And they departed from Iim, and pitched in Dibongad.
Iim. 'It is more in accordance with the usage of the sacred writer throughout this chapter to repeat the full name Ije-abarim in Numbers 33:45 as in Numbers 33:44. This is the reading of four MSS. and the Vulgate' ('Negeb,'
p. 156). There is a striking difference between the list of stations contained in this passage (Numbers 33:44-49) and that in Numbers 21:10; Numbers 21:12; Numbers 21:18-20. It must be borne in mind that the Israelites, when arrived in the Trans-jordanic regions, were not in a desert, but an inhabited country, where every separate place would have a name; and that as 2,000,000 of people would spread over more than one of these places, the station would be called by various names.
There are two names mentioned in this passage which do not occur in the former chapter; but these-namely, Dibon-gad and Almon-diblathaim-may possibly, coincide with some of those mentioned here. 'It is observable that fewer places of encampment between Ije-abarim and Arboth Moab are enumerated here than in Numbers 21:1-35, because it was of importance for the historian to show that the Israelites intentionally avoided the Moabitish territory, and partly because, from the places mentioned, the various expeditions were sent forth that made the conquest of the Amorite land' (Kurtz, 3:, p. 385; also Hengstenberg, 'Balaam,' p. 531).