And they removed from Almon-Diblathaim, and encamped in the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo.
Numbers 33 is a travel diary: forty years of moving, camp by camp. This verse records one of the last stops: a ridge in Moab facing the promised land. It matters because of who would soon climb it alone.
The name covers a range, not a single peak, and the Bible ties several familiar summits to it.
Probably the chain of mountains that lie 'beyond' or to the east of the Dead Sea and the lower Jordan. Num. 33:47-48. Deut. 32:49-50 shows that mount Nebo belonged with Abarim and stood 'opposite Jericho.' It was also where Moses viewed the land and died. Num. 27:12-13. Deut. 3:27 connects this with Pisgah; so Pisgah and Nebo seem to have formed part of Abarim, in the land of Moab. Abarim is translated 'passages' in Jer. 22:20.
So the camp sat on high ground, opposite Jericho, within sight of the land itself.
The stops here differ from the aimless years behind them.
Here we have an account of journeys of Israel that are no longer mere wanderings. These journeys bring them nearer to the place from which they are to enter the land of Canaan. Each stage of the journey has a name, and all of those names carry a spiritual meaning, little as we may be able to make it out.
A long list of place names can look like dead data. In fact it shows how closely God watches.
The chapter shows beautifully how the eye of God follows the journeys and wanderings of His people. It shows 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 story attached. Many lessons must be written here which God's people have never been able to understand.
He did not only watch the route; He walked it.
Think of it: He stooped to keep such a record of the travels of His poor people. It covers the moment they marched out of Egypt until they crossed the Jordan — out of the land of death and darkness, into 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. He cared for them like a tender nurse.
Later, God would send Moses up this very ridge.
In rich grace, God said to Moses, "Go up this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, opposite Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I give to the people of Israel for a possession" (Deut. 32:49). But the mount where he would view Israel's inheritance was also the place where he would leave his labours and pass into the presence of God.
One writer sees more in that hilltop scene than geography.
It lay a little outside the promised land, but it gave him a full view of it. It was a high point, the top of Pisgah on Mount Nebo, in the mountains of Abarim. The earth no longer claimed Moses. Israel too knew him no more. The wilderness was all behind him, and the Lord alone is his company on the hill that overlooked the land of promise. What an expression of the place of the church or heavenly glory, the whole of this is!
This record of camps carries comfort for anyone still travelling.
It is a great comfort to the poor, weary pilgrim to know this: the infinite love and unfailing wisdom of God marks out every stage of his wilderness journey. He is leading His people by a right way, home to Himself. Not one circumstance in their lot, not one drop in their cup, is left unordered by Himself... 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.
- Place — Abarim is the range east of the Dead Sea, opposite Jericho. Nebo and Pisgah belong to it, and the name means "passages."
- Progress — These late stops are no longer aimless circling. Each one brings Israel closer to the crossing into Canaan.
- Record — God followed every stage and wrote it down, including camps whose story we still cannot read.
- Presence — He did more than track the route. He travelled it with them, and they lacked nothing for forty years.
- Prospect — On this ridge Moses would view the inheritance, then pass into God's presence. The last stage of the wilderness opens on home.
And they removed from the mountains of Abarim, and encamped in the plains of Moab by the Jordan of Jericho.
This verse ends the long list of Israel's camping places. The people come down from the hills east of the Dead Sea and pitch camp on Moab's plains. The Jordan and Jericho now lie in front of them. Two questions follow. Why did God write down every stopping place? And what does this last camp, one step short of the land, mean for anyone walking the same road?
The chapter looks back over forty years of travel. One writer asks what sort of God would bother to keep such an account:
No one can read it and stay unmoved by the tender love and care of God, so plain all through. Think of Him stooping to keep such a record of the journeys of His poor people! He kept it from the moment they marched out of Egypt until they crossed the Jordan. They went 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 did not let their clothes wear out or their feet swell, for those forty years. And here He retraces the whole way 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!
The chapter gives bare names: a place left, a place reached. Another writer admits how little we can make of them now, and points to the day Christ Himself will go through them with us:
We have next Israel's itinerary from the beginning in Egypt to the borders of the land by the Jordan. A whole volume might be written from this chapter that looks back. Every name doubtless has a special meaning. That meaning, with the memories attached to many of them, would recall the whole wilderness journey. What a day it will be at the judgment seat of Christ! There He will review all our pathway with us, pointing out our failures and His faithfulness!
The hills they leave here tie this verse to the death of Moses:
Probably the chain of mountains that lie "beyond," or to the east of, the Dead Sea and the lower Jordan (Num. 33:47-48). Deuteronomy 32:49-50 links Mount Nebo with Abarim. It stood opposite Jericho, and there Moses viewed the land and died (Num. 27:12-13). Deuteronomy 3:27 connects this with Pisgah. So Pisgah and Nebo seem to have formed part of Abarim, in the land of Moab. Abarim is translated "passages" in Jeremiah 22:20.
Israel had stood at this border once before:
The children of Israel have reached the promised land a second time. Thirty-eight years before, they found themselves on its borders. But the report of the spies dismayed them, and their heart failed on the way. As a result they had to turn and retrace their steps to the shores of the Red Sea. Now they have marched towards Canaan again. At the time of the history in these chapters, the camp stands in the plains of Moab, on this side of the Jordan, by Jericho.
Being camped on Moab's plains put Israel within one river of rest. It also put them within reach of a subtler enemy than the armies they had already met:
Moab also opposes in vain. Now they are in the plains of Moab, with only the Jordan between them and the land of their rest. But did they have a right to enter there? If the enemy cannot oppose by force, he will try another way, by putting under the curse the people who well deserved it.
Across the water stood Jericho, and both its name and its setting mattered:
Jericho is a striking picture of the world under the curse. God devoted it to complete destruction, as we know He has devoted the world. However fair its surroundings, it sat by the "river of death," the Jordan, very near to the Salt Sea, the sea of judgment, into which the Jordan flows. The word Jericho means "Sweet Savour," in striking contrast with what it was to God.
- Recorded — God wrote down every stage from Egypt to this last camp. He travelled every step with His people, and they lacked nothing.
- Unread — The names mean more than we can tell now. The full reading waits for the day Christ reviews our path with us, showing our failures and His faithfulness.
- Regained — Israel lost this border through unbelief thirty-eight years earlier. Now they reach it a second time.
- Remaining — Only the Jordan now stands between the people and their rest. There the enemy switches from force to a curse.
- Reminders — From these same hills, Abarim with Nebo and Pisgah, Moses saw the land and died. Across the water lay Jericho, named "Sweet Savour" yet marked by God for destruction beside the river of death.