Now Moses continues the story of the travels of Israel. He recounts how they went through the lands of their relatives, through both Edom and Moab. When they reached the lands of the Amorites though, they conquered that land from the kings who came to attack them. It became the inheritance for Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh.
Bible Passage:
2:1 Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea, as YAHWEH spoke to me; and we encompassed mount Seir many days. 2 Then YAHWEH spoke to me, saying, 3 ‘You have encompassed this mountain long enough, turn northward. 4 And command the people, saying, “You are to pass through the border of your brothers, the children of Esau, that dwell in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. Take heed for yourselves; 5 do not contend with them. For I will not give you their land, no, not so much as for the sole of a foot to tread on; because I have given mount Seir to Esau for a possession. 6 You shall purchase food from them for money, that you may eat; and you shall also buy water from them for money, that you may drink. 7 For YAHWEH your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand; he has known your walking through this great wilderness. These forty years YAHWEH your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.”’ 8 So we passed by from our brothers the children of Esau, that dwell in Seir, from the way of the Arabah from Elath and from Ezion-geber.
Then we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab. 9 And YAHWEH said to me, ‘Do not be hostile to Moab, nor contend with them in battle. For I will not give you of his land for a possession; because I have given Ar to the children of Lot for a possession. 10 (The Emim dwelt there before, a people great, and many, and tall as the Anakim. 11 These are also accounted as Rephaim, as the Anakim; but the Moabites call them Emim. 12 The Horites also dwelt in Seir before, but the children of Esau dispossessed them, and destroyed them from before themselves, and dwelt in their place; as Israel did to the land of his possession, which YAHWEH gave to them.) 13 Now rise up, and get over the brook Zered.’ So we went over the brook Zered. 14 And the days in which we came from Kadesh-barnea until we had come over the brook Zered, were 38 years; until all the generation of the men of war were consumed from the midst of the camp, as YAHWEH swore to them. 15 Moreover the hand of YAHWEH was against them, to destroy them from the midst of the camp, until they were consumed.
16 So it came to pass, when all the men of war were consumed and dead from among the people, 17 that YAHWEH spoke to me, saying, 18 ‘You are this day to pass over Ar, the border of Moab. 19 When you come near across from the children of Ammon, do not be hostile to them, nor contend with them. For I will not give you of the land of the children of Ammon for a possession; because I have given it to the children of Lot for a possession. 20 (That also was accounted a land of Rephaim. Rephaim dwelt there before; but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim, 21 a people great, and many, and tall as the Anakim. But YAHWEH destroyed them before them; and they dispossessed them, and dwelt in their place; 22 just as he did for the children of Esau, that dwell in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites from before them; and they dispossessed them, and dwelt in their place even to this day. 23 And the Avvim, that dwelt in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim that came forth out of Caphtor, destroyed them, and dwelt in their place.) 24 Rise up, take your journey, and pass over the valley of the Arnon. Behold, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land; begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle. 25 This day I will begin to put the dread of you and the fear of you upon the peoples that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of you and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of you.’
26 And I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying, 27 ‘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. 28 You shall sell me food for money, that I may eat; and give me water for money, that I may drink. Only let me pass through on my feet, 29 as the children of Esau that dwell in Seir, and the Moabites that dwell in Ar, did for me; until I shall pass over the Jordan into the land which YAHWEH our God gives us.’ 30 But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him; for YAHWEH your God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into your hand, as at this day. 31 Then YAHWEH said to me, ‘Behold, I have begun to deliver up Sihon and his land before you. Begin to possess it, that you may inherit his land.’ 32 Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Jahaz. 33 And YAHWEH our God delivered him up before us; and we smote him and his sons, and all his people. 34 We took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed every inhabited city, with the women and the little ones; we left none remaining. 35 Only the cattle we took as a prey for ourselves, with the spoil of the cities which we had taken. 36 From Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and from the city that is in the valley, even to Gilead, there was not a city too high for us. YAHWEH our God delivered up all before us. 37 Only to the land of the children of Ammon you did not come near; all the side of the river Jabbok, and the cities of the hill country, and wherever YAHWEH our God forbade us.
Reflection:
I think I have said this before, but now that we are here in Deuteronomy 2, it’s worth saying again. I love God’s supreme faithfulness to his people. The people of Edom, and Moab, and Ammon are all protected by YAHWEH because he is so faithful to Abraham. This one man’s righteousness means that these peoples are shown God’s favor all these generations later. It shows the power of a righteous legacy, even in God’s eyes. Being faithful in your lifetime extends God’s graciousness even to your descendants. It’s incredible. YAHWEH refuses to allow the people he has taken as his own nation to attack these peoples because he is actively blessing them. It also reminds me of how God is involved in what is going on outside his chosen people as well. It says that he helped them dispossess the people that were in the land of their inheritance as well, just like he is now doing for the Israelites. It’s a good motivation for being a righteous person, to leave a legacy of grace for your posterity.
Questions and Answers:
Verses 9-12: Who are all these people that are being mentioned here? [Monique, 33]
Hmm, well we have stumbled into unknown territory here. All the groups of people mentioned here are basically unknown to history. We have no record of them, nor do we have anything to go on except that the legends surrounding them all are that they are people of giant stature. Other than that, all we can really do is look at their names and see what we can parse out from that. But etymology can be a tricky game.
We will start with “Emim,” since they are the first people mentioned in that section. Emim seems to be the most certain of the meanings that we have for the names of these peoples, it almost certainly comes from “eima,” which means a “terror.” So the Emim for the Moabites were known as “the terrible ones.”
The “Anakim” comes from the Hebrew term “anaq,” which as a verb means “to ornament,” and the noun form means a “necklace.” The standard etymology is that this term was used to refer to them as “long-necked.” In other words, the Anakim were a tall people.
I will skip to the Zamzummim, which are talked about in verse 20, since they are referring to a similar group of people. The root is is never used anywhere in the Bible, so it is a bit of a guessing game. But there is a cognate Arabic root that means “to mutter nonsense.” So it’s possible that the Ammonites referred to them this way because they couldn’t understand their language. It’s also possible that it’s simply an onomatopoeic word. Zamzum Zamzum Zamzum. Just the sound of buzzing or humming, possibly an interpretation of what the Ammonites thought their language sounded like.
The most important and controversial term is the “Rephaim.” It is a pretty recognizable term with a strong root. If you were to look at the word in Hebrew, it seems pretty clear the root is “rapha.” This is the Hebrew verb meaning “to heal.” It’s used a lot in the Bible, but no one really knows how to make sense of “healing” in the context of a giant tribe of humans that used to inhabit the land of Canaan. But “rephaim” is also used at other times in the Bible with a much clearer meaning. It’s used in Isaiah and Job to talk about the “dead spirits” that reside in Sheol. But scholars do not like to connect the two rephaims. They prefer to see them as completely separate. With the connection of “rephaim” being the dead spirits though, a second etymology presents itself. It’s possible that “raphah” could be the root. This Hebrew verb means “to sink” or “to be powerless.” As it relates to the dead spirits, that would mean they are “the sunken ones,” and that would make a lot of sense. It actually might make sense of the “healing” as well, since ancient peoples believed communing with the dead and contacting spirits could give life, healing, or power to the person who was seeking them.
What I find even more fascinating is that if “Rephaim” does mean “the sunken ones,” it seems to have a similar connotation to the most ancient and infamous of the giant terms used in the Bible, “Nephilim,” which means “the fallen ones.” And the dead spirits connection might be made to one more person we have heard a lot about lately. In Deuteronomy 3, Og, king of Bashan, is said to to be the last of the Rephaim. Then the passage talks about how massive his bed was. If there is a connection between both the “dead” and the “giant” usage of Rephaim, it’s possible that the “bed” being talked about of Og in chapter 3 is actually giving the measurements of his coffin.
Anyway, the last group of people mentioned is the Horites. They are the people that are talked about living in the area of Mt. Seir prior to the Edomites taking them out. You can see some of their lineage in Genesis 36 in the midst of Esau’s genealogy. Their name is varied, but could refer to them living in a dry, hot land. It could also mean “hole-dweller,” which could make sense since they possibly lived in caves up in the mountains.
Looking back over the verses…the only other group is Moab. I assume you are familiar with them by now. They are the people that come from the son of Lot and his eldest daughter. He is first mentioned back in Genesis 19. A major player in the region, we will hear a lot about them throughout the Old Testament. They are the kingdom that hired Balaam to curse the people of Israel in the wilderness.
Recording of the Passage:
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