אלו הדברים, according to the plain meaning of the text the names mentioned in this verse all are names of locations, as we find that it is customary for the text of the Torah to give detail followed by further detail of the places whose exact location the Torah wishes to elaborate on in greater detail. For instance, in Genesis 12,8 when describing Avraham as pitching his tent in some place, it refers first to Beyt El, and then elaborates by saying that the he found himself with Beyt El on his east and Ai on the west. In Exodus 14,2, the Israelites are described as making a turnabout before a place described as Pi Hachirot, elaborating by saying that this Pi Hachirot is between Migdol and the sea to the north of Baal Yzefon. In Judges 21,19 an annual festival was observed at Shiloh which is described as situated north of Beyt El, east of the highway which runs from Beyt El to Shechem and south of Levonah. If locations which did not have the distinction of serving as places where parts of the Torah were revealed to the Jewish people were described in such detail, it is not surprising that places where such parts of the Torah were revealed are described in detail. (compare Numbers 9,1, Exodus 12,1-2, Leviticus 25,1 Numbers 33,3) Here too, the locations are described with detail upon detail; they are the places that served Moses to explain the laws of the Torah, the ceremonial laws, the statutes, and the social laws. (compare 4,45-46, as well as verse 5 in our chapter.)

בעבר הירדן, followed by which side of the Jordan this took place on, i.e.

במדבר, on the bank of the Jordan facing the desert in which the Israelites had spent the last 40 years, which is know as עבר הירדן, “the far bank of the Jordan” to the people residing west of it. It did not refer to what would be called עבר הירדן near Jerusalem that is also referred to as the far bank of the Jordan by people traveling in the desert through which the Israelites had been traveling all these years.

בערבה, a narrower definition of where precisely in the desert. The location is narrowed to the Aravah of Moav

מול סוף, the Sea of Reeds begins somewhere to the east of the land of Israel as we know from Exodus 23,31 where it is described as bordering the land of the Philistines, the eastern border being the Dead Sea, described as south-east in Numbers 34,3. We have a repetition of these data in Deuteronomy 4,49, where it is clear that what is called ים סוף is the Sea of Reeds facing the Aravah of Moav.

בין פארן ובין תופל, a description paralleling that in Genesis 13,3, i.e. בין בית אל ובין העי.

ולבן, וחצרות, ודי זהב. All these are names of locations, according to the simple meaning of the text.

ודי זהב, an expression similar to בת מי זהב in Genesis 36,39 which is also the name of a location.

'אחד עשר יום מחורב וגו, who is wise enough to understand these words [that after 40 years the Israelites found themselves only 11 days from Mount Chorev? Ed] We must understand that the reason why Moses inserted this verse here is that in verse 19 we are told: “we set out from Chorev and traveled the great and terrible wilderness that you saw, along the road to the hill country of the Emorites and we came as far as Kadesh Barnea (which is close to the land of Israel and from where the spies were sent out.) As a result, we remained in this desert for forty years. This was due to our sin as recorded in Deuteronomy 2,1-7. Moses is simply contrasting the fact that the journey from the Sea of Reeds to the borders of the Holy Land was a distance of 11 days’ travel and had been covered in that amount of time [after deducting the encampments, especially the eleven and a half months at that mountain Ed.] whereas the rest of the journey, on account of the sin of the spies, took all these years.

ותרגנו, the word is derived from the same root as Proverbs 18,8 דברי נרגן כמתלהמים, “the words of a quarrelsome man are like afflictions.”

ותהינו, meaning הננו, “we are ready, prepared;” the people at that point were willing to ascend. (Numbers 14,40)

כימים אשר ישבתם, another way of saying: “as you are well aware.”