II. SEIR, or, the Mountains of Seir: They were to the East and South of the Deut. i. 2.Dead-sea. Moses tells us, there were eleven Days Journey between Horeb and Kadesh-barnea, by the Way of Seir; or rather, going round the Mountains of Seir, Deut. i. 1, 4, 5, 8. Deborah, in her Canticle, says, that the Lord is come forth from Seir, Judges v. 4. Moses affirms, that the Lord appeared to his People at Seir, at Sinai, and at Paran, Deut. xxxiii. 2. This proves, that the Mountains of Seir were to the South of the Dead-sea, inclining towards Elath and Esiongeber upon the Red-sea.
Gen. xxxii. 3. & xxxiii. 16.Jacob, at his Return from his Journey to Mesopotamia, fearing that Esau should come and set upon his Company, sent to him at Seir; and Esau soon after came to meet him, between Peniel and Jordan, and returned the same Day to Seir: Therefore he must live not far off, in the Mountains which are to the East of the Dead-sea. Joshua seems to say, that they stretched out still farther towards the North, since he gives an Account, that he Josh. xi. 17. & xii. 7.made a Conquest of all the Country, from Seir, as far as Baal-gad, at the Foot of Libanus, and of Mount Hermon, and that he distributed all this Country among the Children of Israel. But it is known, that the Israelites had no Possessions beyond the Country of Moab to the East, nor to the South. Lastly, Moab and Mount Seir are frequently 2 Chron. xx. 10, 22, 23. Ezek. xxv. 8.mention’d together; but Moab inhabited to the East of the Dead-sea. See IDUMEA.