Numbers 20:21

21 So Edom would not let Israel go through his land; and Israel went in another direction.

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 to him, We will go up by the highway: and if we or our cattle take of your water, we will give you a price for it: only let us go through on our feet, nothing more.

20 But he said, You are not to go through. And Edom came out against them in his strength, with a great army.

21 So Edom would not let Israel go through his land; and Israel went in another direction.

22 And they went on from Kadesh, and came, with all their people, to Mount Hor.

23 And at Mount Hor, at the edge of the land of Edom, the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,