And they removed from the wilderness of Sin, and encamped in Dophkah.
Dophkah is only a name in a list of camps, with no event attached to it. A name with no story raises the question of why God bothered to write it down at all.
Dophkah belongs to the stretch between the wilderness of Sin and Rephidim. One writer sets it in that sequence:
Leaving the wilderness of Sin, they came in due course to Rephidim, with two stations in between: Dophkah and Alush (Num. 33:12-14). At Rephidim they wanted water, so they murmured again. There was nothing wrong in being hungry in the wilderness of Sin, or thirsty at Rephidim. These are the natural conditions of creatures no longer in Paradise. Their failure was in murmuring, and in treating Moses as the cause of their having no water. God had led them through the Red Sea, and He was leading them still. We read: "All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the LORD" (17:1). If God was leading, then their arrival at Rephidim must be right.
Commentators treat the list itself as the message — God going back over the road with His people before they leave it behind:
Numbers 33 testifies to another beautiful truth: the LORD remembers all the past. He remembers all our journeys, all the scenes of difficulty brought on by our weakness — and sometimes worse than that too — and His solemn judgments. And here we have it all gone over again. It was good to think of His ways with them. Those about to enter a new scene did well to look back on every step of the journey. It is therefore far from an unimportant chapter, and far from the dry list of names a shallow reader might take it for. Every part of Scripture has a divine and a moral purpose in it.
Mackintosh reads the chapter as God retracing the whole route Himself:
Think how He stooped to keep such a record of the journeys of His poor people. It covers the moment they marched out of Egypt until they crossed the Jordan — from the land of death and darkness to the land flowing with milk and honey. "He knows your going through this great wilderness. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing." He went before them every step of the way. He travelled over every stage of the wilderness. In all their afflictions He was afflicted... Here He retraces the whole way His hand had led them. He records each stage of that wonderful pilgrimage with care, and every spot in the desert where they had stopped. What a journey! What a travelling companion!
Dophkah left no incident behind. Yet it stands in a chain of places that writers read as lessons for believers now:
Elim, Sin, Dophkah, Alush and Rephidim follow in quick succession. Each one holds lessons for us, more or less valuable, if we are ready to learn them. For is it not written that "these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come" (1 Cor. 10:11)?
The same chapter that looks back over Israel's route points forward. Ridout links the two:
A whole volume might be written from this backward-looking chapter. Every name surely has a special meaning. Those meanings, and the memories attached to many of them, would recall the whole wilderness journey. What a day it will be when, at the judgment seat of Christ, He will review all our pathway with us, pointing out our failures and His faithfulness!
If God chose the site of a camp no one remembers, He also orders the ordinary days of a believer's life:
The poor, weary pilgrim finds great comfort in this: God's infinite love and unerring wisdom mark out every stage of his wilderness journey. He is leading His people by a right way, home to Himself. He Himself orders every circumstance in their lot, and every ingredient in their cup, with care and with direct reference to their present profit and their everlasting happiness.
- Led — Israel left the wilderness of Sin at God's command, not by their own planning. If He was leading, the next camp had to be right.
- Recorded — God kept an account of every halt, retracing the whole road from Egypt to the Jordan.
- Purposed — the list is not filler. Every part of Scripture has a divine and moral purpose, names included.
- Instructive — Elim, Sin, Dophkah, Alush and Rephidim carry lessons written for our instruction, even where no event is attached.
- Reviewed — one day God will go over this same road with us at the judgment seat of Christ, showing our failures and His faithfulness.
And they removed from Dophkah, and encamped in Alush.
One line records a move between two camps with no story attached — no miracle, no rebellion, no water from a rock. Why write down a stop where, as far as we know, nothing happened?
Much of this chapter reads like a bare list. One writer draws attention to that silence.
The chapter shows in a wonderful way how the eye of God follows the journeys and wanderings of His people, and how He keeps a record of them. Nothing escapes His watchful eye. And despite their failures, He leads His people to the promised goal. Notice the long list of camps in their wanderings with no history attached. There must be many lessons here that God's people have not been able to understand. The Hebrew names given in this long list of stations shed much light on what may have taken place.
Alush sits on a short stretch of road. It comes between the wilderness of Sin, where Israel had no bread, and Rephidim, where they had no water.
They set out from the wilderness of Sin and in time camped at Rephidim. Two stations lay in between: Dophkah and Alush (Num. 33:12-14). At Rephidim they had no water, so they grumbled again. Now there was nothing wrong in being hungry in the wilderness of Sin, or being thirsty at Rephidim. These are natural conditions for people who no longer live in Paradise. Their failure was in grumbling, and in blaming Moses for their state — that is, for having no water. God, who had led them through the Red Sea, was leading them still... If God was leading, then their arrival at Rephidim must be right.
The same holds for the quiet camps. If God was leading, Alush was right too.
One writer reads the whole list as proof of the care of the One who travelled the road with them.
You cannot read it without being deeply moved by the tender love and care of God, which shines out so clearly all the way through. Think of Him stooping to keep such a record of the travels of His poor people, from the moment they marched out of Egypt until they crossed the Jordan — from the land of death and darkness to the land flowing with milk and honey... He went before them every step of the way. He travelled over every stage of the wilderness. In all their affliction He suffered with them... And here He goes back over the whole way His hand had led them, noting down each stage of that wonderful journey, and every spot in the desert where they had stopped. What a journey! What a travelling companion!
One writer counts the moves and asks a practical question.
It appears they moved and encamped 44 times in these years. This is much more than people usually move from one house to another in a period of forty years. It is amazing that God brought such a huge company, with their livestock and everything they owned, through that long journey by the hand of one chosen leader! Why did they not scatter and go wherever each one pleased, as people usually would? The only answer is in the overruling power of God.
One writer turns this into comfort for the ordinary days of our own journey.
It is a great comfort to the poor, weary traveller to know that the infinite love and perfect wisdom of God mark out every stage of his wilderness journey... there is not one circumstance in their lot, not one ingredient in their cup, that He has not ordered Himself, with a direct view to their good now and their happiness for ever... And then, when our desert wanderings are over — when we have walked the last stage of the wilderness — He will take us home to be with Himself for ever.
This chapter looks back. Israel reads the road only after walking it, and that pattern points forward.
Next we have Israel's travel record, from the start in Egypt to the borders of the land by the Jordan. A whole book could be written from this chapter that looks back. No doubt every name has a special meaning, and the memories attached to many of them would bring back the whole wilderness journey. What a day it will be when, at the judgment seat of Christ, He will go over all our path with us, pointing out our failures and His faithfulness!
Even the bare names on this list carry meaning.
- Recorded. God wrote down every halt, even the camps with no story attached — nothing escapes His watchful eye.
- Led. Dophkah and Alush lie between the wilderness of Sin and Rephidim; if God was leading, each arrival was right.
- Held. Forty-four moves over forty years, and the company never scattered — the only answer is the overruling power of God.
- Ordered. Not one circumstance, not one ingredient in the cup, is outside His love and wisdom.
- Reviewed. One day Christ will go back over our whole path with us, pointing out our failures and His faithfulness.
And they removed from Alush, and encamped at Rephidim, where there was no water for the people to drink.
Numbers 33 is God's own travel diary of Israel's forty years, and this verse logs the move from Alush to Rephidim, the camp with nothing to drink. Why did the God who was leading them bring them to a place with nothing to drink?
Long name-lists invite skimming. One writer insists this chapter is doing real work.
Numbers 33 testifies to another beautiful truth: the Lord remembers all the past. He remembers all our journeys, all the scenes of difficulty caused by our weakness, and sometimes worse than that, and solemn judgments too. Here it is all rehearsed. It was good to think of His ways with them — good for those about to enter a new scene to look back on every step of the journey. So this is far from being an unimportant chapter, or, as it might appear to a careless reader, a mere dry list of names. There is no part of Scripture that does not have a divine as well as a moral purpose in it.
The record covers every stop between Egypt and the Jordan.
To think of His being willing to keep such a record of the journeys of His poor people, from the moment they marched out of Egypt until they crossed the Jordan... He went before them every step of the way. He travelled over every stage of the wilderness. In all their afflictions He was afflicted... and here He retraces the entire way by which His hand had led them. He notes each stage of that remarkable pilgrimage, and every spot in the desert where they had halted. What a journey! What a travelling companion!
Rephidim looks like a mistake in the route. Commentators point out that Exodus, telling the same story, says they moved at God's direction — which settles who chose the campsite.
God, who had led them through the Red Sea, was leading them still, for we read: "They journeyed from the wilderness of Sin by their journeys according to the commandment of the Lord." If God was leading, then their arrival at Rephidim must be right.
So redemption does not mean an easy road. A people already brought out and brought to God still found themselves in a place that could kill them.
Is it then, as people would say, all plain sailing now? Not at all. It is the wilderness, and there is no water; and note, it was by the Lord's command that they pitched in Rephidim.
Thirst by itself was no failure. Being without water is what the desert is like, and what the people did with it is the real issue — they blamed Moses.
There was nothing wrong in being hungry in the wilderness of Sin, or being thirsty at Rephidim. These are natural conditions of the creature who is no longer in Paradise. But their failure was in murmuring, and in seeing Moses as the cause of their condition, that is, of their being without water.
The emptiness has a purpose. It teaches a redeemed people where their supply comes from.
It is a dreadful thing to have no water; in those countries it meant certain death. Had He then brought them through the Red Sea and to Himself to kill them with thirst? ... This was to test them, and to bring out what was in their hearts... Being redeemed for ever, they must learn that there is nothing for them in the wilderness. All supply must come from God Himself. This is the very effect of redemption, and there is so much in us that needs to be brought out and corrected.
By Rephidim the people had a stack of evidence behind them. One writer lists what they should have remembered.
In Rephidim there was "no water for the people to drink." And what did the people do? They had past experiences of God's faithfulness and tender care. Did these not encourage them to turn to Him, confident that He would step in for them? The quails and the manna were fresh in their memory. Were they not evidence that the Lord was able to meet their every need? Had they not learned that the Lord was their shepherd, and that therefore they should not want?
The shortage is what makes room for the miracle that follows, and writers read that miracle as a picture of Christ and of the Spirit given after His death.
Again there was no water and Moses feared they might stone him... The Rock is a type of Christ. The Lord stood on the rock to be struck, just as "God was in Christ." The rod that struck it had been used in judgment on the river of Egypt. That blow is the type of the death of Christ. There could be no water till the rock was struck. There could be no water till Christ had died. The water from the split rock is the type of the Holy Spirit, who was given as the result of the finished work of Christ.
- Led. Israel did not stumble into a waterless camp. They pitched there at the Lord's command.
- Emptied. God keeps the desert bare on purpose. A redeemed people learn that nothing there supplies them; all supply comes from God Himself.
- Exposed. Thirst was no sin. Murmuring was, and blaming Moses showed how little the manna and the quails had taught them.
- Struck. No water came until the rock was struck. Writers see Christ under judgment there, and the Spirit in the water that followed.
- Remembered. God wrote down every halt, including the dry ones. A people about to enter the land could look back and read His faithfulness in their own route.