Deuteronomy 2

In Deuteronomy 1, Moses recalled the people's disobedience at Kadesh-barnea. This chapter continues that retrospective, covering the period from the wilderness wanderings to the beginning of the conquest east of the Jordan.

Outline

• Verses 1–7 After Israel has circled Mount Seir for a long time, God commands them to turn northward. He will not give them the land of the children of Esau, so they are to buy food and water with money. Moses notes that for forty years they lacked nothing.
• Verses 8–12 Passing by Elath and Ezion-geber, they travel by the way of the wilderness of Moab. God tells them not to fight Moab, because He has given Ar to the children of Lot. A parenthetical note describes the Emim and the Horites.
• Verses 13–16 They cross the brook Zered, thirty-eight years after leaving Kadesh-barnea; in the meantime all the men of war of that generation have died.
• Verses 17–23 God tells them not to contend with Ammon. A parenthetical note describes the Zamzummim and how the Caphtorim drove out the Avim.
• Verses 24–30 God commands them to cross the valley of the Arnon and fight Sihon. From the wilderness of Kedemoth, Moses sends messengers asking permission to pass through, but Sihon refuses.
• Verses 31–37 Israel fights at Jahaz and prevails, utterly destroying Sihon's cities. They take the land from Aroer to Gilead but do not approach the land of Ammon along the river Jabbok.

Key Verses

• Deuteronomy 2:7 "These forty years the LORD thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing" — summarizes in a single sentence the care Israel received throughout the wilderness journey.
• Deuteronomy 2:5 "For I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a foot breadth" — shows that the lands of neighboring peoples were also assigned by God.
• Deuteronomy 2:14 — states that over thirty-eight years the disobedient generation passed away.

People and Places

• Moses: the narrator of this retrospective.
• Children of Esau: dwell in Mount Seir, that is, the land of Edom.
• Children of Lot: the Moabites and the Ammonites.
• Sihon: king of the Amorites, who ruled from Heshbon.
• Brook Zered and the valley of the Arnon: valleys regarded as the southern and northern boundaries of Moab, respectively.
• Rephaim: a name for the tall ancient inhabitants of the region. The Moabites called them Emim, and the Ammonites called them Zamzummim.
• Caphtorim: commonly associated with the Philistines.

Points for Reflection

• In Numbers 20, Edom refuses Israel passage, yet verse 29 says that Edom sold Israel food; interpreters differ on how to harmonize the two texts. The war with Sihon is also recounted in Numbers 21.
• Verse 30 says that God hardened Sihon's spirit. Together with the case of Pharaoh, this expression is frequently discussed in debates over predestination and free will.
• The utter destruction in verse 34 includes men, women, and children. Interpretations vary: some regard it as a special command limited to that era, while others see it as the rhetoric typical of ancient war accounts.
• Some hold that Moses himself added the parenthetical notes (verses 10–12 and 20–23); others hold that a later editor inserted them.
• The generation that died in the wilderness is cited in the New Testament as a warning (1 Corinthians 10:11–12; Hebrews 3).

In the Korean Church

The phrase "thou hast lacked nothing" from verse 7 is often quoted at New Year's Eve watch-night services, where congregations look back on the past year, and in sermons on the theme of thanksgiving.