Numbers 20:18

And Edom said unto him, Thou shalt not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Numbers 20:18-19. By me — Through my country: I will not suffer thee to do so; which was an act of policy, to secure themselves from so numerous a host. Said — That is, their messengers replied what here follows.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

20:14-21 The nearest way to Canaan from the place where Israel encamped, was through the country of Edom. The ambassadors who were sent returned with a denial. The Edomites feared to receive damage by the Israelites. And had this numerous army been under any other discipline than that of the righteous God himself, there might have been cause for this jealousy. But Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing; and now the hatred revived, when the blessing was about to be inherited. We must not think it strange, if reasonable requests be denied by unreasonable men, and if those whom God favours be affronted by men.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

An angel - See Genesis 12:7, note; Exodus 3:2, note. The term is to be understood as importing generally the supernatural guidance under which Israel was.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

17. we will go by the king's highway—probably Wady-el-Ghuweir [Roberts], through which ran one of the great lines of road, constructed for commercial caravans, as well as for the progress of armies. The engineering necessary for carrying them over marshes or mountains, and the care requisite for protecting them from the shifting sands, led to their being under the special care of the state. Hence the expression, "the king's highway," which is of great antiquity.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

i.e. Through my country, as thou desirest; I will not suffer time to do so: which was an act of common policy to secure themselves from so numerous a host.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And Edom said unto him,.... The king of Edom replied to Israel, represented by the messengers sent in their name:

thou shall not pass by me; through my country:

lest I come out against thee with the sword; or with those that use the sword, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan; that is, with an army of soldiers with their drawn swords in their hands, to slay them as enemies.

Geneva Study Bible

And Edom said unto him, Thou shalt not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 18. - And Edom said... Thou shalt not pass by me. This was the first of a series of hostile acts, prompted by vindictive jealousy, which brought down the wrath of God upon Edom (compare the prophecy of Obadiah). See, however, on Deuteronomy 2:29. Numbers 20:18

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The Edomites refused the visit of the Israelites in a most unbrotherly manner, and threatened to come out against them with the sword, without paying the least attention to the repeated assurance of the Israelitish messengers, that they would only march upon the high road, and would pay for water for themselves and their cattle. אין־דּבר רק, lit., "it is nothing at all; I will go through with my feet:" i.e., we want no great thing; we will only make use of the high road.