- What do we learn from this chapter of the sovereignty of God over the nations?
Cf. 32:8; Acts 17:26. - Why were Edom, Moab and Ammon spared on this occasion, whereas the Amorites were exterminated?
Note verses 4, 5, 9, 19; and cf. Amos 1:11-2:3. - What do verses 24 and 31 teach about the relationship between divine grace and human faith? Cf. Eph. 2:8
Notes
- Verse 1. ‘For a long time’: nearly thirty-eight years; cf. verse 14.
- Verse 4 – 8. This is not the same incident as that of Num. 20:14-21, but a later instruction when Israel had reached the eastern border of Edom.
- Verses 10 – 12 and 20 – 23 are parenthetical notes on ancient history.
- Verse 30. A judicial hardening, i.e., to punish one already opposed to God.
- Verse 34. A ‘Completely destroyed’: ‘devoted to destruction’, i.e., under God’s curse.