Commentary - Deuteronomy 2:16-23

Bird's-eye view

In this passage, Moses continues his historical prologue to the covenant renewal on the plains of Moab. The generation of rebellion has died off, and a new, sanctified generation stands ready to take the land. But before they engage the Amorite kings, God gives them specific instructions regarding their relatives: the sons of Ammon. Just as with Edom and Moab, Israel is commanded to leave Ammon alone. The central lesson here is a powerful demonstration of God's absolute sovereignty over all nations, not just Israel. Yahweh is the great King over all the earth, and He is the one who distributes real estate. He gave Seir to Esau, Ar to Moab, and the land of the Ammonites to the sons of Lot. This is not their land to take.

The passage is punctuated by a fascinating parenthetical section that functions as a divine historical commentary. Moses, under the inspiration of the Spirit, explains that God had previously dispossessed various giant clans, the Rephaim, Zamzummin, Horites, and Avvim, to make way for the Ammonites, Edomites, and even the Philistines. This is world history from a divine perspective. God is the one who topples giants and moves peoples. This historical note serves a dual purpose: it reinforces God's sovereign power to give Israel the land of Canaan by showing His track record, and it simultaneously puts Israel in their place. Their victories will not be because of their own strength, but because the same God who gave land to their cousins is now giving a different, and better, land to them.

Outline

Context In Deuteronomy

This section is part of Moses' first great address (Deut 1:6-4:40), which recounts Israel's journey from Horeb to the border of the Promised Land. The immediate context is the end of the thirty-eight years of wilderness wandering, a period of judgment for the unbelief at Kadesh-barnea (Deut 1:19-46). Now that the "men of war" from that faithless generation have perished, the period of judgment is over. God's forward-moving redemptive plan resumes. The narrative has already detailed the command to bypass Edom (descendants of Esau) and Moab (descendants of Lot). This passage adds the Ammonites (also descendants of Lot) to the list of protected relatives. This entire section (Deut 2:1-23) serves as a crucial setup for the first battles of the conquest, which begin immediately after this against Sihon, king of the Amorites (Deut 2:24ff). It establishes the principle that God is the one who determines the boundaries of nations and the outcomes of battles.

Key Issues

God, the Great Landlord

One of the central themes of the Bible, from start to finish, is that the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof (Ps 24:1). He owns it all. He is the great landlord, and all nations are His tenants. He raises up empires and He casts them down. He sets the boundaries of their habitation (Acts 17:26). This passage in Deuteronomy is one of the clearest expressions of this truth in the Old Testament. We are accustomed to thinking of God's special relationship with Israel, and how He gave them the land of Canaan. But here, Moses pulls back the curtain to show that God is just as involved in the affairs of Moab, Edom, and Ammon.

He is the one who drove out the Horites for Esau. He is the one who destroyed the towering Rephaim for the sons of Lot. This is not an abstract theological doctrine; it is gritty, geopolitical history. God is not a remote deity, nor is He a tribal god concerned only with Israel. He is the king of all history, and the story of Israel's conquest is just one chapter, albeit the most important chapter, in His grand story of reclaiming the whole world for His glory. Understanding this keeps us from a cramped, provincial view of God's work and reminds us that the God who gave Israel her land is the same God who commands us to disciple all the nations.

Verse by Verse Commentary

16-17 “So it happened when all the men of war had come to an end in death from among the people, that Yahweh spoke to me, saying,

The narrative resumes after a long pause. For thirty-eight years, the primary activity of Israel was waiting for a generation to die. It was a long, slow funeral procession through the desert. The "men of war" refers to the entire generation of males who were twenty years old and upward at Kadesh-barnea, the men who refused to trust God and take the land. Their death was a judicial sentence from God (Num 14:29). Now that the sentence has been fully carried out, the period of judgment is officially over. The slate is clean. God's word, which had been largely silent during the wandering, now comes to Moses again with forward-moving commands. The death of the old is the necessary prerequisite for the life of the new. This is a pattern throughout Scripture. The old man must be crucified with Christ before the new man can live.

18-19 ‘Today you are about to cross over Ar, the border of Moab. And you will come opposite the sons of Ammon. Do not harass them nor provoke them, for I will not give you any of the land of the sons of Ammon as a possession because I have given it to the sons of Lot as a possession.’

Having passed by Edom and Moab, the next border they will encounter is that of Ammon. The instructions are identical to the ones given concerning their other relatives. They are not to start a fight. They are not to antagonize them. The reason given is simple and profound: God has already given that land to someone else. The land of the Ammonites belongs to the sons of Lot, and God is the one who gave them the deed. This is a lesson in divine property rights. Israel was not a marauding horde taking whatever they could by force. They were a covenant army with a specific, limited commission. Their inheritance was Canaan, not the whole world at that time. God's respect for the land grant He gave to the Ammonites should teach Israel, and us, to respect God's sovereign distributions. He is Lord of all, and His purposes extend beyond the immediate concerns of the covenant people.

20-21 (It is also regarded as the land of the Rephaim, for Rephaim formerly lived in it, but the Ammonites call them Zamzummin, a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim, but Yahweh destroyed them before them. And they dispossessed them and settled in their place,

Here begins the inspired historical parenthesis. This land, now held by the Ammonites, used to be the territory of the Rephaim. The Rephaim were one of the ancient clans of giants that inhabited the land before the time of Abraham (Gen 14:5). The Ammonites had their own name for this particular branch of the Rephaim: Zamzummin, a name which may mimic the sound of their speech, perhaps meaning "murmurers" or "buzzers." The description of them is striking: they were great, numerous, and tall, on the same scale as the infamous Anakim who had terrified the Israelite spies forty years earlier. But what happened to these fearsome giants? Moses gives the answer: Yahweh destroyed them. God Himself fought for the Ammonites, pagan idolaters though they were, to give them their promised inheritance. He cleared out the giants for them. This is a staggering piece of information, designed to bolster Israel's faith. If God did this for the sons of Lot, what will He not do for the sons of Abraham?

22 just as He did for the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites from before them; they dispossessed them and settled in their place even to this day.

Moses provides another example to drive the point home. The land of Edom, or Seir, was not always possessed by the descendants of Esau. It was originally the land of the Horites (Gen 36:20). But God, in His providence, destroyed the Horites to make way for the Edomites. This is presented as a direct parallel to what He did for the Ammonites. The phrase "even to this day" emphasizes the permanence and success of God's work. He did not just give them a temporary victory; He established them in the land. The history of the surrounding nations is not random. It is a history directed by the hand of Yahweh for His own purposes. He is settling the board, arranging the pieces, all in preparation for the central move of redemptive history: placing His own people in His own land.

23 And the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim who came from Caphtor, destroyed them and lived in their place.)

The final example in this historical note concerns a people group on the coastal plain, near the border of Canaan proper. The Avvim, an ancient people, were dispossessed by the Caphtorim. Caphtor is generally identified with Crete, which means the Caphtorim are the Philistines. So, even the Philistines, who would become one of Israel's most persistent enemies, received their land by an act of divine providence. God cleared out the previous inhabitants to make a place for them. This detail is particularly instructive. God's sovereign control over history is not limited to granting favors to Israel's relatives. He even carves out a place for her future enemies. This demonstrates that all nations, whether friendly, related, or hostile, hold their land and their power entirely at God's pleasure. He is setting the stage for the conflicts to come, and He is in utter control of all the players.

Application

This passage is a potent corrective to any man-centered view of history, politics, or evangelism. God is the one who runs the world. He gives kingdoms to whomever He will, and He does so according to His perfect and exhaustive plan. This should fill the Christian with a profound sense of confidence and peace. The chaotic headlines of our day are not outside of His control. The rising and falling of nations, the shifting of borders, and the movements of peoples are all being orchestrated by the same God who cleared out the Zamzummin for the Ammonites.

Secondly, this passage reminds us that God's plan is bigger than just us. He had purposes for Edom, Moab, and Ammon. While they were not His covenant people in the way Israel was, they were still part of His world and His story. This should chasten our pride and broaden our perspective. Our primary task is to be faithful to the specific commission God has given us, which for us is the Great Commission, and to trust Him with the geopolitical results. We are not to meddle where God has not sent us, and we are to advance boldly where He has commanded us to go.

Finally, the repeated emphasis on God destroying giants for other nations was meant to be a powerful encouragement to Israel, and it should be for us as well. The challenges that face the Church often seem as insurmountable as the Rephaim and the Anakim. Our culture is filled with giants of unbelief, perversion, and hostility. But the God who toppled the giants for the pagan Ammonites is the same God who has promised to build His Church, and the gates of Hell, and all the giants it can muster, will not prevail against it. Our job is not to be intimidated by the size of the opposition, but to be confident in the size of our God.