And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto the king of Edom, Thus saith thy brother Israel, Thou knowest all the travail that hath befallen us:
Moses sent messengers ... unto the king of Edom. The Edomite monarchy was elective, not hereditary-the electoral body being, as Kurtz (vol. 3:, p. 340) suggests, the Alluphim or 'dukes' of the clan (cf. Genesis 36:1-43 with Exodus 15:15). The encampment at Kadesh was on the confines of the Edomite territory, because it was close to Teman, which was the northern extremity of Idumea, and adjacent to Palestine (Joshua 15:1; Ezekiel 25:13), being another name for mount Paran. 'Now, if the wilderness of Paran,' says Wilton ('Negeb,' p. 124), 'comprehended the entire tract of country (bounded on the north by Canaan, on the south by Jebel et-Tih, on the east by mount Seir, and on the west by the wilderness of Shur) answering to the modern desert et-Tih, which is generally admitted, then "mount Paran" must have been its northeast corner, which abruptly rises to a great elevation, and is known to geographers as the mountains of the Azazimeh' (see also Kurtz. 'History of the Old Covenant,' vol. 3:, pp. 226-236; 'Jour. Sac. Lit.,' July, 1848, pp. 89-96). The Edomites being the descendants of Esau, and tracing their line of descent from Abraham as their common stock, were recognized by the Israelites as brethren, and a very brotherly message was sent to them.