Blogging Bible Study: Digging in the Desert -- Desert Journey Recounted

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

It's interesting; here, on the east side of the Jordan, we now have a recount of the entire journey from Egypt to the Plains of Moab in Numbers 33.  The word 'desert' is mentioned 8 times in verses 6 - 36, mostly identifying a specific area, such as 'the Desert of Sinai', although there are two times where 'desert' is mentioned as their general location...

They left Succoth and camped at Etham, on the edge of the desert. 
They left Etham, turned back to Pi Hahiroth, to the east of Baal Zephon, and camped near Migdol.  They left Pi Hahiroth and passed through the sea into the desert, and when they had traveled for three days in the Desert of Etham, they camped at Marah.  (33:6-8)

They passed through the sea into the desert.

That was the delineation, the point of no return, the true start of the journey.  Until that moment, they had been leaving Egypt.  But once they had passed through the sea, they were no longer going away from slavery, they were going toward a promise.

And they bungled the journey, complained way too much and suffered the consequences.  Thousands died.  But now, the new generation, is poised to pass over the Jordan out of the desert.

There is just one more mention of the word 'desert' in the book of Numbers...it's in 34:3:

Your southern side will include some of the Desert of Zin along the border of Edom.

From there, the rest of the boundaries of the land they are to call home are described.  There is more discussion of inheritance, of the  cities of refuge, and one more addendum to the story of Zelophehad's daughters...they are required to only marry men from within their tribe, so their inheritance would stay within their tribe. So Zelophehad's daughters all married men from their father's clan, and we find ourselves at the end of the book of Numbers.

Next week...we'll dig into Deuteronomy.