Origen, on Num 33:2

“Which Moses wrote down according to the places of their encamping, which they changed by the commandment of the Lord.”

“You have heard that Moses wrote this down by the word of the Lord. Why did the Lord want him to write it down? Was it so that this passage in Scripture about the stages the children of Israel made might benefit us in some way or that it should bring us no benefit? Who would dare to say that what is written "by the Word of God" is of no use and makes no contribution to salvation but is merely a narrative of what happened and was over and done a long time ago, but pertains in no way to us when it is told?”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.