Numbers 20:21

21 Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border: wherefore Israel turned 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 children of Israel said unto him, We will go up by the highway; and if we drink of thy water, I and my cattle, then will I give the price thereof: let me only, without [doing] anything [else], pass through on my feet.

20 And he said, Thou shalt not pass 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 they journeyed from Kadesh: and the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, came unto mount Hor.

23 And Jehovah spake unto Moses and Aaron in mount Hor, by the border of the land of Edom, saying,