Deuteronomy 2:1-15

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; 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. 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.