Era 4 · Covenant and WildernessNumbers
The Wilderness Itinerary
"And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys"
"These are the journeys of the children of Israel, which went forth out of the land of Egypt with their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron. And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the commandment of the LORD."
From Rameses on the day after the Passover, "in the sight of all the Egyptians: For the Egyptians buried all their firstborn," to Succoth, Etham, Pi-hahiroth, through the sea, to Marah, Elim, the Red Sea, the wilderness of Sin, Dophkah, Alush, Rephidim, Sinai… Kadesh… Mount Hor, Zalmonah, Punon, Oboth, Iye-abarim, Dibon-gad, Almon-diblathaim, the mountains of Abarim, and the plains of Moab by the Jordan near Jericho.
The list pauses only once: "And Aaron the priest went up into mount Hor at the commandment of the LORD, and died there, in the fortieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the first day of the fifth month. And Aaron was an hundred and twenty and three years old." It is the only death in Numbers given an exact date.
The chapter ends with a command for the land ahead: drive out its inhabitants, destroy their carved images and high places, and divide the land by lot, "to the more ye shall give the more inheritance."
An ancient itinerary
Lists of stations in order, with a formula repeated for each ("they removed from… and pitched in…"), are an ancient form of record. Graham Davies compared Numbers 33 with itineraries in Egyptian and Assyrian royal records, such as the march notes in Thutmose III's annals and the routes of Assyrian campaigns. Numbers 33 has this form.
Every station
Counting conventions vary: with Rameses as the starting point there are 41 stopping places after it, often counted as 42 stations. The numbers below are for reference, not a symbolic count. Fourteen of the stations between Hazeroth and Ezion-gaber (33:18–35) appear nowhere else in the Bible.
| # | Station | Verse | Proposed identification | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Rameses (departure) | 33:3 | Pi-Ramesse, Qantir | Probable |
| 1 | Succoth | 33:5 | Tjeku, Wadi Tumilat (Tell el-Maskhuta region) | Probable region |
| 2 | Etham | 33:6 | Edge of the wilderness | Unidentified |
| 3 | Pi-hahiroth | 33:7 | Near Migdol and Baal-zephon | Debated |
| 4 | Marah | 33:8 | Ain Hawara (traditional) | Debated |
| 5 | Elim | 33:9 | Wadi Gharandel (traditional) | Debated |
| 6 | By the Red Sea | 33:10 | Unknown | Unidentified |
| 7 | Wilderness of Sin | 33:11 | Western Sinai | Debated |
| 8 | Dophkah | 33:12 | Perhaps from mafkat, turquoise (Serabit el-Khadim area) | Debated |
| 9 | Alush | 33:13 | Unknown | Unidentified |
| 10 | Rephidim | 33:14 | Wadi Feiran (traditional) | Debated |
| 11 | Wilderness of Sinai | 33:15 | Depends on the location of Mount Sinai | Debated |
| 12 | Kibroth-hattaavah | 33:16 | Unknown | Unidentified |
| 13 | Hazeroth | 33:17 | Ain Khadra (proposed) | Debated |
| 14 | Rithmah | 33:18 | Unknown | Unidentified |
| 15 | Rimmon-parez | 33:19 | Unknown | Unidentified |
| 16 | Libnah | 33:20 | Unknown | Unidentified |
| 17 | Rissah | 33:21 | Unknown | Unidentified |
| 18 | Kehelathah | 33:22 | Unknown | Unidentified |
| 19 | Mount Shapher | 33:23 | Unknown | Unidentified |
| 20 | Haradah | 33:24 | Unknown | Unidentified |
| 21 | Makheloth | 33:25 | Unknown | Unidentified |
| 22 | Tahath | 33:26 | Unknown | Unidentified |
| 23 | Tarah | 33:27 | Unknown | Unidentified |
| 24 | Mithcah | 33:28 | Unknown | Unidentified |
| 25 | Hashmonah | 33:29 | Unknown | Unidentified |
| 26 | Moseroth | 33:30 | Moserah, where Deuteronomy 10:6 places Aaron's death | Unidentified |
| 27 | Bene-jaakan | 33:31 | Linked with Beeroth Bene-jaakan (Deuteronomy 10:6) | Unidentified |
| 28 | Hor-hagidgad | 33:32 | Unknown | Unidentified |
| 29 | Jotbathah | 33:33 | Unknown | Unidentified |
| 30 | Ebronah | 33:34 | Unknown | Unidentified |
| 31 | Ezion-gaber | 33:35 | Head of the Gulf of Aqaba | Probable region |
| 32 | Wilderness of Zin (Kadesh) | 33:36 | Ain el-Qudeirat | Probable |
| 33 | Mount Hor | 33:37 | Jebel Harun near Petra (traditional), or farther west | Debated |
| 34 | Zalmonah | 33:41 | Unknown | Unidentified |
| 35 | Punon | 33:42 | Faynan copper district | Secure |
| 36 | Oboth | 33:43 | Unknown | Unidentified |
| 37 | Iye-abarim (Iim) | 33:44 | Border of Moab | Unidentified |
| 38 | Dibon-gad | 33:45 | Dhiban | Secure |
| 39 | Almon-diblathaim | 33:46 | Unknown | Unidentified |
| 40 | Mountains of Abarim, before Nebo | 33:47 | Western edge of the Moabite plateau | Secure region |
| 41 | Plains of Moab | 33:48 | Jordan valley opposite Jericho | Secure region |
What can be identified?
| Station | Identification | Certainty |
|---|---|---|
| Rameses, Succoth | Pi-Ramesse; Tjeku (Wadi Tumilat) | Probable |
| Marah, Elim | Ain Hawara, Wadi Gharandel (traditional) | Debated |
| Dophkah | Perhaps Egyptian mafkat, "turquoise" (Serabit el-Khadim area) | Debated |
| Ezion-geber | Near Aqaba / Elath (Tell el-Kheleifeh is Iron Age) | Probable region |
| Kadesh | Ain el-Qudeirat | Probable |
| Punon | Faynan copper district | Secure |
| Dibon-gad | Dhiban | Secure |
| Mountains of Abarim, Nebo | The western edge of the Moabite plateau | Secure region |
| Most others | Unknown | Unidentified |
Krahmalkov argued that the Transjordanian sequence Iyyim, Dibon, Abel appears in the same order on Egyptian route lists of Thutmose III and Ramesses II, evidence that the road existed in the Late Bronze Age. Many stations, especially in the Sinai, may have been campsites without permanent settlements, which is why they cannot be found.
The Case for the Biblical Account
Scripture's account
Moses records the stations of the journey, from Rameses to the plains of Moab (Numbers 33).
What evidence would we expect?
Ancient itinerary forms; identifiable stations; remains along the route.
The discoveries
Egyptian and Assyrian itineraries; identifications of a few stations (Punon, Dibon, Kadesh region); Egyptian route lists naming places in Transjordan.
Testing the discoveries
Most Sinai stations remain unidentified, and some Transjordanian sites lack Late Bronze occupation. No campsite of the journey has been identified archaeologically.
The strongest reconstruction
Numbers 33 preserves an itinerary in an ancient form. The site's atlas shows proposed locations only, with their confidence, and does not draw a confirmed route.
What remains possible
That the list records an actual journey; that it combines several route traditions; or that it was compiled later from known roads.
What the evidence shows
- Numbers 33 follows the form of ancient royal itineraries.Source: G. I. Davies, "The Wilderness Itineraries: A Comparative Study," Tyndale Bulletin 25 (1974); The Way of the Wilderness (1979)
- Aaron died in the fortieth year, on the first day of the fifth month. Dated only by Numbers 33:38.
- Egyptian route lists name Transjordanian stations of Numbers 33.Source: C. R. Krahmalkov, "Exodus Itinerary Confirmed by Egyptian Evidence," BAR 20:5 (1994) ↗
- Most of the forty-two stations have been identified. Most remain unidentified.
Continue the journey
Connected elsewhere in ScriptureWhen Did the Exodus Happen?Exodus 12–19: The first stations.More from this lesson
On the map
Location securely identified Probable identification Proposed or debated location Biblical route (roads schematic) Scholarly proposal
- Proposal: from Kadesh to the plains of Moab. An illustrative proposal, not a confirmed route. Kadesh → Mount Hor on Edom's border → around Edom through the Arabah (Punon) → north along Moab → Dibon → the plains of Moab opposite Jericho. Punon, Dibon and the plains of Moab are securely located; Kadesh is probable; Mount Hor is debated. Most of the stations of Numbers 33 cannot be placed on a map (see the itinerary lesson); lines between stops are schematic.
Why this matters to the rest of Scripture
- The first stations.
- "Eleven days' journey from Horeb… unto Kadeshbarnea."
- A different order of stations, with Aaron dying at Moserah.
- "Thou compassest my path and my lying down."