Tag: Edom

#364. Does Yahweh command the Israelites to pass through Edom OR does Moses send messengers to request passage? (Deut 2:2-4 [D] vs Num 20:14-17 [J])
#365. When this occurs, are the Israelites wandering about the hill country of Seir OR are they at Kadesh? (Deut 2:1-2 [D] vs Num 20:14 [J])
#366. The Edomites are afraid of Israel and thus do not provoke a battle OR they seek them out to fight and it is the Israelites who are afraid? (Deut 2:4-5 [D] vs Num 20:18-21 [J]; Judg 11:16-18)
#367. Do the Israelites acquire food and drink from the Edomites OR is this refused? (Deut 2:6-7, 2:28-29 [D] vs Num 20:19-20 [J])
#368. Do the Israelites pass through Edom OR are they refused passage and flee? (Deut 2:7-8, 2:28-29 [D]; Num 21:10, 33:41-44 [P] vs Num 20:21 [J])
#369. After the Israelites’ encounter with Edom, do they march on toward the wilderness of Moab OR around Moab OR into the Negeb against Hormah? (Deut 2:8 [D]; Num 33:43-44 [P] vs Num 21:12-20 [J] vs Num 21:1-3 [J])

Everyone knows that when the Israelites asked for food and water from the Edomites, the Israelites’ brothers from the line of Esau, and permission to pass through their country they were denied these things and forced to pass around Edom. This story we know from Numbers 20:14-21, which scholars have identified as part of the older southern Yahwist tradition [J]. Yet when Moses renarrates this story some 40 years later, narrativelyRead More

#278. Do the Israelites travel from Hor to Oboth OR to Zalmonah? (Num 21:10 vs Num 33:41)

It would seem that the Priestly tradition itself exhibits some variation and discrepancies with respect to the wilderness itinerary. Notwithstanding the fact that P doesn’t record a skirting around Edom tradition (see #268), the specific movement from Hor directly into Edom is variously represented in Numbers 21 and 33. Numbers 21:10 presents the itinerary as follows: Hor ➔ Oboth ➔ Iyye-Abarim While Numbers 33:41 claims: Hor ➔ Zalmonah ➔ Punon ➔Read More

#275. Do the Israelites travel around Edom OR through Edom? (Num 20:21, 21:4 vs Num 21:10; Deut 2:6-8, 2:28-29)

Building on previous contradictions (#268, #274), this contradiction is the result of variant views on the skirting of Edom tradition now preserved in Numbers 20-21: Numbers 20:14-21 preserves the Yahwist story of the skirting of Edom—how on account of the Edomites refusal to let the Israelites pass through their territory, the Israelites were obliged to travel eastward around Edom. Numbers 21:4 is a Redactional insert in imitation of J (?) claimingRead More