Commentaria in Deuteronomium
Chapter 2
Synopsis of the chapter.
He repeats the passage of the Hebrews through the borders of Idumea, verse 4, and of the Moabites, verse 9, and of the Ammonites, verse 18, the inhabitants being left untouched. Finally, the war and victory over Sehon, verse 24.
1. And departing from thence, we came into the wilderness which leadeth to the Red Sea, as the Lord had spoken to me: and we compassed mount Seir a long time. 2. And the Lord said to me: 3. It is enough that you have compassed this mountain, go toward the north; 4. And command the people, saying: You shall pass through the borders of your brethren the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir, and they will be afraid of you. 5. Take ye good heed that you stir not against them: for I will not give you of their land so much as the step of one foot can tread upon, because I have given mount Seir to Esau for a possession. 6. You shall buy meats of them for money, and shall eat: you shall buy water for money, and shall drink. 7. The Lord thy God hath blessed thee in every work of thy hands: he knoweth thy journey, how thou hast passed through this great wilderness these forty years, the Lord thy God dwelling with thee, and thou hast wanted nothing. 8. And when we were departed from our brethren the children of Esau, who dwelt in Seir, by the way of the plain from Elath, and from Asiongaber, we came to the way that leadeth to the desert of Moab. 9. And the Lord said to me: Fight not against the Moabites, nor make war against them: for I will not give thee any of their land, because I have given Ar to the children of Lot in possession. 10. The Emim were the first inhabitants thereof, a people great, and strong, and so tall that, 11. As of the race of the Enacims, they were esteemed like giants, and were like the sons of the Enacims. Finally, the Moabites call them Emim. 12. And in Seir, before, dwelt the Horrites: who being driven out and destroyed, the children of Esau dwelt there, as Israel did in the land of his possession, which the Lord gave him. 13. Rising up therefore to pass the torrent Zared, we came to it. 14. And the time that we travelled from Cadesbarne to the passing over of the torrent Zared was thirty-eight years: until all the generation of the men of war was consumed out of the camp, as the Lord had sworn: 15. Whose hand was against them, that they should perish out of the midst of the camp. 16. And after all the fighting men were dead, 17. The Lord spoke to me, saying: 18. Thou shalt pass this day the borders of Moab, the city named Ar: 19. And when thou art near the confines of the children of Ammon, beware that thou fight not against them, nor stir up war: for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon, because I have given it to the children of Lot for a possession. 20. It was accounted a land of giants: and giants formerly dwelt in it, whom the Ammonites call Zomzommims, 21. A people great, and many, and of tall stature, as the Enacims, whom the Lord destroyed before them, and made them dwell in their place, 22. As he had done for the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir, destroying the Horrites, and giving their land to them, which they possess to this day, 23. The Hevites also, who dwelt in Haserim as far as Gaza, the Cappadocians expelled: who coming out of Cappadocia destroyed them, and dwelt in their place. 24. Arise ye, and pass the torrent Arnon: behold I have delivered into thy hand Sehon the Amorrhite, king of Hesebon, and begin to possess his land, and make war against him. 25. This day will I begin to send the dread and fear of thee upon the people that dwell under the whole heaven: that when they shall hear thy name, they may fear, and tremble like women in labour, and be seized with pain. 26. So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Cademoth to Sehon the king of Hesebon with words of peace, saying: 27. We will pass through thy land, we will go by the highway: we will not turn aside neither to the right hand nor to the left. 28. Sell us meat for money, that we may eat: give us water for money, and so we will drink. Only grant us a passage, 29. As the children of Esau did, who dwell in Seir, and the Moabites, who abide in Ar: till we come to the Jordan, and pass over to the land which the Lord our God will give us. 30. And Sehon the king of Hesebon would not let us pass: because the Lord thy God had hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might be delivered into thy hands, as thou now seest. 31. And the Lord said to me: Behold I have begun to deliver Sehon and his land to thee, begin to possess it. 32. And Sehon came out to meet us with all his people to fight at Jasa. 33. And the Lord our God delivered him to us: and we slew him with his sons and all his people. 34. And we took all his cities at that time, killing the inhabitants of them, men and women and children, we left nothing in them. 35. Except the cattle, which came to the share of them that took the spoils: and the spoils of the cities which we took, 36. From Aroer, which is upon the bank of the torrent Arnon, a town that is situate in a valley, as far as Galaad. There was not a village or city that escaped our hands: the Lord our God delivered all to us. 37. Except the land of the children of Ammon, to which we came not near: and all that lieth upon the torrent Jeboc, and the cities of the mountains, and all the places from which the Lord our God forbade us.
1. WE COMPASSED MOUNT SEIR,—that is, Idumea: for Esau, who was called Edom because he was red, and Seir because he was hairy, was the father of the Idumeans. See these circuits of the Hebrews through the desert and around Idumea drawn to the life in the maps of Adrichomius. Idumea is moreover called a mountain, because it is high and mountainous. Hence Abdias, verses 3 and 9, says that the Idumeans dwell in the clefts of the rocks and in the mountains, and adds: “If thou be exalted as the eagle, and if thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord.” So St. Jerome, On Hebrew Places.
3. GO TOWARD THE NORTH,—go toward the Promised Land, which lies to the north of Idumea, which you have already for a long time compassed toward the south and east; but, pitying you, I will that you cut short your journey as quickly as possible through the extremities of Idumea, that you may press straight into Chanaan, namely by going between the Moabites and the Ammonites, through the kingdoms of Og and Sehon.
4. YOU SHALL PASS THROUGH THE BORDERS OF YOUR BRETHREN, THE CHILDREN OF ESAU.—For although in Numbers xx, 21, the Idumeans at the first refused a passage to the Hebrews, yet from this place, and from verses 6 and 29, it is plain that they at length granted the Hebrews a passage, at least through the extremities of their region. So Abulensis, although Lyranus with Rabbi Solomon thinks otherwise.
5. THAT YOU STIR NOT AGAINST THEM,—in Hebrew, that you meddle not in war, namely with them.
6. YOU SHALL BUY MEATS OF THEM FOR MONEY, AND SHALL EAT,—Hence it is plain that the Hebrews, in the desert, did not eat manna only, but also other foods, which they either bought from the Idumeans and other neighbouring nations, or hunted, or received from their own flocks. The same is plain from Josue i, 11; so Andreas Masius there, Pererius on Exodus xiii, controversy 7, Lorinus on chapter xvi of Wisdom, Abulensis on Exodus xvi, Question XII.
10. THE EMIM WERE THE FIRST INHABITANTS THEREOF,—namely of Moabitis. Note: there were formerly different kinds or races of giants, as is plain from Genesis xiv, 5. For some were called Emim, that is, terrible, namely in aspect, by reason of the immense height and vastness of their body: for emah in Hebrew is terror; Genesis chapter xiv.
Again Oleaster derives Emim from ammah, that is, a cubit, as if you should say, men of cubits, namely of many. The second were the Raphaim.
Ar was the metropolis of the Moabites in the times of Moses, and long after.
The RAPHAIM, who are named elsewhere and here in verse 11, are so called either from the first giant, their parent, Rapha, who is mentioned in 1 Paralipomenon xx, 6; or because they made men’s spirits faint, and by their immense stature and bulk struck them with terror and dissolved their courage: for rapha signifies to relax, to dissolve. Rabbi Nehemias, and from him Andreas Masius on Josue xii, 4, think Raphaim to be a surname of the Hevites; for since the Chivvim, that is, Chevai or Hevites, are so called from serpents, because like them they dwelt in caverns of the earth, so likewise they were called Raphaim, as if you should say, the Dead below, because they lived underground in caves: for so Isaias, chapter xxvi, verse 14, calls the dead below Raphaim. The third were the Enakim, that is, the sons and posterity of the giant Enac, of whom Josue xiv, 15, and chapter xv, verses 13 and 14. Some, however, think Enac not to be a name but a surname, as if you should say, Collared, because these giants went about wearing collars: for anac signifies a collar. So among the Romans Titus Manlius, from the collar which he took from a Gaul in the fight at the Anio, was called Torquatus.
12. AND IN SEIR, BEFORE, DWELT THE HORRITES (of whom Genesis xiv, 5, whom Codorlahomor smote, laying waste the mountains of Seir). Andreas Masius on Josue xi, 4, thinks the Churim, that is, Chorrites or Horrites, were Troglodytes, and so called from the caverns which they inhabited (for chur signifies a hole, a cave, a cavern), like the Hevites, whose kindred the Horrites were, whom afterwards the Idumeans expelled, as is here said, just as the Hebrews expelled the Amorrhites: for this is what follows: AS ISRAEL DID IN THE LAND OF HIS POSSESSION,—namely in the land of the two kings, Og and Sehon: for the Israelites had not yet entered the rest of the Promised Land.
15. WHOSE (THE LORD’S) HAND WAS AGAINST THEM,—as if to say: The Lord’s power, might and vengeance, which among men is wont to be exercised by the hand, was stretched out against the murmurers, that they should perish, or, as the Hebrew has, to destroy and consume them in the desert.
19. BECAUSE I HAVE GIVEN IT TO THE CHILDREN OF LOT.—The children of Lot were Ammon and Moab: hence for the merits of Lot God willed to yield to his posterity Ammonitis and Moabitis, as to the posterity of Esau, for the merits of Isaac and Abraham, his forefathers, he willed to yield Idumea, the Horrites being expelled, and would not have the Hebrews invade or occupy them.
As Israel did, verse 12, that is, as he does, or is about to do. For words that indicate action are not seldom to be taken of a thing which is on the point of being done. There is no reason, therefore, to think that these words were inserted after Moses. These are they who in Genesis xiv, 5, are called Zuzim, that is, strong, as the Septuagint translate there; for hence the posts of houses are called mezuzoth, because they are firm and strong. The word ZOMZOMMIM, however, signifies, first, the wicked and the criminal: for zimmah is wickedness, crime. Secondly, men of unusual and conceived magnitude. Thirdly, the famous, the renowned, who are in the mouth and esteem of men: hence the Chaldee translates chushbane, that is, the esteemed, renowned: for the root zamam signifies to think, to reckon, to contrive and devise. From this it seems that the Ammonites and Moabites, as well as the Hebrews, used the Hebrew tongue: for Zuzim, Zomzommim, Emim, verse 11, are Ammonite and Moabite names, as well as Hebrew. For Lot, their parent, lived in the family of Abraham the Hebrew, his uncle, and descended from Heber, in whose family the Hebrew tongue remained at the division of nations and tongues at Babel. For all these nations, and so all the Chanaanites, used the Chanaanite tongue, which St. Jerome on Isaias, chapter xix, teaches to be akin to the Hebrew tongue. Hence also the spies sent by Josue to Jericho spoke with Raab the Chanaanite, understanding her Chanaanite language and being understood by her. See Serarius on chapter ii of Josue, Question XXV.
AND DWELT IN THEIR STEAD (in the stead of the Zomzommims).
23. THE HEVITES ALSO, etc., THE CAPPADOCIANS EXPELLED,—as if to say: As the Hevites were expelled by the Cappadocians, the Horrites by the Idumeans, the Raphaim by the Ammonites, so also the inhabitants of Palestine, and chiefly Sehon with his people, shall be expelled by you, O Hebrews.
Whether these Cappadocians were Greeks or Palestinians, I shall say on Jeremias xlvii, 4.
25. THIS DAY WILL I BEGIN TO SEND THE DREAD AND FEAR OF THEE UPON THE PEOPLE THAT DWELL UNDER THE WHOLE HEAVEN,—to whom, namely, the fame of the deeds done by me for thee shall come, as follows. “Under the whole heaven” is therefore to be taken in a fitting sense. So Oleaster. Rabbi Solomon teaches, or rather feigns, that the terror of Moses was under the whole heaven, because in the victory over Sehon and Og the sun stood still, as it stood when Josue fought against many kings in Gabaon, Josue x, 12. But Scripture says nothing of the kind of Moses.
28 and 29. ONLY (we only require) GRANT US A PASSAGE, AS THE CHILDREN OF ESAU DID (through the extremities of their dominion, as I said on verse 4) AND THE MOABITES, WHO ABIDE IN AR.—The Moabites therefore first gave the Hebrews some passage on the borders of Ar; but a little after, seeing Sehon the king slain by them, they began to fear for themselves, especially when the Hebrews approached them a second time by another turn; hence they called Balaam to curse the Hebrews, Numbers xxii, 5. So Abulensis. Andreas Masius on Josue xiii, 3, thinks that Ar is Areopolis.
30. BECAUSE THE LORD THY GOD HAD HARDENED HIS SPIRIT,—by withdrawing from him the softening grace, and on the other side by casting into him a fear and dread of the Hebrews: for a Gentile king had reason to fear lest the Hebrews, under pretext of passage, should craftily seize his kingdom; so that, by proposing to him a petition for passage, which God foreknew he would altogether refuse, it followed that the Hebrews tried him by force and war, in which Sehon was overcome and delivered into their hands. See what was said on hardening, Exodus chapter vii, verse 3.
33. AND WE SLEW HIM WITH HIS SONS AND ALL HIS PEOPLE.—Josephus relates, apparently from himself, adorning the matter after his manner, that in this war many of the Amorrhites were killed; some, rushing to the river Arnon, were pierced with darts; others, fleeing to the walls, were forestalled by the slingers and destroyed to the last man.
From what has been said thus far it is plain that Moses, although excluded from the Holy Land, as was Aaron, had yet many privileges and joys beyond him. First, that he entered into a part of the Holy Land which lies beyond the Jordan, namely Galaaditis, whereas Aaron had died before on mount Hor. Second, that he overthrew Og and Sehon, and occupied their kingdoms, and divided them among his people. Third, that he received the blessing of Balaam. Fourth, that he destroyed the Madianites. Fifth, that he surveyed the whole Promised Land from near at hand. So Abulensis.
34. KILLING THE INHABITANTS OF THEM, MEN AND WOMEN AND CHILDREN.—Because God had commanded that all the nations whose cities the Hebrews were to possess should be wholly destroyed, as is plain from chapter xx, verse 16.
37. AND ALL THAT LIETH UPON THE TORRENT JEBOC,—where Jacob wrestled with the angel, Genesis xxxii, 22; it belongs to the Ammonites.