Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 20:18
And Edom said unto him, Thou shalt not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword.
i.e. Through my country, as thou desirest; I will not suffer time to do so: which was an act of common policy to secure themselves from so numerous a host.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And Edom said unto him,…. The king of Edom replied to Israel, represented by the messengers sent in their name:
thou shall not pass by me; through my country:
lest I come out against thee with the sword; or with those that use the sword, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan; that is, with an army of soldiers with their drawn swords in their hands, to slay them as enemies.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Edomites refused the visit of the Israelites in a most unbrotherly manner, and threatened to come out against them with the sword, without paying the least attention to the repeated assurance of the Israelitish messengers, that they would only march upon the high road, and would pay for water for themselves and their cattle. , lit., “ it is nothing at all; I will go through with my feet: ” i.e., we want no great thing; we will only make use of the high road.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Verses 18-21:
The king of Edom refused Moses’ request for safe passage through the Land of Edom. Israel offered assurance that they would pay for whatever their livestock at or drank along the way. Still the fear and jealousy of the king of Edom prompted him to deny their request. He reinforced his refusal by mustering a large, well-armed military force in the mountain passes east of Kadesh to prevent Israel’s entering his territory, see De 2:1-8. The Prophet Obadiah pronounced God’s judgment upon the Edomites because of their continued hostility toward Israel.
Israel turned southward, to make a circuit around the land of Edom, in keeping with the Divine edict.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
18. Thou shalt not pass by me Literally, in me. This refusal was dictated partly by the hereditary grudge cherished by Esau against Jacob, (Gen 27:41,) and partly by fear of so great a multitude passing through his country. Exo 17:8-16. In consequence of this refusal, Israel, instead of marching through some pass in Mount Seir, was obliged to make a detour southward around Edom. The only alternative was an aggression upon the country of Edom and a fratricidal war which was against the divine will. Deu 2:5; see Num 21:4, note.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Num 20:18 And Edom said unto him, Thou shalt not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword.
Ver. 18. Thou shalt not pass. ] As fearing what so great an army once got in might do; they are not usually so easily removed. It was therefore great injustice in Pope Julius, to excommunicate and depose John, king of Navarre, as a heretic, and public enemy to the see apostolic, because being himself a peer of the realm of France, and having a great part of his patrimony in that country, he would not suffer the Spaniard, the Pope’s champion, to lead an army through his country against the French, his liege lord, and deliver to him three of the strongest castles he had in his kingdom. a
a Guicciard., lib. ii.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
by me = through me. “Me” put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Adjunct), App-6, for “my country”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Reciprocal: Num 20:20 – Thou shalt Num 21:4 – compass Deu 2:29 – As the children
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Num 20:18-19. By me Through my country: I will not suffer thee to do so; which was an act of policy, to secure themselves from so numerous a host. Said That is, their messengers replied what here follows.