Deuteronomy 2:20-36

Antiquarian note by an editor (cf. Deuteronomy 2:10).

Deuteronomy 2:20. Zamzummim: the Zuzim of Genesis 14:5 *, so Keil and others.

Deuteronomy 2:22. unto this day: frequent in Dt. (Deuteronomy 3:14, etc.), Jos., and Jg. in a similar context. The implication is that the state of things described continued down to the writer's day.

Deuteronomy 2:23. Avvim (better Awwim) dispossessed by the Philistines (Deuteronomy 2:12; Deuteronomy 2:21 f.) with whom, however, they are mentioned in Joshua 13:4. Caphtor (the home of the Philistines, Amos 9:7 *, Jeremiah 47:4) is Crete.

Deuteronomy 2:24. Numbers 21:21 * (JE), which is older. The Israelites were not restrained by ties of kinship from attacking the Amorites and their king Sihon when their request was refused.

Deuteronomy 2:24. Arnon: pp. 32f., Numbers 21:13 f.*

Deuteronomy 2:29. It is not distinctly stated (except in the LXX) in Deuteronomy 2:2 that the Edomites (children of Esau) acceded to Israel's request; nor is the contrary stated or suggested. According to Deuteronomy 23:4 and Numbers 20:18 (JE) they definitely rejected Israel's proposal and according to Deuteronomy 23:4 the Moabites did the same. We have to do simply with different traditions. Many, however (Driver, etc.), hold that Edom's refusal belongs to an earlier period, and that it took place in W. not E. Moab.

Deuteronomy 2:30. hardened: Exodus 4:21 (E), Deuteronomy 7:3 * (P). his spirit, his heart: i.e. him. The emphatic personal pronoun is often thus expressed (Deuteronomy 4:9 *). The parallel clauses hardened him, made him obstinate, mean the same thing.

Deuteronomy 2:32. at: render, to

Deuteronomy 2:34. utterly destroyed: Heb. put under a ban, to tabu. The verbal root occurs in the cognate languages as well as Heb., and denotes literally to cut off, to separate; then to withdraw from common use (tabu) with a view to complete surrender to deity as a sacrifice. Hence it comes to mean, to destroy utterly. In the Moabite Stone (lines 11- 17) Mesha says he had devoted (same Semitic word) Israel to Ishtar. Generally among the Israelites, as among other people, the ban arose from a vow to devote to deity a part or the whole of the booty obtained in the event of victory. In the OT, and especially in Dt. (see Deuteronomy 20:17 ff.), the ethical character of the ban is strongly insisted upon. The goim or non-Israelites are to be offered up as a sacrifice to Yahweh lest they should corrupt the morals and religion of the chosen race. Three degrees of the war-ban may be traced in Dt. and in other parts of the OT. (a) That in which every man, woman, and child of the enemy and also their property of every kind was devoted, i.e. utterly destroyed (see Deuteronomy 13:16, etc.). (b) The ban of the second degree stopped short with the devotion, i.e. the destruction, of men, women, and children; cattle and the rest of the spoil being reserved by the victors for their own use (see Deuteronomy 2:34 f. Deuteronomy 3:6 f. Deuteronomy 7:2, etc.). (c) The third degree is represented by the law laid down in Deuteronomy 20:10, men alone being devoted to destruction. In Numbers 31:17 f. (P 8) and Judges 21:11 f. (LXXB) it is the virgins only that are spared (see pp 99, 114, Joshua 6:17 *, and Ban in HSDB).

Deuteronomy 2:36. Gilead proper was divided by the Jabbok into a northern and southern half. Sihon's kingdom lay S. of this river (Deuteronomy 3:10 *).