The Targum Jonathan on (Deuteronomy 2) adds a theological bombshell that the Hebrew text only hints at. God commands Israel not to touch the land of Esau—not because of a treaty or military risk, but "on account of the honour which he did unto his father." Esau's reward for honoring Isaac is an eternal land grant. The Aramaic translators turned a brief command into a lesson about the power of honoring parents.
The same logic extends to Moab and Ammon. Israel cannot take their land either, because God gave it to the children of Lot—and the Targum specifies that Ammon's protection comes "for the sake of Abraham's righteousness." Lot's descendants inherit land not through their own merit but through their ancestor's connection to Abraham. Merit, in the Targum's theology, is transferable across generations.
The chapter is haunted by giants. The Targum identifies the Emthanaia, the Emethanee, and the Zimthanee—all local names for the same terrifying race. It adds that these giants "perished in the Flood," linking them directly to the antediluvian Nephilim of (Genesis 6). The Hebrew text calls them Rephaim and moves on. The Targum wants you to know these were the descendants of the beings who provoked God to drown the world.
When Israel finally faces Sihon king of Heshbon, the Targum adds a cosmic detail to explain the terror Israel inspired. The nations were afraid because "the sun and moon had stood still and ceased from speaking their song for the space of a day and a half." This references Joshua's miracle at Gibeon—but the Targum says the celestial bodies stopped singing. In Aramaic theology, the sun and moon praise God continuously, and their silence was the most terrifying omen imaginable.
Sihon refused to let Israel pass because "the Lord had hardened the form of his spirit." The Targum echoes the Pharaoh pattern—God hardens the hearts of those already destined for destruction.
And turning we journeyed into the wilderness, by the way of the Sea of Suph, as the Lord had bidden me, and we compassed Mount Gebal many days.
And the Lord spake to me, saying:
It is enough for you to have dwelt about this mountain: turn you to the north,
and command the people, saying, You are to pass by the border of your brethren, the children of Esau, who dwell in Gebala, and they will be afraid of you; be very heedful therefore;
provoke them not; for of their land I have not given you as much as the sole of the foot; for I have given Mount Gebal an inheritance unto Esau on account of the honour which he did unto his father.
You shall buy fresh provision of them for silver, that you may eat, and water shall you buy with silver, to drink.
Be careful that you vex them not : for the Lord your God hath blessed you in all the works of your hands, he hath supplied your wants in thy journeying in the great wilderness; these forty years hath the Word of the Lord your God been your helper; you have not wanted anything.
So we passed by our brethren the sons of Esau, who dwell in Gebala, from Elath and the fortress of Tarnegola and turned and went by the way of the wilderness of Moab
And the Lord spake to me, saying: Thou shalt not aggrieve the Moabaee, nor make war against them; for I have not given you their land to inherit, because I have given Lachaiath for a possession to the children of Lot.
The Emthanaia dwelt in it of old, a people great and many, and mighty as the giants.
The giants who dwelt in the plain of Geyonbere were also reputed as the giants who perished in the Flood; but the Moabites called them Emethanee.
And in Gebala dwelt the Genosaia in old times, and the Beni Esau drave them out and destroyed them, and dwelt in their place; as did Israel in the land of their inheritance, which the Lord gave to them.
Now arise, and pass over the stream of Tarvaja. And we crossed the stream of Tarvaja.
And the days in which (from the time) we came from Rekem Giah till we crossed the stream of Tarvaja, were thirty and eight years, until all the generation of the men of war were wasted out from the camp, as the Lord had sworn to them.
But a plague also from the Lord had scourged them to consume them from the host, until they were brought to an end.
And when all the men of war, the makers of the high places, were consumed by dying out of the host,
the Lord spake with me, saying:
You are this day to pass the border of Moab towards Lechaiath.
But coming near over against the children of Ammon, you are not to vex, nor provoke them to war; for I have not given you the land of the Beni Ammon for a possession: I have given it an inheritance to the children of Lot, for the sake of Abraham’s righteousness.
That also was accounted a land of giants; in old time the giants dwelt in it, and the Ammonites called them Zimthanee,
a people great and mighty as giants: but the Word of the Lord destroyed them, and drave them out before them, and they dwelt in their place;
{as He did for the Beni Esau who dwell in Seir: for He destroyed the Horaee before them, and drave them out, and they dwell in their place} to this day.
And the rest of the escaped of the Kenaanah which dwelt in the cities of Dephia to Gaza, the Kapotkaee who came out of Kapotkaia destroyed them, and dwelt in their place.
Arise, take your journey, and pass over the river Arnona; behold, I have delivered into your hands Sihon the king of Heshbon and the Amoraah, and his land: begin to drive them out, and to provoke him to wage war.
Today I will begin to put thy terror and fear upon the faces of all the peoples which are under the whole heavens who shall hear the report of thy virtue, that the sun and moon have stood still, and have ceased from speaking (their) song for the space of a day and a half, standing still in their habitation until thou hadst done battle with Sihon; and they will shiver and tremble before thee.
And I sent messengers from Nehardea, which is by the wilderness of Kedemoth, to Sihon king of the Amorites, with words of peace, saying,
I would pass through thy land; by the way which is the beaten road will I go; I will not turn aside to do thee harm on the right hand or the left.
I will buy fresh provision with silver, to eat, and thou shalt give me water for silver, to drink; I will only pass through:
as the Beni Esau, who dwell in Gebal, and the Moabaee, who dwell in Lechaiath have done to me, until the time that I pass over the Jordan into the land which the Lord our God giveth us.
But Sihon the king of Heshbon was not willing to allow us to pass through his borders; for the Lord our God had hardened the form of his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, to deliver him into thy hand as at this day.
And the Lord said to me, See, within the space of a sun and a moon I have begun to deliver Sihon and his country into thy hand; begin thou to cast him out, to inherit his land.
And Sihon came out to meet us, he and all his people, to do battle at Jehaz.
And the Lord our God delivered him up before us, and we smote him, and his children, and all his people.
And we subdued all his cities at that time, and destroyed all the towns, the men, women, and children, we left none to escape;
only the cattle took we for prey and the spoil of the towns which we subdued.
From Aroer, on the bank of the river Arnona, and the city which is built in the midst of the river, even unto Gilead, there was no city too strong for us, the Lord our God gave all of them up before us.
Only to the land of the children of Ammon we went not nigh, nor to any place on the river Jobeka, nor to the cities of the mountain, according to all that the Lord our God had commanded us.
