Numbers 33:35

Ezion-gaber A seaport town situated on the Red sea, in the land of Edom, near Arabia Felix, Deuteronomy 2:8; 2 Chronicles 8:17. All the encampments, from Num 33:16 to this place, were wanderings backward again toward the Red sea, for thirty-eight years together. They were led to and fro, backward and forward, as in a maze or labyrinth, and yet were all the while under the direction of the pillar of cloud and fire. He led them about, (Deuteronomy 32:10,) and yet led them the right way, Psalms 107:7. The way God takes in bringing his people to himself is always the best way, all circumstances considered, although it does not always appear to us the nearest way, and is often a way in which the Lord would not have led us, unless to chastise us for our sins, and save us from the love of them.