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).

2:9 Distress not the Moabites. Even though the Moabites had refused to let Israel pass through their land, the Lord did not want Israel to attack the Moabites. The same stricture applied to the Ammonites (Deuteronomy 2:19). Both peoples were descended from Abraham’s nephew Lot (Genesis 19:37,38).

2:11 accounted giants. The Anakims, Emins, and Zamzummins (Deuteronomy 2:20) were giants, living among the Amorites. However, these giants, so fearful to the earlier generation of Israel, had already been defeated and destroyed by the Lord through Moab and Ammon (Deuteronomy 2:12,21). See note on Numbers 13:33.

2:12 The Horims. These people were also called Horites (Genesis 14:6) and had been displaced by the Edomites (Deuteronomy 2:22). On archaeological inscriptions, they are called Hurrians, a non-Semitic people that earlier had migrated from Syria.

2:20 land of giants. See note on Numbers 13:33.

2:23 dwelt in Hazerim. Hazerim may be the same as Gaza, later a Philistine city on the Mediterranean coast. Both the Avims and Caphtorims were probably Philistine tribes that had migrated there from Crete.

2:33 delivered him. The account of the defeat of the Amorites under Sihon is given in Numbers 21:21-30.