And going out of Hebrona, they camped in Asiongaber. 36. Thence departing they came into the desert of Sin, that is Cades. 37. And going out of Cades, they camped in mount Hor, in the uttermost borders of the land of Edom. 38. And Aaron the priest went up into mount Hor at the commandment of the Lord: and there he died in the fortieth year of the going forth of the children of Israel out of Egypt, in the fifth month, on the first day of the month, 39. when he was a hundred and twenty-three years old. 40. And the Chanaanite king of Arad, who dwelt toward the south, heard that the children of Israel were come into the land of Chanaan. 41. And departing from mount Hor, they camped in Salmona. 42. Whence they went out and came to Phunon. 43. And departing from Phunon, they camped in Oboth. 44. And from Oboth they came to Jeabarim, which is in the borders of the Moabites. 45. And departing from Jeabarim, they pitched their tents in Dibongad. 46. Whence going out, they camped in Helmondeblathaim. 47. And going out of Helmondeblathaim, they came to the mountains of Abarim, over against Nabo. 48. And departing from the mountains of Abarim, they passed to the plains of Moab, upon the Jordan over against Jericho. 49. And there they camped from Bethsimoth to Abelsatim, in the more level places of the Moabites, 50. where the Lord spoke to Moses: 51. Command the children of Israel, and say to them: When you shall have passed over the Jordan, entering into the land of Chanaan, 52. destroy all the inhabitants of that land; break their pillars, and break in pieces their statues, and waste all their high places, 53. cleansing the land, and dwelling in it; for I have given it you for a possession, 54. which you shall divide among you by lot. To the more you shall give a larger portion, and to the fewer a narrower. To every one as the lot shall fall, so shall the inheritance be given. By tribes and families shall the possession be divided; 55. but if you will not kill the inhabitants of the land, they that remain shall be as nails in your eyes, and spears in your sides, and shall be adverse to you in the land of your habitation: 56. and whatsoever I had thought to do to them, I will do to you.
Tropologically, as the Hebrews through 42 stations went into Chanaan, so Christians through the 40 days of fasting tend to the resurrection; hence it came about that these days of fasts are called Stations by the Fathers, both because on them Christians stood praying and watching, as though through the nations to the land promised in heaven; and because these days of stations were represented by the 42 stations of the Hebrews in the desert, as I taught from St. Ambrose, Tertullian and others on Exodus xxiv, at the end.
The wise Abbot in the Lives of the Fathers, book VII, chapter xxvi, said: “Let a man labour until he possess Christ. Moreover, remembering the tribulation of labour, let him guard himself on every side, fearing lest he lose so great labours. For God led the children of Israel about through the desert forty years, that remembering the tribulation of the way they might not wish to return backward.”
1. UNDER THE CONDUCT OF MOSES AND AARON,—by Moses and Aaron, or under the leading of Moses and Aaron: for “in the hand” among the Hebrews signifies an instrumental cause, and has the same force as “by.”
3. THE DAY AFTER THE PHASE,—the day after the lamb was sacrificed, on the 14th moon in the evening, namely the 15th moon, or day, of the first month; for on this 15th day they went out of Egypt.
WITH A MIGHTY HAND,—with great power, strength and to the terror of the Egyptians, that is, they went out powerfully, valiantly and gloriously, the Egyptians being already prostrated by so many plagues, and by the slaughter of the firstborn; whence they did not dare any further to hinder the Hebrews’ going out and detain them. Here the Chaldee renders: They went out openly, in the eyes of all the Egyptians.
4. FOR UPON THEIR GODS ALSO HE HAD EXECUTED VENGEANCE,—because, namely, on the same night in which they went out God overthrew the idols of Egypt, as I said on Exodus xii, 12, as if to say: Therefore the Hebrews went out with a mighty hand, in the eyes of all the Egyptians, because the Lord had terrified them by the slaughter, not only of the firstborn, but of their very idols.
8. HAVING MARCHED THROUGH THE DESERT OF ETHAM.—The desert of Etham, then, was vast, both on this side and beyond the Red Sea, as I said on Exodus xiv, 21 and 29. Abulensis, therefore, less rightly suspects from these words that the Hebrews did not cross, but went round the Red Sea, so as to remain continually in the same desert of Etham.
40. AND THE CHANAANITE KING OF ARAD, etc., HEARD THAT THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL WERE COME INTO THE LAND OF CHANAAN.—“Were come,” that is, were approaching (for “to have come” signifies a begun act, not a completed one), to invade it; supply: therefore he wished to hinder them, and harassed them in war, but was defeated and slain by them, as was said at the beginning of chapter xxi.
Secondly, the Hebrew, Chaldee, Septuagint, Vatablus and others join “in Chanaan” more plainly with what precedes, and render: and the king of Arad heard, dwelling toward the south in Chanaan, that is, the Chanaanite; for he did not dwell in Chanaan itself, but outside, and it lay to the south of him, as did Amalec, as is plain from chapter xiv, verse 43, and 1 Kings xxx, 1. For the Hebrew be, that is in, often serves in place of the genitive of regimen, and our Latin version seems to be taken according to this sense, and we must read in it with Abulensis, Arad who dwelt toward the south in the land (not into the land) of Chanaan, that is, who dwelt toward the south of the land of Chanaan itself, says Abulensis.
49. AND THERE THEY ENCAMPED FROM BETHSIMOTH TO ABELSATIM,—not as if the camp of the Hebrews extended from Bethsimoth to Abelsatim, twelve miles, as R. Solomon will have it: for so there would be not 42 but 44 mansions. The sense, then, is as if to say: The Hebrews first pitched their camp at Bethsimoth, and afterwards at Abelsatim, which was the last mansion. So Abulensis.