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 20:21
Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border, &c.--A churlish refusal obliged them to take another route. (See on Num 21:4; Deu 2:4; and Jdg 11:18; see also Sa1 14:47; Sa2 8:14, which describe the retribution that was taken.)
John Gill on Numbers 20:21
Notwithstanding their near relation to each other, and the fair promises Israel made:
wherefore Israel turned away from him: patiently bearing the refusal, and not resenting it; being ordered, as the Targum of Jonathan expresses it, by the Word of heaven, not to make war with them, because the time was not yet come to take vengeance on Edom by their hands; and to the same purpose the Targum of Jerusalem.
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…
