אבן עזרא — כאשר עשו לי בני עשו הישבים בשעיר והמואבים הישבים בער

Q — Moshe's messengers to Sichon cite a precedent: "as the children of Esav in Seir and the Moabites in Ar did for me." Rashi reads the precedent as: Edom and Moav *sold* Israel food and water. But this generates two problems — Edom outright refused passage (Bamidbar 20:21), and the Torah later (Devarim 23:5) condemns Moav specifically for *not* greeting Israel with bread and water. How does Ibn Ezra resolve the difficulty?

A — Ibn Ezra refuses Rashi's reading on textual grounds: if "כאשר עשו לי בני עשו" referred to the food sale, the same would have to apply to Moav — but the Torah explicitly says Moav did *not* offer bread and water, which is why they're excluded forever from Kahal Hashem. So the precedent must be something else entirely. Ibn Ezra's reading: the precedent attaches not to food but to the prior clause "בדרך בדרך אלך" — Israel passed *along the border* of Esav (Devarim 2:4-8) without entering Edom proper. The Edomite king refused inner passage, so Israel went around — but that going-around was still "in the border of your brothers the children of Esav." The request to Sichon is structured the same way: let us pass *along your border*, on the highway, without entering. On the question of whether Esav at least sold food to Israel (Devarim 2:6 — "אכל תשברו מאתם בכסף"), Ibn Ezra offers two peshat alternatives: (1) conditional — *if* they're willing to sell, you may buy; or (2) rhetorical question ("בתימה") — what need do you have to buy from them? "כי ה' אלהיך ברכך, לא חסרת דבר!" The whole framework gets reread textually.