Wanderings in the Wilderness
Then we turned back and headed for the wilderness by way of the Red Sea, 1 as the LORD had instructed me, and for many days we wandered around Mount Seir. Deu 1:40Num 21:4Num 14:25Deu 1:2Jdg 11:18
At this time the LORD said to me, “You have been wandering around this hill country long enough; turn to the north Deu 1:6Deu 2:14Deu 2:7 and command the people: ‘You will pass through the territory of your brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, so you must be very careful. Num 20:14-21Deu 23:7Exo 15:15Col 4:5Eph 5:15Luk 12:15Mat 5:16Num 22:3-4 Do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even a footprint, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as his possession. Gen 36:8Jos 24:42Ch 20:10-12Act 17:26Act 7:5Dan 4:25Dan 4:32Deu 32:8 You are to pay them in silver for the food you eat and the water you drink.’” 2Th 3:7-8Deu 2:28-29Mat 7:12Num 20:19Rom 12:17
Indeed, the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. The LORD your God has been with you these forty years, and you have lacked nothing. Deu 8:2-4Luk 22:35Neh 9:21Deu 29:5Psa 90:17Gen 12:2Gen 24:35Job 23:10
So we passed by our brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. We turned away from the Arabah road, which comes up from Elath and Ezion-geber, and traveled along the road of the Wilderness of Moab. 1Ki 9:262Ki 16:6Jdg 11:182Ki 14:22Deu 1:1Num 20:20-21Num 33:35 Then the LORD said to me, “Do not harass the Moabites or provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, because I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as their possession.” Gen 19:36-37Num 21:15Num 21:28Deu 2:18-19Deu 2:29Deu 2:5Jdg 11:17Num 22:4
(The Emites used to live there, a people great and many, as tall as the Anakites. Gen 14:5Deu 2:11Num 13:22 Like the Anakites, they were also regarded as Rephaim, though the Moabites called them Emites. Deu 1:28Deu 9:2Gen 14:5Num 13:22Num 13:28Num 13:33 The Horites used to live in Seir, but the descendants of Esau drove them out. They destroyed the Horites from before them and settled in their place, just as Israel did in the land that the LORD gave them as their possession.) Deu 2:22Gen 14:61Ch 1:38-54Deu 2:32Gen 36:20-43Num 21:21-35
“Now arise and cross over the Brook of Zered.” Num 21:12Num 13:23
So we crossed over the Brook of Zered.
The time we spent traveling from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the Brook of Zered was thirty-eight years, until that entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the LORD had sworn to them. Num 14:28-35Num 26:64-65Deu 1:34-35Ezk 20:15Psa 95:11Deu 1:19Deu 1:2Heb 3:8-19 Indeed, the LORD’s hand was against them, to eliminate them from the camp, until they had all perished. Psa 106:261Co 10:51Sa 5:111Sa 5:61Sa 5:91Sa 7:13Isa 66:14Jdg 2:15
Now when all the fighting men among the people had died, the LORD said to me, “Today you are going to cross the border of Moab at Ar. Num 21:23Isa 15:1Num 21:15 But when you get close to the Ammonites, do not harass them or provoke them, for I will not give you any of the land of the Ammonites. I have given it to the descendants of Lot as their possession.” Deu 2:9Jdg 11:13-272Ch 20:10Gen 19:36-38Deu 2:5
(That too was regarded as the land of the Rephaim, who used to live there, though the Ammonites called them Zamzummites. Gen 14:5 They were a people great and many, as tall as the Anakites. But the LORD destroyed them from before the Ammonites, who drove them out and settled in their place, Deu 1:28Deu 2:10-11Deu 2:22Deu 3:11Hab 1:10-11Jdg 11:24Jer 27:7-8 just as He had done for the descendants of Esau who lived in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites from before them. They drove them out and have lived in their place to this day. Gen 36:8Deu 2:12Gen 14:6Gen 36:20-301Ch 1:38-42 And the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, were destroyed by the Caphtorites, who came out of Caphtor 2and settled in their place.) Gen 10:14Jos 13:3Amo 9:7Jer 25:20Jer 47:41Ki 4:24Act 17:26Zec 9:5
The Defeat of Sihon
(Numbers 21:21–30)
“Arise, set out, and cross the Arnon Valley. See, I have delivered into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to take possession of it and engage him in battle. Jdg 11:18-21Dan 4:17Ezk 29:20Jer 27:52Ch 36:23Dan 2:38Num 21:13-15Deu 2:36 This very day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon all the nations under heaven. They will hear the reports of you and tremble in anguish because of you.” Deu 11:25Exo 15:14-16Deu 28:10Exo 23:272Ki 7:6-7Jos 2:9-12Jos 9:24Psa 105:38
So from the Wilderness of Kedemoth I sent messengers with an offer of peace to Sihon king of Heshbon, saying, Jos 13:18Luk 10:10-12Luk 10:5-6Deu 20:10-11Jos 21:37Mat 10:12-15Est 9:30 “Let us pass through your land; we will stay on the main road. We will not turn to the right or to the left. Jdg 11:19Deu 2:6Num 21:21-23 You can sell us food to eat and water to drink in exchange for silver. Only let us pass through on foot, Num 20:19 just as the descendants of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for us, until we cross the Jordan into the land that the LORD our God is giving us.” Deu 23:3-4Jdg 11:17-18Num 20:18Deu 2:9Deu 25:15Deu 4:1Deu 4:21Deu 4:40
But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass through, for the LORD your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate, that He might deliver him into your hand, as is the case this day. Num 21:23Exo 4:21Exo 11:10Jos 11:19-20Rom 9:17-23Isa 48:4Jdg 11:20
Then the LORD said to me, “See, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his land over to you. Now begin to conquer and possess his land.” Deu 1:8Deu 2:24
So Sihon and his whole army came out for battle against us at Jahaz. Num 21:23-30Jdg 11:20-23Neh 9:22Psa 120:7Psa 135:11Psa 136:19 And the LORD our God delivered him over to us, and we defeated him and his sons and his whole army. Deu 7:2Jos 21:44Deu 20:16Deu 29:7-8Deu 3:2-3Gen 14:20Jdg 1:4Jdg 7:2
At that time we captured all his cities and devoted to destruction 3the people of every city, including women and children. We left no survivors. 1Sa 15:3Deu 7:2Deu 3:61Sa 15:8-9Deu 20:16-18Deu 7:26Jos 11:14Jos 7:11 We carried off for ourselves only the livestock and the plunder from the cities we captured. Deu 20:14Jos 8:27Num 31:9-11
From Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along with the city in the valley, even as far as Gilead, not one city had walls too high for us. The LORD our God gave us all of them. Jos 13:9Deu 3:12Deu 4:48Psa 44:3Isa 17:2Isa 41:15-16Jer 48:19Jos 1:5 But you did not go near the land of the Ammonites, or the land along the banks of the Jabbok River, or the cities of the hill country, or any place that the LORD our God had forbidden. Deu 3:16Gen 32:22Num 21:24Deu 2:19Jos 12:2Deu 2:5Deu 2:9Jdg 11:15