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Selected Verse: Deuteronomy 2:24 - King James

Verse	Translation	Text
De 2:24	King James	Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the river Arnon: behold, I have given into thine hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land: begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle.

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
Rise ye up . . . and pass over the river Arnon--At its mouth, this stream is eighty-two feet wide and four deep. It flows in a channel banked by perpendicular cliffs of sandstone. At the date of the Israelitish migration to the east of the Jordan, the whole of the fine country lying between the Arnon and the Jabbok including the mountainous tract of Gilead, had been seized by the Amorites, who, being one of the nations doomed to destruction (see Deu 7:2; Deu 20:16), were utterly exterminated. Their country fell by right of conquest into the hands of the Israelites. Moses, however, considering this doom as referring solely to the Amorite possessions west of Jordan, sent a pacific message to Sihon, requesting permission to go through his territories, which lay on the east of that river. It is always customary to send messengers before to prepare the way; but the rejection of Moses' request by Sihon and his opposition to the advance of the Israelites (Num 21:23; Jdg 11:26) drew down on himself and his Amorite subjects the predicted doom on the first pitched battlefield with the Canaanites. It secured to Israel not only the possession of a fine and pastoral country, but, what was of more importance to them, a free access to the Jordan on the east.

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

Rise ye up . . . and pass over the river Arnon--At its mouth, this stream is eighty-two feet wide and four deep. It flows in a channel banked by perpendicular cliffs of sandstone. At the date of the Israelitish migration to the east of the Jordan, the whole of the fine country lying between the Arnon and the Jabbok including the mountainous tract of Gilead, had been seized by the Amorites, who, being one of the nations doomed to destruction (see Deu 7:2; Deu 20:16), were utterly exterminated. Their country fell by right of conquest into the hands of the Israelites. Moses, however, considering this doom as referring solely to the Amorite possessions west of Jordan, sent a pacific message to Sihon, requesting permission to go through his territories, which lay on the east of that river. It is always customary to send messengers before to prepare the way; but the rejection of Moses' request by Sihon and his opposition to the advance of the Israelites (Num 21:23; Jdg 11:26) drew down on himself and his Amorite subjects the predicted doom on the first pitched battlefield with the Canaanites. It secured to Israel not only the possession of a fine and pastoral country, but, what was of more importance to them, a free access to the Jordan on the east.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
The Help of God in the Conquest of the Kingdom of Sihon. - Deu 2:24. Whereas the Israelites were not to make war upon the kindred tribes of Edomites, Moabites, and Ammonites, or drive them out of the possessions given to them by God; the Lord had given the Amorites, who had forced as way into Gilead and Bashan, into their hands. Deu 2:24-25 While they were encamped on the Arnon, the border of the Amoritish king of Sihon, He directed them to cross this frontier and take possession of the land of Sihon, and promised that He would give this king with all his territory into their hands, and that henceforward ("this day," the day on which Israel crossed the Arnon) He would put fear and terror of Israel upon all nations under the whole heaven, so that as soon as they heard the report of Israel they would tremble and writhe before them. רשׁ החל, "begin, take," an oratorical expression for "begin to take" (רשׁ in pause for רשׁ, Deu 1:21). The expression, "all nations under the whole heaven," is hyperbolical; it is not to be restricted, however, to the Canaanites and other neighbouring tribes, but, according to what follows, to be understood as referring to all nations to whom the report of the great deeds of the Lord upon and on behalf of Israel should reach (cf. Deu 11:25 and Exo 23:27). אשׁר, so that (as in Gen 11:7; Gen 13:16; Gen 22:14). וחלוּ, with the accent upon the last syllable, on account of the ו consec. (Ewald, 234, a.), from חוּל, to twist, or writhe with pain, here with anxiety. Deu 2:26-30 If Moses, notwithstanding this, sent messengers to king Sihon with words of peace (Deu 2:26.; cf. Num 21:21.), this was done to show the king of the Amorites, that it was through his own fault that his kingdom and lands and life were lost. The wish to pass through his land in a peaceable manner was quite seriously expressed; although Moses foresaw, in consequence of the divine communication, that he would reject his proposal, and meet Israel with hostilities. For Sihon's kingdom did not form part of the land of Canaan, which God had promised to the patriarchs for their descendants; and the divine foreknowledge of the hardness of Sihon no more destroyed the freedom of his will to resolve, or the freedom of his actions, than the circumstance that in Deu 2:30 the unwillingness of Sihon is described as the effect of his being hardened by God Himself. The hardening was quite as much the production of human freedom and guilt, as the consequence of the divine decree; just as in the case of Pharaoh. On Kedemoth, see Num 21:13. בּדּרך בּדּרך, equivalent to "upon the way, and always upon the way," i.e., upon the high road alone, as in Num 20:19. On the behaviour of the Edomites towards Israel, mentioned in Deu 2:29, see Num 21:10. In the same way the Moabites also supplied Israel with provisions for money. This statement is not at variance with the unbrotherly conduct for which the Moabites are blamed in Deu 23:4, viz., that they did not meet the Israelites with bread and water. For קדּם, to meet and anticipate, signifies a hospitable reception, and the offering of food and drink without reward, which is essentially different from selling for money. "In Ar" (Deu 2:29), as in Deu 2:18. The suffix in בּו (Deu 2:30) refers to the king, who is mentioned as the lord of the land, in the place of the land itself, just as in Num 20:18. Deu 2:31 The refusal of Sihon was suspended over him by God as a judgment of hardening, which led to his destruction. "As this day," an abbreviation of "as it has happened this day," i.e., as experience has now shown (cf. Deu 4:20, etc.). Deu 2:32-33 Defeat of Sihon, as already described in the main in Num 21:23-26. The war was a war of extermination, in which all the towns were laid under the ban (see Lev 27:29), i.e., the whole of the population of men, women, and children were put to death, and only the flocks and herds and material possessions were taken by the conquerors as prey. Deu 2:34-35 מתם עיר (city of men) is the town population of men. Deu 2:36 They proceeded this way with the whole of the kingdom of Sihon. "From Aror on the edge of the Arnon valley (see at Num 32:34), and, in fact, from the city which is in the valley," i.e., Ar, or Areopolis (see at Num 21:15), - Aror being mentioned as the inclusive terminus a quo of the land that was taken, and the Moabitish capital Ar as the exclusive terminus, as in Jos 13:9 and Jos 13:16; "and as far as Gilead," which rises on the north, near the Jabbok (or Zerka, see at Deu 3:4), "there was no town too high for us," i.e., so strong that we could not take it. Deu 2:37 Only along the land of the Ammonites the Israelites did not come, namely, along the whole of the side of the brook Jabbok, or the country of the Ammonites, which was situated upon the eastern side of the upper Jabbok, and the towns of the mountain, i.e., of the Ammonitish highlands, and "to all that the Lord had commanded," sc., commanded them not to remove. The statement, in Jos 13:25, that the half of the country of the Ammonites was given to the tribe of Gad, is not at variance with this; for the allusion there is to that portion of the land of the Ammonites which was between the Arnon and the Jabbok, and which had already been taken from the Ammonites by the Amorites under Sihon (cf. Jdg 11:13.).

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]

The Help of God in the Conquest of the Kingdom of Sihon. - Deu 2:24. Whereas the Israelites were not to make war upon the kindred tribes of Edomites, Moabites, and Ammonites, or drive them out of the possessions given to them by God; the Lord had given the Amorites, who had forced as way into Gilead and Bashan, into their hands.

Deu 2:24-25

While they were encamped on the Arnon, the border of the Amoritish king of Sihon, He directed them to cross this frontier and take possession of the land of Sihon, and promised that He would give this king with all his territory into their hands, and that henceforward ("this day," the day on which Israel crossed the Arnon) He would put fear and terror of Israel upon all nations under the whole heaven, so that as soon as they heard the report of Israel they would tremble and writhe before them. רשׁ החל, "begin, take," an oratorical expression for "begin to take" (רשׁ in pause for רשׁ, Deu 1:21). The expression, "all nations under the whole heaven," is hyperbolical; it is not to be restricted, however, to the Canaanites and other neighbouring tribes, but, according to what follows, to be understood as referring to all nations to whom the report of the great deeds of the Lord upon and on behalf of Israel should reach (cf. Deu 11:25 and Exo 23:27). אשׁר, so that (as in Gen 11:7; Gen 13:16; Gen 22:14). וחלוּ, with the accent upon the last syllable, on account of the ו consec. (Ewald, 234, a.), from חוּל, to twist, or writhe with pain, here with anxiety.

Deu 2:26-30

If Moses, notwithstanding this, sent messengers to king Sihon with words of peace (Deu 2:26.; cf. Num 21:21.), this was done to show the king of the Amorites, that it was through his own fault that his kingdom and lands and life were lost. The wish to pass through his land in a peaceable manner was quite seriously expressed; although Moses foresaw, in consequence of the divine communication, that he would reject his proposal, and meet Israel with hostilities. For Sihon's kingdom did not form part of the land of Canaan, which God had promised to the patriarchs for their descendants; and the divine foreknowledge of the hardness of Sihon no more destroyed the freedom of his will to resolve, or the freedom of his actions, than the circumstance that in Deu 2:30 the unwillingness of Sihon is described as the effect of his being hardened by God Himself. The hardening was quite as much the production of human freedom and guilt, as the consequence of the divine decree; just as in the case of Pharaoh. On Kedemoth, see Num 21:13. בּדּרך בּדּרך, equivalent to "upon the way, and always upon the way," i.e., upon the high road alone, as in Num 20:19. On the behaviour of the Edomites towards Israel, mentioned in Deu 2:29, see Num 21:10. In the same way the Moabites also supplied Israel with provisions for money. This statement is not at variance with the unbrotherly conduct for which the Moabites are blamed in Deu 23:4, viz., that they did not meet the Israelites with bread and water. For קדּם, to meet and anticipate, signifies a hospitable reception, and the offering of food and drink without reward, which is essentially different from selling for money. "In Ar" (Deu 2:29), as in Deu 2:18. The suffix in בּו (Deu 2:30) refers to the king, who is mentioned as the lord of the land, in the place of the land itself, just as in Num 20:18.

Deu 2:31

The refusal of Sihon was suspended over him by God as a judgment of hardening, which led to his destruction. "As this day," an abbreviation of "as it has happened this day," i.e., as experience has now shown (cf. Deu 4:20, etc.).

Deu 2:32-33

Defeat of Sihon, as already described in the main in Num 21:23-26. The war was a war of extermination, in which all the towns were laid under the ban (see Lev 27:29), i.e., the whole of the population of men, women, and children were put to death, and only the flocks and herds and material possessions were taken by the conquerors as prey.

Deu 2:34-35

מתם עיר (city of men) is the town population of men.

Deu 2:36

They proceeded this way with the whole of the kingdom of Sihon. "From Aror on the edge of the Arnon valley (see at Num 32:34), and, in fact, from the city which is in the valley," i.e., Ar, or Areopolis (see at Num 21:15), - Aror being mentioned as the inclusive terminus a quo of the land that was taken, and the Moabitish capital Ar as the exclusive terminus, as in Jos 13:9 and Jos 13:16; "and as far as Gilead," which rises on the north, near the Jabbok (or Zerka, see at Deu 3:4), "there was no town too high for us," i.e., so strong that we could not take it.

Deu 2:37

Only along the land of the Ammonites the Israelites did not come, namely, along the whole of the side of the brook Jabbok, or the country of the Ammonites, which was situated upon the eastern side of the upper Jabbok, and the towns of the mountain, i.e., of the Ammonitish highlands, and "to all that the Lord had commanded," sc., commanded them not to remove. The statement, in Jos 13:25, that the half of the country of the Ammonites was given to the tribe of Gad, is not at variance with this; for the allusion there is to that portion of the land of the Ammonites which was between the Arnon and the Jabbok, and which had already been taken from the Ammonites by the Amorites under Sihon (cf. Jdg 11:13.).

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