(11) At Ije-abarim.--This word seems to denote the heaps (or, ruins) of passages or of coast or river lands--i.e., of districts bordering upon the sea or a river. It is called Iim or Iyim simply in Numbers 33:45.
Verse 11. - And pitched at Ije-abarim. Ije (עִיִיּ), or Ijm (עִיִּים), as it is called in chapter Numbers 33:45, signifies "heaps" or "ruins." Abarim is a word of somewhat doubtful meaning, best rendered "ridges" or "ranges." It was apparently applied to the whole of Peraea in later times (cf. Jeremiah 22:20, "passages"), but in the Pentateuch is confined elsewhere to the ranges facing Jericho. These "ruinous heaps of the ranges" lay to the east of Moab, along the desert side of which Israel was now marching, still going northwards: they cannot-be identified.
21:10-20 We have here the removes of the children of Israel, till they came to the plains of Moab, from whence they passed over Jordan into Canaan. The end of their pilgrimage was near. They set forward. It were well if we did thus; and the nearer we come to heaven, were so much the more active and abundant in the work of the Lord. The wonderful success God granted to his people, is here spoken of, and, among the rest, their actions on the river Arnon, at Vaheb in Suphah, and other places on that river. In every stage of our lives, nay, in every step, we should notice what God has wrought for us; what he did at such a time, and what in such a place, ought to be distinctly remembered. God blessed his people with a supply of water. When we come to heaven, we shall remove to the well of life, the fountain of living waters. They received it with joy and thankfulness, which made the mercy doubly sweet. With joy must we draw water out of the wells of salvation, Isa 12:3. As the brazen serpent was a figure of Christ, who is lifted up for our cure, so is this well a figure of the Spirit, who is poured forth for our comfort, and from whom flow to us rivers of living waters, Joh 7:38,39. Does this well spring up in our souls? If so, we should take the comfort to ourselves, and give the glory to God. God promised to give water, but they must open the ground. God's favours must be expected in the use of such means as are within our power, but still the power is only of God.
And they journeyed from Oboth,.... How long they stayed there is not certain:
and pitched at Ijeabarim; which, according to Bunting (k), was sixteen miles from Oboth; Jarchi says it was the way that passengers pass by Mount Nebo to the land of Canaan, and which divides between the land of Moab and the land of the Amorites:
in the wilderness which is before Moab; called the wilderness of Moab, Deuteronomy 2:8.
towards the sunrising; the east side of the land of Moab, Judges 11:18.
(k) Ut supra. (Travels of the Patriarchs, &c. 83.)
and pitched at Ijeabarim; which, according to Bunting (k), was sixteen miles from Oboth; Jarchi says it was the way that passengers pass by Mount Nebo to the land of Canaan, and which divides between the land of Moab and the land of the Amorites:
in the wilderness which is before Moab; called the wilderness of Moab, Deuteronomy 2:8.
towards the sunrising; the east side of the land of Moab, Judges 11:18.
(k) Ut supra. (Travels of the Patriarchs, &c. 83.)