Deuteronomy 2:8

2:8 So we turned away from our relatives ¹  the descendants of Esau, the inhabitants of Seir, turning from the desert route, ²  from Elat ³  and Ezion Geber, ⁴  and traveling the way of the Moab wastelands.

Deuteronomy 34:6

34:6 He ⁵  buried him in the land of Moab near Beth Peor, but no one knows his exact burial place to this very day.

Deuteronomy 34:8

34:8 The Israelites mourned for Moses in the deserts of Moab for thirty days; then the days of mourning for Moses ended.

[2:8]  ¹ tn Or “brothers”; NRSV “our kin.”

[2:8]  ² tn Heb “the way of the Arabah” (so ASV); NASB, NIV “the Arabah road.”

[2:8]  ³ sn Elat was a port city at the head of the eastern arm of the Red Sea, that is, the Gulf of Aqaba (or Gulf of Eilat). Solomon (1 Kgs 9:28), Uzziah (2 Kgs 14:22), and Ahaz (2 Kgs 16:5-6) used it as a port but eventually it became permanently part of Edom. It may be what is known today as Tell el-Kheleifeh. Modern Eilat is located further west along the northern coast. See G. Pratico, “Nelson Glueck’s 1938-1940 Excavations at Tell el-Kheleifeh: A Reappraisal,” BASOR 259 (1985): 1-32.

[2:8]  ⁴ sn Ezion Geber. A place near the Gulf of Aqaba, Ezion-geber must be distinguished from Elat (cf. 1 Kgs 9:26-28; 2 Chr 8:17-18). It was, however, also a port city (1 Kgs 22:48-49). It may be the same as the modern site Gezirat al-Fauran, 15 mi (24 km) south-southwest from Tell el-Kheleifah.

[34:6]  ⁵ tc Smr and some LXX mss read “they buried him,” that is, the Israelites. The MT reads “he buried him,” meaning in the context that “the Lord buried him.” This understanding, combined with the statement at the end of the verse that Moses’ burial place is unknown, gave rise to traditions during the intertestamental period that are reflected in the NT in Jude 9 and in OT pseudepigraphic works like the Assumption of Moses.