Mattot-Ma'asei: Wandering as Memory

(1) These were the marches of the Israelites who started out from the land of Egypt, troop by troop, in the charge of Moses and Aaron. (2) Moses recorded the starting points of their various marches as directed by Adonai. Their marches, by starting points, were as follows:

(8) The teaching of Adonai is perfect, renewing life; the decrees of Adonai are enduring, making the simple wise; (9) The precepts of Adonai are just, rejoicing the heart; the instruction of Adonai is lucid, making the eyes light up.

(1) אלה מסעי THESE ARE THE JOURNEYS (STAGES) [OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL] — Why are these stations recorded here? In order to make known the loving acts of the Omnipresent: that although God had decreed against them... wander in the wilderness, you should not think that they wandered and moved [endlessly all] forty years, [without] rest, for [there are only] forty-two stages. Deduct from them fourteen, all of which were their stopping places in the first year after they left Egypt, ... Further deduct from them the eight stages which were after Aaron’s death ... in the fourtieth year (v. 38). It follows that during the whole of the thirty eight years they made only twenty journeys. This is excerpted from the work of R. Moses the Preacher.

(To allay Rashi's dissatisfaction with his own answer, he needed another to back it up) — R. Tanchuma gave another explanation of it (of the question why these stages are here recorded). A parable! It may be compared to the case of a king whose son was ill and whom he took to a distant place to cure him. When they returned home the father began to enumerate all the stages, saying to him, “Here we slept, here we caught cold, here you had the head-ache, etc.” (Midrash Tanchuma 4:10:3.

(1) אלה מסעי, God wanted all the journeys to be recorded in order to compliment the Jewish people who had followed God blindly through the desert where nothing grew, so that as a reward for their faith they would deserve to enter and inherit the land of Israel.

**(2) The reason why we find sometimes the objective mentioned first and other times the place of departure, is due to the fact that sometimes the people were glad to get away from a certain place where unpleasantness had occurred, whereas other times they were merely glad to arrive at a new destination hoping for a pleasant stay in their new encampment. One of the most vexing aspects of all these journeys was that the new objective had never been announced beforehand, so that the people were always in the dark about what the next day would bring. In spite of all these uncertainties they never refused to follow the cloud and break camp at a moment’s notice when required. The reason that both the breaking of camp and the making of camp are mentioned separately is because both entailed a considerable amount of discomfort.

...When we therefore notice narratives in the Torah, which have no connection with any of the commandments, we are inclined to think that they are entirely superfluous, or too lengthy, or contain repetitions; but this is only because we do not see the particular incidents which make those narratives noteworthy. Of this kind is the enumeration of the stations [of the Israelites in the wilderness] (Num. 33). At first sight it appears to be useless; but in order to obviate such a notion Torah says, "And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the commandment of God" (ibid. 2). It was indeed most necessary that these should be written. For miracles are only convincing to those who witnessed them; while coming generations, who know them only from the account given by others, may consider them as untrue. But miracles cannot continue and last for all generations; Now the greatest of the miracles described in the Law is the stay of the Israelites in the wilderness for forty years, with a daily supply of manna. This wilderness, as described in Scripture, consisted of places "wherein were fiery serpents and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water" (Deut. 8:15); ... All these miracles were wonderful, public, and witnessed by the people. But God knew that in future people might doubt the correctness of the account of these miracles. in the same manner as they doubt the accuracy of other narratives; they might think that the Israelites stayed in the wilderness in a place not far from inhabited land, where it was possible for man to live [in the ordinary way]; that it was like those deserts in which Arabs live at present; or that they dwelt in such places in which they could plow, sow, and reap, or live on some vegetable that was growing there; or that manna came always down in those places as an ordinary natural product; or that there were wells of water in those places. In order to remove all these doubts and to firmly establish the accuracy of the account of these miracles, Scripture enumerates all the stations, so that coming generations may see them, and learn the greatness of the miracle which enabled human beings to live in those places forty years.