Numbers 20:17

17 Now let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or vineyard, or drink water from any well; we will go along the King's Highway, not turning aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through your territory."

Numbers 20:17 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 20:17

Let us pass, I pray thee, through thy country
That being the nearest and shortest way to the land of Canaan, from the place where they now were:

we will not pass through the fields, or through the vineyards;
to harm them, and injure any man in his private property, by gathering the fruit of them, if the season of the year for it, or by trampling them down:

neither will we drink of the water of the wells;
which private persons had dug, for the watering of their fields and vineyards, and for other uses, at least without paying for it; or only of the waters of the rivers, common to all passengers; from hence it appears, that the country of Edom was not then such a barren country as in later times, and as travellers ^F3 now report it is; (See Gill on Malachi 1:3)

we will go by the king's highway;
not the way in which the king used to walk, or which he should order them to walk in, as Aben Ezra; but the public roads, common to all his subjects, and travellers to walk in by his allowance; and such roads are now called by us the king's highway:

we will not turn to the right hand, or to the left;
to do any injury to any person's property, but go straight forward:

until we have passed thy borders;
from one to another, and got quite through the country.

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 See Shaw's Travels, 4. 438. Ed. 2.

Numbers 20:17 In-Context

15 how our ancestors went down to Egypt, and we lived in Egypt a long time; and the Egyptians oppressed us and our ancestors;

16 and when we cried to the Lord, he heard our voice, and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt; and here we are in Kadesh, a town on the edge of your territory.

17 Now let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or vineyard, or drink water from any well; we will go along the King's Highway, not turning aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through your territory."

18 But Edom said to him, "You shall not pass through, or we will come out with the sword against you."

19 The Israelites said to him, "We will stay on the highway; and if we drink of your water, we and our livestock, then we will pay for it. It is only a small matter; just let us pass through on foot."