These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel on this side Jordan in the wilderness, in the plain over against the Red sea, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab.
These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel. The mental condition of the people generally in that infant stage of the congregation, the greater number of them being young or of tender years, together with the seductive influence of idolatry which they had so fatally experienced since they came to Moab, and to which they would be still more exposed in the land which they were about to invade, rendered it expedient to repeat the laws and counsels which God had given; and, accordingly, to furnish a recapitulation of the leading branches of their faith and duty was among the last public services which Moses rendered to Israel. The scene of their delivery was the Arboth Moab - "the plains of Moab" - where the encampment was pitched.
On this side Jordan - or, as the Hebrew word may perhaps be rendered, at or on the passage of the Jordan х bª`eeber (H5676) ha-Yardeen (H3383)], beyond Jordan, the country east of that river (Deuteronomy 1:5; Deuteronomy 3:8-12; Deuteronomy 4:46; Joshua 1:14; Joshua 2:10; Joshua 9:10; Joshua 22:4; Judges 5:17). Sometimes, however, it is used to signify the region west of the Jordan (Numbers 32:19; Deuteronomy 3:25; Deuteronomy 11:30; Joshua 5:1; Joshua 12:7; Joshua 20:7; Joshua 22:7; 1 Samuel 31:7). The Septuagint has: peran tou Iordanou; and the Vulgate has: contra. The Hebrew word is ambiguous, and is used to signify on this side and the other of Jordan (Joshua 12:1; Joshua 12:7). (See Witsius, 'Disser.,' No. 46, p. 129; Huet, 'Demons. Evangel,' prop. 4:, cap. 14.) Bleek rightly remarks on this expression, 'The formula was a standing designation for the country of the Jordan, which might be used irrespectively of the position of the writer' (see the note at Genesis 50:10).
In the wilderness, in the plain, х bamidbaar (H4057) baa-`Araabaah (H6160)]. Midbaar, translated "the wilderness," denotes an uninhabited tract of country, adapted only for pasture. 'Araabaah signifies a real desert, an arid, sterile region; and 'the Arabah' was the ancient name of the low-lying desert, valley, or steppe which extended the whole way from the Red Sea north to the Sea of Tiberias; but it is now applied by the Arabs exclusively to the portion which lies between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Akaba; while the part north of the Dead Sea is called 'the Ghor (Robinson's 'Biblical Researches,' 2:, p. 600; Stanley's 'Sinai and Palestine,' p. 481). While the high tablelands of Moab were 'cultivated fields,' the Jordan valley at the foot of the mountains, where Israel was encamped, was a part of the great desert plain, little more inviting than the desert of Arabia, excepting "the plains of Moab," a little oasis which formed the actual scene of encampment (see the note at Numbers 22:1). The locale is indicated by the mention of some of the most prominent places from which they had come.
Over against the Red sea, х mowl (H4136) cuwp (H5489)] - in front of, at the opposite end from the Red Sea. Suph signifies a reed; and although the sea which our translators have inserted is not in the original, there is no doubt that the Red Sea is meant in this passage, as in Deuteronomy 1:40 and Deuteronomy 2:1, in both of which the Hebrew word for sea is expressed. (For the origin of this name, 'the weedy sea' and 'the Red Sea,' see the note at Exodus 13:18.) [The Septuagint has: pleesion tees eruthras thalassees.] The Sinus AElaniticus-the gulf of Akaba-is obviously meant.
Between Paran - now the plateau of et-Tih (see the notes at Genesis 21:21; Numbers 10:12).
And Tophel - now Tafileh, on the east of the mountains of Edom, between Bozrah and Kerak.
Laban - or Libnah (Numbers 33:20).
Hazeroth (see the notes at Numbers 11:35; Numbers 33:17) - the fountain El-Hudhera, according to Burckhardt, who is followed by Robinson ('Biblical Researches' 1:, p. 223). Another Hazeroth, however, on the east of the Arabah, is supposed to be here meant by Wilson ('Lands of the Bible,' 1:, pp. 234, 235, note), and by Wilton ('Negeb,' p. 247), who adopts Rowland's theory as to the site of Kadesh (see the note at Numbers 13:26).
Dizahab, х wª-Diy-Zaahaab (H1774)] - a place so called from its abundance of gold [Septuagint, katachrusea], generally considered identical with Dahab, on the western shore of the AElanitic Gulf. It appears quite impossible to admit, with most expositors, that the words, "over against the Red sea, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab," contain a more exact designation of the second giving of the law, coordinate with the more general one in the words, 'on the other side Jordan, in the wilderness'-in the Arabah.
The Arboth Moab lay not over against the Red Sea, the Arabian Gulf, but rather fronting the Dead Sea; they lay not between Paran and Tophel, both of which lie lower than the southern extremity of the Dead Sea-the one westward of the mountains of Seir, the other eastward, while the Arboth Moab begins at the northern end of the Dead Sea. With Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab, which take us far from the Arboth Moab, we know not, according to this view, what to do.
On the contrary, all difficulty vanishes as soon as, with the Septuagint, Aquila, Symmachus, and the Vulgate, we take the phrase, "over against the Red sea," as a more exact designation of the Arabah (plain) - 'in the Arabah (which lies) over against the Red sea, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab.' 'The Arabah, taken in the extensive sense, as lying between the Red Sea and the Sea of Tiberias, was, as it were, the heart of the territory on which the Israelites moved during the whole of their forty years' march-the line of connection between the place of the first giving of the law and of the second. On account of its importance in this respect, it will appear quite suitable that the author should here give a more exact description of it, with the definite intention of drawing a line which would connect the two givings of the law with one another' (Hengstenberg, 'Balsam, Geog. Observ.,' p. 521; also Robinson, 'Biblical Researches,' 2:, p. 600, note 2).