Edom, Moab and Ammon
Deuteronomy · Draft · BSB
Content revision: ac10bbeff554e8bd · No editorial review date recorded
Date: c. 1406 BC · Year 40, month 11 (Deuteronomy 1:3). Dated from 1 Kings 6:1 (the Exodus c. 1446 BC). Many scholars instead date the Exodus to about 1260 BC, placing these speeches about 1220 BC.
After many days around Mount Seir, Israel was told to pass by the descendants of Esau without provoking them, because God had given Seir to Esau; the same was true of Moab and Ammon, the descendants of Lot. Thirty-eight years passed from Kadesh to the crossing of the Zered, until the whole generation of fighting men had died.
Deuteronomy records Moses’ last speeches to the new generation of Israel on the plains of Moab, in the fortieth year after the Exodus (1:3). It looks back over the journey from Egypt and Horeb and forward to life in the land, calling Israel to love the LORD and remember what he has done. Each section below lists what Moses recalls, with links to those events on the timeline, and where the rest of Scripture takes up the passage.
Moses retells the journey from Horeb to Moab and calls Israel to hold fast to the LORD (1:6–4:43).
Primary Scripture
2:1 Then we turned back and headed for the wilderness by way of the Red Sea, as the LORD had instructed me, and for many days we wandered around Mount Seir.
2:2 At this time the LORD said to me,
2:3 “You have been wandering around this hill country long enough; turn to the north
2:4 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.
2:5 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.
2:6 You are to pay them in silver for the food you eat and the water you drink.’”
2:7 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.
2:8 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.
2:9 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.”
2:10 (The Emites used to live there, a people great and many, as tall as the Anakites.
2:11 Like the Anakites, they were also regarded as Rephaim, though the Moabites called them Emites.
2:12 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.)
2:13 “Now arise and cross over the Brook of Zered.” So we crossed over the Brook of Zered.
2:14 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.
2:15 Indeed, the LORD’s hand was against them, to eliminate them from the camp, until they had all perished.
2:16 Now when all the fighting men among the people had died,
2:17 the LORD said to me,
2:18 “Today you are going to cross the border of Moab at Ar.
2:19 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.”
2:20 (That too was regarded as the land of the Rephaim, who used to live there, though the Ammonites called them Zamzummites.
2:21 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,
2:22 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.
2:23 And the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, were destroyed by the Caphtorites, who came out of Caphtor and settled in their place.)
Moses looks back
Passing by Esau’s descendants in Seir.
God gave Seir to Esau (Genesis 36).
Moab and Ammon descended from Lot (Genesis 19).
The 38 years from Kadesh to the Zered.
Location evidence
Plains of Moab: Approximate region. Coordinates [longitude, latitude]: [35.64, 31.85]. Classification source: editorial.
Illustrative regional extent: [[35.56,31.77],[35.7,31.91]]; not a measured confidence interval.
Numbers 33:48–49 · extent of the camp
For the class
Why does God protect the lands of Edom, Moab and Ammon from Israel?
Interpretation and reuse
Narrative order is a reading arrangement, not a proven chronology. Dates retain their stated uncertainty. An identified locality does not establish the exact venue or prove an event. Region extents and routes are illustrative, not surveyed boundaries or ancient roads. Draft material has not completed editorial review.
Record source: editorial
Study guide: original editorial writing for Scripture Atlas.
Place coordinates: OpenBible.info, CC BY 4.0.
Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain. https://berean.bible/licensing.htm