At Mount Zion

The people of Israel were encamped at Kadesh. The period of the forty years had drawn to a close, so that the time for the host of the Lord to take possession of the promised land was at hand. Two routes lay open to them: the one direct through the land of the Edomites, the other long and circuitous, stretching around and eastward of Edom. Accordingly Moses sent the king of Edom a message, petitioning him to allow the people of Israel to pass through his land. The message was friendly and warm....