Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 2:13

Now rise up, [said I], and get you over the brook Zered. And we went over the brook Zered.

13. Now rise up ] Sam., LXX, And now rise and break camp; cp. Deu 2:24.

and get you over the brook Zered ] Wdy, or torrent-valley, Zered. JE, Num 21:12, they marched thence, the E. desert of Mo’ab, and camped in the W. Zered. The name, LXX Zaret, does not occur again in the O.T. nor is it in Josephus. Euseb. and Jer. give it only as the name of a desert wdy. On the Mdab Mosaic map (5th century) a wdy flowing to the Dead Sea, S. of Kerak, bears the letters – , according to some, but if this reading be correct it maybe no more than a conjecture. The theory that the Zered was the W. el-sa is impossible; as we have seen, Israel was already N. of that S. frontier of Mo’ab. Equally impossible is the view substituted for this by most commentaries, that it was an upper stretch of the W. Kerak; for Brnnow and Musil have shown that the W. Kerak runs up E. but a short distance from Kerak. N. of the W. el-sa the Hajj road crosses the W. es-Sulan, the great S. affluent of the Mjeb or Arnon, and proper frontier between the fertile land of Mo’ab and the E. desert. The W. es-Sulan forms a distinct landmark on this route, and, because of the water always to be found by digging in its bed, is a suitable camping-place. So Musil, Moab, 316, 319 n., 15. But if this be the Zered, Israel crossed it not, as Musil implies, from E. to W. for in that case they would have had to bend E. again to his probable site for ‘Ar at Medeyyneh (see Deu 2:9), or cross the difficult lower stretches of the Arnon but from S.W. to N.E. as the Hajj road does now.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

The words, said I, are not in the Hebrew. The words rise up, and get you over the brook Zered (Num 21:12 note) connect themselves with Deu 2:9, and form the conclusion of what God said to Moses.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

13. Now rise up, and get you overthe brook ZeredThe southern border of Moab, Zered(“woody”), now Wady Ahsy, separates the modern district ofKerak from Jebal, and, indeed, forms a natural division of thecountry between the north and south. Ar, called in later timesRabbah, was the capital of Moab and situated twenty-five miles southof the Arnon on the banks of a small but shady stream, the BeniHamed. It is here mentioned as representative of the countrydependent on it, a rich and well-cultivated country, as appears fromthe numerous ruins of cities, as well as from the traces of tillagestill visible on the fields.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Now rise up, said I, and get you over the brook Zered,…. It is called the valley of Zered, Nu 21:12, the word used signifying both a valley and a brook; and it is very probable there were both a valley and a brook of the same name; it must be near Dibongad, since in one place it is said the Israelites came from Ijim and pitched in Zered; and in another place that they came from thence, and pitched in Dibongad, Nu 21:11 and Nu 33:45

and we went over the brook Zered; which was fordable, or perhaps at this time dried up.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

13. Now rise up. He now proceeds with what he had begun in verse 9, viz, that God had commanded them to pass by the land of Seir, and to advance to the brook Zered; as much as to say, that after they had been subdued by their misfortunes, they were prohibited from further progress, until God should open the way before them, and thus they should follow Him as their leader, and not make a passage for themselves at their own discretion.

He afterwards specifies the period of delay which they had been compelled by God to pass in the desert, after they had once reached the borders of the promised land. He says, then, that after thirty-eight years they had at length returned to the land from whence they had been obliged to retire; and briefly reminds them how long the course of their deliverance had been interrupted through their own fault, since they had gone forth to enjoy the promised land. He calls those “warlike men,” or, in the Hebrew, “men of war,” whose age entitled them to bear arms, i.e., who had exceeded their twentieth year.

When mention is elsewhere made of forty years, the two years are then included which were spent both in Mount Sinai and in other places; and with good reason, because, during that time also, their sins prevented them from passing to the enjoyment of their inheritance immediately after the promulgation of the law.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(13) Now rise up, said I.A continuation of the order in Deu. 2:9. The words said I are not needed.

The brook Zered is not yet identified. (See Num. 21:12.) Several streams run into the Dead Sea on its eastern side south of Arnon; Zered is possibly one of these. Or it may be a tributary of Arnon, which has one large tributary running from south to north.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

13. Now rise up, said I The words said I are not found in the Hebrew, and should be omitted. The connexion is with the ninth verse. It is Jehovah who said, Rise up, and get you over the brook Zered. This river was the southern boundary of Moab, and separated it from Mount Seir, or the territory of Edom. See Num 21:12. Robinson ( Biblical Researches) thinks that Zered is probably the Wady el-Ahsy, which forms a natural division between the country on the north and on the south. Others think Zered is the Wady Kerek.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The Children of Israel Journey Forty Years in the Wilderness In Deu 2:13-15 Moses rehearses Israel’s forty-year journey in the wilderness.

Deu 2:13  Now rise up, said I, and get you over the brook Zered. And we went over the brook Zered.

Deu 2:14  And the space in which we came from Kadeshbarnea, until we were come over the brook Zered, was thirty and eight years; until all the generation of the men of war were wasted out from among the host, as the LORD sware unto them.

Deu 2:15  For indeed the hand of the LORD was against them, to destroy them from among the host, until they were consumed.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures