Israel detours rather than engaging Edom in battle, but when Arad fights, they’re up to the challenge!
While in Kadesh, Moses had sent word to the king of Edom, asking permission to bring the Israelites through his territory to enter the Promised Land. He calls the Jews “your brother Israel” (Num 20:14) because they descended from Jacob and the Edomites came from Jacob’s brother, Esau. No, replied Edom. Pretty please? “We will go by the Highway,” said Israel, “and if I or my livestock drink any of your water, then I will pay for it; let me only pass through on foot, nothing more” (v 19). Absolutely not, said Edom. So instead of taking the direct route straight north to the southern border of Canaan, they had to travel south again, then east and north, around the territories of Edom and Moab, before arriving on the eastern border of the Land near Jericho. It was not merely that it added perhaps 100 miles to the journey—a very long walk—but that, instead of a gradual rise in elevation, they would have to traverse the mountains of the Eastern Plateau, with Mount Seir rising 3,500 feet above the valley floor. Nonetheless, the whole nation turned and traveled south to Mount Hor. But by this route they didn’t avoid conflict entirely. “The king of Arad” (21:1), of the southernmost city in Canaan, preemptively attacked and captured some stray Israelites. So they made a vow to the Lord. “If You will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities” (v 2). God approved, Arad and several cities who had joined with it were destroyed, and the name was changed to Hormah (v 3). The name can mean a punch in the nose! But on a more dignified, spiritual level, it means “devoted to destruction.” Thus ends the first battle for the Promised Land, a signal victory and a portend of more battles to come.