Israel Travels toward Moab

Israel travelled on and set up camp at Oboth. Then they moved again and camped at Iyeabarim, in the wilderness facing Moab toward the sunrise. After that they camped in the valley of Zered. The passage records their journey one stop at a time.

Next they camped on the other side of the Arnon, in the wilderness that reaches from the border of the Amorites. The Arnon marked the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. The passage then recalls words from the Book of the Wars of the Lord about Vaheb in Suphah and the valleys of the Arnon near Moab’s border.

From there Israel travelled to Beer. This was the well about which the Lord told Moses to gather the people together, and he would give them water. In this travel record, the journey pauses to notice God’s gift at the well.

Then Israel sang this song about the well: “Spring up, well! Sing to it, the well, which the princes dug, which the nobles of the people dug, with the sceptre, and with their poles.”

After that they travelled on from the wilderness to Mattanah, then to Nahaliel, then to Bamoth, and finally to the valley in the field of Moab, to the top of Pisgah, which looks down on the desert. What do you notice in this journey record, where a list of camps also makes room for a song?