Bible Commentaries
Go deeper in Scripture
Browse trusted public-domain commentary alongside DiscipleDeck Bible study. References inside each commentary open Bible previews in place.
35,156 commentary entries
All active commentary sources
Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 2:8-23
We have the origin of the Moabites, Edomites, and Ammonites. Moses also gives an instance older than any of these; the Caphtorims drove the Avims out of their country. These revolutions show what uncertain things wordly…
Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 2:8-23
It is observable here that Moses, speaking of the Edomites (Deuteronomy 2:8), calls them, "our brethren, the children of Esau." Though they had been unkind to Israel, in refusing them a peaceable passage through their c…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 2:8
And when we passed by from our brethren the children of Esau, which dwelt in Seir, through the way of the plain from Elath, and from Ezion-gaber, we, etc. Rather, And we passed by from (away from) our brethren the sons…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 2:9
The Moabites, being the descendants of Lot, and so allied by race to the Israelites, the latter were commanded to pass through their country without offering them any injury or assault. Ar, a border-town of Moab (Number…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 2:10-12
The mention of the Moabites gives occasion to the author to introduce some notices of the ancient inhabitants of Edom and Moab. In Moab dwelt, in the earlier times, the Emim, a giant race, potent and numerous, like the…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 2:13
The brook Zered; either the stream of the Wady cf. Ahsy (Robinson, 2.157; Ritter, 3.78), or that of the Wady Kerab (Keil, Kurz, etc.); see Numbers 21:11, and Smith's 'Dictionary.' 3.1842. This brook formed the boundary…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 2:13-15
Deuteronomy 2:13 connects with Deuteronomy 2:9, the intermediate verses being a parenthesis, introduced for the purpose of reminding the Israelites that the Edomites and Moabites had received their territory by gift fro…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 2:14
Men of war; those of age sufficient to go forth to war, viz. twenty y. ears old and upwards (Numbers 1:3; Numbers 14:29). These, as the responsible transgressors, all perished; the whole generation passed away, and was…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 2:14-18
The wasting of the warriors. There was evidently a considerable knowledge of "the art of war" in the Israelitish host on leaving Egypt. Moses was versed in it, as in so much more, and the mixed multitude which accompani…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 2:15
For indeed; rather, And also; not by natural causes alone, but by the hand of God, i.e. by special penal judgments also, were they troubled and destroyed (cf. Numbers 16:31, etc.; Numbers 17:12, Numbers 17:13; Numbers 2…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 2:16-19
The generation that sinned having quite died out, the people were now to cross the border of Moab and advance to the conquest of the Promised Land. To the east of Moab was the country of the Ammonites; these, also, the…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 2:18
Coast of Moab; the boundary of Moab, which was the river Arnon, hod. Mujeb (Numbers 21:13-15; Numbers 22:36).
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 2:19
Over against the children of Ammon. As the Israelites were passing eastward of Moab; when they crossed the Arnon, the Ammonites, whose dwelling was in the wilderness east of the Jordan, would be almost in front of them.…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 2:20-23
Another parenthetical insertion, containing some ethnographical notices, intended, probably, to confirm the assertion that to the children of Ammon God had given their land for a possession. There is no sufficient reaso…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 2:20
Before the Ammonites, the laud was occupied by a gigantic race, called by them, Zamzummim (probably noisy ones, from זָמַם to hum, mutter; or, as the verb also signifies, to muse or meditate, perhaps moody ones; whether…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 2:23
So also the Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor (Genesis 10:14), probably the island of Crete (Ritter, 3:262), drove out the Avim, a Canaanitish race, who dwelt in villages (Hazerim, חֲצֵרִים) as far as Gaza (Azzah), and t…
Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 2:24-37
God tried his people, by forbidding them to meddle with the rich countries of Moab and Ammon. He gives them possession of the country of the Amorites. If we keep from what God forbids, we shall not lose by our obedience…
History of the Moabites. (b. c. 1451.)
HISTORY OF THE MOABITES. (B. C. 1451.) God having tried the self-denial of his people in forbidding them to meddle with the Moabites and Ammonites, and they having quietly passed by those rich countries, and, though sup…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 2:24-37
The destruction of Sihon, King of the Amorites. Moses here recalls the first stage in the conquest. By Divine direction, the pilgrims are to advance upon the land of the Amorites, and they are promised an important vict…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 2:24-37
CONQUEST OF THE KINGDOM OF SIHON. Sihon and his people were Amorites, who had settled on the east of the Jordan in Gilead. But though not included in the original promise to Abraham, God had assigned this territory to t…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 2:24-37
Warrantable warfare. Sihon, King of Heshbon, opposed with physical force the fulfillment of Israel's destiny; and, having provoked war, provokes it to his own destruction. I. THE NECESSITY FOR WAR. The question whether…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 2:26-37
The conquest of Sihon. Sihon, though an Amorite, was not to be unconditionally destroyed. He had, like Pharaoh, an opportunity given him of averting ruin by acceding to a most courteous and reasonable request; but, like…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 2:26
The wilderness of Kedemoth (comp. Numbers 21:13); so named from the town of Kedemoth, an old Amorite town, on the right bank of the Upper Arnon; at a later period, a Levitical city in the tribe of Reuben (Joshua 13:18;…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 2:27
Along by the high way; literally, by the way, by the way, i.e. always, continuously by the way, the public road, called in Numbers 20:17 and Numbers 21:22, "the king's way," probably because made and kept up by the king.