Matthew Henry on Numbers 20:14-21
We have here the application made by Israel to the Edomites. The nearest way to Canaan from the place where Israel now lay encamped was through the country of Edom. Now,
I. Moses sends ambassadors to treat with the king of Edom for leave to pass through his country, and gives them instructions what to say, Num 20:14-17. 1. They are to claim kindred with the Edomites: Thus saith thy brother Israel. Both nations descended from Abraham and Isaac, their common ancestors; Esau and Jacob, the two fathers of their respective nations, were twin-brothers; and therefore, for relation-sake, they might reasonably expect this kindness from them; nor needed the Edomites to fear that their brother Israel h…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Numbers 20:17
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.
John Gill on Numbers 20:18
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.
John Calvin on Numbers 20:14-22
Numbers 20:14-22
14. And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto the king of Edom, Thus saith thy brother Israel, Thou knowest all the travel that hath befallen us;
14. Misit autem Moses nuntium e Cades ad regem Edom, Sic dicit frater tuns Israel, Tu nosti omnem laborem qui apprehendit nos.
15. How our fathers went down into Egypt, and we have dwelt in Egypt a long time; and the Egyptians vexed us and our fathers:
15. Quia descenderunt patres nostri in AEgyptum, et mansimus in AEgypto diebus multis, afflixeruntque nos AEgyptii, et patres nostros.
16. And when we cried unto the Lord, he heard our voice, and sent an angel, and hath brought us forth out of Egypt; and, behold, we are in Kad…
