the kings: Gen 17:6, Gen 17:16, Gen 25:23; Num 20:14, Num 24:17-18; Deu 17:14-20, Deu 33:5, Deu 33:29; 1Ch 1:43-50
before there: Moses may here allude to the promise which God made to Jacob (Gen 35:11), that kings should proceed from him; and here states that these kings reigned before that prophecy began to be fulfilled.