Numbers 20:21

21 Thus Edom ¹refused to give Israel passage through his territory, so Israel ²turned away from him.

Numbers 20:21 Meaning and Commentary

Ver. 21 Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his country,
&c.] Notwithstanding their near relation to each other, and the fair promises Israel made:

wherefore Israel turned away from him:
patiently bearing the refusal, and not resenting it; being ordered, as the Targum of Jonathan expresses it, by the Word of heaven, not to make war with them, because the time was not yet come to take vengeance on Edom by their hands; and to the same purpose the Targum of Jerusalem.

Numbers 20:21 In-Context

19 And the people of Israel said to him, "We will go up by the highway, and if we drink of your water, I and my livestock, then I will pay for it. Let me only pass through on foot, nothing more."

20 But he said, "You shall not pass through." And Edom came out against them with a large army and with a strong force.

21 Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his territory, so Israel turned away from him.

22 And they journeyed from Kadesh, and the people of Israel, the whole congregation, came to Mount Hor.

23 And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor, on the border of the land of Edom,

Cross References

• 1. [Deuteronomy 2:29]
• 2. [Numbers 21:4; Deuteronomy 2:8; Judges 11:18]