# Deuteronomy 02 📖: Wandering Through the Wilderness [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-Deuteronomy Overview]] | [[Deuteronomy 01]] | [[Deuteronomy 03]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) ### The Journey from Kadesh Barnea to Moab [[#Verse 01.]] Then we turned and set out toward the wilderness on the way to the Red Sea just as the Lord told me to do, detouring around Mount Seir for a long time.  [[#Verse 02.]] At this point the Lord said to me,  [[#Verse 03.]] “You have circled around this mountain long enough; now turn north.  [[#Verse 04.]] Instruct these people as follows: ‘You are about to cross the border of your relatives the descendants of Esau, who inhabit Seir. They will be afraid of you, so watch yourselves carefully.  [[#Verse 05.]] Do not be hostile toward them, because I am not giving you any of their land, not even a footprint, for I have given Mount Seir as an inheritance for Esau.  [[#Verse 06.]] You may purchase food to eat and water to drink from them.  [[#Verse 07.]] All along the way I, the Lord your God, have blessed your every effort. I have been attentive to your travels through this great wilderness. These forty years I have been with you; you have lacked nothing.’” [[#Verse 08.]] So we turned away from our relatives the descendants of Esau, the inhabitants of Seir, turning from the route of the rift valley which comes up from Elat and Ezion Geber, and traveling the way of the wilderness of Moab.  [[#Verse 09.]] Then the Lord said to me, “Do not harass Moab and provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land as your territory. This is because I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as their possession.  [[#Verse 10.]] (The Emites used to live there, a people as powerful, numerous, and tall as the Anakites.  [[#Verse 11.]] These people, as well as the Anakites, are also considered Rephaites; the Moabites call them Emites.  [[#Verse 12.]] Previously the Horites lived in Seir, but the descendants of Esau dispossessed and destroyed them and settled in their place, just as Israel did to the land it came to possess, the land the Lord gave them.)  [[#Verse 13.]] Now, get up and cross the Wadi Zered.” So we did so.  [[#Verse 14.]] Now the length of time it took for us to go from Kadesh Barnea to the crossing of Wadi Zered was thirty-eight years, time for all the military men of that generation to die, just as the Lord had vowed to them.  [[#Verse 15.]] Indeed, it was the very hand of the Lord that eliminated them from within the camp until they were all gone. ### Instructions Concerning Ammon [[#Verse 16.]] So it was that after all the military men had been eliminated from the community,  [[#Verse 17.]] the Lord said to me,  [[#Verse 18.]] “Today you are going to cross the border of Moab, that is, of Ar.  [[#Verse 19.]] But when you come close to the Ammonites, do not harass or provoke them because I am not giving you any of the Ammonites’ land as your possession; I have already given it to Lot’s descendants as their possession.” [[#Verse 20.]] (That also is considered to be a land of the Rephaites. The Rephaites lived there originally; the Ammonites call them Zamzummites.  [[#Verse 21.]] They are a people as powerful, numerous, and tall as the Anakites. But the Lord destroyed the Rephaites in advance of the Ammonites, so they dispossessed them and settled down in their place.  [[#Verse 22.]] This is exactly what he did for the descendants of Esau who lived in Seir when he destroyed the Horites before them so that they could dispossess them and settle in their area to this very day.  [[#Verse 23.]] As for the Avvites who lived in settlements as far west as Gaza, Caphtorites who came from Crete destroyed them and settled down in their place.) [[#Verse 24.]] “Get up, make your way across Wadi Arnon. Look, I have already delivered over to you Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Go ahead—take it! Engage him in war! [[#Verse 25.]] This very day I will begin to fill all the people of the earth with dread and to terrify them when they hear about you. They will shiver and shake in anticipation of your approach.” ### Defeat of Sihon, King of Heshbon [[#Verse 26.]] Then I sent messengers from the Kedemoth wilderness to King Sihon of Heshbon with an offer of peace:  [[#Verse 27.]] “Let me pass through your land; I will keep strictly to the roadway. I will not turn aside to the right or the left.  [[#Verse 28.]] Sell me food for cash so that I can eat and sell me water to drink. Just allow me to go through on foot, [[#Verse 29.]] just as the descendants of Esau who live at Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for me, until I cross the Jordan to the land the Lord our God is giving us.” [[#Verse 30.]] But King Sihon of Heshbon was unwilling to allow us to pass near him because the Lord our God had made him obstinate and stubborn so that he might deliver him over to you this very day. [[#Verse 31.]] The Lord said to me, “Look! I have already begun to give over Sihon and his land to you. Start right now to take his land as your possession.”  [[#Verse 32.]] When Sihon and all his troops emerged to encounter us in battle at Jahaz,  [[#Verse 33.]] the Lord our God delivered him over to us and we struck him down, along with his sons and everyone else.  [[#Verse 34.]] At that time we seized all his cities and put every one of them under divine judgment, including even the women and children; we left no survivors.  [[#Verse 35.]] We kept only the livestock and plunder from the cities for ourselves.  [[#Verse 36.]] From Aroer, which is at the edge of Wadi Arnon (it is the city in the wadi), all the way to Gilead there was not a town able to resist us—the Lord our God gave them all to us.  [[#Verse 37.]] However, you did not approach the land of the Ammonites, the Wadi Jabbok, the cities of the hill country, or any place else forbidden by the Lord our God. ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. ###### Verse 14. ###### Verse 15. ###### Verse 16. ###### Verse 17. ###### Verse 18. ###### Verse 19. ###### Verse 20. ###### Verse 21. ###### Verse 22. ###### Verse 23. ###### Verse 24. ###### Verse 25. ###### Verse 26. ###### Verse 27. ###### Verse 28. ###### Verse 29. ###### Verse 30. ###### Verse 31. ###### Verse 32. ###### Verse 33. ###### Verse 34. ###### Verse 35. ###### Verse 36. ###### Verse 37. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights 1. Edom descended from Esau, Jacob's brother (2:4; Genesis 36:8). 2. Moab and Ammon descended from Lot, Abraham's nephew (2:9, 19; Genesis 19:36-38). 3. Moses notes earlier peoples who once lived in these lands, such as the Emim and the Zamzummim, giants like the Anakim (2:10-11, 20-21). 4. Israel offered to pay for food and water as they passed through Edom (2:6, 28). 5. Crossing the Zered Valley marked thirty-eight years since Israel left Kadesh Barnea (2:13-14). 6. The Arnon River was the northern border of Moab (2:24). 7. Sihon was an Amorite king who ruled from the city of Heshbon (2:24, 26). 8. The text says the Lord hardened Sihon's spirit (2:30), similar to the language used of Pharaoh in Exodus. 9. The Caphtorim who destroyed the Avvim (2:23) are often linked to Crete, an early home of the Philistines. 10. Israel's victory over Sihon was celebrated for centuries in Israel's worship (Psalm 135:10-12; 136:17-19). ## 🧠 Chapter Summary > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is the Lord of every nation who sets the boundaries of the peoples (Acts 17:26). God protected the lands of Esau and Lot's descendants (2:5, 9, 19), and in Jesus He opens His family to all nations (Ephesians 2:13-14). ## 🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. God told Israel not to provoke Edom, Moab, or Ammon because He had given them their land (2:5, 9, 19). What does this teach about God's care for other nations? 2. God reminds Israel that He had blessed them and they lacked nothing for forty years (2:7). Where have you seen God's provision in a long season? 3. The Lord turned Israel north after many days of circling (2:3). How do you know when it is time to move forward? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verse 7: The Lord has blessed and watched over Israel, and they have lacked nothing for forty years. - 📖 verse 14: The wilderness generation passed away just as the Lord had said. - 📖 verse 33: The Lord delivered Sihon to Israel and they defeated him. ## 🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference - 🔗 [[Numbers 20#Verse 14.|Numbers 20:14-21]] - Edom refuses Israel passage. - 🔗 [[Numbers 21#Verse 21.|Numbers 21:21-26]] - Israel defeats Sihon king of the Amorites. - 🔗 [[Genesis 36#Verse 08.|Genesis 36:8]] - Esau settles in the hill country of Seir. - 🔗 [[Acts 17#Verse 26.|Acts 17:26]] - God determined the boundaries of the nations. - 🔗 [[Psalm 136#Verse 17.|Psalm 136:17-22]] - His loyal love endures forever over the kings He struck down. ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 📂 Internal Notes