Ulangan 2:1

The Journey from Kadesh Barnea to Moab

2:1 Then we turned and set out toward the desert land on the way to the Red Sea ¹  just as the Lord told me to do, detouring around Mount Seir for a long time.

Ulangan 4:20

4:20 You, however, the Lord has selected and brought from Egypt, that iron-smelting furnace, ²  to be his special people ³  as you are today.

Ulangan 29:16

The Results of Disobedience

29:16 “(For you know how we lived in the land of Egypt and how we crossed through the nations as we traveled.

[2:1]  ¹ tn Heb “Reed Sea.” See note on the term “Red Sea” in Deut 1:40.

[4:20]  ² tn A כּוּר (kur) was not a source of heat but a crucible (“iron-smelting furnace”) in which precious metals were melted down and their impurities burned away (see I. Cornelius, NIDOTTE 2:618-19); cf. NAB “that iron foundry, Egypt.” The term is a metaphor for intense heat. Here it refers to the oppression and suffering Israel endured in Egypt. Since a crucible was used to burn away impurities, it is possible that the metaphor views Egypt as a place of refinement to bring Israel to a place of submission to divine sovereignty.

[4:20]  ³ tn Heb “to be his people of inheritance.” The Lord compares his people to valued property inherited from one’s ancestors and passed on to one’s descendants.