Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 2:1-7
Here is, I. A short account of the long stay of Israel in the wilderness: We compassed Mount Seir many days, Deu 2:1. Nearly thirty-eight years they wandered in the deserts of Seir; probably in some of their rests they staid several years, and never stirred; God by this not only chastised them for their murmuring and unbelief, but, 1. Prepared them for Canaan, by humbling them for sin, teaching them to mortify their lusts, to follow God, and to comfort themselves in him. It is a work of time to make souls meet for heaven, and it must be done by a long train of exercises. 2. He prepared the Canaanites for destruction. All this time the measure of their iniquity was filling up; and, though it…
Read the whole note in the consoleJohn Gill on Deuteronomy 2:1
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…
Read the whole note in the consoleJohn Calvin on Deuteronomy 2:1
Deuteronomy 2:1
1. Titan we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness, by the way of the Red sea, as the Lord spoke unto me; and we compassed mount Stir many days.
1. Postea reversi profecti sumus in desertum per viam maris Suph, quemadmodum loquutus fuerat Jehova ad me, et circumivimus montem Seir diebus multis.
1. Then we turned and took our journey. The time in which they struck their camp is not stated in the book of Numbers. This verse, therefore, will aptly connect the history, since otherwise there would be an abruptness in what immediately follows, he then briefly indicates what was the nature of their journeying until the time appointed; viz., that, by wearying themselves…
