Numbers 33 · a question people ask
Why doesn't this list match the stories in Exodus and Numbers?
Set side by side, they differ in places. Exodus goes from Elim to "the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai" (Exodus 16:1); the list has a camp "by the Red Sea" in between (33:10-11). Exodus goes from the wilderness of Sin to Rephidim (Exodus 17:1); the list has Dophkah and Alush in between (33:12-14), two names found nowhere else in the Bible. Before Marah, Exodus has Israel go "into the wilderness of Shur" for three days (Exodus 15:22); here the three days are "in the wilderness of Etham" (33:8). The stories place Israel in the wilderness of Paran (Numbers 10:12, 12:16), and the spies come back "to the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh" (Numbers 13:26); the list never names Paran, and names Kadesh once, after Ezion Geber and just before Mount Hor (33:36-37). After Iye Abarim the story goes on by the valley of Zered, the Arnon, Beer, Mattanah, Nahaliel and Bamoth (21:11-20); the list goes by Dibon Gad, Almon Diblathaim and the mountains of Abarim (33:44-47). Deuteronomy has Israel travel "from Beeroth Bene Jaakan to Moserah" (Deuteronomy 10:6); the list has Moseroth first, then Bene Jaakan (33:30-31). Neither the list nor the stories say why they differ. The list says only what it is: "the starting points of their journeys", written "by the commandment of the LORD" (33:2). Two more are taken up in their own chapters: the list has no Taberah (Numbers 11), and Deuteronomy names Moserah as the place Aaron died (Numbers 20).
The verses
“They took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt.”
“They traveled from Elim, and encamped by the Red Sea. They traveled from the Red Sea, and encamped in the wilderness of Sin. They traveled from the wilderness of Sin, and encamped in Dophkah. They traveled from Dophkah, and encamped in Alush. They traveled from Alush, and encamped in Rephidim, where there was no water for the people to drink.”
“All the congregation of the children of Israel traveled from the wilderness of Sin, starting according to the LORD’s commandment, and encamped in Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to drink.”
“Moses led Israel onward from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water.”