[steve-b]

The truth is that the Israelites never attacked anyone who didn't attack them first because they asked to pass through lands and were feared because of their strangeness to the territory.

If some armed band "asked" to pass through my territory, I'd tell them to get lost. If they tried to pass through anyway, I'd do my best to kill them until the survivors took the hint.

[safisoft]

If some armed band "asked" to pass through my territory, I'd tell them to get lost. If they tried to pass through anyway, I'd do my best to kill them until the survivors took the hint.

If you are saying that you as "Sihon king of Heshbon" would have done the same he, then you as well would have been destroyed. Somehow I doubt that Sihon's response was a moment to be remembered - you likely did not even know his name before I typed it.