Wandering in the Wilderness: Deuteronomy’s Ideological Harmonization of J and E

Deuteronomy cannot accept that Israel, under YHWH’s command, had to bypass Seir because the Edomite king would not allow them to pass through (Numbers 20). Thus, Deuteronomy has Israel wandering aimlessly, skirting Seir in a southward march away from Canaan (E) while waiting for the exodus generation to die for the sin of the spies (J).

Dr.

David Ben-Gad HaCohen

Dr.

David Ben-Gad HaCohen

Categories:

Devarim

Wandering in the Wilderness: Deuteronomy’s Ideological Harmonization of J and E

Deuteronomy opens with Moses describing how, after the Israelites leave Mount Horeb (v. 6) and arrive at Kadesh-barnea (v. 19), he told them to conquer the land. They ask him to send spies first (vv. 20–22) and Moses complies. Upon their return, the spies’ report spooks the people, who panic and ask to go back to Egypt (vv. 23–28).

After Moses rebukes them (vv. 29–33), a furious YHWH swears that, except for Caleb, not one person from the exodus generation will enter the land; only their children will enter (vv. 34–36, 39).^[1]

YHWH then commands Israel to turn and march:

^{דברים א:מ} וְאַתֶּם פְּנוּ לָכֶם וּסְעוּ הַמִּדְבָּרָה דֶּרֶךְ יַם סוּף.

^{Deut 1:40} As for you, turn and march into the wilderness by the Way of (i.e., the road to)^[2] Yam Suph.^[3]

The directions are harsh: Instead of heading north towards the land, they are to head south towards Yam Suph,^[4] away from Canaan.^[5] Ostensibly, travelling south is to kill time, since the Israelites are forbidden to enter the land until the exodus generation have all died. After a failed attempt to buck YHWH’s command and enter the land anyway (vv. 41–45), the Israelites end their long sojourn in Kadesh (v. 46)—in Deuteronomy, Ein Musa, the same as Kadesh-barnea^[6]—and begin their march south, avoiding the mountains of Seir:

^{דברים ב:א} וַנֵּפֶן וַנִּסַּע הַמִּדְבָּרָה דֶּרֶךְ יַם סוּף כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר יְ־הוָה אֵלָי וַנָּסָב אֶת הַר שֵׂעִיר יָמִים רַבִּים.

^{Deut 2:1} We turned and marched into the wilderness by the way of Yam Suph, as YHWH had spoken to me, and skirted the hill country of Seir a long time.

After they travel for a while, YHWH tells them that it is enough, and sends them north towards the land:

^{דברים ב:ב} וַיֹּאמֶר יְ־הוָה אֵלַי לֵאמֹר. ^ב:ג רַב לָכֶם סֹב אֶת הָהָר הַזֶּה פְּנוּ לָכֶם צָפֹנָה.

^{Deut 2:2}Then YHWH said to me: ^2:3 “You have been skirting this hill country long enough; now turn north.”

Again, the text describes Israel as having skirted Seir, but never explains why. Would there have been some problem if they had travelled through Seir instead of skirting it? Deuteronomy never says, though earlier in the Pentateuch, the answer is clearly affirmative.

The Edomite Refusal in Numbers

The book of Numbers records how the King of Edom/Seir refused to allow the Israelites passing through his territory:

^{במדבר כ:יד} וַיִּשְׁלַח מֹשֶׁה מַלְאָכִים מִקָּדֵשׁ אֶל מֶלֶךְ אֱדוֹם כֹּה אָמַר אָחִיךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל... ^כ:טז ...וְהִנֵּה אֲנַחְנוּ בְקָדֵשׁ עִיר קְצֵה גְבוּלֶךָ. ^כ:יז נַעְבְּרָה נָּא בְאַרְצֶךָ לֹא נַעֲבֹר בְּשָׂדֶה וּבְכֶרֶם וְלֹא נִשְׁתֶּה מֵי בְאֵר דֶּרֶךְ הַמֶּלֶךְ נֵלֵךְ לֹא נִטֶּה יָמִין וּשְׂמֹאול עַד אֲשֶׁר נַעֲבֹר גְּבוּלֶךָ.

^{Num 20:14} From Kadesh, Moses sent messengers to the king of Edom… ^20:16 “…Now we are at Kadesh, the town on the border of your territory. ^20:17 Allow us, then, to cross your country. We will not pass through fields or vineyards, and we will not drink water from wells. We will follow the king’s highway, turning off neither to the right nor to the left until we have crossed your territory.”

The Edomites refuse the request:

^{במדבר כ:יח} וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו אֱדוֹם לֹא תַעֲבֹר בִּי פֶּן בַּחֶרֶב אֵצֵא לִקְרָאתֶךָ.

^{Num 20:18} But Edom answered him, “You shall not pass through us, else we will go out against you with the sword.”^[7]

Israel tries once more to negotiate, but the Edomites muster troops on their border, so the Israelites are forced to go around Seir.

^{במדבר כ:יט} וַיֹּאמְרוּ אֵלָיו בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בַּמְסִלָּה נַעֲלֶה וְאִם מֵימֶיךָ נִשְׁתֶּה אֲנִי וּמִקְנַי וְנָתַתִּי מִכְרָם רַק אֵין דָּבָר בְּרַגְלַי אֶעֱבֹרָה. ^כ:כ וַיֹּאמֶר לֹא תַעֲבֹר וַיֵּצֵא אֱדוֹם לִקְרָאתוֹ בְּעַם כָּבֵד וּבְיָד חֲזָקָה. ^כ:כא וַיְמָאֵן אֱדוֹם נְתֹן אֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל עֲבֹר בִּגְבֻלוֹ וַיֵּט יִשְׂרָאֵל מֵעָלָיו.

^{Num 20:19} “We will keep to the beaten track,” the Israelites said to them, “and if we or our cattle drink your water, we will pay for it. We ask only for passage on foot—it is but a small matter.” ^20:20 But they replied, “You shall not pass through!” And Edom went out against them in heavy force, strongly armed. ^20:21 So Edom would not let Israel cross their territory, and Israel turned away from them.[8]

To get around Seir, the Israelites head south דֶּרֶךְ יַם סוּף לִסְבֹב אֶת אֶרֶץ אֱדוֹם “the way of Yam Soph (=Gulf of Aqaba) to skirt the land of Edom” (Num 21:4).^[9] This makes sense in Numbers, but Deuteronomy says nothing about a refusal. Quite the opposite: Deuteronomy has the Israelites cross through Seir on the way back with no problem at all.

The March North Through Seir in Deuteronomy

As Moses narrates how the Israelites’ “turn north” (v. 2:3), he emphasizes time and again that the locals—Esauites (=Edomites),^[10] Moabites, and Ammonites—were afraid of Israel, but that YHWH had commanded Israel to deal fairly with the locals as they crossed their territory:

^{דברים ב:ד} ...אַתֶּם עֹבְרִים בִּגְבוּל אֲחֵיכֶם בְּנֵי עֵשָׂו הַיֹּשְׁבִים בְּשֵׂעִיר וְיִירְאוּ מִכֶּם וְנִשְׁמַרְתֶּם מְאֹד. ^ב:ה אַל תִּתְגָּרוּ בָם כִּי לֹא אֶתֵּן לָכֶם מֵאַרְצָם עַד מִדְרַךְ כַּף רָגֶל כִּי יְרֻשָּׁה לְעֵשָׂו נָתַתִּי אֶת הַר שֵׂעִיר. ^ב:ו אֹכֶל תִּשְׁבְּרוּ מֵאִתָּם בַּכֶּסֶף וַאֲכַלְתֶּם וְגַם מַיִם תִּכְרוּ מֵאִתָּם בַּכֶּסֶף וּשְׁתִיתֶם... ^ב:ח וַנַּעֲבֹר מֵאֵת אַחֵינוּ בְנֵי עֵשָׂו הַיֹּשְׁבִים בְּשֵׂעִיר...

^{Deut 2:4} … You will be passing through the territory of your kinsmen, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir.^[11] Though they will be afraid of you, be very careful ^2:5 not to provoke them. For I will not give you of their land so much as a foot can tread on; I have given the hill country of Seir as a possession to Esau. ^2:6 What food you eat you shall obtain from them for money; even the water you drink you shall procure from them for money… ^2:8 We then moved on, away from our kinsmen, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir…

Later, Moses even tells the Amorite King Sihon about the accommodating behavior of the Esauites, when asking permission to cross his territory too:

^{דברים ב:כח} אֶעְבְּרָה בְאַרְצֶךָ בַּדֶּרֶךְ בַּדֶּרֶךְ אֵלֵךְ לֹא אָסוּר יָמִין וּשְׂמֹאול. ^ב:כח אֹכֶל בַּכֶּסֶף תַּשְׁבִּרֵנִי וְאָכַלְתִּי וּמַיִם בַּכֶּסֶף תִּתֶּן לִי וְשָׁתִיתִי רַק אֶעְבְּרָה בְרַגְלָי. ^ב:כט כַּאֲשֶׁר עָשׂוּ לִי בְּנֵי עֵשָׂו הַיֹּשְׁבִים בְּשֵׂעִיר וְהַמּוֹאָבִים הַיֹּשְׁבִים בְּעָר...

^{Deut 2:27}Let me pass through your country. I will keep strictly to the highway, turning off neither to the right nor to the left. ^2:28 What food I eat you will supply for money, and what water I drink you will furnish for money; just let me pass through—^2:29 as the descendants of Esau who dwell in Seir did for me, and the Moabites who dwell in Ar…

In sum, in Deuteronomy, the Israelites skirt Seir when travelling south, but walk right through it when travelling north.^[12] Thus it is clear that the Israelites are not skirting Seir because of an Esauite refusal. In fact, Deuteronomy could not have made such an assertion, since it contradicts one of its important ideological tenets.

All Powerful Israel

In the Deuteronomic worldview, no power could resist Israel, since YHWH was with them:

^{דברים ב:כה} הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה אָחֵל תֵּת פַּחְדְּךָ וְיִרְאָתְךָ עַל פְּנֵי הָעַמִּים תַּחַת כָּל הַשָּׁמָיִם אֲשֶׁר יִשְׁמְעוּן שִׁמְעֲךָ וְרָגְזוּ וְחָלוּ מִפָּנֶיךָ.

^{Deut 2:25} This day I begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the peoples everywhere under heaven, so that they shall tremble and quake because of you whenever they hear you mentioned.^[13]

Indeed, unlike in Numbers, in which Israel acts on their own, asking a favor of the Edomite king and being refused, every move Israel makes in Deuteronomy’s retelling is prefaced by a divine command:

South towards Yam Suph

^{דברים א:לד}וַיִּשְׁמַע יְ־הוָה אֶת קוֹל דִּבְרֵיכֶם וַיִּקְצֹף וַיִּשָּׁבַע לֵאמֹר...^א:מ וְאַתֶּם פְּנוּ לָכֶם וּסְעוּ הַמִּדְבָּרָה דֶּרֶךְ יַם סוּף.

^{Deut 1:34} When YHWH heard your loud complaint, He was angry. He vowed: “…^1:40 As for you, turn and march into the wilderness by the Way of Yam Suph…”

North into Esauite Territory

^{דברים ב:ב} וַיֹּאמֶר יְ־הוָה אֵלַי לֵאמֹר.^ב:ג רַב לָכֶם סֹב אֶת הָהָר הַזֶּה פְּנוּ לָכֶם צָפֹנָה.

^{Deut 2:2}Then YHWH said to me:^2:3 “You have been skirting this hill country long enough; now turn north.”

Crossing into Moabite Territory

^{דברים ב:ט}וַיֹּאמֶר יְ־הוָה אֵלַי...^ב:יג עַתָּה קֻמוּ וְעִבְרוּ לָכֶם אֶת נַחַל זָרֶד וַנַּעֲבֹר אֶת נַחַל זָרֶד.

^{Deut 2:9}YHWH said to me: “…^2:13 “Up now! Cross the wadi Zered!” So, we crossed the wadi Zered.”

Crossing into Ammonite and Amorite Territory

^{דברים ב:יז}וַיְדַבֵּר יְ־הוָה אֵלַי לֵאמֹר... ^ב:כד קוּמוּ סְּעוּ וְעִבְרוּ אֶת נַחַל אַרְנֹן...

^{Deut 2:17}YHWH spoke to me and said: “… ^2:24 Up! Set out across the wadi Arnon!...”

These divine commands punctuate the narrative to show that the march is entirely led by YHWH. In such a story, there is no room for Esauites or Moabites refusing or Israel being afraid of them.^[14] Thus, the Deuteronomic author, who inherited the story of the Edomite refusal and the consequent need to go around Seir, has no choice but to explain the move south differently.

Deuteronomy and Its Sources

The author of Deuteronomy (D) was working with two earlier sources: the northern Elohistic source (E) and the southern Yahwistic source (J). Both offer different accounts of what happened in the wilderness:

The E source: Israel leaves Mount Horeb and arrive at Kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin in the southern Transjordan, right at the border of Edom. The Edomite king refuses to allow them passage through his land, so thus must circumvent the mountains of Seir.

The J source: After the revelation at Sinai, Israel arrives at Kadesh-barnea, in the Wilderness of Paran, and Moses sends a delegation out to spy the Land of Canaan. Following the sin of the spies and Israel’s complicity, YHWH swears that the entire generation that came out of Egypt (except Caleb) will die in the wilderness and only their children will enter the land.^[15]

We are familiar with E and J only in their current form, cut and spliced together (with P) in the Pentateuch, but the Deuteronomist had them as separate and complete documents.^[16] The Deuteronomist had to decide what parts of each story to include in his retelling, what to cut, and what to adjust. Unlike the compiler of the Pentateuch, D did not quote his sources verbatim. Instead, he rewrote them as Moses talking, in the first-person narrative style, and adjusted them to suit his own thinking.

Deuteronomy’s main source is E: It opens with Israel leaving Mount Horeb (1:6), E’s name for the mountain of revelation, followed by Moses establishing Israel’s court system (vv. 9–18), also a story found only in E (Exodus 18:13–26).^[17] At this point, however, D veers away from E and tackles J’s key wilderness story, the sin of the spies (vv. 19–39, 41–45).^[18]

The spies story gave the Deuteronomist a cover story to explain the march south without referencing E’s unacceptable story of an Edomite refusal: Since the generation of the spies are forbidden to enter the land, the Israelites needed to remain outside the land for a long time, first by staying a long time in Kadesh and then with the long trek south, away from the land:

^{דברים א:מו} וַתֵּשְׁבוּ בְקָדֵשׁ יָמִים רַבִּים...

^{Deut 1:46} And you dwelt in Kadesh a long time…

^{דברים ב:א} ...וַנָּסָב אֶת הַר שֵׂעִיר יָמִים רַבִּים.

^{Deut 2:1} …And you skirted the hill country of Seir a long time.^[19]

Towards the end of this period, YHWH commands them to turn north (2:3) and set out for the land of Canaan through Esauite territory and then the through the Moabite desert, the latter being the last place through which Israel will march before the beginning of the conquest. Deuteronomy then gives a summary statement for the period between the sin of the spies and the beginning of the conquest:

^{דברים ב:יד} וְהַיָּמִים אֲשֶׁר הָלַכְנוּ מִקָּדֵשׁ בַּרְנֵעַ עַד אֲשֶׁר עָבַרְנוּ אֶת נַחַל זֶרֶד שְׁלֹשִׁים וּשְׁמֹנֶה שָׁנָה עַד תֹּם כָּל הַדּוֹר אַנְשֵׁי הַמִּלְחָמָה מִקֶּרֶב הַמַּחֲנֶה כַּאֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּע יְ־הוָה לָהֶם.

^{Deut 2:14} The time that we spent in travel from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the wadi Zered was thirty-eight years, until that whole generation of warriors had perished from the camp, as YHWH had sworn concerning them.

In other words, by the time they get to Wadi Zered, the penultimate crossing before entering the land that will be occupied by Israel, the last of the old warriors has perished.

Inventing the Wilderness Wandering

The story the Deuteronomist creates here is a unique blend. In E, the Israelites are forced to march around Seir because of the Edomite refusal. They are not wandering, merely taking the long way. E does not have the sin of the spies, and the wilderness generation is not barred from entering the land. J, in contrast, has the spies story, and its consequent requirement to remain outside the land until the wilderness generation dies. Even so, no extant J passage says that the Israelites wandered as a result of this punishment.^[20]

In theory, D could simply have cut E’s account of Israel’s travel south through the Transjordan altogether and just retold the whole episode according to J. But D refuses to do this since, as many scholars have noted, D’s main source both for its narratives and its laws is E.

Indeed, Deuteronomy’s extensive use of J’s spy story in the opening chapters is unusual.^[21] Jettisoning E as the frame and only using J would have been too much. E has itinerary and geographical markers that had to be included, and D worked hard to include them, sometimes even at the expense of geographic or narrative logic.^[22] By incorporating the now pointless trek south, D introduces the motif of wilderness wandering, which has come to dominate the way we read the Pentateuchal narrative.

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July 20, 2023

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November 1, 2024

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Footnotes

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Published

July 20, 2023

Last Updated

November 1, 2024

[1] Moses himself is included in that punishment (v. 37) and Joshua is appointed to replace Moses as the leader that will lead the people to the land (v. 38). This appointment saves Joshua from the fate of the rest of his generation.

[2] This is the meaning of this phrase in all Semite languages. Thus, all roads leading to Jerusalem were known as “the way of Jerusalem.” As roads lead in opposite directions, this clues the reader/listener into the direction of travel. Thus, a way from point A to point B was “the way of B” going one direction and “the way of A” going the opposite direction.

[3] In this verse the Deuteronomic author interrupts the spies story with YHWH’s order, which will only be fulfilled only in 2:1.

[4] Yam Suph here could be a reference either to the Al-Jafr Basin (“The Lake of Rushes”) on the eastern side of the Seir mountains, or to the Gulf of Aqaba (Yam Soph, “The Sea at the End”), to the south. For more explanation of these two toponyms, see David Ben-Gad HaCohen, “The Yam Suph in the Transjordan?” TheTorah (2017). A third biblical Yam Suph is the Egyptian one, which the E source has in the danger by the sea story in Exodus, but whether this is understood as the Bitter Lakes or the Gulf of Suez, this cannot be the referent here in Deuteronomy, as the Israelites are very far from Egypt.

[5] The directions are actually to go west and then south. East in biblical Hebrew is קדם – forwards. To turn, in this verse, means to go westwards. This makes sense in D, which conflates Kadesh-barnea and Kadesh, with both terms referring the Ein Musa (near Petra) in southern Transjordan.

[6] In the J source, Kadesh-barnea, where the Israelites are encamped for the spies story, is in the Wilderness of Paran, and refers to Ein el-Qudeirat in the Sinai Peninsula, southwest of the Negev. In E, Kadesh on the border of Edom, where the Israelites are encamped with the Edomites refuse them passage through Seir, is in the Wilderness of Zin, and refers to Ein Musa. In combining these stories, the Deuteronomist conflates the two toponyms, placing them both in Ein Musa, following E’s geography. A discussion of why and how Deuteronomy does this requires a separate treatment. For another example of D playing loosely with E’s geographic markers, see David Ben-Gad HaCohen, “Wadi Zered,” TheTorah (2021). For a discussion of Kadesh-barnea and Kadesh in the other sources, see David Ben-Gad HaCohen, “Solving the Problem of “Kadesh in the Wilderness of Paran,” TheTorah (2015); idem, “Locating Be’er-lahai-roi,” TheTorah (2014).

[7] The version in Judges has a very brief account of this, saying merely וְלֹא שָׁמַע מֶלֶךְ אֱדוֹם “but the king of Edom would not consent.” The text here continues by saying that the same request and refusal took place in Moab, something which does not appear in Numbers. It is possible that Judges here relies on the fuller E text, which the compiler of the Pentateuch cut; alternately the author of Judges composed this idea, since it helps Jephthah score polemical points against the Ammonites (a brother tribe of the Moabites).

[8] In its brief presentation, Judges does not include this second back and forth.

[9] A snippet of this north-south journey preserved elsewhere in Deuteronomy (10:6–7), listing the itinerary stops until Yotbat in the Negev. See my, “Why Deuteronomy has an Account of Aaron's Death in the Wrong Place,” TheTorah (2015).

[10] The inhabitants of Seir in Deuteronomy 2 are called “sons of Esau” instead of Edomites. Apparently, the Deuteronomic author no longer thought of the area of Seir as “Edom,” likely because of the Edomite migration from Transjordan to southern Cisjordan, which already began to take place in the Deuteronomist’s period. This process eventually led to the termination of Edom as a political entity, which Yigal Levin (“The Formation of Idumean Identity,” ARAM 27.1–2 [2015], 187–202 [187–188]) dates to 553/552 B.C.E.

[11] The E narrative, as reflected in Num 20 and in the speech by Jephthah, is concerned with Edom. In the D narrative, this toponym is systematically replaced by “Seir.” The same phenomenon can be seen in Chronicles too. For instance, Amaziah strikes the Edomites in 2 Kings 14:7, and this becomes “the children of Seir” in 2 Chronicles 25:11.

[12] This is only the most obvious difference between E and D’s account. Other differences are:

Place of Origin – In Numbers and Judges the Israelites contact the Edomites from Kadesh, before the circumvention of its territory. While, in Deuteronomy, the circumvention comes before contacting the descendants of Esau that live in Seir. Yet, in D too, it comes after the long stay at Kadesh (1:46).
Delegation – In Numbers Moses sends a delegation; in Deuteronomy no delegation is sent.
King – Numbers and Judges mention the King of Edom; Deuteronomy references no such personage. Probably, as there was no king in mount Seir when Deuteronomy was written.

For another approach to the differences between the crossing Edom stories in Deuteronomy and Numbers, see David Glatt-Gilad, “Reimagining the Israelite Edomite Encounter,” TheTorah (2016).

[13] See William A. Sumner, “Israel’s Encounters with Edom, Moab, Ammon, Sihon, and Og according to the Deuteronomist,” Vetus Testamentum 18 (1968): 216–228 [p. 221].

[14] Indeed, the only reason Sihon can refuse in Deuteronomy is because YHWH wants him to, so that Israel can destroy him and take his land (Deut 2:30).

[15] The story ends with the Israelites responding that they are now willing to enter the land, and a group of them try climbing the mountain and are struck and crushed by the Amalekite and the Canaanite who lives there.

[16] See discussion in Joel S. Baden, J, E, and the Redaction of the Pentateuch, FAT 68 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2009), 99–195.

[17] D’s account differs in many details from its original; most notably, it cuts Jethro entirely out of the story. See Bernard Levinson, “The Founding of Israel’s Judicial System,” TheTorah (2021).

[18] D relates the story in such detail that we can actually reconstruct missing parts of the J story from D’s retelling. See my, “Using Deuteronomy to Fill in the Lacunae of Numbers’ Spies Story” TheTorah (2016).

[19] Note that in D, the Israelites get the order to turn (west) and march (1:40). They do not fulfill the order right away. First, they abode at Kadesh(-barnea) for "many days" (1:46). The many days appear again as the duration of skirting mount Seir (2:1b). It tells us that D counts the abode at as part of the duration of the march.

[20] Instead, from the itinerary stops in Deuteronomy’s opening verse (which derive from J), we can deduce that Israel travels from Mount Sinai to Kadesh-barnea, then into Seir, where they settle opposite (west of) the Al-Jafr Basin (Suph) until the exodus generation dies out. Then they head north into Moabite Transjordan. For a reconstruction of J’s itinerary, using this verse, see my, “Where in the Transjordan Did Moses Deliver His Opening Address?” TheTorah (2018).

[21] It is, in fact, so unusual that Menahem Haran, who was convinced that D only had E, tried to invent an E spy story as a source! See, Menahem Haran, האסופה המקראית: תהליכי הגיבוש עד סוף ימי בית שני ושינויי הצורה עד מוצאי ימי הביניים [The Biblical Collection: Its Consolidation to the End of the Second Temple Times and Changes of Form to the End of the Middle Ages] (Jerusalem: Bialik and Magnes, 2003) 2.197–198. Other scholars argued that Deuteronomy 1–3 must derive from a different Deuteronomic author than the rest of the book, and that unlike this latter author, this one had both J and E.

[22]A good example of D’s attempt to fit J’s story into the E framework, is the trip through Ar-Moab. (For more on this toponym and region, see my, “Ar Moab,” TheTorah [2020].) According to E, the Israelites travelled on the Moabite Wilderness highway, on the eastern part of what E calls Ar, the province of eastern Moab. This part of Ar was scarcely inhabited; they are skirting Moab and avoiding the population (as E does with Edom). This point is emphasized in the abbreviated retelling of E in Judges:

^{שופטים יא:יח} וַיֵּלֶךְ בַּמִּדְבָּר וַיָּסָב אֶת אֶרֶץ אֱדוֹם וְאֶת אֶרֶץ מוֹאָב וַיָּבֹא מִמִּזְרַח שֶׁמֶשׁ לְאֶרֶץ מוֹאָב וַיַּחֲנוּן בְּעֵבֶר אַרְנוֹן וְלֹא בָאוּ בִּגְבוּל מוֹאָב...

^{Judg 11:18} They traveled on through the wilderness, skirting the land of Edom and the land of Moab. They kept to the east of the land of Moab until they encamped on the other side of the Arnon; and they never entered Moabite territory….

Yet in D, we are told:

^{דברים ב:ח}... וַנֵּפֶן וַנַּעֲבֹר דֶּרֶךְ מִדְבַּר מוֹאָב. ^ב:ט וַיֹּאמֶר יְ־הוָה אֵלַי אַל תָּצַר אֶת מוֹאָב וְאַל תִּתְגָּר בָּם מִלְחָמָה כִּי לֹא אֶתֵּן לְךָ מֵאַרְצוֹ יְרֻשָּׁה כִּי לִבְנֵי לוֹט נָתַתִּי אֶת עָר יְרֻשָּׁה.

^{Deut 2:8} …We marched on in the direction of the wilderness of Moab. ^2:9 And YHWH said to me: “Do not harass the Moabites or provoke them to war. For I will not give you any of their land as a possession; I have assigned Ar as a possession to the descendants of Lot.”

This means they are walking through a population center. Similarly, as quoted above, Moses tells Sihon king of Heshbon that the Moabites (like the Esauites) sold food and water to Israel. Thus, in D, Israel is clearly travelling through Ar, where they would have encountered people. This is J’s itinerary, not E’s. Thus we have here a sleight of hand: D uses E’s terms, calling the land Ar (E’s term) instead of Hatzerot (J’s term), and stating that the Israelites travelled on the Wilderness Road. And yet, the “meat” of D’s story, that Israel encountered friendly Arites, is J’s conception of the trip, and one that makes sense only if they are taking a more western road, going through Ar.