Deuteronomy 2:1

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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

II.

(1) Then.—In the original simply “And.” There is no note of time.

By the way of the Red sea.—i.e., in the direction of the Gulf of Akabah, southwards.

As the Lord spake unto me.—In Numbers 14:25, as noted on Deuteronomy 1:40.

Many days.—Until near the close of the thirty-ninth year of the exodus.

Benson Commentary

Deuteronomy 2:1. We compassed mount Seir — The mountainous part of Edom, or Idumea. Many days — Even for thirty-eight years, which time they spent in tedious marches to and fro through that desert country, reaching from Kadesh to the Red sea, and in various encampments, till that race of murmurers was quite extinct, and then orders were given them to bend their course again toward Canaan, Deuteronomy 2:3.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

2:1-7 Only a short account of the long stay of Israel in the wilderness is given. God not only chastised them for their murmuring and unbelief, but prepared them for Canaan; by humbling them for sin, teaching them to mortify their lusts, to follow God, and to comfort themselves in him. Though Israel may be long kept waiting for deliverance and enlargement, it will come at last. Before God brought Israel to destroy their enemies in Canaan, he taught them to forgive their enemies in Edom. They must not, under pretence of God's covenant and conduct, think to seize all they could lay hands on. Dominion is not founded in grace. God's Israel shall be well placed, but must not expect to be placed alone in the midst of the earth. Religion must never be made a cloak for injustice. Scorn to be beholden to Edomites, when thou hast an all-sufficient God to depend upon. Use what thou hast, use it cheerfully. Thou hast experienced the care of the Divine providence, never use any crooked methods for thy supply. All this is equally to be applied to the experience of the believer.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Deuteronomy 2:1 seems to refer in general terms to the long years of wandering, the details of which were not for Moses' present purpose. The command of Deuteronomy 2:2-3 relates to their journey from Kadesh to Mount Hor Numbers 20:22; Numbers 33:37, and directs their march around to the southern extremity of Mount Seir, so as to "compass the land of Edom" Judges 11:18; Numbers 21:4, and so northward toward the Arnon, i. e., "by the way of the wilderness of Moab," Deuteronomy 2:8. This circuitous path was followed because of the refusal of the Edomites to allow the people to pass through their territory.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 2

De 2:1-37. The Story Is Continued.

1. Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea—After their unsuccessful attack upon the Canaanites, the Israelites broke up their encampment at Kadesh, and journeying southward over the west desert of Tih as well as through the great valley of the Ghor and Arabah, they extended their removals as far as the gulf of Akaba.

we compassed mount Seir many days—In these few words Moses comprised the whole of that wandering nomadic life through which they passed during thirty-eight years, shifting from place to place, and regulating their stations by the prospect of pasturage and water. Within the interval they went northward a second time to Kadesh, but being refused a passage through Edom and opposed by the Canaanites and Amalekites, they again had no alternative but to traverse once more the great Arabah southwards to the Red Sea, where turning to the left and crossing the long, lofty mountain chain to the eastward of Ezion-geber (Nu 21:4, 5), they issued into the great and elevated plains, which are still traversed by the Syrian pilgrims in their way to Mecca. They appear to have followed northward nearly the same route, which is now taken by the Syrian hadji, along the western skirts of this great desert, near the mountains of Edom [Robinson]. It was on entering these plains they received the command, "Ye have compassed this mountain (this hilly tract, now Jebel Shera) long enough, turn ye northward" [De 2:3].Their march from Kadesh-barnea, Deu 2:1-3. A charge that they trouble not the Edomites, Deu 2:4,5; nor the Moabites, Deu 2:9; nor the Ammonites, Deu 2:19. But are encouraged to fight the Amorites: they put them to flight, and take possession of their lands, Deu 2:24-37.

The mountainous country of Seir or Edom. Many days, or, many years, even for thirty-eight years.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Then we turned,.... From Kadesh, where they had been many days, and so also their backs on the land of Canaan, on the borders of which they had been:

and took our journey into the wilderness, by the way of the Red sea, as the Lord spake unto me; Deuteronomy 1:40.

and we compassed Mount Seir many days; many think by Mount Seir is meant the whole mountainous country of Edom, about which they travelled to and fro in the wilderness that lay near it for the space of thirty eight years, which they suppose are meant by many days; but I rather think they came to this mount towards the close of the thirty eight years, before they came to Kadesh, from whence they sent messengers to Edom, which they went round about for several days,

Geneva Study Bible

Then {a} 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 {b} many days.

(a) They obeyed, after God had chastised them.

(b) Eight and thirty years, as in De 2:14.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

1. Then we turned, etc.] See on Deuteronomy 1:7.

by the way to the Red Sea] Rather, in the direction of the Red Sea.

as the Lord spake unto me] Deuteronomy 1:40.

and we compassed mount Seir] The range E. of the ‘Arabah: see on Deuteronomy 1:2; Deuteronomy 1:44 JE, Numbers 21:4 b, by the way to the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom.

many days] As in Deuteronomy 1:46, indefinite; that a long time is intended is clear from Deuteronomy 2:14, which states that Israel spent 38 years between Ḳadesh and the Zered; while Deuteronomy 2:7, whether from the same hand or not, implies that the 40 years from Egypt had practically all passed when the people turned N.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 1-23. - THE NEW BEGINNING AND REVIEW OF THE JOURNEYINGS OF ISRAEL FROM KADESH TO THE RIVER ARNON, THE FRONTIER OF THE AMORITES. At this point the language of address is exchanged for that of narrative. The change of subject from "ye abode" to "we turned," became necessary when Moses passed from exhorting and warning the people to narrating what happened after they resumed their journeyings; and gives no support to the notion of some recent German critics, that Moses left Kadesh with only a portion of the people, while the rest remained there, so that no entire departure of Israel from Kadesh ever took place - a notion which the whole tenor of the subsequent narrative contradicts. In obedience to the Divine command (Deuteronomy 1:40), the people, after tarrying for a while at Kadesh, took their departure and marched in the direction of the Yam-suph (Numbers 14:25). Verse 1. - And we compassed mount Seir many days. These "many days" are the thirty-eight years during which the people wandered in the wilderness before they camped the second time at Kadesh; their going round Mount Seir, which was in Edom (Genesis 36:8, 9, 20), is descriptive of their nomadic wanderings in various directions, west, south, and south-east of that mountain (Numbers 21:4). "Crossing the long, lofty mountain chain to the eastward of Ezion-geber (Numbers 21:4, 5), the Israelites issued into the great and elevated plains which are still traversed by the Syrian pilgrims on their way to Mecca; and appear to have followed northward nearly the same route which is now taken by the Syrian Hadgi along the western skirts of this great desert near the mountains of Edom" (Robinson, 'Bib. Res.,' 1:253, 559). Mount Seir is now Jebal and esh-Sherah. This mountain range is a continuation of that which surrounds the eastern side of the Dead Sea. The details of this protracted wandering are passed over by Moses as not required by his purpose here. Deuteronomy 2:1

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

March from Kadesh to the Frontier of the Amorites. - Deuteronomy 2:1. After a long stay in Kadesh, they commenced their return into the desert. The words, "We departed...by the way to the Red Sea," point back to Numbers 14:25. This departure is expressly designated as an act of obedience to the divine command recorded there, by the expression "as Jehovah spake to me." Consequently Moses is not speaking here of the second departure of the congregation from Kadesh to go to Mount Hor (Numbers 20:22), but of the first departure after the condemnation of the generation that came out of Egypt. "And we went round Mount Seir many days." This going round Mount Seir includes the thirty-eight years' wanderings, though we are not therefore to picture it as "going backwards and forwards, and then entering the Arabah again" (Schultz). Just as Moses passed over the reassembling of the congregation at Kadesh (Numbers 20:1), so he also overlooked the going to and fro in the desert, and fixed his eye more closely upon the last journey from Kadesh to Mount Hor, that he might recall to the memory of the congregation how the Lord had led them to the end of all their wandering.