John Calvin Commentary Deuteronomy 2
John Calvin Commentary
Deuteronomy 2
John Calvin Commentary
Deuteronomy 2
"Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea, as Jehovah spake unto me; and we compassed mount Seir many days." — Deuteronomy 2:1 (ASV)
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 the nature of their journeying until the appointed time; namely, that by wearying themselves in vain in circuitous wanderings, they might eventually learn to follow God directly and not to deviate from the way He points out.
"And command thou the people, saying, Ye are to pass through the border of your brethren the children of Esau, that dwell in Seir; and they will be afraid of you: take ye good heed unto yourselves therefore;" — Deuteronomy 2:4 (ASV)
And they shall be afraid of you. This temptation was all the more provoking when they heard not only that the embassy would be futile, but also that even if Edom were to receive them with injustice and hostility, they were still to abstain from violence and arms. For one might reason that if they presented their request in a friendly manner, they would have a legitimate cause for war if Edom rejected their demands. But this further condition—that they were to do nothing against those who refused to let them pass quietly through their land—might seem completely intolerable.
Therefore, however, it becomes more apparent how the Israelites were gradually, and by various kinds of chastisement, subdued to obedience; otherwise, they would have fiercely and petulantly exclaimed that God had dealt with them unkindly, since their condition would then be worse than what the universal law of nations allowed. In this matter, then, their wanderings for thirty-eight years had much efficacy in bringing them back to the right way.
"For Jehovah thy God hath blessed thee in all the work of thy hand; he hath known thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years Jehovah thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing." — Deuteronomy 2:7 (ASV)
For the Lord your God has blessed you. This reason is added so that the people would not be grieved at spending their money, since they did not have much, in buying meat and drink. There are, however, two aspects: first, that they were so enriched by God’s bounty that they were fully supplied with the means to buy food; and, secondly, that they must not doubt that He would meet their needs, if necessary, since He had provided for them until now and had not allowed them to lack anything. Therefore, He encourages them to hope, considering their past experience, because God would take care of them, as He had been accustomed to do before.
However, the question arises: how could God say that He had blessed the work of their hands when they had had no commerce with other nations to make any gains whatsoever? But I understand it this way: namely, that although they were sustained without cost in the wilderness and had not spent a single penny on buying even shoelaces, their cattle still had increased. And, besides, they had made some profits from their daily labor; not, indeed, by receiving daily wages, but by providing for themselves furniture and other necessities.
"And Jehovah said unto me, Vex not Moab, neither contend with them in battle; for I will not give thee of his land for a possession; because I have given Ar unto the children of Lot for a possession." — Deuteronomy 2:9 (ASV)
And the Lord said unto me, Distress not the Moabites. He had previously forbidden them to enter the land of Edom unless consent were obtained. A similar prohibition is now added concerning the Moabites, because God had allotted to them the territory they inhabited.
As I have said, this was painful and burdensome: that they should cherish kindness and fraternal goodwill towards those who treated them with hostility. But God desired in this respect also to prove the obedience of His people.
He did not, then, take into consideration what this nation had deserved; but, since they were the descendants of Lot, and consequently of the lineage of Abraham, He desired to treat them with special favor.
For the division of the whole world belongs to Him, so as to distribute to its various peoples whatever part He chooses, and to fix the boundaries within which they should confine themselves.
If anyone objects that the people of Canaan also had their limits assigned to them and, therefore, should not have been expelled from the lands their ancestors had inhabited for many ages, the reply is easy. Namely, God is always free to take away what He has given and to readjust the boundaries imposed by His will when the sins of people deserve that this should be done.
Therefore, when He declares that He had given their land to the Moabites, it is not according to the ordinary meaning of the expression, but by a fixed decree that their dwelling place should remain sure and undisturbed.
"(The Emim dwelt therein aforetime, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakim:" — Deuteronomy 2:10 (ASV)
The Emims dwelt therein in times past. This is a confirmation of the preceding declaration, which is, however, inserted as a parenthesis by Moses himself; for the ninth verse, which I have just expounded, is followed regularly by the thirteenth, Now rise up, etc.
For, after God had turned away the people from the borders of Moab, He shows them in what direction they must pass over. Moses, interrupting the address of God, explains how the Moabites had obtained that territory, though they were strangers and had no land of their own on which they might set their foot. For Lot was no less an alien than Abraham; Moses, therefore, states how by special privilege the posterity of Lot became masters of that land which giants had previously possessed.
For it was not by human means that, having driven out the giants, who were formidable to all men, they had obtained the peaceful occupation and even the dominion of that land, which might have seemed invincible due to the valor and strength of its inhabitants. He says, therefore, that the giants dwelt there, as also in Mount Seir, and that both were overcome and destroyed not so much by the hand and arms of men as by the power of God, so that their land might be cleared for possession as well for the children of Esau as for those of Lot.
Now, since God elsewhere declares that He had given Mount Seir to Esau as an inheritance, as He had promised to his father Isaac, it follows that the Moabites had obtained their land also by the same Divine authority. The comparison made between Edom and the Israelites, however, does not hold good in all respects. For, although Esau was sustained by this consolation, that his inheritance should be of the fatness of the earth (Genesis 27:39), it might still be the case that with regard to himself and his posterity, their possession should not be legitimate; whereas God so promised the land of Canaan to the race of Abraham that the Israelites received the dominion over it, as if from His own hand, as it is said in Psalm 136:21.
In this respect, too, there was a difference, because the land of Canaan was chosen as that in which God should gather His Church, in which He should be purely worshipped, and which should be an earnest to the faithful of the heavenly and eternal rest. But, as elsewhere, the distinction between the sons of Esau and Jacob is marked, so now Moses126 magnifies God’s special blessing towards them both.
126 “Moyse dit ici qu’ils ont eu cela de commun, que Dieu les a voulu loger;” Moses says here that they had this in common, that God had chosen to give them their dwelling-places. — Fr..
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