Kommentar zu Bamidbar 20:14

אחיך ישראל THY BROTHER ISRAEL — What reason had he to mention here their brotherhood? But in effect he said to him: We are brothers, sons of Abraham to whom it was said, (Genesis 15:13) “know for a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger [in a land not theirs]”, and upon both of us, being of Abraham’s seed, was the duty of paying that debt (Midrash Tanchuma, Chukat 12).

AND MOSES SENT MESSENGERS FROM KADESH UNTO THE KING OF EDOM. Scripture did not mention the king’s name, because there was no necessity to do so. It did, however, mention Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, by name, because they were famous for their strength, and they had a name among¹⁹⁵See II Samuel 23:18. the nations; [therefore it stresses] that we should give thanks to Him, blessed be He, for having dealt wondrously with us, as it is said, To Him that smote great kings; for His mercy endureth for ever … Sihon king of the Amorites; for His mercy endureth for ever. And Og king of Bashan; for His mercy endureth for ever.¹⁹⁶Psalms 136:17-20. And it is customary for Scripture to mention the names of the great kings whose lands we inherited, just as it mentioned in [the Book of] Joshua the five kings of the Amorites:¹⁹⁷Joshua 10:5. Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem, and Hoham king of Hebron, and Piram king of Jarmuth, and Japhia king of Lachish, and Debir king of Eglon.¹⁹⁸Ibid., Verse 3. [It mentioned also] Jabin king of Hazor,¹⁹⁹Ibid., 11:1. but the rest of the kings it mentioned only by number,²⁰⁰Ibid., 12:9-24. not by name [because they were not famous for their strength]. Scripture states [here], And ‘Edom’ said unto him²⁰¹Verse 18. ‘Thou shalt not pass through me, lest I come out with the sword against thee.’ [and it does not say: “and ‘the king’ of Edom said”], because the whole people agreed with their ruler in his refusal [to allow the Israelites to pass through their land].

אחיך ישראל, אתה ידעת "your brother Israel; you are aware, etc." The reason that Moses underlined the brotherly connection between Edom and Israel was to remind Edom that the discomfort of travel Israel experienced now was not due to recent events but to their respective ancestor and that he considered both Israel and Edom as being involved in this equally. Abraham's descendants were supposed to experience exile according to Genesis 15. However, only the descendants of one of Isaac's sons had paid the price by being enslaved in Egypt. Esau and his descendants had not experienced any of that suffering. The least the Edomites could do now was to display some degree of brotherliness by allowing the Jewish people passage to their own heritage. Compare Bereshit Rabbah 82, on Genesis 36,8 where it is explained that the reason Esau emigrated was that he did not want to pay the debt Abraham had contracted for at the covenant between the pieces.

אל מלך אדום, “to the King of Edom.” Nachmanides writes that the reason why the Torah does not bother to tell us the name of that king, as in the case of the King of Moav, Balak, whom the Torah named, or the names of such kings as Sichon King of the Emorites, and Og, King of Bashan, is simply that there was no need for us to know his name. The King of Edom was not known for any outstanding qualities, such as bravery, successful conquest, etc. Those kings, whom the Israelites defeated with Hashem’s help, were named in the Israelites’ prayers of thanksgiving. It is the Torah’s, respectively the Book of Joshua’s, custom to mention by name the kings whose countries the Israelites conquered.

מקדש אל מלך אדום, “from Kadesh to the king of Edom.” The Torah means the town Kadesh, as opposed to Kadesh-Barneya. The latter is not a town but a desert as we know from Psalms 28,8 יחיל ה' מדבר קדש, “the Lord convulses the wilderness of Kadesh.” I have already mentioned this previously

Because of the bill of debt… Meaning: Hashem said to Avraham, “Your offspring will be strangers…” (Bereishis 15:13). However He placed the decree of being slaves in the land of Egypt upon Yaakov and his sons alone. Thus, "We endured the suffering of the enslavement on behalf of Esav your father, and his children. Consequently it is fitting for you to allow us passage through your land." Rashi explains this shortly [in his commentary] on the words, “Let us pass through your land…” (v. 17).

V. 14. וישלח, unbeirrt von der über ihn verhängten Bestimmung, die ihm persönlich die Aussicht auf Erreichung des so lange angestrebten Zieles versagte, fuhr Mosche fort, so lange ihn Gott bei seinem Volke ließ, rüstig der Lösung seiner Aufgabe zu leben. — אחיך ישראל erinnert ihn an die gemeinsame Abstammung, nach מ׳׳ר zugleich an die Schicksalsverschiedenheit, die die beiden Zwillingszweige des abrahamitischen Stammes getroffen.

They were hoping for a little compassion from Edom, their brother.

וישלח משה מלאכים, “Moses dispatched messengers;” the Torah here explains in detail what Moses refers to in Deuteronomy at the beginning of chapter two there. Some details missing there have been supplied here, whereas others have been augmented there but omitted here.

אתה ידעת את כל התלאה THOU KNOWEST ALL THE TRAVAIL — It was on this account that your father separated himself from our father, as it is said, (Genesis 36:6), "And he (Esau) went to another land on account of Jacob, his brother” — on account of the bond which devolved upon both of them, and he cast the whole of it upon Jacob (Genesis Rabbah 82:13; cf. Rashi on Genesis 36.7.2).

כה אמר אחיך ישראל, “thus said your brother Israel, etc.” Moses referred to the time when Esau and Yaakov were brothers, described as the sons of Avraham. Seeing that in Genesis 15,13 G’d had told Avraham: “your descendants will be strangers, etc.,” it is clear that Esau too was included in that prediction. It had therefore been Esau’s fate to share this status of being strangers and being enslaved.
אתה ידעת את כל התלאה אשר מצאתנו “You know of all the hardship that has befallen us” This is why Esau parted ways with his brother Jacob, so as to avoid sharing in the predicted difficulties. The least he could do to help his erstwhile brother complete his redemption was to allow the Israelites passage. Moses’ argument was that seeing that the Israelites, i.e. a single member of Avraham’s offspring had paid the whole price of the prediction at the covenant of the pieces, the least the Edomites could do was to let them pass through their land.

אתה ידעת, these words were Moses' reminder to Edom that they had been well aware of the decree which was part of the above-mentioned covenant that Abraham's descendants were to be enslaved in a foreign country for an extended period. This was something that only the descendants of Esau knew about. All the other pagans had considered the enslavement of the Israelites in Egypt as one of the many accidents of history, and had thought that if the family of Jacob had not voluntarily migrated to Egypt they would never have wound up as slaves.

וירדו אבותנו, "our ancestors descended, etc." This was in addition to the exile they experienced in Egypt. We have to understand this in light of Shabbat 10 where we are told that a person should not show favoritism to one of his children over the others; had Jacob not spent five pieces of silver more to make a coloured coat for Joseph our ancestors might not have had to descend to Egypt and to have wound up in exile there." Tossaphot already question that statement saying that G'd had decreed this exile long before Joseph and his brothers had been born, going back to the covenant between the pieces in Genesis 15. They answer that but for Jacob's' open display of discrimination between his sons, the decree could have been fulfilled in some other country where it would not have been accompanied by nearly the same degree of cruelty that the Jews experienced in Egypt. The fact that the location where G'ds's decree came true was Egypt added untold suffering. This is why Moses described the migration to Egypt as a "descent," adding וירעו אותנו המצרים, how the Egyptians had mistreated the Jewish people

Moses also conveyed to the Edomites by his lengthy explanantion that the Israelites had paid the debt arising from that covenant in full and that this was why they were now entitled to take possession of the land of Canaan. When Moses added the words ימים רבים, he meant that it had taken the people a long time to discharge their debt under that covenant in full.