Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Deuteronomy 2:4-8
The Children of Esau in Seir (Edom) Their Brother Tribe Was To Be Left Alone (Deuteronomy 2:4).
The first to be approached were the children of Esau who dwelt in Seir. It is interesting that Edom is not mentioned by name, although they would later be known as Edomites. The emphasis is on their relationship to Abraham and Isaac. Their land was given to them by Yahweh and was their possession. It must not be trespassed on.
‘ And command you the people, saying, “You are to pass through the border of your brothers the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir, and they will be afraid of you. Take good heed to yourselves therefore, do not contend 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 to Esau for a possession.”
In order to reach the land they must pass through or along the borders of Edom. But Edom would be afraid of them. However, they were not to seek a quarrel with them for Edom lived in the land given to their forefather Esau by Yahweh as a possession. Indeed Israel did not have permission to set even one foot on Edom's soil. Not an inch of it is given to them.
“I have given mount Seir to Esau for a possession.” The fact that Esau's descendants were in possession of the land which Yahweh had given them because they were descendants of Abraham augured well for the future. What Yahweh had done for Edom He would do for Israel, who were also descendants of Abraham. This should have instilled them with confidence.
That the gods were seen as giving land to their favourites, especially land blessed with abundant water, comes out in the pre-Moses Canaanite legend of King Keret. It is about a place called ‘Udum the Great, ‘Udum abundant in water' which seeks to buy off the forces of the invading King Keret, and in his plea Udum's king cries, “Do not harm Udum the Great, even Udum abundant in water, Udum is the gift of El, the present of the Father of men” (lines 60-64). King Keret, however, rather claims not ransom but the king's beautiful firstborn daughter. But note the many contrasts, especially in that the claim is made by the king of Udum himself, not by the king who sought to conquer it. Every nation thought that their land was given to them by their god (compare Judges 11:24), but that did not impress other nations. In this particular case it was seen as El's special gift because of its abundance of water (some have tried to relate Udum to Edom but this was hardly a picture of Edom where water was short and needed to be bought and sold - Deuteronomy 2:6). Men ever saw water as a divine gift. But Moses sees the lands of Edom, Moab and Ammon as gifts not of their gods, but of Yahweh, because of their relationship with Abraham, and therefore inviolable. That being so other nations had received their lands as gifts from Yahweh, even though they did not acknowledge Him. For Yahweh worked His sovereign will. How much more then could Israel be confident that Yahweh would give them their land if they did acknowledge Him. It was different with the Canaanites. They had forfeited their land by their behaviour. Their tenancy from Yahweh was at an end.
From Numbers 20:14 we gain a little more insight into what happened. Moses had wanted to take his people through Edom along the King's Highway, the main trade route. But Edom were so afraid of them (‘they will be afraid of you', verse 4 compare Exodus 15:15) that the king of Edom gathered his army to resist them. Thus Moses led them round the borders of Edom, but still showed friendship towards them. Moses was totally non-belligerent except where necessary.
We must recognise in seeking to trace the actual route taken that we are hampered by lack of knowledge. In spite of huge efforts made to identify sites most are still very tentative. We need to be humble enough to recognise that our knowledge is so scanty that we will probably never know whether, for example, Israel used the eastern border of Edom or the western border. The problems include the identification of sites which produces innumerable insoluble difficulties and the meaning of Hebrew directions which are vague and open to various interpretation.
“ You shall purchase food of them for silver, so that you may eat, and you shall also buy water of them for silver, that you may drink.”
Rather than fight with Edom they were to demonstrate their friendly intentions by offering silver in exchange for food and water. While they still had the manna (compare Deuteronomy 8:15; Numbers 11:9; Joshua 5:12) they would be delighted to have what they no doubt saw as ‘proper food' as well (compare Numbers 11:6). Water would be short in Edom, and wells and springs carefully guarded. There must be no raiding, all was to be done circumspectly. Both food and water were to be bought. This behaviour prevented a build up of hostility and no doubt contributed to the fact that Edom did not later seek to take advantage of the time when the warriors of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh were mainly away from home.
It is to be noted from this that in their activities, Israel sought to avoid bloodshed, apart from when they were dealing with the condemned people of Canaan whom they were commanded to destroy (compare Deuteronomy 20:10) or with those who positively sought to lead Israel astray after false gods.
“ For Yahweh your (thy) God has blessed you (thee) in all the work of your (thy) hand. He has known your (they) walking through this great wilderness. These forty years Yahweh your (thy) God has been with you. You have lacked nothing.”
That this purchase of food and water was possible was because Yahweh had prospered them. ‘The work of their hand' may well have included pottery, jewellery and ornaments, weaving, metalwork and so on, which had been sold on to passing traders, and even to friendly desert tribes. This, along with treasures brought from Egypt and not used, had ensured that they were wealthy enough to purchase food for all. Although He had refused them entry into the land God had not utterly forsaken them. He had watched over their walking in the wilderness, and had been with them. We gather elsewhere that it was for Abraham's sake. This is one of the rare places where we are given an insight into their thirty eight year wandering.
So as they consider Edom, safely settled in the land given to them by Yahweh, the second generation of Israel are to recognise themselves as a people whom Yahweh has blessed even in the wilderness, so that they can be sure that He also has blessings in store for them.
The use of the singular ‘thee' and ‘thy' here is because the purpose is to bring out the covenant position between Yahweh and Israel as a whole. It is somewhat similar to the distinction between ‘Israel' (thee) seen as one and ‘the children of Israel' (you) seen as many. They are distinctly and genuinely one people whatever their origin. There is also a connection with Deuteronomy 1:31 as Yahweh has clearly ‘walked' with them as ‘they went', supporting them and caring for them like a father bears his son.
‘So we passed by from our brothers the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir, from the way of the Arabah from Elath and from Ezion-geber.'
This friendly description of Edom fits well with first impressions on approaching the land, and having avoided conflict with them. It fits ill with later centuries. ‘Our brothers.' They were related because Esau was Jacob/Israel's brother (compare Deuteronomy 23:7). The land of Seir was where he had lived with his tribe (Genesis 32:3; Genesis 33:16; Genesis 36:8).
Because of the opposition, instead of taking the King's Highway (Numbers 20:17), they took ‘the way of the Arabah' (the rift valley through which higher up the Jordan ran), passing Edom either on its eastern or western border, having previously been near Elath and Ezion-geber on the Reed Sea, although the mention of these may only indicate general direction when looking from the plains of Moab. These latter were possibly districts of the same place, town and island, (compare Num 33:35-36; 1 Kings 9:22; 1 Kings 22:48; 2 Kings 14:22). The small island Jazirat Faraun, with an inner harbour and a strait providing sheltered mooring, is located opposite the mainland from which ancient quays are running out from the shore. These may well have been Ezion-geber and Elath.
But the vague descriptions (to us) make all uncertain. We do not know their exact route, only that it skirted Edom. They then followed ‘the way of the wilderness of Moab' which possibly went along the eastern border of Moab skirting the desert.
Numbers tells us of an attack at this stage by the Canaanite king of Arad, from the Negeb, and his partial victory, and ultimate defeat after Israel prayed to Yahweh (Numbers 21:2). He and his ‘cities' were devoted to destruction. They were Canaanites. But Moses concentration in Deuteronomy is on the advance into, and possession, of the land, and on others whose land has been given to them by Yahweh, not on minor victories.