Numbers 33:37

Wanderings from Kadesh to Moab

33:37 They traveled from Kadesh and camped in Mount Hor at the edge of the land of Edom.

Numbers 20:18

20:18 But Edom said to him, “You will not pass through me, ¹  or I will come out against ²  you with the sword.”

Numbers 20:20-21

20:20 But he said, “You may not pass through.” Then Edom came out against them ³  with a large and powerful force. ⁴  20:21 So Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border; therefore Israel turned away from him.

Numbers 24:18

24:18 Edom will be a possession,

Seir, ⁵  his enemies, will also be a possession;

but Israel will act valiantly.

Numbers 20:14

Rejection by the Edomites

20:14 ⁶ Moses ⁷  sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom: ⁸  “Thus says your brother Israel: ‘You know all the hardships we have experienced, ⁹ 

Numbers 20:23

20:23 And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor, by the border of the land of Edom. He said:

Numbers 21:4

Fiery Serpents

21:4 Then they traveled from Mount Hor by the road to the Red Sea, ¹⁰  to go around the land of Edom, but the people ¹¹  became impatient along the way.

Numbers 34:3

34:3 your southern border ¹²  will extend from the wilderness of Zin along the Edomite border, and your southern border will run eastward to the extremity of the Salt Sea,

[20:18]  ¹ tn The imperfect tense here has the nuance of prohibition.

[20:18]  ² tn Heb “to meet.”

[20:20]  ¹ tn Heb “to meet him.”

[20:20]  ² tn Heb “with many [heavy] people and with a strong hand.” The translation presented above is interpretive, but that is what the line means. It was a show of force, numbers and weapons, to intimidate the Israelites.

[24:18]  ¹ sn Seir is the chief mountain range of Edom (Deut 33:2), and so the reference here is to the general area of Edom.

[20:14]  ¹ sn For this particular section, see W. F. Albright, “From the Patriarchs to Moses: 2. Moses out of Egypt,” BA 36 (1973): 57-58; J. R. Bartlett, “The Land of Seir and the Brotherhood of Edom,” JTS 20 (1969): 1-20, and “The Rise and Fall of the Kingdom of Edom,” PEQ 104 (1972): 22-37, and “The Brotherhood of Edom,” JSOT 4 (1977): 2-7.

[20:14]  ² tn Heb “And Moses sent.”

[20:14]  ³ sn Some modern biblical scholars are convinced, largely through arguments from silence, that there were no unified kingdoms in Edom until the 9th century, and no settlements there before the 12th century, and so the story must be late and largely fabricated. The evidence is beginning to point to the contrary. But the cities and residents of the region would largely be Bedouin, and so leave no real remains.

[20:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “found.”

[21:4]  ¹ tn The “Red Sea” is the general designation for the bodies of water on either side of the Sinai peninsula, even though they are technically gulfs from the Red Sea.

[21:4]  ² tn Heb “the soul of the people,” expressing the innermost being of the people as they became frustrated.

[34:3]  ¹ tn The expression refers to the corner or extremity of the Negev, the South.