Deuteronomy 2:9

Moses, in this chapter, proceeds in the rehearsal of God's providences concerning Israel in their way to Canaan, yet preserves not the record of any thing that happened during their tedious march back to the Red Sea, in which they wore out almost thirty-eight years, but passes that over in silence as a dark time, and makes his narrative to begin again when they faced about towards Canaan (Deu 2:1-3), and drew towards the countries that were inhabited, concerning which God here gives them direction, I. What nations they must not give any disturbance to. 1. Not to the Edomites (Deu 2:4-8). 2. Not to the Moabites (Deu 2:9), of the antiquities of whose country, with that of the Edomites, he gives some account (Deu 2:10-12). And here comes in an account of their passing the river Zered (Deu 2:13-16). 3. Not to the Ammonites, of whose country here is some account given (Deu 2:17-23). II. What nations they should attack and conquer. They must begin with Sihon, king of the Amorites (Deu 2:24, Deu 2:25). And accordingly, 1. They had a fair occasion of quarrelling with him (Deu 2:26-32). 2. God gave them a complete victory over him (Deu 2:33, etc.).

2:9 Following the destruction of Sodom, Gomorrah, and the other cities of the plain, Lot (Abraham’s nephew and Isaac’s cousin) and his two unmarried daughters sheltered in a cave east of the Dead Sea (see Gen 19:30-38), where Lot’s daughters plied their father with drink until he had sexual relations with them. Their descendants became the nations of Moab and Ammon. Because of their kinship with Israel, the Moabites were to be left undisturbed. David’s great-grandmother Ruth descended from Moab (Ruth 1:4), and David sent his own family to the land of Moab for protection when he was pursued by Saul (1 Sam 22:3-5). • Ar was probably the capital of Moab.