In Deuteronomy 2, Moses talks about Israel’s relatives in Canaan (Edom, Moab, and Ammon) and the giants they faced to get their land. In this chapter, Moses reveals two things. First, they have no reason to fear the giants dwelling among the Canaanites, as these are only a remnant of the Rephaites (giants) who were there before. The rest of whom were previously defeated by Israel’s relatives, so they are not immortal, nor is defeating them impossible. Second, the promised land is a specific geographical section that God will give to the Israelites, and they shouldn’t attempt to take land from their relatives unless God hands it over, as that is their allotted portion.
Lesson number one, no reason to fear the giants:
It was the fear of the Rephaites (giants) that prevented them from entering the promised land for 40 years (Num 14:26-45). There are the Aankites in Canaan that the Israelites were supposed to face. Then there are the Emites who were defeated by the Moabites, and the Zamzummites whom the Ammonites defeated. There is also a mention of the Horites driven out by Edomites (Esau), but it doesn’t appear they were giants. God wanted all of those giants in Canaan defeated, and used relatives of Abraham to do it.
Israel comes to the region after the Exodus from Egypt to take possession of the promised land, and they would have needed to purge the land of the Canaanites, which included the giants. Perhaps this contributed to why God was displeased with the negative report of the 10 scouts in Numbers 13-14, who claimed that God was not with Israel and that the giants were too powerful. I think the point being made here is that if God can use Gentile nations who are simply related to Abraham to get rid of giants, imagine what he can do for his chosen people, whom he rescued from Egypt and brought through the wilderness. They have nothing to fear. They have the greater blessing because they descend from Isaac (the promised seed) and Jacob (who inherited the blessing from the promised seed).
In the second lesson, the promised land is defined explicitly by specific boundaries:
Edom:
Deut 2:4 (NLT) Give these orders to the people: “You will pass through the country belonging to your relatives the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. The Edomites will feel threatened, so be careful. 5 Do not bother them, for I have given them all the hill country around Mount Seir as their property, and I will not give you even one square foot of their land.
Moab:
Deut 2:8 “So we bypassed the territory of our relatives, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. We avoided the road through the Arabah Valley that comes up from Elath and Ezion-geber. “Then as we turned north along the desert route through Moab, 9 the Lord warned us, ‘Do not bother the Moabites, the descendants of Lot, or start a war with them. I have given them Ar as their property, and I will not give you any of their land.’”
Ammon:
Deut 2:16 “When all the men of fighting age had died, 17 the Lord said to me, 18 ‘Today you will cross the border of Moab at Ar 19 and enter the land of the Ammonites, the descendants of Lot. But do not bother them or start a war with them. I have given the land of Ammon to them as their property, and I will not give you any of their land.”
They were not allowed to take the land of the Moabites, Ammonites, or Edomites. These nations are all descendants of or related to Abraham in some way, and so God blesses them with their land allotments based on the Abrahamic covenant. Moab and Ammon are the descendants of Abraham’s nephew Lot (Gen 19:30-38). This makes them Isaac’s cousins and, therefore, Israel’s relatives. Edom (Esau) is the brother of Israel (Jacob) (Gen 25:19-26). Although Edom was the firstborn of Isaac (the promised seed of Abraham), Jacob took the birthright (Gen 25:27-34) and the blessing from him (Gen 27). This means that Jacob (later renamed Israel) inherited the mantle of the promised seed, and therefore, the Israelites are the promised nation. However, Edom, being a descendant of Abraham, still has a blessing.
Abraham’s eight sons are: Ishmael from Hagar (Genesis 16), Isaac from Sarah (Genesis 21:1-7), and from his second wife, Keturah: Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah (Genesis 25:1-4).
All of these children became the nations we see in Moses’ era; however, only Isaac was the promised seed because he was born from Sarah, the wife of the promise. God said He would bless all of Abraham’s children, but a unique blessing was attached to Isaac because he was Sarah’s son. The promised miracle was that Sarah would conceive a child (Genesis 17). Learn more about Isaac as the promised seed here.
Isaac was the father of Jacob (Israel) and Esau (Edom). Ishmael is the father of the Ishmaelites (Gen 25:12-18). Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan. Dedan’s descendants were the Asshurites, Letushites, and Leummites (Gen 25:3). Midian is the father of the Midianites. When Moses became a fugitive after killing an Egyptian, he fled to Midian and lived there for 40 years (Acts 7:23), where he married Zipporah, the daughter of the high priest in Midian (Ex 2:11-22). They are also the ones who worked with the Moabites and Ammonites to seduce Israel (Numbers ch. 25, Deut 23:3-6). You can learn more about the Midianites here.
Three Gentile nations drove out Canaanites in the same region, and all of them were related to Abraham. Israel was told to conquer the remaining Canaanites but to leave these three nations alone because God had blessed them with the land they had because they were relatives of Abraham.
The boundaries of the promised land are given in Ex 23:31 and Num 34:1-12:
Exodus 23:31 “And I will fix your boundaries from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the eastern wilderness to the Euphrates River. I will hand over to you the people now living in the land, and you will drive them out ahead of you.
Numbers 31:1 Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “Give these instructions to the Israelites: When you come into the land of Canaan, which I am giving you as your special possession, these will be the boundaries. 3 The southern portion of your country will extend from the wilderness of Zin, along the edge of Edom. The southern boundary will begin on the east at the Dead Sea. 4 It will then run south past Scorpion Pass in the direction of Zin. Its southernmost point will be Kadesh-barnea, from which it will go to Hazar-addar, and on to Azmon. 5 From Azmon the boundary will turn toward the Brook of Egypt and end at the Mediterranean Sea. 6 “Your western boundary will be the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea. 7 “Your northern boundary will begin at the Mediterranean Sea and run east to Mount Hor, 8 then to Lebo-hamath, and on through Zedad 9 and Ziphron to Hazar-enan. This will be your northern boundary. 10 “The eastern boundary will start at Hazar-enan and run south to Shepham, 11 then down to Riblah on the east side of Ain. From there the boundary will run down along the eastern edge of the Sea of Galilee, 12 and then along the Jordan River to the Dead Sea. These are the boundaries of your land.”
Joshua, chapters 13-19, delve into the details of how the land was to be divided among the tribes. When discussing the cities of refuge, there is a promise of receiving additional land if they keep the commands in Deuteronomy 19:8-9. This expansion may relate to the curse over Moab and Edom, which ultimately results in their defeat by Israel, as mentioned in Num 24:17-19. Later, Obadiah in his book proclaims the destruction of Edom because of their harsh treatment of Israel, while Babylon is exiling them. This protection over these nations and their allotment is governed by a conditional statement based on their conduct, just as Israel’s security is in Deuteronomy 28. If these nations sinned against Israel while Israel did what was right, there was a promise to hand their land over to Israel. Of course, both Israel and Judah failed to keep the commands and were exiled to Babylon, so they never had a chance to receive the expansion.
The lesson here is not to give in to fear when God has something we must fight for; we must trust that if He said it is ours, then we have a right to it, and He will give us favor in obtaining it. In addition, God did not tell them just to conquer whatever they wanted; they had to go where they were assigned. Likewise, we cannot take whatever we wish; it must be something God has promised to us. Furthermore, in Numbers 14:26-45, when God told them they would not enter the land for 40 years because they listened to the doubtful spies, they changed their minds at the last minute and tried to fight anyway. However, God was not with them because he had already made up his mind that they would wait 40 years, so they were defeated by the Amalekites and were chased away. From this, we can gather that everything is in God’s timing, and if God says no, the answer is NO. If we try to take something after God says wait, we will get hurt. Trusting God doesn’t mean trusting He will do what we say; it means trusting that He will keep his promises (Prov 3:5).