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Deuteronomy 2

Deuteronomy book home•Chapter 2 of 34•37 verses

Chapter overviewAt a glance + deeper study

REVIEWED OVERVIEW

Deuteronomy 2 Overview

Moses continues the travel review. Israel is told not to seize the lands God had assigned to Edom, Moab, or Ammon, and the older fighting generation finishes dying in the wilderness. Then the LORD commands Israel to cross the Arnon and confront Sihon king of Heshbon, whose defeat becomes Israel’s first major possession east of Jordan.

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Before you read Deuteronomy 2

Coming from

Chapter 1 explained why the first generation was turned back from Canaan and how its unauthorized attack ended in defeat.

In this chapter

Israel moves through territories God has assigned to other peoples, waits until the judged generation has passed, and then begins receiving territory the LORD has actually given them.

Leads into

Chapter 3 recounts the defeat of Og, the allocation of the eastern lands, Joshua’s encouragement, and Moses’ denied request to cross Jordan.

Key understandingExplore deeper

The chapter carefully distinguishes land Israel was not authorized to take from land God explicitly gave into Israel’s hand. Edom descended from Esau, while Moab and Ammon descended from Lot; Israel is commanded to respect boundaries God had assigned to them. This matters because biblical conquest is not portrayed here as unlimited expansion. Sihon’s territory is different because God specifically commands the encounter and gives his land to Israel.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

Truth 1

God’s sovereignty over nations includes setting boundaries and allotting lands, not only giving land to Israel.

Truth 2

Israel is required to restrain itself where God has not authorized conquest.

Truth 3

The death of the older fighting generation marks the completion of the judgment announced after Kadesh-barnea.

Truth 4

Victory over Sihon begins the transition from wandering to possession.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

Connection 1

Genesis 19 records the ancestry of Moab and Ammon; Genesis 36 traces Edom through Esau.

Connection 2

Numbers 20–21 gives earlier narrative context for Israel’s travel around Edom and the victory over Sihon.

Connection 3

Judges 11:12–28 later appeals to this history when Jephthah explains Israel’s right to the land taken from the Amorites.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Keep this clear 1

Do not assume Israel had a general command to seize every neighboring territory. This chapter explicitly forbids war against Edom, Moab, and Ammon.

Keep this clear 2

The statement that God hardened Sihon should be read in the narrative context of Sihon’s hostile refusal and God’s purpose in giving his land to Israel; the chapter does not present a general formula for every human decision.

Keep this clear 3

The defeat of Sihon is a historical act of judgment and land transfer, not a universal pattern authorizing religious warfare today.

Read Deuteronomy 2 watching for…

The repeated command not to meddle with lands assigned to Israel’s relatives.

The point at which the older generation is said to have died out.

The change from restraint to commanded battle at the Arnon.

Sihon’s refusal of peaceful passage.

The boundaries Israel does and does not cross.

Chapter outline3 sections

1-7Israel turns from Seir and is told not to fight Edom 8-23Israel passes Moab and Ammon and the old fighting generation dies out 24-37Israel defeats Sihon and takes his land

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.

And the LORD spake unto me, saying,

Ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you northward.

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:

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.

Ye shall buy meat of them for money, that ye may eat; and ye shall also buy water of them for money, that ye may drink.

For the LORD thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the LORD thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.

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 Eziongaber, we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab.

And the LORD said unto me, Distress not the Moabites, 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.

The Emims dwelt therein in times past, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims;

Which also were accounted giants, as the Anakims; but the Moabites call them Emims.

The Horims also dwelt in Seir beforetime; 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.

Now rise up, said I, and get you over the brook Zered. And we went over the brook Zered.

And the space in which we came from Kadeshbarnea, until we were come over the brook Zered, was thirty and eight years; until all the generation of the men of war were wasted out from among the host, as the LORD sware unto them.

For indeed the hand of the LORD was against them, to destroy them from among the host, until they were consumed.

So it came to pass, when all the men of war were consumed and dead from among the people,

That the LORD spake unto me, saying,

Thou art to pass over through Ar, the coast of Moab, this day:

And when thou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon, distress 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.

(That also was accounted a land of giants: giants dwelt therein in old time; and the Ammonites call them Zamzummims;

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:

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:

And the Avims which dwelt in Hazerim, even unto Azzah, the Caphtorims, which came forth out of Caphtor, destroyed them, and dwelt in their stead.)

Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the river Arnon: behold, I have given into thine hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land: begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle.

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.

And I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth unto Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying,

Let me pass through thy land: I will go along by the high way, I will neither turn unto the right hand nor to the left.

Thou shalt sell 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;

(As the children of Esau which dwell in Seir, and the Moabites which dwell in Ar, did unto me;) until I shall pass over Jordan into the land which the LORD our God giveth us.

But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him: for the LORD thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into thy hand, as appeareth this day.

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.

Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to fight at Jahaz.

And the LORD our God delivered him before us; and we smote him, and his sons, and all his people.

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:

Only the cattle we took for a prey unto ourselves, and the spoil of the cities which we took.

From Aroer, which is by the brink of the river of Arnon, and from the city that is by the river, even unto Gilead, there was not one city too strong for us: the LORD our God delivered all unto us:

Only unto the land of the children of Ammon thou camest not, nor unto any place of the river Jabbok, nor unto the cities in the mountains, nor unto whatsoever the LORD our God forbad us.

STUDY THIS VERSE

Deuteronomy 2:12

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