Deuteronomy 2 – Study

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Ch. 1-3 The Historical Context – how Israel came to this point of their history

Passage: Deut 2:1-23

1 Then we turned back and set out towards the wilderness along the route to the Red Sea, as the Lord had directed me. For a long time we made our way around the hill country of Seir.

2 Then the Lord said to me, 3 ‘You have made your way around this hill country long enough; now turn north. 4 Give the people these orders: “You are about to pass through the territory of your relatives the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, but be very careful. 5 Do not provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, not even enough to put your foot on. I have given Esau the hill country of Seir as his own. 6 You are to pay them in silver for the food you eat and the water you drink.”’

7 The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything.

8 So we went on past our relatives the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. We turned from the Arabah road, which comes up from Elath and Ezion Geber, and travelled along the desert road of Moab.

9 Then the Lord said to me, ‘Do not harass the Moabites or provoke them to war, for I will not give you any part of their land. I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as a possession.’

10 (The Emites used to live there – a people strong and numerous, and as tall as the Anakites. 11 Like the Anakites, they too were considered Rephaites, but the Moabites called them Emites. 12 Horites used to live in Seir, but the descendants of Esau drove them out. They destroyed the Horites from before them and settled in their place, just as Israel did in the land the Lord gave them as their possession.)

13 And the Lord said, ‘Now get up and cross the Zered Valley.’ So we crossed the valley.

14 Thirty-eight years passed from the time we left Kadesh Barnea until we crossed the Zered Valley. By then, that entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the Lord had sworn to them. 15 The Lord’s hand was against them until he had completely eliminated them from the camp.

16 Now when the last of these fighting men among the people had died, 17 the Lord said to me, 18 ‘Today you are to pass by the region of Moab at Ar. 19 When you come to the Ammonites, do not harass them or provoke them to war, for I will not give you possession of any land belonging to the Ammonites. I have given it as a possession to the descendants of Lot.’

20 (That too was considered a land of the Rephaites, who used to live there; but the Ammonites called them Zamzummites. 21 They were a people strong and numerous, and as tall as the Anakites. The Lord destroyed them from before the Ammonites, who drove them out and settled in their place. 22 The Lord had done the same for the descendants of Esau, who lived in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites from before them. They drove them out and have lived in their place to this day. 23 And as for the Avvites who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorites coming out from Caphtor destroyed them and settled in their place.)

A. Find Out:

1. Where had they travelled for many years? v.1,14
2. Where did the Lord then tell them to go? v.2,3,13
3. Whose descendants were they to leave in peace? v.4-6
4. What was Moses able to testify? v.7
5. Who else were they to leave in peace? v.9,18,19

B. Think:

1. How would you describe Israel’s 38 years of wanderings?
2. Why were they not to fight certain peoples?
3. How is land and history clearly tied together here?

C. Comment:

      There are passages of history that we might tend to write off, but we need to remember that “ALL Scripture is useful for teaching” (2 Tim 3:16). So what can we learn from this passage?

      We see first of all God’s plan and purpose for His people being worked out over a long period. We like ‘instant’ but God is content to wait for ‘natural causes’ to remove a complete unbelieving generation. In the meantime the under 20’s generation is growing up and the older ones are now approaching 60! Why didn’t God just wipe out that older generation straight away? We’re not told but perhaps it was a) so that the older generation could be there looking after the younger one and, b) so that the younger one would have time to learn from the experience.

      Now comes the time for them to enter the land, but it is not casual! It still has to be under the Lord’s guidance. There are two groups of people they pass who are not to be touched: Esau’s descendants and Lot’s descendants. Both groups receive the Lord’s protection even though they are not, apparently, the ‘Chosen People’. We see something here of the scope of God’s purposes in respect of time and in respect of people. God does not forget, God sticks to His purpose and the passing of time does not diminish these. Not also God’s grace: despite bringing ‘gentle judgement’ on these Israelites, He still provides completely for them (v.7)!

D. Application:

1. Are we aware of being in the Lord’s long-term plan?
2. Have we learnt from failures of previous generations?

Passage: Deut 2:24-37

24 ‘Set out now and cross the Arnon Gorge. See, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his country. Begin to take possession of it and engage him in battle. 25 This very day I will begin to put the terror and fear of you on all the nations under heaven. They will hear reports of you and will tremble and be in anguish because of you.’

26 From the Desert of Kedemoth I sent messengers to Sihon king of Heshbon offering peace and saying, 27 ‘Let us pass through your country. We will stay on the main road; we will not turn aside to the right or to the left. 28 Sell us food to eat and water to drink for their price in silver. Only let us pass through on foot – 29 as the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, and the Moabites, who live in Ar, did for us – until we cross the Jordan into the land the Lord our God is giving us.’ 30 But Sihon king of Heshbon refused to let us pass through. For the Lord your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate in order to give him into your hands, as he has now done.

31 The Lord said to me, ‘See, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his country over to you. Now begin to conquer and possess his land.’

32 When Sihon and all his army came out to meet us in battle at Jahaz, 33 the Lord our God delivered him over to us and we struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army. 34 At that time we took all his towns and completely destroyed them – men, women and children. We left no survivors. 35 But the livestock and the plunder from the towns we had captured we carried off for ourselves. 36 From Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Gorge, and from the town in the gorge, even as far as Gilead, not one town was too strong for us. The Lord our God gave us all of them. 37 But in accordance with the command of the Lord our God, you did not encroach on any of the land of the Ammonites, neither the land along the course of the Jabbok nor that around the towns in the hills.

A. Find Out:

1. Where had they now been told to go? v.24
2. What did the Lord say He would then do? v.25
3. How did Moses approach Sihon? v.26-29
4. What response did he get and why? v.30
5. What encouragement had they received? v.31
6. What was the outcome? v.32-36
7. Yet what were they careful to do? v. 37

B. Think:

1. How had Sihon been given a choice?
2. Why do you think he made the choice he did?
3. In what ways does Moses believe in God’s intervention?

C. Comment:

     Once they had come out of the desert and the Land was before them, they had been confronted by a variety of peoples. Some of these received the Lord’s protection because of the past, others obviously rejected God and so incurred his judgement. That judgement comes in the form of the people of Israel.

     The focus now moves to Sihon, king of the Amorites. God is going to deal with him and as a result, the fear of Israel will spread before them and weaken the resistance in the Land.

     The approach to Sihon is gentle and diplomatic, offering peace, maintaining protection and security while they passed through, and offering trade for food etc. All of this was good, but Sihon refused it and instead came out to fight Israel.

      Moses attributes Sihon’s hard heart towards them, to the work of the Lord, as he does the subsequent defeat of him. Gradually, in all of this, the confidence of the new generation of Israel is being built. They are also learning to fight only as the Lord says. As they pass the Ammonites, they are careful not to get involved with them – just as the Lord had said. This is the Lord’s campaign and they must now learn to follow His leading if they are to successfully take the Land.

D. Application:

1. Where we can, choose what battles we fight, and fight righteously.
2. When we have to fight battles, let’s do it with God’s guidance.