2:8 So we turned away from our relatives12 the descendants of Esau, the inhabitants of Seir, turning from the desert route,13 from Elat14 and Ezion Geber,15 and traveling the way of the Moab wastelands.
tnHeb “the way of the Arabah” (so ASV); NASB, NIV “the Arabah road.”
14
snElat was a port city at the head of the eastern arm of the Red Sea, that is, the Gulf of Aqaba (or Gulf of Eilat). Solomon (1 Kgs 9:28), Uzziah (2 Kgs 14:22), and Ahaz (2 Kgs 16:5–6) used it as a port but eventually it became permanently part of Edom. It may be what is known today as Tell el-Kheleifeh. Modern Eilat is located further west along the northern coast. See G. Pratico, “Nelson Glueck’s 1938–1940 Excavations at Tell el-Kheleifeh: A Reappraisal,” BASOR 259 (1985): 1–32.
15
snEzion Geber. A place near the Gulf of Aqaba, Ezion-geber must be distinguished from Elat (cf. 1 Kgs 9:26–28; 2 Chr 8:17–18). It was, however, also a port city (1 Kgs 22:48–49). It may be the same as the modern site Gezirat al-Fauran, 15 mi (24 km) south-southwest from Tell el-Kheleifah.