When it was finally time for Israel to approach the Promised Land, the Israelites did not move due north. Their route took them around Edom’s heartland and up “the king’s road,” the King’s Highway. (Nu 21:22; De 2:1-8) It was not easy for a whole nation​—with children, animals, and tents—​to move over this trail. They had to wind down into and climb back out of formidable gorges​—the Zered and the Arnon (nearly 1,700 feet [520 m] deep).​—De 2:13, 14, 24.

I4 King’s Road