Deuteronomy 1-3, Psalm 48

From the readings for Friday, March 1:

[The LORD says,] "Set out now and cross the Arnon Gorge. See, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his country. Begin to take possession of it and engage him in battle. This very day I will begin to put the terror and fear of you on all the nations under heaven. They will hear reports of you and will tremble and be in anguish because of you."

[Moses says,] "From the Desert of Kedemoth I sent messengers to Sihon king of Heshbon offering peace and saying, 'Let us pass through your country. We will stay on the main road; we will not turn aside to the right or to the left. Sell us food to eat and water to drink for their price in silver. Only let us pass through on foot—as the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, and the Moabites, who live in Ar, did for us—until we cross the Jordan into the land the Lord our God is giving us.' But Sihon king of Heshbon refused to let us pass through. For the Lord your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate in order to give him into your hands, as he has now done." (Deuteronomy 2:24-30)

Here Moses sets out to deceive Sihon. Personally, I don't like the deception. According to the scriptures, the LORD tells Moses to take possession of Sihon's territory and to engage Sihon's fighters in battle. Moses might have marched the Hebrew fighters into battle straightaway, but no! Instead, Moses asks permission to pass through Sihon's country, telling him the Hebrews would pay for any food and water supplied to them, just as they had done when traversing the territories of Seir and Ar.

Maybe it's not deception at all, even though it seems deceptive to me. Perhaps Moses is acting on some ancient protocol of picking a verbal fight with a king before actually sending troops into battle against the king's warriors. Or maybe this is the Bible's way of justifying the Hebrews taking possession of lands east of the Jordan River, even though the LORD's promises to the patriarchs of Israel most often pointed to lands west of the Jordan River.

In any case Sihon is going down...