DEUTERONOMY 2:4-5

Q: Two questions: (1) The descendants of Esau that live in the hills would essentially be blood relatives of the people wandering around in the desert. Why would they see themselves as different? (2) Why does God keep having to tell the Jews not to pick fights with everyone they come across?

In regard to the first question, even though their founders Jacob and Esau were brothers, years earlier there was not always peace between them. Secondly, Esau had married a Hittite woman and settled in the region of Edom, where his family intermarried with the local inhabitants.

To answer the second question: They had to learn that the sole purpose of fighting was to possess the land

 (Deuteronomy 2:5,18-19), and that they would only win when God was their strength (see Deuteronomy

 1:41-45). God is pictured as their military commander, and they needed to obey orders.