במדבר, פרק ל״ג, פסוק מ״ב

The journey of the Israelites through the desert involved numerous encampments, though not every single stop is recorded in every account of their travels. In an earlier retelling of their path, the locations of Zalmonah and Punon are completely left out. Instead, the narrative skips directly ahead to their camp at Oboth.

The reason for leaving out these two specific stops in the earlier account is strictly geographical. Oboth was situated at the southeastern corner of their travel route. From this specific location, the Israelites made a major shift in their path and turned to head north. Because Oboth served as such a significant turning point in their overall journey, the earlier narrative chose to highlight it directly, bypassing the stops at Zalmonah and Punon entirely [חזקוני].