Deuteronomy 3

This note, apparently inserted after the time of Moses, refers to a pair of other names for Mount Hermon, both of which show up in ancient documents. “People of Sidon” were Phoenicians who lived in what is now Lebanon. Their name for the mountain appears in clay Ugaritic tablets written in cuneiform in about 1200 BC, around the time some say Israel started conquering the Promised Land. The tablets were found in neighboring Syria. The Amorite name was found in Assyrian records written in the 700s BC.

“Golan Heights” is the current name. The ancient Hebrew text simply describes the land as a “plateau” or “level ground.”

Salecah is usually linked to the city of Salkhad, about 60 miles (100 km) east of the southern tip of the Sea of Galilee.

Edrei is linked to Der’a, a city about 60 miles (100 km) south of Damascus and 30 miles (50 km) east of the Jordan River.

Rephaites, whoever they were, remain a mystery. They have been described as an ancient race of giants. Some speculate they were the original people who lived in the region of Bashan, now called the Golan Heights.

Over 4 meters long and almost two meters wide.

Jair is one of the Israelite heroes often called “judges” (Judges 10:3).

Pisgah means “summit.” Mount Pisgah may refer to one or more of the high points on Moab’s plateau overlooking the Dead Sea, the Jordan River, and Canaan below, to the west. Mount Nebo is there, where Moses died. It’s the highest summit on the plateau, at 2,300 feet elevation, or 710 meters. That’s an especially good vantage point to view what is now Israel and Palestinian territories since the Dead Sea is about 1,400 feet below sea level, or 430 meters. With the Israelites camped near the Jordan River, Balak (Numbers 23:14) would have been more than a kilometer above them, about three-fourths of a mile.

Part of the agreement the tribes east of the Jordan made with Moses was that “when it comes time to fight, we’ll arm ourselves and lead the charge” (Numbers 32:17).

See 1:37. And see Numbers 20 for the story behind God’s anger. The scene involves Moses using his walking stick to tap a rock in the desert, to break open a stream of spring water. Scholars debate why God reacted so angrily. Two popular guesses: God told Moses to merely speak to the rock, but Moses hit it with a stick—twice. Also, Moses seemed to take some credit for the miracle when he said “Do we have to bring water from this rock” (verse 9). As in God and Moses, the tag team? Some scholars say God’s complaint about Moses and Aaron in Numbers 20: 12, 24 seems like an overreaction to what the men did. So, another guess is that the writer didn’t want to report what really happened. It was that serious. Instead, he wanted to protect the reputation of the men.

The Israelites were inheriting the land from their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Those three fathers of Israel never formally owned the land, but God promised he would give it to their descendants (Genesis 12:7; 26:3; 28:13). Whether that promise remains in effect today is controversial. Some might argue that apostle Paul seems to have said Jesus erases borders: “I’ll tell you who Abraham’s children are. They’re the people with faith… Here’s what all of this means. We’re not Jews or non-Jews. We’re not slaves or free folk. We’re not men or women. We’re one people, united in Jesus, the Messiah. If you’re one of the Messiah’s people, then you’re a descendant of Abraham. You’re part of the family. And you’re going to inherit what God promised” (Galatians 3:7; 38-39).

Beth-Peor was a city near Mount Nebo in the Pisgah mountains. The valley Moses mentioned may have been what is described elsewhere as the “plains of Moab,” on the east side of the Jordan River, across from Jericho.