Deuteronomy 2:24

Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over In this section the one clause in the Pl. address. Steuernagel connects it immediately with 16 f. On these formulas cp. Deuteronomy 1:7; Deuteronomy 1:19.

the valley of Arnon No one doubts that the Naḥal Arnônand the modern W. el-Môjeb are the same stream and valley. It is more than a coincidence that Arnon = sounding, and that some forms of the root of Môjeb, wajaba, mean to -fall with a noise or rush." The greatest of all the cañons that cut the plateau of Mo'ab, one understands how it has so often been a political frontier. A little W. of the Hajj road a valley is formed some 250 ft below the plateau by the conjunction of several wâdies, which have risen among the desert hills to the E. of the road. Under the successive names of W. Sa-ideh, Seil eṣ-Ṣefei, and W. el-Môjeb, it runs with a mainly W. direction, and a rapidly increasing depth (at -Aro-er 1800 or 2000 feet below the plateau) between almost precipitous walls to the Dead Sea, about 3500 ft below the plateau. The valley is entered from N. and S. by other cañons, of which two are almost as long as itself. About 15 miles from its mouth it receives from the S. its chief tributary, a stream which with its valley has already for some stretch above the confluence borne the name el Môjeb, but higher up is known as W. es-Sulṭâni; probably (see Deuteronomy 2:13) the Zered of Israel's march. About 2 miles from its mouth enters from the N. the W. el-Wâleh, which draining all N.E. Mo'ab has cut the plateau in a S.W. direction. All these three cañons, with their tributaries, appear to be included in the (plural) valleys of Arnon, Numbers 21:14. But the valley of Arnonin the present verse is probably the direct E. and W. cañon on its upper stretch, W. Sa-ideh, on which -Ar stood (see on Deuteronomy 2:9); this is certain if the identification of Ḳedemoth, stated below, Deuteronomy 2:26, is correct. Musil, Moab, 9 ff.; the present writer in PEFQ, 1904, 373 377.

behold, I have given into thine hand, etc.] Sg. address resumed: so too Sam., LXX. Cp. Deuteronomy 1:27.

Sihon the Amorite For Sîḥôn, see below on Deuteronomy 2:26; for Amorite, see on Deuteronomy 1:7.

contend with him in battle This does not agree with, or at least it should not come before, Deuteronomy 2:26ff., the efforts of Moses to obtain a peaceable passage through Amorite territory; its originality is questionable if we are to assign to the discourse a reasonable measure of consistency.