Deuteronomy 2 Summary

Moses recounts Israel's long wandering around Mount Seir before God commanded them to turn northward, instructing them not to provoke or seize land from the Edomites, Moabites, or Ammonites, as God had given those lands to Esau's and Lot's descendants respectively. The chapter notes that thirty-eight years elapsed from Kadesh-barnea until the crossing of the brook Zered, during which the entire generation of fighting men who had been condemned by the LORD died out. Once that generation was consumed, God directed Israel to cross the river Arnon and granted them permission to engage Sihon, king of Heshbon, in battle; despite Israel's peaceful overture, the LORD hardened Sihon's spirit, Sihon attacked at Jahaz, and Israel utterly defeated him, taking all his cities from Aroer to Gilead while carefully avoiding the territory God had forbidden them to touch.