And the children of Israel removed from Rameses, and encamped in Succoth.
The chapter's long list of camping places opens with one short move, the first of some forty-four: out of Rameses in Egypt into Succoth. Why did God record such a list, and what does this first stage of a redeemed people's journey teach?
Rameses to Succoth is the first line of a record God kept Himself.
It is impossible to read it without being deeply moved by the tender love and care of God shown all the way through. Think of Him stooping to keep such a record of the journeys of His poor people! It runs 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 afflictions He was afflicted.
The two place names mark a change of life.
From Rameses (city of the sun), the city of earthly splendour, they went to Succoth, which means "booths." Their pilgrim character is now brought out. The wilderness begins. Redemption by blood makes us pilgrims and strangers, for we are no longer of the world, though we are in it.
Rameses was not a neutral address. Israel's own hands had built a city of that name there for Pharaoh, and no one today knows exactly where it stood.
A district in Goshen in Lower Egypt, east of the Nile. Jacob and his descendants settled there, and there they built a treasure city of the same name for Pharaoh. It was from there that the Israelites began their march out of Egypt... It has not been identified.
Others attached themselves to the crowd leaving Egypt, and the first stage already hints at what that would mean.
And now the journey begins. The first stage — all that is mentioned yet — is striking. It goes from Rameses to Succoth. That means from the king's city, built for the glory of his name, to the place of the "booths," or tents, which mark the wilderness. But right at the start a hint of the future is already given in the "mixed multitude" who go up with them. Wherever a movement of God takes place, other motives stir men. These are not the motives by which the Spirit of God moves the renewed heart. And a mass of people attach themselves to those who are led out.
They marched out on the night of the Passover, and settled residents became strangers in Egypt.
They marched that very night from Rameses to Succoth, with their wives, their children, their cattle, their goods, everything they had... But once they owned themselves strangers in Egypt, they learned what it was to be the Lord's people. They went out, but He went before them. They marched along, because the Lord had brought them out. They were His, and He took responsibility for providing everything they needed along the way.
A crowd that size never broke up over forty years of moving camp, and that has only one explanation.
It appears they moved and camped forty-four times in these years. That is far more than people usually move house in a period of forty years. God brought so huge a company, with their livestock and other possessions, through that long period of travel. He did it by the hand of one chosen leader. It is amazing! Why did they not scatter and go wherever each one pleased, as people normally would? The only answer is the overruling power of God.
Israel heard this list at the edge of the land, on the point of going in.
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, sometimes worse than that, and solemn judgments too. And here it is rehearsed. It was good to think of His ways with them — good for those who were about to enter a new scene to look back on every step of the journey. So it is far from being an unimportant chapter, or, as it might seem to a careless reader, a dry list of names.
- Redeemed. The move out of Rameses follows straight on from the Passover. Deliverance comes first, then the journey.
- Relocated. The road runs from a city built for Pharaoh to a place whose name means "booths" — from settled slavery to tents.
- Recorded. God noted down each stage, which shows His care rather than mere bookkeeping.
- Realistic. The first stage already carries a hint of the future in the mixed multitude that went along.
- Reviewed. The list was rehearsed on the edge of the land, so that people entering a new scene would look back over every step.
And they removed from Succoth and encamped in Etham, which is at the end of the wilderness.
Israel's second camp after leaving Egypt sits where settled land runs out and open desert begins. Why keep the name of a camp nobody can locate today, and why lead the people to the desert's edge at all?
Long lists of place names look like the least rewarding part of the Bible. One writer insists the opposite — this chapter is God's own memory of the road:
Numbers 33 shows another beautiful truth: Jehovah remembers the whole past. He remembers all our travels, all the hard places we met through our weakness, and sometimes worse than that, times of solemn judgment. It was good for them to think over His ways with them. They were about to enter a new scene, and it was good to look back on every step of the journey. So this chapter is far from unimportant. To a careless reader it may look like a dry list of names. Every part of Scripture has a divine purpose and a moral purpose in it.
The stop they left behind carries its own message. Moving from Egypt's grand cities to a camp of booths marks a change in who these people are:
From Rameses (city of the sun), the city of earthly splendour, they went to Succoth, which means "booths." Their pilgrim character is now brought out. The wilderness begins. Redemption by blood makes us pilgrims and strangers, for we are no longer of the world, though we are in it.
The meaning of Etham's name is not settled. One reference work notes that Numbers puts the name on both sides of the sea Israel was about to cross:
You will notice that in Numbers, Etham is mentioned on both sides of the Red Sea. Some read the word as 'boundary of the sea' (a meaning Fürst thinks doubtful, though he gives no other). If so, it might apply to either side. The desert of Etham may have swept round the end of the Gulf of Suez, as in some maps.
No one has fixed these campsites on the map, and one writer counts them as still inside Egypt, right at the wilderness border. He points to what matters more than location:
These places were all in Egypt. Scholars have spent much learning and research on them, yet their identification has scarcely reached the limits of probable guesswork. What matters more is to notice that God guided them on their march. He who selected their path guided them in it, went before them in the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night, in all their wanderings.
Reaching the desert's edge was not the obvious move. A shorter road lay open, and God passed it by:
From the starting point of Rameses and Succoth the people had reached Etham at the edge of the wilderness. The shortest route would usually have gone north through the land of the Philistines. But God was not willing that His people should face war during their first steps in the wilderness. Instead He chose to lead them by His own path to Sinai.
God did not send them down that road alone. He came with them:
Jehovah not only chose a path for His people. He also came down to walk with them in it, and to make Himself known to them according to their need. He not only brought them out past the borders of Egypt in safety. He also came down, as it were, in His travelling chariot, to be their companion through all the ups and downs of their wilderness journey. This was divine grace. He did not simply deliver them out of the furnace of Egypt and then leave them to make the best of their way to Canaan.
The list of camps also points forward. One writer sees in it a review still to come:
A whole volume might be written from this backward-looking chapter. No doubt every name has a special meaning, and the memories tied 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 review all our pathway with us, pointing out our failures and His faithfulness!
- Recorded — the chapter is God's own memory of every stage, not a dry list. Every part of Scripture carries a divine and moral purpose.
- Pilgrim — they left the splendour of Egypt's cities for booths. That marks them out as strangers in the world.
- Edge — Etham sits at the desert's border. Its name has been read as "boundary of the sea," and nobody can fix the exact site today.
- Chosen — God turned down the short road through Philistine land. He would not put His people in front of war at the start.
- Company — He did not set them free and then leave them to cope. He went before them in cloud and fire, and one day He will review the whole road with His people.