Wanderings in the Wilderness
Deuteronomy 2Then we turned and took our journey into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea, as YHWH spoke to me, and we traveled around Mount Seir for many days.
YHWH spoke to me, saying, “Y’all have traveled around this mountain long enough. Y’all are to turn northward. You are to command the people, ‘Y’all will pass through the border of y’all’s relatives the descendants of Esau, who dwell in Seir. They will be afraid of y’all, but y’all must be careful. Y’all are not to contend with them, because I will not give y’all any of their land, not even enough for a footstep, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau for a possession. Y’all may purchase food to eat from them with silver, and buy water to drink.’”
For YHWH your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has known your walking through this great wilderness. These forty years, YHWH your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing.
So we passed by our brothers, the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir, from the way of the Arabah from Elath and from Ezion Geber. We turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab.
YHWH said to me, “Don’t bother Moab or contend with them in battle, because I will not give you any of his land for a possession. I have given Ar to the children of Lot for a possession.”
(The Emim lived there previously, a great and numerous people, and as tall as the Anakim. They are also considered to be Rephaim, like the Anakim, but the Moabites call them Emim. The Horites also lived in Seir previously, but the children of Esau succeeded them. They destroyed them from before them, and lived in their place, as Israel did to the land of his possession, which YHWH gave to them.)
“Now y’all are to get up and cross the Zered Valley.” So we crossed the Zered Valley.
The time from when we travelled from Kadesh Barnea until we came to Zered Valley was thirty-eight years, until the entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as YHWH had sworn to them. Moreover YHWH’s hand was against them, to eliminate them from the camp, until they had perished. So, when all the men of war had perished and were dead from among the people, YHWH spoke to me, saying, “Today you are to cross over Ar, the border of Moab. When you come near the border of the children of Ammon, don’t bother them or contend with them, because I will not give you any of the land of the children of Ammon for a possession. I have given it to the children of Lot for a possession.”
(That also is considered a land of Rephaim. Rephaim lived there previously, but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim, a great people, many, and tall, like the Anakim. But YHWH destroyed them before Ammonites, who succeeded them and lived in their place. This is what ʜᴇ did for the children of Esau who dwell in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites from before them, and they succeeded them, and lived in their place even to this day. Then the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza: the Caphtorim, who came out of Caphtor, destroyed them and lived in their place.)
Defeat of King Sihon of Heshbon
“Y’all are to get up, set out, and pass over the valley of the Arnon. Look, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. You are to take possession of it and contend with him in battle. Today I will begin to put the dread and the fear of you on the peoples who are under the whole sky, who will hear the report of you, tremble, and be in anguish because of you.”
I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying, “Let me pass through your land. I will go along by the highway. I will turn neither to the right hand nor to the left. You can sell me food for silver, so that I can eat, and give me water for silver, that I may drink. Just let me pass through on foot, as the children of Esau who dwell in Seir, and the Moabites who dwell in Ar, did for me, until I pass over the Jordan into the land which YHWH our God is giving us.” But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass near him, for YHWH your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, that ʜᴇ might deliver him into your hand, as has taken place today.
YHWH said to me, “Look, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his land over you. You are to take-take possession of it.” Then Sihon and all his people came out against us for battle at Jahaz. YHWH our God delivered him up before us. We struck him down, with his sons and all his people. At that time, We took all his cities, and utterly destroyed every inhabited city, with the women and the little ones. We left no one remaining. We took only the livestock as plunder for ourselves from the cities which we had taken as plunder. From Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and the city that is in the valley, even to Gilead, there was not a city too high for us. YHWH our God delivered up all before us. Only to the land of the children of Ammon you didn’t come near: all the banks of the river Jabbok, and the cities of the hill country, and wherever YHWH our God forbade us.