This chapter is like a travel log, and if read aloud, an oral exercise. Some of the location names could require the reader to dislocate their jaw and bite their tongue in order to pronounce them correctly. It simply lists the path of the Israelites in order to finally get to the point where they could finally cross the Jordan into the promised land.
The latter half of chapter 2 and the first half chapter 3 are the stories of how the kings of the lands opposed the Israelites. God gave them the lands of these kings and divided it among his people. Moses watched all of this from atop Pisgah.
Moses tried to get the Lord to soften his stance on the whole, “You will never cross into the promised land” thing by asking to see the good land beyond the Jordan, but that didn’t work.
26…The LORD said to me, “Enough from you! Never speak to me of this matter again! 27Go up to the top of Pisgah and look around you to the west, to the north, to the south, and to the east. Look well, for you shall not cross over this Jordan. 28But charge Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, because it is he who shall cross over at the head of this people and who shall secure their possession of the land that you will see.
Bibles, Harper . NRSV Bible with the Apocrypha (pp. 428-429). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
God really knows how to hold a grudge. He is world champion. I guess it’s a good thing he would send his son who would famously say something about turning the other cheek. Moses did two things that displeased God and he had to put up the whining of the Israelites through this whole journey. I say give the guy a break and let him see the land that his people were promised. Nope.
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