The Israelites moved on and camped at Oboth. Then they set out from Oboth and camped in Iye Abarim, in the desert that faces Moab toward the sunrise. From there they moved on and camped in the Zered Valley. They set out from there and camped alongside the Arnon, which is in the desert extending into Amorite territory. The Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites...From there, they continued on to Beer, the well where the LORD said to Moses, "Gather the people together and I will give them water."...Then they went from the desert to Mattanah, from Mattanah to Bamoth, and from Bamoth to the valley in Moab where the top of Pisgah overlooks the waseteland. -- Num. 21:10-13,16, 17b-20
Point to point to point in the desert. Checking my NIV Bible Atlas, the Arnon dumps into the Dead Sea on the east side, just about in the north-to-south middle. From Kadesh, they went around the southern edge of Edom's territory and came up the east side of the Dead Sea.
They actually asked the Amorite king, Sihon, for permission to cross his territory on the public highway, promising to stay on the highway and take no provisions or water on their way through. (21:22)
But Sihon would not let Israel pass through his territory. He mustered his entire army and marched out into the desert against Israel. When he reached Jahaz, he fought with Israel. (21:23)
That's actually the last mention of the desert until we get to Chapter 24. I wonder how accustomed to the desert the Amorite army actually was; Israel had been living in the desert for 40 years...it was no hardship for them. But the Amorites may have suffered from the environment as much as they did the swords and bows of the Israelites...and they were defeated. Now, this was the entire army of the Amorites; when Israel defeated them, they conquered the Amorites...the whole lot of them...and occupied their cities. This wasn't the first battle they had fought, but it was the first in which they claimed territory.
Because the Amorite king attacked them in the desert.
Once the king and his army were defeated, there was no one to stop them from occupying the land. But they were under strict instructions to remove the folks they found living there, lest they intermarry and take on the pagan lifestyle/ beliefs. Moses sent spies into Jazer and they easily captured the settlements and drove out the Amorites, as instructed.
The same thing happened with Og, the king of Bashan; he attacked the Israelites and was completely defeated, so the Israelites occupied his territory as well.
This kind of sets up the pattern that we saw when we studied Joshua last year; entire armies,sometimes multiple armies, came against Israel and were defeated, so that the territory became theirs with a single battle. Of course, the people were still there, but the army was decimated and the Israelites became the military power ruling the area.
Chapter 22:1 relates that the Israelites then traveled to the plains of Moab and camped there, on the east side of the Jordan, opposite the city of Jericho.
The rest of Numbers and the entire book of Deuteronomy take place in that location, with the nation poised to enter the Promised Land...which was just on the other side of the river.
The desert had been their hardship for 40 years, but it was also their purging and their preparation. They had lost much, but they had learned much. It was a different people than they were 40 years earlier, with a different mindset, AND with recent military victories to encourage them. They were...almost...ready.
But there was one more purge and a change of leadership coming before they could cross that river.
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