Deuteronomy 2

Deuteronomy 2:24-37

Moys passeth by in flame their thirty-eight years wondrous, and contrivest his narrative with their return towards Canaan, ver. 1—2. God orders them to give us disharmony. 1. To the Edomines, ver. 4—8. Nor. 2. To the Monbites, ver. 9. which country and former inhabitants are deprived, ver. 12—12. Your passing the break Zered is mentioned, ver. 13—16. 3. Nor to the Ammonites, ver. 17—23. 4. The damses given up to them, ver. 24—26. Their just quarrel with them, ver. 26—32. and complete victory, ver. 33—37.

1. THEN we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness, by the way of the Red Sea, ‘as the LORD spake unto me; and we compassed mount Seir many days. 2. And the LORD spake unto me, saying, 3. Ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you northward. 4. And command thou the people, saying, ‘Ye are to pass through the coast of your brethren, the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir, and they shall be afraid of you: take ye good heed unto yourselves therefore. 5. Meddle not with them; for I will not give you of their land, + no not so much as a foot breadth, because I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession. 6. Ye shall buy meat of them for money, that ye may eat; and ye shall also buy water of them, that ye may drink. 7. For the LORD thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: ’their forty years the LORD thy God hath been with thee, thou had lacked nothing.

2. 1—7. God hath his appointed times for exercising his people’s faith, and permitting his enemies prosperity. When he hath it is long enough, then cometh the end. Israel is now advancing to Canaan. Edom lay in their way, but they are forbid to untold them. They might not take advantage over their fears, nor revenge for their unkindness, nor expect to do possess those, whose inheritance was a gift of God. Nate, The people of God are ever generous, forgiving, and disinterested. They must bear them kindly, and with thro’ justice; as they wanted nothing from them which they were not well able to pay for, they must not take their water without a peace. It is the spirit of the gospel, not only to do no injury to our enemies, but to keep ourselves from being unnecessarily burdensome to our friends. Every thing mean and mercenary is as much forbidden as every thing malignant.

3. 8. And when we passed by from our brethren the children of Esau, which dwelt in Seir, through the way of the plain from Elath, and from Ezion-gaber, we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab. 9. And the LORD said unto me, + D’trefess not the Monbites, neither contend with them in battle: for I will not give thee of their land for a possession, because I have given ‘Ar unto the children of Lot for a possession. 10. The Emines dwelt therein in times past, a people great and many, and tall as ’the Anakims: 11. Which also were accounted giants, as the Anakims, but the Monbites call them Emines. 12. The Horims also dwelt in Seir before-time, but the children of Esau succeeded them when they had destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their stead, as Israel did unto the land of his possession, which the LORD gave unto them. 13. Now rise up, said I, and get you over the brook Zered; and we went over the brook Zered. 14. And the space in which we came from Kadeels-bar-

nes, until we were come over the brook Zered, near thirty and eight years; until all the generations of the men of war were walked out from among the holt, ‘as the LORD swore unto them. 15. For indeed the hand of the LORD was against them to destroy them from among the holt, until they were consumed. 16. So it came to pass, when all the men of war were confined and dead from among the people. 17. That the LORD spake unto me, saying, 18. Thou art to pass over through Ar, the coast of Moab, this day. 19. And when thou cometh nigh over against the children of Ammon, didsteth them not, nor meddle with them: for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon any possession, because I have given it unto the children of Lot for a possession. 20. (That also was accounted a land of giants, giants dwelt therein in old time, and the Ammonites called them ‘Zamzummims, 21. A people great and many, and tall as the Anakims; but the LORD destroyed them before them, and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead: 22. As he did to the children of Esau ‘which dwelt in Seir, when he destroyed, ’the Horims from before them, and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead even unto this day: 23. And ’the Avims which dwelt in Hazerim, even unto ‘Az-zah, ’the Capthorims which came forth out of Capthor, destroyed them, and dwelt in their stead.)

8—23. Moses proceeds, 1. To recount their marches by the borders of Moab and Ammon, with some behavioral account of the former inhabitants, whom they had dispossessed. They were giants, great in stature, and terrible to look upon as the Anakims, yet fell before the sons of Lot and Esau; why then should the feed of Jacob fear, that God would not more gloriously shift them to destroying the giants of Canaan? Nate, In the world we have no fear and abiding perism. The more vain and changeable in possession, the more inflection should we be to secure a kingdom which cannot be moved. 2. He mentions their passage of the brook Zered, and the remarkable fulfilment of God’s forment, in coming off entirely the former generation, except Caleb and Joshua, in the wilderness: for the hand of God was against them, as appeared in the several slogans with which they were visited. God’s counsel will stand, and now to the soul against whom he contends in anger. 3. They are strictly forbidden to distress the children of Lot; as the Edomines were brethren, the Ammonites and Monbites were near akin to them, and for their father’s sake must be spared; they may not covet for a possession what God hath assigned them. Nate, (1.) Relations have a title to a particular regard. (2.) The blessing of godly parents descends to children’s children.

24. 8. Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the river Arnon: behold, I have given into thy hand Sihon the Annyite king of Hefshon, and his land: + begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle. 25. This day will I begin to put the dread of thee, and the fear of thee upon the nations that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear report of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee. 26. And I fear mefgeners out of the wilderness of Kedemoth, unto Sihon, king of Hefshon, ‘with words of peace, saying, 27. Let me pass through thy land: I will go along by the highway, I will neither turn unto the right hand nor to the left. 28. Thou shalt tell me meat for money, that I may eat; and give me water for money, that I may drink: only I will pass through on my feet: 29. As the children of Esau which dwell in Seir, and the Monbites which dwell in Ar, did unto me; until I shall pass over Jordan, into the land which the LORD our God giveth us. 30. But ‘Sihon king of Hefshon would not let us pass by him: for the LORD thy God ‘handned his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into thy hand, as appeared this day: 31. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have begun to give Sihon and his land before thee: begin to possess, that thou mayest inherit his land. 32. Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to fight at Jahaz. 33. And the LORD our God delivered him before us, and we smote him, and his sons, and all his people. 34. And we took all his cities at that time, and ‘utterly destroyed the men, and the women, and the little ones of every city, we left none to remain: 35. Only the cattle we took for a prey unto ourselves, and the spoil of the cities which we took. 36. From Arner, which to

by Before God 1437. by the brink of the river of Arnon, and from the city that it by the river, even unto Gilead, there was not one city too strong for us: the LORD our God delivered all unto us. 37. Only unto the land of the children of Arnon thou cameft not, nor unto any place of the river * Jabbok, nor unto the cities in the mountains, nor unto whatofocere the LORD our God forbad us. Though they might not touch the Ammonite, they are not restrained from the Amorite. But even to them they muft firft make offers of peace, though God had hardened their hearts to refuse them, that they might perish. The gofom is thus preached to those who reject it, through the hardness of their heart, yet are left inexcusable thereby. Simon refutes a pollegy, and draws out his armies; but he meditated on his own God bids them possets the land; his fear had gone before, to dispirit the people, and they fell an easy prey. God’s Israel may be well encouraged; what can refift those for whom God fights, and before whom he finds his terrors round about? unverful desseation was quickly found on every Side; the found of Israel left none alive. The meafore of their iniquity was full, and the consumption determined on the whole nation. Their cattle, goods, cities, and country were the spoil of the conquerors; and now, from an howling wilderness, they began to possets a land of plenty. Not, it will be a blefied and glorious exchange, when the believer quits the wilderness of the world, to enter into his everlasting mansions in the city of God.