Deuteronomy 2:12

12 Soothly Horims dwelled before in Seir, and when they were put out, and were done away, the sons of Esau dwelled there, as Israel did in the land of his possession, which the Lord gave to him. (And the Horims lived there before in Seir, and when they were put out, and were done away, then the sons of Esau lived there, like the Israelites did in the land of their possession, which the Lord gave to them.)

Deuteronomy 2:12 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 2:12

The Horims also dwelt in Seir before time
Which is the name of a mount, and so of the country, from it; so called from Seir the Horite, who dwelt in it before it was possessed by Esau and his sons; but who the Horim or Horites were, from whence they had their name, is difficult to say; they were as early as the times of Chedorlaomer, ( Genesis 14:6 ) . They seem to be so called from their dwelling in holes and caves in rocks, which the southern part of Edom or Idumea was full of, and to be the same the Greeks call Troglodytae:

but the children of Esau succeeded them;
Esau and his sons marrying among them, made way for getting the country into their possession, as appears from ( Genesis 36:2 Genesis 36:8 Genesis 36:12 Genesis 36:20 Genesis 36:25 ) and in which they afterwards settled themselves by the dint of sword, since it follows:

when they had destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their
stead;
even in Seir where they had dwelt, afterwards called Edom, from one of the names of Esau, ( Genesis 36:8 Genesis 36:9 Genesis 36:20 )

as Israel did in the land of his possession, which the Lord gave unto
them;
because this is said before the Canaanites were drove out of their land, and it was possessed by the Israelites, some think this was written by Ezra, or some other hand; but there is no need to suppose that; Moses, by a spirit of prophecy, and in faith of the promises and prophecies of God relating to this affair, which were just now about to be fulfilled, might write this; besides, it may refer to what was already done to the kingdoms of Sihon and Og, kings of the Amorites; which had been taken from them, and given to the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh; and the above instances as well as this may be observed, to encourage the people of Israel that they should succeed in dispossessing the Canaanites, and settling in their land, in like manner as dispossessions of this kind had already been made.

Deuteronomy 2:12 In-Context

10 Emim were the first dwellers thereof, a great people, and strong, and so high, (The Emims were the first inhabitants there, a great and strong people, and so tall,)

11 that they were believed to be as giants, of the generation of Anakim, and they were like the sons of Anakim; forsooth Moabites call them Emim (but the Moabites call them the Emims).

12 Soothly Horims dwelled before in Seir, and when they were put out, and were done away, the sons of Esau dwelled there, as Israel did in the land of his possession, which the Lord gave to him. (And the Horims lived there before in Seir, and when they were put out, and were done away, then the sons of Esau lived there, like the Israelites did in the land of their possession, which the Lord gave to them.)

13 Therefore we rose up, that we should pass the strand of Zered, and we came to it. (And so we rose up, and went out, and crossed over the Zered River.)

14 Soothly the time in which we went from Kadeshbarnea till to the passing of the strand of Zered, was of eight and thirty years (And the time it took us to go from Kadeshbarnea until we crossed over the Zered River, was thirty-eight years), till all the generation of fighting men was wasted from their tents, as the Lord had sworn;