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The end of a forty-year wandering, arrival at the southern borders of Canaan. - Bypassing the possessions of Edom, Moab and Ammon. – The beginning of the conquests: the conquest of the Amorite king Sihon. Deut.2:1. And we turned and went into the wilderness to the Red Sea, as the Lord had spoken to me, and we walked around Mount Seir for a long time. Deut.2:2. And the Lord spoke to me, saying: Deut.2:3. It’s enough for you to walk around this mountain, turn to the north; Brief words cover the entire 38-year wandering of the people through the deserts. Deut.2:4. and give a commandment to the people and say: You will pass through the borders of your brothers, the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, and they will fear you; but beware Deut.2:5. start a war with them, for I will not give you one foot of their land, because I gave Mount Seir as a possession to Esau; Deut.2:6. Buy food from them for money and eat; and buy water from them for money and drink it; Deut.2:7. for the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands, and has protected you during your journey through this great [and terrible] wilderness; Behold, the Lord your God has been with you forty years; you lacked nothing. Deut.2:8. And we passed by our brothers, the sons of Esau, who dwell in Seir, by the way of the plain, from Elath and Ezion-geber, and we turned and went to the wilderness of Moab. Deut.2:9. And the Lord said to me: Do not enter into enmity with Moab and do not start war with them; for I will not give you anything of his land as a possession, because I gave Ar as a possession to the sons of Lot; Deut.2:10. formerly the Emims lived there, a great people, numerous and tall, like the sons of Anak, Deut.2:11. and they were counted among the Rephaim as the sons of Anak; The Moabites call them Emim; Deut.2:12. and the Horites lived on Seir; but the sons of Esau drove them out and destroyed them from before them and settled in their place - just as Israel did with the land of their inheritance, which the Lord gave them; Deut.2:13. therefore arise and walk through the valley of Zared. And we passed the Zared valley. Deut.2:14. Since we went to Kadesh-barnea and passed through the valley of Zared, thirty-eight years have passed, and from among us the whole race of those who went to war was removed from the midst of the camp, as the Lord [God] swore to them; Deut.2:15. and the hand of the Lord was upon them, to destroy them from the midst of the camp, until they became extinct. Deut.2:16. When all those who went to war were gone and died out from among the people, Deut.2:17. Then the Lord spoke to me, saying: Deut.2:18. you are now passing by the borders of Moab, past Ar, Deut.2:19. and he approached the Ammonites; Do not enter into enmity with them, and do not start war with them, for I will not give you anything from the land of the sons of Ammon to possess, because I gave it to the sons of Lot to possess; Deut.2:20. and it was considered the land of Rephaim; the Rephaims formerly lived on it; The Ammonites call them Zamzumim; Deut.2:21. a great people, numerous and tall, like the sons of Anak, and the Lord destroyed them before them, and they drove them out and dwelt in their place, Deut.2:22. as He did for the sons of Esau who dwelt in Seir, destroying the Horites before them, and they drove them out, and dwelt in their place, and live to this day; Deut.2:23. and the Abbeans, who lived in villages all the way to Gaza, the Kaftorim, who came from Kaftor, destroyed and settled in their place. Wed. Number 20.14–22, 21.4, 9–20. “Beware of starting a war” with your kindred nations of Edom, Moab, Ammon. If the Jews had followed this advice, their position in Canaan would have been very strong. Protected on the north by Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, with the very easily defended Hamath pass, on the south by a rocky chain of mountains with difficult to pass gorges, on the east by the desert and the Dead Sea, on the west by the Mediterranean Sea, they would at the same time have three strong forward posts: the Edomites in the southeast of Canaan, the Moabites to the east of the Dead Sea and Ammonites - east of the mouth of the Jordan. “And we walked past our brothers, the sons of Esau, who dwell in Seir, by the way of the plain from Elath and Ezion-geber” (v. 8). Compare Number 21.4: “They set out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea.” That is, the path of the Jews ran along the plain that runs from the northern end of the Black Sea Gulf of Aqaba (Elath, Ezion-Geber) to the northeast, parallel to the eastern slopes of the Idumean Mountains, and along which caravans traveling from Mecca to Damascus still travel today. In Art. 10 – 12 and 20 – 23, representing an ethnographic insertion into the story, the Jewish people are given interesting instructions regarding the history of the countries they pass by. Cook and other scholars classify the Rephaim, Emim, Zamzuzim and other original inhabitants of Canaan as a Semitic race. Kaftor is identified with Fr. Crete, the Caphtorims - with its immigrants, the Philistines (Peleshet), who settled in the southwestern corner of Canaan and communicated their name (Palestine) to the whole country. Deut.2:24. Arise, go, and cross the stream Arnon; Behold, I have delivered into your hand Sihon king of Heshbon the Amorite and his land; begin to take possession of her, and wage war with him; Deut.2:25. From this day forward I will begin to spread fear and terror of you to the nations under all heaven; those who hear about you will tremble and be horrified by you. Deut.2:26. And I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying: Deut.2:27. let me pass through your land; I will walk along the road, I will not go down to the right or to the left; Deut.2:28. sell me food for money, and I will eat, and give me water to drink for money, and I will drink, but I will walk with my feet - Deut.2:29. as the sons of Esau who dwell in Seir, and the Moabites who dwell in Ar, did to me, until I pass over the Jordan into the land which the Lord our God is giving us. Deut.2:30. But Sihon king of Heshbon did not agree to allow us to pass through his land, because the Lord your God hardened his spirit and made his heart stubborn, to deliver him into your hand, as is now evident. Deut.2:31. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I begin to deliver unto thee Sihon [king of Heshbon, the Amorite,] and his land; begin to take possession of his land. Deut.2:32. And Sihon [king of Heshbon] with all his people came out against us to battle towards Jaatz; Deut.2:33. and the Lord our God delivered him into our hands, and we struck him and his sons and all his people, Deut.2:34. and at that time they took all its cities, and consigned all the cities to destruction, men and women and children, leaving no one alive; Deut.2:35. We only took their cattle and the captured things from the cities we took as booty. Deut.2:36. From Aroer, which is on the bank of the brook Arnon, and from the city that is in the valley, to [mountain] Gilead, there was no city that was impregnable to us: the Lord our God gave everything [into our hands]. Deut.2:37. Only you did not approach the land of the Ammonites, nor the places [lying] near the brook Jabbok, nor the cities [that] were on the mountain, nor anything that the Lord our God commanded [us]. You might be interested in: