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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

SHITTIM* (Place)

Site on the plains of Moab where the Israelites made their final Transjordan encampment after defeating Sihon and Og (Nm 21:21-35) and prior to their crossing of the Jordan (25:1). According to Numbers 33:49, this camp was near the Jordan, spreading from Beth-jeshimoth as far as Abel-shittim. Here Abel-shittim appears to be the full name of the place, while Shittim is the more common abbreviated toponym.

At Shittim, Balak of Moab attempted to thwart the Israelite penetration of Canaan by hiring Balaam to curse the people of God (Nm 22–24), and later, apparently incited by Balaam’s counsel, Israel “played the harlot” with women from Midian and Moab (25:1-5; cf. 31:15-16). Israel’s apostasy, participating in idolatrous rites and engaging in ritual prostitution, was punished by Yahweh with the plague at Peor (Nm 25:1-18; cf. 1 Cor 10:6-8). Moses and Eleazar organized a census of the tribes while encamped at Shittim, and here Joshua was publicly proclaimed as Moses’ successor (Nm 27:18-22). Joshua dispatched two spies from Shittim to reconnoiter Jericho (Jos 2:1); later the Israelites prepared for the river crossing by breaking camp at Shittim and traveling to the Jordan (3:1).

Outside the Hexateuch the place-name Shittim occurs only in Joel 3:18 and Micah 6:5. The reference in Joel to the “valley of Shittim” or “wadi of the acacias” seems to be a symbol of barren aridity transformed into well-watered land when Yahweh restores his people in the eschaton, not a literal geographical location. Micah charges the people to remember “what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,” no doubt a reference to the crossing of the Jordan and the covenant promise of a land ultimately realized, as he recites the “saving acts” of Yahweh on Israel’s behalf.