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Deuteronomy 2

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The Long Circuit Around Mount Seir 1–8

1
Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea, as Jehovah spake unto me; and we compassed mount Seir many days. ​
2
And Jehovah spake unto me, saying,
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Ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you northward. ​
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And command thou the people, saying, Ye are to pass through the border of your brethren the children of Esau, that dwell in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. Take ye good heed unto yourselves therefore;
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contend not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as for the sole of the foot to tread on; because I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession. ​
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Ye shall purchase food of them for money, that ye may eat; and ye shall also buy water of them for money, that ye may drink.
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For Jehovah thy God hath blessed thee in all the work of thy hand; he hath known thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years Jehovah thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing. ​
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So we passed by from our brethren the children of Esau, that dwell in Seir, from the way of the Arabah from Elath and from Ezion-geber. And we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab.

Prohibition Against Attacking Moab 9–12

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And Jehovah said unto me, Vex not Moab, neither contend with them in battle; for I will not give thee of his land for a possession; because I have given Ar unto the children of Lot for a possession. ​
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(The Emim dwelt therein aforetime, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakim:
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these also are accounted Rephaim, as the Anakim; but the Moabites call them Emim.
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The Horites also dwelt in Seir aforetime, but the children of Esau succeeded them; and they destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their stead; as Israel did unto the land of his possession, which Jehovah gave unto them). ​

The End of the Wilderness Generation 13–17

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Now rise up, and get you over the brook Zered. And we went over the brook Zered. ​
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And the days in which we came from Kadesh-barnea, until we were come over the brook Zered, were thirty and eight years; until all the generation of the men of war were consumed from the midst of the camp, as Jehovah sware unto them. ​
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Moreover the hand of Jehovah was against them, to destroy them from the midst of the camp, until they were consumed. ​
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So it came to pass, when all the men of war were consumed and dead from among the people,
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that Jehovah spake unto me, saying,

Prohibition Against Attacking Ammon 18–23

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Thou art this day to pass over Ar, the border of Moab:
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and when thou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon, vex them not, nor contend with them; for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon for a possession; because I have given it unto the children of Lot for a possession. ​
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(That also is accounted a land of Rephaim: Rephaim dwelt therein aforetime; but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim, ​
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a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakim; but Jehovah destroyed them before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead;
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as he did for the children of Esau, that dwell in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites from before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead even unto this day.
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And the Avvim, that dwelt in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim, that came forth out of Caphtor, destroyed them, and dwelt in their stead.)

Command to Conquer Sihon the Amorite 24–37

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Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the valley of the Arnon: behold, I have given into thy hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land; begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle. ​
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This day will I begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the peoples that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee. ​
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And I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth unto Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying, ​
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Let me pass through thy land: I will go along by the highway, I will turn neither unto the right hand nor to the left.
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Thou shalt 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 my feet;
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as the children of Esau that dwell in Seir, and the Moabites that dwell in Ar, did unto me; until I shall pass over the Jordan into the land which Jehovah our God giveth us.
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But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him; for Jehovah thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into thy hand, as at this day. ​
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And Jehovah said unto me, Behold, I have begun to deliver up Sihon and his land before thee: begin to possess, that thou mayest inherit his land.
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Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, unto battle at Jahaz.
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And Jehovah our God delivered him up before us; and we smote him, and his sons, and all his people.
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And we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed every inhabited city, with the women and the little ones; we left none remaining: ​
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only the cattle we took for a prey unto ourselves, with the spoil of the cities which we had taken.
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From Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and from the city that is in the valley, even unto Gilead, there was not a city too high for us; Jehovah our God delivered up all before us: ​
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only to the land of the children of Ammon thou camest not near; all the side of the river Jabbok, and the cities of the hill-country, and wheresoever Jehovah our God forbade us. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Deuteronomy 2

Verse 1

by the way of the Red sea — The direction is the one given after the refusal at Kadesh: 'turn you, and get you into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea' (Num 14:25; Deut 1:40). 'Compassed' is sabab, to go round, the verb of v.3 as well. The years that follow are counted from Kadesh to the Zered in v.14.

Verse 3

long enough — Rav lakhem, 'enough for you', is the phrase of Deut 1:6, 'Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount'. Both are orders to leave a place after a long stay. The mountain is Seir, which Israel had been going round (v.1), and the new heading is 'northward' (tsafon).

Verse 5

not so much as a foot breadth — 'Meddle' is garah, to stir up strife. Seir was the LORD's gift to Esau, as Josh 24:4 says: 'I gave unto Esau mount Seir, to possess it'. Deut 32:8 gives the principle, 'When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance… he set the bounds of the people'.

Verse 7

thou hast lacked nothing — Chaser, to lack, is the verb of 'I shall not want' in Ps 23:1. The forty years are summed up in the same way in Neh 9:21, 'they lacked nothing', and Deut 8:4, 'Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee'. Christ asks the disciples, 'lacked ye any thing?' and they answer, 'Nothing' (Luke 22:35).

Verse 9

Ar unto the children of Lot — Moab was the son of Lot's elder daughter (Gen 19:37), and Lot was Abram's 'brother's son' (Gen 12:5). Ar was Moab's land: Num 21:28 speaks of 'Ar of Moab'. The command is the one given for Edom: 'neither contend with them in battle' (garah, to stir up strife, as in v.5).

Verse 12

the Horims — The Horites were the earlier dwellers in Seir (Gen 14:6; 36:20, 'Seir the Horite, who inhabited the land'). The sons of Esau 'succeeded' them (yarash, to take possession), 'when they had destroyed them from before them'. The verse sets this beside Israel's: 'as Israel did unto the land of his possession, which the LORD gave unto them'.

Verse 13

the brook Zered — The Hebrew is nachal, a stream-bed or wadi, as in 'the river of Egypt' (Num 34:5). Num 21:12 records the camp 'in the valley of Zared', and the next camp was beyond the Arnon (Num 21:13), which Moses comes to in v.24. Crossing the Zered closes the thirty-eight years of v.14.

Verse 14

thirty and eight years — The span runs from Kadesh to the Zered, 'until all the generation of the men of war were wasted out'. 'Wasted out' is tamam, the verb of the oath in Num 14:35, 'in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die'. Num 26:64–65 records that none was left of those numbered at Sinai but Caleb and Joshua.

Verse 15

the hand of the LORD was against them — 'To destroy' is hamam, the verb used when the LORD 'troubled the host of the Egyptians' (Ex 14:24), with the same word for 'host' (machaneh, the camp). The phrase 'the hand of the LORD was against them' is also used in Judg 2:15, and Ps 106:26 says he 'lifted up his hand against them, to overthrow them in the wilderness'.

Verse 19

the children of Ammon — Ammon descends from Benammi, the son of Lot's younger daughter (Gen 19:38), as Moab does from the elder's, and the command is the same as in v.9: 'distress them not, nor meddle with them'. Jephthah later answers Ammon's king on this ground: 'Israel took not away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon' (Judg 11:15).

Verse 20

a land of giants — 'Giants' is Rephaim, the name the KJV prints as 'Rephaims' in Gen 14:5, where the Emims of vv.10–11 also appear. Ammon's name for them was Zamzummims (zamzummim). Deut 3:11 says that 'only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants'.

Verse 24

Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon — Unlike Edom, Moab and Ammon, this land was not given to any kin of Israel: it is 'given into thine hand'. Sihon had himself taken it from Moab, 'even unto Arnon' (Num 21:26), and the Arnon was Moab's border (Num 21:13). Judg 11:21 says Israel 'possessed all the land of the Amorites'.

Verse 25

the dread of thee and the fear of thee — Pachad is dread and yirah fear. Compare 'I will send my fear before thee' (Ex 23:27) and 'Fear and dread shall fall upon them' (Ex 15:16). Rahab says it came to pass: 'your terror is fallen upon us… we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you… and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites' (Josh 2:9–10).

Verse 26

words of peace — The messengers went 'out of the wilderness of Kedemoth' with an offer of peace first, as Deut 20:10 requires: 'When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it.' Num 21:21 says 'Israel sent messengers unto Sihon'; here Moses says 'I sent'. The terms follow in vv.27–29.

Verse 30

hardened his spirit — Qashah, to make hard, and amats, to make strong. The LORD's act stands beside Sihon's own refusal, 'Sihon would not suffer Israel to pass through his border' (Num 21:23). Josh 11:20 says the same of Canaan's cities: 'it was of the LORD to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle'.

Verse 34

utterly destroyed — Charam, to put under the ban, is the verb of Deut 20:17, where the Amorites are among the peoples named, and Moses uses it again of Sihon and Og in Deut 3:6. What fell under the ban here was the people: v.35 adds that 'the cattle we took for a prey unto ourselves, and the spoil of the cities'.

Verse 36

not one city too strong for us — Sagav means to be set on high, out of reach. The range runs 'From Aroer… even unto Gilead', Sihon's realm (Josh 12:2), later given to Reuben and Gad (Deut 3:12). Ps 44:3 gives the reason: 'they got not the land in possession by their own sword… but thy right hand'.

Verse 37

the river Jabbok — The Jabbok ended Sihon's land and bordered Ammon: Israel 'possessed his land from Arnon unto Jabbok, even unto the children of Ammon' (Num 21:24). Israel stopped there, as v.19 required. Jacob had crossed 'the ford Jabbok' (Gen 32:22) on his way back to this land.