From Kadesh Moses sent ambassadors to the king of Edom, requesting him
to permit Israel to travel through his territory. "For," thought Moses,
"When our father Jacob with only a small troop of men planned to return
to his father's house, which was not situated in Esau's possessions, he
previously sent a messenger to him to ask his permission. How much more
then does it behoove us, a people of great numbers, to refrain from
entering Edom's territory before receiving his sanction to do so!"
Moses' ambassadors had been commissioned to bear the following message
to the king of Edom: "From the time of our grandfather Abraham, there
was a promissory note to be redeemed, for God had imposed it upon him
that in Egypt his seed should be enslaved and tortured. It had been thy
duty, as well as ours, to redeem this note, and thou knowest that we
have done our duty whereas thou wert not willing. God had, as thou
knowest, promised Abraham that those who had been in bondage in Egypt
should receive Canaan for their possession as a reward. That land,
therefore, is ours, who were in Egypt, and thou who didst shirk the
redemption of the debt, hast now claim to our land. Let us then pass
through thy land until we reach ours. [620] Know also that the
Patriarchs in their grave sympathized with our sufferings in Egypt, and
whenever we called out to God He heard us, and sent us one of His
ministering angels to lead us out of Egypt. Consider, then, that all
thy weapons will avail thee naught if we implore God's aid, who will
then at once overthrow thee and thy hosts, for this is our inheritance,
and 'the voice of Jacob' never proves ineffectual. [621] That thou
mayest not, however, plead that our passage through thy land will bring
thee only annoyances and no gain, I promise thee that although we draw
drink out of a well that accompanies us on our travels, and are
provided with food through the manna, we shall, nevertheless, by water
and food from thy people, that ye may profit by our passage."
This was no idle promise, for Moses had actually asked the people to be
liberal with their money, that the Edomites might not take them to be
poor slaves, but might be convinced that in spite of their stay in
Egypt, Israel was a wealthy nation. Moses also pledged himself to
provide the cattle with muzzles during their passage through Edom, that
they might do no damage to the land of the dwellers there. With these
words he ended his message to the king of Edom: "To the right and to
the left of thy land may we pillage and slaughter, but in accord with
God's words, we may not touch thy possession." But all these prayers
and pleadings of Moses were without avail, for Edom's answer was in the
form of a threat: "Ye depend upon your inheritance, upon 'the voice of
Jacob' which God answers, and I too shall depend upon my inheritance,
'the hand and sword of Esau.'" Israel now had to give up their attempt
to reach their land through Edom's territory, not, however, through
fear, but because God had prohibited them from bringing war upon the
Edomites, even before they had heard from the embassy that Edom had
refused them the right of passage.
The neighborhood of the godless brings disaster, as Israel was to
experience, for they lost the pious Aaron on the boundary of Edom, and
buried him on Mount Hor. The cloud that used to precede Israel, had
indeed been accustomed to level all the mountains, that they might move
on upon level ways, but God retained three mountains in the desert:
Sinai, as the place of the revelation; Nebo, as the burial-place of
Moses; and Hor, consisting of a twin mountain, as a burial-place for
Aaron. Apart from these three mountains, there were none in the desert,
but the cloud would leave little elevations on the place where Israel
pitched camp, that the sanctuary might thereupon be set up. [622]