Numbers 20:14 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

And Moses sent messengers— The kingdom of Edom, founded by the posterity of Esau, was originally governed by dukes; Genesis 36:15 but at this time it was governed by kings. The learned Usher is of opinion, that the king, to whom Moses now sent, was Hadar, the same with him mentioned Genesis 36:39. He adds, that God punished the inhumanity of the nation towards the Israelites by shortly destroying this monarch, and causing the kingdom of the Edomites to revert to a ducal government; because Moses, who after this wrote, or retouched, the Book of Genesis, mentions several dukes who reigned together, immediately after the death of Hadar. See Usher's Chronol. Sacr. cap. 11: However this might be, it was by the divine direction that Moses sent messengers to Edom. See Shuckford's Connection, b. 12: vol. 3: p. 247. The expression, thy brother Israel, refers to the two brothers, founders of the two nations, Jacob and Esau.