Deuteronomy Chapter 2
We discovered in Numbers chapter 33 that Moses kept a journal of all the places that the Israelites camped on their journey to the promised land. God had told him to write it all down. As Moses recounts the years of their journey he skips from the time they left the rebellion of the people refusing to enter the promised land to the time in their journey as they came up the east side of the Dead Sea and the Jordan. You could say that Moses skipped over the boring part where the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for some 38 years.
“He [God] leads us by no unnecessary pathways. There are a meaning and a value in every stretch of the road, however rough and tortuous it may be. We learn lessons in the region of Mount Seir which can be learned nowhere else; we discover God in the country of Moab as we could do in no other region. Let us, then, ever rejoice in His commands, however much they disturb us.” [Morgan]
There were obstacles and people groups they had to confront as they made their way northward. And we discover countries that God said He had already given to others whom we read about in the Bible. For those who love studying ancient civilizations, this chapter provides us with a lot of great information.
Let's Reflect
1. God had already given land to Jacob’s twin brother Esau the land of Seir [Edom]. The Israelites (descendants of Jacob) were not to take their land but to pass through it. What were they to offer the people of that land as they passed through?
2. According to verse 7 why were the people of Israel able to present such an offer to the people of Seir?
3. The Bible says that the people of Seir would have been afraid of Israel. They would have heard about the power of God exhibited in Egypt and the sheer large number of Israelites would have caused great fear. What did Moses call the people of Seir?
4. They headed toward the land of Moab. You will find Moab on a Bible map at the back of your Bible located at the southeast side of the Dead Sea. We learn that the people of Moab were descendants of the nephew of Abraham. Who was Abraham’s nephew?
5. Moab had formally been occupied by the Emim people who were tall like the Anakim. These people were like giants. The word Rephaim can be translated as giants or fierce ones. According to verse 21 who destroyed the giants so that the descendants of Abraham’s nephew could occupy that land?
6. The next event was a battle with King Sihon as recorded in Numbers chapter 21 in the northern section of Moab. This king refused to let Israel pass through his territory. And what followed was a series of little skirmishes where God gave the victory to Israel each time. There were no survivors of the opposing enemies. God was building the confidence of the men of Israel to prepare them for the promised land. God knew what kind of man King Sihon was and so he hardened his heart. According to verse 31 what was the outcome as God had purposed?
7. As mentioned in Numbers 21 Moses records in Deuteronomy that there were no survivors. And the takeover of land had begun for Israel. However, Moses is careful to mention that they did not get greedy (as they could have with such a large army). How did Moses recap the obedience of Israel in verse 37?
