Deuteronomy 2:8

8 And we passed by our brethren the children of Esau, who dwelt in Seir, by the way of Araba from Aelon and from Gesion Gaber; and we turned and passed by the way of the desert of Moab.

Deuteronomy 2:8 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 2:8

And when we passed by from our brethren the children of Esau,
which dwelt in Self
Along their coasts, by the borders of their country:

through the way of the plain;
the wilderness of Zin, where Kadesh was:

from Elath and Eziongeber;
the two ports on the shore of the Red sea in the land of Edom; it was from the latter they came to Kadesh; see ( Numbers 33:35 Numbers 33:36 ) . Elath was ten miles from Petra, the metropolis of Edom, to the east of it, as Jerom says F26; it is by Josephus F1 called Aelana, and by the Septuagint here Ailon; from whence the Elanitic bay has its name; he speaks of it as not far from Eziongeber, which he says was then called Berenice:

we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab;
the wilderness which is before Moab, towards the sun rising or the east, ( Numbers 21:11 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F26 De loc. Heb. fol. 91. E.
F1 Antiqu. l. 8. c. 6. sect. 4.

Deuteronomy 2:8 In-Context

6 Buy food of them for money and eat, and ye shall receive water of them by measure for money, and drink.
7 For the Lord our God has blessed thee in every work of thy hands. Consider how thou wentest through that great and terrible wilderness: behold, the Lord thy God with thee forty years; thou didst not lack any thing.
8 And we passed by our brethren the children of Esau, who dwelt in Seir, by the way of Araba from Aelon and from Gesion Gaber; and we turned and passed by the way of the desert of Moab.
9 And the Lord said to me, Do not ye quarrel with the Moabites, and do not engage in war with them; for I will not give you of their land for an inheritance, for I have given Aroer to the children of Lot to inherit.
10 Formerly the Ommin dwelt in it, a great and numerous nation and powerful, like the Enakim.

The Brenton translation of the Septuagint is in the public domain.