Numbers 20:17
Let us pass, I pray thee, through thy country: we will not pass through the fields, or through the vineyards, neither will we drink of the water of the wells: we will go by the king’s high way, we will not turn to the right hand nor to the left, until we have passed thy borders.
Israel's message to Edom was a courteous request for permission to pass through its country on the way to the promised land. The pledge was to stay strictly on the king's highway without turning to the right hand or to the left until the borders had been passed, to not go through fields or vineyards, and to drink none of the water of the wells. The appeal sought only peaceful transit and involved no hostile move, attack, or harm to the people or their property. The Edomite king refused, and armed bands held the difficult passes so that peaceful passage was impossible. Rather than use force, Israel turned aside and journeyed around Edom.
Delay, complaining, and unbelief allowed the favorable opportunity to slip away. Had Israel trusted God and moved promptly at His word, He would have led them through, and the inhabitants would have shown them favor instead of opposition. The intended passage would have been a blessing to Israel and would have opened to the Edomites the opportunity to become acquainted with God's people and to worship. Unbelief shut this out, so Israel had to turn back into the desert and depend anew on the miraculously supplied spring. The same courteous plea for peaceful passage was afterward addressed to the Amorites, and only after that appeal did the Amorite king refuse and make ready for battle.