Seder 134: Deuteronomy 2---God's Direction of the Nations

After recounting the disastrous results of the reconnaissance mission from 38 years before, Moses turned to more recent events.  Earlier that year, God had directed the Israelites to head north (Dt 2:3) but to steer clear of the Edomites.  

Based on Numbers 20:13-21, it appears that Moses had asked the Edomites for permission to cross their territory on the king's highway, an important trade route.  Edom had denied the request and threatened to attack.  It may have been at that point that God gave the instructions recorded in Deuteronomy 2:4-6, telling the Israelites not to engage in battle with Edom.  God had given these relatives of Israel their land, and Israel was not to fight with them over it.  

God gave similar instructors regarding the Moabites and Ammonites.  They were living in the places God had allotted to them.  

This was not the case, however, for the Amorites who lived further north.  God intended for the land they currently occupied to be part of Israel's inheritance (Dt 2:24, 31), a detail that had not been mentioned back in Numbers 21.  

A key message of Deuteronomy 2 is that God rules over, and has plans for, all nations.  This theme is picked up in Deuteronomy 32:8, which says that at the tower of Babel, when God "divided mankind," he "fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God."   Fifteen hundred years later in Athens, Paul would speak of God "having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling places" (Acts 17:26).  

The implication is that since God had set up Edom, Moab, and Ammon, in their own territories, he would do the same for Israel.  In particular, God had helped Edom and Moab drive away giants, and he would do the same for Israel. The new generation of Israelites could trust in God to lead them in conquering the territory he had allotted to them.