Rashi on Numbers 33:1
These are the journeys: Why were these journeys recorded? To inform us of the kind deeds of the Omnipresent, for although God issued a decree to move them around [from place to place] and make them wander in the desert, you should not say that they were moving about and wandering from station to station for all forty years, and they had no rest, because there are only forty-two stages. Deduct fourteen of them, for they all took place in the first year, before the decree, from when they journeyed from Rameses until they arrived in Rithmah, from where the spies were sent, as it says, “Then the people journeyed from Hazeroth [and camped in the desert of Paran].” (12:16); “Send out for yourself men…” (13:2), and here it says, “They journeyed from Hazeroth and camped at Rithmah,” teaching us that it [Rithmah] was in the desert of Paran. Subtract a further eight stages which took place after Aaron’s death-from Mount Hor to the plains of Moab-during the fortieth year, and you will find that throughout the thirty-eight years they made only twenty journeys... R. Tanchuma expounds it in another way. It is analogous to a king whose son became sick, so he took him to a far away place to have him healed. On the way back, the father began citing all the stages of their journey, saying to him, “This is where we sat, here we were cold, here you had a headache etc.” - [Mid. Tanchuma Massei 3, Num. Rabbah 23:3]
These are the journeys: Why were these journeys recorded? To inform us of the kind deeds of the Omnipresent, for although God issued a decree to move them around [from place to place] and make them wander in the desert, you should not say that they were moving about and wandering from station to station for all forty years, and they had no rest, because there are only forty-two stages. Deduct fourteen of them, for they all took place in the first year, before the decree, from when they journeyed from Rameses until they arrived in Rithmah, from where the spies were sent, as it says, “Then the people journeyed from Hazeroth [and camped in the desert of Paran].” (12:16); “Send out for yourself men…” (13:2), and here it says, “They journeyed from Hazeroth and camped at Rithmah,” teaching us that it [Rithmah] was in the desert of Paran. Subtract a further eight stages which took place after Aaron’s death-from Mount Hor to the plains of Moab-during the fortieth year, and you will find that throughout the thirty-eight years they made only twenty journeys... R. Tanchuma expounds it in another way. It is analogous to a king whose son became sick, so he took him to a far away place to have him healed. On the way back, the father began citing all the stages of their journey, saying to him, “This is where we sat, here we were cold, here you had a headache etc.” - [Mid. Tanchuma Massei 3, Num. Rabbah 23:3]
Aryeh Ben David, Around the Shabbat Table: A Guide to Fulfilling and Meaningful Shabbat Table Conversations
"The Zohar understands the recounting of these 42 stations on a mystical level. According to the Kabbalah, God brought the world into being by virtue of the first 42 letters of the Torah, the 42 building blocks or stages of creation. The 42 stations of travel in Masei echo the genesis of the world and reflect a second process of creation, one that lasted 40 years. In recounting the 42 journeys, Moses now tells B’nai Israel that in fact, a new creation has occurred. The creation of the nation has paralleled the world."
"The Zohar understands the recounting of these 42 stations on a mystical level. According to the Kabbalah, God brought the world into being by virtue of the first 42 letters of the Torah, the 42 building blocks or stages of creation. The 42 stations of travel in Masei echo the genesis of the world and reflect a second process of creation, one that lasted 40 years. In recounting the 42 journeys, Moses now tells B’nai Israel that in fact, a new creation has occurred. The creation of the nation has paralleled the world."
Rabbi Salman Mutzafi, twentieth-century Iraqi-Israeli Rabbi's kabbalistic commentary from Siftei Tzaddikim
"This world is called the world of repair. People always need to repair what they did in the past. Angels are said to be standing because they are always on one level, having no need to repair the past. However, human beings are always journeying between levels, and therefore the Torah says, 'these are the journeys of the children of Israel.' Any time the Torah says, 'these,' it refers to the undoing of earlier actions, because past actions always need correcting. A wise person guards these, to make sure that earlier actions are repaired."
"This world is called the world of repair. People always need to repair what they did in the past. Angels are said to be standing because they are always on one level, having no need to repair the past. However, human beings are always journeying between levels, and therefore the Torah says, 'these are the journeys of the children of Israel.' Any time the Torah says, 'these,' it refers to the undoing of earlier actions, because past actions always need correcting. A wise person guards these, to make sure that earlier actions are repaired."