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. (Numbers 20:17)
In order to enter the land of Canaan from the east the Israelites must either pass through Edom or make a long detour to the south, and then turn northward.
By the king’s high way.
This was the main artery of travel east of the Jordan, from Damascus in the north to Ezion-geber on the Gulf of ‘Aqaba. Up-to-date maps of early Bible times indicate this trade route. It was along this road that the four kings who attacked Sodom in Abraham’s day came from Syria. “The king’s high way” was repaired centuries later by the Romans, and its route is still in use. An aerial photograph of part of this roadway appears on page 40 of The Westminster Historical Atlas to the Bible.