Deuteronomy 2:1-15 - Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

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Bible Comments

From Kadesh-barnea to Wady-Zered. The present passage seems to contradict the parallel narrative in Numbers 20 f.

Deuteronomy 2:1 b. i.e. we lingered in the neighbourhood of Mt. Seir a good length of time, viz. thirty-eight years (Deuteronomy 2:7; Deuteronomy 2:14).

Deuteronomy 2:4. border: better, bordered territory, the Heb. word means both. your brethren: i.e. kinsmen (see Genesis 25:23-26; Genesis 36:43; Amos 1:11; Obadiah 1:10; Obadiah 1:12; Malachi 1:2). In deit 23:7 the Israelites are commanded to treat their Edomite kinsmen in a friendly way. But from the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. onwards, the feelings between the Jews and Edomites (from Edom = Esau) continued to be bitterly hostile.

Deuteronomy 2:6. cf. Genesis 14:23.

Deuteronomy 2:8. by: read (with LXX, Vulg.) through.

Deuteronomy 2:8 b. - Deuteronomy 2:25. They are to pass through the territory of Moab and Ammon, but without harassing them (cf. Deuteronomy 2:3 ff. of the Edomites). Moab and Ammon were sons of Lot by his elder and younger daughter respectively (Genesis 19:36 f.). Since Lot was Abraham's nephew, the Moabites and Ammonites were likewise kinsmen of the Hebrews. But in Gen., etc. personal names stand generally for families or tribes.

Deuteronomy 2:9. Ar: Numbers 21:15 * (E).

Deuteronomy 2:10-12. An archæ ological note by an editor. The men of a fabled past have often figured in folklore as giants (see ERE, vi. pp. 191ff.)

Deuteronomy 2:10 f. Emim, Rephaim: Genesis 14:5 *. Anakim: Deuteronomy 1:28 *.

Deuteronomy 2:12. Horites: Genesis 14:6 *. as Israel did: betraying a writer who lived long after the Conquest.

Deuteronomy 2:13. Zered: i.e. the modern Wady Kerak, which enters the Dead Sea at its N. end.

Related Commentaries of Deuteronomy 2:1

Deuteronomy 2:1-15

1 Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea, as the LORD spake unto me: and we compassed mount Seir many days.

2 And the LORD spake unto me, saying,

3 Ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you northward.

4 And command thou the people, saying, Ye are to pass through the coast of your brethren the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir; and they shall be afraid of you: take ye good heed unto yourselves therefore:

5 Meddle not with them; for I will not givea you of their land, no, not so much as a foot breadth; because I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession.

6 Ye shall buy meat of them for money, that ye may eat; and ye shall also buy water of them for money, that ye may drink.

7 For the LORD thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the LORD thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.

8 And when we passed by from our brethren the children of Esau, which dwelt in Seir, through the way of the plain from Elath, and from Eziongaber, we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab.

9 And the LORD said unto me, Distressb not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle: for I will not give thee of their land for a possession; because I have given Ar unto the children of Lot for a possession.

10 The Emims dwelt therein in times past, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims;

11 Which also were accounted giants, as the Anakims; but the Moabites call them Emims.

12 The Horims also dwelt in Seir beforetime; but the children of Esau succeededc them, when they had destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their stead; as Israel did unto the land of his possession, which the LORD gave unto them.

13 Now rise up, said I, and get you over the brookd Zered. And we went over the brook Zered.

14 And the space in which we came from Kadeshbarnea, until we were come over the brooke Zered, was thirty and eight years; until all the generation of the men of war were wasted out from among the host, as the LORD sware unto them.

15 For indeed the hand of the LORD was against them, to destroy them from among the host, until they were consumed.