And the LORD said unto me, Distress 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.
The Lord said ... Distress not the Moabites. Their relations with Edom compelled them to keep a line of march on the very outskirts of the great sandy, shadeless waste, stretching far into the Persian Gulf, which was even more terrible than the desert highway they had just left beyond the mountains that now stood low, compared with their elevation as they had been seen on the west. In truth, their circumstances at this time were more trying, and even apparently more desperate, than any their ancestors had ever encountered in their marching, (see the notes at Numbers 21:1-35). (See the route described-the southern part in Laborde's 'Voyage,' and the, northern part in Burckhardt's 'Travels in Syria, pp. 395-440; also 656-662; Irby and Mangles' 'Travels,' chs. 7:, 8:) 'The road of the Israelites nearly coincided with the present Hadj route from Damascus to Mecca, and the few small towns and villages situate in it now supply the pilgrim caravans as the Edomites supplied the marching Hebrews, selling to them water and their field produce as it was required' (Drew, supplied the marching Hebrews, selling to them water and their field produce as it was required' (Drew, 'Scripture Lands,' p. 86).
They had been forbidden by divine command to molest the Moabites in any way; and this special honour was conferred on that people, not on their own account, because they were very wicked, but in virtue of their descent from Lot (see the note at Deuteronomy 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 [see the note at Genesis 14:5, where the Septuagint has: gigantes, while our translators have retained the original Rªpaa'iym (H7497), Rephaim; but in this passage our version has 'giants', while the Septuagint has Rafain]. The translation 'giants' has no etymological support; see the note at (Genesis 50:2) - in like manner as the Edomites had obtained their settlement by the overthrow of the original occupiers of Seir, the Horims (Genesis 14:6), who were Troglodytes, or dwellers in caves; and 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 (see the note at Numbers 21:26).