14. And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto the king of Edom, Thus saith thy brother Israel, Thou knowest all the travel that hath befallen us;
15. How our fathers went down into Egypt, and we have dwelt in Egypt a long time; and the Egyptians vexed us and our fathers:
16. And when we cried unto the Lord, he heard our voice, and sent an angel, and hath brought us forth out of Egypt; and, behold, we are in Kadesh, a city in the uttermost of thy border.
17. Let us pass, I pray thee, through thy country: we will not pass through the fields, or through the vineyards, neither will we drink of the water of the wells: we will go by the king’s high-way, we will not turn to the right hand nor to the left, until we have passed thy borders.
18. And Edom said unto him, Thou shalt not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword.
19. And the children of Israel said unto him, We will go by the high-way; and if I and my cattle drink of thy water, then I will pay for it: I will only (without doing any thing else) go through on my feet.
20. And he said, Thou shalt not go through. And Edom came out against him with much people, and with a strong hand.
21. Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border: wherefore Israel turned away from him.
22. And the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, journeyed from Kadesh, and came unto mount Hor.
14. And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh. His first narrative does not explain the cause of the embassy, but from the account in Deuteronomy it is plain float peace 1 was sought for from the Edomites as brethren by the command of God. God, therefore, prescribes the conditions of peace and war; lest the Israelites should rashly attack ally, who were not to be reckoned enemies, although they might act towards them with little humanity. Undoubtedly this would seem hard to His people that they were to leave a country, which was close to them, untouched, and to seek a more distant place of abode. But God restrains their impatience for a twofold reason; first, because it was unjust and by no means humane to assail their kindred; and both these nations were descended from Isaac, and their original ancestors were twin brothers. Circumcision, too, was common to them both, a mark of their being’ of the same origin, and a bond of fraternal connection. But the other reason ought to have had more weight in restraining them, because it was unlawful to cast the children of Esau out of the possession, which they had obtained by a similar right as that whereby the land of Canaan had been promised to the posterity of Jacob. If, therefore, they desired to enjoy their own inheritance, the decree was not to be violated which God had pronounced by the mouth of Isaac, (Genesis 27:39;) especially since Esau the founder of the race (of the Edomites) had fixed his home in Mount Seir by the secret inspiration of God, and to that place had his posterity beck confined. God, therefore, now admonishes them that it would have been an act of sacrilegious audacity, if the Israelites should attempt to overthrow the prophecy of Isaac, by which Esau had been declared the possessor of a rich and fertile soil.
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Footnotes
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“Sauf conduit, et amitie;” safe conduct and friendship. — Fr. ↩