Seder 134: Deuteronomy 2---Pharaoh and Sihon

 As the Israelites approached the land occupied by King Sihon and the Amorites, Moses contacted Sihon, politely asking for safe passage through his territory (Num 21:21-22; Dt. 2:26-29).  

One question that arises here is whether Moses was telling the truth when he suggested that Edom and Moab had given the Israelites safe passage through their territories (v 29).  Numbers 20:19-21 suggests that the Edomites had not been receptive to an offer of this kind from the Israel.  

It's possible that Moses was withholding information in order to give the Amorites every reason to accept Israel's request.  Remember that 40 years before, Moses  had not told Pharaoh the whole truth all at once when he approached the Egyptian ruler to get permission for the Israelites to worship God in the wilderness (Ex 5:1).  Pharaoh was given every opportunity to agree to Israel's request before he reached a point of no return.  

If Moses was shading the truth, was it right for him to do so?  Not necessarily.  Here it is helpful to remember that when the biblical narrative reports that someone did something, it usually does not comment upon whether that thing was right or wrong. It is easy to assume, mistakenly, that when a biblical "hero" does something, that thing must have been right.  But the real main character in the Exodus narrative is God, and it's his grace that is a main theme, not the moral examples of the main human characters.     

Like Pharaoh, Sihon did not accede to Moses' request.  Deuteronomy 2:30 tells us that "God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate."  God was giving the new generation of Israelites their own "Exodus experience" and sending a message to the surrounding nations, as he had 40 years earlier.  Soon he would part the Jordan River for the Israelites, as he had parted the Red Sea for their parents (Joshua 3).  

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.