1Then we turned and set out into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea, as Jehovah had spoken to me, and we circled around Mount Seir many days. 2And Jehovah spoke to me, saying: 3You have circled around this mountain long enough; turn northward. 4And command the people, saying, You are about to pass through the territory of your brethren, the sons of Esau, who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. Therefore be very much on guard. 5Do not strive with them, for I am not giving you any of their land, no, not even one treading place for the souls of your feet, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. 6You shall buy food from them with money, that you may eat; and you shall also buy water from them with money, that you may drink. 7For Jehovah your God has blessed you in all the works of your hands. He has known your walking through this great wilderness. These forty years Jehovah your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing. 8And when we passed beyond our brethren, the sons of Esau who dwell in Seir, away from the way of the plain, away from Elath and Ezion Geber, we turned and passed by way of the wilderness of Moab. 9And Jehovah said to me, Do not show hostility to Moab, nor contend with them in battle, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession, because I have given Ar to the sons of Lot as a possession. 10(The Emim had dwelt there in times past, a people as great and numerous and tall as the Anakim. 11They were also regarded as giants, like the Anakim, but the Moabites call them Emim. 12The Horites formerly dwelt in Seir, but the sons of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their place, just as Israel has done to the land of their possession which Jehovah has given them.) 13Now rise up and cross over the valley of the Zered. So we crossed over the valley of the Zered. 14And the time that passed from Kadesh Barnea until we had crossed over the valley of the Zered was thirty-eight years, for all the generation of the men of war to be finished off from the midst of the camp, as Jehovah had sworn to them. 15For indeed the hand of Jehovah was against them, to destroy them from the midst of the camp until they were consumed. 16So it was, when all the men of war had completely perished from among the people, 17that Jehovah spoke to me, saying: 18This day you are crossing over at Ar, the border of Moab. 19And when you come near the children of Ammon, do not show hostility to them nor contend with them, for I will not give you any of the land of the sons of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to the sons of Lot as a possession. 20(That was also regarded as a land of giants; giants formerly dwelt there. But the Ammonites call them Zamzummim, 21a people as great and numerous and tall as the Anakim. But Jehovah destroyed them before them, and they dispossessed them and dwelt in their place, 22just as He had done for the sons of Esau, who dwelt in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites from before them. They dispossessed them and dwelt in their place, even to this day. 23And the Avim, who dwelt in villages as far as Gaza; the Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor, destroyed them and dwelt in their place.) 24Rise up, set out, and cross over the river Arnon. Behold, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to possess it, and engage him in battle. 25This day I will begin to put the dread and terror of you upon the faces of the peoples under all the heavens, who shall hear the report of you, and shall tremble and writhe because of you. 26And I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon, with words of peace, saying, 27Let me pass through your land; I will proceed directly on the way; I will neither turn aside to the right nor to the left. 28You shall sell me food for money, that I may eat, and give me water for money, that I may drink; only let me pass through on foot, 29just as the sons of Esau who dwell in Seir and the Moabites who dwell in Ar did for me, until I cross the Jordan to the land which Jehovah our God is giving to us. 30But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass through; for Jehovah your God had made his spirit stubborn and hardened his heart, that He might deliver him into your hand, as it is this day. 31And Jehovah said to me, Behold, I have begun to set Sihon and his land before you. Begin to possess it, that you may inherit his land. 32And Sihon and all his people came out against us to do battle at Jahaz. 33And Jehovah our God delivered him up before us; and we struck him, his sons, and all his people. 34We took all his cities at that time, and we utterly destroyed the men, women, and little ones of every city; we left none remaining. 35We took only the livestock as plunder for ourselves, with the spoils of the cities which we took. 36From Aroer, which is beside the River Arnon, and from the city that is in the valley, as far as Gilead, there was not one city too strong for us; Jehovah our God delivered up all before us. 37Only you did not go near the land of the children of Ammon; anywhere along the River Jabbok, nor to the cities of the mountains, nor wherever Jehovah our God had forbidden us.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 THE STORY IS CONTINUED. (Deu. 2:1-37)
Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea--After their unsuccessful attack upon the Canaanites, the Israelites broke up their encampment at Kadesh, and journeying southward over the west desert of Tih as well as through the great valley of the Ghor and Arabah, they extended their removals as far as the gulf of Akaba.
we compassed mount Seir many days--In these few words Moses comprised the whole of that wandering nomadic life through which they passed during thirty-eight years, shifting from place to place, and regulating their stations by the prospect of pasturage and water. Within the interval they went northward a second time to Kadesh, but being refused a passage through Edom and opposed by the Canaanites and Amalekites, they again had no alternative but to traverse once more the great Arabah southwards to the Red Sea, where turning to the left and crossing the long, lofty mountain chain to the eastward of Ezion-geber (
Αρ. 21:4-
Αρ. 21:5), they issued into the great and elevated plains, which are still traversed by the Syrian pilgrims in their way to Mecca. They appear to have followed northward nearly the same route, which is now taken by the Syrian hadji, along the western skirts of this great desert, near the mountains of Edom [ROBINSON]. It was on entering these plains they received the command, "Ye have compassed this mountain (this hilly tract, now Jebel Shera) long enough, turn ye northward" [
Δευτ. 2:3].
4 the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir . . . shall be afraid of you--The same people who had haughtily repelled the approach of the Israelites from the western frontier were alarmed now that they had come round upon the weak side of their country.
5 Meddle not with them--that is, "which dwell in Seir" (
Δευτ. 2:4) --for there was another branch of Esau's posterity, namely, the Amalekites, who were to be fought against and destroyed (
Γέν. 36:12;
Έξ. 17:14;
Δευτ. 25:17). But the people of Edom were not to be injured, either in their persons or property. And although the approach of so vast a nomadic horde as the Israelites naturally created apprehension, they were to take no advantage of the prevailing terror to compel the Edomites to accept whatever terms they imposed. They were merely to pass "through" or along their border, and to buy meat and water of them for money (
Δευτ. 2:6). The people, kinder than their king, did sell them bread, meat, fruits, and water in their passage along their border (
Δευτ. 2:29), in the same manner as the Syrian caravan of Mecca is now supplied by the people of the same mountains, who meet the pilgrims as at a fair or market on the hadji route [ROBINSON]. Although the Israelites still enjoyed a daily supply of the manna, there was no prohibition against their eating other food when opportunity afforded. Only they were not to cherish an inordinate desire for it. Water is a scarce commodity and is often paid for by travellers in those parts. It was the more incumbent on the Israelites to do so, as, by the blessing of God, they possessed plenty of means to purchase, and the long-continued experience of the extraordinary goodness of God to them, should inspire such confidence in Him as would suppress the smallest thought of resorting to fraud or violence in supplying their wants.
8 we passed . . . through the way of the plain--the Arabah or great valley, from Elath ("trees") (the Ailah of the Greeks and Romans). The site of it is marked by extensive mounds of rubbish.
Ezion-geber--now Akaba, both were within the territory of Edom; and after making a circuit of its southeastern boundary, the Israelites reached the border of Moab on the southeast of the Salt Sea. They had been forbidden by divine command to molest the Moabites in any way; and this special honor was conferred on that people not on their own account, for they were very wicked, but in virtue of their descent from Lot. (See on
Δευτ. 23:3). Their territory comprised the fine country on the south, and partly on the north of the Arnon. They had won it by their arms from the original inhabitants, the Emims, a race, terrible, as their name imports, for physical power and stature (
Γέν. 14:5), in like manner as the Edomites had obtained their settlement by the overthrow of the original occupiers of Seir, the Horims (
Γέν. 14:6), who were troglodytes, or dwellers in caves. Moses alluded to these circumstances to encourage his countrymen to believe that God would much more enable them to expel the wicked and accursed Canaanites. At that time, however, the Moabites, having lost the greater part of their possessions through the usurpations of Sihon, were reduced to the small but fertile region between the Zered and the Arnon.
13 Now rise up, and get you over the brook Zered--The southern border of Moab, Zered ("woody"), now Wady Ahsy, separates the modern district of Kerak from Jebal, and, indeed, forms a natural division of the country between the north and south. Ar, called in later times Rabbah, was the capital of Moab and situated twenty-five miles south of the Arnon on the banks of a small but shady stream, the Beni Hamed. It is here mentioned as representative of the country dependent on it, a rich and well-cultivated country, as appears from the numerous ruins of cities, as well as from the traces of tillage still visible on the fields.
16 all the men of war were consumed and dead from among the people--The outbreak at Kadesh on the false report of the spies had been the occasion of the fatal decree by which God doomed the whole grown-up population to die in the wilderness [
Αρ. 14:29]; but that outbreak only filled up the measure of their iniquities. For that generation, though not universally abandoned to heathenish and idolatrous practices, yet had all along displayed a fearful amount of ungodliness in the desert, which this history only hints at obscurely, but which is expressly asserted elsewhere (
Ιεζ. 20:25-
Ιεζ. 20:26;
Άμ. 5:25,
Άμ. 5:27;
Πράξ. 7:42-
Πράξ. 7:43).
19 when thou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon, distress them not, nor meddle with them--The Ammonites, being kindred to the Moabites, were, from regard to the memory of their common ancestor, to remain undisturbed by the Israelites. The territory of this people had been directly north from that of Moab. It extended as far as the Jabbok, having been taken by them from a number of small Canaanitish tribes, namely, the Zamzummins, a bullying, presumptuous band of giants, as their name indicates; and the Avims, the aborigines of the district extending from Hazerim or Hazeroth (El Hudhera) even unto Azzah (Gaza), but of which they had been dispossessed by the Caphtorim (Philistines), who came out of Caphtor (Lower Egypt) and settled in the western coast of Palestine. The limits of the Ammonites were now compressed; but they still possessed the mountainous region beyond the Jabbok (
Ιησ. 11:2). What a strange insight does this parenthesis of four verses give into the early history of Palestine! How many successive wars of conquest had swept over its early state--what changes of dynasty among the Canaanitish tribes had taken place long prior to the transactions recorded in this history!
24 Rise ye up . . . and pass over the river Arnon--At its mouth, this stream is eighty-two feet wide and four deep. It flows in a channel banked by perpendicular cliffs of sandstone. At the date of the Israelitish migration to the east of the Jordan, the whole of the fine country lying between the Arnon and the Jabbok including the mountainous tract of Gilead, had been seized by the Amorites, who, being one of the nations doomed to destruction (see
Δευτ. 7:2;
Δευτ. 20:16), were utterly exterminated. Their country fell by right of conquest into the hands of the Israelites. Moses, however, considering this doom as referring solely to the Amorite possessions west of Jordan, sent a pacific message to Sihon, requesting permission to go through his territories, which lay on the east of that river. It is always customary to send messengers before to prepare the way; but the rejection of Moses' request by Sihon and his opposition to the advance of the Israelites (
Αρ. 21:23;
Κρ. 11:26) drew down on himself and his Amorite subjects the predicted doom on the first pitched battlefield with the Canaanites. It secured to Israel not only the possession of a fine and pastoral country, but, what was of more importance to them, a free access to the Jordan on the east.