John Gill Commentary Numbers 20:17

"Let us pass, I pray thee, through thy land: we will not pass through field or through vineyard, neither will we drink of the water of the wells: we will go along the king`s highway; we will not turn aside to the right hand nor to the left, until we have passed thy border." — Numbers 20:17 (ASV)

Let us pass, I pray thee, through your country
That being the nearest and shortest way to the land of Canaan, from the place where they now were:

we will not pass through the fields, or through the vineyards ;
to harm them, and injure any man in his private property, by gathering the fruit of them, if the season of the year for it, or by trampling them down:

neither will we drink of the water of the wells ;
which private persons had dug, for the watering of their fields and vineyards, and for other uses, at least without paying for it; or only of the waters of the rivers, common to all passengers; from hence it appears, that the country of Edom was not then such a barren country as in later times, and as travellers ^F3 now report it is; (See Gill on Malachi 1:3)

we will go by the king's highway ;
not the way in which the king used to walk, or which he should order them to walk in, as Aben Ezra; but the public roads, common to all his subjects, and travellers to walk in by his allowance; and such roads are now called by us the king's highway:

we will not turn to the right hand, or to the left ;
to do any injury to any person's property, but go straight forward:

until we have passed your borders ;
from one to another, and got quite through the country.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F3: See Shaw's Travels, 4. 438. Ed. 2.