Deuteronomy 2:1-7

These verses indicate His generosity, even in judging. They look back upon the extra thirty-eight years in the wilderness. After telling the Israelites they were not to meddle with the Edomites, but were to buy food and water from them, we have to ask a question. Where did they get the money to buy the food and water while they were supposedly marching around the desert, marching around Mount Seir? Where did they get the money?

The first thing we would normally think of is that they used the gold and silver or whatever it was they brought out of Egypt. No. They did not. Notice verse 7 again.

To whom is He speaking? Supposedly it is these people who were marching through the wilderness. He blessed them in the work that they did while they were marching around in the wilderness, which leads, I believe, to a logical conclusion that they were not always marching. There were times—maybe long periods of time—when they were doing work.

Do you think that God was going to take a bunch of bums into the Promised Land—a people with welfare mentalities, where God is just feeding them all the time and taking care of them without developing their talents and abilities? God is not that way. He put the children of Israel to work while they were out there.

I do not know what all they did, but I do know that the elder generation was still alive when they went out there, and I am pretty sure that God had those people who were dying out—that generation of those who were above twenty when that episode took place back at the border of the Promised Land—teach their children and their grandchildren the kind of skills and things they did while they were in Egypt, and passing on the ability to build things.

When the children of Israel finally got on the march again and came to the Promised Land the second time around, they had enough money to buy enough food for two and one-half million people; not once, but twice. Three times. They came upon the Edomites, and then Moabites, and then the Ammonites. In each case they had to buy food and water for them and their stock. Apparently they had plenty to enable them to do this so when His children out there went into the land, they were equipped to build a nation, and they did.

Deuteronomy 2:3-7

The first land they approached was Edom. Your Bible may say Esau. Same people. Then following them was Moab, and after that Ammon.

So He makes it very clear. "I have given this land to these people." Here is the Sovereign determining who is going to live where in His creation. You can see, the Israelites having their own will could have very easily used this as an opportunity to make war against the Edomites, but they had the faith to say, "No. We will not make war. We will do exactly as God said."

Now consider this. The approach of two and one-half million people who lived in the surrounding area of these nations for thirty-eight years, and who then suddenly picked themselves up and began moving toward these nations' borders could hardly have gone unnoticed. You know very well those nations knew the Israelites were headed towards them, and they would have been prepared to make war to repulse them. They did not want to give up "their" country.

The Edomites must have been tentative and wary, wondering what was going on, but here is the God who controls all things, so they did not resist. They listened to the appeals regarding the purchase of things by money, and permitted Israel to pass right through.

Maybe you can appreciate this a little bit more if you understand and know that Esau and Jacob were brothers, that they were highly competitive with each other, and the Edomites have always felt cheated by Israel. So therefore, there would have really been an edge on these people—"Let's get it back now! They are just so much fodder for us. We can attack, and all these women and children there, and it will be ours."

God intervened though, and He kept their tempers in check so they did not threaten Israel. Israel did not threaten them, and they marched right through. One thing you will want to keep in mind here is this: The first three nations whose land they went through were not to be part of Israel's inheritance. God said, "I have given this land to Edom."

Deuteronomy 2:1-7

You would think that, because of all the trouble Israel suffered at the hands of the Edomites down through history, Obadiah would write with great antagonism: "These are our enemies and they deserve this!" But this does not seem to be the case from what I can determine. Reading in some of the commentaries reinforces my perception that there is a seeming sadness throughout these opening verses; and in various other verses throughout the book, we get a sense what can only be called a lament. The message also takes on an imploring tone from time to time. There is a visceral hope for them to change, to not do what is prophesied for them to do. This may spring from God's command in Deuteronomy:

God tells Israel, "Just do as I say and treat the Edomites with kid gloves as you go through their land."

Deuteronomy 2:3-5

The reality is, we are pilgrims just passing on through. God made this clear even to the Israelites. We will look at some of those so that we kind of understand our position a little bit clearer. We all believe that we are citizens of the Kingdom of God, but God began to make sure that the Israelites understood that there were limits regarding what they were living in there in their time.

I read this specifically because I want you to see that there were limits to what the Israelites were permitted to do, even as they approached the Promised Land. God drew lines that they had to respect in regard to them and others.