Deuteronomy 2:9

9 And the LORD said unto me, Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle; for I will not give thee of their land for a possession because I have given Ar unto the sons of Lot for an inheritance.

Deuteronomy 2:9 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 2:9

And the Lord said unto me
When upon the borders of Moab:

distress not the Moabites, neither contend with than in battle;
besiege not any of their cities, nor draw them into a battle, or provoke them to fight:

for I will not give thee of their land for a possession;
at least not as yet, the measure of their sins not being fully up, and the time of their punishment not come; otherwise in David's time they were subdued, and became tributaries to him, and the Edomites also, ( 2 Samuel 8:2 2 Samuel 8:14 ) ,

because I have given Ar unto the children of Lot for a possession;
so the Moabites were, they sprung from Moab, a son of Lot by his firstborn daughter, ( Genesis 19:37 ) . Ar was the metropolis of Moab, called Ar of Moab, ( Isaiah 15:1 ) and is here put for the whole country of Moab; so Aben Ezra interprets it of Moab. Jarchi says it is the name of the province; in the Septuagint version it called Aroer.

Deuteronomy 2:9 In-Context

7 For the LORD thy God has blessed thee in all the works of thy hand; he knows thy walking through this great wilderness; these forty years the LORD thy God has been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.

8 And when we passed by our brethren, the sons of Esau, who dwelt in Seir, through the way of the plain from Elath and from Eziongaber, we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab.

9 And the LORD said unto me, Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle; for I will not give thee of their land for a possession because I have given Ar unto the sons of Lot for an inheritance.

10 (The Emims dwelt therein in times past, a people great, and many and tall as the Anakims,

11 which also were accounted giants as the Anakims; but the Moabites call them Emims.