This retrospective on the gains of the present generation (GenB) begins with a recapitulation of the lands that were denied to them. In each case the divine insistence that "I will not give you any of their land" is categorically asserted (v5, 9, 19) with the explanation that Yahweh had "given" them to their present inhabitants; Israel was never the only, nor the first, to be gifted by God with land.
Commentators, customarily, see this unit as ending with v23, v25, or v30 and, therefore, as divided into three main sub-units like this:
A. The Journey through Seir, vv2-8.
B. The Journey through Moab, vv9-16.
C. The Journey through Ammon, vv17-23 (or 25/30).
While having the advantage of orderly geographical progression, such a schema obscures a number of important features in the text.
1. It misses the observation that vv2-31 is a literary unit demarcated by a chiastically bound structure:
A. Yahweh's Command: "Then Yahweh said to me, 'You have . . .'" v2
B. Israel instructed to pass through the land given to the descendants of Esau: "You are about to pass through the territory of . . . the descendants of Esau who live in Seir . . . not enough to put your foot on . . . you are to pay them in silver for the food you eat and the water you drink," vv3-8.
Ca. Israel instructed not to harass the descendants of Lot: "Do not harass the Moabites or provoke them to war, for I will not give you any part of their land for I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as a possession," v9.
Cb. Of Rephaites, Anakites, and Horites: "The Emites used to live there . . . strong and numerous, and as tall as the Anakites . . . Rephaites . . . Horites used to live in Seir but the descendants of Esau dispossessed them. They destroyed the Horites . . ," vv10-12.
D. Journey Marker: "Yahweh said, 'Now get up and cross the Zered Valley . . ,'" v13.
E. The total elimination of the past generation, vv14-16.
D'. Journey Marker: "Yahweh said, 'Today you will cross the region of Moab at Ar,'" v17-18
Ca'. Israel instructed not to harass the descendants of Lot: ". . . do not harass [the Ammonites] or provoke them, for I will not give you any part of the land of the Ammonites, for I have given them to the descendants of Lot as a possession," v19.
Cb'. Of Rephaites, Anakites, and Horites: ". . . Rephaites used to live there . . . called Zamzummites . . . strong and numerous, and as tall as the Anakites. . . Yahweh destroyed them from before the Ammonites, who dispossessed them. Yahweh had done the same for the descendants of Esau, who used to live in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites," vv20-23.
B'. Israel requests Sihon to let them pass though his land as
they did in the land given to descendants of Esau: "Let
us pass through your country . . . sell us food to eat and water to drink for their price in silver . . . Only let us pass through on foot as the descendants of Esau who live in Seir . . . did for us," vv24-30.
A'. Yahweh's Command: "Then Yahweh said to me, 'See, I have . . ,'" v31.
2. While the account of the journey through Moab (vv9-16) parallels the recall of the journey through Ammon (vv17-23) in expression and structure, the recollection of Israel's encounter with Seir-Edom (vv2-8) is not only more developed, but also key phrases of it are repeated in the peace overture to Sihon (vv24-30).
3. It overlooks the fact that v13 and v17-18 enclose the verses in between in a literary bound unit (we shall have opportunity to look at this in detail in our comments on vv9-24a below).
4. It ignores the inclusio—"See, I have . . ."—formed by v24b and v31, so that the intervening verses constitute a unit.2
In the light of these observations, we suggest the following division of this unit:
A. Journey through the Possession of Esau's Descendants, 2:2-8.
B. Journey through the Possession of Lot's Descendants, vv9-23.
C. Overture to Sihon, vv24-31.
Low Chai Hok
©Alberith, rev., 2021