THE JOURNEY FROM KADESH BARNEA TO MOAB INSTRUCTIONS CONCERNING AMMON DEFEAT OF SIHON, KING OF HESHBON DEUTERONOMY 2:1-37

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1 1 THE JOURNEY FROM KADESH BARNEA TO MOAB INSTRUCTIONS CONCERNING AMMON DEFEAT OF SIHON, KING OF HESHBON DEUTERONOMY 2:1-37

2 2 THE JOURNEY FROM KADESH BARNEA TO MOAB Text: INSTRUCTIONS CONCERNING AMMON DEFEAT OF SIHON, KING OF HESHBON Deuteronomy 2:1-37, 1. Then we turned and set out for the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea, as the Lord spoke to me, and circled Mount Seir for many days. 2. And the Lord spoke to me, saying, 3. You have circled this mountain long enough. Now turn north, 4. and command the people, saying, You will pass through the territory of your brothers the sons of Esau who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. So be very careful; 5. do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, even as little as a footstep because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. 6. You shall buy food from them with money so that you may eat, and you shall also purchase water from them with money so that you may drink. 7. For the Lord your God has blessed you in all that you have done; He has known your wanderings through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have not lacked a thing. 8. So we passed beyond our brothers the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, away from the Arabah road, away from

3 3 Elath and from Ezion-geber. And we turned and passed through by the way of the wilderness of Moab. 9. Then the Lord said to me, Do not harass Moab, nor provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession, because I have given Ar to the sons of Lot as a possession. 10. (The Emim lived there formerly, a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim. 11. Like the anakim, they are also regarded as Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim. 12. The Horites formerly lived in Seir, but the sons of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them and settled in their place, just as Israel did to the land of their possession which the Lord gave to them.) 13. Now arise and cross over the brook Zered yourselves. So we crossed over the brook Zered. 14. Now the time that it took for us to come from Kadeshbarnea until we crossed over the brook Zered was thirtyeight years, until all the generation of the men of war perished from within the camp, as the Lord had sworn to them. 15. Moreover the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from within the camp until they all perished. 16. So it came about when all the men of war had finally perished from among the people, 17. that the Lord spoke to me, saying, 18. Today you shall cross over Ar, the border of Moab. 19. When you come opposite the sons of Ammon, do not harass them nor provoke them, for I will not give you any of the land of the sons of Ammon as a possession,

4 4 because I have given it to the sons of Lot as a possession. 20. (It is also regarded as the land of the Rephaim, for Rephaim formerly lived in it, but the Ammonites call them Zamzummin, 21. a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim, but the Lord destroyed them before them. And they dispossessed them and settled in their place, 22. just as He did for the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites from before them; they dispossessed them and settled in their place even to this day. 23. And the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim who came from Caphtor, destroyed them and lived in their place.) 24. Arise, set out, and pass through the valley of Arnon. Look! I have given Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land into your hand; begin to take possession and contend with him in battle. 25. This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the peoples everywhere under the heavens, who, when they hear the report of you, will tremble and be in anguish because of you. 26. So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying, 27. Let me pass through your land, I will travel only on the highway; I will not turn aside to the right or to the left. 28. You will sell me food for money so that I may eat, and give me water for money so that I may drink, only let me pass through on foot,

5 just as the sons of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for me, until I cross over the Jordan into the land which the Lord our God is giving to us. 30. But Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing for us to pass through his land; for the Lord your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, in order to deliver him into your hand, as he is today. 31. The Lord said to me, See, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his land over to you. Begin to occupy, that you may possess his land. 32. Then Sihon with all his people came out to meet us in battle at Jahaz. 33. The Lord our God delivered him over to us, and we defeated him with his sons and all his people. 34. So we captured all his cities at that time and utterly destroyed the men, women and children of every city. We left no survivor. 35. We took only the animals as our booty and the spoil of the cities which we had captured. 36. From Aroer which is on the edge of the valley of Arnon and from the city which is in the valley, even to Gilead, there was no city that was too high for us; the Lord our God delivered all over to us. 37. Only you did not go near to the land of the sons of Ammon, all along the river Jabbok and the cities of the hill country, and wherever the Lord our God had commanded us. (NET)

6 6 Commentary: The Journey from Kadesh Barnea to Moab Deuteronomy 2:1-7, Then we turned and set out for the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea, as the Lord spoke to me, and circled Mount Seir for many days. And the Lord spoke to me, saying, You have circled this mountain long enough. Now turn north, and command the people, saying, You will pass through the territory of your brothers the sons of Esau who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. So be very careful; do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, even as little as a footstep because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. You shall buy food from them with money so that you may eat, and you shall also purchase water from them with money so that you may drink. For the Lord your God has blessed you in all that you have done; He has known your wanderings through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have not lacked a thing. (NET) Chapter 1 ends with Israel s being turned away from the Promised Land at Kadesh-barnea because of the bad report of the ten spies. The generation of Israelites who were twenty years of age and older were under God s condemnation and would die in the wilderness over the course of the next thirty-eight (38) years (2:14). Chapter 2 begins with an amazingly brief reference to the years of wandering. All that Moses says of this time, in which literally hundreds of thousands of Israelites perished, is that they

7 7 turned and set out for the Red Sea. In this case the term Red Sea probably refers to what we today call the Gulf of Aqaba, rather than to the body of water they crossed when leaving Egypt. At the end of verse 1 Moses says that Israel circled Mt. Seir for many days. It is interesting that he summarized the entire period of Israel s wandering in this brief understatement. The area in which Israel wandered was about one hundred (100) miles from north to south, stretching from the base of the Dead Sea to the tip of the Gulf of Aqaba, and about forty (40) miles from east to west. The specific location of Mt. Seir is uncertain, but the region from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba, called the Jordan Rift Valley by scholars today, is often referred to as Seir. Commentators are divided on where Israel wandered during this period because the land of Edom is often associated with the term Seir. Edom, however, was on the east side of the Jordan Rift Valley, and it seems clear that Israel was not allowed to enter their territory, since the Edomites were descendants of Esau. It seems likely, then, that Israel wandered in the western portions of this region. The end of the wandering is very abruptly stated in verse 3. Moses simply says that God told them they had circled the mountain long enough, and they should turn north. The faithless generation had all died, and it was time for Israel to finally take possession of the Promised Land. Even as God commanded Israel to turn again toward the Promised Land, He gave them instructions to restrict them on the first leg of the journey. In verses 4-7 the Lord commanded Israel

8 8 to do nothing to provoke the nation of Edom. Although they were on their way to conquer Canaan, God was not going to give them any territory belonging to the Edomites. This was because of the promise He had made to Esau hundreds of years before. Here we see God s faithfulness on display again. The Edomites were not His covenant people, but God still honored His promise to their founding father. Deuteronomy 2:8-15, So we passed beyond our brothers the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, away from the Arabah road, away from Elath and from Ezion-geber. And we turned and passed through by the way of the wilderness of Moab. Then the Lord said to me, Do not harass Moab, nor provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession, because I have given Ar to the sons of Lot as a possession. (The Emim lived there formerly, a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim. Like the anakim, they are also regarded as Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim. The Horites formerly lived in Seir, but the sons of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them and settled in their place, just as Israel did to the land of their possession which the Lord gave to them.) Now arise and cross over the brook Zered yourselves. So we crossed over the brook Zered. Now the time that it took for us to come from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the brook Zered was thirty-eight years, until all the generation of the men of war perished from within the camp, as the Lord had sworn to them. Moreover the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from within the camp until they all perished. (NET)

9 9 The geographical references in verse 8 suggest that Israel was encamped near the Gulf of Aqaba when God commanded them to head north to Canaan. Elath is a name that refers to this body of water, and Ezion-geber was a port at the northern tip of that sea. The Arabah road went north from this port and led to the east of Moab. This route would take them along the eastern border of Edom. After Israel passed by the land of Edom, they came to the land of Moab. Before they passed through this land, God again gave commands to restrict their conduct as they did so. The Moabites were distant relatives of the Israelites, being the descendants of Lot and his older daughter (Genesis 19:30-33, Lot went up from Zoar with his two daughters and settled in the mountains because he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters. Later the older daughter said to the younger, Our father is old, and there is no man anywhere nearby to have sexual relations with us, according to the way of all the world. Come, let s make our father drunk with wine so we can have sexual relations with him and preserve our family line through our father. So that night they made their father drunk with wine, and the older daughter came and had sexual relations with her father. But he was not aware that she had sexual relations with him and then got up. (NET)) God had given Moab the territory in which they were dwelling and He was not willing to allow Israel to occupy any of it. Therefore, as with Edom, Israel was not to do anything that might provoke Moab to war. In verses we find another instance of a section that was possibly written by someone other than Moses. In some

10 10 translations these verses are separated from the rest of the text by parentheses to indicate that they are an aside (NASB; ESV; NIV; NRSV). The fact that this is a parenthetical statement does not mean that Moses did not write it. That decision depends on how one views the final clause in verse 12. The last clause in verse 12 says, just as Israel did to the land of their possession which the Lord gave to them. Some commentators take this to refer to the land that Israel had taken from Sihon and Og. If so, Moses could very well have written these words. Other commentators take this clause to refer to the conquest of Canaan, or to both the conquest of Canaan and the conquest of the kingdoms of Sihon and Og. If this view is taken, then a later scribe would have had to have written it. It seems more reasonable to conclude that these words refer to the final conquest of Canaan, rather than the kingdoms of the Transjordan. In verse 12 the author is speaking of how the Edomites came to occupy their territory, and he compares this to Israel s occupation of the land God gave them. For the comparison to be valid, it must refer to equal events. Esau was promised a certain land and his descendants occupied it. Israel was also promised a certain land, which did not originally include the lands of Sihon and Og, and they had not yet occupied it when Deuteronomy was written. Another element that contributes to this conclusion is the explanation in verses regarding the people who had once lived in the territory occupied by the Edomites. The Israelites of Moses day would have known about the Emim, the Anakim, and the Rephaim, because their immediate ancestors had feared them

11 11 when they first came to the Promised Land. The explanation in verses seems to be for the benefit of later readers, who would likely not have known who these peoples were. Like the preamble in 1:1-5 (Deuteronomy 1:1-5, This is what Moses said to the assembly of Israel in the Transjordanian wastelands, the arid country opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Di Zahab. Now it is ordinarily an eleven-day journey from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by way of Mount Seir. However, it was not until the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year that Moses addressed the Israelites just as the Lord had instructed him to do. This took place after the defeat of King Sihon of the Amorites, whose capital was in Heshbon, and King Og of Bashan, whose capital was in Ashtaroth, specifically in Edrei. So it was in the Transjordan, in Moab, that Moses began to deliver these words: (NET)) this update ensured that all future readers would understand the setting for this book. With the editorial update in place, the text returns to the words of Moses as he related God s command to move to the site from which they would enter the Promised Land. Verse 13 says that Israel was to cross over the brook Zered. This brook marked the southern edge of Moab. After crossing it Israel would pass along the eastern border of this nation. In verses Moses said that Israel had wandered for thirty eight (38) years after being turned away from Kadeshbarnea. This is an interesting statement since we know that God condemned Israel to wander one year for each of the forty (40) days the spies were in Canaan (Numbers 14:33-34, and your children will wander in the wilderness forty years and

12 12 suffer for your unfaithfulness, until your dead bodies lie finished in the wilderness. According to the number of the days you have investigated this land, forty days one day for a year you will suffer for your iniquities, forty years, and you will know what it means to thwart me. (NET)) When we note that Deuteronomy 1:3, However, it was not until the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year that Moses addressed the Israelites just as the Lord had instructed him to do. (NET) says that Moses spoke in the fortieth year after Israel came out of Egypt, we see God s mercy at work. When He turned Israel away at Kadesh-barnea, they had been traveling for about two years. God counted those two years against the forty He imposed on them for their faithlessness. The certainty of God s judgment against the faithless generation is also noted in these verses. Moses says that all the generation of the men of war perished just as God had sworn to them. This was not just a matter of natural attrition, however. God destroyed them, as verse 15 attests. Instructions Concerning Ammon Deuteronomy 2:16-23, So it came about when all the men of war had finally perished from among the people, that the Lord spoke to me, saying, Today you shall cross over Ar, the border of Moab. When you come opposite the sons of Ammon, do not harass them nor provoke them, for I will not give you any of the land of the sons of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to the sons of Lot as a possession. (It is also regarded as the land of the Rephaim, for Rephaim formerly lived in it, but the

13 13 Ammonites call them Zamzummin, a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim, but the Lord destroyed them before them. And they dispossessed them and settled in their place, just as He did for the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites from before them; they dispossessed them and settled in their place even to this day. And the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim who came from Caphtor, destroyed them and lived in their place.) (NET) At this point God gave Israel a final set of restrictions as they approached the Promised Land. Their travel would take them into the border areas of another nation that was a distant relative. In verses God gave them the same command He had given them regarding Moab. They were not to do anything to provoke Ammon, who were the descendants of Lot and his younger daughter (Genesis 19:34-38, So in the morning the older daughter said to the younger, Since I had sexual relations with my father last night, let s make him drunk again tonight. Then you go and have sexual relations with him so we can preserve our family line through our father. So they made their father drunk that night as well, and the younger one came and had sexual relations with him. But he was not aware that she had sexual relations with him and then got up. In this way both of Lot s daughters became pregnant by their father. The older daughter gave birth to a son and named him Moab. He is the ancestor of the Moabites of today. The younger daughter also gave birth to a son and named him Ben Ammi. He is the ancestor of the Ammonites of today. (NET)). None of their lands would be given to Israel because of the promise to Lot.

14 14 In verses Moses adds an explanatory note showing that God had acted to give this territory to the Ammonites. He specifically speaks again of the Rephaim, or the giants, who were driven out by the Ammonites with God s help. It is possible that Moses offered this explanation as a means of bolstering Israel s confidence as they neared the Promised Land. The faithless spies had been terrified of the Anakim and Rephaim in Canaan, and had discouraged the people from obeying God. Now, forty (40) years later, Moses reminded them that God had disposed of giants before to give land to those whom He favored. The implication was that He would do the same for Israel. Deuteronomy 2:24-25, Arise, set out, and pass through the valley of Arnon. Look! I have given Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land into your hand; begin to take possession and contend with him in battle. This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the peoples everywhere under the heavens, who, when they hear the report of you, will tremble and be in anguish because of you. (NET) In verses Moses returns to God s words which are an exhortation and a promise to Israel. God urged Israel to go up and take possession of territory on the east side of the Jordan, north of Moab and west of Ammon. This land belonged to Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon. Israel would have to fight for this land, but God assured them that they would be successful. He promised to put the dread and fear of them on all the peoples. This reinforced Moses previous statement of how God had delivered strong nations to

15 15 Edom, Moab, and Ammon. Surely if He had made these other nations successful, who were not His covenant people, He would do the same for Israel in this encounter. Defeat of Sihon, King of Heshbon Deuteronomy 2:26-37, So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying, Let me pass through your land, I will travel only on the highway; I will not turn aside to the right or to the left. You will sell me food for money so that I may eat, and give me water for money so that I may drink, only let me pass through on foot, just as the sons of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for me, until I cross over the Jordan into the land which the Lord our God is giving to us. But Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing for us to pass through his land; for the Lord your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, in order to deliver him into your hand, as he is today. The Lord said to me, See, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his land over to you. Begin to occupy, that you may possess his land. Then Sihon with all his people came out to meet us in battle at Jahaz. The Lord our God delivered him over to us, and we defeated him with his sons and all his people. So we captured all his cities at that time and utterly destroyed the men, women and children of every city. We left no survivor. We took only the animals as our booty and the spoil of the cities which we had captured. From Aroer which is on the edge of the valley of Arnon and from the city which is in the valley, even to Gilead, there was no city that was too high for us; the Lord our God delivered all over to us. Only you

16 16 did not go near to the land of the sons of Ammon, all along the river Jabbok and the cities of the hill country, and wherever the Lord our God had commanded us. (NET) Moses resumes his narrative in verse 26 as he recounts the attempt he made to pass through Sihon s territory in peace. Moses sent messengers to Sihon requesting permission to pass through his land. He offered that Israel would not stray off the highway that passed through his territory. He also promised that Israel would not take anything from Sihon that they did not purchase from him with money. In verses Moses related Sihon s response. Sihon was not willing to allow Israel to pass through his land under any circumstances. In verse 30 Moses said that God hardened his spirit in order to deliver his land into Israel s hand. Like Pharaoh before him, Sihon chose to resist God s plan for His people. Sihon was already a hard-hearted man, and God simply used this aspect of his character to accomplish His purposes. In verse 31 God repeated His promise to give Sihon s land to Israel. In verses Moses summarized Israel s first battle of conquest. The site for the initial encounter was Jahaz, a city about twenty (20) miles south of Sihon s capital city, Heshbon. Israel s victory was crushing, and included all the cities that belonged to Sihon throughout that region. Israel utterly destroyed all of Sihon s kingdom, killing all of his people, and only sparing the livestock. This action was the first in which God commanded Israel to annihilate an entire population of people. Some people are

17 17 appalled at such slaughter and question the morality of such a command. God s reasons for wiping out Canaanite populations were two-fold. One was the execution of His judgment against these ungodly peoples. In the case of the Amorites, God had promised their destruction in Genesis 15:16, In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its limit. (NET) when He promised Abraham that their land would be given to his descendants when the iniquity of the Amorites was complete. Their destruction on this occasion shows that the time for their judgment from God had arrived. The second reason for the utter destruction of the Canaanite peoples was to keep their ungodly influence from leading Israel astray. In Deuteronomy 7:1-4, When the Lord your God brings you to the land that you are going to occupy and forces out many nations before you Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and powerful than you and he delivers them over to you and you attack them, you must utterly annihilate them. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy! You must not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your sons away from me to worship other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will erupt against you and he will quickly destroy you. (NET) Moses spoke directly to this point. The pagan practices of the Canaanite peoples had defiled the land in God s view (Leviticus 18:24-30, Do not defile yourselves with any of these things, for the nations which I am about to drive out before you have been defiled with all these things. Therefore the land has become unclean

18 18 and I have brought the punishment for its iniquity upon it, so that the land has vomited out its inhabitants. You yourselves must obey my statutes and my regulations and must not do any of these abominations, both the native citizen and the resident foreigner in your midst, for the people who were in the land before you have done all these abominations, and the land has become unclean. So do not make the land vomit you out because you defile it just as it has vomited out the nations that were before you. For if anyone does any of these abominations, the persons who do them will be cut off from the midst of their people. You must obey my charge to not practice any of the abominable statutes that have been done before you, so that you do not defile yourselves by them. I am the Lord your God. (NET)). This was why He was expelling them from the land. If Israel were to follow their religious practices, God s wrath would come upon them just as it came upon the Canaanite peoples. The history of Israel bears out the soundness of God s reasoning on this point. We sometimes see the phrase devoted to destruction in connection with the annihilation of Canaanite cities and peoples. This phrase denotes that these actions were divinely commanded. They were the execution of God s will. This is why the spoils were not taken by Israel in certain cases, but were placed in the treasury of the Lord. Utterly destroying the ungodly Canaanite peoples demonstrated Israel s devotion to God, and executed His judgment on these peoples.

19 19 Questions on Deuteronomy 2: The name Red Sea refers to what body of water? (2:1) 2. What were God s instructions for Israel as they approached the territory that belonged to the sons of Esau? (2:4-6) 3. What restriction did God lay upon Israel with regard to Moab? (2:9) 4. What was the purpose of the parenthetical references to Emim, Anakim, and Rephaim? (2:10-12)

20 How does Moses statement that Israel had journeyed 38 years from Kadesh-barnea show God s mercy? (2:14) 6. What restriction did God give Israel with regard to Ammon? (2:18-19) 7. Why did Moses speak of God s driving out giants from the land of Ammon? (2:20-23) 8. How did Moses seek to avoid war with Sihon, king of Heshbon? (2:26-29)

21 What was Sihon s reaction to Moses overture of peace? (2:30-32) 10. Why did God require Israel to completely destroy all the Amorites, including women and children? (2:33-36)