And in Seir dwelt the Horites in times past; and the children of Esau dispossessed them, and destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their stead; as Israel did to the land of their possession, which Jehovah gave to them.)
Moses is retracing Israel's route past Edom. He pauses to say who lived in Seir before Esau's family did — a small note that shows God moving nations in and out, and warns Israel off Esau's land.
Verses 10-12 interrupt the travel account. One writer treats them as a bracket. He values them as solid history and as a view of how the earth filled up with peoples.
Verses 10-12 and 20-23 are both clearly parenthetical. These accounts of the country are vivid notes of great value. They are the surest history we have. They also show God's ways and men's ways in peopling the earth — violence, war, and so on.
The verse names the earlier people of Seir but says nothing more about them. A reference work fills in the gap, down to the homes they left behind.
The Horites were descendants of Seir and the original inhabitants of Mount Seir. The children of Esau destroyed them. Genesis 14:6; Genesis 36:20-21, 29; Deuteronomy 2:12, 22. It is thought that they were cave-dwellers, as the name implies. The sandstone rocks of Mount Seir are full of carved-out dwellings. Traces of the same appear throughout the region of Edom.
Esau's descendants did the fighting. Another purpose decided the outcome.
The possessions spoken of here had once been in the hands of giants. But it was God's purpose to hand their territories over to the children of Esau and of Lot. So He destroyed these giants. For who or what can stand in the way of the divine counsels?
Seir was not a special case. The same hand has been at work ever since Noah's family spread out over the earth.
The descendants of Noah scattered abroad with their different languages. They seized lands here and there as it pleased them. All the while, the invisible hand of God guided them to where He would need them when Israel came on the scene. No one understood this divine working at the time… Men may lay violent hands at any time on territories they want. But they can only get them by God's permission. The all-wise Creator sees some way in which the wrath of man will serve His purpose. So an overruling hand controls the movements of nations, little as men see it. This was true in the earliest days, and it is true still.
Canaan's tall inhabitants had frightened Israel. The parenthesis answers that fear from the neighbours' own history.
Verse 10 notes that the Emim once held that land. They were giants, as great and as many as the Anakim. The Moabites had dispossessed them. So could Israel not dispossess the people of Canaan, when they had the Lord with them? In the same way, the Horites had previously lived in Seir, but the descendants of Esau had dispossessed them (v.12).
The verse ends by setting Esau's takeover beside Israel's own. That line has made some readers doubt Moses wrote it, since Israel's conquest of Canaan still lay ahead.
The only question is about the words "as Israel did to the land of their possession." Whatever their possession was, they entered it by dispossessing the inhabitants. There is not the least difficulty in supposing Moses wrote it; he had already partly entered into possession by casting out the Amorites. What is stated is the way Israel entered in, not the history of an event. Still, from the way it comes in, my impression is that these passages are a divine prophetic addition.
Israel had no reason to envy Edom. God had carried them through the desert and met every need.
They could well afford, then, to leave Esau alone and leave his possessions untouched. They were the favoured objects of the LORD's tender care. He took note of every step of their weary journey through the desert. In His infinite goodness He had taken responsibility for all their needs. He was going to give them the land of Canaan, as He had promised Abraham. But the very same hand that was giving them Canaan had given Mount Seir to Esau.
Esau's record was poor, and so was Moab's and Ammon's. That changed nothing about Israel's duty.
What we find here is a warning. They were not to give way to the sight of their eyes or the violence of their hands. They were to guard against a covetous spirit that pays little regard to what God has assigned to others. It is always the same duty of submission to God's will… The earlier history of Moab and Ammon was far from good, just as Esau's was. That did not alter their duty.
- Given, not grabbed. Esau's people took Seir by force, but the land was God's to hand over; nothing can block His purpose.
- Given everywhere. The same hand set where every nation lives. Men seize land, but only when God allows it.
- Given as evidence. Giants once held these lands and lost them. If Esau's sons could displace the Horites, Israel had no reason to fear Canaan.
- Given to another. The hand giving Israel Canaan had already given Seir to Esau, so Israel was to leave it untouched.
- Given, so restrain yourself. A bad record in Edom, Moab or Ammon gave Israel no licence to covet what God had assigned to them.
Now rise up, and pass over the torrent Zered. And we passed over the torrent Zered.
Israel wandered for thirty-eight years because they had refused to enter Canaan. Then came the order to cross one small stream, and with that crossing the wandering ended.
Older English versions add two words to this verse that change who is speaking. One writer flags the problem:
Deuteronomy 2:13 — Be careful to leave out the words "said I"; no authority stands behind them. This is really the word of Jehovah, not something Moses said along the way.
The ESV leaves those words out. The command to rise and cross is God's own word, not a travel plan Moses judged to be timely.
The distance involved was never the problem. Moses has already reminded them how short the road was:
Verse 2 tells us that from Horeb by way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea is eleven days' journey. It was when Israel was in Kadesh Barnea that God told them to enter the land of Canaan and Israel refused. So this Scripture stresses one thing. If Israel had obeyed the Lord, they might have entered the land only eleven days after leaving Mount Horeb. Their disobedience stretched the time to about forty years. Moses spoke to them here just one month before the forty years was complete. This tells believers today that our own wilderness history does not have to be long. But our selfish nature makes it necessary for God to put us through the trial of hard circumstances, so that we learn that obedience is the only way of blessing.
The refusal at Kadesh was no small lapse. One writer weighs what those men turned down:
These men had made their choice at Kadesh; they did not have the faith to go up and conquer the land of Canaan, as Caleb and Joshua had urged them to do. Frightened by the enemy, they had renounced God's desire for them to possess it.
Crossing this brook was not just another stage of travel. It was a boundary line, and it was permanent:
All the men of war who had come out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upwards, had passed away by death. What changes these were! Besides all this, the wilderness wanderings had ceased, and for ever, the moment Israel had crossed the brook Zered.
Another writer draws out what changed once that water was behind them, and what it means for us:
They had really left the wilderness. The thirty-eight years of wandering there were over, and they had taken up the real journey again. They were not turning back to Egypt. When they crossed the brook Zered, the wilderness testing was over, and they were truly bound for Canaan… They want only to pass through the enemy's country in peace, for they are going to Canaan. They want nothing that belongs to it; they ask only to be let through. So for us, if our hearts are true to the heavenly calling, we want nothing of the world except to pass on in peace; for we are going to heaven.
God had already told Israel they had gone around the mountain long enough. The call to rise and cross puts the same test to them:
Happy position! Privileged path! Blessed portion! But it called for a broken will — an obedient mind — a heart that submits. Jehovah had said, "You have gone around this mountain long enough." If they then made a plan to go around it a little longer, they would have had to go around it without Him. They could count on His companionship, His counsel and His help only in the path of obedience.
Later in the chapter a pattern appears, and it still holds for us:
First comes the Divine act: "I have given," or, "I have begun to give." Then comes the call to the people, "Begin to possess." God deals with us today on similar lines, as we see in the New Testament letters. First He unfolds what He has given us in Christ. Then come the calls to begin to possess in practice all that He has given, in the power of the Holy Spirit, who lives within us.
- The word starts it. The order to rise and cross is God's own, not Moses' travel plan. Older versions add "said I"; leave it out.
- The delay was self-made. Eleven days of road turned into forty years. Unbelief at Kadesh, not distance, set the timetable.
- The cost was a generation. Fear of the enemy made those men refuse to go up, and they died before Israel reached the stream.
- The crossing was final. Once Israel passed Zered the wandering ended for good, and the journey to Canaan began again.
- The pattern continues. God gives first, then calls His people to take hold of the gift — but we find His companionship and help only in the path of obedience.
Now the days in which we came from Kadesh-barnea, until we had come over the torrent Zered, were thirty-eight years; until the whole generation of the men of war was consumed from the midst of the camp, as Jehovah had sworn unto them.
One line covers a whole era: thirty-eight years from Kadesh-barnea to the brook Zered. The count ended only when a whole generation of fighting men had died, which raises two questions — why the long delay, and what changed when the counting stopped?
The number covers the gap between the second and third stage of Israel's journey out of Egypt. One writer lines up the stages with the time each took:
They had started from Egypt for Sinai... So their arrival at Sinai was, in a sense, the completion of the first stage of the journey. The second was Kadesh Barnea, reached by the people before the end of the second year after the Exodus. And the third was the plains of Moab, having left the wilderness for ever, when they had crossed the brook Zered. Sinai to Kadesh is eleven days of travel. Between Kadesh and the brook Zered thirty-eight years ran by.
Nothing in the route required thirty-eight years. The delay began with a decision made at Kadesh:
These men had made a choice at Kadesh. They did not have the faith to go up and conquer the land of Canaan, as Caleb and Joshua had urged them to do. Frightened by the enemy, they had rejected God's desire for them to have it.
So the years were not spent covering ground. One writer sees the whole stretch as a trial:
The flesh is put on trial with God: thirty-eight years going through all this process instead of eleven days.
The count ran on until the fighting men were gone. God had said in advance that it would happen:
Israel was now told to move on. It had been 38 years since they left Kadesh Barnea, where they refused to enter the land. The men of that earlier generation had died, just as the Lord had told them they would (vs.14-15).
Israel found it harder to accept that sentence than to hear it. One writer draws out the lesson:
It is very hard to walk humbly and patiently in the path that our own failure has made necessary for us. Israel's unbelief, in refusing to go up into the land, meant that, in the way God governed them, they had to turn back and wander in the wilderness for forty years. They were unwilling to submit to this. They kicked against it. They could not bow their necks to the yoke they now had to wear.
Moses does not stand outside the story as he retells it. He includes himself — our leaving Kadesh-barnea, and we crossed the brook. That small word carries weight:
But what wonderful grace! The LORD went along with them, and of course the faithful turned back just as much as the unfaithful. How good the Lord is! ... Moses says, "We turned," not merely "You." "So we turned and journeyed into the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea, as the LORD told me. And we traveled around Mount Seir many days."
The wandering did not just fade out. It ended at a place they could point to:
They had truly left the wilderness. The thirty-eight years of wandering there were over, and the real journey had started again. They were not turning back into Egypt now. When they crossed the brook Zered, the wilderness testing was over, and they were truly bound for Canaan.
The same number turns up again in a man who lay helpless for thirty-eight years. One writer sets the two side by side:
The man had lain ill for exactly the same number of years as Israel had withered away in the wilderness — Deut. 2:14-16. God in grace gave Israel the land when all the men of war were gone. In the same way, grace meets the poor man's full need when his strength was gone and he had no one to help.
- Eleven days, thirty-eight years. Sinai to Kadesh was eleven days. Kadesh to the brook Zered took thirty-eight years. The gap measures unbelief, not distance.
- A choice, not a route. The delay traces back to one decision at Kadesh: fear of the enemy, and refusal of what God wanted them to have.
- Flesh on trial. Those years put the flesh on trial. The same process took thirty-eight years instead of eleven days.
- The yoke they would not bow to. It is very hard to walk humbly in a path our own failure has made necessary. Israel kicked against it.
- Zered ends it. When they crossed that brook, the testing was over and the nation was truly bound for Canaan. Grace acted when their strength was gone.
Moreover the hand of Jehovah was against them to destroy them from the midst of the camp, until they were consumed.
This verse closes the story of Israel's long wandering, and it names the cause of all those deaths: God Himself. How could the same God who kept this people alive in the desert also be the One who removed them from the camp?
The generation in view had stood at the border of Canaan and refused to go in. Commentators trace the wandering back to that refusal. God would not go with them on their own terms.
So the people had to turn back into the wilderness, and wander there for forty years. There was nothing else for it. They would not go up into the land with God in simple faith. And He would not go up with them in their self-will and self-confidence. So they had to accept the consequence of their disobedience. If they would not enter the land, they must fall in the wilderness.
Moses does not blame the desert, the distance, or the enemy. He says the hand that was against them was the LORD's. Writers call this God's government: His righteous dealing with His own people. One of them adds that mercy was at work even here.
God forgave Israel, and acted for His Name's sake. But there was also the righteous government of God… The way He governed the rebellious upheld His Name as a merciful God, for that generation died off little by little in the wilderness.
One writer counts the cost of unbelief: a short distance, a long delay.
Israel are now at their journey's end, though they are still in the wilderness. To make a journey of a few days, they have spent the life of a whole generation. They have come a long way, with toil and hardship, to a place where faith in God would have brought them easily and long ago. Still, God triumphs over all of this. He uses it as a lesson for them, and as an encouragement to trust Him.
Another writer turns the same lesson on us. A long, hard road is not always the road God first offered.
This tells believers today that our own wilderness history does not have to be long. But we are selfish by nature. So God must put us through the trial of hard circumstances, to teach us that obedience is the only way of blessing.
Those who had believed did not escape the wandering. They accepted God's will, shared the hardship, and found Him with them.
Moses and all who had not shared in the unbelief of the people submitted to the sovereign will of the Lord. How strange it would have been if they had complained at sharing in the judgment of the mass of the people… The faithful ones shared the trials, the sorrows, the hardships of the murmuring multitudes. And the LORD was with them in gracious tenderness… "These forty years the LORD your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing." The people had accused Him, insulted Him and disbelieved His word. Yet He carried this people through the great wilderness so that they lacked nothing.
The verse ends a sentence and opens a campaign.
The war to take the land is now about to begin. God has carried out His threat against the earlier generation, and the obstacle to taking the land is gone. So they are encouraged to go forward, doubting nothing.
One writer sets Israel's lost years beside a man the Lord Jesus healed.
In John 5 there was a man whose case only the Son of God could meet. The Lord Jesus said to him, "Get up, take up your bed, and walk." The man had lain ill exactly as many years as Israel had withered away in the wilderness — Deuteronomy 2:14-16. God in grace gave Israel the land once all the men of war had died. In the same way, grace met this poor man's full need when his strength was gone and he had no one to help him.
- Cause. They would not enter the land with God; so they had to fall in the wilderness instead.
- Hand. The deaths were not an accident. They were the LORD's own righteous government, and mercy showed even here: that generation died off little by little, not all at once.
- Cost. A journey of a few days took the life of a whole generation, and God still turned the waste into a lesson.
- Company. Those who had believed walked every year of it too, and through all of it the people lacked nothing.
- Clearance. The conquest began only when the last of that generation was gone. Grace gives the inheritance when human strength has run out.
And it came to pass when all the men of war were consumed, having died off from among the people,
Deuteronomy 2:16 is a closing line. The fighting generation that left Egypt is gone, and the sentence God passed on them for refusing the land has run its full course. Everything that follows in the chapter waits on this one fact.
The verse marks a clock running out. Moses counts the years from Kadesh Barnea, the place where the people refused to enter the land.
Israel was now told to go further. It had been 38 years since they left Kadesh Barnea, at the time when they refused to enter the land. The men of that earlier generation had died, just as the Lord had told them they would.
These men died because they would not trust God with the land. One commentator traces the whole outcome back to that unbelief.
They could not trust God to bring them into the land. No, they thought He had brought them into the wilderness to die there. Surely we may say, they reaped according to their dark unbelief. The ten false witnesses died by the plague. The many thousands who believed their false report had to turn back into the wilderness. There they wandered up and down for forty years, and then died and were buried.
"All the men of war" means all. A second count at the end of those years matched God's word man for man.
These males of twenty years and over numbered just over 600,000. Not one of them was left alive who had been in the earlier count, except Caleb and Joshua. Turn back to Numbers 14 and read verses 20-32 again. There we see with what absolute exactness God fulfils the word He has spoken. A solemn fact for the unbeliever, but one in which we who believe can heartily rejoice.
The wilderness years changed what Israel was. One writer sees it in what the record leaves out.
They are not pilgrims any more, but wanderers. If they had any aim, for these forty years it was mere self-preservation. That is why the record of them is not given to us... Circumcision likewise ceases, as we see by the renewal of it when they enter Canaan. So the very sign of their covenant with the Lord is lost. Grace alone carries them at last through the Jordan, and gives them the land they turn back from here.
The verse is immediately followed by the Lord speaking to Moses. One commentator treats that sequence as proof that Deuteronomy is arranged, not assembled at random — a fresh word arrives at exactly the point the old generation is gone, and it is a word about leaving Moab and Ammon alone.
They were tested after this by another call to hold back... But the same duty remains for them. We see from this that it is mere ignorance to suppose that there is no divine system in the book. To me this is even more striking in Deuteronomy than in the books before it. We can all understand an orderly arrangement when types are set out one after another. Here, in these moral teachings, the order is just as sensible, only in another way.
Israel received the land only when its fighting men were dead. One writer sets that order — strength gone first, then God acting — beside a helpless man who had lain ill for just as many years.
The man had been lying there exactly the same number of years as Israel had wasted away in the wilderness — Deuteronomy 2:14-16. God in grace gave Israel the land when all the men of war were gone. In the same way, grace meets the poor man's full need, when his strength was gone and he had no one to help.
- Sentence. Unbelief at Kadesh Barnea cost a whole generation the land. This verse records the day that sentence ran out.
- Silence. The thirty-eight years leave almost no history, and even circumcision, the sign of the covenant, stopped.
- Exactness. Not one man of that first count survived except Caleb and Joshua. God's word came true to the last man — solemn for the unbeliever, a joy for the believer.
- Speech. The moment the last man of war dies, God speaks to Moses again, and the march resumes under fresh orders.
- Grace. God gave the land when Israel's own strength had run out — the same way grace meets a man too weak to help himself.
that Jehovah spoke to me, saying,
Deuteronomy 2:17 is a turning point. The last of the fighting men who left Egypt had died, and then the LORD spoke to Moses again. What He says next is not an order to attack but an order to hold back.
Much had changed by the time this word came. One writer lists the changes packed into Israel's fortieth year:
Israel reached the plains of Moab by the Jordan near Jericho in the fortieth year after the Exodus. It was an eventful year. In the first month of it Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Moses and Aaron, had died, and was buried at Kadesh. Aaron too had died, and Eleazar had succeeded him in the High Priest's office… All the men of war too, who had come out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, had passed away by death. What changes these were! Besides all this, the wilderness wanderings had ceased, and forever, the moment Israel crossed the brook Zered.
Moses gives no other reason for staying put or for moving on. One writer draws out what that meant day by day:
The word of the Lord determined everything. It fixed how long the people were to remain in any given place, and it indicated, with equal clearness, where they were next to turn their steps. There was no need at all for them to plan or arrange their movements. It was God's role and right to settle everything for them; it was theirs to obey. There is no mention here of the cloud and the trumpet. It is simply God's word and Israel's obedience.
The word that comes is a restraint: pass by Moab, and leave Ammon alone. Israel's own past gave them two reasons to fight instead, and one writer takes up both:
They were tested after this by another case of forbearance… Here too there had been a great deal of fighting in earlier days. The children of Moab had had their wars. Was there any reason in this why the children of Israel should have wars with them now? And as for the children of Ammon, they too had passed through a similar experience. Giants had lived there in times past, and the Ammonites called them Zamzummim. They were a great, numerous and tall people, but the LORD destroyed them before the Ammonites, who took their place. But this was no reason why they should expect the LORD to destroy the Ammonites now. Both were powerful motives not to dread the Canaanite races, who were destined to be wiped out.
Why were these lands off limits? Because God had already handed them out. One writer notes how easily rulers forget this:
Emperors, kings, princes, governors and statesmen take little account of it. They forget that God interests Himself in the affairs of nations; that He gives kingdoms, provinces and lands as He sees fit. At times they act as if it were only a question of military conquest. They act as if God had nothing to do with national borders or who owns land. This is their great mistake… God will never surrender His rights in this respect.
Israel had to walk past land they were not allowed to take. The command touched what they wanted, not only what they did:
They might have wanted to take the plains of Moab, or Mount Seir, or the lands of Ammon. The Lord forbade them to do so. Disobedience would have been disastrous… They were, therefore, not to seek what the Lord had not given to them. And this is obedience and a lesson of faith. What happy contentment there would be among God's people if this rule were followed.
Moses moved when the LORD spoke — not before. One writer turns that pattern into plain counsel for anyone unsure what to do next:
If I have not received light to move, it is my plain duty to be still. We should never move in uncertainty. It often happens that we trouble ourselves about moving or acting, when God would have us be still and do nothing. We go and ask God about it, but get no answer. We turn to friends for advice, but they cannot help us. It is entirely a question between our own souls and the Lord.
- Word after judgment. The last of the fighting men had to die before God spoke again. The wandering ended, and the word resumed.
- Word as compass. No cloud, no trumpet. God's word alone fixed every halt and every march, and Israel obeyed.
- Word as brake. The first thing that word does is hold Israel back: pass through Moab, leave Ammon alone. Old wars and old grudges argued otherwise.
- Word over borders. God gives kingdoms, provinces and lands as He sees fit, and never gives up that right.
- Word and rest. Not seeking what God has not given turns obedience into contentment. Where no word has come, the duty is to stay still.
Thou art to pass this day over the border of Moab, [which is] Ar,
God sets the day for Israel to cross Moab's frontier at Ar. One line of instruction moves the nation forward and fences it in: the land they pass through is not theirs to take.
The verse names a real city, and the name also covered the wider land Israel was passing by.
Ar. A chief city in the Moabite territory. In Jerome's time it was called Areopolis. It is identified with Rabba, about 10 miles from the Dead Sea. Numbers 21:15, 28; Isaiah 15:1. In other passages the name Ar appears to include the land of the Moabites. Deuteronomy 2:9, 18, 29.
"Today" carries weight here, because for almost four decades there had been no such day.
God now told Israel to go further. It had been 38 years since they left Kadesh Barnea, where they had refused to enter the land. The men of that earlier generation had died, as the Lord had told them they would (vv. 14-15). They crossed the boundary of Moab and came near to Ammon. But God told them not to harass or interfere with Ammon, for He had given it to those descendants of Lot (v. 19).
Israel could have assumed that any land in their path was theirs for the taking. They needed a lesson about who owns the earth.
Israel might imagine that they had nothing to do but seize upon the lands of the Edomite; but they had to learn something very different. They had to be taught that the Most High rules among the nations. The whole earth belongs to Him, and He gives it out to one nation or another as He pleases.
Moab was less closely related to Israel than Edom, and still off limits.
Were they to lay hands on the Moabites, who were not so near of kin as the Edomites? Not so. "Do not harass Moab or contend with them in battle, for I will not give you any of their land for a possession, because I have given Ar to the people of Lot for a possession." So the second exhortation contains a lesson about other people, as the first was about the danger of disobedience on their own part. What we find here is a warning not to yield to the sight of their eyes or the violence of their hands. It guards against a covetous spirit that pays little regard to what God had assigned to others. It is always the same duty of submission to God's will. The first chapter takes account of themselves; the second chapter puts them to the test in the presence of other people.
This passing through pictures the believer's own journey.
With the men of the flesh, the children of this world, we may have dealings as we pass on heavenward; contend with them we may not. Their land is not ours. Our possessions are elsewhere — a good land, which forbids coveting any other.
One family later treated Moab not as a border to cross but as a home.
When Mahlon and Chilion followed their father's example and went to Moab, they did what followers of a bad example always do — they went one worse and married women of Moab. Their father was not guilty of that. But depend on it: if we backslide, those who follow our example will go deeper into sin and depart further from the right way. God in His law had said, "Today you are to cross the border of Moab at Ar. And when you approach the territory of the people of Ammon, do not harass them or contend with them, for I will not give you any of the land of the people of Ammon as a possession" (Deuteronomy 2:18-19). He had also said, "You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons" (Deuteronomy 7:3). But they disregard all this now, and tie themselves to those whom God forbids.
- Border named. Ar marks Moab's frontier. The name also covers the Moabite land Israel had to pass by, not take.
- Border reached. "Today" ends thirty-eight years of delay. The generation that refused the land had died out, so the march could start again.
- Border given. Israel could not take Moab. God had already given it to Lot's descendants. He rules the nations and shares out the earth as He pleases.
- Border tested. Chapter 1 tested Israel by their own record. Chapter 2 tests them by other people's property. It guards them from a greedy eye that ignores what God has given others.
- Border kept. Our inheritance lies elsewhere. We deal with the world as we pass through, and we do not fight it for its land. Mahlon and Chilion show the cost of settling in a land meant only for crossing.
and come near over against the children of Ammon; thou shalt not distress them nor attack them; for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon a possession; for unto the children of Lot have I given it as a possession.
Israel is on the march, and God halts them at the border of Ammon. The order is to leave it alone. The reason is a surprise: this land is already owned, because God Himself gave it to someone else.
The ban on touching Ammon rests on a claim about who hands out land. Commentators say this is a truth most rulers forget.
This is a very magnificent fact to keep before the mind. The great majority of men think but little of it. Emperors, kings, princes, governors, statesmen, take little account of it. They forget that God takes an interest in the affairs of nations. They forget that He gives out kingdoms, provinces and lands as He sees fit. At times they act as if it were only a question of military conquest. They act as if God had nothing to do with national boundaries and who owns what land. This is their great mistake.
The verse calls the Ammonites the sons of Lot. A Bible dictionary traces that family line and where they lived.
Ben-ammi was the son of Lot by his youngest daughter. "He is the father of the Ammonites to this day." Gen. 19:38. His descendants lived next to Israel, between the Arnon and the Jabbok on the east, and had much to do with Israel. God had told Moses not to touch the Ammonites. Israel was not to take their land: He had given it to the children of Lot. … No one from that nation was to be allowed into the assembly of Israel, to the tenth generation — that is, for ever. Deut. 23:3; Neh. 13:1.
Moab and Ammon had a history that was far from good. Israel knew it, and it changed nothing about their duty.
What we find here is a warning not to give in to the sight of their eyes or the violence of their hands. It guards against a covetous spirit that pays little regard to what God had assigned to others. It is always the same duty of submission to God's will. The first chapter deals with Israel themselves. The second chapter tests them in front of other people. It did not alter their duty that the earlier history of Moab and Ammon, just as much as that of Esau, was far from good.
Israel had to leave Ammon alone, yet take the land of Sihon. God gave no reason for the difference. That silence is itself the lesson.
One great principle runs through all these instructions to Israel. God's word must settle everything for His people. It was not for Israel to ask why they were to leave the possessions of Esau and Lot untouched, and to seize those of Sihon. They were simply to do what they were told.
Ammon's land once belonged to a race of giants whom God destroyed. Kelly draws two conclusions from that.
Giants had lived there in times past, and the Ammonites called them Zamzummims. They were "a people great and many, and tall as the Anakim." The LORD "destroyed them before them, and they dispossessed them and settled in their place." But that was no reason to expect Jehovah to destroy the Ammonites now. Both were strong reasons not to fear the Canaanite races, who were doomed to destruction.
Commentators apply this command to how believers deal with people of this world.
With the men of the flesh, the children of this world, we may trade as we pass on heavenward. Contend with them we may not. Their land is not ours. Our possessions are elsewhere — a good land, which forbids coveting any other.
Israel could have wanted these lands for themselves. The command trained them to want only what God had given.
They might have coveted the plains of Moab or Mount Seir and the lands of Ammon. The Lord forbade them to do so. Disobedience would have been disastrous. ... They were, therefore, not to seek what the Lord had not given to them. And this is obedience and a lesson of faith. What happy contentment there would be among God's people, if this rule were followed.
- Given. Ammon is off limits for one reason: ownership. God had already given that land to the sons of Lot.
- Guarded. God was giving Canaan to Israel. At the same time He guarded a neighbour's border against His own people. He decides who holds which land.
- Grounded. Moab and Ammon had a past that was far from good. It gave Israel no title to take what God had assigned to someone else.
- Governed. God gave no reason for treating Ammon and Sihon differently. His word settled it, and obedience did not wait for an explanation.
- Glad. A people sure of God's gift can leave their neighbour's land alone. Contentment grows from believing the gift is enough.
(That also is reckoned a land of giants giants dwelt therein in time past, and the Ammonites call them Zamzummim;
Moses pauses his speech here to say who once lived in the land God had given to Ammon. Two questions follow: who were these giants, and why mention them just as Israel is ordered to leave Ammon alone?
Two blocks of verses interrupt the command and then return to it. One writer weighs what these notes are worth:
Verses 10–12 and 20–23 are both clearly parenthetical. … These accounts of the country are vivid notices of great value, not only historically (the surest we have) but as to God's ways and men's ways in peopling the earth — violence, war, and the rest. … My impression is that the passages are a divine prophetic addition. I do not think it is simply to encourage the Israelites, though it would do this by showing the ways of God. But it showed important history — these giant races, their pride, their removals, and their destructions when God so willed.
A reference work sets out the little we know about them:
A giant race who lived in the district afterwards held by the Ammonites. They were struck down early by Chedorlaomer. The meaning of the term is doubtful. Gesenius says the first name perhaps comes from the fertility of their country. The second, he says, means "noisy nations." Fürst judges the first to mean "prominent ones, giants," and the second "powerful, vigorous."
Those two scholars already disagree. Another writer warns against reading too much into the names:
Little except the names remains of these giants. And even the names are at present too uncertain in their meaning for us to say anything reliable about them.
The land Ammon now held had once belonged to giants. One writer says plainly who removed them, and why:
The possessions mentioned here had been, long ago, in the hands of giants. But it was God's purpose to give up their territories to the children of Esau and Lot, and so He destroyed these giants. For who or what can stand in the way of the divine counsels?
Moab and Ammon both had wars in their past. That history cut two ways for Israel:
The children of Moab had had their wars. Was there any reason in this why the children of Israel should have wars with them now? And as for the children of Ammon, they too had passed through a similar experience. Giants had lived there in times past, and the Ammonites called them Zamzummim. They were "a people great and many, and tall as the Anakim; but the LORD destroyed them before them; and they succeeded them and lived in their place." But this was no reason why they should expect the LORD to destroy the Ammonites now. Both were powerful motives not to dread the Canaanite races, who were destined to be wiped out.
Ammon did not win that land by its own strength. The same God who set Israel's borders had set Ammon's:
The Creator and Governor of the world formed the nations and fixed their bounds according to His own sovereign will. He did it with direct reference to the descendants of Abraham, and to that narrow strip of land which they are to have, by virtue of the everlasting covenant made with their fathers.
That is why Israel could not simply take the best land available. Obedience, not calculation, decided the route:
The great principle in all these varied instructions to Israel is that God's word must settle everything for His people. It was not for Israel to ask why they were to leave the possessions of Esau and Lot untouched and to seize those of Sihon. They were simply to do what they were told.
Lot's descendants were no model nation, yet they were the instrument that cleared the giants away:
We find, too, that Lot's children have their use. They have been the means of destroying certain giants, the Emim and the Zamzummim, out of the lands they now occupy. This is true also of Edom and the Horites. … It is no new thing for God to overrule the growth of one evil for the destruction of another, so that the world may be at least more tolerable for those who live in it.
- Bracket — Verses 20–23 are a note in brackets. They are valuable as history and as a window into God's ways and men's ways in peopling the earth.
- Giants — The Zamzummim were a giant race, as tall as the Anakim. Experts dispute what their name means, and one writer warns against building on it.
- Cleared — God removed them so Lot's descendants could settle there, because nothing can stand in the way of His purposes.
- Bounded — The Creator fixed the borders of the nations by His own sovereign will, and put Israel's land at the centre.
- Courage — If God levelled giants for Ammon, Israel need not dread the Canaanites. And if He can use even Lot's children to do it, He can overrule one evil to destroy another.
a people great, and many, and tall as the Anakim; and Jehovah destroyed them before them, and they dispossessed them, and dwelt in their stead;
Moses breaks off his travel story to add a note of history. The land Ammon now holds once belonged to a race of giants, and the LORD swept them away. Two questions run through the whole chapter. Who hands out land on this earth? And why did Israel need to hear about a victory that was not theirs?
Israel was marching past nations they were not allowed to touch. The reason was not military. It was a question of who owns the land.
Israel might imagine that they had nothing to do but seize the lands of Edom. But they had to learn something very different. They had to be taught that the Most High is the governor among the nations. The whole earth belongs to Him, and He portions it out to one or another according to His good pleasure.
In the verse the giants fall and the Ammonites take their place. The order matters: God's purpose came first, and the clearing of the land followed it.
The lands spoken of here had long ago been in the hands of giants. But it was God's purpose to hand their territories over to the children of Esau and Lot, and so He destroyed these giants. For who or what can stand in the way of His plans?
Verse 20 says the Ammonites called them Zamzummim. The race went by more than one name, and commentators differ over what the names mean.
A giant race who lived in the area later held by the Ammonites. Chedorlaomer struck them down early. The meaning of the names is doubtful. Gesenius says the first name may come from the fertility of their country, and the second means "noisy nations." Fürst judges the first to mean "prominent ones, giants," and the second "powerful, vigorous."
One writer goes further and says the names of these peoples are simply too uncertain to build on:
As to these giants, of whom little except the names remains, even the names are at present too uncertain in their interpretation to be able to say anything reliable about them.
The verse measures these giants against the Anakim. Moses adds that detail while also telling Israel not to expect Ammon to fall.
Giants had lived there in times past, and the Ammonites called them Zamzummim. The LORD destroyed them, and Ammon took their place. But this was no reason for Israel to expect the LORD to destroy the Ammonites now. Both cases were powerful reasons not to dread the Canaanite races, who were marked out for destruction.
So the note cuts two ways. Israel must leave Ammon standing, yet need not fear the Canaanites ahead.
Lot's descendants were no godly people, yet God used them. One writer calls this God's ordinary way of working.
We find that Lot's children have their use. They have been the means of clearing certain giants, the Emim and the Zamzummim, out of the lands they now occupy. The same is true of Edom and the Horites... It is no new thing for God to overrule the growth of one evil for the destruction of another, so that the world may be at least more bearable for those who live in it. God forces those who have no intention of serving Him to serve Him all the same. As Psalm 76:10 says, "He makes the wrath of man to praise Him, and the rest of wrath He will restrain."
The writer quotes Psalm 76:10 from an older translation.
The Ammonites did not earn their land; they received it and then moved in. The rest of the chapter follows the same pattern, and one writer carries it into Christian life.
In Deuteronomy 2 Moses reminds the people how God had been with them in their earlier conquests. First comes the Divine act: "I have given," or, "I have begun to give." Then comes the call to the people: "Begin to take possession." God's gracious dealings with us today run along similar lines, as we see in the New Testament letters. First He unfolds what He has given us in Christ. Then come the calls to begin to take possession, in experience, of all He has given, in the power of the Holy Spirit, who lives in us.
- Owner. The whole earth belongs to God. He portions it out to one nation or another as He pleases. Israel had to learn that the Most High governs among the nations.
- Purpose. He meant this land for Lot's descendants, so He destroyed the giants who held it. Nothing can stand in the way of His purposes.
- Instrument. He even used one evil people to remove another, so that the world would be more bearable for those living in it.
- Motive. Giants as tall as the Anakim had already fallen. So Israel had every reason not to dread the Canaanites ahead.
- Order. God gives first, then calls His people to take possession. He works the same way with us: first the gift in Christ, then the call to take hold of it in practice.
as he did to the children of Esau, who dwelt in Seir, from before whom he destroyed the Horites; and they dispossessed them, and dwelt in their stead, even to this day.
This verse sits inside a short historical note in Moses' speech. Long before Israel arrived, God had cleared the Horites out of Seir so Esau's descendants could settle there. It raises two questions: who really gives land to nations, and why was Israel told to leave Edom's land alone?
Verses 20–23 break into the travel account. One writer treats them as an inserted note, and marks the last phrase of verse 22 as the detail that sets it apart:
Verses 10–12 and 20–23 are both clearly parenthetical... These accounts of the country are notes of great value. They are the surest history we have, and they show God's ways and men's ways in the peopling of the earth — violence, war, and so on... Elsewhere we have a matching passage, word for word I might say, without this addition, "destroyed them and dwelt in their place." Only in verse 22 do we have "even to this day." This may be Moses, since it had happened long before. Note that the Horites are spoken of twice, in verses 12 and 22. My impression is that these passages are a divine prophetic addition.
The Horites lived in Seir before Esau's descendants did. Their name points to the kind of homes they had:
Descendants of Seir, and the original inhabitants of Mount Seir. The children of Esau destroyed them... It is thought that they were cave-dwellers, as the name implies. The sandstone rocks of Mount Seir are full of hollowed-out dwellings, and there are traces of the same throughout the region of Edom.
Edom wanted that land. One writer explains why a warlike people prized these rocky homes:
They coveted the possessions of the Horites at Mount Seir in early days (Deut. 2:22), an unusual race that lived in caves and holes in the ground. But the sons of Edom destroyed them and took their place... The Edomites coveted such a natural fortress, and it suited their destiny well. They were a warlike people. Living at the edge of the desert, they were bound to face raids, and they saw by instinct that the rocky homes of Mount Seir would be an excellent defence against surprise attack.
The verse names two actors. God destroyed the Horites; then Esau's sons dispossessed them and settled in their place. One writer puts the weight on God's purpose:
The possessions referred to here had been, in old times, in the hands of giants. But it was God's purpose to hand over their territories to the children of Esau and Lot, and so He destroyed these giants. For who or what can stand in the way of God's purposes?
The Horites were there before Esau, so being first settles nothing. God's decree settles it, and the same rule that gave Seir to Edom gives Canaan to Israel:
This tells us that because certain people possessed a certain territory first, this does not give them rights that cannot be disputed. God had decreed that Edom was to have Seir, and that the Moabites were to have the present-day country of Moab. In the same way, He has decreed that Israel is to have the land of Canaan. Whoever fights against this will not prosper.
God gave Seir to Esau, and He told Israel to walk past it. One writer calls that restraint obedience and a lesson of faith:
They might have coveted the plains of Moab, or Mount Seir, or the lands of Ammon. The Lord forbade them to do so. Disobedience would have been disastrous. Edom had harassed Israel badly and shown an arrogant pride. Even so, the Lord would not give Edom's possession to Israel. He remembered His word, "I have given Mount Seir to Esau for a possession"... They were therefore not to seek what the Lord had not given them. And this is obedience, and a lesson of faith. What happy contentment there would be among God's people if they followed this rule.
The note also works as an argument for courage:
Verse 10 notes that the Emim had held that land before. They were giants, as great and as many as the Anakim. The Moabites dispossessed them. So could Israel not dispossess the people of Canaan, when the Lord was with them? In the same way, the Horites had lived in Seir before, but the descendants of Esau dispossessed them (v.12).
- Parenthesis. Verses 20–23 are an inserted historical note. The words "even to this day" in verse 22 set it apart from the matching wording elsewhere in the chapter.
- Horites. The Horites lived in Seir first, in homes cut out of the rock. Edom coveted that natural fortress.
- God acted. The verse credits the removal to God's purpose, not to Esau's strength. Nothing stands in the way of what He has decided.
- No squatter's rights. Being first in a land gives no lasting claim. God assigns territory, and fighting His decree fails.
- Two duties. God gave Seir away, so Israel must not touch it. God took Seir from giants, so Israel need not fear the giants ahead.