Deuteronomy 2:1-37
1 Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea, as the LORD spake unto me: and we compassed mount Seir many days.
2 And the LORD spake unto me, saying,
3 Ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you northward.
4 And command thou the people, saying, Ye are to pass through the coast of your brethren the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir; and they shall be afraid of you: take ye good heed unto yourselves therefore:
5 Meddle not with them; for I will not givea you of their land, no, not so much as a foot breadth; because I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession.
6 Ye shall buy meat of them for money, that ye may eat; and ye shall also buy water of them for money, that ye may drink.
7 For the LORD thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the LORD thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.
8 And when we passed by from our brethren the children of Esau, which dwelt in Seir, through the way of the plain from Elath, and from Eziongaber, we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab.
9 And the LORD said unto me, Distressb not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle: for I will not give thee of their land for a possession; because I have given Ar unto the children of Lot for a possession.
10 The Emims dwelt therein in times past, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims;
11 Which also were accounted giants, as the Anakims; but the Moabites call them Emims.
12 The Horims also dwelt in Seir beforetime; but the children of Esau succeededc them, when they had destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their stead; as Israel did unto the land of his possession, which the LORD gave unto them.
13 Now rise up, said I, and get you over the brookd Zered. And we went over the brook Zered.
14 And the space in which we came from Kadeshbarnea, until we were come over the brooke Zered, was thirty and eight years; until all the generation of the men of war were wasted out from among the host, as the LORD sware unto them.
15 For indeed the hand of the LORD was against them, to destroy them from among the host, until they were consumed.
16 So it came to pass, when all the men of war were consumed and dead from among the people,
17 That the LORD spake unto me, saying,
18 Thou art to pass over through Ar, the coast of Moab, this day:
19 And when thou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon, distress them not, nor meddle with them: for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon any possession; because I have given it unto the children of Lot for a possession.
20 (That also was accounted a land of giants: giants dwelt therein in old time; and the Ammonites call them Zamzummims;f
21 A people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; but the LORD destroyed them before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead:
22 As he did to the children of Esau, which dwelt in Seir, when he destroyed the Horims from before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead even unto this day:
23 And the Avims which dwelt in Hazerim, even unto Azzah, the Caphtorims, which came forth out of Caphtor, destroyed them, and dwelt in their stead.)
24 Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the river Arnon: behold, I have given into thine hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land: beging to possess it, and contend with him in battle.
25 This day will I begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the nations that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear report of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee.
26 And I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth unto Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying,
27 Let me pass through thy land: I will go along by the high way, I will neither turn unto the right hand nor to the left.
28 Thou shalt sell me meat for money, that I may eat; and give me water for money, that I may drink: only I will pass through on my feet;
29 (As the children of Esau which dwell in Seir, and the Moabites which dwell in Ar, did unto me;) until I shall pass over Jordan into the land which the LORD our God giveth us.
30 But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him: for the LORD thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into thy hand, as appeareth this day.
31 And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have begun to give Sihon and his land before thee: begin to possess, that thou mayest inherit his land.
32 Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to fight at Jahaz.
33 And the LORD our God delivered him before us; and we smote him, and his sons, and all his people.
34 And we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed the men,h and the women, and the little ones, of every city, we left none to remain:
35 Only the cattle we took for a prey unto ourselves, and the spoil of the cities which we took.
36 From Aroer, which is by the brink of the river of Arnon, and from the city that is by the river, even unto Gilead, there was not one city too strong for us: the LORD our God delivered all unto us:
37 Only unto the land of the children of Ammon thou camest not, nor unto any place of the river Jabbok, nor unto the cities in the mountains, nor unto whatsoever the LORD our God forbad us.
Deuteronomy: God’s Law of Love
Love and Obey the *LORD your God
Deuteronomy
Philip Smith
Chapter 2
v1 ‘Then we turned back and we went towards the *desert. We travelled along the way to the Red Sea as the *LORD had told us to do. We travelled round the hills in Seir (Edom) for a long time.
v2 Then the *LORD said this to me. v3 “You have gone round this mountain for long enough. Now turn to the north. v4 Tell the *Israelites this. ‘You are ready now to go through the country that belongs to your relatives, the *descendants of Esau. They live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, but be careful. v5 Do not start a war against them because I will not give to you any of their country. I will not give to you enough land on which to put a foot. I have given to Esau’s family the hills in Seir. It is their possession. v6 You must pay them with money for your food and water.’ ”
v7 The *LORD your God has *blessed you in everything that you have done. He has taken care of you as you have travelled through this vast *desert. The *LORD your God has been with you for 40 years. You have had everything that you needed.’
God ordered the *Israelites to travel on. The people in Edom did not allow them to go through Seir. (See Numbers 20:14-21.) The people in Edom were afraid of the *Israelites. God told the *Israelites not to attack the people in Edom or to take their country. God had given that country to the family of Esau. Moses reminded the people that God had provided for them during their long journey. He had given to them everything that they needed in the *desert. They should not desire areas of country that they did not need.
In Philippians 4:19, Paul reminds Christians that God will supply all their needs. He will do that by means of the resources that Jesus provides.
v8 ‘So we went past the land that belonged to the family of Esau. They are our relatives, who live in Seir. We travelled along the route to the towns called Elath and Ezion-Geber. Then we turned and we travelled along the *desert route to Moab.
v9 Then the *LORD said to me, “Do not attack the *Moabites. Do not start a war against them. I will not give any of their land to you as your possession. I have given the city called Ar to the family of Lot. It is their possession.” v10 (A strong and large group of people called the ‘Emites’ used to live in Ar. They were as tall as the people called *Anakites. v11 Many people called the *Anakites ‘*Rephaites’. And they also called the people who lived in Ar ‘Rephaites’. But the *Moabites called them the ‘Emites’. v12 The people who were called Horites used to live in Seir. But the family of Esau *captured their land. The family of Esau killed them and Esau’s family lived there instead of the Horites. Also the *Israelites did a similar thing in the country that the *LORD gave to them for their possession.)
v13 Then the *LORD said, “Go across the Zered Valley.” So we did.
v14 We crossed the Zered Valley 38 years after we had left Kadesh Barnea. By then, all the men who were old enough to fight had died. The *LORD had declared that this would happen. v15 The *LORD continued to oppose them until they had all died. At last, none of them remained alive in the camp.
v16 After they had all died, v17 the *LORD spoke to me. v18 “Today you must go near to the region called Moab. It will be at the place called Ar. v19 When you approach the *Ammonites, do not attack them. Do not start a war against them. I will not give any of their land to you to possess. I have given it to the family of Lot. It is their possession.” ’
v20 (People call that place ‘the country of the *Rephaites’. The *Rephaite people used to live there. The *Ammonites called them the ‘Zamzummin’. v21 They were a strong and large group of people. And they were as tall as the *Anakites. The *LORD *destroyed the Zamzummin people. So, the *Ammonites *captured their country and they lived there. v22 The *LORD did a similar thing for the family of Esau, who lived in Seir. He *destroyed the people called the Horites. So, the people from the country called Edom *captured their country. And the people from Edom still live there today. v23 The people called Avvites, lived there. But the people from Crete *destroyed them. The people from Crete *captured the land right up to the city called Gaza.)
God told the *Israelites which territory they must not *capture. God had given that territory to the families of Esau and Lot. This statement taught them that there was only one God. He had given to each nation its own country. No false god had given it to them. The *Rephaites were a group of very tall people. They lived in Canaan before the *Israelites arrived. The name ‘Emite’ means ‘the terrible people’. The word ‘Zamzummin’ means ‘the wicked men’. *Israelite men were old enough to fight when they were 20 years old. (See Numbers 1:3.) Moses reminded the *Israelites that they had wandered for 38 years in the *desert. During that time, all the people who had left Egypt over 20 years old had died.
They could not enter the country that God had given to the *Israelites. The writer of the Book of Hebrews tells us the reason for that. ‘They were not able to enter because they did not trust God.’ (See Hebrews 3:19.) The writer encourages Christians to trust God. Then they will receive the good things that God promises.
v24 ‘ “Go across the River Arnon. I will hand over to you Sihon, who is the *Amorite king of Heshbon, and his territory. Begin to possess his territory and to attack him. v25 From today I will make people everywhere to be afraid of you. They will hear reports about you. They will tremble and they will be very afraid of you.”
v26 From the Kedemoth *desert, I sent people with a message that offered peace. They took this message to Sihon, king of Heshbon. v27 “Let us go through your country. We will stay on the main road and we will not leave it. v28 We will pay for our food and water. We just want to walk through your country. v29 We will do that until we go across the River Jordan. Then we will reach the country that the *LORD our God is giving to us. The family of Esau in Seir and the *Moabites in Ar allowed us to do that.” v30 But King Sihon of Heshbon would not let us go through his country. He refused and he would not change his decision. The *LORD your God made that happen. The *LORD did that because he wanted you to defeat him. Now it has happened.
v31 The *LORD said this to me. “Look, I have begun to give to you King Sihon and his country. Now start to *capture and to possess his territory.”
v32 Sihon came with all his army to fight us at the town called Jahaz. v33 The *LORD our God helped us to *capture him. We killed him and his sons and we killed all his army. v34 Also we *captured all his towns and we *destroyed them. We killed everyone. We killed the men, the women and the children. Nobody remained alive. v35 But we took the animals and we took the people’s possessions from the towns. v36 The *LORD our God gave to us all the towns from Aroer to Gilead. Aroer is on the edge of the valley called Arnon. We also *captured the town in the middle of the valley. No town was too strong for us to *capture. v37 You obeyed what the *LORD our God had ordered. You did not go near to the country of the *Ammonites. You did not go near to the land by the River Jabbok. And you did not go near to the towns in the hills.’
The *Israelites defeated two *Amorite kings and they took the territory of the *Amorites. The first king was Sihon, king of Heshbon. Moses offered to go through his territory in peace and to pay for food and drink. Sihon would not allow the *Israelites to do that. Because of that decision, God made Sihon refuse to change his mind. When a person refuses, it is very hard for that person ever to change. That happened to Pharaoh before the *Israelites left Egypt. (See Exodus 7:1-5.) God ordered the *Israelites to kill or to *destroy certain people or objects. Those people gave honour to false gods. The objects were things to which they gave honour. The *Israelites would imitate those people if they left them alive. (Read the notes on chapter 7 verses 1-5 for more explanation about that.)
Lord ~ a name for God. It translates the word ‘Adonai’ in the Hebrew language, which means ‘my ruler’. The word ‘lord’ (without a capital letter) means an ordinary ruler.LORD ~ God gave this special name to himself. It translates the word ‘Yahweh’ in the Hebrew language. It is the Covenant name for God. It links to the words ‘I am’; it means that God has always been here.
covenant ~ the special promise that God made to his people. God’s covenant with the Israelites established a relationship between him and them. But they must obey him.
Israelite ~ a person from the nation called *Israel; Israelites is another name for the Jews.
Jew ~ a person who belongs to the family of the Israelites. Jews are descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
descendant ~ a person in your family who will live after you.
desert ~ a wild place where there are small bushes and not much water. It has poor soil and people cannot grow crops there. So, not many people live there.
Israelite ~ a person from the nation called *Israel; Israelites is another name for the Jews.
Jew ~ a person who belongs to the family of the Israelites. Jews are descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
descendant ~ a person in your family who will live after you.
descendant ~ a person in your family who will live after you.
Moabite ~ someone from the nation called Moab; anything with a relationship to Moab. The Moabites were relatives of the Israelites.
Israelite ~ a person from the nation called *Israel; Israelites is another name for the Jews.
Jew ~ a person who belongs to the family of the Israelites. Jews are descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
descendant ~ a person in your family who will live after you.
Anakites ~ an ancient nation that was famous for its very tall people.
Rephaites ~ an ancient nation. It did not still exist when Moses was alive.
capture ~ to take something and to keep it; to take people and to make them prisoners.
Ammonite ~ someone from the nation called Ammon; anything with a relationship to Ammon. The Ammonites were relatives of the Israelites.
Israelite ~ a person from the nation called *Israel; Israelites is another name for the Jews.
Jew ~ a person who belongs to the family of the Israelites. Jews are descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
descendant ~ a person in your family who will live after you.
destroy ~ to damage something so that it does not continue to exist; to kill people or animals.
Amorite ~ a nation of people who were among the original inhabitants in the country called Canaan; anything that has a relationship with that nation. There may have been more than one nation that had that name. The Israelites had to travel through Amorite country as they went to Canaan.
Israelite ~ a person from the nation called *Israel; Israelites is another name for the Jews.
Jew ~ a person who belongs to the family of the Israelites. Jews are descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
descendant ~ a person in your family who will live after you.