Commentaire sur Le Deutéronome 2:4

ונשמרתם מאד TAKE YE GOOD HEED TO YOURSELVES — And what is this "taking heed”? What follows: אל תתגרו בם CONTEND NOT WITH THEM.

YOUR BRETHREN THE CHILDREN OF ESAU. The reason for this expression is that descent of Israel is from Abraham and all his seed are thus “brothers” because they were all circumcised. This is the purport of the verse, Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite, for he is ‘thy brother.’¹²⁴Further, 23:8. Only the sons of the concubines¹²⁵Genesis 25:6. [of Abraham], Ishmael, Midian¹²⁶Ibid., Verse 2. and all children of Keturah¹²⁷Ibid., Verses 1-4. are not in this “brotherhood,” as we see from the verse, for in Isaac shall seed be called to thee.¹²⁸Ibid., 21:12. Thus Esau [Edom] is in this “brotherhood” for he is a son of Isaac, but Ishmael, born of Hagar and Midian, born of Keturah, although they are Abraham’s biological sons, are not in this “brotherhood,” for as G-d said to Abraham: in Isaac shall seed be called to thee. This makes it clear that the spiritual brotherhood of the Abrahamitic seed is restricted to descendants of Isaac. See my Hebrew commentary p. 351.

היושבים בשעיר, these were not the same Edomites who had come out with drawn swords when the Israelites had wanted to traverse their territory (Numbers 20). The Edomites mentioned in verse 29 of our chapter had at least sold food and drink to the Israelites.

אתם עוברים בגבול אחיכם בני עשו, “you are passing through the boundary of your brethren the descendants of Esau, etc.” G’d reminds the people that although these people are descended from Esau they are still to be considered as “your brethren.”
The word בגבול is an allusion to the fact that even Edom/Esau’s ascendancy (the Roman Empire) will have a limit גבול, although all the people of the earth are eager to join that Empire and they stream from all sides to join that culture. The Midrash uses a verse in Ovadiah 7 to prove this. The prophet writes: “all your allies turned you back at the frontier;” the second part of the verse reads: “they have duped you and overcome you.” The prophet describes how the one-time fair-weather friends of Rome have abandoned it and worse. The first half of the verse describes Edom/Esau’s ascent, the second half its decline.

V. 4. וייראו מכם sie werden euch nicht angreifen, ונשמרתם מאד: nehmet euch aber sehr in acht, dass ihr euch nicht das geringste gegen sie erlaubet. Oder vielmehr: sie fürchten, dass sie sehr von euch zu leiden haben werden, sie denken euch nach so langer Wüstenwanderung ausgehungert und von allem entblößt, so dass ihr jetzt zum ersten Male wieder in der Nähe bewohnter und kultivierter Gegenden über alles herfallen würdet. Nehmet euch zusammen und zeigt ihnen das Gegenteil.

ואת העם צו לאמר, “and command the people as follows:” Moses explains the warning here which he had failed to explain in Parshat Chukat. On the other hand, he does not repeat the details of the request in Numbers 20,1421.

וייראו מכם, the construction of this word follows the pattern we know from וישבו, veyeshvu, וידעו, veyedu, and ויאמרו, veyomru, as opposed to ויראו veyaru Deut.31,12, and וידעו, veyadu (Jeremiah 16,21) which follow the pattern of ואמרו, veamru, and והלכו, vehalchu All of the examples cited are in the future tense.