Why Israel Calls Edom Brother and Claims the Land

"Thus says your brother Israel" (Numbers 20:14). Now what need had Moses to mention the brotherhood? Rather, thus said Moses: A bond was upon us and upon you from the days of Abraham our forefather, "and they shall serve them, and they shall afflict them," etc. (Genesis 15:13), and all the brothers alike were obligated to pay the debt of their father. And you, my brother Israel, you were [a brother], and it was incumbent upon you to pay the debt just as we did. And you know that we paid the debt, and you did not pay it, for you did not wish to pay it, for so it is written concerning Esau: "And he went into a land from before" etc. (Genesis 36:7) — on account of the bond of debt that was in his hand. And the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Jacob: Whoever pays the debt from among his children, he shall inherit the land, for so it is written: "On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying" (Genesis 15:18). And we, who paid his debt — from now on the land is ours; and since you did not wish to pay the debt, but we paid it, ours is the right of inheritance. And now, let us pass through your land until we go to our place and to our land. And further, they knew that there was fulfilled "the voice is the voice of Jacob" — that at the hour when we cry out to the Holy One, blessed be He, He hears our voice; and so we did in Egypt: we cried out to the Lord our God and He heard our voice, as it is said: "And the Lord heard our voice" (Deuteronomy 26:7).