“Let us pass, I pray thee, through thy country: we will not pass through the fields, or through the vineyards, neither will we drink of the water of the wells: we will go by the king’s high way, we will not turn to the right hand nor to the left, until we have passed thy borders.”
But he said, 'You shall not pass through.' And Edom came out against them with a large force, heavily armed — Edom's military response is decisive; no negotiation is possible. The 'large force' (am rab) and 'heavy armor' (kaved m'od) indicate Edom prepared for war. Edom's strength derives partly from its control of trade routes and its fortress towns in the Negev. Israel, despite its superior numbers, cannot force passage and cannot risk civil war with a neighbor.
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