Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 33:18
And they departed from Hazeroth, and pitched in Rithmah.
STAT. XIV.
Verse 18. RITHMAH.] This place lay somewhere in the wilderness of Paran, through which the Israelites were now passing. See Num 13:1; Num 13:3. The name signifies the juniper tree; and the place probably had its name from the great number of those trees growing in that district.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Ritmah; a place in the wilderness of Paran, near Kadesh-barnea.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
18. Rithmah (“the place ofthe broom”)a station possibly in some wady extending westwardof the Ghor.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And they departed from Hazeroth, and pitched at Rithmah. Eight miles from Hazeroth: Rethem, from whence this place seems to have had its name, is generally rendered by “juniper”, 1Ki 19:4 and the Targum of Jonathan here adds, where the juniper trees grew; and, perhaps, it is the same with the valley of Retheme, of which some travellers e thus write, “this valley”, called in the Hebrew Retheme, and commonly Ritma, derives its name from a yellow flower, with which the valley is covered; we found here, on the left hand, two cisterns of excellent water; and water being to be had here, might be the reason of the Israelites pitching in this place. Some learned men f think it is the same with Kadeshbarnea, from whence the spies were sent, that being the next remove from Hazeroth, as this was; see
Nu 12:16, with which agrees the remark of Jarchi, that this place was so called, because of the evil tongue of the spies, as it is said, Ps 120:3 “what shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue? sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper”; alluding to the signification of Rithmah; perhaps this is the same place, which by Josephus g is called Dathema, and so in the Apocrypha:
“Then the heathen that were at Galaad assembled themselves together against the Israelites that were in their quarters, to destroy them; but they fled to the fortress of Dathema.” (1 Maccabees 5:9)
e Egmont and Heyman’s Travels, vol. 2. p. 154. f Dr. Lightfoot, vol. 1. p. 35. Dr. Clayton’s Chronology of the Hebrew Bible, p. 382, 383. g Antiqu. l. 12. c. 8. sect. 4.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
18. Rithmah has not been identified. The name is kindred to the word rendered “juniper,” but more correctly “broom.” “It may therefore signify the valley of the broom-bushes.” Edersheim.
‘And they journeyed from Hazeroth, and encamped in Rithmah.’
Some seek to associate Rithmah with Kadesh in some way, but the only ground for doing so is that it follows Hazeroth, and we know that Kadesh followed Hazeroth (Num 11:35; Num 12:16). It is, however, quite possible. The tribes would probably divide over a number of oases. But it could equally have been the next stage after leaving Kadesh for the wandering in the wilderness, for the whole point of not mentioning Kadesh was that the first visit to Kadesh was deliberately blotted out. We have seen how the writer did this with the forty years in the wilderness (chapters 15-19), and how he did it with Korah’s death (Num 16:32-35 where Korah’s death is remarkably not mentioned). Now he does the same thing for Kadesh (he will do the same thing for Simeon in Deuteronomy 33 because of their sin at the plains of Moab). How long Israel remained at Kadesh after their failure to enter the land we do not know (some would see them as remaining there for a good part of the thirty eight years). In Deuteronomy we learn that they remained there ‘many days’ (Num 1:46). However, that could be anything from a few months upwards. But eventually their journeys recommenced, and the itinerary that now follows is the record of that wandering in the wilderness, Num 33:19-36 covering the scantily covered period in Num 14:25 to Num 20:1. It is a reminder that it was a long and weary period of wandering.
Bithmah. Compare Num 13:1-3. Whence the spies went to view the land: means “Juniper”: well named for the evil tongues of the spies. Compare Psa 120:3, Psa 120:4.
they departed: Num 12:16
Rithmah: Rithmah was a place in the wilderness of Paran, near Kadesh Barnea; probably so called from the great number of juniper trees, as the name signifies, growing in that district.
Reciprocal: Deu 1:1 – Hazeroth Rev 11:1 – Rise
Num 33:18. They pitched in Rithmah A place not mentioned in Exodus, but which appears, from Num 12:16, to have been in the wilderness of Paran, not far from Kadesh-barnea.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments