Deuteronomy 2:10 is a historical note inserted into Moses’ speech. It tells the reader that the land east of the Jordan was once home to the Emim, a large and tall people, before others took it over. Moses is recounting Israel’s journey to the people who will enter the land, and this aside explains that the territories they are passing through have their own history, shaped by God’s hand.
(The Emim lived therein before, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakim.
Deuteronomy 2:10 (WEB)
What Deuteronomy 2:10 Means
The verse begins with the Emim, an ancient people who lived in the region of Moab. It describes them as “great, and many, and tall,” which points to their size and their numbers. They were formidable, and the comparison to the Anakim, a race of giants known from the Israelites’ earlier reports, makes that clear. The verse is simply telling the reader that these people had once been powerful in this land.
Verse 10 does not promise anything to Israel directly, and it does not offer a lesson in so many words. Its purpose is to set the stage. By recalling a formidable people who once held the land, it shows that the land had a past and that the people who now occupied it were not the first to call it home. The verse carries no command and no promise. Its weight comes from what it reveals about God’s sovereignty over nations and their rise and fall.
The Context of Deuteronomy 2:10
Deuteronomy is Moses’ final address to Israel on the plains of Moab, just before they cross the Jordan. Traditionally Moses is credited as the speaker, and the audience is the generation that grew up in the wilderness after the earlier generation died. They are hearing God’s law again, with their future in the land just ahead of them.
The verses before and after verse 10 are about the nations Israel must pass by. In verse 9, God tells Israel not to contend with Moab because He has given Ar to the descendants of Lot. Verses 11 and 12 extend the aside to other peoples, including the Horites who were displaced by Esau’s descendants. Read in this setting, verse 10 is one example in a pattern: God has been giving lands to different peoples throughout history. Israel is reminded that its own inheritance comes from the same God who governs those transitions.
Key Phrases in Deuteronomy 2:10
Deuteronomy 2:9
The LORD said to me, “Don’t bother Moab, neither contend with them in battle; for I will not give you any of his land for a possession; because I have given Ar to the children of Lot for a possession.”
(WEB)
This verse comes right before verse 10 and gives the reason Israel is not to contend with Moab. It shows that God gives lands to peoples according to His purpose, which is the same principle at work when verse 10 describes the Emim.
Psalm 24:1
The earth is the LORD’s, with its fullness; the world, and those who dwell therein.
(WEB)
This verse declares that the earth and everything in it belongs to the LORD. It supplies the wider truth behind Deuteronomy 2:10: every land, including the land the Emim once held, ultimately belongs to God, who decides who lives there.
A Short Prayer From Deuteronomy 2:10
Lord, you have governed the history of the nations and the land itself long before we arrived on the scene. When we look at the powerful people and places that came before us, help us remember that none of them stand outside your purposes. Teach us to trust you with the future we cannot see, and to walk forward in your timing rather than our fears. Thank you that the story of your people is held in your hands. Amen.
