1 And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had much cattle, a very great multitude; and they saw the land of Jaazer, and the land of Gilead, and behold, the place was a place for cattle.
2 And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spoke to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the princes of the assembly, saying,
3 Ataroth, and Dibon, and Jaazer, and Nimrah, and Heshbon, and Elaleh, and Sebam, and Nebo, and Beon,
4 the country that Jehovah smote before the assembly of Israel, is a land for cattle, and thy servants have cattle;
5 and they said, If we have found favour in thine eyes, let this land be given to thy servants for a possession: bring us not over the Jordan.
6 And Moses said to the children of Gad, and to the children of Reuben, Shall your brethren go to war, and shall *ye* abide here?
7 And why do ye discourage the children of Israel from going over into the land that Jehovah has given them?
8 Thus did your fathers, when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land:
9 they went up to the valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, and discouraged the children of Israel, that they should not go into the land that Jehovah had given them.
10 And Jehovah's anger was kindled the same time, and he swore, saying,
11 If the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land that I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob! for they have not wholly followed me;
12 save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun; for they have wholly followed Jehovah.
13 And Jehovah's anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the whole generation was consumed that had done evil in the eyes of Jehovah.
14 And behold, ye are risen up in your fathers' stead, a progeny of sinful men, to augment yet the fierce anger of Jehovah toward Israel.
15 If ye turn away from after him, he will yet again leave them in the wilderness; and ye shall destroy all this people.
16 And they drew near to him, and said, We will build sheepfolds here for our cattle, and cities for our little ones;
17 but we ourselves will go with diligence armed before the children of Israel, until we have brought them to their place; and our little ones shall dwell in the strong cities because of the inhabitants of the land.
18 We will not return to our houses, until the children of Israel have inherited each one his inheritance.
19 For we will not inherit with them on yonder side the Jordan, and further, because our inheritance is fallen to us on this side the Jordan eastward.
20 And Moses said to them, If ye do this thing, if ye arm yourselves before Jehovah for war,
21 and all of you that are armed go over the Jordan before Jehovah, until he have dispossessed his enemies from before him,
22 and the land is subdued before Jehovah, and afterwards ye return, ye shall be guiltless toward Jehovah and toward Israel, and this land shall be your possession before Jehovah.
23 But if ye do not do so, behold, ye have sinned against Jehovah, and be sure your sin will find you out.
24 Build yourselves cities for your little ones, and folds for your flocks, and do that which has gone out of your mouth.
25 And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben spoke to Moses, saying, Thy servants will do as my lord commands.
26 Our little ones, our wives, our cattle, and all our beasts shall be there in the cities of Gilead;
27 but thy servants will pass over, every one armed for war, before Jehovah to battle, as my lord says.
28 So concerning them Moses commanded Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the chief fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel.
29 And Moses said unto them, If the children of Gad and the children of Reuben pass with you over the Jordan, every one armed for battle, before Jehovah, and the land be subdued before you, then ye shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession;
30 but if they do not pass over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan.
31 And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben answered, saying, As Jehovah has said to thy servants, so will we do.
32 We will pass over armed before Jehovah into the land of Canaan, and the possession of our inheritance on this side the Jordan shall be ours.
33 And Moses gave to them, to the children of Gad, and to the children of Reuben, and to half the tribe of Manasseh the son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, and the kingdom of Og the king of Bashan, the land, according to its cities and territories, the cities of the land round about.
34 And the children of Gad built Dibon, and Ataroth, and Aroer,
35 and Atroth-Shophan, and Jaazer, and Jogbebah,
36 and Beth-Nimrah, and Beth-haran, strong cities, and sheepfolds.
37 -- And the children of Reuben built Heshbon, and Elaleh, and Kirjathaim,
38 and Nebo, and Baal-meon (of which the names were changed), and Sibmah; and they gave other names to the cities that they built.
39 -- And the children of Machir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead, and took it, and they dispossessed the Amorites that were therein.
40 And Moses gave Gilead to Machir the son of Manasseh; and he dwelt therein.
41 And Jair the son of Manasseh went and took their hamlets, and called them Havoth-Jair.
42 And Nobah went and took Kenath, and its dependent villages, and called it Nobah, after his name.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Numbers 32
Commentary on Numbers 32 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 32
Nu 32:1-42. The Reubenites and Gadites Ask for an Inheritance.
1-5. the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead—A complete conquest had been made of the country east of the Jordan, comprising "the land of Jazer," which formed the southern district between the Arnon and Jabbok and "the land of Gilead," the middle region between the Jabbok and Jarmouk, or Hieromax, including Bashan, which lay on the north of that river. The whole of this region is now called the Belka. It has always been famous for its rich and extensive pastures, and it is still the favorite resort of the Bedouin shepherds, who frequently contend for securing to their immense flocks the benefit of its luxuriant vegetation. In the camp of ancient Israel, Reuben and Gad were pre-eminently pastoral; and as these two tribes, being placed under the same standard, had frequent opportunities of conversing and arranging about their common concerns, they united in preferring a request that the trans-jordanic region, so well suited to the habits of a pastoral people, might be assigned to them.
6-19. Moses said unto the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben, Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here—Their language was ambiguous; and Moses, suspicious that this proposal was an act of unbelief, a scheme of self-policy and indolence to escape the perils of warfare and live in ease and safety, addressed to them a reproachful and passionate remonstrance. Whether they had really meditated such a withdrawal from all share in the war of invasion, or the effect of their leader's expostulation was to drive them from their original purpose, they now, in answer to his impressive appeal, declared it to be their sincere intention to co-operate with their brethren; but, if so, they ought to have been more explicit at first.
16. they came near—The narrative gives a picturesque description of this scene. The suppliants had shrunk back, dreading from the undisguised emotions of their leader that their request would be refused. But, perceiving, from the tenor of his discourse, that his objection was grounded only on the supposition that they would not cross the Jordan to assist their brethren, they became emboldened to approach him with assurances of their goodwill.
We will build sheepfolds here for our cattle, and cities for our little ones—that is, rebuild, repair. It would have been impossible within two months to found new cities, or even to reconstruct those which had been razed to the ground. Those cities of the Amorites were not absolutely demolished, and they probably consisted only of mud-built, or dry-stone walls.
17. and our little ones shall dwell in the fenced cities because of the inhabitants of the land—There was good policy in leaving a sufficient force to protect the conquered region lest the enemy should attempt reprisals; and as only forty thousand of the Reubenites and the Gadites, and a half of Manasseh, passed over the Jordan (Jos 4:13), there were left for the security of the new possessions 70,580 men, besides women and children under twenty years (compare Nu 26:7, 18, 34).
We ourselves will go ready armed—that is, all of us in a collective body, or as many as may be deemed necessary, while the rest of our number shall remain at home to provide for the sustenance and secure the protection of our families and flocks. (See on Jos 4:12).
20-33. Moses said unto them, If ye will do this thing—with sincerity and zeal.
go before the Lord to war—The phrase was used in allusion to the order of march in which the tribes of Reuben and Gad immediately preceded the ark (see on Nu 2:10-31), or to the passage over the Jordan, in which the ark stood in mid-channel, while all the tribes marched by in succession (Jos 3:4), of course including those of Reuben and Gad, so that, literally, they passed over before the Lord and before the rest of Israel (Jos 4:13). Perhaps, however, the phrase is used merely in a general sense to denote their marching on an expedition, the purpose of which was blessed with the presence, and destined to promote the glory, of God. The displeasure which Moses had felt on the first mention of their proposal had disappeared on the strength of their solemn assurances. But a lurking suspicion of their motives seems still to have been lingering in his mind—he continued to speak to them in an admonitory strain; and he concluded by warning them that in case of their failing to redeem their pledge, the judgments of an offended God would assuredly fall upon them. This emphatic caution against such an eventuality throws a strong doubt on the honesty of their first intentions; and yet, whether through the opposing attitude or the strong invectives of Moses they had been brought to a better state of mind, their final reply showed that now all was right.
28-32. concerning them Moses commanded—The arrangement itself, as well as the express terms on which he assented to it, was announced by the leader to the public authorities. The pastoral country the two tribes had desired was to be granted them on condition that they would lend their aid to their brethren in the approaching invasion of Canaan. If they refused or failed to perform their promise, those possessions should be forfeited, and they themselves compelled to go across the Jordan and fight for a settlement like the rest of their brethren.
33. half the tribe of Manasseh—It is nowhere explained in the record how they were incorporated with the two tribes, or what broke this great tribe into two parts, of which one was left to follow the fortunes of its brethren in the settled life of the western hills, while the other was allowed to wander as a nomadic tribe over the pasture lands of Gilead and Bashan. They are not mentioned as accompanying Reuben and Gad in their application to Moses [Nu 32:1]; neither were they included in his first directions (Nu 32:25); but as they also were a people addicted to pastoral pursuits and possessed as immense flocks as the other two, Moses invited the half of them to remain, in consequence, probably, of finding that this region was more than sufficient for the pastoral wants of the others, and he may have given them the preference, as some have conjectured, for their valorous conduct in the contests with the Amorites (compare Nu 32:39, with Jos 17:1).
34-36. And the children of Gad built—(See on Nu 32:16).
Dibon—identified with Dheban, now in ruins, an hour's distance from the Arnon (Mojeb).
Ataroth (Hebrew, "crowns")—There are several towns so called in Scripture, but this one in the tribe of Gad has not been identified.
Aroer—now Arair, standing on a precipice on the north bank of the Arnon.
35-38. Atroth, Shophan, and Jaazer, &c.—Jaazer, near a famed fountain, Ain Hazier, the waters of which flow into Wady Schaib, about fifteen miles from Hesbon. Beth-nimrah, now Nimrin; Heshbon, now Hesban; Elealeh (Hebrew, "the high"), now Elaal; Kirjathaim (Hebrew, "the double city"); Nebo, now Neba, near the mountain of that name; Baal-meon, now Myoun, in ruins, where was a temple of Baal (Jos 13:17; Jer 48:23); Shibmah, or Shebam (Nu 32:3), near Heshbon, famous for vines (Isa 16:9, 10; Jer 48:32).
38. (their names being changed)—either because it was the general custom of conquerors to do so; or, rather, because from the prohibition to mention the names of other gods (Ex 23:13), as Nebo and Baal were, it was expedient on the first settlement of the Israelites to obliterate all remembrance of those idols. (See Jos 13:17-20).
39. Gilead—now Jelud.
41. Havoth-jair—that is, "tent-villages." Jair, who captured them, was a descendant of Manasseh on his mother's side (1Ch 1:21, 22).
42. Nobah—also a distinguished person connected with the eastern branch of the tribe of Manasseh.