When we arrive at Numbers, Chapter 33 there is a detailed recap of all the places and stages of the journey that the Israelite’s took from Egypt to the entrance of The Promised Land. God had told Moses to record these things and he had done so.
REMINDERS FROM GOD AND MOSES
There are detailed passages explaining how the tribes first marched out of Egypt on the day after Passover as the Egyptians were burying all of their first born sons. The passages speak of how God brought judgment down on Egypt and their pagan gods.
A word-map with step-by-step details of each location follows.
REMEMBERING THE ROUTE
In short we are told that the Israelites left Ramses and came to Sukkoth, then Etham on the edge of the desert. They left Etham and turned back to Pi Hahiroth which was to the east of Baal Zephone, then camped near Migdo.
The tribes left there and passed through the sea into the desert. They traveled for three more days and then camped at Marah. Next they traveled to Elim, where they saw the twelve springs and seventy palm trees. They camped there for awhile, then moved to a camp near the Red Sea.
They left the Red Sea and camped in the Desert of Sin. They left the Desert of Sin and camped at Dophkah. Then they moved to Alush, then Rephidim (where there was not water for the people to drink.)
They left Rephidim and camped in the Desert at Sinai.
After being there for a while, they moved on to Kibroth Hattaavah. Then they moved to Hazeroth, Rithmah and Rimmon Perez. They left Rimmon Perez and camped at Libnah, then Rissah, then Kehelathan.
They left Kehelathah and camped at Mount Sepher, then Mount Shepher and then Haradah. They left Haradah and went to Haradah, then Makheloth, then Tahath. They left Tahath and came to Terah, then Mithkah, then Hashmonah.
They left Hashmonah and camped at Moseroth, then Bene Jaakan, then Hor Haggidgad. They left Hor Haggidgad and camped at Jotbathah, then Abronah, then Ezion Geber.
REMEMBERING AARON’S DEATH
They left Ezion Geber and came to Kadesh in the Desert of Zin. Then they camped at Mount Hor, on the border of Edom. This was where Aaron died on the first day of the fifth month of the fortieth year after the Israelites came out of Egypt.
When Aaron died he was 123 years old.
THE CANAANITES ARE WARNED
The Canaanite King of Arad heard that the Israelites were coming. They left Mount Hor and camped at Zalmonah, then Punon, then Oboth. They left Obath and camped at Iye Abarim, on the border of Moab. They left Abarim and camped at Bibon Gad, then Almon Diblathaim and then the mountains of Abarim, near Nebo.
They left that place and camped on the plains of Moab by the Jordan River across from Jericho. They camped from Beth Jeshimoth to Abel Shittim. We have now studied their moves from place-to-place and many of the locations described give us thoughts of the stories of Israel that were formed along the way.
WHEN YOU CROSS THE JORDAN
While they were there on the banks of The Jordan River, God spoke to Moses and told him to speak to the people.
Moses told the people the following information that God had given him to say:
“When you cross the Jordan into Canaan, drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you. Destroy all of their carved images and their cast idols, and demolish all of their high places. Take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given you the land to possess.
Distribute the land by lot, according to your clans. To a larger group give a larger inheritance, and to a smaller group a smaller one.
Whatever falls to them by lot will be theirs. Distribute it according to your ancestral tribes.
RECEIVING THE PROMISES
God was giving each family land and a home. It was theirs forever. All they had to do was to follow God’s instructions and walk into the promises.
However; there were some stipulations:
But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will give you trouble in the land where you will live. And then I will do to you what I plan to do to them.”
These were the rules that God laid out through the mouth of Moses before the people entered the place of their inheritance.