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ויסעו בני ישראל ויחנו באובות, “The Children of Israel journeyed and camped at Ovot.” Tanchuma Chukat 19 proceeds to comment on the significance of these various way-stations mentioned in the verses following, seeing in each of them an allusion to what occurred there. The word אובות is related to אויב, “enemy,” i.e. that the people still suffered from a display of G’d’s anger at that place. The next location mentioned, i.e. עיי העברים, is an allusion to anger, עברה, i.e. G‘d remained angry at the people for 38 years. The name “river זרד,” which is mentioned next as a resting place, is understood to describe such a narrow body of water (זרת, the distance from thumb to the little finger when the hand is extended) that the idea that it took 38 years before the people could cross it was also a source of frustration for them. Moses repeated this theme in Deut. 2,13 where he recalls that G’d finally gave the instruction to the people to cross this “river.” The point is reinforced when the Torah writes in Deut. 2,14 that it took 38 years for the people to travel the distance from Kadesh Barnea to the river zered. When the Torah continues in verse 13 of our chapter to describe that משם נסעו ויחנו מעבר ארנון, “from there they journeyed and camped “beyond” Arnon, the word מעבר is understood by Tanchuma as signifying that finally G’d’s anger at the people i.e. עברה, had passed and they were in G’d’s good graces again. The normal construction in that verse should have been ויחנו ב-עבר ארנון, “they camped on the far side of the river Arnon.” The change from בעבר, to מעבר gave rise to the Midrash’s insight on that verse. We find that immediately after the people crossed the river Arnon G’d addressed Moses once again. [There had been a silence of verbal communication from G’d ever since the decree that the generation of the spies had to die. Ed.]. (Compare Deut. 2,24, that G’d spoke to Moses immediately after the people reached the river Arnon).

ויחנו באובות, “they encamped at a place called Ovot. This was located between almost at the border of Moav, as we know from Numbers 33,44. This is where the plague of snakes had occurred.

ויסעו בני ישראל ויחנו באובות. The Jewish people continued journeying and they encamped at Ovot. Their previous encampment had been at Punan as reported in Numbers 33,43.