2:1 compassed mount Seir. Mount Seir had been given to the descendants of Jacob’s brother Esau, the Edomites, and there was no point in the Israelites delaying there any longer. The Edomites had refused permission to pass through their land (Numbers 20:14-21), and the Lord did not want Israel to fight Edom (Deuteronomy 2:5). Just as God told them they had stayed at Horeb “long enough,” so He also told them they had “compassed” Edom and Mount Seir “long enough” (Deuteronomy 2:3).